Witnessing this scene, Yang Xiude, the elder from the Internal Affairs Pavilion responsible for organizing the Grand Competition, immediately breathed a sigh of relief, his expression filled with admiration.

“Good, good, good. This Big Qi truly has both courage and strategy, and his character is upright and good. If he hadn’t intervened to save them, those three Outer Sect Disciples would likely have perished right here.”

“Based on this alone, this young man is worthy of focused cultivation.”

Although a certain degree of casualties was permitted during the Outer Sect Grand Competition, losing three promising elite disciples at once would absolutely count as a serious incident.

Moreover, the Internal Affairs Pavilion indeed bore some responsibility for negligence in not clearing out dangerous demonic beasts like the Four-Eyed Spirit Fox in advance. If deaths had occurred because of this, Yang Xiude, as an elder of the Internal Affairs Pavilion, would have been hard-pressed to avoid blame.

Now that the crisis was resolved, Yang Xiude naturally felt as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders and felt grateful toward Qi Yuan.

This junior disciple’s performance was quite commendable. After the Grand Competition concluded, he must definitely recommend him to the Sect Master for promotion to Outer Sect Disciple and recruit him into the Internal Affairs Pavilion to work…

Just as he was thinking this, the elder from Falling Cloud Valley standing beside him suddenly let out a soft sound of surprise and said in a tone of astonishment:

“I originally thought Big Qi would slay that demon fox to earn points. I didn’t expect he actually wants to subdue it using a Beast Taming Scroll. What does he intend to do?”

Hearing this, Yang Xiude’s eyebrows shot up sharply. His expression then changed slightly, and he couldn’t help but speak up.

“Although the Four-Eyed Spirit Fox is extremely cunning, it is inherently timid and fears death. Now that Big Qi has captured it and its life is under threat, it might very well yield and sign the contract, acknowledging this lad as its master.”

“If he can subdue this Qi Refining Perfection stage Four-Eyed Spirit Fox, it’s not impossible for him to achieve something in this Grand Competition!”

Right at that moment, Elder Yin Qingyuan from the Entry into Dao Pavilion snorted coldly, his face full of disdain.

“This lad Big Qi only knows how to cut corners and seek quick gains. In terms of actual strength, he simply cannot be mentioned in the same breath as Han Zaiyuan, Xie Yuxing, Lu Kuang, and others.”

“Even with the help of a Four-Eyed Spirit Fox, it would be useless. That creature’s combat power is inherently weak; it only knows how to perform some crude illusion techniques. A fellow Qi Refining Perfection stage cultivator only needs to be slightly on guard to easily resist them.”

“Earlier, Nie Cuilan at the ninth layer of Qi Refining wasn’t immediately ensnared by the illusions either. If she hadn’t revealed a flaw in her mental state due to extreme terror, how could the Four-Eyed Spirit Fox have taken advantage of her vulnerability?”

As soon as these words were spoken, the several high-ranking members of Falling Cloud Valley present all nodded in agreement.

Although the Four-Eyed Spirit Fox’s illusion techniques were quite troublesome, they weren’t completely impossible to deal with. Any cultivator with equivalent or higher cultivation would find it very difficult to be deceived.

Among the disciples participating in the Outer Sect Grand Competition, there were quite a few at the Qi Refining Perfection stage. Relying on a single Four-Eyed Spirit Fox to make it into the top ten was basically not very likely.

At the same time.

“You now have two paths to choose from. One: obediently sign this Beast Taming Contract. Two: die!”

Qi Yuan’s tone was indifferent as he gazed coldly at the Four-Eyed Spirit Fox before him.

The fox demon’s eyes flickered, seemingly hesitating.

Seeing this, Qi Yuan gave a cold laugh and slowly pressed his hand against the fox demon’s neck.

“It seems you’ve still chosen death. Since that’s the case, I’ll grant your wish.”

At this moment, killing intent overflowed from his face as if he was about to immediately channel his magic power to snap the other’s neck bone.

The fox demon immediately yielded and somewhat reluctantly opened its mouth to spit out a drop of bright red blood essence—its very own lifeblood essence.

