Ha. Da Hei felt that he was going to die here today.
Who could have thought that the Milky that Lin Mu had actually called cute and sweet could have turned out to be Yan Xuanjing!
Anyway, Da Hei didn"t expect that, and looking at Lin Mu, he didn"t seem to know anything as well.
Da Hei felt that he could not be blamed for not recognising Yan Xuanjing at first.
Because the impression that Yan Xuanjing had left with him before was of a great monster that had a pure and holy aura. With just a single glance, one could tell that he was very solemn, and wasn"t contaminated with any fierceness at all.
He really seemed like an auspicious beast1瑞兽 (Ruì shòu) – refers to mythical creatures that bring good things, like prosperity, longevity, etc. Some examples are the four great beasts ( Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, Black Tortoise) or dragons and phoenixes. that was born in a world of peace.
Who could have thought that such a great auspicious beast could become so terrifying when marking a territory, no different from a fierce beast2Another specific term. 凶兽 (Xiōng shòu) is used to refer to mythical creatures that bring bad (in human terms) things. Famous example is the four priels ( whose hands were stained with blood.
Wrong.
Thinking about it from another perspective, in the countless records related to the nine-tailed fox, it was indeed both fierce and auspicious.
Its fierceness was based on the fact that whenever there"s a King that lost their way or fortune, there were traces of nine-tailed foxes stirring up trouble behind them. Furthermore, in the nine-tailed foxes" cookbook, the first in place were the souls of humans and other living creatures.
But at the same time, there were plenty of evidence to call them auspicious beasts. During times of peace and prosperity, human cultivators could always get a glimpse of nine-tailed foxes and other auspicious beast together. Also, the body of the nine-tailed fox was an unstained white, thus, it was perfectly normal for them to be seen as a symbol of holiness and auspiciousness3To elaborate, nine-tailed foxes were also seen as symbols of good things to come, like a good marriage or prosperity, or even worshipped and seen as a sign that the emperor of that era was good. Then, slowly, books like Invest.i.ture of the G.o.ds were written, which were one of the driving forces of the nine-tailed foxes evil reputation, due to the story about how Daji (a beautiful nine-tailed fox) caused the downfall of a kingdom (at the behest of a G.o.ddess)..
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Da Hei also knew a little about the truth of this matter. That was, individual differences. Some monsters liked to do whatever they wanted regardless of the opinion of others, while some could restrain themselves with reason.
But in the eyes of humankind, they were all nine-tailed foxes, and the humans couldn"t tell if they were the same one or not, so they were all collectively referred to as nine-tailed fox in the records.
Although the records weren"t entirely thorough, but it could be used as a reference to roughly judge some habits of monsters such as nine-tailed foxes.
For example, they liked to stir up trouble, liked to socialise everywhere, and also liked to slyly play little tricks behind a person"s back.
This is something that Da Hei could completely understand. But what he couldn"t understand was how Yan Xuanjing could hide his beast-like killing intent and act in a righteous manner, as if this whole fox was indifferent and holy, unstained by anything, and had nothing to do with bloodshed at all.
Even the Morning Dusk that hated and was the most sensitive to anything demonic related was tricked.
Da Hei looked at Yan Xuanjing and his mind was ringing.
He wanted to remind Lin Mu to be careful, but he didn"t dare to move under this great monster"s gaze.
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Da Hei also followed and turned to look, and kept quiet and stopped talking.
Over there, Yan Xuanjing, who was talking to Wu Gui, also paused for a moment.
Great monsters have good eyes and ears, and could clearly hear the conversation that just happened.
Wu Gui noticed his pause, looked over and said, “two young children, both pay it any heed.”
Yan Xuanjing shook his head, and continued the topic that they were talking about, “I"m here to help guard the pa.s.sage, and I also need to check the records.”
“Alright, the reference room is on the second floor.” Wu Gui said, and looked carefully at the young nine-tailed fox in front of him and continued, “I still can control the pa.s.sageway currently, there"s no need to you to worry too much, first take care of your wound.”
Yan Xuanjing was not surprised that his injuries would be discovered by the monster in front of him. After giving a light nod, he took out a few fresh and plump spiritual medication and palced them on the table, then said, “also, could I ask you* to divine about the recent happenings in the Great Wilderness?”
Wu Gui frowned, stared at the spiritual medication for a while, and accepted them. He raised his eyes to look at Yan Xuanjing, “I see that your connection with our little half-monster is quite deep.”
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Both Da Hei and Milky maintained a high quality silence.
