Chapter 367: Someone Else

Luo De frowned and braked, his golden sword halting between them.

Mushman Toru hastily shoved aside his blade, clasped the meatball, and nervously shielded it behind him.

"."

Luo De ignored him for now, suppressing his killing intent: "Close the rift first."

The chaotic spatial rift spilled violent spiritual energy winds that stung his face.

In his peripheral vision, the neighboring cell held a weaker woman who, after being struck by the spiritual winds, was now foaming at the mouth.

The spell to seal the spatial rift was complex—he couldn't learn it in an instant.

Toru stood still, watching him with wary eyes.

"If you don't close it, I'll cut you all down."

Luo De snorted coldly.

Toru finally flinched, turning to speak to the meatball—but halfway, he twisted back, hesitating: "Guardian of the Woods, please remove the sealing spell binding me, or I cannot communicate with Tori."

Moments later.

The cosmic being's flesh writhed, its short, fleshy hairs slowly drawing the spatial rift shut.

Mushman Toru never took his eyes off Luo De, fearing another attack.

Luo De, meanwhile, narrowed his eyes, studying the meatball.

He had dealt with cosmic beings before.

He even established a strong trading relationship with Bone Dragon Meghan; she coveted the 【Lust】 energy within the spatial realm and required vast quantities of Luo De's essence.

Then there was the cursed dragon soul, Xiao Naolin.

She too was once a cosmic being, but once her dragon body materials were gathered, she would likely become a fully integrated being of the Spiritual Continent.

The Spiritual Continent naturally repels cosmic beings from the spatial realm.

Look.

Within mere minutes, the flesh's surface turned from pale to red, then began oozing blood spots.

This meatball risked its life to enter the Spiritual Continent solely to prevent Toru from signing that eternal soul contract.

Even afterward, it willingly took a blade for him.

Truly touching.

Moreover:

Miss Meatball can open spatial rifts, but her internal spiritual ether is not highly refined—roughly equivalent to a fifth-rank Spiritual Accumulation.

Luo De still had confidence he could control it.

He was not the type who stubbornly believed all cosmic beings must be killed.

Look—he even kept the Mind Flayer in his forest.

But of course, under control.

"Master, not kill?"

Tally asked softly.

"Tally, when did I raise you to be so cruel?"

"Who raised whom?"

Yuna, listening to the succubus and her master's wolfish secrets, remained expressionless beside them.

She was used to it.

Now, with outsiders present, they'd somewhat restrained themselves.

But when it came to dangerous cosmic beings, for her master's safety, she dared to speak up even if it overstepped:

"Master, I also recommend eliminating them—not just the cosmic being, but the summoner, Mushman Toru, too."

The Arachnid Elf's gaze turned cold.

She looked at Toru and the meatball as if they were unsorted wet waste.

Luo De nodded.

Indeed, if he were to kill, he'd have to kill Mushman Toru too.

It was absurd that these isolated mushrooms could "mind-link" with cosmic beings.

Logically, mushrooms' history stretches back to the Second Era; after three eras, if they truly could communicate with cosmic beings alone, it would've been impossible to hide.

Yet no such records exist.

If boldly speculated, excluding Toru's personal uniqueness, could one infer that the barrier between the spatial realm and reality had thinned?

Luo De shook his head, abandoning unfounded speculation.

He looked at the mushroom and meatball clinging together in the corner.

"Toru, forming a bond with a cosmic being is a grave sin in every nation and race—you can't be unaware of that?"

Mushman Toru shed his earlier lethargy, becoming urgent and agitated.

He pressed himself firmly before Tori.

"I will protect Tori with my life."

"Don't waste words. One slash—even if you two cloned and stacked yourselves three or four times—I'd still split you cleanly. It'd just take a bit more effort."

Toru bit his tongue, silent.

Luo De continued smiling: "Relax—I'm a soft-hearted man. I'll give you a chance."

"What chance?"

"The enslavement spell, my mushroom friend. I'm enslaving your girlfriend."

Not just Toru—even Yuna and Tally stared at him in shock.

Toru roared: "Impossible!"

Yuna forced down her sorrow: "If Master truly desires it, Yuna is willing to serve Miss Tori as well."

Tally beamed: "Cosmic being?! Are we really going to taste one so soon?? I thought the first would be Bone Dragon Meghan!"

Luo De shrugged.

Why does everyone assume I'm going to fuck this meatball?

Enslaving doesn't mean I have to use it—it's just a reliable control method.

Look: Zombie Selina, Dragon Soul Naolin, Mind Flayer Hart, Little Horse Girl Bond, and even the Witch Cat in the 【Cat Demon Jing Le Garden】—I haven't touched any of them.

But enslaving someone else's girlfriend…

Feels a bit taboo.

"It's just a control method. Come on, look at the two beauties beside me—do you think I'd get aroused by a meatball?"

Hearing this, Yuna rubbed her hands, heart sweet.

Tally smirked, blowing into his ear: "Naughty boy, openly and secretly praising your auntie's beauty—thinking of being bold with me again?"

"Not necessarily. No one can face Tori's pure soul and remain unmoved."

Toru murmured.

Luo De sneered: "Hurry up. Say no, and you die. Look at your Tori—Spiritual energy is constantly damaging her body. You don't want her to suffer and die, do you?"

Large clusters of blood spots oozed from the flesh, forming a clear curtain of crimson.

Mushman Toru's face twisted with anguish.

After several minutes of whispered conversation with Tori, he finally nodded at Luo De.

【Enslavement Successful】

【Enslaved Target 15: Tori (Real Name: oeicd·203·ldxo)】

【Race: Abyss Devourer】

【Age: 8】

【Obedience: 51】

【Evaluation: A traveler from the spatial realm. The race name sounds terrifying, but in truth, it excels at fleeing and rarely lives past twenty.】

Unbelievable. You're enslaving this thing?

Eight years old?

Toru, you're not right.

But what surprised Luo De more was that this meatball, Tori, already had 51 obedience toward him.

(End of Chapter)