This wasn’t the first time he’d had such a dream. Chong Yin had long since come to accept it, though waking up afterward always left him thoroughly uncomfortable below.
Chong Yin pushed the kitten aside. The kitten rolled over on the bed, blinking his wide eyes in confusion at Chong Yin, who had so suddenly shoved him away.
But the very next instant, the kitten froze completely.
Chong Yin had thrown back the blanket, revealing what lay beneath.
A thin layer of fabric strained visibly upward. Chong Yin’s beautifully shaped hand reached down.
The kitten’s eyes didn’t blink once, too stunned to react at all.
As Chong Yin busied himself, he turned his head toward the kitten. His eyes, usually so sharp and severe, now brimmed with desire instead, glimmering strikingly beautiful. His thin lips parted slightly as he spoke.
“Lecherous cat, this isn’t something for you to watch. Turn around, or you’ll end up with a sty in your eye.” [1]a folk superstition, watching something illicit is said to cause a stye jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2994857_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2994857_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });
Bai Xiaonian felt heat rush straight to his face, burning so intensely he was certain his cheeks must be scarlet by now, though, being a cat at the moment, no amount of blushing would actually show.
Thoroughly mortified, the kitten flustered, covering his cat face with both paws, then spun around, leaving Chong Yin with nothing but a view of his round, fuzzy backside.
Chong Yin let out a soft laugh and continued with his own business. As he neared completion, the man tipped his head back, baring the strong line of his throat, his handsome Adam’s apple bobbing, and let out a ragged, breathless groan, “Nian Nian”, before a low grunt escaped him, and it was over.
The kitten’s ears twitched. He wondered if he’d heard wrong, it had sounded like Chong Yin had just called out his name…
But Chong Yin’s voice had been so faint, tangled up with his ragged breathing, surely he must have misheard.
After that, Bai Xiaonian had no idea how to face Chong Yin.
The moment he so much as looked at the man, the memory of that morning came rushing back, and with it, he found he had no heart left to even investigate what had happened the night before.
And so, the unpleasant little spat between man and cat from the previous night was set aside for the time being. All Bai Xiaonian wanted now was to escape from Chong Yin, he never wanted to lay eyes on the man again.
He was just a small kitten, how could he have been shown such a thing? He was mortified beyond words.
Bai Xiaonian didn’t dare look at Chong Yin for the entire day, yet Chong Yin insisted on carrying the cat with him wherever he went.
In his idle moments, Chong Yin would even have someone bring dried fish, feeding the kitten by hand himself.
Unable to resist the temptation of dried fish, the kitten would snatch it eagerly from Chong Yin’s fingers, then turn his back to him and gnaw away at it in solitude.
The dried fish was made rather tough, and with the kitten’s teeth still not fully developed, it took him a good while to work his way through even a single piece.
But this meant the plate of dried fish never got finished in time, and whatever remained would eventually be cleared away, which the kitten considered an absolute waste, since none of it would make it into his mouth.
Fortunately, the plate of dried fish wasn’t cleared away too quickly. While Chong Yin remained absorbed in his official duties, the kitten seized a piece of dried fish in his mouth and slunk furtively around the study.
By the time Chong Yin looked up again, the fish in the kitten’s mouth had already vanished.
Chong Yin raised an eyebrow in mild surprise. “Finished it already?”
The kitten’s gaze darted evasively to the side, then he nodded his little head with firm conviction.
Chong Yin’s phoenix eyes narrowed slightly. He studied the kitten for a long, unreadable moment before finally looking away and nodding. “Very well, then.”
The kitten let out a sigh of relief, and once he saw Chong Yin absorbed in his paperwork once more, he turned and slipped off to snatch another piece of dried fish.
Ordinarily, aside from mealtimes, the kitten got nothing at all to eat, everyone in the Demon Palace had long since abstained from food, and no one ever bothered to think about what a kitten might need to eat. Bai Xiaonian was, after all, still just a two-month-old kitten, right in the prime of his gluttonous, ravenous youth, there was no way he could tolerate Chong Yin’s careless approach to feeding a cat. In the end, he had no choice but to fend for himself.
And so, by the end of the day, the plate of dried fish had been completely emptied.
Come mealtime, the dried fish on the table had also vanished down to the very last piece.
Chong Yin studied the kitten’s round, swollen belly for a long moment, then couldn’t help reaching out with a slender finger to poke it, asking with genuine curiosity, “Won’t that belly of yours burst?”
