Legend Management Bureau Chapter 43

[ … words ]

“The Three Four Classic?” the fierce tiger asked in confusion.

“The Three Character Classic,” Du Yu repeated.

Xiao Qi suddenly sensed that something was off. “Du Yu, you’re currently in the Tang Dynasty. The Three Character Classic was written by Wang Yinglin during the Southern Song Dynasty.”

“Xiao Qi, I mix these historical details up all the time. You’ll just have to get used to it,” Du Yu whispered.

“I have to get used to it?” Xiao Qi suddenly realized just how thick-skinned this guy was. “Why should I have to get used to your mistakes?”

Ignoring Xiao Qi, Du Yu patted the tiger’s shoulder. “Brother Tiger, I know you’re very curious about the human world right now. If you’d like, I can come visit you often to chat and teach you a few things. Years down the line, if you manage to take on a human form, it’ll make things much easier for you.”

“You… aren’t afraid of me?” the tiger asked, staring at Du Yu.

“Afraid?” Du Yu chuckled. “I’ve been comrades with a thirty-meter-long serpent. Why would I be afraid of a little tiger like you?”

“But… but, I can speak. They are all afraid of me.”

“Really?” The tiger’s eyes lit up. “In this world, there are other animals that can speak the human tongue?”

“Oh, there’s more than you could count,” Du Yu nodded. “I know a whole bunch of them myself. In fact, right here in your dynasty, there’s a master and his three disciples currently fighting their way through talking animals on a journey to the Western Heaven.”

The tiger’s eyes gleamed brightly. “Truly?”

“It seems you really don’t know anything,” Du Yu sighed. “Tell you what, I’m not in a rush today. Let me properly explain how animals cultivate into demons.”

The tiger nodded vigorously. It had far too many questions, but there was no one to provide answers. It could only continuously search for heavenly secrets within the posthumous works of the ancient sage Guiguzi.

Yet the tiger waited for quite a while, and Du Yu remained silent.

Xiao Qi was also a little puzzled. “Du Yu, why did you stop talking?”

Du Yu grumbled to Xiao Qi, “Sister, where’s our unspoken teamwork? What the hell do I know about animals cultivating into demons! I have to rely on you to explain it. You dictate a sentence, and I’ll repeat it.”

Xiao Qi gave an indignant huff, then began to explain the principles of animal cultivation to Du Yu. He, in turn, relayed everything word-for-word to the tiger. This wasn’t just a learning process for the fierce beast, but a crash course for Du Yu as well.

For two solid hours, Du Yu talked endlessly while the tiger nodded repeatedly.

“…If your cultivation is sufficient to form an inner core within your body, you can channel your magical power to take on human form. However, a beast becoming human goes against the Heavenly Dao. When that time comes, it will attract the Nine Heavens Divine Lightning, bringing down the Shape-shifting Heavenly Tribulation.”

“Shape-shifting… Heavenly Tribulation?”

“Exactly. Most demons and spirits cannot withstand this Shape-shifting Heavenly Tribulation. They either have their souls scattered and destroyed, or they are beaten back into their original forms. But if you can survive the Nine Heavens Divine Lightning, you will achieve true fruition. Even those in the Beast Realm can cultivate to become immortals.”

Seeing the eager-to-learn expression on the fierce tiger’s face, Du Yu almost laughed out loud.

“So formidable,” the tiger said, nodding. “So, I absorbed the spiritual energy on this mountain… and became a demon?”

“That’s right,” Du Yu confirmed.

“Then, is this Shape-shifting Heavenly Tribulation… fierce?” the tiger asked again.

“Very fierce. The more sins a monster has committed, the heavier the heavenly punishment will be.”

“Sins?”

“Yes. By sins, I mean doing things like eating the son of the old woman who lives at the foot of the mountain.”

The moment the tiger demon heard these words, its eyes widened dramatically and its pupils shrank into slits.

“You… know about that?”

Du Yu nodded, but he still couldn’t figure it out, so he asked, “Brother Tiger, you don’t seem like a wicked, evil-doing monster. Why did you go down the mountain to eat someone?”

The tiger demon silently lowered its head and muttered, “I cannot say.”

“Forget it then,” Du Yu waved his hand dismissively. “Since I’ve spent all this time having a heart-to-heart with you and you don’t want to tell me anything, let’s just end the conversation here. You can go on being your tiger demon, and I’ll go back to being my oblivious self.”

Du Yu stood up and prepared to leave, but right at that moment, the tiger demon reached out a massive paw and grabbed him.

“No… it’s not that I don’t want to tell you. It’s just that I promised someone,” the tiger demon said, pausing between each word.

“Well, you clearly don’t treat me as a friend anyway,” Du Yu sighed. “I came all the way up this mountain in the middle of the night specifically to impart knowledge and resolve your doubts, yet you… sigh… forget it, just forget it…”

The tiger demon instantly grew anxious. It hastily waved its large paw and said, “No, no! I’m very happy that someone is willing to talk to me.”

“In that case, are you ready to tell me?”

“But I truly cannot say. I promised the little girl.”

“Little girl?” Du Yu furrowed his brows. So there was a little girl involved in this story. “Is that little girl very important to you?”

“Very important,” the fierce tiger nodded emphatically.

Du Yu pondered for a moment. It seemed that to break this deadlock, he needed to find this little girl…

“Brother Tiger, I have a request that I hope you can agree to.”

“What request?”

“You mentioned that many people are afraid of you. I have a way to let you step out into the human world legitimately, so that everyone will no longer fear you,” Du Yu said with a deeply serious expression. “This way, you won’t need to stay on this mountain every day. You can go play with the little girl all day long.”

“Really?” The fierce tiger looked delighted.

