Chapter 90: Aren’t Allowed to Ask That Question
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In an underground base somewhere, an emergency meeting had just ended. Bai Shixin’s calm expression remained unchanged, as he walked back home slowly. On the way back, a lot of his fellow Greater Rat Demons that he had met eyed him with a variety of gazes. Some watched him in jealousy, some in envy, but most watched him in anger or in distasteful glee.
When he saw his wife upon reaching home, her usual enthusiasm was laced with a slight worry that anyone else would have missed otherwise.
His heart fell and he spoke, “Jing Er, what are you worried about again? The Elder Ancestor personally made me Senior Military Advisor at the meeting just now. I’ll have countless people at my disposal, so even if I completely lose my martial prowess and am no longer able to practice cultivation, it doesn’t matter.”
Jing Er answered, “Shixin, I heard that demons viewed an individual’s potential as a measure of their power. You losing your power essentially makes you a sitting duck; you’ll be able to keep your position with the Elder Ancestor still around, but when he’s no longer around…”
Bai Shixin immediately cut his wife off, “Don’t say that, it’s a taboo. The Elder Ancestor is very well connected and he will be crowned as an Immortal in the future so. He’ll live alongside the world. As long as I dedicate myself to him completely, he’ll naturally take better care of me. Cough, cough…”
Once his words fell, he coughed a few times more. Upon further inspection, shock filled his heart. Vigilante A really was the True Dragon, without a doubt. Despite being without a source, the dragon auras in his body did not show signs of weakening, and instead grew stronger over the course of the past few days; it was even consuming his own Cultivation Base as a source of power. How scary, it was no wonder a powerhouse like Bai Yunsheng was also terribly afraid of Vigilante A. He was too careless; he had no choice but to speed up his cultivation of God’s Law. It was the only way he could seize control of the dragon auras in his body.
“Dear, what’s the matter?” Fear laced Jing Er’s expression and she immediately went forward to support her husband.
Bai Shixin waved his hand dismissively, “Don’t worry, I’m fine. I’ve only temporarily lost my martial skills, you don’t have to be afraid. I’ve said so many times before that you have my defense treasure with you. Unless the Elder Ancestor himself made a move, if not nobody else would be able to harm you.”
Jing Er relaxed slightly before she said, “Then I’ll go get some medicine to stabilize your injuries.”
Bai Shixin laughed bitterly, “Jing Er, do you think I’m suffering from internal injuries like those in Wuxia novels? This is the True Dragon’s aura we’re dealing with here, there’s no medicine in your world right now that can deal with it. Only one person can help me, but I can’t ask him.”
Jing Er was worried beyond imagination, “Do you have to pay a lot? If you can’t afford it, can’t you ask the Elder Ancestor to pay him by giving him immortality and longevity instead?”
Bai Shixin shook his head, “That person already possesses longevity, and our clan can’t afford to bribe him either. The Elder Ancestor had said that he would beg that person to save me no matter what, but I had rejected his offer. We’re in the middle of developing our battle strategies, we can’t afford to waste resources on I alone.”
“It’s okay, you don’t have to worry about me. You should focus on work instead. The faster you finish it, the faster we’ll be able to have the resources to ask for help from that person.”
Jing Er nodded her head, “All right, I’ll ask the maid to attend to you properly. You should rest more.”
Bai Shixin nodded his head in return, “All right, you should go to work now. Don’t worry about me. I can’t personally send you off, so I’ll have someone do it in my stead.”
After bidding each other their goodbyes, Bai Shixin returned to his study alone.
He flipped through “Sun Tzu’s Art of War” once again, but this time his attention was on another paragraph. “All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive…”
…
“Since the two of you demons, scratch that, heavenly dogs, have recognized me as your new owner. I’ll bestow new names upon you two. ‘Big Yellow’ and ‘Black Second-in-Command’ are such terrible names, saying those names out loud will just disgrace the True Dragon.”
A small, white dragon was speaking seriously to the yellow and black dogs, who were listening in earnest.
Although they both looked like they were listening intently, they kept exchanging glances with each other.
The yellow dog spoke first, “This Venerable White Dragon really is a scholar, through and through. I faked being a scholar all these years but only exposed myself once I opened my mouth. No wonder no chicks paid me any attention.”
The black dog answered, “I think Big Yellow isn’t all that bad though. It’s simple and easy to remember, and you are a yellow dog anyway.”
“You have a short d*ck and you haven’t seen enough of the world, so don’t talk to me.”
“…What kind of logic is that?”
This moment, Fang Ning opened his mouth to ask, “Tell me, what hobbies do you both have?”
The yellow dog stretched a paw out, signaling it wanted to answer first.
“Okay, you speak first.”
The yellow dog then said, “I like reading books the most. I read all the books my previous owner bought in an effort to look cool, thrice. He himself never touched the books at all.”
Hearing this, Fang Ning was shocked, it couldn’t be another genius right? No, it could never compare to Sir System.
“Then tell me, what books have you read?”
To which the yellow dog answered, “They are, ‘108 Extremely Effective Postures for Cultivating Spells’, ‘Extremely Effective Ways for Cultivating Spiritual Sense’, ‘The N+1 Forms of Power from Vitality Conversion’, ‘The Eight Phases in the Process of Vitality Cultivation’…”
Fang Ning was stunned, and the black dog was completely lost.
Fang Ning then said, “That’s enough, you can stop giving examples. Your new name is easy to decide. You are Xue Ba 1 from now on. Despite Xue being an actual surname, it’s much too rare. We’ll go with something that sounds similar, so you’ll be Xue Ba 2 instead.”
