"You saved me."


    Li Meirong blurted her thoughts. It was silly though, probablypletely unintentional on the nt’s part, and it probably didn’t understand her anyway.


    If it would pounce to attack her, she had to prepare to leap away, unlike the Jiangshi master who was caught unaware, not even able to voice a sound before he was swallowed whole.


    Watching his bulging eyes and the smirk wiped from his face as the nt gobbled him up was more satisfying than Li Meirong would care to admit.


    She scurried to the side and grabbed the signal stone with both her hands. While squeezing the stone, the girl breathed a sigh of relief. What a close call. Li Meirong carefully ced her signal stone inside her sleeve in a more easily essible location.


    The nt ced itself not far from her, it wiggled the lower region of its body where it was built wider, back and forth, like a puppy.


    Its upper body part, where its open mouth was shaped, had a red tint to it which wasn’t there before.


    Li Meirong smacked her head for daring to think that it’s possibly blushing.


    "I think this ce made me lose my mind.." She muttered as she retraced her steps towards herpanions. It might take her a whole day, but turns out she’s got an aura to repel vicious animals, hopefully she could rx now.


    Every ten to twenty feet she nced back at the unmoving man eating nt, it didn’t budge when she looked back at it, but then she kept on walking forward, yet the distance between them didn’t growrger.


    It’s definitely following me!


    Li Meirong wiped the sweat off her forehead.


    If that nt attacked her, she was going to bleed her whole arm on the signal stone if need be. She clutched the signal stone tightly in her sleeve for reassurance. Just to be prepared..


    The carnivorous nt, now working on digesting the man in its belly, was hopping about much more slowly than before when Li Meirong was clutching to its top for dear life.


    That made Li Meirong less wary. It seemed that while it was eating, the nt was a lot less dangerous.


    She followed through the tracks the nt made along the jungle, the sight bing more familiar to her eyes.


    Previously she was on top of the nt, but now that she had to walk in the deeper parts of this terrain, her shoes got thoroughly soaked with water and mud coated her legs all the way up to her knees. It was difficult to venture through the path.


    After an hour of walking, Li Meirong stopped for a rest, she didn’t dare to sit, and so she leaned against a wide tree for support. Catching her breath.


    She held a hand to her chest panting, and nced back in the direction she walked from.


    Just as the previous hour since it showed up and ate the demonic path leader, whoever he was, the carnivorous nt stood at the same distance as before, waiting for her to go forth.


    She didn’t sense hostility from it now. Actually...It felt like the nt was strangely protecting her.


    "You’re not nning on eating me too?" Li Meirong asked, who knows, maybe it speaks?


    The nt did not respond, but as if it understood her words, it shook its wobbly body left and right.


    That means no, doesn’t it..


    "You...What do you want from me?" The nt has been following Li Meirong all along.


    As she leaned against the tree, the nt edged closer to her side.


    Hop.


    Hop hop.


    About 3 feet away, it stopped and sent one of its long vines it used to move around towards her slowly.


    She stood in rm as the vine crept closer to her, but didn’t move. Waiting to see what would happen.


    She hoped this gamble won’t cost her life.


    To her pleasant surprise, there was no malicious intention towards her. The nt crept its vine to Li Meirong’s forehead and pped one of its smaller leaves on her skin.


    It was a cool andfortable sensation.


    Li Meirong suddenly received a vision.


    It was an image the nt projected somehow into her mind.


    She saw an image of the nt, this time the size of a little hamster on her palm, and she saw the nt imagine her nipping her finger with her teeth and dripping drops of blood into its now small and eager mouth. It made gurgling happy sounds and the little leaves in its vision rattled happily.


    After the vision faded, Li Meirong’s gaze went back to the man sized nt, its leaf retracted from her forehead gently.


    "You want me to feed you?"


    The nt tipped its head forward exaggeratingly .


    "...."


    Why do I have to feed this nt my blood?!


    She sighed, trying to make sense of this.


    "What will I get out of it?"


    The nt ced its leaf on Li Meirong’s forehead again.


    This time a different vision showed.


    In the new vision, the nt sliced a part of its flesh, green ooze flowed. It sent its leafy vine to cup the green ooze with an uncurled leaf, and brought it forth towards Li Meirong’s red lips. Her lips parted as the leaf nudged her lips. The green essence squeezed into her mouth and she swallowed the ooze. She then walked to the nt and dripped blood from her imagined sliced finger down towards its open cavern.


    Ownership blood pact.


    She imagined a soft gentle voice whispering in her mind. It was real yet unreal. A caress of the wind on her body.


    Li Meirong blinked and snapped out of the vision.


    "Can you, like in the vision you showed me, resize yourself?" She asked skeptically.


    In response, the nt glowed in a soft yellow light, and in front of her very eyes it shrunk.


    It shrank more and more until she cupped it in her palm.


    How convenient..


    She smiled at the nt, at this size, it wasn’t so scary.


    The nt looked up at Li Meirong’s smiling expression and its leaves curled and shook, bashfully.


    Its eagerness for food reminded her of her pet cat. It wasn’t the nts’ fault that it needed blood to survive. Humans ate animals too.


    "If you do what I tell you, I’ll let you follow me, and feed you too." The mini sized nt jumped on her palm excitedly, Li Meirong continued her speech and warned.


    "But if you misbehave, I will cut ties with you! And you must never harm people I care about. In fact, don’t harm anyone, unless I ask you to, like that crazed Jiangshi master. Good job there." Li Meirong preached, but she wasn’t stingy withpliments either.


    She gently patted the belly part of the nt. Good boy.


    The top of the nt’s figure turned pink.


    So it did blush. She didn’t imagine it!


    As the vision showed, Li Meirong followed the same process and nipped her finger, she then fed the nt blood in small drops, the nt reciprocated by giving her its own version of bodily fluids.


    After the exchange, Li Meirong added. "You should also probably not show yourself to mypanions when we meet again, you did almost eat them."


    The nt bent down looking wilted and dejected.


    ’Sorry master, I won’t eat your friends again.’


    Li Meirong heard that soft gentle voice again, instead of hearing it through her eardrums, the soundwaves were transported directly to her mind.


    So now I can hear you?!


    ’And now I can hear your thoughts too, master!’ The nts voice replied enthusiastically in her head.


    It wasn’t a bad feeling, now that she couldmunicate with the nt like this.


    They were nowpanions so she had to have a name to call him by.


    Li Meirong ced the carnivorous nt on her shoulders and walked on towards the direction of herpanions. She hoped they fared better than her after she extracted them out of the bowels of the nt that nestled on her shoulder.


    "What is your name?" Li Meirong asked curiously.


    ’.....’


    ’Why do I need a name? I’m just a nt, master’


    Li Meirong rolled her eyes. That’s just a nt, and she’s just a goldfish, alright?!


    "Fine, I’ll call you Chou, because when you eat you’re kind of stinky."


    ’....’ Chou didn’t respond, his tears were left unshed.


    This master looks nice, but she’s actually mean.


    "Chou...What happened with that demonic cultivator, did you really eat it?" Li Meirong couldn’t help but wonder. She didn’t feel guilty, he wanted to do such horrid things to her, but she was curious about his oue.


    ’It’s in my belly right now master..


    Hmm, I think it’s still alive. It didn’t look very friendly. Do you want to keep him? He’s not that tasty anyway..’


    Huh, so turns out, that guy is still alive, and turns out, her new man eating nt not only resizes at will, it could also resize its food at will.


    So the Jiangshi master is at her mercy.