Yun Yun and Little Ka

"Jia Ma Empire... I, Xiao Yan, have returned..."

At the entrance to a street in a small town on the southern border of the Jia Ma Empire.

Having just finished his training journey, Xiao Yan was about to find an inn to rest his feet when he noticed a crowd gathered around something, discussing it. He went closer and discovered that the notice announced the wedding of Medusa, queen of the Snake-People Tribe, in two days.

Right now, all he wanted was to find somewhere to sleep as soon as possible. After all these days of eating in the wind and sleeping under the open sky, he felt utterly miserable.

"The queen of the Snake-People Tribe is marrying a human... interesting..." Yao Lao clearly saw further than Xiao Yan did.

Recalling the presence of a Dou Zong expert he had sensed in the desert before, he felt that there could not possibly be such a coincidence in this world.

The feud between the Snake-People Tribe and humans had lasted for thousands of years. Whenever they met, it was a fight to the death. Why would Medusa, their queen, suddenly announce that she was marrying a human?

She had even sent invitations to humans in the surrounding empires.

There had to be a reason behind this.

Ever since sensing the presence of a Dou Zong expert in the Tagor Desert last time, Yao Lao had taken Xiao Yan out of the Tagor Desert and gone to train at Poison Cave Ridge, within the Chu Yun Empire's sphere of influence.

Although that place was also extremely dangerous, it was at least safer than the Tagor Desert.

A Dou Zong expert was not someone he could handle in his current state.

Their trip to the Chu Yun Empire had yielded considerable gains. With the Three-Year Agreement approaching, they had returned to the Jia Ma Empire, only to hear such explosive news as soon as they arrived.

Jia Ma Holy City, the Jia Ma imperial court.

"Inviting us humans to attend a wedding in her Snake-People Tribe? Just what medicine is this Medusa selling in her gourd?"

Jia Xingtian set down the intelligence in his hand and lightly tapped his fingers against the desk. His dim old eyes could not see through whatever trick the Snake-People Tribe was playing.

Humans and the Snake-People Tribe were as incompatible as fire and water, yet they had chosen this moment to announce a marriage, making no attempt to hide it from the humans.

There had to be a conspiracy...

"Great-grandfather, should we investigate?"

Beside Jia Xingtian, a tall woman dressed in luxurious brocade robes asked.

She was Yao Ye, the eldest princess of the Jia Ma Imperial Family.

The Imperial Family had no princes, so the burden of the throne would one day fall upon Yao Ye, a woman.

After receiving the intelligence from her subordinates today, she had taken it very seriously and immediately brought it to her great-grandfather, Jia Xingtian.

"...Let's watch and wait for now. I want to see just what tricks they're playing..."

Jia Xingtian raised his brows. Although he did not understand what the Snake-People Tribe was trying to do, his instincts told him it was absolutely nothing good.

Moreover, as the guardian of the Jia Ma Imperial Family, Jia Xingtian had no room whatsoever for trial and error. If he took one wrong step, the entire Jia Ma Imperial Family would be plunged beyond redemption.

"I understand." Yao Ye nodded. She always carried out her great-grandfather's decisions without question.

Within the sect master's sleeping quarters at the Misty Cloud Sect.

Sect Master Yun Yun was lying on the belly of an enormous magical beast, holding a piece of fruit and taking a crisp, crunchy bite.

"Little Ka, tell me~ What exactly does it mean for the destined moment to arrive?" Unable to figure out just what those words meant, Yun Yun asked the enormous, fat magical beast beneath her.

"Kirby! Kirby, Kirby~"

The magical beast named Little Ka could not yet speak human language. There was no telling what it was saying; it seemed to have answered Yun Yun's question, yet also seemed not to have.

It grabbed fruit from the small mountain piled beside it, swallowing one with each bite.

After eating and drinking its fill, Little Ka closed its eyes, which had never been open to begin with, and started snoring.

Little Ka was extremely fat. Its most prominent feature was its creamy-white belly, which took up a full two-thirds of its body. Its body was close to blue or navy in color.

It had two pointed ears standing upright on its head. Its belly and feet were white, and each foot had three claws. Two fangs grew in its mouth, and its eyes were always narrowed to slits. With its goofy smile, it was incredibly cute.

