Qianye frowned deeply, and his hand lowered back down to his side.

"This is my Soul Sea. Why would I not be able to leave?" He asked, narrowing his eyes.

"You may attempt to leave to learn why." She gestured with a hand as her wings flapped once, blowing away the red flowers that were floating ambiently around. Then, she, her expression even, scoffed. "I feel no urgency to explain such things to ignorant children."

This place was his soul sea, the home of his soul, consciousness, memory, and all that was immaterial about him.

With his active consciousness present, he was able to watch over the wider soul sea. He was its core as well as its most important protector.

However, if he removed his consciousness from here, his soul would be left undefended.

She would be able to kill him in however many million ways that she wanted and there was nothing that he could do about it. And she would take over his body.

All that she had said was to entice him into considering, especially if he stayed longer, to eventually try to leave.

Anxiety would eventually force any other ignorant person to try relieving themselves of the stalemate that they had found themselves in, only to had her their life on a golden glazed platter.

That was why within moments, Qianye had mentally grimaced in disgust. ’Conniving demoness, you think I’m going to let you kill me so easily?’

"Well?" She urged as her wings folded behind her back.

Qianye sighed, and then spoke warily, "...What is your proposition?"

The demoness did not answer immediately, and her smile grew wider in those moments.

"Your body is currently crippled beyond the repair of your mortal means," She began as he braced himself from her voice, "And I am of a divine lineage. I have the knowledge of how to repair your body and improve it by leaps and bounds." Then, her arms gestured wide, and her winds spread, throwing a gust that stirred the mist and once more, pushed the red floating flowers away from her standing bare feet over the luminous white sea. "And miraculously!"

There Qianye’s face grimaced sharply and his hand had to rise to clutch one head, as her teeth, baring their sharpened canines glistened in the white-red sheened mist.

"Oh so miraculously, you possess such an extraordinary soul." Her voice eased into a horrible, pleasant giggle that quaked his head.

Despite his dizziness and pain, Qianye scoffed, "Flattering me won’t get you anywhere."

"I would not waste my breath on flattery," She immediately said as her face eased. "You are the first mortal soul I have seem to possess a Ethereal Soul Realm. I’m commending the efforts have brought you thus far. Even amongst those of my clan, it is incredibly rare to find one."

"And what does this have to do with your proposition?" He asked as he took further precaution, moving a few more steps backwards.

Then, her hand raised, and one of her dark fingernails pointed at him.

"You do not have the knowledge, or the means to fix your body," Her finger returned to point at herself, "However, I do. So long as you relinquish your body’s control over to me, I can restore its capacity to cultivate, and greatly improve its talents," and then she rose two of her fingers in counting, "and you may choose whether I find you a new body—whatever kind you desire, whether it be of an ancient race or beast—for yourself to take over, or I find myself one and return this body to you. With your soul, you can easily survive several thousand without a physical body even despite you not cultivating it, and that is more than enough time for me to accomplish my end of our agreement."

"You expect me to believe in something so convenient as that?" He scoffed into a laugh, shaking his head. Then he glared at her once more, "How do I know that you will not just betray me? You old witches, especially an unscrupulous demoness like you, will surely have many ways to destroy my soul once you grow stronger. Is it that you expect me to believe in your righteousness? If so, save whatever strength you have left."

There, she shook her head, and she raised her hand so her palm was facing upwards. Darkness began to conceal into what looked to him like a formation.

’No... knowing her that must be a Conception.’ His brows furrowed at the thought, and he did not let his mental grimace show mentally. ’Probably a slavery one as well...’

"This is divine seal," She began, and the contract spun in a circular motion over her hand, "and so long as we set rules and conditions and brand it onto our souls, unless I wish to die, I must fulfil our agreement. Consider it a contractual agreement. We may go through as rigorous a process as we need in setting conditions, and that way there is no chance that I betray you."

"..."

There, Qianye laughed caustically, saying, "...And if I refuse then I have no choice but to stay in here with you."

The demoness’s smile grew once more, and she nodded as she clasped her hand and made the seal disappear as she clasped her hand.

"I might be severely weakened after breaking through the seals, however I can easily survive another ten thousand years as a soul." Her wings spread once more, and this time they flapped, raising her into a float, away from the ground as she pointed at him. "However, that body of yours will only survive another forty or fifty at most, and neither of us have our desires granted." Then she laughed into saying, "And I have the means to possess another body once my soul is detached from yours. As for you? Without the means to attach yourself to a body, even if you think that you can survive a few thousand more years, your only choice will be to eventually dissipate and reincarnate, wiped free of your memories."

"You know," he said, with blood dripping from his chin, "I’ve been wondering something this entire time."

The demonesses’ wings flapped once more, and he continued:

"When I first arrived here, I thought that I was surely dead," the white sea began to churn, its water rippling and rising to smaller waves, "and that I had made the stupidest mistake of my short life."