TGM Vol.4 Chapter 7 – Spirit Beast (5)

After waking up from his coma, the proud Téngshé had not spoken, eaten, or slept, nestled nervously under the farmhouse’s dining table. He obviously couldn’t stand the huge stimulus and still can’t accept this fact today. He, the celestial realm’s Lord Téngshé, the divine beast that came and went in the fire, actually became a mortal girl’s spirit beast. Although she was a powerful God of War in her previous life, but she is a mortal in this life ah …… not to mention that she committed a crime, was punished down to the world to suffer from reincarnation. In the future when she returns to the heavenly realm, still can not be a general. Certainly she would be monitored, no future to speak of. Him following her, it is also as hard as iron nails – no future, no development. His life is ruined in her hands.

He thought about it and felt a lot of grief, and the burned parts of his wings are getting more and more painful. It hurts so much – he wants to cry.

A large porcelain bowl was suddenly handed to him, filled with delicious food, Xuanji squatted outside, uncovered the tablecloth, and looked at him with big black and white eyes, saying, “Hey, it’s time to eat. I have to hurry today.”

Téngshé turned his face away in disgust and said hoarsely, “I did not ask to be fed.”

“Oh, well, Téngshé, let’s eat. The truth is, I’m reluctant to take you as a spirit beast, so don’t be angry. You and I have no room to back out.”

She said as if she was wronged, as if she was more depressed than him, and was still very dissatisfied with accepting a spirit beast as great as him.

Téngshé was angry and said, “Who is the one who is reluctant? I’m the one who’s in pain with you!”

“Oh, then you can go die.” The rice bowl was put on the floor and she turned and walked away.

“You’re the one who’s going to die! You stinky girl!” He poked his head out from under the tablecloth in a fury and chased after her. But she didn’t go far, she just crouched outside the tablecloth, and when he poked his head out, he met her face. The two of them stared at each other with big eyes, looking at each other viciously.

Xuanji stretched out her finger and nudged him on the nose, laughing: “It’s like the howl of a bereaved dog.”

He was furious and was about to throw a punch, but when his fist reached her, the spirit beast’s instincts kicked in and it turned into a gentle pounding – simply to help her hammer her shoulder! Xuanji comfortably swayed her neck, “Eh, this side …… lean a little to the left. Hm, a bit lower…… you are good with your hands. Later you can also help Sifeng when we get back.”

Aaaaahhhhhhh! Why did it turn out this way!? His arrogant self-esteem was seriously hurt once again, and he dug back under the tablecloth and kicked out his rice bowl, no matter how Xuanji provoked him to speak, he ignored it.

Sitting at the table, Yu Sifeng saw Xuanji’s childishness and her antics with Téngshé, and sighed with a smile, “Don’t bully him all the time. You have to get along with Téngshé and cultivate affection with them.”

“Affection?” The thought of shaking hands with this murderer, touching his head, and him being as soft and obedient as Xiao Yinhua …… made her break out in a cold sweat, and she immediately shook her head: “No need. Anyway, he does not want to be my spirit beast, and I do not want him. I’ll just find another one I like later.”

Yu Sifeng said, “You have already made a contract, so there is no room for change.”

“Then I’ll be tied to this damn thing for the rest of my life?” Xuanji was shocked, and suddenly felt that the future was bleak.

Yu Sifeng sighed, leaned to her ear and whispered, “Look at him hiding under the table without eating or drinking. Doesn’t he look like a puppy that was just caught? Is it really that hard to get along with him if you tame him like a puppy?”

This is Yu Sifeng’s exclusive secret. Sure enough, Xuanji’s eyes really lit up and she bent down to remove the tablecloth, and Téngshé looked up at her with a fierce face, really like a puppy who had just been caught. She hurriedly sat up straight and looked back at Yu Sifeng with bright eyes, and all her depression was swept away.

He smiled smugly and said, “No matter how good he is, he is still a beast. You can’t treat it with human methods.”

Xuanji nodded again and again, as she says, Sifeng knows the most things so he is right. She hurriedly turned around and went to get more rice and vegetables, intending to seduce him with delicious food.

The snake under the table suddenly said in a muffled voice, “How dare you talk about me, you little brat! You are also a beast, aren’t you?”

