Chapter 76: Hidden

When the old tiger yao woke, he was lying inside a very spacious cage. Laid out beneath him was a very comfortable blanket, on which was placed wild boar meat of the best quality.

The humans had caught him again?

Three hundred years ago, he had been surrounded by a few humans and given a painful beating. They had even talked about peeling off his skin to make a rug. He then escaped with much difficulty and fled back to the mountains, preparing to cultivate till his cultivation base had attained great heights before ridding himself of this shame. He hadn’t expected to fail before achieving his final goal. The humans actually came up with underhanded, ruthless means, unwilling to engage in close combat with him.

“Idiot!”

“Who?” The old tiger yao was still weak. Raising his head, he looked around his surroundings before realizing that there was also a very pretty transparent container in this slightly rocky space. There was a huge black snake in the container.

Seeing that he had finally noticed it, the black snake let out a cold laugh.

“You were also caught by the humans?” The old tiger yao looked at the black snake sympathetically. “Did the humans put you in such a pretty container because they intend to offer you as tribute to a high-ranking person?” He had heard that certain humans were particularly fond of eating snakes. They stewed snake and chicken meat together, and gave it the glorified name of Long Feng Soup.

“You were caught by the humans?” The black snake flicked its tongue. “I’m not as stupid as you. Don’t worry, not only will these humans not kill you, they’ll treat you as a treasure and make offerings to you.”

If he wasn’t mistaken, this was a South China Tiger, a breed that was on the brink of extinction. Since the humans placed so much importance on this to the point that they used a plane to fly him to the capital, they probably had plans for him there.

“Will they offer virgin males and females as tribute?” The tiger yao nearly couldn’t resist salivating. He had heard that the meat of virgin males and females were especially fresh and tender, and that consuming them could enhance one’s cultivation base.

The black snake shot the tiger yao a glance filled with pity. In the current age, he was still thinking about eating virgin males and females? Looking back, he himself was a black python who had nearly transformed into a dragon. If he hadn’t had such poor vision when requesting for a title and ran into that nutjob of a yao cultivator, perhaps he would already be one of the dragon pythons.

He wouldn’t have ended up in his current state – trapped in a glass enclosure by the humans like he was a pet and observed by people. From time to time, the zoo would even send him off to tour other parts of the country in the name of ‘learning how to interact’. The magnificent black python had fallen to this level. Only by relying on the face of this South China Tiger could he take an airplane. What else could he say?

“Brother snake, tell me, how will the humans treat me?”

“Who are you calling brother? I had almost a thousand years’ worth of cultivation before I was taken. Call me senior!” The black snake swung its tail somewhat unhappily. “Youngsters really can’t keep their cool; asking so many questions about things as small as a sesame seed. Everything will naturally be clear when you reach the place!”

The tiger yao didn’t dare to speak again. He swung his tail lazily, crawled back onto the blanket, and very quickly fell into a dazed sleep.

While he was half-asleep, he heard applause as well as someone touching him all over. He swung his tail weakly. Where were they touching? Didn’t they know that tigers’ butts couldn’t be touched?

In the later part of the night, the tiger yao finally regained all his strength and impatiently escaped from the Center for the Protection of Wild Animals.

In the three hundred years that had gone by, the human world had changed drastically. He stepped into the monstrous, multi-colored world of the humans, feeling that every scene before him was simply incredible. Wasn’t this magnificent landscape something that would only be present in the Heavens?

The tiger yao tugged on the slightly awkward clothes on his body. Concealing himself in a corner, he changed the style of his clothing before sneaking out of the tiny alley.

Immense, transparent doors. Glittering, radiant pearls. Huge resplendent pearls hung from pillars at great heights. All these things were on display outside, were they not afraid that they would be stolen?

The tiger yao looked around as he walked and then bumped into a certain human. He furrowed his brows. “Look where you’re walking.” Saying so, he turned and was about to walk off when he was grabbed by the other party.

