Chapter Text
“This peak lord doesn’t dare jump to any rash conclusions,” a voice shattered the gloomy silence, its cold tone nearly as frigid as the rainfall pouring down from the heavens and thoroughly soaking the dirt path beneath their feet. “But you must admit, this is rather suspicious.”
Around dusk, a tremendous springtime thunderstorm gradually formed and overtook the entirety of Qing Jing Peak, swallowing the mountain in a layer of fearsome-looking cloud cover. Streaks of lightning, accompanied by booming thunder, occasionally lit up the innards of the storm and illuminated the trembling landscape below
Once known for its serenity, the peak’s iconic Bamboo Forest was harshly pummeled by torrents of chilling rain, so intense that it stripped trees of their leaves and even snapped several stalks of towering bamboo. Thankfully, most of the severe weather had already passed. It was replaced by a steady, but much gentler, rainfall that rustled the dense canopy overhead and created countless puddles along the forest floor.
All in all, the storm brought a touch of liveliness and mortality to the Bamboo Forest, which was usually regarded as an immortal’s mysterious secret realm and accessible only to the most talented and accomplished of individuals. It appeared somewhat pitiful now. This so-called secret realm didn’t seem all that untouchable and otherworldly, with several groves of awkwardly bent bamboo and a muddy walking path that dirtied the boots of all who traveled along it.
There was already a victim, too.
The mud had unfortunately stained the linen boots of the man who had spoken out in that icy tone. His tall stature stood beneath the rustling canopy of the Bamboo Forest, ostentatiously dressed in brocade and silk robes of varying shades of emerald green, while his ink-black hair was partially pulled up into an intricate silver crown adorned with jade discs and several trailing ribbons.
The multiple layers of artisanally dyed silk hid any semblance of the man’s figure underneath, with the exception of a loosely tied belt sash embellished with silver metalwork that slightly cinched his waist. In addition to the long, flowing robes, the man also wore wrist guards and wrapped his neck in a skin-tight high-collar, covering up even more of his bare skin.
Almost as if he found the mortal world too filthy for his refined tastes and was trying to eliminate the possibility of any skin-to-skin contact.
Protecting him from the steady rainfall was a beige wax-paper umbrella decorated with delicate crane and bamboo motifs; the beautifully painted scene matched the design of the fan held in the man’s other hand, though said fan was currently folded to prevent the paper screen from getting unnecessarily wet in the rain.
When one combined his impeccable posture with his elaborate clothing, he certainly gave off the impression of a man in a very important position. Truly, the only thing that ruined his immortal-like vibe was his muddy boots.
With a rather apathetic expression… the man stared down at the wet, ragged, drowned-looking bundle of fur standing in the middle of the walking path, blocking his way.
It could have, probably, been considered a cat at one point.
Perhaps it was even a nice-looking cat with its lynx-point patterning; its body was mainly a creamy white color (though it didn’t look all that white anymore), while its face, paws, and tail were grey with classic tabby striping. Like someone had taken a normal white cat and dipped its extremities in marbled silver paint.
It was truly a far cry from the flea-ridden, half-starved street cats that roamed the markets and audaciously stole scraps of chicken from food vendor stalls.
The wet bundle, getting soaked by the rain looked rather pathetic, but it didn’t seem to stir the man’s heart. The handle of the wax-paper umbrella was still clasped firmly in his grip, as if he wasn’t even entertaining the idea of sharing its protection with the wretched creature before him.
Wretched Creature Shen Yuan had to crane his head far back to glare up (and up, and up…) at the ethereal man in front of him, his green eyes overflowing with unspoken grievances and a healthy amount of contained rage at the injustice of it all. Though, to be fair, it wasn’t all that intimidating when all four of his legs were shaking from the wet cold that permeated his entire body.
Yes, you heard that right, four legs! Four fucking legs! For some ungodly reason, Shen Yuan was currently rocking that quadrupedal stance!
Shen Yuan was not in his ‘usual’ body. One moment, he had been sitting in the comfort of his own Beijing apartment that his parents happily paid for, furiously typing away at his laptop as he lounged around dressed in a stained white tee and Yu-Gi-Oh! (GX, of course) fleece pajama pants. He’d been partaking in his harmless little side hobby of writing an absolutely scathing 1-star review of a shitty web novel.
But then, after adding several lengthy rows of exclamation marks to his review (in order to properly express his unyielding fury), he chose to vent his frustrations by vigorously eating a special-edition steamed bun that sat displayed on the desk. He didn’t think much of it at the time and went about his daily routine, but it wasn’t long before his body started to feel as though it were rejecting its own organs and entrails.
Next thing he knew, he woke up as a fucking cat!
As if in response to his internal screeching, a glowing green screen popped up in the corner of his right eye, lighting up the surroundings in a faint, eerie glow. 【Remember, Host is not a domesticated cat, but actually a mighty cat demon! Call that an upgrade! ദ്ദി(｡•̀ ᗜ<)】
Shen Yuan blatantly ignored the robotic, text-to-speech voice in his head, or else he feared he’d have a conniption right then and there. He could already feel his eye twitching.
The man standing before Shen Yuan gave his new kitty cat-self an uncomfortably thorough once-over, carefully taking in every detail from the tip of Shen Yuan’s whiskers dripping with raindrops to the end of his sodden tail. He then looked decidedly unimpressed, as if he had calculated Shen Yuan’s entire worth and stamped an (unfairly low) value to it… maybe a few copper coins if he was feeling particularly generous.
A casual ‘really suspicious’ was uttered by those lips in a rather disgusted tone, which was completely uncalled for, thank you!
How dare he! Shen Yuan immediately arched his back and hissed in pure unadulterated fury. Who was so suspicious?! You’re suspicious! He cried out fiercely in his tiny little heart, the complaints bursting out from deep within him. You’re the one out here on a walk in the middle of a literal dark and stormy night like... like some sort of establishing shot to introduce the story’s villain character!
What cliche and lazy writing! Could villains not perform their wicked deeds during a nice spring afternoon? Or was it a hard rule among writers that evildoers must carry out all their work under the cover of night during heavy thunderstorms? This man was clearly up to no good!
It was quite apparent from all the obvious scenery clues that the immortal-like man before him was none other than Shen Jiu, Peak Lord Shen Qingqiu of Qing Jing Peak and an early antagonist of Proud Immortal Demon Way. What horrible luck, to stumble across this terribly abusive man!
Such an intimidating figure, too… Shen Jiu towered over him (a feat that wasn’t too hard to achieve at the moment, considering Shen Yuan was a cat, though the man would still have more than half a head on him if Shen Yuan ever managed to transform back into a human-esque form).
【Host can absolutely transform, he just needs to practice (*ᵕᴗᵕ)⁾⁾ うんうん】The fuck? Was that hiragana?… No, he needed to ignore it, even though it was getting increasingly harder to do so. Anyways.
Shen Yuan violently shook his head, water droplets flying everywhere, as if he could physically dislodge the system’s annoying voice from his head, before turning a mean-spirited glare up toward the nefarious fiend. For maximum effect, he stomped his little front paws in a show of petulance and irritation.
As if in response to Shen Yuan’s scowl, the eyes of the man in front of him narrowed further in suspicion. Ah… it made for quite a chilling expression. Even though his facial features were delicately pale as if carved straight from mutton fat jade and he gave off an air of composed elegance, his eyes were anything but fragile or scholarly.
Phoenix eyes stared back at Shen Yuan, dark as murky pond water of unknown hidden depth; within them, the turbulent surface constantly undulated and surged with barely concealed wrath. Even the corner of his lips (which would have looked inviting otherwise) seemed permanently twisted in a perpetual sneering expression.
Such a frightening aura discouraged other people from approaching, and even the cinnabar mark on his forehead could be mistaken for a drop of fresh blood at first glance, shocking others into retreating backwards a step.
Shen Yuan idly thought that his gaze resembled that of a dying panther shot through the throat by a hunting cavalry’s arrows; the great cat glaring ferociously, determined to slaughter as many hunters as it could in revenge for the injustice done to it before it inevitably died.
He looked like a… well, he truly looked like a villain. Which, Shen Yuan supposed, was appropriate, considering his character setting and all… but Shen Yuan was pissed off, freezing, and soaked to the bone. So if he wanted to complain, then he would!
Couldn’t there have been a villain who was all sunshine and rainbows? Wouldn’t that be scarier? Dammit, Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky, have some imagination!
Instead of relying on clichés to define character roles, there was a superior writing technique called “subverting expectations”! But who was he kidding, this was Airplane he was complaining about… the man couldn’t even foreshadow correctly, much less use literary techniques such as red herrings or Chekhov’s gun.
If an author couldn’t even foreshadow, then they should just give up on writing in general.
“Certainly…” Shen Jiu murmured in a deceptively soft tone that had Shen Yuan’s alarm bells ringing. The scum villain tilted his head and shifted his gaze to the side in thought, humming lightly to himself as he purposely left his audience teetering on the edge. What an asshole. “It’s a rather timely coincidence.”
Then Shen Jiu launched into what could only be described as a villain’s monologue. “This peak lord was unwillingly dragged from his bedroom in the middle of the night to aid the brutes of Bai Zhan Peak in capturing a demon that had injured 8 of their disciples.” Ah, so that’s why he was wandering around during a thunderstorm. Thank you, villainous monologuing tendencies, for clearing up those loose ends. “But it eventually slipped through our grasp and escaped into the night.”
That sucked, he guessed.
Just when Shen Yuan had decided to mercilessly make fun of their demon-catching incompetence, Shen Jiu’s attention abruptly returned, staring. Those dark phoenix eyes watched his every movement and breath with unnerving intensity, like a cat tracking a sparrow hopping through the underbrush.
