The Devil and I

Over the next few days, Fang Shi looked over his daily business reports and breathed a sigh of relief. Spirit bound had become popular with his human cultivator customers as expected, but it was the spiritual beasts that surprised him the most. Fang Shi no longer had to worry about his new store being empty as the humans and beasts flocked to it.

That being said, Fang Shi noticed that at both locations, old habits die hard. Even when using the testing artifact or when he gave others advice, Fang Shi noticed that the majority of guests would focus on cultivating the same as before. A small percentage of customers would emulate Fang Shi by cultivating their mind, body, and soul simultaneously while the general population of guests focused on their preferred method. Spiritual beasts had strong bodies with vitality that would allow them to live much longer than humans normally, but their advancement in power was equally slow. Humans were the opposite, their growth easily dwarfed that of beasts, but they couldn't live as long either. This put spiritual beasts at a disadvantage, since humans could populate an area much quicker and rise in strength much faster, any loses the beasts suffered would be felt for generations and quickly unbalance the scales.

So Fang Shi saw the same pattern in both shops, humans would mostly visit the apothecary and cultivation hall and beasts would also use the cultivation hall but heavily favored the restaurants more. The discussions held both in person and in posts were now dominated by Spirit Bound, something that didn't surprise Fang Shi. Fairy and Sword had been out for some time now, and the different modes that guests used to challenge each other could get repetitive after some time, so customers flocking to the new game was normal.

Spirit Bound didn't exactly follow the same pattern as the game that Fang Shi had based it off of because the laws of elements worked different in this world. So not only was the classification of the beasts different, their weaknesses and strengths were also more aligned to this world. Also the players themselves got involved with the battles, so the end result was much different than the game he played in his past life. That being said, the discussions he saw when he visited the forums were very similar as everyone's opinions caused arguments about which elements were best, which creatures looked the best, or which strategies were better against which opponents. Fang Shi felt nostalgic when he read the forums in the Sanctum that felt like optimization guides in their most primitive form.

As Fang Shi continued to casually search through Sanctum, one particular discussion caught his attention as a system notification rang in his mind.

[Can the methods in Spirit Bound be used?]

In Blue Moon city, a young man was sitting in the older version of the cultivation pod with a special cage sitting in his lap. The door to the pod was still opened, and another man called out to the one inside.

"Lin Feng, why do you have a baby goshawk inside with you?", the man outside the pod asked.

Lin Feng looked at his friend, "Jiang Hao, I think I tamed this beast the same way as I have beasts in Spiritbound."

Jiang Hao was slightly surprised as his friend's admission.

"What do you mean by that?", he asked Lin Feng.

"My spirit stones were getting low nearly 3 days ago so I took a mission at the Adventure Guild", Lin Feng explained, "While I was out there, I found this baby goshawk that had fallen from its nest. Normally, I wouldn't have paid it much attention and continued on with my task, but I thought about Spiritbound and decided that I could test if it was possible to form a connection with an animal with it like I did in the virtual realm."

Jiang Hao hadn't experienced the new realm of Spiritbound yet. He had discovered an affinity with lightning during his time playing 'Fairy and Sword', so he had focused his attention playing that game.

"So, did you have any success?", Jiang Hao inquired, "Wait, never mind. There is no way you made progress in three days. Also, beast taming is costly and time consuming."

"Actually, though the feeling is very weak, I believe I feel a connection with this chick already", Lin Feng responded, "I posted a question in Sanctum to see if anyone else also experienced this as well."

"Did you get any replies?", Jiang Hao was curious.

"No", Lin Feng frowned, "That's why I'm not sure if what I'm feeling is real, or if I'm just being too hopeful."

"Well, I've been making great stride with my lightning techniques", Jiang Hao boasted, "I wish you good luck."

Jiang Hao casually waved his hand as he walked away, mostly likely towards his own cultivation pod, and Lin Feng grumbled while closing the pod door.

"Galewing, we can only depend on each other", he said as he fed the baby bird insects he had foraged and small strips of meat he purchased in the pavilion.

The infant goshawk still hadn't opened its eyes yet, so it ate the meal in awkward desperation. Once the baby bird had its fill and rested in the makeshift nest Lin Feng had created in the cage, he entered the virtual realm.

Lin Feng went straight to Spiritbound and entered the game without hesitation as his surroundings changed from his personal space to a familiar room. It was a small room made of wood with a desk and chair right in the center. Lin Feng remembered the first time he appeared here, the walls were barren but now you could carvings in certain places. These carvings represented beasts he had met, battled or captured in Spiritbound so far. Lin Feng sat down in the chair and opened the scroll sitting on the desk. He unrolled the scroll to uncover four images that looked just like him, but all similarities stopped there. Each image had text beneath it indicating the amount of time spent during that adventure, his level, how many beasts he had spirit bound with, and how his current location.

The first image was his first foray into Spiritbound, and he had picked a beast with wood abilities to match his own. He also started in the first city that had been selected, it wasn't until the second game he started that he learned he could pick his starting city. The process would still remain the same, he would still have challenge every trial to prove his strength and growth to be able to bind with stronger spirit beasts. He quickly learned that when you started in a new city, the realm would quickly shift the strengths of all the challenges to compensate for those circumstances. The starting spirit beasts he could select would change, and the number of spirit beasts the trial judge would increase or decrease in number or strength.

Today, Lin Feng decided to enter the first of the four images, the record of his very first entry into Spiritbound. This record had the most progress since he had played it the most before learning about being able to save several different records. He felt he had made the most mistakes with this record, but since the choices were already made, he would continue to use this record to learn more. Spiritbound hadn't been out for too long, but he had already passed the trial of the first and second dojo.

