Holding On to My Man

Translated by Elestrea

Edited by Evan

As a puppy yao with low mana, Gu Bai couldn’t do anything but eat, drink, and play with Emperor Tianchen.

Even if he was anxious about the task, he couldn’t help it. He could only be a patient and ordinary puppy. Fortunately, his life was very comfortable because Emperor Tianchen spoiled him.

Not only did Emperor Tianchen command people to remove the special kennel and put him to sleep in the dragon bed at night, they also ate and drank from the same bowls and chopsticks. The emperor also personally bathed him everyday to prevent the eunuchs and palace maids from touching him. His possessiveness was extremely strong that the eunuchs couldn't bear to look straight at them.

He also took Gu Bai with him when he went to the court. Even when Gu Bai made trouble in the court several times, such as scratching Prince Rui’s formal uniform at one point, Emperor Tianchen wasn't upset, and he still spoiled him.

And so, in one month, the whole Imperial Palace and the court knew that His Majesty had a snow-white puppy which he doted on so much that even his consorts in the harem couldn't compare with it. If one offended Emperor Tianchen, they might have a way to live, but if one offended this puppy, their end would be absolutely miserable.

The court officials had advised the emperor several times not to “trifle with playthings and lose one’s lofty aspirations”, but they were met with indifference. His Majesty was also annoyed and taught them a lesson.

After a few days, the ministers dared not to say anymore, nor were they in a mood to focus on a puppy. Wei Country was dry in the Northwest and flooded in the East, and the disasters became more and more serious.

At this time, some refugees had gathered to rise up against the Imperial Court. The ministers were very worried, and they asked the emperor to solve the problem.

Emperor Tianchen was worried recently, so Gu Bai was also very worried, but he was helpless. For now, he couldn’t be of any help. He could only practice as much as he could and hoped to use the emperor's dragon qi to transform from a small yao to a powerful one as soon as possible. Then, even calling the wind and summoning the rain wouldn't be much of a problem!

This morning, before dawn, there was an urgent report from the frontline. Emperor Tianchen put on his clothes and immediately called a meeting of ministers. Before leaving, he gave the attending eunuch an order first.

“Take good care of Bai. If he wakes up, someone should readily serve him some food and tell him that I will come back soon…”

“Yes.”

The eunuchs and palace maids had become used to the sight of the emperor doting on a dog and immediately replied. They waited respectfully after Emperor Tianchen left.

After many days of observation, they had become very sure that His Majesty’s beloved dog was by no means ordinary, as not only did it look cute and lovable, it had immense spiritual aura and was also extremely smart. Even if the emperor was away, people didn't dare to be careless even a little bit.

Looking at the dog sleeping comfortably on the dragon bed, the eunuchs and palace maids were envious. Nowadays, it was better to be a dog than a man.

Meanwhile, Consort Ru, who had been confined in her room to ponder over her mistakes, couldn’t wait. The emperor ordered her to be grounded for three months, which wasn't a good thing. Three months was enough for her to be punished for failing to finish her task.

After thinking several times, Consort Ru exchanged something with the system, and she sent the attending maid to serve medicinal soup and to bribe the royal chef in the imperial kitchen.

“You can mix this medicinal soup into His Majesty’s imperial meals. You don’t need to do anything else. Her Majesty Ru will never forget you when she comes out later…”

The palace maid stuffed the soup along with some ingots to the imperial chef.

As it was several ingots of gold, the imperial chef couldn’t resist the temptation. After confirming that the soup didn't contain any poison, he was ready to do the business.

Many consorts in the palace would do such things in private. As long as they didn’t endanger His Majesty’s life, how could these consorts compete for favor? If they couldn’t directly ask one of the imperial chefs, they could only fish them with money!

As soon as the maid left, a royal chef came in to the imperial kitchen.

“Hurry up, deliver the meal for Qianqing Palace…”

Hearing the three characters "Qian", "Qing", and "Palace", the bribed imperial chef was smart and quickly mixed the soup into the dishes while no one was paying attention.

“Hmm? How come I haven’t seen this dish before?”

The eunuch who was tasked to deliver the dishes checked the meals and found that there was an extra bowl of soup.

As soon as the chef’s back cooled, he hurriedly explained, “Today, I heard that His Majesty liked sweets. This is a new dish we've been researching. I hope His Majesty can taste it and see if he likes it…”

“Sweet soup? En, that's fine…”

When the eunuch heard that it was sweet soup, he thought that the precious puppy liked sweet foods and then nodded his head. He had no suspicions and hurriedly asked people to carry things away. He dared not delay at all. No one was allowed to let His Majesty’s beloved dog starve at all!

