My Two Mighty Spirit Beasts - Chapter 1

Xun Mu, the spirit beast my junior sect sister had raised, appeared in my bed in the middle of the night.

His wrists and ankles were bound, and a strip of black cloth covered his mouth. His usually cool, distant eyes were misted over as he gazed at me uneasily.

Worse, he wore nothing but a thin gauze robe. The sculpted muscles of his chest were on full display, and I could just make out the lines of his hips disappearing beneath the fabric.

Once I tore the gag away, Xun Mu pleaded with me in a husky voice.

“I’ve been poisoned with Love’s Entanglement.”

“Lady Qin Tiao, please help me. Purge the poison.”

I reached out to take his pulse.

His skin was alarmingly hot. Struggling to restrain himself, he bit his red lip in distress, his cheeks flushed.

The way he seemed to resist and invite me at the same time was a serious test of my self-control.

I steadied myself and looked away. “Did my youngest junior sister send you here?”

“Yes. She said the poison was so potent that I’d die unless it was cured within two hours.”

My junior sister certainly knew how to trap someone.

There were two cures for Love’s Entanglement: intercourse between a man and a woman, or spiritual power.

Xun Mu had only just taken human form. If he lost his chastity, he would never be able to form a bond with anyone.

But forcing the poison out with spiritual power would likely leave my reserves depleted for an entire month.

Xun Mu caught my wrist and spoke softly. “If you save me with your spiritual power, my lady, you will be my master from now on.”

As he spoke, he gently nuzzled my palm, his eyes soft. “Help me. Please?”

I helped him sit up, removed his upper garment, and began purging the poison with my spiritual power.

It was excruciating for him, but he gritted his teeth without making a sound. The moment I finished, he passed out.

Just then, my junior sister burst in with a group of people.

“Senior Sister, why did you steal my Vermilion Bird?”

Our master and several of our junior brothers followed her inside.

They entered to find Xun Mu bare-chested, slumped weakly in my arms.

It looked as though my insatiable demands had drained him dry.

My junior sister looked ready to cry. “I’ve raised my Vermilion Bird for years. We were supposed to form our bond on the sixth day of next month.”

“But now you’ve ruined his chastity. Without a bonded beast, I’ll never become a true immortal.”

She clutched Master’s sleeve and began to sob.

He patted her back soothingly. “Don’t cry, Huayu. I’ll see that justice is done.”

Then he turned his grim face toward me. “Qin Tiao, you are this sect’s eldest disciple. To disregard all decency and covet your junior sister’s spirit beast—you disgrace us!”

He conjured a long, barbed whip and lashed it at me.

I dodged. “Nothing happened between me and the Vermilion Bird. Someone tied him up and delivered him here.”

“Liar!” My junior sister pointed at me. “Ever since he took human form, you’ve been finding excuses to approach him. You wanted him because he’s handsome!”

The junior brothers chimed in. “Senior Sister, if you’ve done wrong, you must accept your punishment. Those are the sect’s rules.”

I held out my right hand to Master.

“The Vermilion Bird had already been dosed with Love’s Entanglement. I depleted my spiritual power curing him. If you don’t believe me, take my pulse.”

He placed his fingers on my wrist. After a moment, he looked at my junior sister with a complicated expression.

She froze. “You actually used your spiritual power to cure him…”

Realizing she had given herself away, she hastily shut her mouth.

“Master, I’m not the one at fault. The person who poisoned him is.”

“Once he wakes up, we’ll know who did it. You can punish the culprit then.”

The whip struck me as soon as I finished speaking.

With no spiritual power left, I took the full force of the blow. I fell to the floor with a muffled groan.

“Qin Tiao, it was bad enough that you laid hands on Huayu’s spirit beast. Now you’ve deliberately drained your power to frame her. How vicious can you be?”

I stared at him, stunned.

He knew I had done nothing wrong. Yet to protect my junior sister’s reputation, he had put all the blame on me.

He lashed out again, this time with all his spiritual power.

I rolled aside too slowly. The blow drove me to my knees in front of my junior sister.

“I hear your White Tiger is naturally gifted and has already developed seventy percent of his power. In that case, you and Huayu will exchange spirit beasts.”

The long barbs dug into my skin. Trembling with pain, I asked, “Master, do you know that the Vermilion Bird hasn’t developed even ten percent of his power? He can’t possibly help anyone survive their immortal tribulation.”

“That is precisely why you will exchange beasts.”

“Your spiritual power already exceeds hers. If your bonded beast is stronger too, how do you expect Huayu to bear it?”

His third blow made me spit blood. My junior sister stepped back in disgust.

“As the eldest disciple, you should yield to your junior sister. You deserve to be punished!”

His gaze was cold and distant when he looked at me. Only my junior sister brought any tenderness into his eyes.

I couldn’t help asking, “Master, I’m the one who helped our sect establish itself in the immortal realm. Why do you always favor her?”

He gave me a cold glance.

“I raised you. It is your duty.”

With that, he left, his hands clasped behind his back.

I watched him go and wiped the blood from my lips with the back of my hand.

Out of consideration for the fact that he had taken me in, I had given him one last chance.

Since he insisted on treating me this way, there was no reason for him to remain the master of this immortal sect.

My junior sister followed him. After a few steps, she turned back and bent toward me.

“Thank you for training my White Tiger all these years, Senior Sister. You can have that useless Vermilion Bird.”

I looked at the unconscious Xun Mu.

They had no Heavenly Eye. I did.

Only I knew that the Vermilion Bird was a phoenix undergoing rebirth.