“And now I’ve returned to my peak,” Shen Jiu, gaze unwavering, casually carried on, “where you’ve mysteriously appeared in front of me. How could such a little cat get so far up the mountain, during a thunderstorm at that…” It wasn’t phrased as a question. Rather, it was a statement.
No, not that either. A hidden false accusation, that’s what it really was! Shen Yuan was being falsely accused so blatantly! How dare he! He wasn’t the escaped demon! The cultivator’s words just set off another row of complaints in Shen Yuan’s heart. The words sat heavy in his chest and lungs where he couldn’t articulate them, nearly choking him to death and (as cliché as it was) making him want to cough out a liter of blood!
His little cat chest heaved rapidly as rain continued to splatter against his face, the raindrops nearly nailing him in his green eyes widened with outrage. Shen Jiu wanted to know how Shen Yuan had managed to get so far up the mountain? He really wanted to know? Shen Yuan fucking crawled!
He crawled up 3,800 steps on four legs because he transmigrated after fucking dying (he should never have stress-eaten that Hello Kitty x Babi Mantous collaboration event steamed bun he’d left on his desk for several weeks) into the world’s worst stallion web novel, Proud Immortal Demon Way! Written by some loser named Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky, who probably only showered once every three weeks and would never get far enough in life to pay a mortgage!
Proud Immortal Demon Way was a magnificent (meaning, in sheer word count) web novel that was originally posted on the Zhongdian Literature site and stained the front pages throughout its 999+ chapter run. Its plot was practically a carbon copy of every male fantasy revenge story that had preceded it: abandoned child Luo Binghe was found floating down the Luo River and taken in by a widow who happened to stumble upon the nearly hypothermic baby with unknown parentage.
What followed was a series of tragedies. After his new motherly figure met an untimely (and wholly preventable) death, the protagonist found himself becoming a junior disciple of the scholarly Qing Jing Peak. How unfortunate it was, then, that Immortal Peak Lord Shen Qingqiu held nothing but hatred for this naturally gifted disciple.
This all resulted in years of disciple-on-disciple bullying, which was ignored by Shen Qingqiu while the man sought patronage in brothels and other abominable forms of entertainment. During the Immortal Alliance Conference, Shen Qingqiu then pushed his own disciple into the Endless Abyss after the protagonist’s Heavenly Demon parentage was revealed.
A gross overreaction, frankly. One that had Shen Yuan writing a passionate 2k-worded essay in the comments describing in great detail exactly how he would have handled the situation differently.
Of course, the blackened protagonist survived and returned from the Endless Abyss (stronger than ever) and Shen Jiu quickly met his wretched end. The scummy villain certainly deserved it.
And so it was this shitty web novel that Shen Yuan found himself transmigrated into upon regaining consciousness (that is, if this wasn’t all a terribly elaborate afterlife-fueled hallucination following his death). According to the system, Luo Binghe hadn’t even joined Qing Jing Peak yet… Shen Yuan didn’t know whether to be relieved or not.
Imagine all the trouble he’d experience if forced to interact with an insanely cunning and revenge-driven protagonist!
His current problem…? Instead of becoming a reasonable side character or even a random NPC, Shen Yuan had woken up on a busy market street in the village below the Cang Qiong Mountain Sect as a fucking cat. Within 60 seconds, Shen Yuan’s tail was nearly flattened by a passing carriage, a (big, menacing, and horribly rude!) tabby tomcat with white paws chased him down several blocks, and he almost got run over by playing children.
All of that! While the system screamed congratulations thrice in his ears for becoming a cat demon!
He could still hear their interaction playing in his head, the system’s text-to-speech voice telling him,【Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations! INITIATING MAIN MISSION: Complete Mission ‘Become a True Catboy’ or risk immediate death! ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ】 Death?! 【you will explode】
Shen Yuan hadn’t even had time to have an existential crisis! Or mourn the loss of his thumbs! The system had quickly directed him towards Qing Jing Peak, where his first task to “finding harmony with the cat demon body” (whatever the hell that meant) awaited activation. Hence… Shen Yuan, effectively coerced under the threat of exploding, unsteadily scrambled his way up this goddamn mountain (did he mention the ungodly number of steps).
All that effort, only for the first person he met, while exhausted and sopping wet from an unexpected thunderstorm, ended up being the disastrously scummy villain of Proud Immortal Demon Way.
“You can’t blame this peak lord for assuming you might be the escaped demon, since--…” Shen Jiu had started to casually defend himself and redirect blame, only to pause. After a moment’s thought, the corner of his lips twisted up in a particularly nefarious leer as he acquiesced, “Though if you are the same demon, then this peak lord might actually owe you some gratitude. Bai Zhan Peak launched an impromptu raiding session against mine last week in the name of ‘training’, so perhaps tonight’s beating was quite deserved. Truthfully, more should have been injured.”
Shen Yuan practically gaped at the man who was smirking to himself like he had landed a joke to an audience of no one but himself. How wicked! Help! Someone, anyone, help! This guy couldn’t help but sound like a villain!
With all four legs trembling (and definitely not just from the cold this time), Shen Yuan fought the intense urge to flee by stiffening every muscle in his body. He didn’t dare run away. What if Shen Jiu took that as an admission of guilt, concluded that Shen Yuan was indeed a cat demon (which he was), and killed him?
Alright, fine, so what? He transmigrated as a cat demon and was stuck in this form for the foreseeable future. That was totally fine, and Shen Yuan would not freak the fuck out about it. As a web novel connoisseur and appreciator (critic) of all genres, he’s read plenty of stories about MCs transmigrating into a novel and becoming either the protagonist’s or antagonist’s pet kitten, falcon, puppy, koi, or bunny.
Shen Yuan knew exactly how these types of stories played out; they were all the same. The MCs, in their pet form, would almost immediately capture the hearts of their targets and were then consequently pampered and doted on by the entire cast, so everything would be totally fine--
“Well, go on,” Shen Jiu oh so cruelly interrupted Shen Yuan’s internal delusions of cope. “If you’re a real cat, then give this peak lord your best meow. Act cute, convince me.” The cultivator then relaxed his stance as he stood there patiently in the rain, tucking away his folded fan in his belt sash as if settling in for a good show.
The completely newfound sense of patience was already scary enough, but even scarier was the minute smile that curved his lips upwards but didn’t reach his eyes at all; those phoenix eyes remained dark and turbulent as he stared down at the sodden cat, his raven-black eyelashes flickering down and nearly covering them entirely. It left one unable to glean anything from his expression.
After a few hearty seconds of shocked silence, Shen Jiu seemed to have already hit his patience threshold, lightly raising a brow and adding in a voice that was dripping with mockery, “Can’t even do that? Does this peak lord need to show you how?”
He said it in such a sarcastic tone that blatantly screamed (and Shen Yuan was paraphrasing here), ‘What a complete disgrace of a cat, you should be grateful I’m wasting my precious time giving you a chance at redemption. Honestly, you should be licking my boots, mud and all, in gratitude. Kill yourself’. It was an incredible talent, how Shen Jiu could hide so many more words behind so few.
Shen Yuan looked up at him in utter confusion, so astounded that he slowly forgot his fear. His arched back and tail gradually lowered as he desperately tried to process the scum villain’s demands. Act cute? Convince him?
And just how exactly was he supposed to do that? Was he expected to flop down on the muddy ground and show his soft belly? Or was he supposed to approach the dastardly man and try affectionately rubbing his soaking wet body against the man’s legs, only to be immediately struck down for dirtying the cultivator’s clothing further?
Was this a trap? Or maybe even… hopefully a joke?
When Shen Yuan still didn’t make any moves, uncertain, something in Shen Jiu’s eyes flashed. Suddenly, a wave of strong killing intent gathered around the cultivator and burst forwards like a tremendous wave crashing into the shoreline, holy shit!
The air surrounding them seemed to shift, and a breeze materialized out of nowhere so strong that it had fallen leaves and raindrops pummeling towards Shen Yuan’s face. Eyes squinting at the rush of wind and ears immediately flattening against the back of his head, Shen Yuan could only stand there uselessly as Shen Jiu’s empty hand reached for his sword’s sheath; the Xiu Ya sword letting out a humming vibration to its master’s beckoning as if eager to strike down the evil, no good cat demon.
Not a joke! Definitely not a joke!
“I said ‘meow’,” Shen Jiu spat out, his expression stormy.
What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck! Shen Yuan would be pissing his pants if he had them, because what the fuckity fuck! “Seriously?! You’re really gonna kill an innocent little kitty cat?!” Shen Yuan, unable to hold back anymore, hysterically cried out as his tail puffed out like a pinecone. Though instead of actual human language, what left his mouth was a string of desperate ‘mroewmroewmoewmoew’s which resembled aggrieved caterwauling more than it did cute cat-like meowing. “Heartless scum villain! Rotten to the core! This isn't fair!”
And as if Shen Yuan had finally been given explicit permission, the floodgates opened, and all the complaints that had been sitting heavy in his chest like a cement block were finally able to pour out of him, albeit in a completely unintelligible way. Heartless Scum Villain Shen Jiu didn’t seem at all interested in intervening as he watched on in silent judgment with that damn hand resting threateningly on Xiu Ya’s pommel.
Shen Yuan flexed his nails, sinking them into the muddy dirt in frustration, as he yowled his little heart out, “And you call yourself human! What kind of sick and twisted individual must you be in order to threaten a pitiful cat drenched from the rain! It’s called the ‘cat distribution system’! You’re supposed to-- PTCH!” Shen Yuan’s whole head shook violently in a loud, resounding sneeze, successfully cutting off his second rant of ‘mewmeowmeowmewmrow--’ and leaving the cat wearing a spooked expression as if he had scared himself.
