Chapter 91 - She Didn't Like Contracts At All! (Taiga + CEO)
There was something strange when he placed his hand on her head—the mere act of his warm hand brushing over her hair was warm and comfortable. But there was also a hint of control in it that made her almost automatically stop.
Well, that wasn't true.
If anyone else were to attempt a similar kind of thing, their hand would be cut down in a moment. This was a submissive position for her to be in, and yet she knew that this man in front of her wouldn't do anything dangerous.
Taiga knew that she might have gone a little far too much than she was supposed to.
But wasn't this man supposed to be someone who was throwing around and galvanizing their wealth? His house was so small and there wasn't anything so fancy. He also seemed quite nice that she thought he wouldn't mind… but when she gazed at the serious look on his face. It truly meant that he was upset, and she had overstepped her boundaries.
"Taiga is sorry.." she said and kept her gaze down. She couldn't even meet him in the eye at this instance—not a lot of people tried to hold or bar her down from doing what she wanted. If somebody wanted to make her do something, then they either needed to overpower her with their aura or brute strength.
Or give her enough of a reward for not do any of those things.
"... do you promise not to do it again?" he asked.
The tigress spirit knew her urges were mayhem for far too many times. She had the urge to cause trouble to use up her extra energy, but she looked up and managed a sheepish smile. "Taiga will ask for permission next time?"
"Good enough..." he sighed. The man, Li Yang, was no harsh boss—and yet his hand didn't exactly leave her head. "Is what I want to say, but I do understand we can personally form our own type of contract to further ensure that you won't do it anymore, along with other conditions I suppose. What do you say?"
Her eyes widened—he wanted a real contract. A life-bound or blood contract? "A-ah… doesn't this seem too much, Bossman? Taiga will follow your every word, promise!" Taiga had already seen it happen before between a human cultivator and spiritual beasts, the human providing its aura and qi levels for a beast to feed on, but the beast had to serve its master for life.
"No. I find it completely necessary and I believe that even Miss Shen An Na would agree to it."
She didn't want anything like that—!
Taiga had only decided to let herself be adopted into the Shou Temple Sect because of the resources they could give her, but she had no interest in being held and shackled down by no man. Especially someone who was weaker than her! "Everything is a lie—just because you can contract a higher-stage spiritual beast doesn't assure you that you'll be able to breakthrough or achieve higher stages than your innate talent!"
Well, the man could attempt to eat her, but she didn't want to be harvested!
[ You Have Lost 100 Charm Points ]
There was some sort of misunderstanding playing out, and it was apparent from the flustered and overly agonized tigress spirit in his clutches. She was leaning out of him very carefully but made no move to wriggle out of his grasps and yet she spoke of a contract like it was the thing that could take her life.
He understood that there were some learning barriers between them. Did she even know how to read and write? Much less understand what a contract was? Those things swirled in his mind, but there was a much more primal fear ebbing around her and he could feel it in the qi of the surrounding air.
He sighed and looked at her, finally letting go of his grip on her head, and instead he offered a hand. "I hired you to be a bodyguard through an employment contract with the Shen Society, but I wish to form another written contract between the two of us to have you teach me how to fight. I have no interest in causing you any form of distress, Miss Taiga."
"Written contract? Like blood?" She took one step backward. Her mind didn't even register his request at all. "Taiga doesn't like spilling her own blood at all! Taiga doesn't like this at all!"
The CEO understood more and more that this was truly some great miscommunication between them. A blood contract? Sealed in blood? Li Yang's mind was not in any of that sort even he could understand that she was implying, or rather trying to disprove the idea of contracting spiritual creatures like her for power.
He could understand her fear to a certain extent—he was bound to a System without any sort of agreement prior to the Panda smacking his face with its paw. And it was supposed to be a 'congratulatory' thing back then to be chosen amongst the billions of this earth.
The CEO did not exactly feel grateful.
Even as Li Yang glanced around the room, the Panda once again invisible and nearly out of sight and mind, he still felt something akin to a string tugging him along to make a move and carry on with the show. He tried for a smile, but couldn't even do it. He wanted to be honest and gave the tigress spirit a look. "No, we don't have to do anything of that sort. I'd like to place my trust in you and for you to put your trust in myself."
"Trust? Trust me? Trust you?" Taiga didn't exactly stop squirming, a great contrast to the exuberant spirit that had talked to Miss Ying Yue He into accepting the world of cultivation and her part in it. This time, she had a hesitant look on her face. "You want Taiga to have complete faith in you?"
"You're free to scrutinize me, of course, but I have no intention of doing anything that would actively put you in a bad spot." Li Yang said. He was under no illusion that he might have to use her to defend himself, but if he could avoid fights and not make himself a target, then he would do it.
Had he made himself a big target for associating with the Shen Society or playing his cards far too early than he could as a third stage Qi Condensation Harem Cultivator? Li Yang could feel himself internally grimacing and twitching at such a title. What kind of cultivation method did you use? Oh, he was someone who acquired power through cultivation beauties.
It was almost enough to cause him physical pain.
He'd like to think that creating a presence was enough of a deterrent, along with hiring a powerful spirit cultivator to his side—no matter how fickle she was.
"Ahem." Taiga waved a hand in front of his face, once again another pout on her face. The initial scare he had caused from mentioning the contract was gone with the wind and instead replaced by a curious but also doubtful look on her face. "There's a lot of monsters and cultivators that Taiga can defeat, Taiga has also lived long enough to put her tail down and run away from a fight."
"Is that so?" he asked.
It was relieving to know that she could at least retreat if the chances were slim. But what would she fight? Certainly not gods, right? Li Yang had a feeling that his thoughts weren't actively being read—only his actions. His thoughts weren't enough to elicit some form of balk reaction from the System.
Or the power of the Heavens could only extend so much.
"Yes. And Taiga can teach, Bossman… but no complaining when your entire body hurts all over." She walked over to him and pressed her fingers on his chest. Something close to a sharp throb focused on his skin, her claws digging in slightly. "Taiga cannot treat or heal you, so you must find a cultivation person focused on healing or an alchemist with good ingredients for it."
"There are people whose cultivation is focused on healing other people?" he asked. "Isn't cultivation to be something that one pursues for one to gain immortality and power? I can understand how alchemy ties in to that, but not cultivating to heal others—unless he gets other people to pay for it."
Taiga wagged a finger, "Yes, there are different kinds of cultivators, albeit Taiga thinks that some preferred to be known as saints or priests? The world is really big and there are a lot of troubles so there would be people learning how to heal others, especially when something powerful comes along and different organizations work together."
"...something powerful comes along?" he raised a brow. Powerful enough to make disparate groups work together?
"Like an evil dragon? Zhao had to deal with it before—but ah yes, some use alchemy, but others learn how to channel their qi to heal other living beings." The tigress spirit shrugged. "It's difficult for Taiga because Taiga is used to tearing people to shreds with her qi. Different practices, you see? Find a priest or saint!"
In a way, she almost said it like she was giving him her own quest. But Li Yang nodded. Those were good people to recruit, and he would pay no heed to their gender—as long as they were useful and could do the job. He would hire them. Perhaps it was far better that it was males that he hired…Someone strong enough to vanquish a dragon? That was close to gods, right?
Unless the Heavens who watched also enjoyed those kinds of things. It was another thing he hoped to avoid in the future. There was no room for it.
—-—-
Author Note: Have you read Omniscient Reader before? There were some trouble about readers afraid that it was BL because two characters were being shipped by a Constellation. Ah, good times I say. But ah yes, I assume most people who read this are in for the straight harem :D Unless you're into yuri too. Let me know xD