Chapter 49. The pet, Bai, also grasped her wrist, pulling her closer…
Bai, enraged, retaliated with a kick that was enough to turn the man into a bloody pulp.
At the last moment, she forcefully withdrew some of her strength. It wasn't out of pity, but simply because she didn't want the little girl to witness such a bloody scene.
The men in the courtyard, upon seeing the two men arrive, were already terrified, their faces ashen. They collapsed to the ground like boneless creatures, kowtowing and begging for mercy, "Please, have mercy! It was that bastard Liu Da who did it. We just came to check it out."
"Yes, yes, please have mercy, immortal! We didn't do anything."
Before Bai could even ask a question, the thugs began to weep and explain what had happened, as if they were terrified of losing their lives.
It turned out that not long after they left in the morning, a few idle hooligans in the fishing village set their sights on the Liu family.
They believed that Bai and his companion were both immortals and would not eat the Liu family's food for nothing. Since they had stayed there, they would surely leave something good behind.
However, because they were from the same village, these men couldn't just break into the house and rob it, so they set their sights on the woman's husband, Liu Da.
Liu Da was a notorious scoundrel in the village. He spent his days either drinking or gambling. When he lost money, he would take it out on his wife and daughter. A few days ago, because of his gambling debts, he almost took the mother and daughter to pay off his debts.
In the end, the village elders stopped him, and he had no choice but to flee the fishing village and hide in the city.
These thugs put their heads together and eventually sent one of them into the city to look for Liu Da.
As dusk fell, the thug who was searching for the person entered the village together with a tall, burly man with a fierce face.
In the Liu family's courtyard, as soon as the woman returned home, Liu Baobao eagerly came to greet her, holding the cloth bag that Bai Ye had given her.
"Mother~ This is something given to me by the fairy sister."
The woman took the cloth bag, opened it, and saw the spirit stones inside. A look of shock flashed in her eyes. She knew that these were spirit stones used by immortals, and one spirit stone could be exchanged for a thousand taels of silver.
With this bag of spirit stones, she could take her baby away from this small fishing village to find the city where the immortals lived. In the future, her baby could also become an immortal and would no longer have to be bullied like those two girls.
"Mother, when my sister left, she said that this could be used to exchange for candied hawthorns~" Liu Baobao repeated Bai Ye's instructions in her childish voice.
"Yes, Mother's baby is a blessed child." The woman held the child, her eyes filled with tears.
As the mother and daughter were embracing and looking at the spirit stone in their arms, the wooden door of the courtyard was kicked open in the next instant.
The two were startled, and after seeing who it was, they both turned ashen-faced.
"You slut, you really were trying to cheat on me!" Liu roared as he stormed into the courtyard, snatched the cloth bag, and when he saw the spirit stones inside, his cloudy bull eyes widened in shock. "Hahaha, so many spirit stones! Enough for me to make a comeback!"
The woman hurriedly tried to snatch it, saying, "This was given to the baby by a fairy; you can't take it away."
"Smack!"
Liu Da slapped her hard across the face, knocking her to the ground.
Before the woman could stand up, he grabbed a stick and started hitting her, yelling, "You've gone too far! How dare you talk back to me!"
Liu Baobao was so frightened that she burst into tears, ran up and hugged Liu Da's leg, crying and shouting, "Don't hit Mom! Dad! Don't hit Mom!"
"Get out!" Liu roared, raising his foot to kick.
The little one was kicked and sent flying, crashing straight into the corner of the wall. He couldn't even groan; his face turned blue and he fell silent.
The thugs who attracted Liu Da didn't care about the lives of Liu's mother and daughter; their eyes were all fixed on the spirit stone in Liu Da's hand.
After hearing these people's stories, Bai's face turned ashen. He thought he had given enough, but he never expected that it would still bring trouble to the mother and daughter.
"A bunch of beasts!" Bai Ye's voice was filled with suppressed anger. "You and that Liu Da all deserve to die!"
"Spare us, immortal!" The moment the cries for mercy were uttered, Bai moved.
