"Did you hear? Shan Daer got beaten up—the big-shot 'Heavenly Black Gyre.' He got thrashed right in front of everyone and nearly cried on the spot."
"Isn't he eighth rank? Who did he provoke? A demigod, or some other veteran eighth-ranker?"
"No, no. If a demigod had beaten him up, that wouldn't even be news. He was beaten up by a little girl, a child absolutely no older than six."
"Seriously? Do you know who she is?"
"I heard she's a demigod's daughter—the biological daughter of Balance Calamity Beast Kerdales and that Lu PingAn!"
"Damn, isn't Lu PingAn only seventeen? He's not even a fraction of Kerdales's age. What a cradle robber."
Once the news spread, a certain Big Cat's furious roar of "Lu PingAn!" echoed through the Courtyard once more.
She had every reason to be angry. Not only had she been mistaken for her own daughter. That pose alone was an insult to her, a demigod, and once the "misunderstanding" was cleared up and it was confirmed that the figure had been her rather than her daughter, her old friends would laugh at her even harder.
The more people who had focused on the "daughter," the greater the reversal and astonishment would be.
"What are you yelling for? All you have left is that mouth of yours."
Lu PingAn found it rather awkward too. After all, the rumors outside were indeed getting rather messy. Considering that Big Cat's human form had appeared very rarely in the past, while the "Calamity Beast" had been her main body most of the time.
". . . My reputation is probably ruined too. Chris, let's not hurt each other anymore."
Lu PingAn had always liked Cat Cats well enough, but if people took that liking in that particular direction, he could not