The scum villain continued to stare down at him passively, and it was highly possible that Shen Yuan was hallucinating due to the effects of frolicking around in the freezing cold rain for a few hours, but he could have sworn that the man’s eyebrow twitched. Shen Jiu let out another soft ‘hmm’ noise, long and contemplative, and the killing intent vanished as quickly as it had come. At long last, Shen Jiu relented, “Fine, you’ve convinced this peak lord… for now.”
Son of a bitch just couldn’t help himself, could he? Just had to add in that last part.
Seemingly not one to waste time after making a decision, the man strolled forwards as his muddy boots splashed noisily through the puddles. Amazingly, he crossed the distance that had seemed insurmountable to Shen Yuan but seconds ago in a few quick strides. One second Shen Yuan had been a reasonably safe distance away, and the next he was staring down at the (rather exquisitely crafted) stitching of the man’s linen boots.
Without warning, a human hand shot downwards and gathered a generous handful of loose skin from the scruff of Shen Yuan’s neck. Before Shen Yuan could even process this new development, Shen Jiu firmly clenched his hand, and the strangest feeling of paralysis and powerlessness immediately flowed through Shen Yuan’s whole body-- what the fuck!
Holy hell! Not only was he being picked up, but the guy’s hands were fucking freezing, too!
He could only helplessly watch the dirt path below his feet get further and further away as he was unceremoniously lifted into the air by his villainous captor (who, mind you, wore a very obvious look of reluctance; like he had just picked up an unsightly, dripping wet piece of trash instead of a cute, little kitty cat, ah).
Abruptly airborne, Shen Yuan didn’t know what to be more offended at: the look of disgust or the fact that the motherfucker was scruffing him! A warbling growl was ripped from his throat as he yowled loud enough to echo throughout the empty Bamboo Forest, “If you find me so dirty, why bother picking me up in the first place! Don’t you know it’s dangerous to scruff adult cats like this?! You could pinch a nerve! This is a forced fear response, not consensual cooperation!”
Suddenly, the grip on the back of his neck tightened in warning as another piercing cold wisp of killing intent leaked outwards from the cultivator, immediately shutting Shen Yuan the fuck up. His mouth closed with a click! while he tucked his striped tail tightly between his legs. Shen Yuan was left staring the scum villain directly in the face. He blinked at the man.
Shen Jiu did not blink back.
Centimeters away from his own was the immortal-like face of Peak Lord Shen Qingqiu; close enough that Shen Yuan could count the number of his individual eyelashes if he so desired. Every feature of Shen Jiu radiated elegance and grace and, by all intents and purposes, he should have appeared like an indifferent god who had obtained ascension, but the hatred he carried in the twist of his lips and slight furrowing of his brows stained him with the blemish of mortality.
It was a novel thing, really, staring down the very villain that Shen Yuan had spent countless hours berating, scolding, and trash-talking with great exuberance in the comment sections under the new PIDW chapters. Shen Yuan’s heart was filled with a complicated emotion that he couldn’t even begin to describe, so he didn’t dare even try.
After all, this was the same villain who had drowned himself in a shocking level of depravity, blackening his very own soul into something unrecognizable and beyond redemption. And Shen Yuan had been the frontrunner of calling for this very man’s ruin! He’d even volunteered to be the first in line to give Shen Jiu a solid slap to the face if ever given the lucky chance.
Now, his wish having been granted, Shen Yuan didn’t dare like the scaredy-cat he literally was; tail tucked metaphorically and physically in between his legs. You coward! He hissed to himself as the unwelcome feeling of embarrassment rose up inside his chest and made his ears go all hot, all too aware of his own hypocrisy.
After fully taking in Shen Yuan’s rather awkward and miserable state, Shen Jiu miraculously appeared to take some semblance of pity on him (or, perhaps, it wasn’t pity at all and more for Shen Jiu’s benefit). The cultivator lifted a single finger from the hand holding the wax paper umbrella and signed a quick cleansing array as casually as one would write their own name.
What surely must have been spiritual energy burst forth, oh so different from the killing intent released earlier. The swirling energy, cool but refreshing, wrapped around Shen Yuan before dispersing and taking with it every speck of grime and drop of moisture clinging to his body. His now bone-dry fur exploded with a nearly audible poof! sound, leaving him as fluffy as he was the moment he’d transmigrated; maybe even fluffier since it felt like he’d been given the Ancient Cultivator’s Qi Dry Cleaner Special.
Shen Yuan tightly squeezed his eyes shut and trembled. Not because he was scared or anything (this time), but because he was currently fighting off the intense wave of admiration that boiled up inside him, trying to bubble over, because that was so freaking cool! Actual spiritual qi! And Shen Jiu had done it so casually, too! Like it was nothing!
This was a different type of agony: the agony one experienced when the worst person you know did something so incredibly badass!
As Shen Yuan shook with the literal effort it took to restrain himself and not react like a cringy fanboy, he barely registered Shen Jiu utterly manhandling him and proceeding to tuck him against the cultivator’s own chest. The limb-numbing pressure disappeared from the scruff of his neck, and only then did Shen Yuan realize he was surrounded by beautifully dyed, green fabric and no longer dangling in the air like the world's most resentful (but cutest) pendulum swing.
Being firmly held by one freezing hand, Shen Yuan was left blinking his big green eyes up at the underside of the villain’s chin, a very interesting angle indeed. With bad intentions in his heart, Shen Yuan studied the man’s chin, only to let out a tch! when his search yielded no fruit; he couldn’t even spot a ghosting of stubble or a single long chin hair. Shen Jiu probably didn’t even have any visible pores either, this son of a bitch… fuck, the scum villain was beautiful.
And because the world was both cruel and unjust, Shen Yuan took a discreet sniff and came to the devastating realization that Shen Jiu even smelled kinda nice. Hints of bamboo and the earthier fragrance of ink were delicately mixed with a slightly hidden, yet very distinguishable, aroma of charcoal or ash. How was this fair?!
After firmly tucking him in, Shen Jiu started walking down the muddy trail of the Bamboo Forest, his every step accompanied by the squelching of unavoidable mud. The rain had started to lighten, though it still came down with enough force to bounce off the wax paper umbrella with a rhythmic pattering sound. As the cold front dissipated, the ground was covered in a layer of slowly rising mist as the temperatures steadily climbed, leaving the whole world sopping wet.
The chest that Shen Yuan was clutched against rose and sank abruptly in something akin to a sigh from the scum villain himself. The show of weariness slightly softened the vigilant edge of Shen Jiu’s demeanor, but just slightly. Shen Yuan’s ears instantly perked up in suspicion, and he braced himself for reasons untold.
But when Shen Jiu spoke, it was neither with a threat nor anything particularly villainous in nature; the man only stating a harmless opinion when he listlessly said with a trace of discontentment, “I really detest the rain… falling on those lying underneath, whether welcomed or not, determined to soak their very bones until utterly saturated with its claim.”
Sheesh, so fucking gloomy.
And then, as if summoned, the darkness was lit up by a softly glowing screen that materialized from thin air. Their surroundings were painted over with an eye-straining green wash, yet Shen Jiu remained completely unaware and continued walking down the muddy trail without even a falter in his step. Only Shen Yuan was affected, his eyes blinking rapidly while his pupils narrowed into thin slits at the overwhelmingly bright screen as the system’s voice rang out.
【Mission ‘Become a True Catboy’ status has been officially updated to: IN PROGRESS ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و CALCULATING… Initiating EASY MODE】The hell was ‘EASY MODE’? Before Shen Yuan could even finish that thought, the system’s screen deleted the previous passage, and new text quickly replaced it as the voice blared, 【EASY MODE temporarily enabled to build Host’s confidence in completing the Mission. Host’s first Task is: ‘Get Out of the Rain! Cats Hate Water!’ ૮(˶˃ᆺ˂˶)】
What, so the word ‘rain’ really had been some sort of activation key? No… Shen Yuan narrowed his eyes in suspicion. The system was fucking mocking him, rubbing it in his little kitty cat face that the human man, Shen Jiu, was a far better cat than Shen Yuan himself could ever be. Bastard!
And what a bullshit first mission he’d been administered, like a child who had been given a fake task in the kitchen while one of their parents cooked. Shen Yuan could feel the tip of his tail starting to twitch in annoyance as the system’s text box folded and closed, taking the green light with it. But he could only swallow down all his (many) grievances, and instead direct his attention to where it was needed more: like figuring out where the hell he was being carted off to. That seemed important.
Shen Yuan tried to peer around at their moving surroundings as he was lightly jostled in the man’s arms, but after seeing it was only an endless stretch of bamboo and rocks disappearing and reappearing, he quickly lost interest. Okay, maybe it wasn’t all that important.
With there being nothing much else of interest, Shen Yuan carefully (oh so carefully, like he was worried any wrong movement would alert the man carrying him) rested his cheek against Shen Jiu’s chest, feeling very much like a mouse seeking shelter in a sleeping cat’s bed. He just wanted to rest his head, that was all. Shen Yuan frequently glanced upwards, watching for any negative reactions, but Shen Jiu just continued walking forwards.
Though Shen Jiu’s hands were cold (whether from the weather or he was naturally cold-blooded… could cultivators even have bad circulation?), the innate warmth of a human body gently radiated from behind the layers and layers (Shen Yuan’s counted up to fucking 5 layers, so far) of clothing that he wore. It was kind of nice, the warmth.
And Shen Yuan guessed being carried was also kind of nice, too, after climbing 3,800 steps. Not that he was enjoying it or anything, but still. Was he being kidnapped right now? Catnapped? And a more pressing question… was he willingly participating in his active catnapping by the scum villain?