Yun Yun's sleeping quarters had been newly built specifically for Little Ka. They had no other merits; they were simply big.

Only a large space could accommodate the enormous Little Ka living together with Yun Yun.

Originally, Little Ka had not been this big. It had been a tiny thing, barely reaching past Yun Yun's knees, extremely adorable and extremely cute.

But just over two months ago, right after Little Ka finished eating the lunch meant for every disciple in the Misty Cloud Sect's dining hall, it had suddenly grown.

It had shot up from less than half a meter to over four meters tall, while its weight had multiplied dozens of times over.

Likewise, Little Ka's appetite had grown even larger.

At every meal, it ate an entire week's worth of rations for the Misty Cloud Sect's thousand-plus disciples.

First Elder Yun Leng had tried to stop it, only to be slapped half to death by Little Ka. Fortunately, Pill King Gu He had happened to pass by the dining hall and saved him in time. Otherwise...

From then on, no one in the Misty Cloud Sect dared stop Little Ka from stealing their food again.

Since it was Yun Yun's pet, Yun Leng did not dare overstep too far. He had found an opportunity to secretly report it to the former sect master, Yun Shan, in the rear mountains, but there had been no further word to this day.

"Asking you is a waste of breath. All you know is eating. Once you're full, you sleep, and once you wake up, you eat. Eat, eat, eat, eat..."

Yun Yun turned her head to look at Little Ka and could not muster the slightest temper. Instead, its cute, goofy appearance made her laugh, and she could not resist squishing its big, chubby face.

It was wonderfully stress-relieving.

Little Ka slept very soundly. No matter how much Yun Yun kneaded it, it showed no sign of waking.

Whenever Yun Yun spent time with Little Ka, she seemed able to forget all the exhaustion and worries of work. Lying on Little Ka's soft belly, which was even bigger than a bed, Yun Yun was no longer the lofty Misty Cloud Sect Master, but merely a bored little... grown (old) girl lazing around at home.

After finishing her fruit, Yun Yun shifted into a comfortable position on Little Ka's big belly and closed her beautiful eyes, hoping to enjoy a lovely beauty sleep.

But just two and a half seconds after closing her eyes, she suddenly received a Dou Qi voice transmission from the sect master's assistant.

"Sigh, no rest for me again..."

Yun Yun opened her somewhat weary eyelids, climbed off Little Ka's big belly, and stretched. Her clothes rode up, revealing half a steamed bun, looking deliciously enticing.

Unfortunately, no one was there to appreciate it.

After changing into her sect master's uniform, Yun Yun left her sleeping quarters.

"Sect Master, I'm terribly sorry. I didn't mean to disturb your rest..." Seeing the somewhat dark circles around Yun Yun's eyes, the assistant hurriedly bowed and apologized.

The sect master had to deal with matters both large and small within the sect every day. It had been less than an hour since she finished work, nowhere near enough time for a proper rest.

"I'm fine. Is there something important you needed me for so urgently?" Yun Yun did not mind the assistant's intrusion.

From the looks of it, this was not the first time something like this had happened.

"Sect Master, please take a look at this..."

As the assistant spoke, they presented a slip of paper to Yun Yun with both hands.

Yun Yun took the paper. When she unfolded it and read its contents, her expression could not help turning grave.

"What are they trying to do...?"

This news had spread beyond the Jia Ma Empire. In just a few short days, it had already reached every street and alley of the several surrounding empires.

There was no need for spies to deliberately investigate. This was clearly information the Snake-People Tribe had released on purpose.

Almost every human thought this was a plot, a trap.

When things deviated from the norm, something sinister had to be afoot.

The Snake-People Tribe and humans had not fought any large-scale wars in recent decades. With them suddenly pulling something like this, only an idiot would believe it, right?

(These chapters were originally supposed to cover a major plot arc. If written well, it would definitely have been great, but as a flop of a writer, my writing skills are limited, and I couldn't handle it. If I wrote it, everything afterward would fall apart. In the end, I deleted the chapter I'd written and rewrote it with something a little safer.)