The wind howled with each punch, and a series of cracking sounds echoed in the courtyard as the thugs' limbs were broken. They didn't even have time to scream before Bai Ye tossed them out of the yard like trash.
"Immortal...Immortal!" the woman cried out with difficulty, dragging her battered body.
Zhong Jiuli helped her up, a healing pill appearing in her palm. "Don't speak yet, take this medicine."
The woman shook her head, refusing the medicine, and cradled Liu Baobao, whose face was bluish-purple, in her hands. "Look at the child, she...she's silent."
"Don't worry, she's fine. You should take the healing pills first," Zhong Jiuli said calmly.
Her voice, though soft, carried a comforting power, as if any difficulty could be easily resolved with her presence.
"Okay, I'll eat it." The woman's tense nerves relaxed slightly. She grasped the pill, put it in her mouth, and swallowed it in one gulp.
Zhong Jiuli took the child from her arms, and with a wisp of spiritual energy condensed at her fingertips, she placed it on the baby's chest. The little girl's face was bluish-purple, and there was a trace of blood at the corner of her mouth. Her limp body was like a puppet with its strings cut.
The child was too young, and even the lowest-grade healing pills were too potent for her. She could only use her spiritual power to clear the blood stasis accumulated in her chest.
A few breaths later, with a "whoosh," Liu Baobao vomited a large pool of blood.
Immediately afterwards, a heart-wrenching cry pierced the night sky. The little girl's face, which had been purplish from holding her breath, regained its color. She waved her chubby arms, crying so hard she could barely breathe.
The crying, which should have been somewhat noisy, brought the woman a complete sigh of relief. She hugged the child tightly, her lips trembling as she pressed her forehead to the baby's, murmuring incoherently, "Baby, don't be afraid, Mommy's here! Don't be afraid, don't be afraid..."
Bai also grabbed Liu Da and dragged him back to the courtyard like a dead dog, slamming him down in front of the woman with a thud.
"What do you want to do with him? I can help you with anything," Bai asked softly.
She wouldn't overstep her bounds and make decisions for the other woman. If the woman was willing, she could kill the man for her, or she could take the mother and daughter back to the White Tiger tribe and give them a place to live.
But all of this is predicated on the woman's willingness, rather than her killing the person unilaterally and ultimately creating enmity.
The woman held Liu Baobao, who was still sobbing, and her gaze fell on Liu Da. This figure, which had once made her tremble at the sight of him, was now curled up like a maggot, begging for mercy, "I was wrong... Wife, for the sake of the child, the child cannot be without a father."
She looked down at the bloodstains on her child's lips, and her mind drifted to the evil deeds this man had committed.
“Immortal…” The woman looked up, the moonlight illuminating her still somewhat bluish-purple face. Her gaze reminded Bai of a mother wolf being hunted in the mountains, the almost desperate ruthlessness that erupted when her cubs were snatched away and she was driven to the brink of despair.
"You can do whatever you want, I'll make sure you have no worries," Bai replied immediately.
The woman's chest heaved violently, her gaze shifting between the man on the ground and the child in her arms.
Bai knew she was thinking, so he didn't urge her. He stood beside Zhong Jiuli, waiting for her to make her final decision.
"I want him dead!" the woman said, her voice not loud, but firm.
"I want him dead!!!"
The woman shouted, her voice growing stronger, as if she were about to unleash all the humiliation and pain that had been building up for years.
"Alright!" Bai Ye flicked his wrist, and a longsword with a chilling gleam appeared out of thin air. "Want me to do it for you?"
"No, I want to do it myself." The woman handed the child to Bai Ye, took the long sword from her, and gripped the hilt with her calloused hands.
She awkwardly drew her sword, and the sound of the blade being drawn caused Liu Da, who was paralyzed on the ground and unable to move, to convulse violently.
"You wretch...you wretch, how dare you! If you kill me, the elders won't let you off the hook; they'll sell you off." Liu Da threatened weakly. He tried to dodge, but Bai's kick had broken his spine.
His broken spine left him only able to writhe like a maggot.
"So, you can be afraid too." The woman chuckled softly, approaching step by step with her long sword in hand.
