Chapter 27: Tantai Tian Opened His Eyes Without a Flicker of Expression, Pushing Down the Fire-Warding Painting the Youth Held Up Before Him Part 3

No one was anxious, though.

They were all in the Palace of Side Apartments. At worst, they’d simply wait for the Senior Steward Maid to send someone to fetch them.

So the little clusters of two and three gathered together again and began talking.

Only, as Rendong listened, he couldn’t help lifting his whiskers.

They were talking about Rendong!

The cat heard it.

They said Rendong was beautiful (said his looks were eerie and wicked), said Rendong was unique (that unconventional, off-the-beaten-path approach), said Rendong was utterly favored (that some vixen of unknown origin had bewitched His Majesty)!

Not a vixen, though.

The kitty’s tail swayed back and forth, smug and triumphant.

A little cat demon, actually.

Some spoke with jealousy in their voices, some were fairly mild, and some didn’t join in at all, just quietly watching the rain. Even among this small group of fewer than ten, their hearts were each their own.

Some spoke with thorns hidden in their words.

The meaning between the lines seemed to be mocking some young lady who wasn’t present. The kitty honestly couldn’t sort out who these humans were; every candidate entering the palace had impressive connections. All he could tell was that someone was planning to play the bold one and go first.

Among the young ladies below, some knew and some didn’t. But those who knew only watched from a distance, doing nothing.

Perhaps that was their plan.

Wait and see whether someone else’s attempt worked. If it did, they could borrow the method.

Rendong thought it over and came out with something startling. “Do they want to have babies with the human?” These human girls always wrapped their words in layer after layer, but the Cat hadn’t been a stray for nothing.

He’d never experienced it himself, but as a stray, the Cat had seen many kittens born.

He was a healthy little tomcat, and when spring came, he felt the urge too, that restless heat through his whole body. The cat knew that feeling well.

Only, before the Cat ever found a suitable partner, a human took him home, and he passed a short but warm winter.

That first human loved watching television and always sat in her recliner watching it.

The cat watched with her, watched a lot.

Slowly, he seemed to understand something, and also seemed to understand nothing at all.

But the elderly person’s gentle, rough hands stroking him made the Cat very happy.

He no longer wanted that simple, pure release.

So the Cat developed a hazy sense that he shouldn’t just pick a partner on the basis of that strange, hot-blooded impulse.

Later, when he met those cats in heat, the Cat would very earnestly ask for their opinion.

But a queen tormented by heat would have none of such a strange oddball. She’d either treat him as an enemy or decide he was an idiot among cats.

Rendong felt wronged. The kitty is not an idiot.

【The palace maiden candidates do enter the palace with exactly that purpose. If one can stay and become the Emperor’s consort, and someday bear a son or daughter, she might even contend for the succession.】

“Humans are only in their twenties!”

Meow, dear heaven. At such a young age, they’re already eyeing the next emperor?

【Lifespans in ancient times weren’t long. Living to forty or fifty already counted as longevity.】

The kitty’s eyes went round.

So humans are only in their twenties, and their lifespan is already half used up!

【That’s not quite what I meant…】

Rendong grew a little agitated.

However many years old, it didn’t matter. The cat didn’t want the human to die.

Lately the Cat had been working hard to study the Cultivation Rules, trying to absorb Essence through the methods they illustrated. Compared to the later methods, Rendong thought, maybe he could obtain it by scaring people?

After all, the later ones were far too hard!

So the Cat began scaring people.

For example, hiding in dark corners and lunging out at them from behind, rising up on his hind legs and hissing. It actually seemed to work. Whether it was Yu Zeming, Liang Ze, or the Two Qingqings, every one of them blanched in fright.

“Little Ancestor, please never do that again…”

“…What if This Servant accidentally steps on you?”

“Young Master, please, don’t.”

Hear that? One after another, scared out of their wits. The cat frightened them all silly!

But Essence? Not a single hair of it.

What was going on!

The cat was baffled.

Even this fierce, this terrifying wasn’t enough?

