A turtle combined with a snake, a Xuanwu, one of the four Ancient Divine Beasts.
Mo Tianliao was surprised to see the black snake being pulled out of the turtle shell by the kitten. Who would have thought that Xuanji Zhenren would be a Xuanwu? However, his appearance was different from the legends.
The black snake had a triangular head, it looked very fierce and it could completely detach from its shell. As soon as it was out it was bit by the cat just where it hurt.
“Hsssssss. Don’t bite, don’t bite, shizhi is watching.” The snake’s long tail hit against the bamboo pavilion, making a slapping sound, but the kitten kept its jaw clamped on it determinedly. The snake had no other options than to become human.
There was a flash of light, and the dour Xuanji Zhenren, stood in front of Mo Tianliao, dressed in a black Taoist robe. The scene was spoiled by the cat still hanging from his neck by the teeth.
Mo Tianliao swallowed his laughter and detached his cat. “I have met shishu.”
Xuanji touched his neck, his heart still racing, and bent down to pick up his shell. He held it, and his soft Taoist robe was immediately covered with a layer of leather armour, connected at the joints.
The little cat jumped to the ground and became Qingtong Zhenren: “What do you want?”
His second shixiong, did not like being around people, he would not have come unless he had something to discuss.
“The Three Sects Conference will be held soon.” Xuanji put his hands together, lowered his head and brooded for a long time. “I don’t want to go. Can you take my disciples with you?”
The Three Sects Conference was a grand event, there would be all kinds of competitions which would in turn award all kinds of prizes. For cultivators, it was a great opportunity for learning either through hands-on experience or through observation. Except for those belonging to the sect hosting the event, Sect Leaders would not go, usually sending one or two Half-Immortal Elders.
Woyun Sect had few people, apart from the Sect Leader, there were only the two of them. The rear mountain also had a few old Beasts, but they were not likely to go.
Qingtong glanced at shixiong and said, “I have no problem with it, as long as your disciples are willing to follow me.”
Xuanji choked, he had actually forgotten about that part. However, in his opinion, as long as Qingtong agreed, everything else were just mere details. How hard could it be to deal with his own disciples? If they did not want to obey, he would just beat them up.
Therefore, Xuanji left in high spirits. Before leaving, he also gave Qingtong a coil of the hemp rope he had just made.
Qingtong turned around, intending to sit in the rocking chair, only to find that Mo Tianliao, that unfilial disciple, had seized it at some point and was now looking at him from his seat and smiling.
“Get up!” Qingtong walked over and kicked the calf of the unfilial disciple who had dared to occupy his Master’s throne.
Mo Tianliao refused and patted his thighs. “Come sit, I’ll be your cushion.”
He had intended it as a joke. Mo Tianliao had expected to be knocked to the ground by Lord Kitty, but Qingtong just looked at him and then actually came over and sat on his lap, his body leaning fully against Mo Tianliao.
A warm, sunshine scented body, defencelessly attached itself to him. Qingtong lay supine on his meat cushion’s chest, the soft hair at the top of his head barely rubbing against Mo Tianliao’s chin.
Mo Tianliao slowly extended a hand and gently embraced him. He felt a little hot and his throat was beginning to go dry, but there was no way he was letting go. He gave a dry cough, and started talking in order to distract himself. “So Xuanji Zhenren is a Xuanwu, one of the four Divine Beasts, huh?”
“Mm-hm,” Qingtong replied idly, “This excellency is also a Divine Beast.”
“Which one?” Mo Tianliao asked, smiling. He held one of his hands, and played with it. What kind of Divine Beast could such a tiny furball be? A divine cat?
“Baihu.” Qingtong took his hand back and pressed it down on top of Mo Tianliao’s hand.
Mo Tianliao responded by pressing down that snowy hand with his own, which was then itself immediately pressed down. Thus, the two people ended up idiotically playing “Press the paw”. But when he heard his answer, he could not help but pause. “Baihu?” He was obviously a completely white cat; how could he be a white tiger? If he was a tiger cub, where were his stripes?
“What, you don’t believe me?” The hand that Mo Tianliao was holding flipped, at the same time, five sharp claws appeared.