Gu Bai woke up in the morning and found that the bed beside him was cold. He guessed that Emperor Tianchen had gone to court again to deal with the problem of natural disasters.

His own heart was anxious to death that even the usual tempting foods had lost its charm today.

When the eunuch who waited on Gu Bai saw that he didn’t eat, he was more worried than Gu Bai was. His Majesty had told him to take good care of the golden dog. But if the dog was hungry because he waited for His Majesty to come back, would he also be blamed?

“My little ancestor, please eat a little ba. When His Majesty comes back later, if he sees that we haven’t served you well, the lightest punishment will be getting beaten up on the board, and the worst will be losing our lives. You have to take pity on this poor slave ba. Take a bite, ah, please take a bite…”

The eunuch didn't care whether Gu Bai could understand him or not. He put the soup in front of Gu Bai and had a look of pleading on his face.

“Woof, woof!”

Gu Bai, who was already annoyed, became even more annoyed by the eunuch. He barked at him twice, but since he didn’t want his ears to be damaged again, he simply bowed his head and took a few sips. After eating, he turned to face the eunuch with his butt to show his intention of dismissing him.

The eunuch wasn't as tacit as Emperor Tianchen, who could see through Gu Bai's expression at a glance. Seeing that Gu Bai had eaten and wasn't hungry, he felt reassured and soon withdrew.

As soon as the eunuch had left, Gu Bai calmed down again, and the dog’s face then showed a solemn expression, one owned by a human.

In the plot, this problem of natural disasters was a great blow to Emperor Tianchen's standing, and it was the key for Prince Rui to usurp the throne. Since people from the ancient times believed in destiny the most, if Emperor Tianchen lost the hearts of the people, the throne would be left hanging.

But how could he help His Majesty? Even if the emperor’s dragon qi was helpful to him, he was still far from being able to move the mountains, drain the seas, call the wind, or summon the rain.

What to do, what to do, what to do, what to do, what to do ahhhhh!

Gu Bai’s brain was getting tired. The most annoying thing was this kind of world full of yaos. The speed to cultivate was too slow, and he couldn’t do anything without his abilities!

The puppy was impatient. Gu Bai was also in a bad mood. The dog’s nose flared, expressing his anger. Suddenly, he felt hot and his head almost let out smoke.

What’s going on?

Gu Bai shook his head. He felt hot all over his body. His four paws were also sore and felt soft. His breath was too fast, and it was hard to breathe.

Before he could continue to think too much about the heat, the situation suddenly turned sharply, and a kind of severe pain hit him. It instantly clouded over his mind and he couldn’t help crying out.

“Woof——”

A shrill bark suddenly sounded in the Qianqing Palace which scared everyone.

The face of the eunuch who waited outside the palace hall changed, and he hurriedly pushed the door open. All of a sudden, his face turned white, and there were only three words left in his head. It was over!

He had just seen the dog on the king’s dragon bed and his condition had been just fine. But now, the snow-white puppy was suffering. It kept rolling and twitching. The white fur had been dyed red by blood, and the barking was very shrill…

“Hurry, hurry and call the imperial physicians, call the imperial physicians!"

“Inform His Majesty, quickly, quickly…”

Thus, the attending eunuch was in a panic, and other palace maids and bodyguards were also strucked dumb.

Who in the palace didn't know that His Majesty doted on this puppy more than his imperial consorts? A few days ago, the most pampered Consort Ru was beaten up on the board because of this puppy. Now that the dog's situation was like this, if it actually died, the eunuch was afraid everyone would have to be buried with him!

It’s over, it’s over, it's over, it's over!

Everyone had the same idea as the attending eunuch, and they were all nervous. Each and every one of them hurriedly called and shouted for imperial physicians and also informed His Majesty in a panic.

When Emperor Tianchen, who was in the middle of a discussion, heard the news, he immediately left the courtiers and rushed back.

When he saw that Gu Bai's snow-white fur had turned blood-red, his eyes were red in an instant, and his eyes reflected a frightening ruthlessness.

“How could it be like this! Where are the imperial physicians? Call them, quickly!”

Emperor Tianchen’s eyes were red. He wanted to touch the dog with his hands, but he was afraid to make Gu Bai, who kept rolling and barking, feel worse. His hands had stiffened in mid-air, so he could only give orders to the imperial physicians.

“Your Majesty, this, this…”

The imperial physicians were in a difficult spot. They were all skilled in medicine, true, but it was for people. To make them treat a dog, it was beyond their specialty ah!

“Give zhen the cure, quickly!”