“What do you want?” The tiger yao’s eyes revealed malicious intent. This puny human’s flesh smelled very fragrant. If he didn’t have misgivings about this place having too many people and that eating this human would attract other people, he might have already failed to stop himself from taking a bite.

“The tiger that escaped from the Center for the Protection of Wild Animals?” There was immense strength in the young human’s wrist, so much so that the tiger yao couldn’t struggle free. Shock reverberated through his heart. Was this human a master at catching yao? Otherwise, how was it possible for this human to hold him back by the wrist and make out his original form?

“Who are you?” The tiger yao was starting to get scared.

“You entered the human world illegally and escaped from the Center for the Protection of Wild Animals without reason, leading to severe negative impacts on society. According to the management bureau’s punishment regulations, you would be fined and kept in custody. But on account of the fact that you are a yao cultivator who took on your human form not too long ago, we can exempt you from the fine. I will now send you to the Yao Union to receive general knowledge lessons on the human world.” The young man held out a small book to the tiger yao. “I am an employee of the management bureau who is responsible for managing the affairs of the cultivation world.”

“What management bureau? You write like you’re missing an arm and a leg. Methods like this to swindle people already went out of fashion three hundred years ago,” The tiger yao tried to push the young man away but failed due to the other party’s massive arm strength.

“All you tiger yao reach adulthood at the age of two hundred, so if you continue struggling, I’ll hit you,” Fu Li used a skill to control the tiger yao, making him obediently follow behind him to the Yao Union.

When they arrived at the Yao Union, there were still a few mahjong players who hadn’t left. They were gathered around the mahjong table slapping about the mahjong tiles, producing banging sounds.

A wolf yao was seated on the left, while a human was seated on the right. Were the wolves nowadays so intimate with humans?

“You don’t have to be so awkward, I have good feelings towards tigers,” Fu Li led the tiger yao to the Yao Union and completed the registration. Seeing the tiger follow behind him dispiritedly, Fu Li assumed that he had frightened the tiger. “I have an elder who transformed from a white tiger. But his original form looks more heroic than yours, and his fur isn’t yellow but white.”

“Stop bragging. There is no white colored tiger in this world of ours,” The tiger retorted. “Don’t spout nonsense just to get closer to me. It’s not like I can beat you anyway.”

“We don’t have white-colored tigers?” Fu Li came to a halt. “Maybe you just don’t know about them?”

“That’s impossible,” The tiger yao said with certainty. “I can’t be sure about other species or the tigers in other worlds, but ever since I stepped onto the path of cultivation, I’ve possessed the memories of our tiger race that were passed down. At this place of ours, even if the occasional white tiger appears, they all have very poor aptitude. It’s impossible for them to gain intelligence and step onto the path of cultivation. The only exception is the legendary divine beast – White Tiger. It’s rumored that he guards one of our earth’s regions and he’s also the king of us beast-types.”

Fu Li was a little absent-minded. In his memories, Elder White Tiger was someone of utmost dignity and majesty. Facing him was equivalent to facing a tall mountain. Now that this tiger told him that Elder White Tiger might be from a tiger clan with aptitude issues, there was some unhappiness in his heart.

But a yao clan’s legacy would not lie. Elder White Tiger had also disliked leaving the mountain in the past, could it be because… he felt inferior from having physical defects and thus hid on the mountain?

Or… Elder White Tiger was the legendary divine beast? No. Not right. Elder White Ape said very early on that the divine beasts had long gone missing. If Elder White Tiger was a divine beast, how did the saying about them missing come about?

Elder White Ape never lied, so this conjecture was not valid at all.

Upon careful thought, the yao cultivators on the mountain didn’t seem to like leaving the mountain. Their occasional ventures out of the mountain were also for the sake of finding food or some small toy. Sometimes, King Ganglie and Elder White Ape would bring him to the coast to play. But whenever they did so, they would always erect a barrier around their surroundings.

