[Upon hearing Yu Xiaogang's intention to refuse, ARou grew anxious and couldn't help but speak up.]
[But as soon as the words left her mouth, ARou knew she had messed up.]
[Sure enough, as her voice fell, Yu Yuanzhen and the others all looked at her with scrutinizing eyes.]
[Facing these gazes, ARou just wanted to knock her own head hard.]
[Serves you right for being anxious, serves you right!]
[But the key point was, she couldn't afford not to be anxious.]
[She had judged that the Douluo Continent had reached a period where a God would emerge, and exactly at this time, an illogical existence like Yu Xiaogang had appeared.]
[The probability of such a person being the one who eventually becomes a God was simply too high.]
[Any normal person would try to build a good relationship with him at this time; perhaps they could gain some benefits in the future.]
[As a Spirit Beast, the reason ARou transformed into a human wasn't just curiosity about the human World, but because she felt she couldn't survive the subsequent Lightning Tribulation.]
[She wanted to live.]
"Can you tell me why you're refusing?"
"I feel that I have shown sufficient sincerity."
ARou looked at Yu Xiaogang with some reluctance; she knew her previous eagerness had already made Yu Yuanzhen and the others suspicious.
So next, she would likely have to pay a higher price to establish a connection with Yu Xiaogang's group and thus secure a powerful backer for the future.
"It's very simple. The combat power you described doesn't match your actual record."
"A Moon Devouring Azure Wolf with support and healing abilities, plus the wolf pack, the Titan Giant Ape, the Sky Azure Bull Python, and then you."
"The three of you are, at most, evenly matched with the Moon Devouring Azure Wolf's pack."
"But in your words, the Moon Devouring Azure Wolf's pack was defeated by you."
"Furthermore, the Moon Devouring Azure Wolf, which holds a grudge and covets your abilities, has only been accumulating strength for decades and hasn't dared to act again."
"Now that you've sensed danger and decided to drive the wolf pack away, you're very certain you can do it."
"But with your combat power only being evenly matched with the wolf pack, can you really achieve this?"
"Therefore, you must be secretly hiding another Hundred Thousand Year Soul Beast with weak combat power, or perhaps a Ten Thousand Year Soul Beast with formidable combat power."
"I'm not wrong, am I?"
[Yu Xiaogang spoke his thoughts aloud.]
[It only took the duration of Yu Xiaogang's few sentences for ARou to go from her initial reluctance to total silence.]
[She never expected that Yu Xiaogang could detect the hidden combat power on her side based solely on her words.]
[Just as Yu Xiaogang suspected, ARou had indeed hidden the existence of a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Beast.]
[That was her daughter, whose combat power was not particularly strong, just like her own.]
[With her daughter included, they indeed had the ability to defeat the Moon Devouring Azure Wolf's pack, but they couldn't wipe them out completely.]
[Thus, after meeting Yu Yuanzhen and especially sensing his strength, she immediately decided to invite him to cooperate.]
[While describing the combat power on her side, ARou had deliberately hidden her daughter's existence.]
[In her view, such concealment was normal; no one would reveal all their trump cards completely.]
[With her daughter there, she could prevent Yu Yuanzhen from coveting their Spirit Bones and acting against them if her side was injured after the battle.]
[This was a perfectly normal thing to do.]
[But the problem was that this act of hiding their combat power had been seen through by Yu Xiaogang.]
[Thus, she, who had been speaking of sincerity all along, now appeared to be full of lies.]
[This posed a significant obstacle to the upcoming cooperation.]
[Trust is something that is difficult to build but can be destroyed in the time it takes to say a sentence or do a single thing.]
[If Yu Xiaogang weren't among the group before her.]
[Or if Yu Xiaogang were just an ordinary Spirit Master—even if he were a bit of a Genius—his discovery would just be a discovery, and at worst, she simply wouldn't cooperate with them.]
[But the problem now wasn't whether the other party was willing to cooperate, but rather ARou's desperate desire to build a good relationship with Yu Xiaogang through this cooperation.]
[A Genius who had already shown his extraordinary nature, at a time when the Douluo Continent was due for another God to emerge.]
[With both factors combined, this Aptitude made ARou determined to cling to this powerful backer no matter what.]
[So, after hearing Yu Xiaogang's words, ARou fell silent for a moment and finally had to admit it.]
"You're right, you are very sharp. I did indeed hide one of our members."
"Hiding one's trump cards... I think you all should be able to understand that, right?"
[Could they understand? Of course they could.]
[Hiding one's trump cards is something anyone would instinctively do.]
[But were they willing to accept it? Certainly not.]
[When Yu Yuanzhen and the others heard ARou admit she had concealed their combat power, they immediately lost interest in cooperating, just like Yu Xiaogang.]
[Since ARou was a Hundred Thousand Year Metamorphosed Spirit Beast seeking cooperation with humans, Yu Yuanzhen and the others were already skeptical.]
[If it weren't for the incredibly rich rewards ARou described, they wouldn't have even considered cooperating.]
[Now that they knew ARou, who claimed to be full of sincerity, was actually full of lies, how could the cooperation proceed?]
"We can understand your reasons for hiding it, but we cannot accept the concealment."
"So, let's just forget about this cooperation."
Yu Yuanzhen spoke without mercy.
[After speaking, he signaled the others with his eyes to prepare to leave the Star Dou Great Forest.]
"Wait, don't! I truly want to cooperate with you in good faith."
With a Teleportation, ARou arrived not far in front of Yu Yuanzhen, her gaze constantly darting between Yu Yuanzhen and Yu Xiaogang.
[That clearly anxious appearance made Yu Yuanzhen frown.]
["Something's wrong!"]
[This was something Yu Yuanzhen could clearly sense from ARou.]
[Previously, when ARou discussed cooperation with them, she had always been unhurried.]
[Yu Yuanzhen was certain he hadn't misjudged her composed and confident demeanor.]
[But now, ARou was clearly anxious.]
[She had shifted from a relaxed posture where everything was under control—letting them take their time to consider, even if they gave an answer years later—to an anxious one where she had to make this cooperation happen no matter what.]
[The change in attitude was far too obvious.]
[For her attitude to change so drastically, she must have discovered something new that made her determined to establish a connection with their group.]
[And the reason for her change in attitude was actually not hard to guess.]
[Yu Yuanzhen glanced at his son, whose lips were curled in a smile.]
[Clearly, Yu Xiaogang had also noticed something.]
[The reason for ARou's massive shift in attitude lay with Yu Xiaogang.]
["What exactly is it?"]
Yu Xiaogang looked at ARou with interest.
He was truly curious now about what exactly he had that was attracting this Hundred Thousand Year Metamorphosed Spirit Beast.