“You know what’s good for you.”

Qi Yuan smiled slightly, unrolled the Beast Taming Scroll in his hand, and dripped that drop of essence blood onto the contract.

Then, with a thought from his mind, he swiftly imprinted his soul mark onto this scroll…

In an instant, he felt a faint yet tangible connection form between himself and the demon fox before him. It seemed that with just a slight thought, he could easily decide the life or death of this Four-Eyed Spirit Fox.

The Beast Taming Contract was actually a purely master-slave contract; for demonic beasts, it was pretty much equivalent to an indenture contract.

During the contract period, the demonic beast was completely unable to defy its master’s will. Otherwise, it would suffer backlash from the contract and immediately have its soul scattered and destroyed, without even a chance for reincarnation.

As a specialty product of the Beast Taming Sect—a first-rate sect in this world—Beast Taming Scrolls were not difficult to obtain in the cultivation world, nor were they particularly expensive. The only difficulty lay in forcing a demonic beast to sign such an unequal contract.

Of course, if one encountered a demonic beast with an unyielding temperament or one that was wild and untamable by nature, it would most likely prefer death over signing such a contract. However, the inherently timid Four-Eyed Spirit Fox clearly did not fall into that category.

After the contract was established, the aura emanating from the fox demon weakened by another few degrees; it looked utterly dejected and hopeless.

“What? Still not convinced?” Qi Yuan shot it a disdainful glance. “If I didn’t see you as somewhat useful, a low-level little demon like you wouldn’t even be qualified to be my spirit pet. As long as you work diligently and honestly, you’ll regain your freedom soon enough.”

With that said, he untied the beast-catching net and released the fox demon.

After regaining its mobility, the fox demon hesitated for a moment but ultimately approached Qi Yuan’s side fearfully.

Seeing that the Four-Eyed Spirit Fox had been completely tamed, Qi Yuan casually put away the Beast Taming Scroll and then took out a jade vial from his storage pouch.

Upon opening it, a peculiar medicinal fragrance wafted out from within…

Top-grade Spirit Nurturing Pill!

Could what this villain… er… master said actually be true?

The fox demon’s spirits greatly lifted. The look in its eyes toward Qi Yuan instantly changed, now filled with intense desire.

“Break through to Foundation Building realm before dawn tomorrow. Otherwise… you’ll die an ugly death.”

As he spoke, Qi Yuan poured out that system-produced Top-grade Spirit Nurturing Pill from the jade vial and tossed it in front of the fox demon.

Hearing this, both of the fox demon’s fluffy ears instantly drooped down. The Top-grade Spirit Nurturing Pill before its eyes suddenly didn’t seem so fragrant anymore.

Seeing its master’s unfriendly expression, it hurriedly took the pill into its mouth and then scurried off into the forest, disappearing from sight…

After the fox demon left, Qi Yuan walked over to where three unlucky individuals lay unconscious not far away. He glanced curiously at their waist jade tokens but immediately lost interest.

Perhaps because all nearby demonic beasts had been snatched up by those worker teams earlier on their hunt for points, this three-person team had fared miserably indeed.

Nie Cuilan’s point token still had four points on it, while her two followers’ jade tokens were completely empty, still stuck at zero—perfectly illustrating the profound truth: Being a Simp Leaves You with Nothing.

With these thoughts passing through his mind, his figure flickered, and he silently left his original spot. Before leaving, he sent out a gentle stream of true qi that awakened all three individuals.

A moment later, the three people lying on the ground slowly opened their eyes. They discovered the surroundings were a complete mess; everywhere were traces of battle magic. They themselves still held weapons and magical tools in their hands.

Not knowing what she recalled, anger surged in Nie Cuilan’s heart. She abruptly jumped up from the ground and gave each of her two companions a slap in the face.

“I remember now! You two dared sneak attack me from behind earlier! And you let those Frostmice escape! No wonder you specifically sought me out to form a team! Your plan all along was to ruin my affairs, right?!”

The two people who received the slaps were instantly dumbfounded and confused. They didn’t understand what exactly they had done wrong.