Looking at the fear in Liu Da's eyes, she recalled many things: the beatings she suffered during her postpartum period for giving birth to her daughter, and how the man stole all the money from the house when the baby was sick and had a fever.
“You should have died long ago.” Her voice calmed down. “This sword was for my daughter.”
A flash of cold light, a splatter of blood, and a heart-wrenching scream echoed through the courtyard.
The baby shuddered at the screams, and Bai gently patted her head and held her close to her chest to prevent her from seeing the bloody scene in the yard. "It's okay, Mother is teaching the bad guys a lesson."
"You must be thinking, 'I wouldn't dare kill you,' right?" The woman crouched down, the blood-stained tip of the sword slowly piercing Liu Da's cheek, looking directly into his eyes as she asked, "Is that right?"
Liu Da's face contorted in pain, blood gushing from his broken leg. Even in this state, he still believed the woman was too soft-hearted to kill him.
The woman stood up, a look of disgust flashing in her eyes. "I was just thinking that letting you watch your own flesh and blood sprout maggots, watching those tiny white things slowly gnaw at your body... that's the kind of death you deserve! Letting you die quickly would be too good for you."
Seemingly terrified by the scene the woman described, Liu Da's pupils contracted, and he began to twist wildly, shouting, "You bitch, you wouldn't dare, even with someone backing you up!"
Amidst the hysterical screams, filled with barely concealed fear, she cried out, "You'll always be that wretched slut who kneels and takes the beatings!"
The woman straightened up and slowly wiped the blood-stained longsword clean on Liu Da's clothes. In the moonlight, her clothes were still tattered, and her head, which had been hanging low, finally stood up straight.
“I will bring my daughter to see you every day. We want to watch you rot away, bit by bit.” She turned and took her daughter from Bai Ye’s arms, her voice eerily gentle.
“In that case, I’ll have to make sure you live a little longer,” Zhong Jiuli said, a bottle of pills appearing in her hand.
Bai frowned slightly when she saw Zhong Jiuli about to feed Liu Da his medicine. She quickly snatched the medicine from her hand, not wanting Zhong Jiuli to touch that disgusting man.
"Open your mouth!" Bai shouted coldly.
Liu Da lay sprawled on the ground like a rag doll, his bloodshot eyes filled with resentment and venom. He clenched his teeth tightly and refused to open his mouth to swallow the pill no matter how Bai threatened him.
Bai didn't bother to say anything more to him, and kicked him. With a "crack" sound, Liu Da's jaw broke.
His mouth opened weakly, revealing a mouthful of rotten, yellowed teeth, and he made a hoarse, hissing sound.
Bai threw the pill into that gaping maw. As soon as the pill entered Liu's mouth, the wound on his thigh that had been bleeding profusely slowed down at a visible speed, and his pale complexion improved considerably.
Liu Da felt his head, which had been heavy with pain, become much clearer, and every pain in his body seemed to be magnified several times over.
"What did you feed me?" Liu Da screamed in terror, his voice filled with unprecedented fear.
"Something that will keep you from starving for a month without food," Bai chuckled.
"So that's why I couldn't find you in the woods, you're here!" Liu Xianyue's voice floated from above as she leaned against the boat railing, looking down at the group of people in the courtyard.
"Wait a little longer." Bai waved to Liu Xianyue, then turned and walked towards the mother and daughter, lowering his voice to ask, "Do you want to leave with us now, or wait for me to finish my business and come back to pick you up?"
"Come with your sister..." the baby muttered softly, looking in the direction blocked by the crowd, knowing that the annoying man was lying there.
Although she was young, she had already witnessed countless times how this man had abused her mother. The scenes of his punches and kicks, and his harsh insults, were all deeply etched in her memory.
That's why, when she saw Bai Ye and Zhong Jiuli enter the fishing village, she mustered up the courage to approach them, wanting to learn some magic so that she could protect her mother.
Now, this nightmarish man has finally fallen and can no longer hurt them. The baby doesn't want Mommy to stay here any longer, even if it means parting with her friends.