The shadows and branches of the Bamboo Forest shifted around them as the rain drizzled against the canopy overhead. With the storm leaving, the sounds of wildlife started to reemerge, such as the croaking of frogs and the rustling of small mountain-dwelling animals darting through the underbrush; all picked up by Shen Yuan’s sharp hearing. Though awfully humid, it was peaceful, too, and reminded Shen Yuan of the rainforest white noise playlists he used to play at night.
Okay! Maybe this situation wasn’t too bad, after all, and Shen Yuan could survive until the end and see the full completion of his mission-ordered tasks as a cat demon.
“If you turn out to be a cat demon,” Shen Jiu spoke up from above as he continued his brisk walking pace, “I’ll kill you.”
Shen Jiu then proceeded to squeeze Shen Yuan closer to his chest, his long fingers sinking into the fluff and digging in against his ribcage. The man’s fingers mapped out each of his ribs in a bone-chillingly threatening manner, methodically and with intention; it felt like Shen Jiu was warning him that he could pop this kitty cat like a balloon if he so desired. Shen Yuan broke out into a violent shiver.
Oh my god, Shen Yuan was going to fucking die.
He was going to die a sad, pathetic virgin in Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky’s (sadder, more pathetic) pornographic web novel. He was going to die with nothing to be proud of other than his downright frightfully comprehensive memory of every monster and plant species in said shitty, pornographic web novel and, of course, his 15th Anniversary Figure Project Hatsune Miku that he had kept displayed in his old bedroom.
While Shen Yuan grieved over his looming death, the two of them continued on in their gloomy stroll through the darkness.
It wasn’t long before the cluster of bamboo grew denser and then abruptly disappeared altogether, revealing a large clearing in Qing Jing Peak. Shen Yuan immediately perked up and enthusiastically looked around, his grief temporarily shoved aside, because, oh! He knew where they were now!
This courtyard, hidden away in the lush foliage of the Bamboo Forest, was obviously the center of Qing Jing Peak, where the famed Bamboo House lay and the mountain’s peak lord resided! The clearing was home to a handful of connected buildings, all of which sported dark, ceramic-tiled roofs and double eaves.
Though meticulously maintained and clearly built with superior building materials, the manor still exuded an air of modesty; it showed that, while its owner was a proud and highly regarded man, he was not an overly frivolous one who squandered his wealth.
The entire courtyard was incredibly spotless with nary a misplaced rock or fallen leaf to be found. Shen Yuan could almost imagine it now: if a leaf did so much as flutter down and audaciously ruin the feng shui of the lawn, it would be swiftly picked up by a passing young disciple with an audible tsk! of dismay.
The disciples of Qing Jing Peak specialized in sophisticated arts, such as music, elegant swordplay, poetry, and literature, and their scholarly appearance reflected this. So, of course, that attention to tidiness would undeniably extend to the maintenance of their shizun’s courtyard.
Shen Yuan’s eyes sparkled with excitement as he eagerly took everything in, grateful for his phenomenal kitty cat night vision. It was such a cool feeling seeing the setting emerge from what had been casual lines of text carelessly thrown together on a screen; after all, the protagonist’s new childhood home had been severely lacking in description when Airplane had made the crucial decision to instead focus his efforts on writing the thousands upon the thousands of characters of papapa that had shot his work to internet fame.
Look, look! The kitchens where the younger disciples prepared their food before learning inedia must be over there, and oh! Over there! Beyond the bamboo privacy fence was the path that lead to the disciple dormitories! The infamous woodshed where the young protagonist spent most of his time was probably shoved towards the back corner of the courtyard, too!
As the two made their way through the courtyard, the only thing that welcomed them ‘home’ was the drizzling rain and utter silence, which Shen Yuan guessed was reasonable considering it had to be past fucking midnight and everyone should be long asleep.
Eventually, they reached the main building of the Bamboo House and were finally able to take shelter from the rain under the cover of the eaves. Shen Jiu climbed the few wooden steps leading up to the front door, taking a moment to lightly shake off his wax paper umbrella before resting it haphazardly against the wall, like someone would come by and pick it up for him later.
As soon as Shen Yuan was carried over the threshold and brought into the interior, a loud ding! noise sounded off in his mind like a particularly fervent bell. Following the ring was a mind-numbingly loud text-to-speech voice, blaring,【Task ‘Get Out of the Rain! Cats Hate Water!’ status upgraded to: COMPLETE! Great job, Host! ( ๑ ˃̵ᴗ˂̵)و ♡ Please be on standby for the next Task!】
Shen Yuan waited for a hot second, and when nothing else happened, he couldn’t help but question internally, What? I don’t get any type of reward or anything?
Usually with these systems, the transmigrator gets points or upgrades or abilities when they finish a task, right? Where was his upgraded spatial storage bag? Or what about a new OP ability? His random points to spend on plot-pushing mechanisms later?
The emotionless system immediately cut him down with no mercy, 【the reward is that you won’t explode】 Damn, okay!
Unfortunately, whatever complaints Shen Yuan could feel welling up inside his chest were doomed to never be spoken, because the moment Shen Jiu took a few steps into the inner room, he tossed Shen Yuan into the air with no prior warning. Tossed!
With a confused ‘mrow?!’, Shen Yuan found himself fucking airborne, his stomach swooping into his throat! His body instinctively twisted in midair, and he landed on his feet with a dull thud on the wooden floorboards, his whole body stiff and legs splayed out in a bracing position.
What just happened?! Did the scum villain just fucking throw him? Brain short-circuiting, Shen Yuan could only crane his neck up at the man in green robes who stood in front of him.
Shen Jiu must have quickly used a cleansing array on himself after he unapologetically flung Shen Yuan into the air, because the ends of his long, flowing sleeves were no longer damp, and his linen boots miraculously unstained. A cold, detached face stared back at him without an ounce of guilt or remorse; he looked so otherworldly that Shen Yuan almost believed that the human warmth he’d felt when pressed up against the man’s chest had been a hallucination.
Narrowing those cruelty-soaked phoenix eyes of his, Shen Jiu shook out his wide sleeves before folding his hands away amongst the fabric. The man shot him a look of expectation (that was definitely mocking in nature) as he announced, “Well, this peak lord decided to believe you and took you home.” His voice regained its frigid edge as he commanded, “So, be a cat. Run around and meow.”
Now knowing what would happen if he didn’t, Shen Yuan immediately gathered up his four furry legs underneath him and flopped over on his back to show off his superb, creamy white belly. He began wiggling and rolling around on the floor as he begrudgingly meowed a long string of curses, “Dastardly villain! Demanding human! I’ll get back at you for this one day, just you wait! I’ll put dead birds and Stinging Spider Itchy Poppies in your shoes, what do you think about that!” His calls of ‘meowmeowmrowmrowwmeow’ were especially aggrieved.
Shen Yuan ignored the heat that crawled up his neck, which once again made his ears burn hot at the utter humiliation of playing cute. He hugged his paws close to his chest while his striped tail thrashed angrily against the floor before looking beseechingly up at the peak lord.
Internally, Shen Yuan was sweating. He felt like a salaryman trying to procure a sale while his boss evaluated him from across the office, clipboard in hand and clicking the pen in a rather intimidating manner as he made frequent observation notes.
“Quite noisy,” CEO Shen Jiu muttered as he watched indifferently. He must have been somewhat satisfied with the performance review, though, because his tone was less mocking than it had been seconds ago, though his perpetual sneer never lightened. But eventually the man turned away and diverted his attention, walking towards the low table in the room that was surrounded by a plethora of ink stones, brushes, and scrolls.
With the redirection of Shen Jiu’s scrutiny came an overwhelming sense of relief, the tension melting outwards from Shen Yuan’s little body. Approval granted and having escaped death, Shen Yuan instantly flipped back onto his feet as if he couldn’t get up fast enough, his cute facade crumbling with haste. He was free!
This was his chance to explore while the scum villain was distracted! Shen Yuan cautiously took a few steps in a random direction before stopping and wearily turning his head over his shoulder to gauge the scum villain’s reaction to his obvious snooping. Then he took another few steps, before stopping again to look at Shen Jiu. The man in question had knelt on the floor, his posture impeccable, at the low table and begun rifling through scrolls as if it wasn’t nearing midnight. Was he not even the slightest bit tired?
After the 6th repeat of starting and stopping, Shen Yuan figured he had Shen Jiu’s blessing to explore (or more accurately, his dismissal). He padded around the floorboards on practically silent feet and peered around the room with visible excitement trembling his whiskers. His head swiveled in every direction while his ears flicked and nose twitched as he tried to absorb everything and every smell.
The interior room was decorated with elegant ink paintings and bookshelves upon bookshelves of old tomes, scrolls, and hand-bound books. An extensive collection of fans was proudly displayed on one of the walls, and everything looked meticulously well-kept, just as the courtyard did. It was all super sophisticated… as expected of the peak lord of the scholarly Qing Jing Peak, Shen Yuan nodded to himself.
And everything looked surprisingly normal, with no obvious telltale signs of villainy like Shen Yuan had originally expected. There was no blood-soaked wall of weapons and chains, no super-secret torture dungeon (from what he could tell), and no scroll on the ground covered in suspiciously red-colored ink that spelled out anything sinister like ‘they’ll rue the day they crossed me’. Instead, what he found was… a normal home.
The Bamboo House seemed to be a living space meant only for a single resident, Shen Yuan observed as he tentatively stretched out his neck to peek around a threshold and discovered the hallway that led to the porch. His twitching little nose told him that the only smell that permeated the air was Shen Jiu’s own, and all other scents were so weak that they could only belong to temporary visitors. He could only find one doorway that led to a single bedroom saturated in the smell of bamboo, ink, and calming incense.