As Lin Feng became aware of his surroundings, he looked at his status.

(Name: Lin Feng

Level: Qi Gathering 8th realm

Beast soul slots: 2

Dojos defeated: 2

Number of spirit beast captured/seen: 5/27

Time trained in realm: 23 hours)

Lin Feng dismissed the status screen and looked around, he recognized he was resting in an inn located close to the second dojo. Standing up, Lin Feng left the inn and starting walking on the path that was supposed to take him towards the third dojo. Once he left the city walls, he sent a mental command and two spirit beast appeared: a snake that resembled a vine, and a mole.

As Lin Feng moved forward, the snake wrapped around his arm hiding in his sleeve and the mole went underground awaiting a signal. For the next several hours, he explored the path, investigated spirit beasts, and battled other cultivators that had been victorious at the second dojo and were also traveling to the third.

While traversing the mountains that stood between him and the next city, Lin Feng suddenly felt the area around him was strange. He couldn't think of the reason for this feeling until her heard the crunch of leaves beneath his feet.

"This place is too quiet", Lin Feng realized, his voice louder than usual, "Nothing is moving, and I can't see or sense spirit beasts around here."

Nothing responded to him, but that didn't bother Lin Feng who had spoken to confirm the situation, the air was unreasonably quiet. He saw something in the corner of his eye, and swiftly turned to look at it. In front of him was a man, but this man appeared much different than what Lin Feng was used to. The man had long hair white as snow that wasn't tied properly or held in place with accessories. The man's face was mostly pale with his eyes and mouth appearing as if someone had taken a black pen and outlined them. The man's robes looked luxurious, but Lin Feng wasn't able to identify the materials that made the cloth and added to the stranger's gloomy appearance. The newcomer smiled and took a stance that suggested that he was about to attack, but what really unsettled Lin Feng was the sharpness of the man's teeth and fingernails.

'Prepare to defend', Lin Feng sent a message mentally to the two spirit beasts traveling alongside him. He immediately felt the mole move to anticipate an attack while the snake shed it skin. The shed transformed into leaves, and Lin Feng flicked his sleeves causing the leaves to flourish around him. Suddenly, he received a panicked emotion from the mole and he used his movement technique to retreat backwards. When he looked at the spot he was standing, roots had pierced the ground and he theorized he would have captured if he had stayed.

The situation became worse because he felt the roots had surrounded his mole, and it was desperately fighting back against being captured.

'Go', Lin Feng ordered.

The snake left his sleeve, and continued to spread leaves to block the sight of the strange opponent. It would also mix seeds into the leaves that it spread around, but Lin Feng noticed that as the seeds and leaves closed in on the white haired man, they would lose vitality when it touched him or the exposed roots.

Lin Feng's eyes widen in realization, "He's using Yin Wood techniques!"

When Lin Feng first started the game, there was a scroll rack in the starting home that explained most of the rules and how to play. He didn't know about others, but he had spent the first few hours reading through all the material available. Just now, he remembered the scroll that was written about elements. Each element had elements that it would suppress or enhance, but how it did so was split between Yin and Yang. As a cultivator whose strongest element was wood, he favored methods and techniques that were Yang centered.

During all the hours he had played through the game, Lin Feng had only observed everyone utilizing Yang techniques for their own elements as well, and he had grown complacent. The snake he had picked as his starting spirit beasts had abilities to promote growth, and the mole was supposed to use the earth element to enhance the wood element of the snake and himself. Lin Feng began contemplating his opponent, as someone also of the wood element, his approach to battle was much different. Instead of the rapid growth of plants, Yin wood techniques were much slower and quieter.

As Lin Feng continued to remember what he read as he moved around, it began to dawn on him that he wasn't moving as fast as he previously was.

"Poison!", he shouted as grabbed an antidote from his belt and drank it.

Lin Feng also grabbed a small cloth to covered his nose and mouth, but as he tied it to his head a root caused him to trip. Unfortunately for him as he fell to the ground, many roots were waiting and he found himself bound as his vitality was quickly drained. His surroundings changed as he saw a familiar screen informing him that he had died.

"So that was a devil", Lin Feng sighed, "This time, I'll store the mole and bring the fox."

Lin Feng looked at the cage holding the baby bird, and for some reason the extremely weak connection he felt he had with it seem to feel slightly stronger.

"Hurry and grow strong", he urged the small animal, "Just like Spiritbound, we will fight together someday."

[New! Secret life of Beasts]

Fang Shi looked at and selected the achievement that had appeared in his status panel.

[New! Secret life of Beasts

Cultivators have many ways to increase their strength, and due to the loss of knowledge over time relations with spirit beasts have changed drastically to a hostile environment.

Have a customer form a connection with a spiritual unawakened beasts (Completed).

Reward: A pet shop and five species of unawakened beasts for sale.]

Fang Shi was delighted at first, but after a few moments something occurred to him.

'System', he said, 'If cultivators can just form relationships with beasts on their own, why would they buy from this store?'

'Answer: The beasts sold are not able to be found in the wilds of this land', the system stated, 'Also, the new store will sales products to feed and care for the beasts such as food, services, and training items.'

Fang Shi looked at the wallet tab, "The cultivation pod cafe has been doing well, so let's add a couple floors now that I made some money again. Also, I accept the reward and I'll place it here."

'Response: Acknowledged', the system replied.

Fang Shi thought about new species being introduced into this world, but after thinking about for awhile, he decided he trusted the system and left it at that.