626: What a scam! A massive mining operation!

The Little Beast let out a soft cry, as if greeting him in a friendly manner.

"An 'awuu' won't work! No acting cute—acting cute is shameful!"

Seeing the other party acting cute, Demonic Thought's Aura weakened even further.

"Speak! Where did you come from? What is your name? Why did you collide with my master?"

The Little Beast blinked its large eyes, looked at Demonic Thought, then looked up at Lu Hao. Finally, it buried its small head in Lu Hao's chest and rubbed against him comfortably, completely ignoring Demonic Thought's questioning... Demonic Thought felt a bit huffy, feeling like his authority was being challenged.

He flew a bit closer, circled the Little Beast once, and began to change his strategy, his tone becoming enticing:

"Ahem, little fellow, seeing as you've just arrived, it's understandable that you don't know the rules. How about this? This seat sees that you have an extraordinary skeletal structure, making you a one-in-a-million... um... mining genius! Follow this seat, and I guarantee you'll be living the high life!"

The Little Beast seemed to have a bit of a reaction to the word 'eat'. It raised its head again and sniffed at Demonic Thought with its wet nose.

It's working! Demonic Thought rejoiced inwardly and continued his swindling:

"Look at this seat; my Divine Abilities are vast, and my dharmic powers are boundless!"

As he spoke, to increase his persuasiveness, he began to spin rapidly on the spot, golden light flashing like a grumpy little spinning top:

"See that? This is a peerless Divine Ability! Do you want to learn it?"

The Little Beast's eyes indeed lit up. It found the spinning golden light extremely fun and excitedly patted the ground with its two small front paws, making pitter-patter sounds, while its small tail wagged like a little fan.

Then, as if it hadn't had enough fun, the Little Beast jumped directly onto Lu Hao's head and began to rotate its whole body... "Hey, hey, hey, little fellow, stop spinning! You're messing up my hair..."

Lu Hao quickly took it off the top of his head.

Demonic Thought felt a bit dizzy from spinning. He stopped and shook his head, striking while the iron was hot:

"How about it? Are you impressed by this seat's power? As long as you nod and acknowledge this seat as your big brother, I'll look after you from now on! I can even teach you the Divine Ability of spinning and glowing!"

The Little Beast tilted its head, seemingly trying hard to understand Demonic Thought's meaning.

It looked at the expectant look in Demonic Thought's eyes, then felt the reassuring and familiar Aura from Lu Hao's body. It decided that this glowing, spinning little thing seemed to be one of its own.

Thus, after a moment of hesitation, it finally nodded its small, furry head up and down in a clumsy yet adorable manner.

"Hahaha! Good! Excellent!"

Overjoyed, Demonic Thought spun a few circles in mid-air:

"From today onwards, you are Lord Demonic Thought's number one lackey! Don't worry, follow your big brother, and there will be mines to dig!"

He flew in front of the Little Beast and, with his small, short hand, solemnly patted the Little Beast's nose, completing the ceremony of acknowledging a lackey.

From the side, Lu Hao watched the entire process of friendly communication between these two clowns—especially Demonic Thought's progression from putting on airs to successfully swindling. His lips couldn't help but twitch slightly, eventually turning into an almost inaudible chuckle as he let them mess around.

Having such individuals around made things much more interesting... After Demonic Thought's combination of coaxing and deception, plus his demonstration of "power" by spinning his body, the Little Beast—who had just become sentient and whose mind was like a blank sheet of paper—was successfully recruited as his lackey.

Having recruited a lackey, Demonic Thought immediately revealed his true nature. Mimicking Lu Hao's former manner, he gave orders to the Little Beast with an air of self-importance:

"Since you've followed me as my lackey, you must listen to me from now on! Now, your big brother is giving you your first glorious and arduous task!"

The Little Beast tilted its head, looking at him with a face full of confusion.

With his small hand manifested from energy, Demonic Thought pointed toward the hard stone wall with great heroism.

"Do you see that? For the Master's great cause, for our bright future! Together with your big brother... dig mines!"

The Little Beast tilted its head, its round eyes blinking, seemingly not understanding what Demonic Thought was saying.

So, Demonic Thought picked up a pickaxe and gave the Little Beast a demonstration of how to mine. While demonstrating, he kept saying:

"Don't think mining is just physical labor; this is for the Master's great cause! For your big brother's future Immortal Body! Mining is also a profound field of study! Your big brother here has mined for three days and is already a Grandmaster in the world of mining!"

Curious, the Little Beast stretched out its small paw and poked the hard stone wall with some force.

Its paw was very small, but when it touched the stone wall, a snow-white mark actually appeared on it.

This surprised Lu Hao.

He hadn't expected this little fellow, who couldn't even speak yet, to be so powerful.

It seemed that the method of traversing the Void Realm he had used earlier was indeed his own technique.

Seeing this from the side, Demonic Thought was overjoyed, but he still put on an act, saying:

"Oh, little brother, this little paw of yours won't do!"

"You have to use cleverness! Use your cultivation! You are the lackey of the great Demonic Thought, after all. Don't be like those miners who only know how to use brute force!"

As he spoke, Demonic Thought also manifested a mini version of a pickaxe and gave the stone wall a light tap.

"Clang!"

With a crisp sound, a small dent appeared on the stone wall.

"See that? This is skill! This is wisdom!"

Demonic Thought showed off to the Little Beast with an air of triumph.

The Little Beast seemed to be drawn in by Demonic Thought's actions. Mimicking him, it also manifested a small, delicate pickaxe. Then, with one paw touching the wall, it stood up on its hind legs and swung the pickaxe at the stone wall.

"Clang!"

This time, a tiny fissure cracked open on the stone wall. A look of pleasant surprise appeared on the Little Beast's face. It struck again, and the fissure widened.

"Not bad! Not bad! You have talent! As expected of my lackey!"

Demonic Thought clapped and cheered from the side, acting every bit the big brother:

"Keep up the good work! These mere chaotic soul stones are a piece of cake for you, aren't they?"

Although Demonic Thought was lecturing, his attitude toward the Little Beast was actually more like coaxing a younger brother. It seemed that Demonic Thought quite liked this newcomer.

And the Little Beast seemed to quickly adapt to Demonic Thought's role as big brother, beginning to earnestly learn how to mine.

"Little brother, let's go! Follow your big brother, and I guarantee you'll be living the high life. Achieving an Immortal Body in the future is just around the corner!"

Demonic Thought waved his small hand and pointed toward the mining tunnel he had dug out.

The Little Beast let out an 'awuu' and, with its short legs, waddled into the mining tunnel.

Demonic Thought followed closely behind, singing his self-composed mining song as he went.

"I am a miner, my mining skills are strong..."

...Meanwhile, deep within the Soul Refining Mountain, far away from Chaotic Soul Mountain.