Shen Yuan couldn’t help but grow a little more excited because, ah! This truly was the Bamboo House! It was highly likely that Shen Yuan could be standing at the spot where the protagonist Luo Binghe stood when he dutifully received his unfair and exaggerated punishment time and time again--…
Oh… Actually, that was kind of depressing as fuck to think about...
Shen Yuan’s excitement steadily ebbed away at the realization. He glanced down at his grey tabby paws and the well-oiled, shining floorboards beneath them; this was probably the same very floor that a child Luo Binghe had kneeled on, knees heavily bruised, when hot tea was dumped mercilessly over his head by the cruel, heartless man of the name ‘Peak Lord Shen Qingqiu’.
Shen Yuan sneakily glanced towards the threshold that led outside to the rain-soaked courtyard. True freedom awaited amongst the dense cover of the Bamboo Forest, where surely it’d be a lot easier to complete the system’s tasks without constantly fearing for his own neck. Even if Shen Yuan couldn’t stomach the idea of hunting actual mice and birds for food, he could always beg down at the village. People would take one look at his adorable cat self and fold like wet paper.
Maybe when the scum villain finally fell asleep, he could bolt…
“If you run away…” a chilling voice rang out from behind Shen Yuan, shocking him to the point that he literally jumped and instinctually arched his back while the fur over his hackles shot straight up.
Shen Yuan felt his throat click! as he nervously gulped, and a sense of dread slowly unfurled inside his chest; the words ‘caught red-handed… red-pawed?’ flashing through his mind. He dared an anxious peek over his shoulder, only to see that Shen Jiu hadn’t moved from his sitting position at the low table, nor was he even looking towards Shen Yuan, his attention idly focused on the reports he was rifling through.
The peak lord’s casual pose only made Shen Yuan’s heart rate quicken further, and his fear was quickly validated when Shen Jiu’s voice remained frigid as he finished the serious threat, “Then this peak lord will assume you’re a cat demon, track you down, and kill you.”
This was the worst.
°˖❀⋆₊.ಇ.₊̣̇. ≽^ •⩊•^≼♡≽^•⩊• ^≼. ₊̣̇.ಇ.₊⋆❀˖°
Okay, so that might have been an overexaggeration. It wasn’t actually all that bad. Especially since it was such a nice and sunny day!
Daylight had completely transformed the Bamboo Forest, and a sense of otherworldly tranquility had rightfully returned to the highly praised Qing Jing Peak. The sun was bright, but not overbearing since anyone could find ample shade under the sprawling, lush canopy above their heads. Even more refreshing, the gentlest and most pleasant of breezes rustled the leaves of the bamboo stalks and brushed against the fine hairs that dusted a person’s temples with the delicacy and tenderness one would show a beloved.
And so two figures (one man, one cat) once again found themselves leisurely traveling down the dirt walking path underneath the towering bamboo stalks of the forest. Accompanying them was the spirited birdsong unique to the beginning of nesting season, and if one held their breath and listened closely, it was even possible to faintly hear the calls of the infamous red-crowned cranes that lived further down the mountain.
All in all, it was a wholly different atmosphere than the one present on that dark and stormy thunderstorm night.
What a beautiful day! Shen Yuan exclaimed inside his heart as he bounded alongside Shen Jiu’s steady walking pace. Due to their deeply unfair leg-height difference, he had to practically sprint just to keep up with the man’s long gait.
Shen Yuan quickly made his complaints known as he meowed, “Scum villain, you’re too tall! Don’t you have a shred of mercy for your travel companion?! If you wanna change your villain status, start here! Be accommodating!”
As expected, the only legible words that left Shen Yuan’s toothy mouth consisted of a long string of ‘meowmeowmewmew’, but even his protesting ‘meowmeowmewmew’ clearly lacked its usual bite; with his mind currently occupied by other matters, Shen Yuan was simply complaining just to complain. Not that there was anyone present who could understand him.
Shen Yuan was just simply amazed at the sheer difference in scenery. Gone was the eerie damp mist that soaked one’s clothes and bones with not only moisture, but also a near palpable sense of fatigue. Gone were the howling torrents of wind that ruthlessly snapped off tree limbs and sounded reminiscent of a beast’s final death cry. Gone was the thunderous rainfall that pummeled the ground until all the soil, plant matter, and detritus formed one muddy, sloppy mess. All gone!
Instead, a gentle breeze pleasantly brushed through his whiskers, his nose twitching at the ticklish sensation, and Shen Yuan was suddenly overcome with a boundless spurt of energy. He dug his claws into the dry dirt before springboarding forwards on his striped tabby legs, shooting down the mountain path and overtaking his cultivator companion with a whoosh! as he practically flew.
“Stay close, don’t wander,” came the commanding voice of the irritated cultivator trailing behind him. There was a sinister edge to his tone, and one could practically hear the unspoken threat of ‘or else I’ll kill you’ that hung heavy in the air. It was a warning from the scum villain himself! How scary!
It had Shen Yuan instantly slowing down, his pace developing into a more regal strut as he patiently waited (under being threatened) for Shen Jiu to catch up. Unable to help himself, Shen Yuan dared a sneaky glance in the man’s direction, only to immediately regret it when his eyes were blinded by the otherworldly sight that greeted him: a shining immortal gracing the mortal realm as he walked among blooming flowers and swaying grass.
A gust of wind gently lifted the wide sleeves of the immortal’s outer robes, causing them to flap hypnotically to and fro behind his figure like embroidered silk sails. Meanwhile, the trailing ribbons of the man’s elaborate silver headcrown danced wildly in the wind like streaks of vibrant paint.
He was dressed in a pale green color palette today, with turquoise edging and a white inner robe. His tightly fastened high collar was trimmed in brilliant silver, and it all came together to create a bright and lively profile that was starkly different from the ominous and gloomy appearance he had worn on that rainy night.
The lighter colors made him deceptively more gentle-looking (as long as one didn’t spot the undercurrent of suspicion and hostility hidden in his phoenix eyes). Shen Jiu truly looked like a charitable, benevolent immortal who had descended to this realm for some thought-provoking poetry and casual sightseeing.
He made for quite the scholarly figure dressed in silks and brocades... As expected of the master of Qing Jing Peak!
A week has gone by since Shen Yuan’s fateful arrival, and so far he hasn’t been struck dead yet. With no small amount of smugness, Shen Yuan could only assume that it was all thanks to his phenomenal acting skills that kept his cat demon identity so well-hidden. He’d even miraculously stayed alive long enough to finally experience the looming existential crisis he’d been deprived of upon transmigrating.
Said existential crisis transpired on the third day of his catnapping, when he’d been caught attempting to sneak out of the Bamboo House... Running away hadn’t been his intention, okay?! He was truly innocent! In fact, he’d actually been trying to follow Shen Jiu! The Qing Jing Peak Lord had just left to bathe in the mountain’s spiritual hot springs, a setting any reader of Proud Immortal Demon Way would be well familiar with.
Do you know how many papapa scenes between darkened protagonist Luo Binghe and his numerous wives had unfolded in those damn hot springs? How many spring-filled descriptions of ‘mist, milky as spilled【beep】, that lovingly kissed the naked curves of Wife #234’ and ‘swallows cried out, but the cries of ecstasy of Wife #45 in【beep】overshadowed them’ Shen Yuan had endured?
His curiosity had gotten the best of him, and he’d been convinced that he could sneakily trail the man without getting discovered. Shen Yuan had been halfway bored to death confined within the walls of the Bamboo House, so what else was he supposed to do? Not follow the man into a vulnerable and intimate bathing situation?
Ahem, anyways. Unfortunately, Shen Yuan hadn’t gotten far. He’d taken a single, cautious step down the wooden stairs that led up to the Bamboo House when he was promptly scruffed and lifted in the air again. Shen Jiu (who had appeared out of fucking nowhere, the hell, had it been a setup?!) ignored Shen Yuan’s hissing and howling about wounded pride and morbid curiosity, leveling the cat with a disgusted sneer like he was gazing upon utter, perverted trash.
The peak lord then quite literally punted him back through the Bamboo House’s open doorway as if he couldn’t dispose of him fast enough, before establishing a containment barrier array with nimble fingers that temporarily blocked Shen Yuan from leaving the building. Bastardly villain! Stingy scum! Fuck, Shen Jiu had looked so badass casually forming that array! Horrible man! Shen Yuan had just wanted to see the spiritual hot springs!
And so Shen Yuan had been left abandoned while Shen Jiu probably had a grand time frolicking in the (cat-free) hot springs. With nothing else to entertain himself, Shen Yuan found his unwashed, wooden water bowl and carefully peered over the bowl’s lip to stare at his reflection in the stagnant water. Staring back at him was his new cat identity, and so Shen Yuan promptly went through the appropriate seven stages of grief.
Not knowing when the scum villain would reappear, Shen Yuan used his (human-free) time wisely; he was able to multitask his grief over the loss of human hands, the idea that he’d be forever separated from his family and modern technology, and also the fact that he had dropped big money on a hand-sewn Luo Binghe cosplay (foam Xin Mo sword, included) that had just been shipped out by the cosplay maker after 3 months of processing.
All the while, the system had politely comforted Shen Yuan with a string of ‘( ´･･)ﾉ(._.`)’ kaomojis, which was appreciated… he guessed. The system also heartily reassured him that with some practice, he could not only regain a human form, but he could also now dress up in a truly period-accurate Luo Binghe cosplay. So, really, who was the real winner here?
And after his mental crisis concluded, Shen Yuan was able to admit that he was really fucking adorable.
