LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN TIGRESS

"That won"t be the worst thing! It"s nothing compared to what I suffered from her before ", Bai Li"s face twisted reminiscing the Past.

"Do tell", Fei Lian was interested.

Bai Li remembered how when she was barely able to talk he was in the mountains and with her sudden arrival, he turned from his intimidating nine tailed fox form to a little white fox cub. That girl picked him up and not only she played with him like he was a doll but also humiliated him enough that he wanted to die of embarra.s.sment. Even now, if there is a possibility of even a single person knowing about the humiliation he had suffered he"d kill himself. For someone who had lived for more than twelve centuries and had witnessed and went through a lot, that was the only time he wished for death.

She made him drink the milk of a mother wolf thinking he is hungry when he was absolutely not!

Seriously, he cannot blame the wolf that was scared of him but it was more scared of that little girl than him. And him who thought that little human child would be scared of his fox form clapped in joy and jumped over his tails and tried to put b.u.t.terfly knots with them when he tried to intimidate her afterwards with his true form ! What an utter humiliation! He"d die with that secret. Luckily that la.s.s forgot it too!

"In your dreams! ", Bai Li"s lips twitched.

Who knows what she did to him? Fei Lian smiled and remembered how when they met when she could barely walk , she saw him five times the size of her and when he roared right at her face to intimidate her, she fell on her b.u.t.t and as she fell she pulled his whiskers and was giggling uncontrollably cute as if it was a game. Boy, but that hurt like h.e.l.l.. Pulling the whiskers...

Not only that, she said, " hangry" and stuffed sweet buns in his mouth. Seriously! Who told her tigers eat sweet buns? And what does hangry even mean. But she did look adorable... And then he had to repeat the whole process of roaring at her and her falling on the b.u.t.t while giggling for hundred more times till she got bored and she ended up sleeping on his stomach using his tail as a hug pillow. And after he went through all that, her mother just said, "Weren"t you looking after her for me?"

"..."

Was I, really? Sigh! What a pair of intolerably adorable mortals.

Fei Lian shook his head to get that image out of his head. He wouldn"t tell others about this suffering either. The secret of the General of the Heavenly army being treated as a plaything by a little mortal would be buried deep in the deepest trenches of the deepest ocean in the underworld.

"That aside, are you really going to put her through those "Love Trials"?", Bai Li sat on the altar table and pursed his lips. He was clearly disappointed.

"She fell in love with someone who is supposed to be dead! That would be the procedure", Fei Lian"s pleasant expression turned serious immediately as he knitted his brows.

"Procedure?", BaiLi snorted, "Is it not enough she wandered through the Netherworld for thirty years? Is it not enough she lost her womb? How much more are you people going to torture her?"

Fei Lian looked down, "She wasn"t in any real danger there, was she?", his tone became soft as if he was feeling guilty.

"Not in...", Bai Li slapped the table, " Do you know which part of the Netherworld she was left at? The part where every monster "he" sealed for me, were locked at! The heart of the Netherworld... Could that be considered real danger? If those monsters knew her soul was trapped there, they"d have shredded her to pieces... And your little mark would have no effect against them... Who"d save your "Mighty" Emperor then? Not in real danger, he says... ", he was clearly angry as he threw the offerings on the table down.

Fei Lian was shocked as he raised his face to look at him," What? How did she end up there? Won"t human souls usually... "

" She was poisoned by the black spider lily Poison from the demon realm. It"s essence sends any soul to the heart of the Netherworld. If only I didn"t get the information about it, Your precious "Little One" as you address endearingly would not have returned back. I had to go to the Netherworld and distract those monsters towards me to protect her...I, the most powerful Demon there is, barely could hold them... She... She would be in pieces... In pieces... ", Bai Li shouted angrily.

" Well... You killed them and turned them to monsters anyway... ", Fei Lian started but shut his mouth seeing the angry glare of Bai Li. He was feeling bad that he put her through that danger.

In fact he let her inside the inner palace by letting the G.o.d of fire take his form because he knew the Heavenly Emperor wasn"t so keen on letting her live with Shengli. That"s why he personally interrupted them when they tried to consummate before because if that happened their Emperor would have immediately killed Shengli. For them Lu Junjie was her designated mate and they won"t let anyone else take her.

That"s why to prove she won"t accept anyone other than him as her husband, he let her inside the palace where no G.o.d can help her. He knew old Rong would make a move and Shengli as always would protect her as it is in his bones. But what he didn"t expect was her almost dying because He thought she is well protected by his spells and she is strong too. But somehow amidst all those miscalculations, his plan worked as Shengli proved to the G.o.ds that only he would be able to stand by her side to protect her even where G.o.ds cannot interfere or help. But he has to admit, throwing her blindly inside a deep forest that is the inner palace had led to a lot of unexpected things and really a lot could have gone wrong that day Old Rong came for her.

