The Little Phoenix jumped off the Soaring Serpent’s back, then animatedly pulled it into Qi Chen Palace. That soft white hand formed a very sharp contrast with the black jade colored scales of the Soaring Serpent. Looking down at the small hand of the youth, caused the lifeless heart in An Ying’s chest to slightly move. Upon seeing that his master had returned, Qing Luan immediately walked forward to welcome him. But frowned upon seeing An Ying, and said: “Master, why did You bring a Demon Beast back?……”
“This is a pet I’ve decided to keep!” The Little Phoenix proudly raised his little head, just like a child, who is eager to show off his new toy, “What do you think? Isn’t it impressive?”
Calculating the Little Phoenix’s age, he truly is still just a child. Qing Luan, who didn’t have the heart to ruin his little master’s enthusiasm, could only nod, “Um, impressive.”
“But it is a Demon Beast of unknown origins after all,” Nonetheless, the frank Hong Hu interjected at the side, with a sense of rejection towards An Ying in his tone, “Master, I’m afraid that the Heavenly Emperor will not allow You to keep this kind of thing as a pet……”
The Little Phoenix immediately became slightly upset, “This is my pet, and not foster father’s. I’ll keep it if I want to. Why would I need his approval?”
All the people in Qi Chen Palalce knows of the Little Phoenix’s temper. So, he no longer dared and were also unwilling to upset him further. He quickly shut his mouth and no longer dared to dissuade the other again. Although An Ying had been temporarily beaten back to his original form by the thunder, but it’s original cultivation base was still higher than both Qing Luan and Hong Hu. Neither of the two were able to detect it’s true level, and only knew that it still unable take shape. Thus, they temporarily set aside their worries, and focused on gently telling the Little Phoenix about the troubles in raising a pet.
“Master might be unaware, but raising a pet is not as easy as You think. It requires a great amount of patience and time. You need to be responsible for it’s food and well-being. It also needs to be educated, to make it understand principles and rules…..”
Little did they know, that the Little Phoenix of this age period, was eager to prove that he had already grown up. One of the ways to prove it, is to take care and educate children even younger than him, or pets, like a little adult. These words spoken by Qing Luan were rather counterproductive, and made the Little Phoenix, whose desire of keeping a pet much stronger, immediately take his new pet to eat.
All kinds of food were very quickly set on the table. The Little Phoenix also took out all his favorite snacks, and similarly handed it to An Ying.
“This kind of fruit only grows once in a hundred years. It also contains a lot of Spiritual power, and tastes very great…..”
“This is a dried fruit that has been soaked in all kinds of nectar, and is especially sweet……”
“This is my favorite nut……”
The Little Phoenix is still, fundamentally a child at heart, and wholeheartedly wants to share what it thinks is delicious with it’s pet snake. Winged creatures were naturally inclined to eat fruits, but serpents were carnivorous animals, and weren’t the least bit interested in those fruits. An Ying remained completely motionless because of this.
“Hey, why aren’t you eating?” The Little Phoenix couldn’t help but say with worry, with a tinge of disappointment, “Do you not like it?”
The Soaring Serpent silently took in the youth’s bright eyes and stubbornly outstretched hand. He finally extended his head, and swallowed down the candied fruit on the youth’s hand.
It truly was very sweet.
An Ying had no idea whether this sweetness truly came from the candied fruit or his heart. There weren’t any waves inside those pair of vertical dark green pupils, like a bottomless cold pool.
After the meal, the Little Phoenix animatedly gave his pet a bath as well. There’s a medium sized bathing area at the rear court of Qi Chen Palace. The Little Phoenix dragged the serpent over, then pushed the serpent into the water, and rubbed the serpent’s body with his small hands with dead earnest manner.
He has never taken care of anyone in the past, so, he was completely clueless of how heavy his hands were. Fortunately, An Ying had a very thick skin, so being tossed around posed no problem at all. Nevertheless, the Soaring Serpent was still as quiet and still as before. There also weren’t any visible waves in those pair of vertical dark pupils. Only the places rubbed by the youth’s hand were noticeably stiff.
The Little Phoenix still thought that he had done a great job. After the rubbing, he also used a clean and soft towel to wipe the serpent’s body, and said to it while wiping: “Oh, that’s right, my name is Shen Tong. The meaning of Shen is warm sunshine. You still don’t have a name right?”
“……”
The Soaring Serpent, who’s entire face had almost been covered by a towel by him, will naturally be unable to give a reply.
“Seeing as you look so black, you should be called Big black.”
“……”
The Soaring Serpent stiffened once again.
The sun in the Heavenly Realm is always warm and abundant. Taking advantage that it was still bright, the Little Phoenix hugged the newly bathed pet to bask under the sun’s rays. On a soft rocking chair, the little youth slowly closed his eyes. Long lashes blocked his pretty eyes, and he gradually fell asleep. The Chinese parasol tree at the side were filled with blooming clusters of small pinkish purple flowers, one of which was blown down by the breeze, and landed in the middle of his forehead.
The Soaring Serpent, who had been forcibly held in his arms, finally moved. He raised his snake head and silently looked at the youth’s sleeping face. Coming over in a soft and quiet manner, Qing Luan carefully added an incense that could calm the mind and increase spiritual power in the incense burner for his master. He also got a blanket to cover his master.
Seeing that serpent of unknown origins, Qing Luan couldn’t help but frown once more. But since the master likes it, his feeling of disgust is useless. So he only gave it an incomparably disgust look before leaving.
An Ying looked at Qing Luan’s departing figure with slightly narrowed eyes, with overflowing killing intent in that pair of vertical pupils. Now that he had already followed that youth into Qi Chen Palace, he can only properly recuperate from his injuries with unchanging adaptability, and retaliate at those two servants, who dared to look down at him, after he had properly recovered.