Dual Cultivation

"What do you think, little sister? I don't know why you're following this mortal, but you're better off staying with us instead."

The Silver Phantoms stared at Xiao Rong with warm smiles.

However, Xiao Rong's face darkened with a frown, and she said, "That's impossible. I will not leave him to join you."

"H-huh?"

The Silver Phantoms were taken aback, their expressions shifting from warm smiles to utter confusion, clearly caught off guard by Xiao Rong's swift rejection.

"W-why is it impossible? There's no way this mortal can offer you something we, the Autumn Phantom Manor, cannot offer you."

"I am not following him because he has something that I want. I follow him because I want to."

The Silver Phantoms exchanged perplexed glances with each other. They simply didn't believe that Xiao Rong was following Su Yang of her own volition.

"Think about this clearly, little sister. Are you sure you want to live the rest of your life constantly looking behind your shoulders? You seem young and inexperienced, so you probably don't know the harsh reality of this world. You may think you're invincible because of your speed, and while we may be the fastest creature in this world, there are still things we cannot outspeed."

The other Silver Phantom added, "Moreover, there are too few of us in this world. It only makes sense for us to stay together and protect each other."

"..."

Xiao Rong found their persistence annoying. It felt like whatever she said would enter one ear and cout the other. She turned to look at Su Yang, who calmly stood beside her.

Noticing her glance, he merely showed a smile, refusing to help her.

He knew that if he butted in their conversation, it would immediately make the Silver Phantoms hostile toward him. And due to his low cultivation base, he couldn't even speak with her using spiritual sense, as it would be detected by the Silver Phantoms and considered an interruption.

'Good luck, Xiao Rong. Just act like you usually would. They may be a little stubborn, but they won't force you to join them.'

Seeing that Su Yang wasn't planning on speaking for her, Xiao Rong returned to looking at them and said, "Nothing you say will change my mind. I will not stay here."

"Is that so…"

The Silver Phantoms expressed disappointment.

However, one of them suddenly turned to look at Su Yang with a deep frown.

Su Yang immediately sighed inwardly.

"You!"

The Silver Phantom approached him and stared at him with a look of disdain.

"Yes…?"

"You must know the reason behind her reluctance to join us! Tellright now!"

"Why would you assthat?"

"She's following you for a reason! If you don't know the reason, who else in this universe would?! Now spit out out before I do something irrational!"

Su Yang shrugged and said, "I really don't know. I found her inside a spatial device, and she's been followingsince then."

Ghost Cats are surprisingly sensitive to lies and can detect if someone is lying with a glance, so Su Yang told the truth without going into any details.

"A spatial device? Then you don't have any special relationship with her?"

"That's debatable, but I think we have a very special relationship."

After a moment of awkward silence, the Silver Phantom spoke, "What do you want? We'll give you anything you want if you part with her."

Su Yang was a little taken aback when the Silver Phantom essentially offered to purchase Xiao Rong from him.

"I appreciate the offer, but I will have to decline. I value all of my relationships, regardless of how small they may be. You won't makesell out anyone even if you threaten to kill me."

"It wasn't an offer. You don't deserve to have a Ghost Cat by your side, especially when you cannot protect her. It may be a little forceful, but we're doing this for her own good."

"So you're going to make another assumption, huh?" Su Yang's eyes swept through the other Silver Phantoms before continuing, "Or is that how you recruited the others? By purchasing them from others? Or did you just force them to join you?"

"The audacity!"

The other Silver Phantoms immediately becenraged by his words. Their small bodies exuded immense pressure belonging to the Divine Sovereign Realm to the Divine Emperor Realm, threatening to crush his body into meat paste.

"Stop!"

Sensing Su Yang's life being threatened, Xiao Rong unleashed her own cultivation base at the Ancient Sovereign Realm, shielding him from their pressure.

"W-what?!"

As Xiao Rong had been suppressing her cultivation base this entire time, the Silver Phantoms were taken aback when she unleashed her real cultivation. However, it wasn't just her cultivation base that shocked them.

Although most people cannot tell, including Su Yang, there is a subtle but distinct difference between Ghost Cat and Phantom Cat's Profound Qi that can only be sensed by those with similar bloodlines.

"Y-you're not a Ghost Cat! You're a Phantom Cat!"

The Silver Phantoms who had been sitting swiftly stood up, trembling as a natural reaction to Xiao Rong's superior bloodline.

"N-no, this can't be possible! Only a single Phantom Cat can exist at any given time! It's not possible for two Phantom Cats to exist at the stime!" one of the Silver Phantoms suddenly muttered in a shocked voice.

"What?" Su Yang looked at the Silver Phantom, who had just spoken, with a surprised expression. This was news even for him.

"Q-quickly! Someone check Sister Xuan's life tablet!"

"I will go!"

One of the Silver Phantoms disappeared into thin air like a ghost, returning a few seconds later.

"I just checked! Sister Xuan's life tablet is fine! She's still alive!"

Upon hearing this, the other Silver Phantoms breathed a collective sigh of relief yet paradoxically found themselves even more befuddled by the revelation.

Su Yang narrowed his eyes at the situation.

'I had a hunch this might be the case, but seeing it confirmed, Xu Xuan... you truly are the Phantom Cat,' Su Yang mused silently.