Li Dai knew nothing of what was happening with the Li Family.
At that moment, she was practicing Tai Chi, working up a heavy sweat.
The sunlight washed over her, making her look as though she were coated in a layer of gold.
After a sustained period of high-intensity training, she finally didn't feel quite so frail anymore.
Yet, wonderful as Tai Chi was, it could only improve her physical condition; it couldn't make her truly powerful.
Only cultivation!
Only that could grant her formidable strength!
However, lacking any cultivation manual at present, she had to take things one step at a time. No matter what the future held, laying a solid physical foundation first could never be wrong.
Li Dai performed the Tai Chi routine thirty times in a row, only stopping when her arms were so sore she could barely raise her hands.
Wiping the sweat from her brow, she sat down leaning against the root of a large tree and closed her eyes to rest.
"Wuwuwu..." Sob, sob, sob... I met a big bad guy today, it was so terrifying...
Li Dai opened her eyes, and seeing that it was her own Wangcai, she blinked in surprise and smiled faintly. "Come here!"
At the summons, the Little Milk Dog bounced and leaped over, burrowed straight into Li Dai's arms, and began rubbing against her.
The little fellow was getting more and more used to acting cute and spoiled.
For it had discovered that acting this way not only got Daidai to give it more roast meat to eat, but also fulfilled all sorts of little demands it had. It thoroughly enjoyed the game, and whatever dignity a Holy Beast once possessed had long since been tossed to the winds.
"Wuwuwu..." Daidai, that person was so bad, he actually wanted to drink Baibai's blood! Fortunately Baibai ran fast, or I would have lost my life and never been able to see Daidai again!
Though it knew Li Dai couldn't understand, the Little Milk Dog still chattered and whimpered incessantly, doing its utmost to show how wronged it felt. Those grape-black eyes filled with moisture, making Li Dai's heart soften instantly. "Looking so pitiful... Could someone have bullied you?"
The Little Milk Dog nodded repeatedly.
This really took Li Dai by surprise.
She had only asked casually upon noticing Wangcai's unusual behavior, never expecting the little fellow to actually nod.
That simply wouldn't do! ︶︿︶ She could bully her own Wangcai however she liked, but nobody else was allowed to lay a single hair on it.
A flare of anger rose in Li Dai's chest. She lifted the Little Milk Dog up to inspect it thoroughly, and only when she found no wounds did she let out a sigh of relief. "Alright, remember this! In the future, if anyone dares to bully you, you bully them right back just as fiercely—no need to hold back. If the other party is too strong and you can't manage it, find me to help. If even that won't work, we'll just keep a tally in our hearts. A gentleman takes revenge ten years later, and once we're stronger than him, we'll teach him a harsh lesson..."
Over this past period, Li Dai had discovered that her Wangcai was no ordinary creature.
For instance, every day it would mysteriously vanish for a while, and when it returned, its aura would be different. Furthermore, at night when she slept, whenever there was the slightest movement anywhere, it would always be the first to notice, letting out a sharp whine until everything grew quiet again. Most obviously, wild rabbits and pheasants would always manage to blunder into the vicinity and die.
All sorts of things like that.
Li Dai was clever by nature. It would be normal for such things to happen once or twice, but when they occurred time and again, she would have to be truly foolish not to figure it out.
No wonder she hadn't encountered a single fierce beast during more than half a month of living in the forest; no wonder she always managed to reap rewards without effort.
It was all thanks to the Little Milk Dog ~
This was a world of immortal cultivation, and she would not underestimate any person or creature.
After discovering the Little Milk Dog's extraordinary nature, her feelings were complicated.
She realized profoundly that no matter how much it looked like Wangcai, in essence, it wasn't Wangcai.
Even so, affection grew with companionship. Now, though she could distinguish it from the original Wangcai, she was still willing to dote on it just the same.
No matter what, she had accepted it.
The Little Milk Dog thought it had hidden everything wonderfully, unaware that its disguise had long since fallen away.
Though it had spent millennia as a beast, it had only ever dealt with demons and had been exceptionally well-protected by its elders. In certain respects, the Little Milk Dog was truly naive; had it not been so, how could it have been betrayed by someone close to it and almost had its beast soul entirely obliterated?
Naturally, Li Dai knew nothing of the Little Milk Dog's true age; she merely assumed it was the cub of some powerful mutated beast with a few special abilities. Fearing that Wangcai might suffer losses in the future, she educated it thus.
She hoped to thoroughly instill in the little fellow the mindset of: "If others respect me by an inch, I will respect them by a foot; if others bully me by a fraction, I will repay them tenfold."
The Little Milk Dog naturally sensed the protectiveness and care in her words, and its previously shattered beast heart swelled with emotion.
"Wuwuwu..." Earlier someone wanted to drink my blood, so let's go drain his blood completely.
Taking a page from Li Dai's book on the spot, the Little Milk Dog became even more determined to exact revenge and ensure it didn't get the short end of the stick.
The Little Milk Dog hopped out of Li Dai's arms, caught the hem of her skirt in its little mouth, and tried to lead her along.