“Believe? How could I believe that?” Mo Tianliao gave an incredulous laugh. Legend and reality were always a bit different, he knew that, but the gap in this case was just too big.
Legend had it that after the creation of the world, Qinglong, Zhuque, Baihu and Xuanwu guarded its four corners, watching over the unstable boundaries and killing the monsters that emerged. That era, how magnificent it must have been; huge dragons, coiling through the clouds, fiery phoenixes, soaring in the sky. In short, the four beasts were ferocious beyond compare.
It was hard to imagine a monster coming rushing out of its boundary, only to encounter a Baihu with big paws and no stripes, or a Xuanwu who could lose its shell merely by running…
“The four beasts are actually four races, but they went almost extinct very long ago. By the time of the Great War between gods and demons, except for those who had ascended, there were not many left on the continent. By now, there should only be one of each kind,” said Qingtong with a yawn. It was already late in the morning by the time they had gotten up. Now it was close to noon, the sun was warm, making him sleepy.
“Then, your parents…” Mo Tianliao took out a thin blanket from the storage bracelet and covered him. It was close to late autumn, and even at noon, the wind was a little cold.
“Dead.” Qingtong answered simply and closed his eyes slightly.
Mo Tianliao was silent for a moment then hugged him tightly.
“I’m not as pitiful as you.” Qingtong felt the arms tighten around him and knew that the man was having useless thoughts once again. When they had been at his Mo Palace, Mo Tianliao had told him about his past. “I never knew them; I was still an egg when they died.”
All Demonic Beasts were born from eggs, even a Baihu was no exception. When Qingtong’s parents died, his Master had hatched him.
“What about Qinglong and Zhuque?” Mo Tianliao asked offhandedly. He thought to himself, those two would not also have a strange shape surely?
Qingtong turned his face, rubbing it against Mo Tianliao’s chest, and said with a small yawn, “Qinglong is still alive, I have never seen Zhuque.” Once he finished talking, he started to doze off.
“How can you want to sleep again? You just woke up.” Mo Tianliao reached out and picked up the coil of hemp rope at his feet. “I could make a big toy with all this rope. Do you want a swing or a cat tree?”
“Hmm, I want a cat tree with a swing.” Qingtong raised his hand and scratched the fraying edges at one end of the hemp rope.
“Master, Master!” Just then, Meng Hu, who had come back from his outing, came running over. He cried, “Sect Leader wants–” He froze midspeech. What was this?! Master was laying on top of his little shidi! Even though Master often slept on him, this had a whole different atmosphere, although he could not quite put his finger on why.
“Noisy, so disgraceful.” Qingtong turned to look at his stupid disciple.
Meng Hu scratched his head, still, there were matters to discuss. “Sect Leader asked Mo Xiong to bring Lang Zi back.”
Lang Zi, Tianlang Zhenren’s youngest disciple, was actually also his son. He had been staying with Qingtong’s Master and was only brought back occasionally. Calculating the date, the child’s shape should be mostly stable, he could begin staying at Woyun Sect.
“Mmm.” Qingtong answered, indicating that he understood, and ignored his eldest disciple’s eager eyes.
“Master, I want to go too. I haven’t met shizu yet.” Meng Hu squatted next to the rocking chair, grabbed Qingtong’s knee, and winked at second shidi, laying behind Master.
Mo Tianliao raised his eyebrows, Qingtong’s Master was still alive?
Qingtong raised his hand and slapped his stupid disciple. “You have to go to The Three Sects Conference with this excellency.”
Cultivators would not part from their spiritual pet for too long. the Three Sects Conference lasted two months. As a powerful cultivator, it was natural to bring a spiritual pet. Qingtong Zhenren had always claimed that his spiritual pet was a colourful tiger.
When da-shixiong heard this, he suddenly wilted, he lowered his head and started to leave. Then he remembered something and turned back, giving Mo Tianliao a small storage bag. “Shidi, this is the money I got from selling that spiritual sword.”
“Many thanks, da-shixiong.” Mo Tianliao caught it with a smile, stuffed the bag into the storage bracelet, and continued holding Master’s waist and playing with his paws.
Qingtong told Meng Hu to prepare everything for going to the Three Sects Conference and drove him away.
