Chapter Twenty-Five: The Big Dumpling

For several days in a row, Shen Wan truly hadn’t stepped outside his own room. With the door locked, he guarded the Cloud Tiger’s egg, not daring to leave for an instant. In order to be the first thing this little one saw upon hatching, he was willing to ignore everything else.

And so, on the training platform of Owe Profound Sect, Yun Shu stood clutching Frostbind for an entire day... As dusk fell, another day had slipped by. Shen Wan noticed that the spirit stones at the very top of the Spirit Stone Mountain seemed to have grown a bit grayer. It appeared this egg was genuinely absorbing the spiritual energy from the stones.

Seeing some results, Shen Wan finally felt that his days of vigilance had not been in vain. He stood, preparing to go knock and see if there was any movement within the egg.

Just then, a commotion erupted outside the courtyard. Lin Bufan barged in, shouting at the top of his lungs. “It’s bad, Little Uncle, something terrible has happened!”

Hearing it was Lin Bufan, Shen Wan hurriedly opened the door and rushed out first, fearing that he’d barge into the room. He quickly slammed the door shut behind him and breathed a deep sigh of relief.

Lin Bufan arrived in front of him, panting heavily, and without regard for their seniority, grabbed Shen Wan by the sleeve, trying to drag him away.

Utterly bewildered, Shen Wan shook off Lin Bufan’s hand and asked irritably, “What on earth has you so worked up? All this yelling—you’ll frighten my egg!”

But Lin Bufan could hardly care about that. After finally catching his breath, he blurted out, “The... the Eldest Senior Sister is coming to kill you!”

“Eldest Senior Sister? Who’s that?”

“Yun... Yun Shu, the Eldest Senior Sister! She says you broke your promise and stood her up, and she’s already on her way here to kill you!”

“Yun Shu?”

At first, the name left Shen Wan confused, but then he remembered—on the day the rankings were announced, wasn’t the third place taken by someone called Yun Shu? And the third place... He recalled the girl he’d met at the top level before leaving the Ten Prisons Tower.

“Oh hell!”

Shen Wan’s head buzzed. This girl was trouble!

“Go, go, go! Let’s get out of here!”

Now, Shen Wan couldn’t care about anything else. This girl was even more troublesome than that twin-tailed little loli. This time, he grabbed Lin Bufan and started running.

They dashed frantically toward the courtyard gate, but before they could step out, a cold, gleaming sword stabbed straight down at Shen Wan’s foot, stopping just half an inch away—his shoe was nearly done for.

Yun Shu descended slowly from the sky, pulled Frostbind from the ground, and ran two slender fingers along the blade, sending out a clear, melodious sword hum.

“If you don’t want to fight on the training platform, here will do just as well.” Her voice was ice-cold, devoid of any warmth.

Yun Shu slowly lifted her eyelids—and for a moment, she froze. Black robe, elder’s attire—this guy... was an elder?

Shen Wan didn’t notice her reaction. His eyes darted nervously, fixed on the gleaming sword, doing his best to appear calm.

He gently reached for the doorframe, and with a loud bang, slammed the door shut, locking all three bolts tight without missing a beat.

His movements were sudden and fluid, leaving Yun Shu momentarily dumbfounded.

Inside the courtyard, Shen Wan patted his startled chest and complained to Lin Bufan, “Why didn’t you close the door when you came in? What, do you think this is a city gate?”

Lin Bufan hesitated, unsure how to respond. Shen Wan signaled him to keep quiet, then pressed his ear gently against the door.

Outside, Yun Shu’s mind was in turmoil. This was the second time this guy had thrown her off balance. The image of him in an elder’s robe kept flickering in her mind. Biting her lip, she spun around and leapt away—she would get to the bottom of this.

There was no sound for a long time. Had she left or not? The courtyard was far too soundproof to tell. Shen Wan frowned, uncertain what to do, but just then, he heard a couple of muffled grunts from the inner courtyard.

Could it be... the Cloud Tiger was hatching?

Delighted, Shen Wan pointed at Lin Bufan and shouted, “You stay right here and don’t move!”

Startled, Lin Bufan froze on the spot. Before he could react, Shen Wan had already darted off toward the inner courtyard at full speed. He didn’t want Lin Bufan to follow—if the Cloud Tiger’s first sight wasn’t him, that would be a disaster.

As the little grunts grew louder, Shen Wan finally reached the inner chamber. Without hesitation, he kicked the door open.

“My precious baby!”

...

As the saying goes, the greater the hope, the... chubbier the disappointment.

Shen Wan couldn’t even tell if it was a tiger that greeted him. All he knew was that what he saw looked... rather like a pig.

Next to the towering pile of spirit stones, a round, plump creature was licking at the stones. Startled by the noise, it twisted its fat body, taking ages to turn around.

It was perfectly spherical, with a pale blue body speckled with white spots. Its beady black eyes, no bigger than soybeans, blinked adorably at Shen Wan. Its nose was dark and shiny, tipped with pink, nostrils flared upward, and its four stubby legs barely supported it on the ground. A little tail, fluffy as a cotton ball, wagged enthusiastically at its rear.

Most astonishing of all, the creature had two tiny wings, each no larger than a child’s palm, sprouting from its back.

Shen Wan was left dumbstruck.

What on earth was this? Had he gone about this all wrong?

He quietly closed the door again, took a deep breath, and after calming himself, gently opened it once more.

There it was, just as before...

“Uh...”

“Did my junior brother misunderstand something about the difference between tigers and pigs?”

Shen Wan smacked his forehead, feeling utterly exhausted.

“Whoever came up with the name ‘Cloud Tiger’ for this thing... they got two characters right, at least...”

Of course, Shen Wan wasn’t the only one feeling weary at heart.

Elsewhere, Yun Shu was seated in Elder Qu Fanghua’s Cloud Terrace. With her master in seclusion, she had come here for answers. Elder Qu told her what little she knew about Shen Wan, as her knowledge was limited.

Yun Shu hung her head in silence, her thoughts in turmoil.

Back in Shen Wan’s courtyard, he and Lin Bufan sat facing each other while the Cloud Tiger clung to his leg, licking it fervently. Glancing down, Shen Wan realized that his jeans were starting to fade.

“Uh...”

“Brother Lin, did you know it would look like this?” Shen Wan asked, his confidence faltering.

Lin Bufan replied immediately, “Little Uncle, I did suggest you take another look, but you said you wanted the thrill of a mystery box!”

In other words, Lin Bufan was not taking the blame for this.

“Oh right, Little Uncle, what’s a ‘mystery box’ anyway?”

Shen Wan was speechless.

Looking down at the little creature, he gently lifted it. Perhaps thanks to its tiny wings, it didn’t feel heavy at all.

“Ah, what an ugly thing,” Shen Wan sighed again.

The Cloud Tiger, oblivious to his words, stretched out its tongue, trying its best to lick its “mother’s” face.

“Well, since I worked so hard to hatch you, how can I dislike you? I should give you a name.” Shen Wan mused aloud.

The Cloud Tiger licked him even more enthusiastically.

“From now on, you’ll be called Big Dumpling.” The words popped out almost without thought, and Shen Wan felt it was a masterstroke—the name was simply perfect.

Lin Bufan, sitting nearby, was utterly confused. This name, wasn’t it even worse than Cloud Tiger?

“Big Dumpling, Big Dumpling,” Shen Wan called teasingly, then cradled the creature in his arms.

Big Dumpling seemed to understand, and joyfully licked Shen Wan’s chin with renewed vigor.

Shen Wan sighed quietly.

“Named after a tiger, shaped like a pig, with the temperament of a dog—what kind of karmic retribution is this…”