Chapter Text
He hadn’t sleep at all for a whole week. Every time he closed his eyes, he could see the beast’s crazed looks. If it wasn’t the beast, it was that bastard Qu Jianluo’s. He was really cranky due to his insomnia. Everyone was watching him like hawk, thus he couldn’t really go down the mountain and sleep in the brothel.
He felt so hopeless. He racked his brain, where should he go?
Then, he went to the music pavilion, where some disciples would do their practices. He found a small space where he could squeeze in. It was a perfect hiding place for a slave like him. He heard his shixiong played some calming melodies with his qin, a bit far away from where he was hiding.
He hugged his knees closer to his chest as he closed his tired eyes. Hopefully, no one looked for him. Perhaps he could survive like this for now. He felt really pathetic. In his last life, at this timeline, his heart demons were mostly from his time in the Qiu’s Household. Now, it was everything from that time up to his torture in the water prison.
It was downright traumatizing. Why couldn’t he just reincarnate into a new person somewhere else?! He didn’t want to redo this!
Combined with the downpour outside, the music somehow lulled him to sleep. In no time, his eyes closed and his breathing evened out.
***
When he woke up again, it was already past midnight. He tried to rose to his feet but he stumbled on his paws.
Wait! P-paws?!
He inspected himself and found out that something indeed happened to him. He transformed into some sort of small white wolf pup. All his clothes were gone but he had a green shawl tied around his fluffy neck. It was the same color as his Qing Jing Peak’s robe.
‘Was he cursed?! What is happening?!’ Jiupup ran in circle.
Outside, it just stopped raining. He jolted when he heard a lightning. He whimpered, completely missing the footsteps as someone entered the building. It was too late for him to scramble away as he saw something in front of him. He looked up in fear to see the giant looming over him with something glowing on its forehead. Was it the beast?!
He fainted out of shock.
***
Liu Qingge just came back from his mission when he saw a small white pup was getting carried by Ling You Peak’s adult black moon spiritual wolf in between its teeth. The pup seemed unconscious.
What was strange was the fact that around the pup’s neck, it wore a green coloured shawl. It was in the same shade as Qing Jing Peak.
Since when Ling You Peak’s spiritual beast stole a pup that belonged to another peak.
‘Well, who cares?’ It was none of his business. With that, he continued on his way to Bai Zhan Peak.
***
When Jiupup opened his beady green eyes, he was inside a big wolf den. He was pretty sure his Qing Jing Peak didn’t have a wolf den.
‘So, this must be in Ling You Peak.’
Upon noticing he was awake, an adult black moon spiritual wolf immediately licked him repeatedly as if it was cleaning up its puppy. After he was obviously drenched from the tip of his ears to the end of his fluffy tail, the wolf stopped. Did this adult wolf want to play parent now?
-How are you, little one?-
‘Tired.’
He didn’t know that some spiritual wolf liked to adopt other’s pup into its pack. There was a more pressing matter. How could he return to Qing Jing Peak in this form from Ling You Peak? It was quite far. He needed to pass several other peaks to reach Qing Jing Peak unless he could fly. Could he go via rainbow bridge? He could try.
-I will be right back.-
The adult wolf suddenly rose to its four legs and went somewhere. He could hear the distant rumbling in the sky. It started raining outside again. Jiupup wobbled but before he managed to crawl a few steps, The adult wolf already returned with some meat.
‘Was it going to feed him?’
As expected, the adult wolf shredded the meat into smaller pieces and nudged them toward Jiupup.
-Here, eat this. You must be hungry.-
Jiupup didn’t have any other choice but to eat them raw. He lamented his fate now as he was turned into a literal little beast.
The adult wolf seemed to be sneakily hiding him in its den. Their kinds were quite territorial so other adult wolves never came. He bet that the real black moon wolf pup would still be bigger than him. It seemed that this wolf was not originally raised in Ling You Peak.
Whenever a Ling You disciple came over, it would hide Jiupup behind its massive body. Anyway, someone might find out sooner or later that this black wolf was hiding a white pup. He didn’t think that they were even the same species.
***
Eventually, the adult wolf was called somewhere else. It left after making sure that Jiupup was cleaned and leaving a portion of food for Jiupup.
A few moments later, a stray (real) black moon wolf pup stumbled upon their den. It sniffed around before running head first toward the resting Jiupup.
-Hey! Who are you? Let’s play!- the real pup bounced energetically.
Jiupup just turned his small fluffy body to the other side.
-Hey! Don’t ignore me!-
The blackmoon pup just ran around circling his body. So, Jiupup was facing him again.
-Come on!- the blackmoon pup laid on its stomach, nuzzling Jiupup’s head. Jiupup opened his eyes.
-Y-your eyes are so pretty. When we grow up, I will make you my mate!- The blackmoon pup’s tail was wagging excitedly.
Jiupup’s ears instantly straightened upon hearing that.
‘No!’ Jiupup rose to his full height. Sadly, his full height was even smaller than this other pup. He immediately ran away from the blackmoon pup and out of the den.
-I may be small now. When I grow up, I will be even stronger than my Baba. So, I can protect you.-
‘Forget it!’
-Yay! Are we playing now? Wait for meeeee.’ The other pup gave chase.
With that, a white blur and a black blur could be seen playing hide and seek throughout the Ling You Peak.
***
After making sure that the annoying pup completely lost his track, Jiupup started to sneak out, leaving Ling You Peak. He sneakily scurried past several Ling You disciples who were busy taking care of their spiritual beasts. He just passed a literal petting zoo. He ducked under a bench when several Ling You disciples passed by, carrying winged ferrets. He wanted to pet them.
He got distracted once in awhile whenever he stumbled upon butterflies and the like. But, Jiupup was definitely on his way to return to Qing Jing Peak. Actually, it felt like he was on an adventure. But, everything looked imposing somehow. Perhaps, it was due to his small stature now. Never mind, he straightened his back and marched forward.
***
Once he left Ling You Peak, he found himself at the rainbow bridge, a few hours later.
He sighed in relief. It meant that his Qing Jing Peak was close.
He was beyond exhausted and he was starving. There was so much his short legs could do. Disciples were cooing at him whenever they spotted him. They tried to come over and pet him but he flinched and got scared.
He didn’t realize that he just continued walking on the rainbow bridge toward Bai Zhan Peak. He missed the bridge to his Qing Jing Peak since he was so lost in thought.
When he looked up, what greeted him was not Qing Jing Peak’s bamboo forest. But it was something else.
'How could he miss it?!'
Unfortunately, while he was getting confused by his surrounding (and before he knew it), someone grasped Jiupup’s small body and lifted him up. He flailed miserably. He recognized these hands. After all, it belonged to someone who kept asking him for a fight.
'It couldn't be-'
The person who caught him, turned him around to face them.
Liu Qingge’s frowning face stared back at him.
His struggles were futile as the brute took him further to Bai Zhan Peak.
'Release me, you brute!'
***
(They completely missed a desperate howl of an adult wolf whose adopted pup was missing from its den.)