Night Raid (Second Update—Please Bookmark and Recommend)

Chapter Seventeen: Night Raid

When Ye Qing returned, the clock he had made in the Castle began to chirp, "Cuckoo, cuckoo." It was time for him to rest. Lying on the large bed he had built himself, Ye Qing stared at his claws in confusion.

"Without realizing it, so many years have passed."

Building houses, making furniture, farming, reading—this was Ye Qing's daily life. It was ordinary and unremarkable, like that of an old farmer in the mountains. Occasionally, a few friends came to visit: the gluttonous Xiong Jun, the gentle Bi Ji, and the Beast God Di Tian. Ye Qing sometimes felt that Di Tian was a huge tsundere. In any case, he always ate more than anyone else at mealtimes.

He had no intention of speeding up his cultivation. What if something went wrong during the next Heavenly Tribulation? Wouldn't it be better to prepare steadily for a hundred thousand years? Look at the Snow Empress, the strongest being in the Extreme North. She had failed to survive her Heavenly Tribulation and had been captured by humans during her Shape Transformation. Who knew whether some god was watching this continent?

Other people's systems demanded that their hosts rule the world and conquer all under heaven every day, constantly threatening them with execution or warnings about having their dicks chopped off. His own system, meanwhile, merely required him to get up at four in the morning to exercise, rest on time, and do good deeds. It was like a rigid old butler.

"If I hadn't transmigrated, I'd be a decrepit old man by now, wouldn't I? Maybe I'd have already kicked the bucket." Several decades might have been a lifetime for an ordinary human, but for a Spirit Beast, they were merely a brief stretch of time.

In the room, everything in the Castle was oversized for Ye Qing. When making those things, he had instinctively crafted them according to the proportions he had used when he was human, and he had never found anything strange about it. Deep in his subconscious, in his dreams, he was still just that ordinary office worker.

Winter in the Star Dou Great Forest held no warmth whatsoever. Snakes generally chose to hibernate through winter, and even snake-type Spirit Beasts with high cultivation levels remained drowsy. Xiao Qing, after being cleansed by energy, had broken free from her race's restriction of hibernation, but she was usually listless in winter, especially before dawn. Ye Qing had to come up with different ways to wake her every day. On ordinary nights, she would have long since fallen asleep, but not tonight.

In the dead of night, Xiao Qing lingered outside Ye Qing's door. Today, she had sensed a feeling of danger.

Many oviparous animals regarded the first moving thing they saw after hatching as their mother. To Xiao Qing, the energy cleansing had been no less than a rebirth, and the first person the reborn Xiao Qing had seen was Ye Qing.

In Xiao Qing's eyes, Ye Qing was her closest family. Yet during the years they had lived together, that feeling had gradually changed in her heart. He had gone from being her closest relative to the person she loved most.

Her words and actions had all begun to conform to what Ye Qing liked. Once she discovered that Ye Qing preferred her human form, she maintained it for long periods. From barely being able to walk steadily at first, she had become graceful and elegant in her every movement.

Although she had discovered that Ye Qing had always been resisting something, that resistance was not directed at her, but at himself. Whenever she made a bold move, Ye Qing would blush as well. Yet as long as she hinted that he could continue, Ye Qing would certainly change the subject.

She had not been anxious before, because she was the only Spirit Beast living near Ye Qing, his only companion who spent every day by his side. Moreover, she had discovered that Ye Qing was only interested in Spirit Beasts capable of Shape Transformation.

Ye Qing's attitude toward other Spirit Beasts was clearly different, so she had felt completely at ease. After all, only two female Spirit Beasts in the forest were known to be capable of Shape Transformation: Bi Ji and herself. Bi Ji was obviously a pair with Di Tian, so Xiao Qing had felt no pressure at all.

But all of that changed after Ah Rou appeared. Ye Qing was far too enthusiastic toward that Rabbit. Especially after learning that the little rabbit was called Xiao Wu, his behavior had become somewhat abnormal.

"For all these years, the Castle has never had any new faces, yet my lord accepted those two rabbits. My lord said he wasn't a rabbit... Could it be because that rabbit has a child?"

She thought of the books of Ye Qing's that she had read. New books would always randomly appear in the study, and she sometimes went there to tidy them up. One of them was called Interesting Tales of the Past. It introduced a human surnamed Cao. Supposedly, that human did not like young girls and only liked married women. He was known as Cao Cao the Wife Lover.

"Could my lord be like that too? But I can't accept laying eggs with someone else..."

Under the pressure of Xiao Qing's countless fantasies and Ah Rou and Xiao Wu moving in, Xiao Qing made her decision. She would launch a night raid on Ye Qing. According to human books, this was called cooking raw rice into cooked rice.

Xiao Qing was a woman of action. Once she decided to do something, she did it. At that moment, she had already entered Ye Qing's room, and as she drew closer and closer to him, the clothing formed from her Soul Power gradually disappeared as well.

In his sleep, Ye Qing sensed a familiar aura approaching him. It was Xiao Qing's aura, but he did not pay it any mind. As the saying went, twenty-one days were enough to form a habit, and he had persisted for more than twenty-one years. His body seemed to have developed a habit of waking at four in the morning. Before the time came, he did not want to open his eyes.

However, something changed in his dream. For example, he dreamed of two marshmallows...

Then he opened his eyes. The dim surroundings posed no obstacle to him. Sure enough, two snow-white arms were before his eyes, while a smooth sensation came from behind him. That familiar scent made him understand—it was Xiao Qing.

"Xiao Qing, what are you doing?" Ye Qing asked instinctively, lowering his voice.

Seeing that Xiao Qing did not speak and that her arms were still moving downward, Ye Qing hurriedly grabbed her arms. However, a Hou's arms truly were inconvenient, especially since he was afraid of hurting Xiao Qing and had retracted his five sharp claws. But when he looked down, a snake tail had already wound itself around him.

At that moment, Xiao Qing was actually half-human and half-snake. However, the gap between their Soul Powers was enormous. With a slight exertion of force, Ye Qing still broke free from Xiao Qing's embrace. The blanket, usually nothing more than decoration, finally served its purpose. With a flick of his hand, Ye Qing wrapped Xiao Qing in it.

He was not Liu Xia Hui. If he had met a young woman in the past who had thrown herself into his arms, perfectly matched his tastes, was someone whose character he knew completely, and whom he liked, he certainly would not have refused. But he could not accept this form. He could not accept the form of a Heaven-Swallowing Hou.

Although this body was immune to all poisons, with skin like diamond and claws like steel blades, every inch of it from head to toe had been made for battle, that kind of battle was not suited for this battle.

"My lord... why?"

"Xiao Qing, it's late. You should go back."

"Why... Is it because my true form is a snake? Or because this face isn't the kind my lord likes? Or do you think I'm too small?"

"No. You're very beautiful, beautiful in every sense. And I don't like them too big. Where did you learn all this messy nonsense?" He had already decided to prepare a separate study for Xiao Qing. From now on, every book she read had to be approved by him. He even somewhat regretted teaching Xiao Qing to read.

"Then why..."

Looking into Xiao Qing's eyes and at the tears slowly appearing within them, Ye Qing understood that if he did not explain things clearly, Xiao Qing might never get past this knot in her heart. But how was he supposed to explain it...?