Big green eyes, sparkling with a lively sense of mischief, observed him back through the water’s reflection. His silvery grey face mask was beyond charming, and the tabby striping along his paws and tail made others want to trace the patterns with their eyes and fingertips. Of course, the rest of his fur was the creamiest white, and how could he not mention his delectable, pinkest, most chewable-looking paw pads?
He truly was the cutest cat around. Shen Yuan even charmed himself.
Though Shen Yuan liked to attribute his alive status to his superior acting skills, the real reason probably lay in the fact that he went relatively ignored this past week. Which, by the way, was the complete opposite of what he expected and had been downright promised from every ‘I Transmigrated into a Dog-Blood Novel as the Yandere Villain’s Beloved Pet’ web novel he had ever consumed.
Weren’t all villain and tyrant characters supposed to be secret fluffcons?! So where was the fawning?! The spoiling?! The luxurious personal bedroom with several beds to choose from, the overflowing roomful of hand-carved toys, and the team of dedicated servants that specialized in pet care? Where were they?! Nowhere!
When it came to sleeping arrangements, Shen Jiu had explicitly forbidden Shen Yuan from entering within a 5-meter radius of the peak lord’s bedroom. As for his bedding, Shen Jiu proceeded to haphazardly toss a spare robe (a disciple’s robe, not even one of his own, stingy motherfucker) in the dreary corner of the hallway, banishing Shen Yuan like a shunned concubine who didn’t deserve to share the emperor’s dragon bed.
And while Shen Yuan agreed that a whole roomful of toys was unrealistic and a blatant act of overconsumption, he hadn’t received a singular cat toy at all. Not one! Meaning he was forced to relieve his boredom by swatting at the ties of Shen Jiu’s sashes or (when the peak lord wasn’t looking) scratching up the Bamboo House’s woven rugs whenever his nails felt itchy.
Lastly and most upsetting, Shen Yuan hadn’t been assigned any servants to cater to his every single need. At best, there were some very curious little Qing Jing Peak disciples who, over the past week, would constantly peer into the Bamboo House and try their luck at approaching Shen Yuan’s irresistibly cute cat form; unfortunately, they were always caught, reprimanded, and tossed out the door by their merciless shizun with no explanations given.
So far, the most care he’d received from Shen Jiu was the man very begrudgingly setting aside a small portion of his bland-ass, unseasoned meal of cooked fish or boiled chicken for Shen Yuan on a simple serving dish (saving Shen Yuan from another potential mental crisis about killing other live animals for sustenance). He was almost grateful, but then he remembered the man had threatened to kill him and this was kind of the bare minimum.
What the hell was with this infuriating, tsundere-coded man?! Shen Yuan was the cat, here! He was supposed to be the tsundere! Why did it feel like their roles had been reversed and Shen Yuan was left attempting to gain the trust of a feral cat?!
Truly, no villain’s pet has endured more than he! Damn you, Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky! Why couldn’t he have written Peak Lord Shen Qingqiu as a bastard scoundrel predestined for villainy as well as a major fluff-addict!
It’s called gap moe, all right, and it would have made for a far more compelling persona! Readers go crazy for that kind of stuff, and Shen Jiu could have had whole-ass Twitter accounts dedicated to his character.
Inwardly, Shen Yuan swore that if he ever returned to his modern world and stumbled upon that sleazy author again, he’d smack that fucker over the head in Shen Jiu’s honor for the injustice done upon Proud Immortal Demon Way’s least popular antagonist. Maybe the smack would literally knock some sense back into that sex-obsessed brain of his, too.
But, far more important than that cowardly sell-out… the Qing Jing Peak disciples! That’s where they were headed now, and Shen Yuan could finally see the little scholars after being kept separate for a whole week! From the peeks of the little faces Shen Yuan had managed to see, it was clear they were the newest batch of disciples that had just entered the sect, all youthful and excited for their futures.
“They will be interested in you,” Shen Jiu’s cold voice said as they neared their travel destination, not even sparing Shen Yuan a single glance. Instead he looked determinedly forwards, his head held up high and the trailing ribbons decorating his hair crown flapping softly in the wind.
Those damn ribbons… Shen Yuan had to fight every cell in his body not to pounce at them, knowing the backlash of giving in to that animalistic instinct would include getting punted another 10 meters.
Shen Jiu continued with yet another stern order, “Do not distract them from their lesson.” Why was it that everything he said seemed to have a silent ‘or else’ attached to the end of it? Was it from the contempt that dripped from his tongue? Or was it just a special character trait reserved for villains?
It was eyeroll-inducing, and Shen Yuan gave it all the consideration it was due (practically none). He wanted to see the disciples! With determination and a brilliant sparkle in his bright green eyes, Shen Yuan loudly meowed as he declared, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, all you do is threaten, threaten, and threaten some more. I'm gonna get there first! Catch up if you can!” His incomprehensible ‘meowmeowmewmeow’ sounded particularly dashing.
Completely brushing aside Shen Jiu’s threat-filled warning from milliseconds ago, Shen Yuan’s little legs kicked up a notch and he once again bounded off down the dirt walking path, confident in their direction (ie, forwards); the force of his sprint creating a gust of wind that softly rustled the grass and lifted some fallen bamboo leaves up off the ground in a miniature whirlwind. Shen Jiu was promptly left in the dust, literally.
This afternoon, Shen Jiu was teaching a pipa lesson class to his little Qing Jing Peak disciples who had been so rudely hidden from Shen Yuan. Said pipa was slung over the peak lord’s shoulder, protectively wrapped in pale cloth that was professionally embroidered with gorgeous pomegranate trees. Shen Jiu had taught a handful of different classes throughout the past week, but Shen Yuan had been forced to stay behind each time and mournfully stare at the silent door of the Bamboo House.
Shen Yuan felt very much like a creature going through a quarantine period to ensure it wouldn’t spread any illnesses, and he was just now finally being released after a week. Or maybe all Shen Yuan’s caterwauling and passionate cussing finally wore Shen Jiu down after multiple ‘wellness checks’ from the kitchen’s hired hands. Either way, Shen Yuan was finally free!
While Shen Yuan’s whole body buzzed from bubbling excitement, he also remained on guard. Even though protagonist Luo Binghe hadn’t yet entered the plot, there were still some… unsavory implications about Peak Lord Shen Qingqiu concerning certain intentions of his towards a female disciple or two… A flash of unease shot through Shen Yuan, but for multiple reasons. Strangely enough, sometimes Shen Yuan got this feeling…
From what Shen Yuan had personally observed over the last week (as a captive audience)… Shen Jiu carried himself around with a unique form of furious detachment; someone who loathed touching worldly things and shunned the basest of carnal desires with a vehemence. The man covered himself head-to-toe in layers of fabric, and his lips would reflexively twist into a harsher sneer whenever another person accidentally brushed against him.
He didn’t seem the type to, you know…
But having said all that, it still wasn’t history that Shen Yuan could easily write off, especially when it concerned kids. So, he once again pushed that pesky feeling aside to prevent any distractions. Shen Yuan was determined to see the truth for himself!
The walking path reached its end, and the curtain of bamboo parted to reveal a grassy clearing which resulted in Shen Yuan getting immediately blinded. Skidding to an abrupt halt, he was forced to squint his eyes as bright sunshine reflecting off the shining grass flooded his senses, and his pupils reflexively narrowed into thin, vertical slits. When his eyes finally adjusted to the brightness, what appeared was a scene straight out of a landscape painting.
Before them was a wide open clearing with clusters of wildflowers and grass that rustled in a hypnotic wave, their stalks and flowerheads gently bobbing as if in greeting. Pollinators gracefully buzzed and flapped around the wildflowers as the chirping of birdsong faded, the birds preferring to remain closer to the green belt. While Shen Yuan stood, dazed by the beautiful scenery, Shen Jiu reappeared at his side.
In the middle of the grassy clearing, a gaggle of fresh-faced little disciples (all adorable kids!) holding their own pipas were already kneeling upon woven blankets in a semicircle, patiently waiting for their shizun to arrive and begin class. Every head immediately snapped over when two figures (one greatly smaller than the other) emerged from the dense forest, and their eager eyes instantly zeroed in on Shen Yuan; the weight of their stares didn’t invoke a sense of pressure, but rather one of excitement.
Surprised, Shen Yuan couldn’t help but jump a little from the sheer intensity of all their gazes, but the surprise quickly transformed into a sense of immense pride. Look at their enthusiasm! All for him! Confidence flooded Shen Yuan, and he strutted forwards into the grassy clearing to the utter delight of the awaiting disciples with his tail stuck high up in the air.
From behind him, Shen Yuan could hear a faintly put-out sigh from Shen Jiu, but before Shen Yuan could confront him about it (not that he actually dared), a text box materialized in the corner of his eyes like a spam pop up on a computer monitor; the system’s voice declaring with as much gusto as it could manage in a robotic tone, 【Task ‘Catch a Butterfly to Prove Your Whimsy and Hunting Prowess!’ has been activated! A real cat uses play time as a means to train their hunting skills, so get out there, Host! We’re cheering for you! ✺(^▽^✺) ✺(^O^)✺ (✺^▽^)✺ 】
We?! Whose ‘we’?!
For the first time since transmigrating, the damn system made Shen Yuan stumble over his own legs, which caused the little disciples to burst into a round of soft laughter before they politely tried to stifle it, more failing at doing so than succeeding. Fortunately, Shen Yuan wasn’t offended at all, since he was a magnanimous man (cat), and the giggling kids were just too stinking adorable to feel any irritation towards.
Honestly, he was more offended by the system’s assigned task. Was ‘EASY MODE’ still on, or something? Why did he keep getting delegated these suspiciously easy tasks… or was he being mocked again? There were plenty of colorful butterflies languidly flapping about the flowers, their wingbeats steady and leisurely as they foolishly remained unaware of the mighty predator (Shen Yuan) lurking in their midst.