Yu Sifeng silently removed the tablecloth and looked down at him. The snake looked as if his self-esteem had been insulted and he wanted to kill himself. He said fiercely, “You are not a human too. Your clumsy lying skills make you look stupid. You can’t fool Lao Zi!^[1] If I report this to the people in the upper world, you’ll be skinned!”

Yu Sifeng looked at him coldly and said, “Go ahead and say it yourself, I won’t stop you.”

Téngshé said angrily, “Do you think I am a gossiping woman? I’m not going to say anything!”

Yu Si Feng smiled lightly and said, “You know the advantages of being a human being. I heard you sing, you are very open-minded, but I didn’t expect you to be such a stubborn and difficult person.”

“You’re the one who’s stodgy and difficult!” Téngshé was angry again, “I don’t care to talk to you! You have a bad heart!”

He still remembered that it was Yu Sifeng who taught Xuanji to turn him into a spirit animal, this is a big problem, he will hold a grudge for the rest of his life! Next time, he will definitely find an opportunity to burn him to a crisp.

Yu Sifeng smiled and said. “You should not be an idiot. Since you have made a contract, why bother to get angry. With her as your master, you will not be humiliated. After so many thousands of years, you have no prospects, and still expect to have in the future? In my opinion, the people above simply do not take you seriously, right? The fact that you made such a big mess in the world and no one pursued you shows that they don’t care about you in their hearts.”

Téngshé was hit by his pain, and was not willing to be lectured by a kid, so he simply closed his eyes and pretended to be dead.

Yu Si Feng said again “You must have something else to do when you came to the mortal world this time, right? What is it?”

Téngshé was startled and opened its eyes, saying, “How do you know?”

Yu Sifeng smiled faintly, “You said yourself that you had no choice but to come to the human world. But since you are a divine beast, you should have the ability to suppress your own abilities, and you are obviously gambling by making such a big fuss. Let me guess, you have been traveling westward to go to Mount Bu Zhou?”

Téngshé said with horror: “You …… can read minds, can’t you ……”

Yu Sifeng innocently shook his head: “Naturally I cannot do mind-reading. But if the demons in the mortal world are trying to break the Iron Chains, the heavenly world will not be indifferent, right? They sent you to check? To check on the demon in the underworld?”

The snake bit his tongue and decided not to say anything, no matter what he asked. He doesn’t like these kind of smart people, like the White Emperor of the East, who can tell you what’s in your mind before you even open your mouth, which is really creepy.

Seeing that he didn’t speak, Yu Sifeng stopped forcing him and laughed, “Heaven cannot be considered, and the way is unpredictable; This is your own song, can you only sing, but do not understand what it means? Since you have become her spirit animal, it is natural that you have a destiny. Why don’t you accept it openly?”

“Fart, fart! Stinky dog fart! It stinks!” Téngshé cursed and covered his ears tightly.

Yu Sifeng smiled and put down the tablecloth and sat upright. Xuanji just loaded another bowl of food and said, “What are you talking to him about?”

“It’s nothing ……, well it’s just a few pet lessons. How to be a spirit beast or something like that.” He smiled lightly, tapped the tabletop with his hand, got up and said, “Feed him and get ready to go after eating, I’ll go and pack things.”

Xuanji got under the table and saw Téngshé staring at her guardedly. She tried to show a kind smile and said softly, “Eat, Téngshé must be good.”

“Be good, you big-headed ghost!” He was about to have a fit again, and his claws were about to overturn the rice bowl. Xuanji hurriedly held it up and said, “No matter what, the meal still needs to be eaten. Even if you are annoyed, this fact is irreversible. I am willing to accept it, what else can you not let go of?”

Just can’t let go of your tone that seems to be aggravated and depressed by having the snake as a spirit beast! He just felt his mind buzzing with confusion, so he had to hug his knees and curl up again, refusing to communicate with her.

After a while, he heard a rustling sound next to him. He took a peek and saw her retrieve the gauze wound medicine from her sleeve and pick some ointment with a jade hairpin and bring it to his face.

“What are you doing?” His hair stood on end and he hastily dodged away, but she didn’t have any pity and grabbed his hair and pulled him over, causing him to scream, “Let go! It hurts!”

The jade hairpin with the ointment was slathered on the wound, which she had scratched with her sword when the contract was first made. The snake froze in place and said, “You, you, you, you, you, don’t you think that I, I, I, I’ll give in to a small favor! I am a divine beast! I despise you, you, you little mortal yaya yaya yaya!” He was so embarrassed that he started to stutter.