Emperor Tianchen was furious. The bright red color in front of him made the calm emperor lose his mind. The bloodthirst in his eyes made the physicians tremble and they dared not speak. They could only brace themselves to check on the dog.

“Woof!”

Gu Bai felt someone get close to him. The severe pain made Gu Bai show his teeth and the ferocious nature of an animal. He was now very confused, and his brain was a mess. He didn’t know anything else, only pain, pain, pain, and more pain that made people crazy.

“Bai, don’t be afraid. They are imperial physicians. They are going to treat you. Don’t be afraid, don't be afraid…”

The miserable screams made Emperor Tianchen panic. He squatted beside the bed and looked at Gu Bai’s pitiful appearance. He was very sad and wished that he was the one who got hurt instead. His attempt to comfort Gu Bai ended with a trembling voice.

Even if Gu Bai had lost his mind, at the moment the emperor approached him, Gu Bai opened his mouth and bit the emperor's hand. The pain and blood didn't affect Emperor Tianchen the least. His mind and eyes were filled only with the little white dog in front of him.

Seeing this scene, the imperial guards and eunuchs of Qianqing Palace really didn’t know what to say. His Majesty was really possessed. Looking at this situation, how was this a dog? It was more like a little lover.

“Your Majesty, you, please don’t do this. This servant is really powerless. The dog has a fate of its own. I'm sorry for your loss…”

An imperial physician came up to persuade him. The dog on the bed was bloody all over and kept twitching. He knew that it wouldn't live long and couldn't be saved at all.

“He is not a dog, he is zhen's Bai! Zhen's Bai! If zhen can’t even save his Bai, what’s zhen's use of you all? If Bai is dead, you will all be buried with zhen!”

Emperor Tianchen’s fierce rage scared the physician into a fright. He quickly covered his mouth and continued to examine the dog. He was frightened in his heart to the point he kept inwardly howling 'mother'. It was true that the Wei monarch was unpredictable, but this was only an animal and yet His Majesty attached so much importance to it. It was over, it was over, they would be buried together with a dog. Mother aaaaaah!

Meanwhile, Gu Bai was still biting the hand of Emperor Tianchen. When the blood of the other flew into his mouth, the pain on his body was strangely relieved.

Swallowing the blood, he felt that the demon core in his body was rotating rapidly. His yao power began to increase, his mind gradually became clear, and he vaguely saw the figure of Emperor Tianchen.

“Woof… Wuu…”

Gu Bai opened his eyes and sobbed. He loosened his jaw, as if he was attracted by something. He couldn't help but crawl towards Emperor Tianchen.

Seeing this, a group of physicians said happily, “Your Majesty, it's all right, it stopped barking!”

“Shut up!”

Emperor Tianchen reprimanded them. How could he believe this? Although Gu Bai wasn't barking at the moment, he could still see that the dog was still trembling and twitching, and the soft sobbing contained painful emotions.

His heart clenched, and he hugged Gu Bai with both hands and asked in a trembling voice.

“Bai, does it hurt? What’s the matter with you? Tell me what I should do to save you…”

His actions once again made the imperial physicians and palace maids vomit blood. How could an animal understand human speech, Your Majesty?!

Too bad, Gu Bai wasn't a real animal. His mind was clear now. Although he didn't feel severe pain anymore, there was another strange power in him that seemed to be changing his body.

Transformation!

The word “instinct” suddenly appeared in Gu Bai’s mind. It wasn't exactly his own instinct, but the instinct of the body he was in.

The cultivation knowledge of yao beasts was not learned by books and jade slips like human beings, but by inheritance of the blood vessels. At this moment, Gu Bai suddenly understood what the foreign strange energy would do to his body.

His heart was both happy and worried. This meant that his demon power was strong enough, but the problem was that it wasn't a good thing to shapeshift in front of so many people. Even if Emperor Tianchen protected him, if this news spread to the ministers, the whole court wouldn't tolerate a monster staying in the palace.

“Woof!”

Thinking of this, Gu Bai suddenly broke free from Emperor Tianchen, forced himself to resist the pain of transformation, jumped out of the bed, then left through the window quickly.

“Bai——!”

When Emperor Tianchen saw this, he immediately followed Gu Bai without a second thought. But when he reached the window, Gu Bai was already gone. The bodyguard outside saw only a bloody shadow, and he couldn’t catch up with him at all.

He just left for a while and it had already turned out like this. His Bai was covered with blood and screamed miserably. He didn’t know how hurt he was.

Thinking of this, Emperor Tianchen’s eyes reflected brutality and bloodlust, and he was furious.

“Somebody, go and find Bai for zhen immediately, and also find out what happened! Find out for zhen! During the time zhen was away, find all the people who have been close to Bai!”

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