He hated to do it, but this was reality. Yu Zitong knew exactly where he stood.

His brow tightened and his thoughts raced. He began to mutter an incantation, then fiercely bit the tip of his tongue. He closed his eyes, his hands forming a seal, and his face instantly turned a deep crimson.

PFFT...

Immediately, Yu Zitong spat out a mouthful of blood, much of it spraying onto the fur of the Golden Pupils in his arms.

"Master Yu, what’s wrong?"

Su Yu asked with sudden concern. Tu Xiao’an just watched in silence, a flicker of pity in his heart. But even so, it was too late.

"Meow... Meow..."

Golden Pupils cried out to Yu Zitong again and again, tears welling up in its Yin Yang Eyes.

"Little one, you’re free now. Go to your new master." Yu Zitong had forcibly severed his Blood Contract with the regal cat and was suffering from the backlash, making his already fragile body even more unsteady.

With the Blood Contract broken, he and the cat no longer had any connection. From now on, they were strangers.

Meow...

Golden Pupils stared blankly at Yu Zitong, completely motionless.

Yu Zitong turned to Tu Xiao’an. "Master Tu, I hope you will treat it well. This cat may have a bad temper and a fierce nature, but it is extremely loyal to its master."

"Don’t worry. I’ll be sure to treat Golden Pupils well."

’Why do I feel like I just broke up a mother and her child?’ Tu Xiao’an thought, a wry smile on his face.

’Truthfully, even if I hadn’t stepped in, Golden Pupils wouldn’t have been able to stay with Yu Zitong. I went to the Bai Family, took the cat, and brought it here to see him. I guess you could say that gives him some closure.’

’The bond between master and servant is over. I have nothing to feel guilty about.’

"If you ever want to see Golden Pupils again, you can call me anytime," Tu Xiao’an said after a moment’s thought.

At these words, Yu Zitong was overjoyed. "Thank you, thank you!"

"Little one, go on, go to your new master." Yu Zitong gently pushed the cat lingering in his arms.

Golden Pupils looked at Yu Zitong, its formidable eyes full of reluctance. Then it glanced at Tu Xiao’an not far away. With a final cry, it suddenly appeared at his feet.

Tu Xiao’an smiled, his eyes narrowing as he projected a Formless wave of Consciousness Power onto Golden Pupils.

"Submit."

.........

「The next day.」

Tu Xiao’an was lounging lazily on the leather sofa in the Bull Demon King’s villa. Beside him, a cat with tiger-striped fur was dozing, its two wide ears looking quite adorable.

Tu Xiao’an stroked the regal cat, a faint smile on his lips. It no longer had any connection to Yu Zitong; it was completely his now.

But Tu Xiao’an had been generous. Seeing how miserable Yu Zitong looked—emaciated and now without his cat—he had transferred a million to him.

’Call it a bit of compensation.’

In the living room, an Immortal Spirit Peacock with nine-colored feathers was preening, occasionally grumbling at Tu Xiao’an. "You big jerk! What am I supposed to do if my feathers don’t grow back?"

Many parts of its body were bare, completely devoid of feathers, which severely impacted the Azure Owl’s magnificent appearance.

"Why don’t we just glue the feathers you lost back on?" Tu Xiao’an replied dismissively.

In an instant, the Azure Owl radiated killing intent, looking ready to lunge at him and fight to the death.

’Alright, I get it.’ Tu Xiao’an understood. The Azure Owl was just fishing for treats.

Tu Xiao’an took out a large amount of Snake Skin and Snakeberries from his system, letting it have a good meal to hopefully speed up the growth of its new feathers.

Golden Pupils meowed at Tu Xiao’an, indicating it wanted some too.

With a wave of his hand, Tu Xiao’an tossed it a generous portion of Snake Skin and Snakeberries as well, letting the two of them eat off to the side.

Watching the peacock and the cat eat, Tu Xiao’an fell into thought. ’These two creatures before me are both Super level Creatures, and both are Rank Two.’

’The Snake Skin and Snakeberries contain Energy, but they aren’t especially effective for these two. At least, the results aren’t immediate.’

’If I want my pets to level up quickly, just feeding them Snake Skin and Snakeberries is far from enough.’