Xuanji put the gauze on the wound and pressed it firmly before smiling, “This is our Shaoyang Sect’s golden wound medicine, which is very effective. You see, my hand was burned yesterday. After applying the medicine to my hand, I was able to move it today.”

Both of her hands were wrapped in bandages, obviously from the scorched sword she grabbed with her bare hands yesterday. Moreover, her face was very embarrassing. Both eyebrows were burned away, and her hair was half burnt and scorched, and she had to cut a lot this morning. To be honest, this is very comical. Téngshé froze, but held back from laughing and said coldly, “It’s no use trying to please Lao Zi.”

Xuanji smiled and said, “Who wants to please you! The thing is that we can’t be stubborn like this, we’re going to be together for the rest of our lives. The good thing is that my life is very short, a hundred years will pass in a flash. Will you not be free in the future?”

Téngshé stared at her with round eyes and said, “Do you really not know or are you just pretending to be stupid? You don’t know that you were sent to the mortal world to experience the tribulation? After the tribulation is over, it is natural to return to the Heavenly Court! And a hundred years …… I was bolted to death by you, do you know that?”

He roared again, full of blood and tears. Xuanji froze for a moment, and then put the rice bowl on the ground, and sat cross-legged on the ground with a poof, sighing, “I know I was unusual in my previous life, but that’s all in the past. It’s what’s in front of us that matters most, isn’t it? A hundred years is still time. We can’t let the present time be unhappy for the sake of an illusory future. The future will be discussed later.”

Téngshé snorted, still not reconciled, “Why do I have to spend a lifetime for nothing.”

Xuanji patted him on the shoulder and said, “Don’t be sad. There is always a way to unlock the contract in the future, right? Even if you don’t have it at the moment, you can find it slowly. You have become my spirit beast, in fact, it is also good, we eat together and play together and talk, very lively. I haven’t had that kind of buzz for a long time, since my close friends are gone.”

Téngshé’s stiff body gradually softened, and when she wasn’t looking, he grabbed a chicken wing from the bowl and nibbled on it, asking, “What do you mean, gone? Is it dead? All of us have to die, sooner or later. There is nothing to be unhappy about.”

Xuanji shook her head and said: “It’s not wrong to say that, but we are human beings, our life is only a hundred years. So the parting of life and death is a kind of eternity, even if you meet again in the next life, it will be another kind of memory, different. I like them, so I don’t want to be separated from them.”

Téngshé simply gathered the courage to pick up the rice bowl and eat, his mouth was full of rice and his words were slurred, “Well, it’s not that simple. You have a special status, to go to the underworld is a piece of cake. If you miss them, go to the underworld to find their souls, as long as they have not drunk the Water of Oblivion, the memory of the past life is still there. Well, if you want to go to the underworld, we will just drop in and I will also go.”

Xuanji shook her head, “They are not dead, but because of … certain reasons, it is difficult to return to the way they used to be. I wanted to find the spirit beast, also because I want to save them, I want more power, can not lose to those demons.”

“Demons?” Téngshé’s eyes moved and asked, “The ones who destroyed the Dinghǎi Iron Chains?”

Xuanji said in surprise, “You know that too! That’s great! Let’s work together and beat those bad guys away, okay?”

Téngshé gobbled up his rice and put the empty bowl into her hand, saying proudly, “No. I’m not going to degrade myself by getting involved with your mortal demons.”

What puppy dog, Sifeng lied! He is still a bad egg! Xuanji stared at him depressedly.

Téngshé suddenly said, “But if you can give me such good meals every day, Lao Zi might consider it and give you a little help.”

Xuanji was overjoyed, hugged him and shouted, “Okay! I will share half of the food with you in the future!”

“Hey, little girl.” Téngshé poked her face in disgust and never said another word.

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[1]: 老子 (lǎo​zi) – father/ daddy / “I, your father” (said in anger, or out of contempt) / I (used arrogantly or jocularly) .
It’s essentially an arrogant way to refer to one’s self, implying that you are in some way better than the person you are talking to. As mentioned above, can be used in arrogance or jokingly.
Téngshé uses this a lot in his dialogues, however in English it’s confusing to have him constantly switch between third person and first person, so I only kept the ‘Lao Zi’ in dialogues where it wasn’t obvious he was being arrogant.

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