chapter 66 Poor Puppy

Wu Ming's face had started to resemble humpty dumpty by now considering how huge of a smile his face had at this point, since truthfully, he was quite flattered. Not only did he learn today that his master took care of his subordinates even if they were at a lower level than him, but also complimented them on their good work. He felt a sense of pride rush over him and in that instant, he decided to vow his loyalty to his master for as long as he was alive.

Zhang Jian quickly started working on the meat, as it needed to be cured otherwise it would start rotting and the stench that surrounded rotten meat was to be fair quite unbearable. Actually, Wu Ming's farts were worse (whenever he'd consume a lot of meat, he would end up farting a lot for some reason) but he didn't want to be surrounded by either at the moment.

He had separated a portion of the meat, and cut it into neat little cubes and cured them separately. This portion of meat, he intended to send to Lin Xi since he was worried that the poor woman might not have enough meat for herself. Added to that she lived all alone in a cave in the mountains, 'Hunting must be especially hard in that terrain.' He thought to himself

After he was done curing the meat with salt, he called his steward, Wu Ming to the kitchen space.

"Here, take this to Lin Xi. You know where she lives right?" He noticed a befuddled look on his face.

'Of course, he's never been to her cave before.' He thought to himself. So, he chuckled and gave him the directions to Lin Xi's cave, but before he could leave, Zhang called out to him once again and said, "Make sure Wang Yan doesn't see you taking the meat to her cave."

Zhang Jian had noticed the tensions between Wang Yan and Lin Xi, and had put two and two together, that Wang Yan was jealous of Lin Xi.

"Poor girl, probably compares herself a lot to Lin Xi. Must be insecure about her body." He had said to himself when he had realized that.

Wu Ming as well, though confused, acknowledged that Wang Yan obviously hated Lin Xi thus she would get upset if she found out that her master cared for Lin Xi as well.

Before he grabbed the smaller sack of meat, he looked out of the kitchen space to see if Wang Yan was around, and much to his surprise she was nowhere to be seen. The entrance of the house was empty and that was where Wang Yan usually spent her time.

"She's probably gone to sleep Wu Ming; we had a long and tiring journey." Zhang Jian informed to him

He nodded in response and hurriedly made his way out of the house, towards the mountains.

Lin Xi, on the other hand was busy applying water made from witch hazel onto her skin, to make it perfect and flawless. As if her milky white skin wasn't flawless already. The truth was, Lin Xi had become obsessed with perfecting her body, since it was her greatest weapon in conquering any obstacle in the world of men. So no, she wasn't obsessed with making herself perfect, she was obsessed with making herself powerful.

She didn't notice Wu Ming who stood at the entrance of her cave, for a second but she batted an eye towards him and said, "Wu Ming? Seems like you've lost your way home."

"Don't be so spiteful Lin Xi, I come bearing gifts from my master."

Lin Xi, who wasn't used to receiving gifts; unless it were the heads of her enemies; was taken aback, and somewhat surprised. She closed her silk bathrobe and stood up.

She noticed Wu Ming was holding a bag in his hand, which he carefully placed onto the table in front of her.

"What is this supposed to be?" She asked him

"It's meat, cured meat from 7 different animals from the demon world." A shiver ran down her spine when she heard that.

"Which ones did you kill?" She asked him

"We didn't kill any, just ordered them give some of their meat to us." He stared at her for a second, making it obvious he wasn't sure if he should say the next thing or not.

"What?" She gave him a stern look

"This was after we took down the Demon Bull King." The guy had a smug look on his face which made Lin Xi want to slap him until all of his teeth fell out, but she restrained herself and calmly responded to him. Truth being said, ever since he started working for Zhang Jian, Wu Ming had changed. He now acted almost as if some higher force was on his side, which quite frankly annoyed Lin Xi a lot.

"Not that I much care about that, so thank Zhang Jian for this."

While Zhang Jian's intentions were actually clean, she misunderstood them since she assumed, how this was a warning from him. He was asking her to stay in her own lane, and to not plan anything against him since even the most powerful demons from the twilight zone were nothing in front of him.

'He's asserting his dominance by showing me how even the Bull Demon king wasn't even a threat for him.' She thought to herself.

She didn't care much for the demons that resided in the demon world since she considered them corrupt the same way she considered anyone living in the immortal world corrupt. Everyone had their own ulterior motives and had often used Lin Xi for their own selfish purposes which had reduced her trust in the creatures of both the realms close to nothing. She acknowledged that finding people who wanted to be friends with her, just because they wanted to be friends was nearly impossible, as every other person either wanted her for her body or wanted her dead.

"Very well then, tell your master I thank him for his gifts." She said to Wu Ming. This was a subtle message from her, to Zhang. She wanted him to acknowledge that she had little to no conflict for his actions, since he could do as he pleased.

Zhang Jian, on the other hand heard how she had thanked him, and his heart was warmed. He thought that it was possible how he might have a friend again, the same as old man Xiao.

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It was night time and Cerberus's nose still had a significant amount of swelling on it.

'The poor puppy must be in pain, but he probably still doesn't want to show it.' And he was right, but the reason why Cerberus was not whining about it was because of The Black Phoenix. He had been an absolute ass to Cerberus every single time he'd encounter him, which honestly made him feel really insecure about himself. So, to protect his dignity, he had decided to keep his mouth shut and not express his pain. Since he was sick of being called silly names such as big head, deformed fat mutt, stinky plum and other creative insults. It even hurt to speak; Cerberus was unable to clapback at the insults thrown at him. The most he could do was growl

Zhang Jian knew his puppy would get better as the days passed by, but he still wanted to make sure his recovery would be speedy as seeing him in such a condition emotionally hurting him. After all the reason why, Cerberus got stung was because of Zhang after all.

He had brought some honey for his puppy but he seemed to ignore it at the moment.

"Perhaps you're mad at me?" He ran his fingers through Cerberus's golden fur, "Don't worry, you'll start feeling better soon enough little guy."

When the Black Phoenix wasn't making fun of Cerberus, he was busy reassuring his vassals that the master wouldn't even consider eating them. At least for a long time, he won't since the amount of meat that they brought back was enough to last for months. He had decided that as soon as they'll run out of meat, he'd ask Wu Ming to replenish their stock and accompany him on his journey.

After he was done lecturing his vassals, he noticed how the Bluebird was visibly shaking in his cage.

"He's ugly AND a coward." He laughed.

But the Bluebird had a solid reason why he was so scared, since the meat that was brought back by Wu Ming belonged to his friends. He was familiar with the scent of their blood as well their qi and surely, they had left an intense oozing trail behind. Even Lin Xi had left him to fend for himself, there was no one around to protect him anymore. Added to that he had never been that much of a fighter, since he always classified as someone that avoided trouble at all costs. Though if he did get caught in the middle of a mess, his speed would help him escape.

'He obviously did this to incite terror into his ene-' before he could complete his trail of thoughts, he realized how he could possibly be an enemy of Zhang Jian as well. He needed to cooperate if he had to survive.

The second thing he acknowledged was how Zhang Jian's enemies would now think twice before making any bold moves as they'd all possibly end up at the same fate as the Bluebirds' friends.