Realm of the Night God

"You should already understand the meaning of my words," Yang Haoran said with a smile.

Ye Zhiqiu nodded solemnly and then asked, "How much time do you need from me?"

"Ten years!" Yang Haoran answered directly.

"Ten years?" Ye Zhiqiu's expression changed.

Although he was a demon hunter and had a longer lifespan than ordinary people, it was only slightly longer. It did not mean he would not die or grow old.

Moreover, this was based on the premise that he was not killed by others. If he was killed by someone else during that time, his lifespan would not be as long as an ordinary person.

This situation was not uncommon, and many people with special abilities lived a precarious life. Those who lived a carefree life as a high-level cultivator were few in number. Fi.r^s^t p!u.bl@i#sh&ed$ on M|V*|L!E*M!PY%R+.+

For people like him, it was unclear how long they could live. They might live longer than ordinary people, or they might not even live half as long as an ordinary person.

Therefore, ten years was not a small number for Ye Zhiqiu. He did not have many decades in his life.

Seeing Ye Zhiqiu's surprised expression and his hesitation to give an immediate response, Yang Haoran couldn't help but ask with a smile, "Just now, you told me that you were willing to offer anything you could in exchange. Now, seeing your reaction, hehe, are you planning to take back your previous words?"

"You don't need to provoke me. For her, I'm willing to pay any price, and that's undeniable. In the past, I hated her and wanted to kill her with my own hands, but that was because I had misunderstood her, thinking she had killed my parents. Now that I know my parents did not die by her hand, I no longer have any hatred towards her. For her, I am willing to give up everything. So, I agree to your request."

Although Ye Zhiqiu did not want to lose his freedom, between freedom and his greatest love, he decisively chose the latter.

Yang Haoran had expected that convincing Ye Zhiqiu would require some persuasion, but he was somewhat surprised that Ye Zhiqiu agreed to his request directly.

This showed that the demonic woman held a significant place in Ye Zhiqiu's heart, even more than Yang Haoran had imagined.

"Hehe, very good. Although you have already agreed to my request, I feel it's necessary to clarify some things to you, so that you don't feel I've taken too much advantage of you."

Yang Haoran smiled and continued, "Your service for me for ten years is not just the payment for this one-time action of rescuing the demonic woman. It also includes the operation to rescue the demonic woman. In other words, you don't need to give me the demonic pill you previously promised. What I need to do for you next is to use my techniques to strengthen the demonic woman's soul, so that she is no longer affected by your demonic weapon and can freely enter and exit it."

"Of course, this 'free entry and exit' only refers to the demonic weapon, not completely freeing her from the demonic weapon's influence or allowing her to move far away from it. Although this has certain limitations, at least you can see her and talk to her, so you won't feel lonely. And I can also promise you that within ten years, I will find a way to completely free her from the constraints of your demonic weapon."

Hearing this, Ye Zhiqiu asked in a deep voice, "Can you guarantee that you will free her from the demonic weapon within ten years?"

Yang Haoran shook his head with a smile and said, "No, no, no, you've misunderstood my meaning. I will try my best to free her from the demonic weapon, but I haven't promised a 100% success rate. I can only promise you that I will do my utmost to ensure this endeavor does not fail. Hehe, I don't want to make a promise that's too rigid, in case I can't live up to it later."

"Your utmost effort? Who knows if you've truly put in your utmost effort? Just based on your words?" Ye Zhiqiu asked bluntly.

Ye Zhiqiu's words were direct and could be considered impolite, but Yang Haoran was not offended, because he knew these were Ye Zhiqiu's true thoughts.

"Hehe, when you borrowed from me before, wasn't it just based on your words? If I can try to believe you, can't you try to believe me as well?" Yang Haoran asked with a smile.

Ye Zhiqiu fell silent. After a few breaths, he took a deep breath and nodded firmly at Yang Haoran.

"Alright, it's a deal. I hope you won't disappoint me. If you deceive me, I don't care if I lose my life, but I will never let you off the hook."

Yang Haoran smiled faintly and said, "Hehe, you don't need to threaten me. I'm the least afraid of threats. However, I'm a person who keeps my promises. Since I've promised you, I will certainly do my best. If I've truly done my best but still can't succeed, then it's the will of heaven, and you can't blame me."

"There's one thing I don't quite understand. You already have many Night Watch members under your command. Why do you still want to recruit me?" Ye Zhiqiu asked.

"You don't need to ask about that. Just remember one thing - you are now my person, at least for the next ten years, and that cannot be changed," Yang Haoran said with a smile.

Ye Zhiqiu was right. Yang Haoran did have some Night Watch members under his command, but many things were not suitable for his Night Watch to handle, as it would bring unnecessary trouble if he let his subordinates deal with everything.

Moreover, the strength of his Night Watch members was limited. Except for Master Wu, whose strength was relatively decent, the other Night Watch members were still too weak in Yang Haoran's eyes. There were some matters they could not handle due to their lack of power.

Not to mention that he currently did not have the ability to significantly enhance the strength of all his Night Watch members. Even if he had that ability, he would not do so, as it would arouse suspicion from above and might even expose the matter of the soul-refining cauldron.

Therefore, he would not uniformly improve the abilities of all his Night Watch members. But he still needed powerful subordinates, so he had to find other ways to do so.

As for why he wanted to recruit Ye Zhiqiu, it was naturally because Ye Zhiqiu's strength was decent, and he was currently short of manpower.

To accomplish great things, relying on oneself alone would not work. Many matters could not be handled by a single person, so he needed to build a powerful team to operate smoothly and more easily achieve his goals.

Yang Haoran wanted to recruit not only Ye Zhiqiu the demon hunter, but also more powerful experts if he had the chance, in order to strengthen his team.

Ten years was a long time for Ye Zhiqiu, but for Yang Haoran, it was still too short. If possible, he hoped the time frame could be extended to twenty years or even longer.

However, he did not make such a request, as the price would be too high, and Ye Zhiqiu might not agree, which would not be good for him.

Moreover, as long as Ye Zhiqiu served him for ten years, he could gradually infiltrate the other party and find other ways to keep Ye Zhiqiu working for him in the future.

Seeing that Yang Haoran was unwilling to tell him the reason, Ye Zhiqiu nodded and had no intention of continuing to inquire further.

He was just curious, but not to the point of needing to get to the bottom of it. If Yang Haoran wanted to tell him, he would, and if not, Ye Zhiqiu had no interest in digging deeper.

Thereafter, Yang Haoran began to fulfill his promise. He first used the Yin Division's secret technique to strengthen the demonic woman's soul, and then used another secret technique to grant her the ability to freely enter and exit the demonic weapon.

Although it sounded simple, it was actually very difficult. By the time Yang Haoran completed everything, the sky outside was already bright.

The entire process, although not exactly thrilling, had Yang Haoran being extremely careful and tense, not daring to relax even a bit, which showed how difficult it was.

Ye Zhiqiu did not help with any of the tasks, but he remained by Yang Haoran's side without leaving, not because he was unwilling to part with Yang Haoran, but because he was worried about the demonic woman and did not fully trust Yang Haoran, fearing that he might do something to the demonic woman's soul.

Even if Yang Haoran wanted to do something to the demonic woman's soul, Ye Zhiqiu wouldn't be able to detect it, as he was a demon hunter and Yang Haoran was an Underworld Envoy. Ye Zhiqiu knew some of the Underworld Envoy's techniques, but not all of their secret techniques.

Although he was aware of this, Ye Zhiqiu still chose to guard the demonic woman's side. Perhaps this was what love was.