So Rendong turned to scaring Tantai Tian instead.

The cat lowered his body, hindquarters swaying, pupils dilating with excitement, his wandering tail making slow, minute adjustments to his balance.

Now!

From the shadows the Cat burst out, pouncing hard at the back of Tantai Tian’s waist.

The human was silent a moment, then stood up.

The cat’s claws were hooked in the human’s clothing, so the Cat was lifted up too.

The human looked at the Cat, dark and unreadable.

The cat looked at the human, cowering.

Wh… what? Won’t you be scared?

The human seemed to sigh, then peeled the cat hanging off his lower back away.

Rendong lay limp and delicate in Tantai Tian’s arms, hugging his fluffy tail as if in reflection.

Dammit, dammit, every one of these humans was blind!

Attempt number one of the Cat.

Declared a failure.

The System offered a reasonable explanation.

【The Host’s body is too small. Even if you truly frightened them, their only feedback would be worry, not terror and dread. That clearly fails to meet the requirements of the Cultivation.】

Even if there was any terror, its content was probably about 1%.

But however big the Cat got, he could never become a leopard!

Rendong angrily flattened his ears over his head.

Since the first method failed, Rendong had no choice but to think about the second.

The cat lying in the Palace of Side Apartments listening to the rain sharpened his claws with a scrunch-scrunch.

The cat was going to practice Bewitchment.

He had come to the Palace of Side Apartments specifically not just to keep feasting on gossip, but also to learn the Charm Technique.

Who’d have thought that not only did he fail to learn it, he got to hear them lavishly praise Rendong’s own Charm Technique.

Me-yah. Nothing left for the Cat to learn, then.

After all, these people didn’t even know it themselves, meow.

Rendong’s ears flicked and fluttered as he poked the System.

“System, how many Points does the kitty have left?”

Ever since learning that Points from completing Side Quests could be exchanged for good things, even after spending on <Demon Blood>, Rendong had been squeezing out spare moments to do one or two more.

Slowly, he had saved up a little again, though not much.

【150 Points. What would the Host like to exchange for?】

Rendong meowed, “The cat wants the Charm Technique!”

【The Shop does not carry that item.】

Huh? How could that be?

Rendong’s big tail drooped in disappointment.

【The Host is already a Demon Spirit. Charm is an innate gift of all demons. No external help is needed.】

Confusion flickered in the golden cat eyes. Really?

But Rendong had been parading back and forth in front of Tantai Tian every single day, and the human showed no reaction at all?

【Getting Tantai Tian to carry you back after a single meeting is already a formidable feat of Charm.】

Oh. So that was how it was?

Rendong’s tail shot up, feeling smug.

Fine, fine. So the human had already been charmed by the Cat.

But before Rendong could stay happy for long, he remembered the Essence situation, not a single hair of it, and the Cat went back to sharpening his claws. “But the human won’t give the Cat any Essence!”

The cat absolutely must find a way to squeeze it out of the human!

System: …

It wanted to recommend the Cat purchase the Common Human Knowledge package, but based on the Host’s recent words and deeds, it calculated a 95% probability that the stingy kitty would still not buy it.

Good luck, Host.

…

Emperor Taichu did not return to the Hall of Blessed Tranquility until deep in the night.

The damp of the summer rain lingered, carrying a tiresome, clinging humidity. The Emperor’s hair and clothes all held a faint moisture.

Yu Zeming exchanged a glance with Liang Ze behind the Emperor, wailing inwardly while daring to show none of it, and quietly reported the young man’s whereabouts.

“…After the Young Gentleman returned this afternoon, he slept in the Side Hall the whole time. Even his supper was brought in by This Servant… The Young Gentleman wouldn’t let This Servant look closely, and This Servant is worried. Perhaps he was caught in the rain and caught a chill.”

In the afternoon, the youth had come back through the rain.

He’d stood beneath the eaves, playfully and petulantly swatting at the streams of water pouring off the roof, as if venting his anger.

After his bath, the youth had dragged that head of still-damp long hair into the hall, refusing to let anyone else inside.

