Wangshu

“Quack quack quack, this lord only came to get back my little sister's bird eggs. I have no interest in your wolf legs or your little pups...”

The fat duck paused mid-sentence and looked back over its shoulder.

Gu Ningyun was staring intently beneath the mother wolf's belly.

There lay four pups that had not yet opened their eyes.

Perhaps because they had only recently been born, their foraging instincts reigned supreme, and the wolf pups were completely unaware of their mother's vigilance or the danger surrounding them.

They raised their heads, stepping all over each other, their nostrils twitching. Once they found the source of food, they latched on tightly and suckled vigorously.

Gu Ningyun had no interest in the pups' feeding; her attention was drawn to one particular pup among them.

This pup was the smallest of the litter, shoved aside and trampled underfoot by the other three, whimpering loudly from hunger.

The whimpering sounded somewhat familiar.

Gu Ningyun observed it closely. Although the pup also had pure white fur, its head was rounder, its snout shorter, and its tail much smaller.

It didn't look like a wolf, but rather a puppy.

Once this thought cropped up, she couldn't unsee it. No matter how she looked at it, this little pup looked exactly like a puppy.

The fat duck looked at Gu Ningyun, then followed her gaze to the wolf pup.

“Little girl, do you like it?”

“I do, but would it be inconvenient to bring along?”

The fat duck stepped on the mother wolf's head. “If you like one, just pick it up and play with it. We'll be staying on Mount Wuji for a while anyway.”

Since she had nothing to do while recovering from her injuries, Gu Ningyun could no longer suppress her urge to pet a dog.

She hopped off the fat duck's back and rescued the puppy from beneath the wolf's paws.

Only after the fat duck cast a Cleaning Technique did Gu Ningyun cradle the puppy in her arms and climb back onto the duck's back.

The mother wolf watched this unfold, harboring anger but not daring to speak out.

The puppy whimpered from hunger. Gu Ningyun rummaged through her storage ring for a moment, fished out a Spirit-Heart Peach, and offered it to the puppy's mouth.

The peach was larger than the puppy's head. Feeling that this was inappropriate, she was about to pull her hand back.

However, the puppy opened its mouth and swallowed the entire peach in one gulp.

After swallowing, it sniffed at her fingertips as if it hadn't eaten enough.

Gu Ningyun: “???” Even though dogs are omnivores, this puppy doesn't even have teeth yet. Is this normal?

The fat duck looked at the meat-only mother wolf and the milk-only wolf pups, choosing to ignore the bizarre scene behind it.

It turned toward the cave entrance and shouted, “Xiao Hua, which egg is yours? Come find it yourself.”

“Cough, cough, cough, cough...”

Gu Ningyun's hand trembled as she channeled her spirit energy to retrieve another peach, nearly choking on her own saliva.

“Right away, Boss!”

The large parrot agreed cheerfully. It flew inside in a flash, diving into the mountain of eggs piled in the corner, carefully rummaging through them.

Finally, it unearthed an egg that was half-white and half-patterned with five colors, gently grasping it with its talons.

Having found its egg, it hopped on one foot over to the fat duck. “Boss, it's all thanks to you. Otherwise, I, Xiao Hua, would never have gotten my baby back.”

The law of the jungle in the cultivation world was manifested even more directly and thoroughly among demon beasts.

To be precise, this was a way of survival etched into their very bones.

Gu Ningyun had no interest in their disputes. She merely tilted her head and asked, “Large parrot, your name is Xiao Hua?”

Only now did the parrot dare to cautiously lift its head and steal a glance at Gu Ningyun.

A human child who could casually wrap her arms around its boss's neck and use its boss as a mount was definitely someone its boss cherished.

It had heard that its boss was a disciple of Xiaoyao, so the person on its back might very well be one of its boss's junior sisters.

If it stared blindly and frightened her, it would be a grave offense.

Meeting the human child's gaze and seeing no particular reaction, the parrot puffed out its chest and said with immense pride, “That's right! This is the name Boss gave me.”

“If Boss calls me Xiao Hua, then I am Xiao Hua. If Boss calls me Xiao Cao, then I am Xiao Cao.”

“To receive a name from Boss is this little sister's honor.”

From the parrot's righteous posture, Gu Ningyun could clearly sense a trace of sycophancy.

She: “...”

She was temporarily at a loss for words.

The fat duck felt its face grow warm for some reason. It coughed lightly. “Back then, this lord saw that she had some wits and could speak, so I rescued her from a human's cooking pot.”

“I only gave her this name on a whim to make it easier to call her.”

“Ahem, this does not represent this lord's literacy level.”

At rank four, demon beasts developed intelligence and human-like nature. At rank five, they refined their transverse bones and could speak human language. At rank six, they could transform into human shape and were called demon beast cultivators.

Due to an incident eight thousand years ago, the higher-ups of the human and demon races had an agreement: once a demon beast cultivated to rank six, they had to return to the demon realm and were forbidden from appearing in the domains of human cultivators.

Originally, the demon race wanted to change the requirement to rank seven, claiming that demon beasts reproduced too quickly and the demon realm lacked sufficient territory.

However, after the founding matriarch of the Hundred Flowers Sect scorched them with the Red Lotus Karmic Fire, they immediately fell silent, becoming as docile as a flock of quail.

Thus, the agreement was set in stone.

Although parrots could naturally mimic speech and were smarter than ordinary demon beasts, Xiao Hua's situation was clearly not as simple as mere mimicry.

Perhaps, like Senior Jue Sheng, she possessed some unique trait.

Thinking of this, she stroked the puppy's head in her arms.

The fat duck nudged its neck and gestured back. “This pup seems to really like you. Girl, why don't you give it a name too?”

Gu Ningyun snapped out of her thoughts. She stroked the puppy's snow-white fur and pondered for a moment. “Then let's call it Bai Daying.”

The fat duck was stunned. Does this little girl also like to read mortal palace drama storybooks?

The puppy seemed to understand. It stopped eating the peach and whimpered incessantly at Gu Ningyun.

With its tail tucked, it didn't look particularly pleased.

The fat duck quacked with laughter. “Excellent! Since the little girl likes it, that shall be its name.”

The parrot flapped its wings in agreement. “Boss's junior sister's naming skills are wonderful, truly marvelous!”

The fat duck gave it an appreciative look, then flapped its wings and flew out of the cave dwelling.

Leaving only Bai Daying to whimper and howl incessantly.

The white wolf seemed to realize their intentions, or perhaps it knew that discretion was the better part of valor, as it no longer bared its teeth.

The two adult wolves shielded the three remaining pups, shrinking into the depths of the cave and watching them with their ears flattened.

Gu Ningyun fished out another peach and stuffed it into Bai Daying's mouth to silence its whimpering.

“Senior Brother, what do we do next?”

Since this was Martial Aunt Yi Shu's idea, they surely wouldn't just return home after letting her vent her anger on behalf of her little sister.

“The next step, of course, is to heal your injuries.”

Xiao Hua flew out of the wolf cave, the egg beneath her talons having been stored away somewhere unknown.

The fat duck waited for her to fly to its side. “You mentioned earlier that there is a Wangshu in the Wuji Mountain Range. Do you know where it is?”

Wangshu!

Upon hearing this name, Gu Ningyun finally understood the intentions of Martial Aunt Yi Shu and Senior Brother Linchuan, deeply feeling their care and thoughtfulness.