"One thousand spirit stones... Looks like I can upgrade my gear sooner than expected!" Zhao Fan thought with an eager smile. Previously he was a little anxious about meeting the other powerful class leaders, but if he could now buy even better equipment, his power would jump not once but twice! It looked like in the near future, he would have to personally visit Liu Zhong's family to express his thanks. Zhao Fan knew that a thousand spirit stones was a lump sum which was not casually thrown around even for a fairly powerful family like Liu Zhong's.

The gift was obviously a way for the Liu Family to try to rope in or gain favor with Zhao Fan. Since he had potential in battle, when he went off to join the empire's military, he had a chance of having real accomplishments. Looking at it this way, the thousand spirit stones was just an investment which could potentially return a hundred-fold one day.

"Is equipment the only thing you think about?" He suddenly heard a familiar voice. Zhao Fan's thoughts flew into disarray and he quickly concentrated on his soul, observing the mysterious dimension inside his body which contained the soul. It was none other than the foreign soul in his mind. To his surprise, he saw the soul from before seemingly recovered.

"You are fine already?" By his expectations, the lightning would at least take a week to completely disappear because of it's weird nature. On the other hand, the other soul was unfathomable and Zhao Fan knew nothing of it's true abilities so it only made sense.

"Yes, it's the perfect time to negotiate the conditions of our deal" The other soul did not waste any time and explained with an energetic voice.

Zhao Fan thought for a bit and lifted his eyebrow, "Deal? You probably died and came to my body to seek refuge right? All I know about you is that you are an outside soul which somehow ended up in my body. In this case, I'm already offering you shelter, so shouldn't you be offering me benefits?"

The soul laughed "No, think of it like this, I died and for some reason I reincarnated into your body"

"So that still means that I have been protecting you while your soul gained strength," Zhao Fan shot back. In the short time he had spent in the cultivation world, the dirt poor Zhao Fan already realized the value of benefits and even craved them.

"That was 16 years ago. If I wanted to, I could take over the body any time, but my soul would suffer heavy consequences since it would descend on the world without fully adjusting to it."

"..."

Sixteen years? Doesn't that mean that he was watching him the whole time? Zhao Fan shuddered at the thought.

Seeing him quiet, the soul continued, "What you said isn't necessarily wrong, you have been controlling the body for 16 years, but at the same time I have saved you a few times in exchange"

"A few times? Were there times other than the cave?"

"You are really clueless... Tell me, are your father and mother both ordinary people?" the soul asked out of the blue.

"Yes?"

"So do you think it's possible for you to have some constitution which gives you the ability to absorb beast essence." He replied in a slightly mocking tone.

Zhao Fan's eyes widened. "Well no, but how is that related to you?"

The soul's tone changed. "Brat, you chewed on some beast meat like an idiot without any common sense and I was forced to use my own soul power to save you. Do you know just how much weaker I am because of it?"

"So is that why I developed this ability?" The story the soul described didn't make sense in that regard.

"If I knew the exact reason, I would have told you directly"

"Anyways, I might have oversimplified the situation, but the fact remains that this is my body and you are an outsider" Zhao Fan fell back, finding that he was reputed each time he spoke.

"Am I really? Just because you were the one in control for 16 years doesn't mean you are the rightful owner. Let me put it this way, the cycle of reincarnation has assigned both of us to the same body, so neither of us is the true owner. Going by that logic, it would make sense for me to control the body for the next 16 years, would you rather do that?" The voice snarked.

Giving up on proving him wrong, Zhao Fan could only ask about the next best thing.

"Let's put this aside for the moment, do you have any cool abilities? Uhh, I mean a reincarnator should naturally have some prior experience which gives them an advantage right?"

"Do you think we are in one of those novels?"

"What novels?"

"Nevermind that, the only special thing I can do is sense a mysterious energy which allows me to control things in my surroundings. Other than that, I don't think my previous experience will help that much currently. I used to be a businessman in my previous life, I guess kind of like a merchant here. Compared with my world, the economic system here should be completely underdeveloped. From what I know so far, there could be a few things I can exploit, but the main way to earn in such a society is naturally through industrialization!"

"What does that mean? Can you explain in simple terms?" Zhao Fan felt confused about the explanation which used many terms he had never heard of before. He was especially curious about the other world the soul talked about. However, at the moment it wasn’t too convenient to pry too deeply into the other party’s secrets.

"Why would I? Make a deal with me and get unimaginable riches and power through the guidance of an ace businessman, if I tell you now, that's equivalent to giving away benefits for free"

"What happens if I refuse?"

"What do you think? Well you wouldn't have to worry in the short term. Our souls are evenly matched and so we can't completely erase the other without suffering damage. But let's say you go unconscious because of a soul attack, once I take over your body I can easily slaughter your family and friends. I don't even have to go that far, once you go unconscious, I could just devour your soul without resistance"

"L-let me hear your conditions then"

"I only have two. First of all, you need to let me control the body occasionally. Secondly, you need to proactively search for a way for us to split apart."

"Wait, that sounds reasonable?"

"Of course, do you think that I don't know about you sparing me while I was recovering? If I was in your position, I probably would not do the same. Since we have both saved each other and aren't enemies, why shouldn't we both reap benefits from our cooperation? Moreover, you actually experienced this world for 16 years while I could only watch it. Even if I can take over your body, it would be very inconvenient since I don't know much about fighting."

"So basically you are the brains and I'm the brawn?"

"Yes and no. When we fuse souls, our power increases exponentially at the cost of the lightning tribulation. At critical moments I can help you elude death and triumph over enemies far stronger than you. Same goes for you, you can help me by forging connections and help our business expand. Like Liu Zhong said earlier, there is going to be a mega competition during which many sects will come to observe. This is the perfect time to show off your strength and meet powerful people who will help both of us."

"So you want me to show off at the mega competition is what you are saying?" Zhao Fan got excited.

"Exactly, to do that you have to conserve your power while hunting with others. If they know that you are someone able to compete against other geniuses, you will either be forced to join some family or be killed since you have no background. What you should do is hunt with the new party for a little bit and then leave and hunt on your own. Use your advantage of having the beast essence core to the fullest and rapidly increase your strength."

"About that, the beast essence core you're referring to is the dark sphere in my body right? Well, after you lost consciousness I think some of the residual energy made me almost lose control and kill Liu Zhong."

"What?? So the drawbacks are that serious? Well, it's not unexpected, we both felt how wild and violent the beast essence is when we were fused, if you don't control it properly it would probably change your nature" The soul thought about it and felt that it made sense.

"Anyways, you still need to decide, do you agree with my deal or not?"

"Yes" Zhao Fan felt that he had nothing to lose from the deal. If he was able to become a tycoon with the help of the soul, he could finally close the gap between himself and geniuses from rich families.

"Uhh, by the way, what's your name?"

Zhao Fan mentally slapped himself. He was about to enter a partnership with someone he didn't even know the name of! The soul coughed violently.

"Ahem, I am called Hei Long"