’Based on what I’ve seen, a Spirit Fruit like the Snakeberry is probably a first-rank fruit. It works well on Rank One Creatures, but it falls short when it comes to Rank Two Creatures.’

’The Centennial Ice Divine Fruit the vice-dean mentioned must be a second-rank fruit.’

’Besides, both Snake Skin and Snakeberries are technically food for the Snake Race. They’d be far more effective if a snake ate them, compared to these two.’

’I have plenty of treasures in the system, but there really isn’t anything that can help Awakened Creatures level up quickly. That’s something I’ll have to figure out on my own.’

’Raising pets isn’t as easy as it looks. It would be better to just directly subjugate a Rank 3 Demon Spirit. Then I wouldn’t have to do anything and could just reap the rewards.’

’Looks like whenever I encounter powerful Spirit Monsters in the future, I’ll have to use them as feed. The higher the Level of a Spirit Monster, the more their flesh and blood are like Great Replenishing Pills.’

’If I could get my hands on the Golden Core of a Rank 3 Demon Spirit, I could make the Levels of these two Super level creatures skyrocket.’

Just then, the Bull Demon King and Celestial Master Zhang appeared in the living room. After a night’s rest, they had recovered their Primordial Qi and had been released from the system by Tu Xiao’an.

"You two, tell me. Why can’t this cat speak, even with such a high-tier bloodline?"

Tu Xiao’an was quite frustrated by this.

"A bit slow?" the Bull Demon King ventured.

"A little dim-witted?" Celestial Master Zhang added.

ROAR—!

A tiger-like roar erupted from Golden Pupils. A Super level creature would not tolerate such insults.

The Bull Demon King gave an awkward laugh. "Master, it’s hard to say. Perhaps there’s an Innate issue with its genes. Or maybe it just grew too quickly and hasn’t fully developed yet."

Celestial Master Zhang picked up the thread. "How long has this cat been in Cultivation?"

Tu Xiao’an thought for a moment. "I heard from its previous master that the cat is less than five years old."

The Bull Demon King and Celestial Master Zhang froze as if they’d been turned to stone. "A Super level Rank Two Spirit Monster... that’s less than five years old?"

Are you kidding us?

"What’s wrong?" Tu Xiao’an didn’t see what the big deal was. ’It’s only been a few months since I was reborn as a snake, and aren’t I about to attain the Dao myself?’

Celestial Master Zhang said in despair, "It took me two hundred and eighty years of Cultivation to reach Rank Two, and five hundred years to attain the Dao and achieve my Flood Dragon Transformation."

The Bull Demon King was also hit hard. "It took me two hundred and fifty years of Cultivation to become a Spirit Monster and four hundred and sixty years to attain the Dao. I’ve been cultivating for six hundred years in total!"

"And you ask what’s wrong..."

Tu Xiao’an glanced at them and said with disappointment, "So your natural talent is that terrible? Over five hundred years of Cultivation... How shameful."

In truth, both the Bull Demon King and Celestial Master Zhang, the Snake Flood Dragon, were High Rank Creatures.

For them to have attained the Dao was already a great blessing.

"Azure Owl, how old are you?" Tu Xiao’an asked the Immortal Forest Peacock, which was currently bickering with Golden Pupils over the food.

"I’m eight years old!"

PFFT...

The Bull Demon King and Celestial Master Zhang were petrified once more.

’Is Cultivation really this easy nowadays?’

These two Rank Two Super level creatures made the Bull Demon King and Celestial Master Zhang, who had already attained the Dao, burn with envy and jealousy.

This was natural talent. This was the direct benefit of a powerful bloodline.

Their Cultivation speed was dozens of times faster than that of an ordinary being, perhaps even more.

Without a doubt, if either the Azure Owl or Golden Pupils were to attain the Dao, their combat power would far surpass that of those other two.

With the bloodlines of the Bull Demon King and Celestial Master Zhang, it would be incredibly difficult for them to reach the Demon King Level. Even if they could, it would take several hundred more years at the very least.

’If I want to see a significant improvement in their Cultivation, I’ll have to upgrade their bloodlines.’