Be Gentle, Immortal Master

My eyes went wide, half in surprise and half in fear—surprised that our luck held up so well today that we ran into the bixies mere minutes after arriving, and fearful that the overexcited beasts would mistake the call of their mother's blood for something else and snap their jaws over my neck.

Then one of them flicked out its tongue and licked my face. The other lowered its head, sniffing all over me with a happy purr in its throat. Google search fr𝚎𝘦𝘄𝙚𝗯𝗻𝗼𝐯e𝗹. 𝑐o𝒎

My worries subsided at their reaction. From the corner of my eye, I saw Bai Ye smile as well, though he didn't seem too worried in the first place. He must've sensed that the eagerness from the beasts wasn't coming from hostility. "Aren't these the cubs you lost?" he said and crouched down next to me. "How long has it been since we last saw them?"

Struggling under the bixies' overwhelming show of affection, I stared at him. What was he talking about? Before I could speak, a rush of footsteps sounded behind him, and a voice shouted, "Get your hands off of my mount!"

Bai Ye turned around, the smile on his face turning into an ice-cold sneer. "Your mount?" he said. "You mean the pets that you stole from us?"

A small crowd had gathered around us, watching curiously with a low murmur. I realized Bai Ye's intention immediately then. Although the mother bixie's blood had drawn her children towards us, it would be difficult to prove that this cultivator in front of us had captured the beasts by force, and we couldn't simply take away his mount without such evidence. But if it was obvious that the bixies were more attached to me than to their owner, then we might be able to convince the crowd that the pair had belonged to us instead …

I glanced at Bai Ye, and I thought I should probably feel a little guilty that we were trying to lie, but I didn't. Sometimes, it took an amoral approach to deal with an amoral person.

The amoral person spoke then. "Are you mad?" He pointed a finger at Bai Ye. "These two have been mine since they were cubs! I repeat, get your hands off of them!"

I frowned. Judging from this cultivator's outfit with an embroidered dragon and phoenix on the hem, he should be from the Hall of Dragons and Phoenixes. How could a sect so famed in the art of spiritual pets be home to such a blatant thief? He didn't show even a tinge of remorse at what he had done. Rubbing the fuzzy heads that were still scrubbing all over me, I persuaded the bixies to let me get back to my feet. "Just because you stole them when they were cubs doesn't make them yours," I said. "Your bonding can't wipe out their memories. They remember where they belong."

That much was no lie, and I felt anger hitting me as I recalled the mother bixie. When she mentioned her lost children, I had thought that they would be cubs like the one by her side, since legendary beasts took years to grow up. But these two in front of us were fully grown already, with long manes and large wings. How long had they been separated from their mother? No wonder they almost lost control when they felt the call from the bait stone.

The cultivator glared at me. "Stole?" he snapped. "Such a malicious accusation! My beasts are friendly, just because they like you doesn't mean that—"

The bixies must've understood what he said, because the next moment, they bared their teeth at him and hissed.

Bai Ye chuckled. "Your beasts are friendly? Doesn't look that way to me."

I darted a glance at the bixies. The hiss surprised me a little. Once bonded, a spiritual beast's actions would be subject to its owner's control, which was probably how this cultivator had kept the bixies obedient for all these years. It was rare to see a beast act aggressively towards its owner like this. Was it their mother's call that gave them the hope and power to fight back?

The crowd stirred a little. "What kind of beasts are these?" someone asked in a low voice. "They certainly don't look friendly at all."

"It's a bixie, one of the most ferocious guardian beasts. I've only read about them in books before … Never seen one myself either."

"A guardian beast? Isn't it forbidden to have one of those?"

"Not if they chose to stay with a person willingly. But from the look of it …"

The cultivator's expression changed. "They did choose me willingly!" he turned towards the crowd and shouted. "The cubs weren't bonded with anyone else before I found them. This woman is lying!"

"I never said I bonded with them," I scuffed. "A spiritual bond traps an animal for life, but I want them to be free even if they choose to stay by my side." I beckoned for the bixies to come closer to me, and they obeyed, meekly resting their heads against my arm. I petted them gently, meanwhile giving their owner a dark stare. "Whereas you took advantage of it and took them away from their home, forcing them into a bond that they didn't choose! Did you think you could hide the truth from everyone forever?"

The murmur from the crowd grew louder. It was clear that the bixies were showing far more affection towards me, and the glances from the crowd towards the "owner" had turned skeptical. "The Hall of Dragons and Phoenixes steals other people's pets?" someone gasped. "That is shocking news …"

"She's lying!" the cultivator repeated in defense before glaring at me again. "You must've used a spell to draw my mount towards you! They've never acted this way all these years. What dirty tricks did you use?"

A dangerous spark flashed across Bai Ye's eyes, and I realized that those disrespectful words towards me had crossed his bottom line. But before either of us spoke, a new voice came from behind us, "Bai Ye? What brought you to our fair this year?"

Turning back in surprise, I found an unfamiliar cultivator walking towards us through the crowd. He knew Bai Ye? Though it was the bixie thief's response that surprised me even more, as he stuttered: "M-Master?"