“Alright, since the baby wants to go with his sister, then let’s go.” Bai Ye’s eyebrows relaxed, revealing a gentle smile.
She embraced the mother and daughter, and led them aboard the spirit boat.
"Ah!" The sudden feeling of weightlessness made the mother and daughter exclaim at the same time. The woman instinctively hugged the child in her arms tighter. After regaining their balance, the mother and daughter looked down at the same time. The once spacious courtyard had shrunk to the size of a millstone, and Liu Da's limp black shadow had become a blurry black dot.
"Then... what about that person?" the woman asked hesitantly.
"It's alright, I'll set up a defensive array. No one can enter your yard. He'll lie there, rotting and infested with maggots, just as you imagine." Zhong Jiuli waved her hand, and an invisible light screen poured down, instantly enveloping the entire yard.
The mother and daughter looked once more at the small courtyard that had witnessed so much joy and sorrow, and both wore relieved smiles.
"Thank you so much, immortal, for saving my life." The woman, holding her child, bowed deeply, her voice choked with emotion.
Zhong Jiuli reached out and lifted the person up, her tone still calm, but upon closer listening, one could hear a touch more warmth than usual, "No need for thanks, since I've tasted the delicious food you personally prepared, consider this a return gift."
Bai also came over with a grin, took the little girl from her arms and held her in his arms. "Yes, no need to thank me. It's fate that we met. Since you've treated me so warmly, this little thing is nothing."
"Hmm!" the woman responded softly, her gaze unfocused as she looked into the void. At this moment, the spirit boat was flying at high speed through the clouds, and the stars in the sky seemed so close that they could be touched.
She knew she had come into contact with a completely new world, but at this moment, a new sense of confusion also welled up in her heart.
Where should I go next? How will I make a living? How will I raise my baby? All sorts of worries rushed into my mind at the same time.
Everyone noticed her worry, but seeing her tired expression, they didn't say anything more. Some things can't be rushed.
"It's getting late, you should take the baby to rest first," Bai said gently. "We can discuss anything else tomorrow."
The woman followed Bai into the cabin. She looked at the interior of the spirit boat with some curiosity, not expecting that the cabin, which looked small from the outside, would be so spacious inside.
Bai pushed open the door to an empty room, and with a light tap of his fingertip, the luminous pearl embedded in the wall glowed softly, illuminating a warm space.
"Rest assured and don't worry. Call me anytime if you need anything," Bai said, before handing the child back to the woman.
She turned and closed the door, returning to the deck.
As soon as he stepped out of the cabin, he heard Liu Xianyue and Jiaojiao chattering away, both of them pestering Zhong Jiuli to ask what had happened.
Zhong Jiuli frowned slightly as the two people pestered her. When she saw Bai also come out, she raised her hand and beckoned, "Come here."
Bai Ye's gaze was fixed on Zhong Jiuli's face. The moonlight gilded her with a layer of silver light, and her slightly furrowed brows were incredibly beautiful.
"What's wrong?" She leaned closer, deliberately softening her voice, with a hint of sweetness at the end.
"Huh??" Jiao Jiao tilted her head, looking at her suspiciously. "Ye Zai, is your throat sore? Why are you talking like that?"
Bai coughed lightly, feeling a little embarrassed. She just wanted to be a gentle tweezer in front of her wife, but this stinky turtle had to come out and ruin things.
"No, my throat feels fine!" Bai said rudely.
Zhong Jiuli's lips curled up almost imperceptibly. "Tell them what happened."
After she finished speaking, she walked past the group of people and drifted away.
Bai watched her retreating figure. He didn't want to gossip and wanted to go back to sleep with his wife.
Helpless, the two men held onto her and wouldn't let her leave, so Bai had no choice but to give a general account of what had happened.
After listening, Liu Xianyue pondered for a moment and then asked, "Then how do you plan to settle them?"
"Of course we'll take them back to the White Tiger tribe!" Bai replied readily.
She thought of the hardworking aunts in the tribe, some of whom were almost sold into brothels by their gambling husbands, some of whom were driven out of their homes after many years of marriage without children, and some of whom were driven out by their husbands' families because they had given birth to daughters.
