As we headed back, we listened to Mao Jing comment on Black Emperor, my family's old dog.
What he said actually seemed to make some sense.
When I was very young, Grandpa had found Black Emperor in the mountains and raised him ever since.
He had served as Grandpa's forest guard dog.
So many years had passed, yet Black Emperor showed no signs of aging.
Ordinary dogs couldn't possibly live that long. And it wasn't just that he had lived long—he was still strong and fierce.
He could understand human speech and had a temperament of his own.
Looking at it that way, the black dog Grandpa had brought home really might have had the potential to become an old beast.
Unfortunately, he had been born in the wrong era. Potential was useless; at most, it could only let him live a few extra years.
It was almost impossible for him to gain intelligence and become an old beast.
Then I thought of the Black Dog Demon we had seen in Dagong Village.
It might have been somewhat close to what I had guessed back then.
What if Black Emperor was that Black Dog Demon's descendant?
With a trace of demon blood in him, it seemed normal for him to possess some spirituality and live longer.
So I jokingly said:
"Didn't we see a Black Dog Demon in Dagong Village before?
I think Black Emperor looks somewhat like that big black dog.
Maybe Black Emperor really is that dog demon's descendant.
After all, Grandpa picked him up in the woods.
Maybe this black dog has demon blood in him."
After hearing that, Mao Jing nodded as well.
"That's possible. When that Black Dog Demon appeared, it really did help us out."
Zhang Yuchen asked again:
"Do you think there are