The Emperor always kept this one in his thoughts, so of course Yu Zeming had to report every last detail.

Emperor Taichu had meant to head straight back, but after hearing Yu Zeming’s words, his gaze sank toward the Side Hall. His pale, cold face was expressionless, and in the depths of those thick black eyes something crimson seemed to flash past, lending that moment of silence a morbid, icy chill.

After a long while, Emperor Taichu moved.

Darkly, he pinched the bridge of his nose, murmured a few low instructions, and only then headed for the Side Hall.

Behind him, Liang Ze was frantically making faces at Yu Zeming. The gist of it: are you mad? How dare you steer His Majesty to the Side Hall at a time like this?

Normally, without anyone below saying a word, the Emperor would insist on seeing the Young Gentleman’s condition with his own eyes. The fact that His Majesty had not gone to the Side Hall today could only mean one thing!

Yu Zeming blinked, saying nothing.

The Side Hall was dark.

Doors and windows shut tight let no air through, only a stifling stillness.

A faint lamp glow by the window barely lit a small patch of space.

The rain was falling again.

Pattering on and on. Exasperating.

Damp air poured in with the opening door, and scattered as the door closed behind.

Tantai Tian walked into the Side Hall alone.

The silent, soundless hall was like some strange lair.

The shrieking still rang in his ears, quickly pressed back down again. Sometimes the medicine failed to suppress the Sleep Ravings, instead sparking a new round of struggle. Habitually, Tantai Tian skimmed past those bubbling pools of venom, his gaze sweeping over the seemingly empty Side Hall.

“Suisui.”

Tantai Tian called out.

Then came a rustling from the left.

“Over here.”

In the dim hall, he heard the reply, its last note lifting playfully.

It sounded… remarkably lively.

Not like someone sick. Not like someone upset.

Tantai Tian made his judgment with precision.

And knew that the best thing to do right now was turn around and leave, before all that boiling dark desire sprayed loose.

But the restraint holding his reason together was already crumbling, never mind that he was, at his core, a violent, frenzied madman. The black in his eyes was too thick, like a pool with no bottom.

Following the voice, he walked slowly into the darkness, as if bewitched by some demon.

The faint lamplight first receded, then slowly found new things to illuminate.

And Tantai Tian saw clearly everything before him.

The youth sat at the edge of the bed.

The bright lamplight scattered over him like a painting rendered in the softest of tones.

The youth’s long hair had been intricately braided, the pretty, fluffy plait falling over his shoulder, a blooming hibiscus tucked in at an angle. And on his body hung a gorgeous, featherlight embroidered skirt.

Eerie beauty, and a blinding white.

A pair of clear black eyes lifted toward Tantai Tian.

A violent, surging desire struck Tantai Tian like a hammer. That incomparable beauty poured uncountable fuel onto the flames of want, driving emotions already savage to their very peak.

In that instant, the look in Tantai Tian’s eyes became truly terrifying.

Rendong, who had been waiting all this time, flattened his nonexistent cat ears.

The human isn’t going to yell at the Cat, is he?

The kitty was a little scared.

But…

In the depths of Rendong’s eyes flickered a barely detectable brilliant gold.

But at last, he could feel it, that intense vitality he had never sensed before. The Essence.

Like bright sparks of starlight in the black night, like the warm sun rising in winter, so vivid and so clear.

The cat liked it!

The cat wanted it!

Rendong rose to his feet and drifted forward, light as a gust of wind.

He stopped in front of Tantai Tian, his fine lips parting slightly, but before he could speak, Tantai Tian’s cold fingers pressed against them, stroking slowly, intimately, until the color of his lips deepened into something all the more bewitching.

“…Who taught you this?”

A faint smile hung on Tantai Tian’s pale face, yet savage violence perched on his brow like a raging, blazing fire.

Rendong’s crimson lips hung slightly parted, but no words came.

Never had fur bristling been worse than now.

The cat felt every nonexistent hair on his body bristle straight out, fluffing him into a terrifying loaf of bread!

Why is the human so, so angry!