Luan Feixue stood in the middle of the forest as stiff as a bronze statue. 'W-What just happened?' The girl who was about to abandon her life to the wild nature of the forest suddenly made a contract with a being far from normal. 'Am I in the afterlife? Is this a dream or something?'
As similar thoughts lingered in her mind, a mellow and seductive voice that could bring a person to their knees shattered the fantasy. "Oh my, why are you so skinny, girl? Have you purposely not been absorbing energy? That takes quite a lot of willpower to do. Well, I can't really let you die after you made a contract with me~, can I?"
Before the girl could ask, Feixue felt an energy without equal rush into her meridians like a nourishing spring. Feixue's face became red as her entire body was enveloped in a pleasurable feeling of satisfaction like never before. "Mmmm~."
She barely held back a moan as her scrawny body began healing and gaining a bit of the lost meat. Naturally, the effect was far from instantaneous. However, in less than a week, Feixue would look as healthy as if she had never fallen sick in her entire life.
Still, Luan Feixue was not that excited. Instead, a frown was etched on her forehead as she asked rather warily. "W-What did you do? How is it possible for you to nourish my body before asking for permission?"
Yasenia chuckled. "Girl, I am a Mythical Beast Core Realm dragon. Naturally, you have no chance to resist if I want to do something to you. Still, as I said, we are in a contract, and you should be able to feel that I have no ill intentions. A contract can manipulate many things, but intentions are not one of those, am I right?"
Luan Feixue's uncomfortable heart settled a bit. It was true that once a contract was set with a few conditions, regardless of the strength of one side, those conditions couldn't be broken. It was like a Heavenly Oath, so the instant that one of the conditions was broken, the contract would automatically break, creating a backlash to the party that broke the contract first.
The princess was knowledgeable about that. Beast companions were something rather common, after all. They were a good way of getting a mount to move around on and a partner in combat. Most cultivators Luan Feixue knew had at least one beast companion, with Beast Tamers having small armies of them.
"I know, but… Next time, can you ask me?" Luan Feixue didn't know if she should speak formally or not to this powerful creature. "Since we are in a contract, mutual respect is needed, right?"
Yasenia smiled silently. "You are not wrong. I'll try to ask you the next time around. Of course, if I consider that you are in danger, I won't ask about anything and will act on my own. Just be aware of that, girl."
"I guess that's fine…" The woman sighed. "Still, what kind of method did you use to nourish me so quickly and easily without using pills?"
She was rather baffled because she had never seen such a miraculous recovery skill. What Yasenia was healing was not a simple wound, but a lack of nutrition from self-starving for a really extended period of time.
Yasenia spoke softly. "I used Dual Cultivation."
"Dual—!?" Luan Feixue's expression turned completely red. "You perverted dragon! What do you think you are doing!?"
"Huh?" Yasenia blinked twice, confused. "What do you mean? I have not touched you, right?"
This confused Luan Feixue more. For a second, she thought that the perverted dragon had touched her while blocking her senses or something. After all, a beast of Yasenia's strength would be able to do something similar. "What do you mean? Dual Cultivation can't be done without touching!"
"Ha?" This time, it was our dragoness' turn to be confused. "Little girl, what we did was create a superficial link that traded my energy with yours for a fraction of a second. I called it Dual Cultivation, but in truth, it was giving you a trace of my energy in exchange for all your energy. That small strand of energy then burst, and pure energy rushed through your meridians, filling your empty dantian before you could even realize the discomfort!"
Feixue answered indignantly. "Who calls that kind of thing Dual Cultivation!? You are begging for a misunderstanding to occur! You fossil!"
"Fossil!?" Yasenia's eyes widened inside her soul. Then, she appeared in front of Feixue with a frown and poked her forehead twice. "Little girl, I am not going to tell you my age. However, dragons my age are usually not able to even reach the fourth realm! Whatever age you are thinking, you are probably a zero or two off!"
Luan Feixue saw Yasenia's pouty expression, and her heart itched. 'Why is this absolutely gorgeous being so adorable?'
Yasenia squinted. "Are you thinking something rude?"
Luan Feixue coughed. "Not at all, senior. I was just awed at your beauty."
Our dragoness rolled her eyes. "You really know how to change the subject." Then, she straightened her back and looked around. "Hm… Let's change places first. I can feel a few presences approaching to check on the commotion."
Feixue blinked, and the surroundings changed. "Huh?" Looking around, she could see that they were in a run-down wooden room. There was one tattered bed and a few broken chairs and tables. The place was barely appropriate for a human being to stay for one night. "This room… My room?"