Completely unaware of the system’s existence, Shen Jiu elegantly walked right through the text box, dematerializing it, while the ends of his long flowing outer robes lifted in the breeze and harshly whipped Shen Yuan straight in his whiskered face; a spluttering Shen Yuan immediately meowed in complaint, but went designedly ignored as Shen Jiu approached his eager disciples and sat down in the position of power at the front of the semi-circle.
And, much to Shen Yuan’s continued dismay, the mere image of Shen Jiu taking a seat among the wildflowers and grasses rivaled the beauty of the landscape. It was practically painting-worthy, and Shen Yuan had to do a double-take. When did the system turn on a fucking beauty filter?!
The sunlight shone down on the peak lord’s luxurious inky-black hair and glinted off the micro-jewels encrusted in his silver head crown and the jade discs swinging from it, while the same very robes that had assaulted Shen Yuan’s face effortlessly flowed around Shen Jiu’s sitting form like a blooming viridescent flower. With Shen Jiu’s impeccable posture and musical instrument in hand, he truly embodied the definition of a scholarly immortal. Fuck, he was ethereal.
“Don’t pay attention to him,” the peak lord instructed as he situated himself, glancing at every face before him like a teacher taking attendance before the lesson. When everyone was accounted for, Shen Jiu unwrapped the pipa and gave it a light dusting even though the instrument was already spotless. As predicted, Shen Jiu followed the order with a casual warning, “If any disciple gets distracted, this master will shoo him off.”
Shen Yuan was surprised the cultivator hadn’t said ‘or I’ll straight up kill him’, but perhaps the man was simply censoring himself in front of the children. How… accommodating?
After Shen Jiu’s warning, the disciples schooled their faces into more serious expressions, lips pursed and eyebrows furrowed, but a few still couldn’t help but sneak multiple glances as the cat in question finally bounded towards the group. Shen Yuan didn’t immediately seek to complete the mission; instead, he took a moment to stand between the sitting disciples and Shen Jiu, his whole body somewhat tense and braced for… something.
In the center of the semicircle sat two disciples, a boy and a girl of about 10 years of age, who stood out from the rest merely because of their actions.
The boy had pulled all his hair, with the exception of his bangs, back in a tight topknot, which only highlighted his rather plain-looking face. What actually made him stand out was the sheer amount of nervous sweat soaking the collar of his inner robe and the seriousness with which he followed Shen Jiu’s every movement as he desperately tried not to look at Shen Yuan. His appearance screamed ‘massive teacher’s pet with daddy issues’.
Meanwhile, the girl who had her hair in elaborate braids and decorated twin buns unabashedly watched Shen Yuan as she made ‘pspsps’ noises with her mouth in a valiant effort to coax him closer. Her dark, little eyes sparkled with delight as she smiled the sweetest smile. “Ah, Shizun!” She joyfully called out without a hint of fear, “So Shizun’s finally brought out the little kitty he’s been hiding! What’s his name?!”
So bold! Shen Yuan cried out internally as his body stiffened in immediate alarm. To directly disobey the scum villain’s orders so casually! Holy shit, she was begging for punishment! Shen Yuan snapped his head towards Shen Jiu, expecting the absolute worst such as a rising wave of killing intent… only for his jaw to slacken and drop open a few centimeters at the wholly unexpected sight that greeted him.
The sight? It was simply a man, resigned, like a teacher who realized the lesson would go no further until his student’s off-topic curiosity was satiated. “He doesn’t have one, now focus,” Shen Jiu chastised with a half-hearted look of disapproval, voice softer than Shen Yuan’s ears had ever heard up until that point.
And as Shen Jiu sat there, straight-backed and looking ever so serious, he certainly encapsulated the persona of a standoffish and strict shizun. But, but! And maybe Shen Yuan was going crazy… but he could’ve sworn that those dark phoenix eyes, usually churning with an undercurrent of veiled wrath, only seemed… mildly annoyed.
As if his usual fury did not extend to these disciples in front of him.
While Shen Yuan remained dumbfounded, the pipa lesson finally began in earnest after some almost perfunctory scolding; Shen Jiu berated them for their short attention spans and threatened to ship them all away to Bai Zhan Peak where ‘the uneducated thrived’.
Shen Yuan had swiveled his head back towards the baby disciples, worried they’d burst out crying, but to his continued utter shock… the majority of the little scholars quietly laughed as if it had been a joke, with their body language relaxed, comfortable, and eager to learn (the exception being the teacher’s pet boy who just wiped even more sweat from his brow).
In his confusion, Shen Yuan’s head tilted at an angle. Everything was kind of… different than what Shen Yuan had originally expected.
And as Shen Jiu began to pluck the pipa strings, a soothing melody (completely at odds with the man’s villainous vibes) erupted from the grassy clearing, much to the awe of the Qing Jing Peak disciples who watched their shizun with stars in their eyes. The song blended in perfectly with the spring day, the staccato bridge mimicking the faint birdsong by the forest’s edge and crafting a musical number that refreshed one’s very soul.
It was so melodious that Shen Yuan began to feel awkward standing so on-guard between Shen Jiu and the kids. That uneasy feeling appeared again, and this time it was a little harder to ignore as it tried to crawl up his throat.
Just as Shen Yuan had started to relax, his body slowly lowering towards the ground, the system’s voice rang out in his head with a passionate, 【Host, please focus on the Task!! There’s so many butterflies!!! So many opportunities are going to waste!!!! ( ˶°ㅁ°) !!!!!!】
The system’s (unnecessary) screaming and its plentiful amount of exclamation marks brought Shen Yuan back to the present. He vigorously shook his head, his grey ears flapping noisily. The system was right, uneasiness be damned! He should focus on this goddamn task and, no, this wasn’t an act of him avoiding any and all uncomfortable feelings, all right. Totally not.
Still feeling a little weird, Shen Yuan scanned the area in search of his potential victim. A butterfly, huh… It was sort of a relief; killing an insect held far less moral weight than killing a bird or mouse. Not wasting any time, his sharp eyes narrowed in on a silvery white butterfly lazily flapping its wings above the disciple closest to the end of the semi-circle.
After flexing his claws into the grass and wiggling his creamy white haunches, Shen Yuan sprang!
Leaping at least a whole meter in the air, Shen Yuan vigorously clapped his paws together and felt the wind rush through his paw pads. And only the wind, because when he landed back down on the grass, he had nothing to show for it; the butterfly had dodged his nefarious little claws, and his first attempt had ended in complete and utter failure.
He had missed his target, but all the disciples still let out a gasp of delight and whispered hushed praises on his jumping skills. Even in failure, he was adored. A strange (and perhaps undeserved) sense of pride flooded Shen Yuan as he took in the excited little faces beaming at him, and he couldn’t help the way his chest puffed out and tail popped right back up in the air again.
Finally! This was how a cat was supposed to be treated! Beloved and adored by all! Shen Yuan was the cutest, most successful hunter (ignore the fact that he had missed) that this realm had ever seen! He meowed in triumph, “Keep going, praise me more! This is the type of treatment I should have received from the start! Are you taking notes, scum villain? Pay attention!” See, Shen Jiu! Shen Yuan turned his head to shoot a gloating look back at the peak lord, and nearly died from fright.
Shen Yuan swore his soul almost left his body (again), the fur on his back bristling and his tail tucking underneath his hind legs at what he saw: said scum villain, with his fingers still poised over the pipa’s strings, stared at him unblinkingly with those incredibly fathomless eyes of his, narrowed in a glare. Such an intense expression, so different from the one he reserved for his disciples…! So fucking scary!
The human man didn’t even have to speak the words out loud, Shen Yuan could read it in his irritated glower, practically a death glare; the words (once again, Shen Yuan was paraphrasing) ‘I said not to distract them, can you not even follow one simple command. Not only that, but you’re also incapable of catching one measly butterfly. Useless. You deserve to be put down like a sick dog’ heard loud and clear.
Okay, Shen Yuan might have embellished a little at the end, there.
It was clear, Shen Yuan had fucked up. His very own life flashed through his eyes, which only served to make him more depressed and useless, because his life hadn’t been all that eventful up until his transmigration: filled only with reading web novels and posting lengthy hate comments that he unapologetically hoped would ruin the author’s will to live. Certainly, nothing that made him deserving of the sorry state he found himself in now.
Thankfully, the little girl with two buns unknowingly prevented his murder by distracting the scum villain when she burst into a soft round of giggles at Shen Yuan’s shenanigans, every one of her features lighting up in childish glee. “Shizun, can we keep him?” She asked excitedly once she managed to calm down her giggling, and she reached out her hand towards the kitty cat in question.
Shen Yuan nearly sagged with relief and, in exchange for saving his life, walked up to the girl and graciously sniffed her small fingers in greeting. The little girl squealed in joy before crooking her fingers and scratching underneath his chin-- and oh, that actually felt really, really nice.
It was the first time he’d been touched like this in his cat form, and Shen Yuan couldn’t help but squint his eyes in pleasure at the satisfying scratches while the other disciples started to loudly complain about wanting a turn at petting him, too.
Shen Yuan felt like a celebrity.
A sigh of acceptance. “He’s already being kept, Ning Yingying,” came the somewhat exasperated reply from Shen Jiu himself. And as the peak lord situated the pipa more comfortably in his lap, it seemed he recognized the lesson had been completely derailed with no hopes of steering it back on track.
Hold up! Shen Yuan immediately dodged the girl’s nimble fingers and meowed in a hearty complaint, “I’m not a thing to be kept, and I can leave at any time, thank you very much!” His meowing only served to distract the Qing Jing Peak disciples further as they cooed at him, blissfully unaware of his ire and only hearing an adorable ‘mewewewmoewrow’.