She had to lose her womb in the process because anyone who had trapped in the underworld cannot leave there without losing something of equal value to their life. For her it was Shengli himself but he is important for their plans to work out so the Heavenly Emperor decided on the second important thing for her, that is her womb.

That could be very well considered as their first "Trial of Love" where Shengli proved his importance.

But Fei Lian didn"t imagine King Yan would actually leave her in the heart of the Netherworld where his protection spells are invalid and she"d have been poisoned from the products of demon realm.

" So old Rong is acquiring allies in the demon realm too? ", he asked after deliberating for a while. Everything is more complicated than it seems.

" Goblins already swore their loyalty to him. But is old Rong planning on taking the three realms under his control? ", Bai Li rubbed his neck," Leave him. Coming back to her... Thirty years wandering in the Netherworld would make anyone, even immortals like us to go crazy... Only her love for him and the thought that no one will separate her from him if she does what you want is holding her mental stability and now you are pus.h.i.+ng her through another trial? What is it now? "Tribulation of Separation" ? How long will it be? Three months? Three years? Thirty years? Three hundred years? ... You know they won"t live more than seventy or eighty years right? Why must you torture them like that? Hasn"t she agreed to do what you asked? Can"t you just give her some concession and let her have that one thing she wants and let her be with him? At least after she does what you want from her? Threatening his life, her family"s and friends" life... For you to be called G.o.ds... ", he clicked his tongue and his grief made his throat hurt, " You utterly disgraceful and disgusting beings... "

" It"s the rules.. "

" Well, f*ck you and f*ck your rules! And to think she still trusts you... Why don"t you go kill yourself? Huh? He"s supposed to be dead and he is not. Isn"t that your reason? Well, he is not. Him and a whole bunch of other people too... How is that her fault? She changed it because she could... So what? Can"t accept your failure..? You self-satisfying, arrogant, narcissistic bunch of trash. And to think she is even your... Tsk! Despicable! "

"...", Fei Lian could not say anything back and he was just silent. Even though he is a G.o.d and Bai Li was a Fox Demon, he had lived far longer than him and even the Heavenly Emperor respects him so he could not actually talk back to him. Also he is right!

"I just didn"t want her to repeat "His" mistakes. That"s why I want her to follow procedures...", he gulped, "By the way... Did "he" sent you here? "He" seems to be in contact with her too", Fei Lian spoke cautiously as he really wanted to know.

""His" mistakes?", Bai Li snorted, " That guy... Your "Little Yuan"... still hates you. You Pampered him too much and he stomped right on your heart... Good luck with this la.s.s too... Hide more from her, conspire against her and she"ll do the same to you... "

" She is not "Him"", Fei Lian cleared his throat. He knew she had already taken a proper route unlike "that person" who acted only on his whims.

" No she is not! ", Bai Li stood up." She is much stronger, confident and much rational than "him". Or else she"d be halfway around the world, hiding from you by now with her husband rather than doing what you say!", he walked towards the exit, "The barrier will stay. I"ll protect her from now on. You just stay away. You"ve helped enough. Tell your useless Emperor not to interfere too. Because if he does....", he turned to look at Fei Lian and his Ruby red eyes were s.h.i.+ning with a dangerous glint, "Old Rong won"t be his only enemy! You should know I"m doing this to pay my debt to "Him " and I"ll be going all out!"

Saying this he strode towards the door in large strides when Fei Lian" s pleading voice was heard,

"Please! Don"t tell her who I am to her"

"Hmpf" Bai Li snorted after pausing his steps for a moment and he left in a fast pace not turning back.

As soon as he left, the mountain G.o.d appeared, "Well, well! What do we have here?", he grinned.

"Scram", Fei Lian shouted.

"Only showing your power to me?", he chuckled, "By the way, who are you to her?", he raised his eyebrows making his green eyes s.h.i.+ne like emerald under the lantern lights.

"Leave", Fei Lian waved his hands as he didn"t want to answer him.

"Black spider lily?.... Hmm... Her womb... Interesting... Trial of separation... I know! Isn"t there a Purple Lotus in your garden pond that only blooms once in a thousand year that has the ability to break the effect of any spell or poison? If my calculations are right, it would bloom in another four years, right? Won"t that cure her womb? Don"t tell me... "

" What are you implying? ", Fei Lian had a dangerous aura around him. If word of him planning to give such a divine flower to a mortal gets around, he won"t be allowed to do so.

" Nothing! ", the mountain G.o.d smiled," I was just blabbering nonsense ".

Too bad! I like that little girl too. I"ll keep your secret...

" Well, don"t blabber anymore. I"ve killed for less", Fei Lian said in a warning tone.

The mountain G.o.d grinned and disappeared from the temple and Fei Lian just stared at the direction of the door with various thoughts on his mind.