Seeing that Tong You had bolted, a crowd of disciples stepped past Ming Yu and swarmed after him, their joyful and boisterous laughter echoing through the forest.
[We have no grudge against each other, why are you chasing me?] Tong You ran and tumbled wildly through the woods.
[Mmph, mmph, if I ever get a second chance, I am never running around blindly again!]
Someone stepped forward on the spot to command the others: “Quick, quick, quick! Quietly circle around behind him and cut him off. Surround him, surround him!”
What? What? What? Hearing them talk about trapping him, Tong You began glancing back frantically.
“Yipe!”
Suddenly, a wail rang out as Tong You tripped over a tree root and was sent flying a good couple of inches into the air.
[I hate this damn tree root!] Tong You spat fallen leaves and sand out of his mouth.
Abruptly, his vision went dark as his entire little beast body was pinned down by someone. Ming Yu exclaimed happily, “Heh, I caught you!”
Tong You: Damn it…
[You big idiot, you’re going to crush me to death!] Tong You wheezed out with great difficulty.
Ming Yu froze for a moment, then scrambled up quickly, allowing Tong You to finally take a proper breath of air.
Qi Yu looked at the suddenly dazed Ming Yu and asked, “What is it, Ming Yu? Did he bite you?”
Ming Yu snapped back to his senses and said, “No, just now he… he spoke.”
“Huh? Judging by how small he is, he’s just a baby beast. He’s already attained sentience at this size?” someone asked in confusion.
“Ming Yu, did you hear wrong?” Qi Yu also expressed doubt. If the creature had really spoken, it was impossible that only he had heard it.
“It’s true, you guys wait a second.” Ming Yu squatted down, reached out to support Tong You by his two front legs, and hoisted him up from the ground so he stood on his hind legs.
With eyes filled with pleading and determination, Ming Yu said, “Hey, can you say that again?”
Still feeling dizzy, Tong You shook his head and smirked wickedly: [No.]
Hearing the furry little creature speak once more, Ming Yu immediately turned around in excitement and said to his fellow disciples, “Look, he spoke!”
The crowd stared at him with complete bewilderment, and Ming Yu was equally confused by their expressions. “Did you guys not hear it just now? He really spoke.”
Everyone shook their heads.
Ming Yu said, “That’s impossible, I clearly heard it.”
“Then what did he say?” someone asked.
Ming Yu replied, “He asked: No.”
“Ming Yu, stop messing with us.”
“Yeah, aside from being a little chubby, this little beast is really young. Being able to speak usually requires reaching at least a thousand years of age.”
“But I really heard it.” Ming Yu was growing somewhat anxious. He clearly heard this little fellow, so why couldn’t anyone else hear him?
Finding it uncomfortable to be held up like that, Tong You decided to show some mercy and tell him the truth: [Of course they can’t hear you, because I’m only letting you hear my voice.]
The voice rang out in Ming Yu’s ear once again. Completely bewildered, Ming Yu shoved him away on the spot.
[Damn it, be careful will you? You almost made me crash into a tree!] Terrified, Tong You’s little heart hammered frantically against his ribs. Fortunately, his reflexes were quick and he managed to brace himself with his paws, otherwise who knew how long he would be in pain.
“What is it, Ming Yu?” Qi Yu asked doubtfully. “Don’t tell me you heard him speak again?”
Ming Yu looked at Qi Yu and said, “I told you, but you guys wouldn’t believe me.”
“What’s going on?” Ye Wangqiu walked over and asked.
A young disciple pointed at the little beast standing under the tree and said to Ye Wangqiu, “Uncle-Master, earlier Senior Brother Ming Yu said he heard this little beast speak, but none of us heard anything.”
Ming Yu looked at Ye Wangqiu, feeling truly aggrieved with nowhere to vent. However, Ye Wangqiu didn’t look at him at all, choosing instead to size up the little beast once more. In truth, if the creature hadn’t moved just a moment ago, even someone with his level of ability wouldn’t have noticed him. This beast’s innate concealment ability was definitely not to be underestimated.
