“Chirp??”
A hesitant chirp escaped from Xiao Qi’s beak. Yi Rou’s words were like an unrefusable order to it, making Xiao Qi want to fly on over to obey, but it hesitated to do so thanks to its bond with Bai Yunfei.
“Their bond has already deepened to such a degree like this? How curious, what kind of history do these two younglings have?”
Xiao Qi’s hesitance to come over was noted by Yi Rou. It was surprising to say the least, as her strength as a mid-stage class seven soulbeast allowed her an aura that exerted her will over other soulbeasts without her even needing to do so consciously. Very few soulbeasts would deny an order from her, but here Xiao Qi stood, doing exactly that.
Noting Xiao Qi’s hesitance, Bai Yunfei nodded his head. “Go on, they’re your seniors after all.”
He wasn’t wrong in his judgement. The Two Winged Kings really did had the purest of intentions for Xiao Qi. Zi Jin had once said before that they were essentially the guardians of the bird species. As long as any one of them weren’t malicious in being, they’d always find asylum under the protection of the Two Winged Kings.
And the fact that they were looking at Xiao Qi with the purest of intentions was enough to show that they were merely caring for a youngling and wanted to make sure it was alright.
Now having Bai Yunfei’s approval, Xiao Qi saw no reason more to refuse Yi Rou’s calling. At once, it flew towards her direction and landed on top of one of her fingers. Chirping twice, Xiao Qi spoke politely out in greeting towards the two.
“Haha, has your intelligence already grown so quickly? What a precocious child….”
Laughing as she watched Xiao Qi on her finger, Yi Rou began to speak in what seemed to be a series of warbles and chirps–she was communicating with Xiao Qi in the common tongue of the birds.
Bai Yunfei narrowed his eyes. Yi Rou was speaking this way so as to avoid having Bai Yunfei have Xiao Qi refuse to answer while also allowing them to ask the question unimpeded.
But….
They severely underestimated the bond between Xiao Qi and him if they thought thus. As long as Xiao Qi didn’t refuse, he’d be understand what Xiao Qi was thinking about at any given time.
Without any other emotion showing on his face, Bai Yunfei communicated mentally with Xiao Qi, hinting that there were secrets he didn’t want to say.
So with a cocked head, Xiao Qi would chirp and answer Yi Rou’s questions, but it’d turn to Bai Yunfei every so often before doing so. Having noticed it, Yi Rou felt deeply surprised, feeling that there was more to Bai Yunfei than what was shown on the surface.
The surprise and affection she felt for Xiao Qi grew with each question she asked and had answered. Xiao Qi had broken the ‘common knowledge’ of what was to be expected from prisma orioles by becoming a class six soulbeast. By the very end of her question asking session, Yi Rou couldn’t even hide the excitement from her face anymore.
To be able to shatter the common expectations of a soulbeast required both extreme luck and all the talent the heavens could possibly grant in order to become what was known as ‘variants’.
Variants were the type of soulbeasts that would have a plethora of achievements and weren’t uncommon in the world of soulbeasts.
There were of course more than eight soulbeasts who had reached the class seven level, rather than having only just the ‘Eight Soulbeast Rulers’. They only represented the strongest or the most unique soulbeasts, and amongst the eight of them, the amount of ‘variants’ made up more than half of their numbers. The success those variants enjoyed far outstripped the success of others, and despite them being rather ordinary in the scope of their entire species, they were still rarer than others due to being variants.
“What an unfortunate child….” Upon learning Xiao Qi was an ‘orphan’, the affection she felt for Xiao Qi grew even more.
“Do you wish to travel with us? We can bring you to the innermost parts of the Soulbeast Forest and impart onto you our special methods of training. It should help you most wonderfully as a variant species of the prisma orioles. I might not be able to tell your age, but you surely can’t be of a hundred years of age. Even those of the class seven level rarely have talent like that. As long as you travel with us, we can assure you that you’ll become even stronger….”
The question imposed onto Xiao Qi caused Bai Yunfei’s eyes to dilate. Thanks to his bond with Xiao Qi, Bai Yunfei was able to listen in on the conversation, but the question asked now made his heart pound rapidly.
The soul contract with Xiao Qi was a yoke of sorts, but it was by no means a physical one. Xiao Qi could freely choose where it wanted to go. In fact, there were plenty of strong soulbeasts that chose to stay in the Soulbeast Forest to train, and only left when summoned; the primary example being those soulbeasts who were of the class seven level.
Bai Yunfei was reluctant to part with Xiao Qi–since they had only just formed a soul contract with one another–but he wouldn’t stop it from leaving if it wanted to.
“Chirp!”
While Bai Yunfei was worrying about how Xiao Qi would respond, the bird immediately chirped a response straight away.
In that response, Bai Yunfei could only feel one tone behind it–refusal!
Refusal without delay!
In fact, Xiao Qi was looking quite annoyed by Yi Rou’s suggestion.
“Eh?”
Both Yi Rou and Yi Gang didn’t expect to be refused. Being looked after by two of the Eight Soulbeast Rulers wasn’t inferior to being with a young soul cultivator whose master was Zi Jin; even the most primal of soulbeasts wouldn’t give up the opportunity to be taught by them….
And yet Xiao Qi did so without even thinking about it!
Like Yi Rou and Yi Gang, Bai Yunfei was surprised, but he smiled when he heard it.
Xiao Qi chirped twice before preparing to fly back to Bai Yunfei. Before it could fly away, however, an invisible power prevented the bird from moving, even its wings were left unable to flap.
“An adamant youngling, this one is.” Yi Gang eyed Xiao Qi, a look of admiration appearing in his eye. Only a rare few soulbeasts would dare treat the two of them like Xiao Qi did.
“Haha, there’s no need for such emotions, young one. If you’re unwilling to be apart from your contractee, then we won’t force the issue.” Yi Rou stroked Xiao Qi’s feathers. “But us meeting here in the forest today is a meeting of fate. Allow me to offer you a present….”
A jade like finger pressed onto Xiao Qi’s forehead as Yi Rou closed her eyes. Concentrating, her soulforce began to circulate in on herself.
Bai Yunfei grew surprised; from the information he was gleaming from Xiao Qi’s mind, he could sense….this was the information of some sort of training method!
Up until they reach the class seven level, soulbeast relied primarily on their own ability to absorb the elements of the world to grow stronger. After reaching the class seven level, their intelligence would become capable enough to understand even better and faster methods of training. And the one Yi Rou was giving Xiao Qi was a training method unique to birds!
“Wha—” Taken back from the information he was receiving, Bai Yunfei could hardly contain his immense joy afterwards.
This was no ‘present’! It was an immense blessing of fortuity!