The yellow dog was still slightly dissatisfied, it wanted to suggest the hundreds of better-sounding names it had come up with instead. However, since this Venerable White Dragon was now their new owner, he had no other choice but to accept it. It was much better than gangster-sounding names like “Yellow Boss” or “Big Yellow” anyway.
“Thank you for the name, Venerable One.”
This moment, the black dog threw a sideways glance at the yellow dog, “Yellow Boss, I finally know why you haven’t be able to land a girl in 250 years despite being so smart. You’re always reading those useless books, it would be weird if a girl actually fell for you.”
The yellow dog “Xue Ba” immediately retorted, “Nonsense, all those books told me that girls liked bookworms the most! All those supernatural mystery novels always showed bachelor scholars being approached by gorgeous fox demons that offered to keep them company while they studied.”
“Then have any women approached you while you were reading?”
Xue Ba bowed his head in shame, “Of course not. If that had happened, would I still be single now? Let’s not even start with being approached by beautiful fox women, even the cleaner ladies of our clan have paid me no attention…”
“You’re a weird dog that has his head buried in books all day, why would any of the ladies in our clan fall for you?”
As they continued exchanging glances, Fang Ning spoke once again. He had always experienced difficulty in coming up with names; he had finally named the yellow dog with utmost difficulty, but he still needed to name the black dog.
“Black Second-in-Command, what were your hobbies?”
The black dog answered hastily, “I love working out. Among all the Earthly Hounds, I had the best body and I was the fastest. Although I practiced cultivation every day and absorbed a lot of Cultivation, I didn’t eat a lot…”
Fang Ning nodded his head in satisfaction; it would be easy to feed and support. Not only did it have its own food source and a healthy body, it could also stay up to work overtime…
Xue Ba immediately glanced at the black dog, “You work out every day but aren’t you still single yourself too?”
The black dog bowed its head in shame as well, “I don’t know why, either. Don’t they always say that ladies love sturdy and powerful men the most because they give them a sense of security? I spent all my time training and always came first in the Hounds’ Power Competition. But why was my 18th crush snatched away by the guy that I defeated in a single kick? Aren’t they the type of dogs that gift the girls they like with only a hand-picked flower every day?”
Xue Ba answered, “Why don’t we just ask the Venerable One how to land ourselves some ladies? He’s seen so much and he’s so well-connected, so I’m sure he has plenty of girls he can go after. He’ll know better than anyone.”
The black dog gazed back at him in firm agreement.
Xue Ba raised a paw in question again, “Venerable One, may we ask you a question?”
Fang Ning nodded his head in satisfaction; this Xue Ba really was different from the rest since it knew to raise its hand first. “Of course.”
“You’re so wise and brilliant, and extremely handsome to boot. I’m sure you’ve had your fair share of ladies right?”
Fang Ning’s expression dropped immediately, “What did you say? Repeat the first part.”
Xue Ba scratched its crown in confusion, ‘Do I need to improve on my Mandarin?’
It hesitantly asked, “I asked, you must have had your fair share of ladies right?”
Fang Ning’s face grew even darker, “Not this part, the first part before this first part.”
Xue Ba mulled it over a bit before it impatiently repeated itself, “Venerable One, may we ask you a question?”
Fang Ning nodded his head before he firmly said, “You’re not allowed to ask that question.”
Xue Ba and the black dog were both stunned…
Fang Ning thought to himself, ‘Don’t mention the obvious. I’ve been a bachelor for 28 years myself. I finally married into a family after so long but my body is being taken over by this System. The amount of times that I’ve spoken to the fair maiden is probably less than that of my substitute mechanical puppet…’
Fang Ning hastily changed the topic so he could protect his wise and brilliant image.
He then said, “My cause is not fulfilled, so how can I start a family? We are in complicated times, and it’s not easy settling down. We haven’t formed a completely safe area yet and yet you are already thinking of starting a family. Don’t you think that’s just harming an innocent woman?”
The two dogs were dumbfounded but their eyes glimmered with admiration, ‘The Venerable White Dragon really was amazing, he was looking at everything from a different point of view. He looked at the big picture while we only focused on what our dilemma with the ladies…’
They both uttered in awe, “The Venerable One deserves utmost respect and is a man of justice and righteousness. We swear our lives to you and we are willing to give our all in serving our purpose as your subordinates.”
Fang Ning nodded his head in satisfaction; boasting was still necessary to maintain his image. He can’t exactly say that he wanted to achieve world peace just so he could avoid having his Internet disconnected so that he can keep playing games, right? They would look at him in disdain for sure if he had been truthful.
“I have complete faith in your words since you both are hounds. Right, we must return to the topic at hand, since we were derailed because of you both. Black dog, since you like working out and can also run fast, you’ll be called Brett 3 from now on. Bolt can run 100 meters in less than ten seconds, but running 100 miles in ten seconds should be no problem for a heavenly hound like you, right?”
The black dog was quite satisfied with the name; it had a nice traditional ring to it too. Whoever heard its name would be able to tell from the get-go that it was from an influential household; it was a name that did not put his noble status to shame.
It immediately nodded his head, “When I’m performing at my peak, running 100 miles in ten seconds is an easy feat.”
Hearing this, Xue Ba immediately glanced at him in disdain, “Why do I feel like my new name isn’t as good as yours? I’ve read so many books but you’re just a brainless jock.”
Brett flexed his muscles, “You can discuss that with our owner.”
Xue Ba could only look down in defeat.