“This beast is by no means ordinary. At such close range, if he hadn’t moved just now, I probably wouldn’t have noticed him at all,” Ye Wangqiu said.
The group suddenly began whispering among themselves. They knew how capable their Uncle-Master was; hearing him declare that this beast was extraordinary gave them much more confidence in Ming Yu’s claim.
After all, high-grade spirit beasts were exceptionally attuned to human nature. As for speaking… well, perhaps this little beast just looked small while actually being older than all of them combined.
“Ming Yu, what did you hear him say just now?” Ye Wangqiu asked.
“He said: You big idiot, you’re going to crush me to death… Damn it, be careful will you, you almost made me crash into a tree,” Ming Yu recited, echoing the words back.
Why did this old man have to show up? Elderly old men in this world are not easy to fool. For safety’s sake, I’d better slip away first so they don’t capture me and give me a proper job assignment. If I have to go to work every day, I’d rather live as a stray waiting for that stinky Durian to come find me.
Tucking his tails in, Tong You crept stealthily toward the back of a tree, only to be spotted by the young kid the moment he concealed himself: “Uncle-Master, he’s trying to run.”
Caught between running and staying, Tong You chose to simply lie flat on the ground. There were simply too many people around for him to escape anyway, especially with a formidable old man present; struggling would only exhaust himself.
Mmph, mmph, stinky Durian, when are you going to show up? I’m so hungry, mmph.
“Gurgle, gurgle” Tong You’s stomach betrayed him with a loud growl, and the sound was so booming that the nearby chatter instantly ceased, everyone turning as one toward the source of the noise.
Tong You instinctively glanced at them. Seeing that they were all staring at him, he snapped defensively: [What are you looking at? Aren’t your stomachs hungry? My stomach is hungry!]
Upon hearing this, Ming Yu turned to Ye Wangqiu and said, “Uncle-Master, he said he’s hungry.”
Meanwhile, Qilian walked leisurely into the sleeping chambers, taking a full circle around the room without finding a single trace of Tong You. He wasn’t in his little nest, he wasn’t on the daybed, and he wasn’t under the daybed either…
He must have gone out to play, Qilian thought as he sat down on the edge of the daybed.
Tossing and turning restlessly on the daybed, Qilian felt as though something vital was missing. Thinking about it made it impossible for him to sleep, and he suddenly flipped up into a sitting position.
It’s not like I actually miss him, he told himself, it’s just that not having anything warm to hold onto before sleep feels terribly awkward. I might as well go look for him, who knows what kind of wild trouble he’s gotten into.
[Mmh, finally getting to eat a hot meal.]
Tong You buried his head, stuffing spiritual stones into his mouth in huge bites. The disciples standing around watching him eat looked on with expressions close to tears.
“Mmph, mmph, my spiritual stones…”
“Can someone make him eat slower? I want to gaze upon my spiritual stones for just a little longer.”
“…”
Seeing the distress on their faces, Ming Yu felt a little guilty. “It’s just a few spiritual stones, right? I can borrow them from you guys, okay? I’ll pay you back immediately once we get back.”
“We aren’t being stingy, it’s just that we usually don’t save up very many,” someone offered a mild explanation.
“Yeah, I know,” Ming Yu said.
While they were talking, Tong You polished off the very last spiritual stone. He stretched his body out with a light wiggle, wagged his nine fluffy tails, and trotted right up to Ming Yu.
[Hey kid, got any more? I’m not full yet,] Tong You said.
Hearing the voice, Ming Yu lowered his head. ??? What? Not full yet? He looked over at the spot where the creature had just been eating—those were over three hundred spiritual stones right there, and they were gone in the blink of an eye.
Seeing Ming Yu freeze in a daze, the young disciple couldn’t help asking, “Senior Brother, what did he say this time?”
Ming Yu turned to look at them, keeping his mouth open for a good long while before finally uttering, “He said… he hasn’t had enough.”