“Really,” Du Yu nodded. “What you have to do is very simple. I need you to admit that you ate the son of the old woman at the foot of the mountain. Soon, she will report it to the authorities, and the county magistrate will summon you for trial. In the courtroom, no matter what he says, you must plead guilty. By doing this, he will sentence you to become the old woman’s adopted son. Then, you will be able to live legitimately among humans and go see that little girl whenever you want.”

Du Yu’s words were a bit complex, so the tiger demon only half-understood them. But it grasped one key point: as long as it admitted to eating the man, it could live with humans and be with the little girl.

“It’s getting late, Brother Tiger.” Du Yu stood up. “I’ll come back to find you very soon. You have to understand that I didn’t come up the mountain in the middle of the night just to trick you.”

The tiger demon remained frozen in place, its thoughts having already drifted far away.

Could it truly live together with the little girl?

Du Yu bid farewell to the tiger demon and descended Mount Yunmeng.

……

The Underworld.

Dong Qianqiu sat inside a massive stone cavern. The cavern was lit by many torches burning with eerie ghost-fire, and in the center sat a colossal stone table laden with all sorts of exotic delicacies.

Looking at the feast spread out before her, Dong Qianqiu couldn’t help but feel a swell of suspicion.

Seated across from her was a woman who looked to be in her thirties, her hair tied up in a high topknot. She wore the garb of a martial artist—a fitted combat suit that complemented her handsome features, radiating both feminine charm and masculine heroism.

If not for the Chi Demon and the Mei Demon standing behind her, Dong Qianqiu never would have believed that this person was the supreme ruler of the entire Underworld, Empress Houtu.

“You are… Empress Houtu, right?” Dong Qianqiu asked tentatively.

“That’s right, this old lady is Houtu,” the woman replied. Her face was clouded with gloom, and her leg bounced incessantly, making her look incredibly irritated.

“This old lady…?” Dong Qianqiu was startled by the woman’s crude manner of referring to herself, but she quickly recovered and asked, “Empress Houtu… why exactly did you call me here?”

“Sigh…” Empress Houtu held it in for a long time before saying, “I’ll just give it to you straight…”

“Hey, hey, hey.” The tall Chi Demon standing to the side suddenly interrupted her. “How can you just say it directly? Didn’t you meticulously prepare a plan?”

“But I can’t hold it in!” Empress Houtu slammed her hand on the table. “I’ve always been a straight shooter, and now I’m being forced to plot out such a massive scheme. It’s driving me absolutely crazy!”

Hearing this, the Chi Demon also flared up. “Aren’t you being a bit too impulsive, you crazy woman? I threw down with the Eight Great Netherworld Envoys for the sake of your plan! And now you’re abandoning it without a second thought?”

“Did I tell you to fight them?”

“Stop arguing…” The Mei Demon standing on the other side seemed like she wanted to break up the fight. She took a step forward and said, “I think Chi is right. You’re going too far, woman.”

“Oh, I see, Mei. You two have formed a united front again, haven’t you?”

“I’m standing up for reason, not playing favorites!”

“You two are just itching for a beating, aren’t you?!”

“Bring it on! You think we’re afraid of you?!”

Dong Qianqiu was utterly baffled. Weren’t the Chi Demon and the Mei Demon supposed to be Empress Houtu’s subordinates? Right now, these two underlings were shouting at the highest-ranking entity in the Underworld, and it looked like they were about to come to blows at any second.

“Honored Immortals…” Dong Qianqiu finally couldn’t help but interject. “Your argument is an internal matter, and I really shouldn’t interrupt, but I still want to know… what does any of this have to do with me?”

The three of them abruptly fell silent and looked at Dong Qianqiu.

“Crazy woman, you tell her,” the Chi Demon grumbled. “You’re the one who insisted on bringing her here. Now explain yourself.”

“Argh! I am so sick of this!” Empress Houtu waved her hand dismissively. “Hey, Dong Qianqiu, did you know that the Underworld is completely doomed!”

“The Underworld… is doomed?” Dong Qianqiu didn’t quite understand. “Your Majesty, what do you mean by that?”

“I brought you here for two reasons,” Empress Houtu said, scratching her head. “First, I wanted to ask about the Legend Administration’s stance on this. Second, I wanted to see the skill level of the new operator.”

Dong Qianqiu shook her head, still confused.

“Empress Houtu, I don’t even understand the first point. What do you mean by the Legend Administration’s stance? What stance are we supposed to have?”

“Let me put it simply.” Empress Houtu reorganized her thoughts and asked, “Hypothetically speaking—and I mean strictly hypothetically—if the Great Emperor of Fengdu of the North and the Great Emperor of Mount Tai of the East were to go to war, which side would the Legend Administration take?”

Dong Qianqiu’s mind instantly went blank. She had thought this would be a simple chat, never expecting Empress Houtu to casually drop such an earth-shattering bombshell.

The two supreme leaders of the Underworld were going to war?

“Empress Houtu, is this merely a hypothesis, or…?” Dong Qianqiu was genuinely frightened. If the Great Emperor of Fengdu actually went to war against the Great Emperor of Mount Tai, the Underworld wouldn’t just be ‘doomed’—it would be a catastrophe. Hundreds of millions of souls would be left unmanaged, and some might even escape into the mortal realm. If rogue spirits flooded the human world, the Heavenly Realm would be forced to intervene. Therefore, any massive upheaval in the Underworld was guaranteed to throw all three realms—Heaven, Earth, and Mortal—into absolute chaos.

“You saw right through it, huh? It’s not a hypothesis,” Empress Houtu said. “Seven days ago, the Great Emperor of Fengdu was assassinated and wounded by the Wheel-Turning King.”