Only after Meng Hu had walked out of the bamboo forest did he realize what had been wrong with that scene. Whenever he was used as a cushion by Master, he had to be extremely careful not to move. If he moved, he would be beaten. It was an arduous task, yet his shidi had looked happy enough to cry. Ah, young people were always so full of drive. If he were to do it more often, he would come to understand how hard it really was.
Meng Hu, pretending like he was some wise elder, left with his hands behind his back.
The next day, Mo Tianliao was instructed by Master to go to Woxuan Cave and inquire about who would follow Master to the Three Sects Conference.
Woxuan cave was deathly silent, the only one there was Xuanji, sitting on the waterside pavilion and weaving rope by himself.
“Shishu.” Mo Tianliao went over to salute him, he looked at the hemp rope coiling all over the floor and grimaced, he absolutely did not get Xuanji’s weird hobby. “Master told me to come and ask which shixiong wanted to accompany Master to the Three Sects Conference.”
When he mentioned this, Xuanji frowned. As soon as he had finished relating the news yesterday, all three of his unfilial disciples had ran away and disappeared. Standing up, Xuanji put his fingers to his lips and whistled across the lake. A little while later, ripples appeared on its surface, and a turtle shell slowly emerged, then its head poked out.
A colourful butterfly, as big as two palms, came flying, it landed on the head of the big turtle, and let itself be carried to the waterside pavilion.
“Where’s Yu Li?” Xuanji glared at the turtle and its butterfly. “Your shidi from Woqing abode came over and look at you, do you know how this looks like?”
A big silver carp leaped out of the water, instantly turning into his third disciple, Yu Li, who jumped onto the waterside pavilion. “Master, I am here.”
Mo Tianliao looked at them impassively. Yesterday, his cat had talked to him about what he could expect to find in the sect. That big turtle should be Xuanji’s first disciple, Yuan Hai, the guy who always read irritatingly slowly at The Paradise of Infinite Knowledge. The colourful butterfly was Hua Qing, he had just gone earlier today to ask if the liquid Soul Condensing Pill was ready. As for Yu Li, he had not needed to be told anything, when he had seen how afraid he was of Qingtong, he had guessed that he was either a mouse or a fish.
“Have you thought about what I told you yesterday?” Xuanji stood at the pavilion, his hands behind his back.
The butterfly flew near and circled him twice, trying to talk, but since butterflies could not make noise, he could only turn human in vexation. “Master, I have to go, otherwise, in the future, my pills won’t fetch a high price, but…” As an alchemist, he must take part in the alchemy competition at the conference. Medicinal pills, were like magical weapons, they could only be sold at a high price if the one who made them was famous.
Xuanji nodded, his second disciple still knew what was important.
“But this disciple is worried that, before arriving at Liuyun Sect, he will have been squashed by shishu.” Hua Qing squatted on the ground, holding his head. Of the three of them, he really could not miss going, but it was way too dangerous to follow shishu.
Xuanji frowned slightly. “Useless. What about you, Yuan Hai?”
Yuan Hai climbed up and said excruciatingly slowly, “Shishu hates that I can’t take off my shell, and always tries to pry it open for me.” After speaking, his head shrank back into his shoulders, he would rather not go; he could not deal with shishu on his own.
Mo Tianliao supressed a smirk. Xuanji felt humiliated and shouted, “Yu Li, you–”
“Master!” Yu Li, before his Master could finish speaking, knelt on the ground and hugged his Master’s legs. “You can’t let this disciple die!”
As the three disciples spoke, they unexpectedly began to cry in complete unison, a veritable tragedy.
“Well, this nephew will come back again tomorrow.” Mo Tianliao, trying to control the twitching corners of his mouth, saluted and retreated.
Carpenter: What kinds of things can be found in the sect?
Carpenter: What types of food?
Xiaozhao: There’s fish and turtle at the Anxious abode
Carpenter: …What about toys?
Xiaozhao: There’s a furry cushion at Tian abode, and a butterfly at Anxious abode
Unedited, please point out any mistakes
We finally learn the truth about so many characters
Extra chapter! Thank you for the ko-fi Henohito and starrien!
I’m sorry that the posting of chapters has slowed down, I promise I’m translating as fast as I can