In short, they were all women who had nowhere else to turn.
Bai sighed softly, "This world is always unfair to women. If a woman marries the wrong person, it will be a lifelong ordeal."
Even in modern society, domestic violence is still common.
Fortunately, this is the lawless world of cultivation. There's no need for legal sanctions; might makes right! And she can enforce the law with violence.
Liu Xianyue waved her round fan and chuckled, "Speaking of which, your White Tiger tribe has become a matriarchal society."
"What, Boss Liu, you want to go too?" Bai raised an eyebrow. "Then I, as the young clan leader, must make proper arrangements and build you the biggest house ever!"
"This little guy has quite the appetite!" Liu Xianyue picked up Jiaojiao and threw her at Bai Ye. "It's not enough that you kidnapped the sect leader of the Sanqing Sect, you want to kidnap me too and make me your bandit wife?"
Bai hurriedly caught Jiaojiao, and upon hearing this, he couldn't help but shiver. "Don't talk nonsense and try to take advantage of me! I'm not that kind of person."
"Come in!" Zhong Jiuli's voice suddenly rang in his mind. Bai didn't have time to think about what she wanted to call him, so he trotted into the cabin like a little dog being summoned by its owner.
"Zhong Jiuli, are you bored and missing me because you're all alone?" Bai also snuggled up to her, grinning from ear to ear.
"Meditate and cultivate." Zhong Jiuli closed her eyes and remained motionless, her voice calm and undisturbed.
Bai also obediently sat down cross-legged, shoulder to shoulder with Zhong Jiuli.
Outside the window, the sea of clouds surged, and inside the room, a cool fragrance filled the air. Bai had no interest in cultivation, and she looked around boredly.
"Are you so restless that you still want to go out and play with Liu Xianyue?" Zhong Jiuli opened her eyes and looked at Bai Ye beside her, her glass-like eyes swirling with hidden emotions.
"Why would I want to play with Liu Xianyue? I can't beat her anyway." Bai was also a little surprised, wondering why Zhong Jiuli seemed a bit angry.
Zhong Jiuli looked at the little tiger's eyes, which were always full of starlight and now only reflected her own image. The nameless fire that had inexplicably risen in her heart seemed to have subsided.
Their eyes met, and Bai looked into her eyes, realizing what was going on.
"Zhong Jiuli." Bai also grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer, so close that they could hear each other's breath. "You're jealous of your best friend."
"Nonsense!" Zhong Jiuli calmly turned her face away. "If you're not going to cultivate, then leave."
"You just treat me like a little pet that you can summon and dismiss at will, don't you?" Bai puffed out her cheeks, somewhat angrily.
Zhong Jiuli glanced back, and before she could react, Bai Ye immediately tried to save face, "Yes, that's right, tigers are meant to be kept as pets. I won't disturb your cultivation anymore."
After saying that, she left as scurried away as she had come, even closing the door a few decibels softer.
"Ye Zai, you're such a coward." Jiao Jiao peeked out from under her clothes and whispered her complaints.
"Then next time Zhong Jiuli is angry, you should come out and coax her~" Bai retorted without backing down.
No way! She's the young chieftain of the White Tiger tribe, a person of considerable standing. How could she back down?
Jiaojiao didn't even bother to respond to Bai Ye's words, and simply slipped into her clothes.
"Tch, you call me a coward? You're a much bigger coward than me," Bai muttered under his breath before returning to his room to rest.
The next morning, as soon as the sun rose above the horizon, the woman got up early. She quietly tucked the baby in and left the room, searching the cabin before finding the kitchen.
Although it was somewhat different from the stoves used in rural farmhouses, the woman studied it and learned how to use it.
There were still some leftover ingredients in the kitchen, and the woman quickly prepared a sumptuous breakfast.
After Bai woke up, he smelled the aroma of food in the air. He pushed open the door and saw food on the round table, as well as a woman standing somewhat awkwardly beside the table.
She quickly stepped forward to greet him: "Why are you up so early? Did you sleep well last night?"