Yasenia glanced around and hummed. "Well, I checked the nearby towns and cities and spotted this one with your lingering energy and aura. Have you been staying in a place like this?"
Seeing the gorgeous white-dressed dragon woman glancing at the room, a sense of shame overcame Feixue's heart. She felt that such a room would taint the otherworldly presence of the dragon woman.
Unlike what she thought, though, Yasenia walked toward the bed and sat down.
Creaaack, BANG!
Both women became stiff. Yasenia's lips twitched as she glanced at the broken-down bed frame. Due to her wings and tail being out, her weight was anything but ordinary. To be fair, the floor below her feet had been creaking for a while, almost shouting for help because it was about to give in. Yasenia coughed. "It's my tail and wings. I am not fat."
"Oh." Feixue answered simply while looking at the broken bed.
Yasenia snorted. "Disrespectful girl! You are totally thinking that I need to lose weight! Here I thought of making a proposal to become your master or something similar. Now, forget about it! Hmph!"
Then, Yasenia turned into a ray of light and dove into Feixue's [Beast Pocket]. Meanwhile, Luan Feixue's eyes opened with surprise. "H-Huh? What did you say?"
However, receiving no answer, Luan Feixue became somewhat flustered. "L-Lady Yasenia, I am just joking around! I promise to be respectful from now on!"
Hearing no answer, Feixue became so flustered that she was about to cry. If she lost this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because of a small joke, she would probably go back to the forest and jump into the mouth of the first beast she found!
She didn't need to worry, though. Yasenia's chuckle reached her ears as she reappeared in front of her with a cheeky smile. "I got you this time around~."
Feixue's about-to-cry expression cracked as she raised an arm and swung it forward. "You stupid dra—!"
Boing~.
"...gon." Feixue was about to cry again. "Why didn't you dodge the attack!?"
Yasenia laughed aloud again, her laughing expression blowing any dissatisfaction Feixue could have out of the window. 'Sigh… Being so pretty is definitely a Heavenly Sin. I am sure that she will receive her due punishment soon!'
"Okay." Yasenia smiled. "Let's stop messing around. Come, sit on the bed."
The dragoness waved her hand, changing the broken bed to a gorgeous and luxurious one. The red and white bed sheets coupled with the hand-crafted wooden frame and soft-looking pillows, made Feixue gulp. She had not slept in a decent bed for who knows how long, so this had a fatal attraction that only a few could understand.
After she approached, Feixue sat down and looked at Yasenia. "So, um, senior. Can you explain a bit why you decided to enter into a contract with me? It is clear that your strength far outranks mine and, to be honest, almost anyone I've seen in this remote area of the continent."
Yasenia's tail tapped the ground, as if she were thoughtful. "The reasons I've entered into this contract with you are quite a few. However, to summarize, I need someone to both hide and tell me about the world. Someone trustworthy and of a good heart."
Luan Feixue's expression became complicated. "I… am not the person you are searching for."
"That's for me to evaluate, Luan Feixue." Hearing the serious tone, the girl looked into the warm and soothing golden dragon's eyes. "You are more worthy than you think. Even with my appearance, you've managed to stay unaffected for the most part and never had nefarious thoughts. That's more than enough for me to put all my trust in you."
Luan Feixue's face turned red. "I-It's not like I haven't had any strange thoughts…"
"That's normal," Yasenia reassured with a chuckle. "I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't really react to my beauty in any way, shape, or form. Even monks have paused in the past at my sight. What I meant is, you are not greedy for my beauty, just appreciative."
Hearing so many compliments made the young girl quite happy. She fiddled with her fingers and smiled a bit.
"Luan Feixue. Do you accept me as your Beast Companion? From now on, we will explore this world together and become stronger together. I'll be your guardian, teacher, and friend during your travels. In exchange, you will speak to no one about my existence, and each time I appear in front of you in public, it must be in my dragon form."
Those words made Feixue's heart accelerate. After all, this powerful being was willing to lower herself and bet on a, relatively speaking, weak mortal. So, after thinking about it, she looked up with a resolute expression. "I accept!"
Those words made our dragoness smile with satisfaction. "Great. As a congratulatory gift…" Yasenia paused and asked. "Before that, what techniques are you cultivating?"
Luan Feixue hesitated only for a brief moment. Still, since she has decided to trust this gorgeous dragon woman, she eventually spoke about them. "I am practicing the [Thousand Star Buddha Palm] technique. It is a Star, Fate, and Light attributed Cultivation Technique."
The dragoness smiled. "Great. I'll gift you a Body and Soul Cultivation technique for those attributes as well."
"Eh?" Feixue blinked stupidly, not really registering Yasenia's words.