Lin Mu looked over here then looked over there and became even more confused, “why not…… let"s go back first?”
So Yan Xuanjing took the lead in retracting his line of sight, and didn"t seem put Da Hei"s existence in his heart.
Lin Mu pushed his little electric scooter, and thought about what Da Hei had said before, about the possibility of a fierce and great monster that had entered his house, and couldn"t help but observe his yard a little.
As a result, after a few seconds, he only saw a bunch of red ginseng seeds4 sprouting out from the ground, spinning in circles around the yard.
According to the party concerned, this was nurturing the soil.
The meaning of nurturing the soil was to help the land attain spiritual energy. In places where plant based spirits and monsters stayed and moved around for a long time, the land would get stained with their spiritual energy, resulting in the land"s vegetation growing much more luxurious compared to normal places.
Lin Mu looked at the diligent Ginseng Baby and began to consider if he should plant some plants in his yard, so he could give the little Ginseng something to do.
If things continued on being the way they were now, a string of red ginseng seeds drilling around to loosen the soil, he was afraid that one day, a pa.s.sing villager would pull him out and make him into soup.
…… No matter what, it didn"t seem like there were any great and fierce monster around.
What type of great monster would go to someone else"s home to help with farming.
Lin Mu opened the door, “I"m back.”
The string of red ginseng seeds stopped for a moment, and in the next second, a white and plump ginseng pulled himself out of the soil, and ran with two roots to Lin Mu"s legs. He turned and looked at the pair of black and white monsters behind Lin Mu and plucked a couple of ginseng strands out, jumping around as he gave it to Lin Mu, “Lin Mu, Lin Mu, brew some tea!”
Lin Mu was shocked by the little Ginseng"s action of pulling out his own roots. He bent down and looked at the little Ginseng who was only the size of his palm with heartache, “does it hurt?”
“It doesn"t hurt.” The little Ginseng said with a sweet and childish tone and placed the ginseng strands into Lin Mu"s hands, “take it to entertain the guests.”
Lin Mu thought for a bit, and still accepted the strands of ginseng.
Da Hei was silent and looking down as he followed behind Yan Xuanjing.
He just didn"t understand the reason why Yan Xuanjing, a majestic nine-tailed fox, would go over to a half-monster"s house.
Although it seems that he didn"t have any malicious intentions.
And luckily he didn"t didn"t have any malicious intentions.
Da Hei"s eyes drooped, and simply didn"t understand.
“I bought two pigeons and an old hen today,” Lin Mu said.
Yan Xuanjing heard Lin Mu"s words and raised his head to look at the plastic bags and live chicken in Lin Mu"s hands. His eyes brightened.
Lin Mu was happy to see that Da Hei and Milky didn"t fight.
He trusted Da Hei, so he simply picked up the things on the seat and turned to the two dogs, “the old hen is a little troublesome to handle, so I"ll go and make dinner first. You guys chat first?”
Da Hei: “?”
No.
What!
What"s going on!
You actually want to let a dog like me face a nine-tailed fox!
Lin Xiaomu, do you even have a conscience!!!
I think you just want to harm me!!!
I"m just a weak and innocent little dog that just gained spiritual awareness, why do I have to go through this!
Da Hei felt wronged, but didn"t dare to say anything.
He watched as Lin Mu ran away with the ingredients of today"s dinner, followed by the little ginseng who had keen senses and was extremely sensitive as he realised that there was something wrong with the atmosphere.
The white and plump little Ginseng ran with two little roots, huffing and puffing behind Lin Mu. After entering the house, he turned into his human form and with a bare b.u.t.t and two short legs, pulled at the hem of Lin Mu"s clothes then looked back at the two dogs that were confronting each other.
“Lin Mu, what"s up with that dog?” The little Ginseng asked, “is he coming to seek refuge with you too?”
“Ah, no.” Lin Mu placed the ingredients in his hand onto the cooking bench, washed his hands, then took a cup of yogurt from the fridge and helped the little Ginseng insert the straw, “he"s my colleague, and came to help me talk with Milky.”
The little Ginseng took the straw, “talk about?”
“Talk about Milky properly guarding the house in the future.” Lin Mu said, “if Milky can"t watch the house properly, I have to consider raising a new dog.”
The little Ginseng was a little monster that was born in the wild, and also couldn"t really distinguish between the race or appearance of other monsters.
Hearing Lin Mu say so, the little Ginseng didn"t think that there was anything wrong with it. He only took a sip of yogurt and said softly, “I also can watch the house.”
