“Gone?” Qilian asked in shock as he shook the empty storage pouch.
There were at least over twenty thousand top-grade spirit stones of all kinds in here, and this little creature finished them all off in just two or three months? He does not look that big, so how can he eat so much? If he gets indigestion from this, will he not explode?
Thinking of this, Qilian placed a hand on his head to channel spiritual energy and check his physical condition. After a good while, he finally withdrew his hand.
He does not seem to have any problems, except for being as fat as a pig. Qilian pinched Tong You’s cheek.
Ow, what are you doing? Can’t a guy even sleep in peace? Tong You raised a furry paw and pressed it against Qilian’s hand, exerting force to push it away.
Qilian chuckled. “You’re a pig.”
What am I, don’t you know? Tong You buried his face between his two furry paws.
“Don’t flatter yourself. You eat my food and live in my house right now, and the spirit stones are put on your tab. Remember to pay me back when you go out into the world,” Qilian said.
Tong You snapped his head up instantly. What?!
You’re using me to nurture medicine, shouldn’t you be responsible for my food and lodging? Tong You stepped right onto Qilian’s lap.
“My spirit stones didn’t fall out of thin air,” Qilian replied.
Tong You stamped his feet. You’re so stingy! You might as well just sell me off after the medicine nurturing is done.
“Hmm, I’ll have to consider that. Let’s see which spiritual mountain offers the highest price,” Qilian pretended to ponder.
Hmph!
Tong You whipped his tail outward, slapping it right across Qilian’s face, and then bolted away at top speed, leaving Qilian sitting there in a daze.
Did he just hit me? Qilian reached up to touch his right cheek. It didn’t hurt at all, and actually felt rather nice.
So annoying! Is it my fault I ate a little extra? Tong You felt aggrieved.
Suddenly, a figure flashed past from the next corridor over, and Tong You turned his head to look.
Isn’t that Yuanyi? Is he heading out again? Thinking of this, Tong You immediately gave chase.
Emerging from the Demon Palace and staring at the towering walls, Tong You finally felt a sense of unreality. We’re already out?
Turns out demons use the back door too. Watching Yuanyi already walking far ahead, Tong You hurried anxiously to keep up.
When he first transmigrated here, he thought he was just an ordinary little beast, never expecting to unlock a brand-new identity along with a reliable new skill: making his wishes come true. For instance, making someone understand his speech or turning invisible, though it only worked on people other than Qilian.
Tong You followed closely behind Yuanyi into a cave wreathed in black mist. At first, he felt a bit jittery, wondering the whole way what he would do if Yuanyi wasn’t heading to the mortal realm but somewhere dangerous instead. Still, since he had already taken the first step, turning back now felt like a loss. Worst case scenario, he could just keep trailing Yuanyi and pop out at an opportune moment.
Yes, that’s the plan. Having figured it out, Tong You felt much lighter on his feet, while Yuanyi walking ahead remained completely oblivious to what was happening behind him, let alone that this trip would land him in massive trouble.
After walking for a short while, Tong You suddenly felt his feet lose contact with the ground, and without any psychological preparation, he began falling straight down.
Terrified, Tong You shrieked, “Aaaah!”
The rapid force of the descent whipped his fur into a chaotic frenzy. Looking at the sea of white below, Tong You felt a wave of dizziness wash over him, closed his eyes, and lost consciousness entirely.
In the forest. Tong You lay among the fallen leaves for who knows how long, until the newly fallen foliage had nearly covered a layer over his body.
Ouch, so painful! Tong You knitted his brows tightly, disturbing a leaf draped across his face. Sensing something amiss, he slowly blinked open his eyes. Gazing up through the dim light filtering past the leaves, he instinctively tried to lift a furry paw to push them away, only to find he was in too much pain to muster an ounce of strength.
With no choice, he took a deep breath and exhaled forcefully to blow the leaves away from his field of vision. A patch of forest came into view, and he tilted his head back laboriously to catch the faint, sporadic starlight twinkling through the swaying canopy.
Did I make it out of the Demon Realm? Tong You asked himself.
Ouch—
Why does it hurt so much? What happened?
Tong You closed his eyes and began recalling the journey after following Yuanyi: after entering the black hole and walking for a brief moment, he suddenly felt his footing vanish, and his body plunged straight downward. Both the black hole and Yuanyi had vanished.
The person casting the spell must have left, causing the black hole to dissipate. So where am I now?
…Damn it, I lost myself.
Ouch, it hurts so bad! I wonder how high I fell from. What do I do now, am I going to be a stray?
He tilted his head back to gaze at the leaves swaying in the breeze above him, as specks of sunlight danced gently across his face.
That stinky durian should come look for me, right? After all, I still have what he wants inside my body.
Sigh, when will he get here? I don’t want to live as a stray; I know the difference between being well-fed and starving. If I had known, I wouldn’t have sneaked out behind Yuanyi.
When that stinky durian finds me, how am I supposed to explain? It’s not like I was running away, I just wanted to tag along outside with Yuanyi to sightsee. Who knew his black hole was so unreliable and wouldn’t even drop me off on solid ground? Sigh~
I wonder when stinky durian will notice I’m gone. Suddenly, I kind of miss him…
After lying there for goodness knows how long, Tong You dragged his aching body and cautiously navigated the forest. The last time he felt this wretched was when he almost got captured by those crooked cultivators to be refined into pills.
My whole body hurts, and stinky durian never taught me how to heal myself. Am I really going to die of pain out here in the wilderness?