He was a modern man (cat) with modern sensibilities! He was not ‘being kept’!... It was then that Shen Yuan remembered that he could not, in fact, leave at any time… And perhaps… one could say he was indeed being ‘kept’… kept hostage… But before he could complain further, the rest of Shen Jiu’s words hit him like a freight train, and Shen Yuan’s eyes widened.
Ning Yingying. The man had definitely said ‘Ning Yingying’. She was one of the protagonist Luo Binghe’s wives in his harem and… a supposed victim of the scum villain. Which probably meant the teacher’s-pet-looking-ass boy was Ming Fan, one of Luo Binghe’s first bullies who had spent a lot of time with Ning Yingying during their childhood.
Confused, Shen Yuan glanced between shizun and disciples. Shen Jiu and Ning Yingying’s relationship didn’t seem like that… and Ming Fan, well, he does look a little stupid, but that was just because of his fuckass chopped bangs! He didn’t actually act like an IQ-deficient bully!... He was obviously just a kid with daddy issues that had latched onto the next best father figure, desperate for validation!
That unease Shen Yuan had kept shoving down his throat returned stronger than ever, but unfortunately it was temporarily overridden (not on purpose, this time) because there was a glimmering flash of metallic silver flapping its wings right above Shen Jiu.
It was a butterfly, circling around the peak lord’s head crown and attempting to land on the glittering beads as if mistaking the accessories for a flower; all unbeknownst to the man himself, who was too busy stubbornly trying to wrangle his class back on topic.
Well, Shen Jiu didn’t get far in his scolding of the class when Shen Yuan felt something akin to pure adrenaline pour into his body like a rushing flood as his pupils dilated. The feeling of sheer kitty killing instinct thoroughly seeped into his bones and muscles as his legs automatically tensed, and his mouth dropped open to let out an uncontrollable ‘ekekek’ noise before he ran and leaped!
The stupid butterfly never stood a chance. Shen Yuan, having learnt from the first attempt, clapped his soft paws around the unsuspecting silver butterfly in midair, and together as one they fell back to the ground with a soft thump! in the grass. Shen Yuan immediately pinned the fluttering insect to the ground in front of the peak lord’s knee with a triumphant and proud yowl!
Even better, all the little disciples started vigorously clapping as if Shen Yuan had just showcased the greatest sword technique they had ever seen.
So focused on the trapped butterfly pinned beneath his paw and soaking in the unabashed praises of the baby scholars, Shen Yuan was caught completely off guard when a human hand reached towards him; even more shocking was the beauty of the hand. A fucking hand! Of all body parts to be called ‘beautiful’!
Distinct knuckle bones and tendons shifted mesmerizingly under the pale, unblemished skin that surely must have been carved from the same jade that made up the man’s sharp facial features. And because the world continued to be unfair and cruel, his hands hadn’t formed a single callous, even though he was constantly wielding either the Xiu Ya sword, musical instruments, or calligraphy brushes.
And so that beautiful hand flicked (flicked!) Shen Yuan’s mischievous, nefarious, no-good little paws away, before both hands reached out and cupped the struggling butterfly safely within its hold. Not one to be undermined, Shen Yuan struck out and wiggled his paw into a small opening between the man’s thumb and forefinger to paw desperately at the butterfly’s fluttering wings inside the man’s clasp.
A loud ding! reverberated through Shen Yuan’s head before the system’s text-to-speech congratulated, 【Task ‘Catch a Butterfly to Prove Your Whimsy and Hunting Prowess!’ status has been updated to: COMPLETE! Every successful Task solidifies the identity of a cat demon! Congrats! (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧𐀔】
Shen Yuan blatantly ignored it, all his concentration directed towards hooking this stupid butterfly with his claws, also barely registering the inadvertent skin-to-skin contact with the scum villain’s ice cold touch.
And Shen Yuan never got the chance to truly register that thought because Shen Jiu, having had enough of his antics, squeezed his grip tight enough that it ejected Shen Yuan’s evildoing claws, but not enough to harm the butterfly inside. While Shen Yuan meowed in protest, the man then raised his cupped hands up in the air, the wide sleeves of his pale green robes slipping elegantly down to his elbows to reveal… absolutely no fair skin as it was completely covered by his wrist guards.
Hands still poised in the air, Shen Jiu briefly paused in thought. He stared at his hands for a few heavy seconds in contemplation, before sneering a disdainful ‘so utterly childish’ and promptly releasing the butterfly. It flapped away relatively unharmed, with only a tiny nick in its silvery hindwing where Shen Yuan’s claws had successfully hooked it.
Before Shen Yuan could complain about being called childish (he was 20, which was basically geriatric and dying in cat years!), Shen Jiu lowered his hands back to his lap and nailed Shen Yuan with a menacing, sweat-inducing, full-out glare. It was a look that Shen Yuan had been privy to a few times over the last week, and he had labeled it ‘Intense Hatred for the Silly’.
“This peak lord doesn’t dare speculate…” Shen Jiu spoke in a frighteningly calm tone of voice (and, uh-oh, where had Shen Yuan heard that one before) as he idly plucked at a pipa string, the chord striking at Shen Yuan’s nerves like an arrow fired. “But it almost appears as if you’re deliberately sowing discord in order to purposely distract this master’s class. What a vindictive creature… devilish in nature, one could say.”
‘Sowing discord’?! What a pretentious and excessively dramatic way of framing his well-intended actions! And with that emphasis placed on the word ‘devil’, Shen Yuan heard the hint loud and clear. Berated and warned, Shen Yuan accepted defeat and hastily scampered away to safety.
Safety being Ning Yingying, his earlier savior from whom he hoped to borrow that life-saving technique of hers again.
“Save me, save me! The scum villain’s gonna smoke my ass!” Shen Yuan frantically caterwauled as he hurriedly dove towards Ning Yingying’s side, a panicked and tortured ‘mrrowwwwwwmrowww!’ violently ripping from his throat. This was unfair! How could a righteous cultivator stand to smite an innocent, adorable, little kitty cat demon! Make it make sense!
Ning Yingying, like the angel she was, was nearly ecstatic with joy when Shen Yuan pressed nearly the entirety of his furry body against her robes. “If he’s shizun’s cat, then he needs a collar!” She declared with immense confidence that dared anyone to disagree, the girl seemingly unaware that Shen Jiu had just subtly threatened to kill him.
Ignoring Ming Fan’s increasingly worried whispers that she was being too disruptive, Ning Yingying reached upwards and untied one of the green hair ribbons wrapped around her bun. With ribbon in hand, she then looped it around an unsuspecting Shen Yuan’s neck and tied an impractically large bow with a flourish.
Before Shen Yuan could process that he was now not only being kept but also collared, the little girl leaned down to whisper in a mischievous tone of voice, “I’ll carve you a jade Qing Jing Peak token for identification, so everyone will know where your home is, Cat-shixiong.”
What the hell did he need a collar for… did she just say ‘Cat-shixiong’? A rush of excitement suddenly overcame Shen Yuan, and his ears twitched in alert because, oh! He was a ‘shixiong’ now! This was the dream of every xianxia-obsessed young man! One of the disciples put up a slight fuss, muttering in confusion why it wasn’t ‘shidi’ since he entered the sect after all of them, but said disciple was quickly pummeled into silence by his peers in a way that was shockingly unscholarly for Qing Jing Peak.
Shen Yuan lifted his head proudly and was so thrilled that he forgot his impending doom at the hands of the man intensely watching him. Shen Jiu scoffed with derision at all the disorderly clamoring, and it seemed he’d reached his threshold of patience when he scolded, “Everyone has had their fun, now pay attention.”
And to drive the point home, he told them off one more time before finally managing to redirect everyone back to the pipa lesson, the little disciples tearing their eyes away from the distracting cat and straightening their backs.
With everyone’s attention back on the lesson, it left Shen Yuan standing to the side as he watched in a silence that grew more and more contemplative with each passing second. He awkwardly shifted his paws and wearily sat down on his haunches in the soft grass as he settled in to observe the class, watching how the kids eagerly copied their shizun’s every movement and hung off his every word.
He hadn’t been here for all that long, only a week, but…
It sounded rather silly, but Shen Yuan got the feeling that Shen Jiu wasn’t some 2D villain figure who only thought about debauchery and abusing others as was delegated by his character setting. Well, he could still think about those things, but he could also think about other things too: like how to get his class of 10-year-old disciples to focus on their pipa lesson. Shen Yuan had declared the man heartless, but that obviously wasn’t the case with the kids, especially Ning Yingying who felt more like… a niece he catered to.
It was weird. Very weird…
Shen Yuan had spent so much time hating the web novel Proud Immortal Demon Way that, all of a sudden, he couldn’t remember if some of the more unsavory things were directly stated as canon, if they were only mentioned in rumors by uninvolved characters, or if they were even wholly fan-made. It was utterly disorientating, and it left Shen Yuan scouring through each plot point in his head to search for the now-elusive truth.
The tip of his striped tail started flicking at the tip as Shen Yuan steadily stared at Shen Jiu. The man was sitting neatly, his posture still immaculate, as he replayed (for the third time) one of the bridges in the song that his disciples still clumsily stumbled through. He looked a little annoyed, but was still willing to replay it.
It wasn’t the first time today Shen Yuan had felt uneasy, but it was the first time he really sat in that discomfort and really digested what conclusions that sense of uneasiness could lead him towards, as he absentmindedly kicked at his ribbon collar with his hind leg.
Ning Yingying cried out, heartbroken, when Shen Yuan kicked the collar right off his head.