Lin Mu heard his words and smiled, indulging him, “en, en. Little Ginseng, you"re awesome.”
But how Lin Mu possibly let this little guy watch the house alone — after all, the little Ginseng looked like the type of small monster that would be accidentally taken away and made into soup. His lethality wasn"t even as high as the claws of a small baby cat.
The little baby shyly puckered his lips and smiled, then climbed onto the cooking bench and asked, “can I help?”
Lin Mu nodded, “sure, come and help with the washing.”
In contrast to the harmonious and warm picture in the kitchen, the two dogs…… wrong, there was a slightly tense atmosphere between a dog and a fox.
Yan Xuanjing was waiting for Da Hei to speak.
And Da Hei felt that he was going to die.
After a long time had pa.s.sed without Da Hei speaking, Yan Xuanjing took the initiative to speak, “you need me for something?”
“……” Da Hei opened his mouth, then shook his head due to a conditioned reflex, “nothing, nothing.”
After speaking, he realised that it wasn"t correct and nodded his head again, “there"s something, there"s something, there"s something.”
Yan Xuanjing raised his eyebrow and said, “speak.”
“…… It"s about Lin Mu.” Da Hei carefully asked, “why are you5formal you. Da Hei uses the formal you to talk to YXJ staying at Lin Mu"s house?”
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He sullely placed the tool bag on the table and looked down at the time, and remembered that there was a dog at home that didn"t have lunch to eat, and ran upstairs in a panic and looked into his room, but found that it was empty.
Lin Mu stared at the old empty blankets for a while, bit his lips, looked around the house for a while but didn"t find that pile of white fluff.
He had no choice to turn on the computer to check the surveillance and found that this morning, shortly after he left, the dog followed him and also left. It seemed that the dog had no problem walking, but there were some minor defects in his left front leg.
Lin Mu turned off the surveillance record, and like a punctured balloon, his whole person deflated.
He bit his lips and rolled onto the bed, and with a single pull of his thin blanket, his whole body went into the blanket, and felt quite miserable.
Such a good looking monster, Lin Mu thought.
“Because it"s comfortable.” Yan Xuanjing didn"t plan on telling Da Hei the reason why he chose to stay in this place was to recuperate.
To put out the news that one has been injured and needed to recuperate was an act of stupidity.
Yan Xuanjing thought for a bit, and felt that Da Hei probably came here to confirm Lin Mu"s safety, so he said, “I won"t harm him.”
Da Hei heard those words and let out a sigh of relief.
After knowing that Milky was Yan Xuanjing, Da Hei immediately understood why Milky would run out every day. He believed that because the Old Turtle was very busy recently, Yan Xuanjing needed to temporarily watch over the pa.s.sage in Qingyao Mountain to prevent any monsters from sneaking in without registering
The harm caused by sneaking in was quite big. For example, the great monster that caused a lot of problems in the Great Wilderness was an unregistered citizen, which caused them to not know what this monster"s original form was, therefore making it very difficult to do any targeted treatment.
Milky was going out to handle legitimate business.
Da Hei pondered over his words for a moment and said, “Lin Mu feels that you spent too little time at home, so he hopes that you could stay at home some more.”
With this said, the rest was much more smoother.
“Since Lin Mu grew up as an ordinary human being, he does not know about your ident.i.ty, and only considers you to be an ordinary…… er, pet. Humans would want to be wholeheartedly accompanied by their pets, also since Lin Mu is now alone, he would be more concerned about this matter……”
Da Hei rambled on. He felt that Lin Mu living without his parents or anybody else as well as not knowing his own true form was quite a pitable thing, and if it was possible, he really wished that there was someone who could accompany and protect this pitiful and helpless half-monster.
“If you are always very busy, he would want to buy another pet dog back — if you don"t mind.”
If Yan Xuanjing minded, it was impossible for an ordinary pet dog to stay at the side of a great monster. A single glance from a nine-tailed fox could scare an ordinary pet dog to death.
Literally scared them to death.
“This is his home, he has the final say.”
Yan Xuanjing did not have any opinions, but he was quite surprised to find out that although Lin Mu looked very optimistic and cheerful, in his heart he was quite sensitive and lonely.
He really didn"t expect that, because Lin Mu was busy every single moment of the day without stopping, and at first glance, seemed like a person who could get happiness and satisfaction from being busy at work.
And when he stayed by his side, he always felt very relaxed and happy.
Yan Xuanjing thought about it and said, “but I"m not going to be busy these few days.”
