Yang Feilong had two choices regarding this arrogant woman: kill her to eliminate future trouble, or spare her life but prevent her from harming him.
He leaned towards sparing her life, as he'd considered a problem: he might not be able to enter the demon passage in the territory of the Spiritual Ape Lord. If that were the case, he would still need to find a way to leave the demon realm, and this Qingluan might be able to help. She seemed to have many admirers, and perhaps someone among them would know how to escape the demon realm.
If his soul were strong enough, directly using the Soul Control technique to control her would be best, but there was a gap in soul levels between him and Qingluan, making it impossible to control her with that method.
Under these circumstances, he had only two options: sign a partnership contract or a master-servant contract. For Yang Feilong, the second option, a master-servant contract, was clearly the better choice. Once such a contract was formed, she would not be able to betray him, and if he died, she would die too!
However, Qingluan was too resolute, willing to die rather than sign a master-servant contract.
"Didn't you just tell the Spiritual Ape that you'd rather sign a master-servant contract with a human than with him? I am, at least, your savior. How can you go back on your word?" Yang Feilong looked at Qingluan and taunted, "Tell me, are you a person who breaks their promises!"
Hearing Yang Feilong's words, Qingluan was stunned: "......"
But soon, she remembered what she had said earlier.
"I was just angry, and you actually took it seriously?" Qingluan looked at Yang Feilong with disdain. "Don't tell me you can't understand human speech!"
"I originally wanted to sign an equal contract with you, but since you're so stubborn, I'm really worried I'll suffer a loss if we sign an equal contract. On second thought, I'd better just kill you!" Yang Feilong said with a sigh.
"Wait, you said you wanted to sign an equal contract with me?" Qingluan's eyes lit up, and she said gently, "Well, I was actually too seriously injured, and my mind was a bit unclear. Cough, cough, I can be very gentle too."
Seeing Qingluan's somewhat submissive demeanor, Yang Feilong found it amusing. This demonic woman wasn't incapable of being soft!
Then, Yang Feilong looked at the Three-Eyed Crow and asked, "Is the equal contract of the Qingluan tribe reliable?"
"Reliable, very reliable!" Qingluan assured him repeatedly. Normally, she would never forge such a contract with a human, but now she was at his mercy and had no choice but to try and survive!
"I didn't ask you!" Yang Feilong said irritably. This woman was so eager; could there be a trap in this? He needed to find out for sure!
And if anyone knew best, it was undoubtedly the Three-Eyed Crow!
"Master, the Qingluan tribe's two contracts are very famous: one is the equal contract, and the other is the master-servant contract. The latter goes without saying, if the master dies, the servant will also die! The equal contract is also known as the partnership contract. This kind of partnership is countless times closer than ordinary friendship. Moreover, once an equal contract is forged, the Qingluan will not betray, unless their partner betrays them, which will trigger their hatred! Treating the other party well, however, will evoke goodwill from the other party, and the partnership will become increasingly intimate!" The Three-Eyed Crow, who had been severely injured but not killed, gasped and replied to Yang Feilong's question.
Hearing this, Yang Feilong secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The Three-Eyed Crow was enslaved by him, so it clearly wouldn't lie.
Perhaps the master-servant contract was very similar to the principle of his Soul Control, except that Soul Control was actively initiated, while the master-servant contract was passive.
After thinking for a while, Yang Feilong felt that the equal contract was relatively reliable.
"Tell me, how do we forge an equal contract?" Yang Feilong looked at Qingluan. He decided to forge this equal partnership contract with her!
Hearing Yang Feilong's words, Qingluan also secretly breathed a sigh of relief. "Forging an equal partnership contract is very simple! Like this..."
Then, she explained the rules, to prevent Yang Feilong from suspecting she was playing tricks.
Yang Feilong nodded after listening: "Let's begin!"
"I, Alice, the Saintess of the Qingluan tribe, am willing to forge a life-and-death partnership contract with the human... Oh right, what's your name?" Qingluan looked at Yang Feilong.
"Yang Feilong," Yang Feilong replied. He was a bit curious that this Qingluan was actually the Saintess of the Qingluan tribe, which was quite unexpected.
However, Alice, this name seemed similar to some Western foreign names on Earth. Of course, it wasn't strange!
"I, Alice, the Saintess of the Qingluan tribe, am willing to forge a life-and-death partnership contract with the human Yang Feilong, to never betray each other, to never abandon each other in times of peril, to unite as one, and to share life and death. If I violate this oath, I shall fall into eternal abyss and never be reborn!" Qingluan said solemnly. With that, she touched her forehead, and a cyan crescent moon mark flew out and headed towards Yang Feilong.
Yang Feilong could feel the power of the oath contained within this cyan crescent moon mark.
He didn't need to make any vows, only to guide this crescent moon mark into his forehead!
There was no resistance.
This cyan crescent moon mark flew into Yang Feilong's forehead.
This contract had no requirements for Yang Feilong, or rather, it wasn't entirely without requirements. He could betray Qingluan, but as soon as he did, the equal partnership contract would become void and dissipate on its own!
Even if he didn't break the contract, if Yang Feilong didn't treat Qingluan well, or even bullied her, one or two times wouldn't cause the mark to fall off or dissipate. But if it happened frequently, the contract mark might still fall off. Only by treating Qingluan well could he strengthen this contract mark, and it might never fall off for a lifetime!
"Interesting!" Yang Feilong exclaimed with a tut.
Because he could feel some of Qingluan's emotions through this contract mark. After signing the contract, although she had goodwill towards him due to the contract's power, she also harbored a lot of resentment. It could be said that this contract mark was forged unstably, which was understandable; she wasn't truly willing to forge it, but was forced into it!
Moreover, even with this contract mark, Yang Feilong could still kill Qingluan. At most, he would lose a partner. Therefore, Qingluan's current emotions towards Yang Feilong could not be too intimate.
This was the power of the Qingluan tribe's equal contract; it was most binding on oneself!
This was also why the Qingluan tribe members would not easily forge contracts!
"My injuries are quite serious right now, so I can't help you search for the Flame King's treasure. I hope you don't mind!" Qingluan looked at Yang Feilong and said seriously.
This was also the truth!
Since a contract had been forged, Yang Feilong now had an initial level of trust in Qingluan. At the very least, as long as he didn't do anything too extreme, like betraying her or using her as cannon fodder, the contract she had forged could not be undone.
With that in mind, he needed to deepen this partnership contract. Such a powerful helper would be useful in the future.
Thus, Yang Feilong flipped his hand and took out a medicinal bottle, which flew towards Qingluan.
At the same time, Yang Feilong's voice rang out: "This contains some healing pills that I refined. If you take them, your injuries should recover by one or two tenths!"
"En?" Qingluan's eyes flickered, filled with surprise.
She didn't suspect that Yang Feilong's medicine was problematic. If he wanted to kill her in her current state, he wouldn't need such means.
What puzzled her was that Yang Feilong was actually an alchemist.
After all, alchemists were very rare in the demon realm, and high-level alchemists were even rarer, which was why she was surprised.
And when she opened the medicinal bottle, she was even more surprised, because the pills inside were of high quality, much better than the pills she had taken before!