At that time, he had merely assumed that it was to protect him. But now that he thought carefully about it, the yao cultivators on the mountain did indeed differ slightly from ordinary yao cultivators in terms of appearance.

King Ganglie’s tusks were sharper than that of other wild pigs. Elder White Ape was taller and skinnier than other white apes. Elder White Goat’s horns were so curved that they were practically spirals. Elder White Tiger’s fur was especially white. Sister Pheasant’s wings were very broad. Little Sparrow could never change into their human form. Uncle Tortoise’s neck was particularly long…

Fu Li was aware how against outsiders animals were. Fu Li thought about how these uncles and sisters might have suffered many grievances in their childhood from those of the same species before eventually gathering together and raising him. There was a bitter pain in Fu Li’s heart.

Actually, they could tell that he didn’t look like an ordinary rabbit, right? That was why they so attentively raised him, doted on him, and poured all their energy into giving him the best. King Ganglie’s cooking tasted bad, Elder White Goat was always lazing in bed, Elder White Ape and Elder Tortoise was long-winded, Sister Pheasant had an explosive temper, Elder White Tiger was habitually silent, and Little Sparrow always liked to sing unpleasant-sounding songs at the entrance to his cave. Despite all this, they were the best yao in the world.

Fu Li had never once been as regretful as he was now. If he had been a bit more sensible back then, a bit more considerate, he might have noticed what was different about his elders. He would have properly eaten King Ganglie’s food and properly learnt how to fight from Sister Pheasant. He wouldn’t have disdained Elder White Ape and Elder Tortoise’s long-windedness, wouldn’t have disliked being alone with Elder White Tiger just because he was stuffy, wouldn’t have only known to run to Little Sparrow to make a scene. At least… at least, he could have been a bit better to them so that they wouldn’t worry so much.

Elder White Ape once said – all living things in the world revolved around the cycle of cause and effect. There was no such thing as ‘if’.

He didn’t understand when he was young. Now that he understood, he would rather not understand.

“W-What happened to you?” The tiger yao realized that the person beside him had suddenly stopped moving. Turning, he saw Fu Li’s deathly pale complexion, his eyes so red they turned rabbit-like. “Hey, don’t joke with me, I was only talking about how it’s impossible for white tigers to cultivate into a yao. Do you need to be this sad?”

“It’s none of your business,” Fu Li pointed in a direction for the tiger yao. “Keep walking in that direction and an employee will receive you.”

The tiger yao wanted to say a bit more, but seeing Fu Li’s unsightly complexion, he swallowed his words.

What a narrow-minded yao; he couldn’t even take a few casual words from him. He’d better talk less.

Fu Li carefully thought back to the yao cultivators on the mountain and realized that every one of them differed slightly from those of the same species. Perhaps their mountain wasn’t called Reflecting Mist but Hidden Mist. It was a land where all yao cultivators with defects lived in seclusion. It was a land separate from the world, so he named it Hidden Mist.

After walking along muddle headed for who-knew-how-long, Fu Li realized that he had unknowingly arrived outside the neighborhood where Zhuang Qing’s villa was located. Perhaps his body made a decision by habit since he frequently came to this place in recent times.

The guards at the gate had already recognized Fu Li. Upon seeing him, they did a simple registration before letting him in.

Fu Li stood under the washed-out streetlights in the neighborhood, looking down at his shadow on the ground. Suddenly, he didn’t want to look for Zhuang Qing. His elders lived in seclusion precisely because they didn’t want other yao to know about their differences. How could he tell someone else about it?

He crouched down despondently and hugged his knees, staring dazedly into space.

Two thousand years ago, no matter where he hid out of anger, the elders on the mountain would always find him, toys in hand, and coax him into going back.

That wouldn’t happen again now.

“Fu Li, what are you doing squatting here?”

Zhuang Qing walked to his side, stooping over to look at him.