Wu Gui was going to come back, and Yan Xuanjing could safely recuperate for a period of time and wait for the monsters that had been mobilised to get the information they needed before taking action.
Da Hei understood the underlying meaning of this statement: for the time being, there was no need to buy another pet dog.
After all, it was really easy for ordinary dogs to encounter accidents staying with monsters, especially a great monster that could kill a large group of ordinary creatures with a single look.
Da Hei nodded his head to show that he understood, then hesitated for a couple of seconds and still asked, “why are you using your original…… er, I mean, why don"t you tell Lin Mu your ident.i.ty?”
Because this little pervert couldn"t handle it.
Yan Xuanjing"s face was expression as he thought, then he told the truth, “because he does not know how to resist the charm of a nine-tailed fox, not even the voice.”
Da Hei: “……”
Oh right.
“Then would you like to tell him?” Da Hei asked again.
“There"s no need.” Yan Xuanjing stood up, “I"m not staying for too long, so there"s no need.”
During dinner, Da Hei watched the Lin Mu who had received the good news happily feeding the dog and wanted to say something, but in the end silently decided to swallow back his words into his stomach
By the time he left, it was already dark. When he was about halfway back, the phone in his pocket vibrated. He took it out and found out that it was a message from the Old Turtle.
The message was a sentence:
The two of them are fated, why are you b.u.t.ting in for?
After reading this news Da Hei froze for a long moment, and his whole body jerked as he turned back to look at Lin Mu"s courtyard which still had its lights on.
Lin Mu was only twenty-three.
Yan Xuanjing was over 500!
Da Hei was in shock for a long time, and only felt that one shouldn"t just look at the righteous aura that this nine-tailed fox excluded, his true nature was still a beast.
And Yan Xuanjing, who was evaluated as a beast, laid down on the edge of the bed and thought about what Da Hei had said before dinner as Lin Mu continued to get ready for bed by turning off the lights and going to sleep. Thinking about how this half-monster was lonely and lacked a sense of security, he simply jumped onto the bed.
Lin Mu was so startled he jumped a little, “Milky?”
Yan Xuanjing glanced at him then laid down beside Lin Mu.
Lin Mu was stunned for quite a while, then he reacted to the fact that his family"s dog wanted to sleep together with him. He couldn"t help but let out a smile, reach his arms out to give him a huge bear hug.
Milky was slightly smaller than an adult Samoyed, but was very good as a pillow.
The fur was smooth and soft, warm and fragrant.
Lin Mu had also just finished his shower, and his whole body was covered in the aroma of a milky shower gel, mixed together with a subtle scent of vegetation that caused Yan Xuanjing to relax, as his mind became peaceful and comfortable, until the extent that he wanted to roll over and show his belly.
Lin Mu leaned anc against nudged against his family"s Milky who took the initiative to get closer to him, reached out and turned off the light, then happily said goodnight.
Yan Xuanjing wiggled his ears. After Lin Mu fell asleep, he watched this little half-monster for a while and with a swish of his fluffy tail, and circled around Lin Mu who was curled up. Just as he was about to close his eyes and go to sleep, he was kicked out of the bed by this little half-monster"s leg.
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As long as he keeps his original form, this little half-monster would still be normal.
To be honest, Yan Xuanjing lived for over five hundred years, and it was the first time he met a monster than could be mesmerised by his face.
In the Great Wilderness, although there were half-monster, none were as bad as Lin Mu.
At least Yan Xuanjing had never met any.
Yan Xuanjing followed Lin Mu into the house.
Lin Mu was talking about what happened today, and every sentence was about the beautiful fox spirit he had saw today.
Little pervert.
Yan Xuanjing, who was kicked out of bed, was stunned for a few seconds as he looked at the blanket that was kicked down together with him, and faintly heard the little half-monster on the bed complain about being hot.
“……”
This little brat!
Yan Xuanjing was shocked.
Yan Xuanjing was expressionless.
Yan Xuanjing took the blanket back to him, and Lin Mu continued sleeping sweetly.
This little brat didn"t seem like he needed any company at all.
The nine-tailed fox thought, and coldly used the blanket to roll Lin Mu up, then heartlessly went back to sleep in the dog bed that Lin Mu bought for him.
The author has this to say:
Da Hei: Do you want to tell Lin Mu the truth?
Milky: Yes, but it"s not necessary.
Lin Mu: ? Get off.
The translator has this to add:
The 3000 year old turtle, Wu Gui: I ship. Begone, shipwrecker.
A sleepy, sleepy couch potato that adores BL. Only second to sleeping.