The kitten quickly shook his head, then patted his own little belly with his paw, as though solemnly vowing that his stomach would hold up just fine, and that he could still eat more, besides.
The corner of Chong Yin’s mouth twitched. After a moment’s consideration, he ordered the kitten’s food portions reduced anyway.
This left Bai Xiaonian fuming, his mouth twisted with indignation.
But no matter, Bai Xiaonian had been foresighted enough to prepare for this. Whenever Chong Yin was away attending to business, Bai Xiaonian would dig out a stashed piece of dried fish from beneath his pillow and gnaw on it at his leisure.
Five days later, the day of the Youth Trial Tournament finally arrived, and Chong Yin, having accepted the invitation, was set to attend once more as a guest of honor.
Chong Yin had no intention of bringing a cat along with him. Early that morning, he rose, preparing to depart, while the kitten remained sprawled out on the bed, limbs splayed in every direction, still fast asleep. The wound on the kitten’s paw had healed considerably by now, the bandages already removed, restoring full mobility, and with no injury left to worry about aggravating, the kitten’s sleeping posture had grown even more shameless and unrestrained.
Chong Yin watched the kitten for a moment, the corner of his mouth curving up slightly, amused by the sight. He bent down, pulled the blanket up over the kitten, then turned and stepped out of the bedchamber.
But not long after Chong Yin left, Bai Xiaonian stirred awake, irritably clutching his own head with his two stubby paws, muttering a string of filthy cat curses.
Within his mind, the Heart-Guard Bell was calling out to him again and again, urging him to wake up without pause. Bai Xiaonian snapped in fury, “Shut your mouth, you wretched bell!”
But the bell paid him no mind, only raising its voice louder still. “Master, get up quickly! Lord Chong Yin is about to leave!”
“Let him go, then. What business is that of mine?” Bai Xiaonian replied irritably, eyes still closed.
“It matters a great deal to you, Master.” The bell’s voice carried a note of unusual seriousness. “Master, Lord Chong Yin is heading to the Youth Trial Tournament.”
At those words, Bai Xiaonian froze, a memory surfacing in his mind, he recalled hearing, not long ago, that Immortal Lord Liuyun would also be attending this year’s tournament.
“When did Chong Yin leave?” Bai Xiaonian asked, his cat face turning serious.
Now it was the bell’s turn to be confused. Watching the kitten’s sudden shift in demeanor, it answered hesitantly, “Less than the time it takes an incense stick to burn…”
Before the bell had even finished speaking, the kitten had already burst free of the blankets and leapt off the bed like a gust of wind, dashing out of the room at full speed.
…
A massive spirit vessel already awaited outside the gates of the Demon Palace. Its two sides bore wings shaped like fish fins, capable of soaring through the skies or diving beneath the seas, a top-grade immortal artifact, able to carry over a thousand passengers.
Yet this particular vessel was reserved exclusively for the Demon Lord’s personal travel. The massive craft was furnished with exquisite, opulent luxury, resembling a palace in its own right, meant to accommodate the Demon Lord alone in comfort.
Behind Chong Yin followed a procession of beautiful maidservants and formidable demon soldiers as he stepped aboard the vessel at an unhurried pace. Once all the accompanying attendants had boarded, the vessel’s wings began to beat, and before long, it rose gracefully into the clouds.
The air grew far colder up above the ninth heaven, but the cultivators aboard, shielded by their own spiritual energy, paid it no mind.
Yet at that moment, a sneeze sounded from somewhere beneath the couch inside the vessel’s main cabin. The attendants in the room startled, glancing around anxiously, each insisting it hadn’t been them who’d sneezed.
On the couch, the handsome man who had been resting with his eyes closed slowly opened them, his long, narrow phoenix eyes dark and knowing, a flicker of understanding crossing them. The corner of his mouth curved upward ever so slightly. He extended a hand, condensed a thread of spiritual energy at his fingertip, and flicked it toward the space beneath the couch.
The next instant, a cat’s yowl sounded from beneath the couch, followed immediately by a plump, round little ball of fur rolling out into the open.
Chong Yin arched an eyebrow, leaning back comfortably against the edge of the couch, watching the little furball on the floor with leisurely amusement, saying nothing at all.
By the time the kitten came to his senses and poked his head out to assess his situation, he realized, to his dismay, that he’d already been discovered.
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