This is bad. Tong You collapsed over a large tree root, his nine tails drooping limply against the ground.
Forget it, I have to try healing myself. If I drag this out any longer, I’m genuinely going to die.
Tong You slumped over the tree root and began slowly channeling the spiritual energy inside his body. Fortunately, he usually treated spirit stones like snacks, accumulating a deep reserve of spiritual energy within him; otherwise, falling from such a height would have killed him outright.
He might not be good at much else, but Tong You knew how to circulate his own spiritual energy. As the energy flooded back into his meridians, he finally started feeling a bit better.
I really don’t want to try anymore.
Tong You spent several days roaming the woods. Every step he took rustled the fallen leaves beneath his paws with a crisp crunch, signaling that danger could strike at any moment.
With unsteady steps, every landing of his paws kept his nerves stretched taut, because you never truly knew what might be hiding under those leaves.
A long, slippery creature that flicks its tongue and watches you…
Just thinking about it sent a chill down Tong You’s spine, fixing his attention entirely on the ground ahead.
Suddenly, a gust of demonic wind whipped up, sweeping the fallen leaves from the ground and sending them swirling chaotically through the air at varying heights, blinding Tong You so badly he could barely open his eyes.
What kind of crappy wind blows this hard? Can’t a guy walk in peace? Tong You muttered, burying his head.
On second thought, though, the fierce wind had blown all the leaves away, which meant whatever was hiding underneath might have cleared out too. Comforted by this thought, Tong You curled up right where he was and waited for the wind to stop.
A short while later, when Tong You opened his eyes, the fallen leaves along his path had been completely blown away, leaving behind only scattered broken branches and gnarled tree roots protruding from the soil.
Wonderful, an evil wind clearing the path. Tong You clapped his paws in approval.
I was wondering why the wind was so strong. Tong You pressed flat against a tree root, gazing into the distance at a chaotic brawl of white, black, red, and green figures.
Based on my years of experience, the white ones are probably the good guys, and the rest are bad.
That green one looks super ferocious. I wonder if the white side can beat him.
At this moment, Tong You really wished he had a bag of sunflower seeds or a couple of packs of potato chips.
Hiding himself among the remaining leaves, Tong You watched them trade blows for a bit longer. As reinforcements for the white-robed faction steadily poured in, the other group realized the situation looked grim and scattered shortly after.
With the show over, Tong You prepared to take a detour. Just as he dug himself out, a sudden force sucked him upward.
Hey! Hey! Hey! Tong You’s exclamations grew increasingly shocked.
Whoa—cough, cough, cough! Tong You was slammed unceremoniously onto the ground by the suction force.
Gritting his teeth through the pain, Tong You rolled around on the ground. Oh merciful heavens, what kind of bad karma is this?
A teenage disciple tied with a ponytail squatted down, holding a sword, and stared with curiosity at the rolling Tong You. “Senior Uncle, what kind of creature is this? Doesn’t look like a dog, doesn’t look like a weasel either.”
With a nimble flip, Tong You sprang to his feet, baring his teeth at the person who had just compared him to a dog and a weasel. Damn it, you’re the dog! You’re the weasel! Your entire family is!
“Heh, this little thing’s teeth look pretty nice,” the teenager said, reaching out a hand.
Tong You had his weapons ready, waiting for that hand to get close so he could chop it right off with a swift clack.
“Do you still want your hand?!” The middle-aged man whom the teenager had just called Senior Uncle slapped the boy’s hand away to stop him.
“Ow—” The teenager couldn’t help yelping, then whimpered with a bitter expression, “Senior Uncle, do you know how much that hurt?”
The middle-aged man rolled his eyes. “That hurts already? If I had known, I should have let this little beast bite you so you’d know what real pain feels like.”
I’m a beast? I’m your grandpa, damn it! These cultivators are all crazier than the last! I’m a beast, and you’re some kind of saint?! Tong You cursed inwardly.
Why only inwardly? Because he hadn’t figured out these people’s cultivation levels yet. If they could hear him speak, things would get pretty awkward.
The teenager tugged shamelessly on the man’s sleeve and wheedled, “I know Senior Uncle wouldn’t do that. Senior Uncle is the best.”
“Don’t flatter me, I’m not like certain people.” He jerked his sleeve back out of the teenager’s grip.
“Senior Uncle, what kind of creature is this anyway? It looks so weird.” Curiosity filled the teenager’s eyes.
Tong You’s face twisted in rage. He shook his head, stepped back a few paces, and then lowered his head to charge straight at the teenager.
Eat this, you bastard!
Completely caught off guard, the teenager was knocked flat onto his back by Tong You, proving just how massive the impact was.
Everyone immediately swarmed around as Minghui lay on the back, staring up at the little creature standing squarely on his stomach. Man and beast locked gazes.
“Whoa, you’re heavy.” With that, he simply went completely limp.
“Hahahaha!”
“I have to be fair here—he clearly looks quite pretty, and you’re the one insisting he looks weird. Who’s going to get hurt if not you?”
Minghui pointed accusingly at them. “You guys…”
Another teenager on the side pressed his hand down. “Just rest in peace, Minghui.”
“Alright, alright, hurry up and get this little thing off Minghui.”
“Oh right, right, right.”
Watching the crowd slowly close in around him, Tong You panicked. Screw it, desperate times call for desperate measures. Just as a hand reached toward him, he hardened his resolve, sprang off the stomach of the person beneath him, and darted like lightning straight between their legs.
“Cough, cough—” Minghui clutched his stomach, gagging.