The comments said I was deeply affectionate, I just added points by using an alternate account.

Looking at the painful purple light on the ground, Li Yan sighed softly: "If you win, the world is your oyster; if you lose, you turn to dust. This is its own choice, and also its calamity."

"You are its master. What you can do now is not to suffer for it, but to trust it."

Believe it.

Chen Guan's body trembled slightly.

He looked at Leopard, whose golden pupils were losing their last glimmer of light.

No.

He never believed in any vague or ethereal will.

He only trusts himself.

Chen Guan took a deep breath and closed his eyes again.

He no longer tried to use his mental power to fight against that void energy.

If you can't fight it, then guide it.

If the void energy is a flood, he will not build dams, but will instead carve a completely new riverbed for the flood.

A bold, almost insane idea took shape in his mind.

His recently transformed ability, known as the Trickster, is based on deception and substitution.

Since we can exchange reality for illusion, could we temporarily create a container for Leopard's body to hold this power?

The junk we had collected earlier came in handy.

The invisible spiritual force was no longer a violent torrent, but transformed into billions of invisible, delicate threads, probing into the chaotic storm within the leopard's body with unprecedented precision.

Fine beads of sweat appeared on Chen Guan's forehead, and his face turned pale at a visible speed.

This expenditure was hundreds or thousands of times greater than when he instantly killed the Crystal Tower Guardian.

Every single thread of his spirit was teetering on the brink of collapse under the onslaught of energy, yet he still controlled them with precision, beginning to weave an illusory energy cycle within the leopard's body.

He forcibly simulated the unique energy circulation system of the Void Crystal Turtle within the leopard's body, using illusion as a foundation.

The void energy that had been rampaging wildly seemed to have found an outlet, and began to flow slowly along the riverbed laid out by the coffin.

Although still difficult to control, it was no longer a devastating tearing, giving us a chance to catch our breath.

The leopard's painful cries gradually subsided, replaced by heavy, suppressed breathing.

The black lines that had spread across its surface stopped expanding and instead began to shrink back into its body. In the false cycle woven by the coffin, it began its first collision and fusion with its original purple lightning power.

sizzle.

A bolt of purple lightning crackled with black light, blasting off the leopard's body and slamming into the wall beside it, leaving a bottomless hole. The crystals at the edge of the hole were silently annihilating.

"It's done."

Li Yan's pupils contracted.

It became.

Chen Guan also breathed a sigh of relief, but he knew that this was just the beginning.

boom!

An aura more than ten times stronger than before suddenly erupted from Leopard.

Its small body was enveloped in a dense, impenetrable purplish-black cocoon of light, with countless tiny spatial cracks constantly appearing and disappearing on the surface of the cocoon.

Li Yan took a step forward, his mountain-like body shielding the coffin behind him, his muscles tense, and lightning crackling across his skin.

This fluctuation has exceeded the scope of the eighth level.

Click.

A crack appeared on the surface of the cocoon.

A claw, encased in jet-black patterns and a full size larger than before, emerged from within.

The claw made a light swipe through the air.

scoff.

A half-meter-long, pitch-black crack appeared out of nowhere, like an unzipped zipper.

Space was torn apart.

Then, the cocoon of light shattered with a deafening roar.

A new leopard appeared before the two.

It has nearly doubled in size, now half the height of a person, and its lines remain elegant and smooth, but every muscle contains explosive power.

Its fur was a deep, dark purple, with jet-black patterns flowing across it like a galaxy, flickering with its breath.

What's most striking is its forehead.

A small, rhomboid crystal made of pure lightning floated silently, radiating a chilling pressure.

Under the pressure of this aura, its originally harmless face became cold and noble.

It slowly opened its eyes.

Leopard glanced at its brand-new paws, then at the still-unhealed spatial rift in front of it, and for the first time, a thoughtful look appeared in its golden pupils.

Then, it raised its head, its gaze passing over Li Yan and landing on Chen Guan.

That kingly majesty melted away instantly.

"Aww...woo?"

It tilted its head and let out a cry that was tinged with uncertainty and grievance.

Then, it strode over to Chen Guan's feet and skillfully rubbed its head, which was now a size larger than before, against his trouser leg.

The howl was still pitiful, but it no longer sounded like the roar of a wild beast.

Instead, it has a touch of the characteristics of intelligent beings.

In short, it feels like the child has become more intelligent.

Chen Guan squatted down and looked at the big head rubbing against his trouser leg. Only then did his heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settle down.

He reached out and carefully examined the leopard's new form.

His size had increased, his aura had strengthened, and the pressure emanating from the lightning crystal on his forehead had surpassed that of an eighth-order being, but the familiar feeling of complete reliance and trust remained unchanged.

It's still his leopard.

I don't know if this leopard is inherently kind and hasn't forgotten his roots, or if the insurance he bought through the system is working its magic.

"It's alright now." Chen Guan rubbed the dark purple fur with its flowing black patterns; it felt smoother than before.

"Aww..."

The leopard squinted comfortably, letting out a satisfied purr in its throat. Then, it raised its head, and the image of the coffin was reflected in its majestic golden vertical pupils.

A difficult, indistinct syllable squeezed out of its throat, yet it clearly penetrated into the ears of both of them.

"Chen...gua".

Chen Guan's hand froze in mid-air.

He looked at the leopard, and the leopard looked at him too, tilting its head as if curious about the sound it was making. It tried again, and this time it was much more fluent.

"Chen Gua".

Chen Guan: "..."

He retracted his previous statement; he was still a slurring fool.

Li Yan, standing to the side, looked utterly shocked, his bronze face etched with disbelief.

"It...can talk?"

This was completely beyond his understanding of the mutations of void creatures.

The ability of a demon beast to speak is something that no other void creature can do.

Because most of the creatures swept into the void are low-level beings, regardless of their strength, this is a limitation imposed by race.

Even with mutations, they still cannot become intelligent or speak human language.

But this leopard, whose aura was clearly only at the ninth level, had already accomplished such a feat.

"Awoo?" Leopard heard Li Yan's voice and seemed to dislike the big guy. It let out a low growl and the lightning crystal on its forehead lit up.

"Stop fooling around." Chen Guan patted its head.

Leopard immediately suppressed its hostility and rubbed its head against Chen Guan again, seemingly trying to express the complex emotions of surviving a disaster, but not knowing how to convey them, so it anxiously spun around in place.

When it got emotional, the power that had just been integrated within it went berserk again.

boom.

An immense aura, far exceeding anything seen before, surged forth from the leopard.