“Huh?” The group gasped and took several steps back in unison.
[What’s wrong? Is it really that shocking for me to say I’m still hungry?] Tong You tilted his head at them.
Ming Yu nodded dumbly.
???
“Ming Yu, before Uncle-Master left, did he say anything else about bringing this… little beast along?” Qi Yu asked.
Ming Yu shook his head, his eyes fixed firmly on the little beast walking ahead.
Nighttime.
A bonfire crackled fiercely against the curtain of night, casting a warm, bright glow. Tong You lay flat beside the campfire, staring with wide, yearning eyes at the roasted fish in Ming Yu’s hand.
[Is it done yet? Is it done yet?] Tong You stood up anxiously, but after holding the pose for a few seconds, he dropped back down to the ground.
“Give it a little longer,” Ming Yu said, turning to look at Tong You. “Huh? Where are your tails?”
Staring intently at the roasted fish, Tong You replied: [Put them away. The fur on my tails was about to get plucked bald by them.]
“They can retract?” Ming Yu looked back down at his rear end. “Looking at you like this, you really do look more like a regular cat.”
[Alright, the fish is burning!] Tong You tried to reach out with his paw impatiently.
“Fine, fine, here,” Ming Yu extended the fish right in front of Tong You. “Eat up.”
[The skin, even the fish skin is charred. I don’t eat burnt stuff, peel it off for me.]
“Why are you such a fussy beast? What’s wrong with eating a little charred part?” Ming Yu muttered under his breath as he peeled the skin away.
Tong You argued: [Didn’t your teacher ever teach you that burnt parts shouldn’t be eaten? Especially charred fish meat; grilled fish that gets burnt produces a large amount of V-amino methyl derivatives, a carcinogen with potency exceeding that of aflatoxin.]
Hearing Tong You rattle off a bunch of technical terms, Ming Yu understood absolutely nothing except that it involved burnt fish. “What… what kind of V… V-organism?”
[Forget it, you guys don’t understand these things anyway, explaining it is pointless. Just know for a fact that burnt fish cannot be eaten,] Tong You muttered, rubbing his head.
Not dwelling on what Tong You meant, Ming Yu removed the charred skin and flesh before handing the fish back to him. “There, all done.”
Tong You leaned in close to sniff it, deciding it smelled pretty decent. [Guess I’ll dig in then.]
“Mm.” Ming Yu nodded.
Tong You opened wide and took a bite right into the fish belly. The moment his teeth sank in, he jerked his head back, opening his mouth and panting wildly over his tongue: [Hot—hot—so hot!]
“Haha, what a dummy.” Ming Yu reached out and flicked Tong You right on the forehead.
“Yipe!”
[You! Jerk!] Infuriated, Tong You’s fur stood completely on end as he stomped his foot and marched away.
“Hey, aren’t you eating anymore?” Ming Yu asked, standing up.
Tong You mumbled indistinctly: [You eat it if you love it so much.]
Ming Yu called out loudly: “I started practicing penance and fasting years ago!”
Water, water, water! I need to soak my tongue! Tong You scurried rapidly toward a nearby stream, with Ming Yu chasing after him holding the fish.
Bathed in the bright moonlight, the stream shimmered with sparkling silver ripples.
“Where is the beast?!” Qilian slammed his palm down onto the table. “Where is such a large beast?!”
Qilian’s voice grew louder and louder. A group of demons knelt inside the main hall with lowered heads, not a single one daring to make a peep.
“So many of you, and you didn’t even notice when a beast ran away? I suppose you all have had a little too much peace and comfort lately.”
With a furious sweep of his arm, Qilian flipped the heavy desk entirely over. “Search! Go search everywhere! If you can’t find him, all of you can go feed the nether flames.”
The demons scrambled away in a hurried retreat.
Qilian slumped back down onto his throne, lifting a hand to press against his temple. I’ve been feeding you fine food and housing you well, just what on earth made you run off?