"Thank you for your concern, Immortal. This is the most restful sleep I've had in years." The woman's voice was soft, but it carried an indescribable sense of relief.
Bai Ye pulled her to sit down on the stool. "Don't call me Immortal, just call me A Ye. That's what my friends call me. By the way, I still don't know how to address you?"
"My surname is Lin, and my given name is Wan Niang," the woman replied softly, her voice carrying a hint of unfamiliarity, as if this name had not been mentioned to her for a long time.
After marrying Liu Da, she lost her own name, and the villagers only called her Liu Dajia.
Bai nodded and carefully said, "I come from the Wilderness State. If you are willing, you can come back to the Wilderness State with me. There are many children in my clan who are about the same age as Bao Bao. Once we get there, there will be people to play with her."
"If you think it's too far, we can settle you on Storm Island, but it's a mixed bag and not very suitable for children to grow up there."
Lin Wan Niang chose the Wilderness State almost without thinking. For no other reason than to provide her child with a stable environment to grow up in, she would not have chosen Storm Island.
“Okay, I also think the White Tiger Tribe is better, then it’s settled.” Bai also smiled and picked up the food on the table. “Eat something, you must be hungry after getting up so early.”
"Please enjoy your meal, Immortal. I'm going to check on the baby; she should be awake by now." Lin Wanniang hurriedly got up, bowed to Bai Ye, and then quickly walked towards the cabin.
Bai watched her departing figure, shook his head and smiled. Lin Wanniang reminded him of his own mother, who was just like this woman—hardworking, simple, and never idle.
In fact, with her current level of cultivation, she no longer needed to eat, but Lin Wan Niang got up before dawn to cook porridge and soup, and she couldn't let down this kindness.
She understands the other person's feelings; having received help, she always wants to do something efficient and capable to repay them.
Therefore, Bai wouldn't stop her, as this would put her at ease, which was a good thing.
In the following days, the Lingzhou's voyage over the sea became much more perilous.
For some unknown reason, the great demon in the sea became unusually violent, often stirring up towering waves and even leaping out of the sea to attack the flying spirit boats.
On several occasions, the spirit boat was caught by giant sea serpents that suddenly shot out from the sea.
Baby and Lin Wan's mother had never seen such a scene before. The two of them were so frightened that they huddled together like quails, staring blankly at the devastating scene.
In the end, it was Zhong Jiuli who intervened and intimidated the demon, finally driving it away.
After several days of nerve-wracking flights, the group arrived at Storm Island safely.
At the same time, at Haitian Pavilion.
The tightly closed carved wooden door trembled violently with a series of loud crashes, and the defensive barriers on the door flickered, as if they were about to collapse at any moment.
"If you don't open the door, don't blame us for forcing our way in." A gloomy male voice came from outside the door.
“If you dare to force your way in, Da Bai and her master will definitely deal with you when they return,” A Lian shouted towards the door.
"Heh..." A chilling chuckle came from outside the door. The voice rang out again, filled with murderous intent, "Little brat, you have quite the nerve. Do you think I'm one of those trash from the White Sand Gang? Once this barrier is broken, you'll be the first one I deal with."
As the man finished speaking, the attacks on the door intensified, with spells raining down on it.
The Chu sisters looked at the rickety wooden door with nervousness in their eyes.
"Why don't we jump out the window and escape? These people have been blocking our way for days. If we catch them, wouldn't we be implicating Da Bai and the others?" Chu Erniang suggested.
Ah Lian comforted the Chu sisters, "Don't worry, the island lord has placed a protective barrier on the walled village. As long as we don't open the door, no one can..."
A crisp "snap" sound interrupted her words.
The three stared in horror at the carved wooden door pierced by the long sword. With a loud crash, the carved wooden door shattered into pieces.
Amidst the flying debris, dozens of figures pounced into the house like hungry wolves.
Time seemed to slow down in that instant; they could even clearly see the ferocious expressions on the faces of the group of people, and the large, gleaming knives in their hands.
At the critical moment, a jet-black heavy sword crashed down with immense force.
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Author's Note: [Clown] White - Self-aware - Pet - Also
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