Volume One, Chapter Ninety-Five: Please Grant Me Death

Seeing Trishna standing far off, her face tight with anxiety as she tiptoed and strained to look this way, Tu Zhe noticed the tear stains on her cheeks.

Damn it.

She even knows how to cry?

Crocodile tears.

A fierce blaze rose in Tu Zhe’s chest.

That single moment of hesitation on Trishna’s part had created the present nightmare. If he had not gone mad enough to blow up an imperial-grade Brahma crystal, would that poor dog have ended up drifting forever in the vacuum of space?

That was unforgivable. Once he got out of here, that wretched woman could either be beaten to death on the spot or driven off at once. As for Master Mara’s face? Hell, he had given me a bodyguard like that, and he still expects face?

Hmm?

Why were there a few unfamiliar, coquettish women in that crowd? Their dress and bearing seemed rather unusual.

At that very moment, Tu Zhe felt the dog in his arms squirming wildly, followed by a long yawn. Looking down, he saw the dog stretch lazily and blink its sleepy eyes, scanning the boundless Brahma qi all around them. In a babyish voice, it asked, “Rogue Brother, where is this? I slept so deeply I did not even dream. Is this... Oh no, Rogue Brother, we were attacked! Are we going to die?”

Tu Zhe seized the dog under the armpits and lifted it up, turning it this way and that to inspect it from head to toe. Seeing that it had emerged from its sleep completely unharmed, he could not help leaning in and planting a fierce kiss on it before laughing aloud. “Doggy, you are all right now! Hahaha—”

Outside, Gourd Boy had been straining his little backside with all his might. Hearing his father’s burst of laughter, he finally came back to life. Drawing in a great breath, he sucked all the Brahma qi into his belly, then pressed a hand to his waist as though he could no longer straighten up, crying out in a soft, plaintive voice, “Oh, Father, you almost worked your son to death, waaaah—”

At that moment, light flashed over Tu Zhe’s body, and a strange, radiant garment woven of Brahma qi appeared on him.

He scooped up Gourd Boy, who was there taking credit for his achievement, pinched the chubby little face, and chuckled. “So there really is a world of difference between having a son and not having one, isn’t there? Haha.”

It was also Doggie’s first time truly seeing Gourd Boy, and it liked him instantly. It sprang out of Tu Zhe’s arms, landed on the ground, and opened its own arms for a hug, shrieking, “Good little boy, come here and let Doggie Auntie hug you!”

Gourd Boy clearly did not know what to make of a “auntie” whose babyish voice had not yet faded. He instantly teleported into Trishna’s arms as she came over, then turned back with a grin and said to his auntie, “Wait until you grow a little taller. Right now, well, you are a bit short on height, heehee...”

A group of people came hurrying toward Tu Zhe with delighted faces. Tu Zhe met their gazes with a warm smile, looking from face to face and nodding to each in turn, but he did not spare Trishna even a glance, as if she did not exist at all.

If Gourd Boy had been in someone else’s arms, Doggie would never have let it rest; it would have chased after him and forced him to call her “auntie.” But the one holding Gourd Boy was the enchantress Trishna.

Doggie’s expression instantly dulled. Its eyes flickered restlessly as it looked around without focus, clearly remembering how Trishna had hesitated at the crucial moment and failed to pull it to safety.

How could that not leave a bitter taste? If it had been the old Doggie, it would already have been baring its teeth and claws, demanding an explanation. But not now.

Doggie was truly heartbroken.

When one is truly heartbroken... and is a dog, there is nothing to say.

Yes. You watched me die. What is left for me to say to you?

Trishna was not merely uneasy; she was ashamed and humiliated almost to the point of death.

What on earth had she done? Had she been possessed then, or bewitched? Why had she hesitated for even that one instant?

If not for that instant, Doggie would not have been injured. Tu Zhe would not have thrown himself into such a desperate fight.

All of it, everything, came down to the fact that at the most critical moment, she had stood there as a spectator.

So Trishna lowered her head, staring at her own toes like a bird with a tiny face, and walked back mechanically. She did not know what punishment she would receive, but even if she had to kneel every day in repentance, even if she had to be beaten every day, she did not want to be sent away.

At that moment, Gourd Boy’s eyes rolled about slyly, betraying a stomach full of schemes.

Once they had rejoined Tu Zhe, Gourd Boy threw his arms around Trishna’s neck and said with a cheeky grin, “Father, I found you a wife, heehee...”

A wife?

Tu Zhe’s cold, sharp gaze sliced across Trishna. Seeing her break into tearful sobs again, he gave a silent, derisive snort.

Not bad, you. So you’ve set your sights on my son, and now you want to be my wife? Dream on, with that clever little face of yours. You’d only be flattering yourself to death.

So Tu Zhe spoke to Gourd Boy with no warmth at all. “Are you coming down or not? If you do not come down, be careful or I will beat you, understand?”

Gourd Boy laughed sheepishly. “Father, you are only putting on an act. Beat me? Could you bear to?”

Tu Zhe’s face changed in an instant, and he barked, “You little brat! If you do not come down, then from this day on do not ever come back into my head—”

Gourd Boy was so frightened that his mouth flew open with a shudder, nearly wetting himself. Of course, he had no urine to wet himself with.

His mouth hung open for a long time before he burst into a wailing howl, kicking his little legs as he cried, “You heartless old old... father! Your son just... just spent all his strength saving you, and this is how you repay me? This is biting the hand that fed you! Oh, I can’t live anymore... People say that when the birds are gone, the good bow is hidden away; when the cunning rabbit dies, the hound is cooked—no, not hound, that is not right, it is... it is the hunting dog that gets cooked. My father he he he... has gathered up all the shamelessness under heaven, the very summit of it all... the universe’s cold cruelty and mercilessness and all that, what is the proper grand phrase again? Waaaah... I am not living anymore, I am miserable, waaaah waaaah waaah—”

Not only everyone else, even Tu Zhe was instantly covered in black lines.

What in the hell kind of brat was this? What sort of speech was that? It made it sound as though he ought to be bowing and scraping to that wretched woman. Was this little thing turning his elbow outward?

At that moment, Trishna wiped away her tears, set Gourd Boy down decisively, and, despite his panicked cries of “Mommy, Mommy,” walked straight up to Doggie. Through broken sobs, she said, “Miss Yema, I was selfish. I will not make excuses for myself. Before the Young Heavenly Son punishes me, let me first say I am sorry. If you hate me, it is what I deserve. I have no complaints...”

Doggie looked around, as though it had heard nothing at all.

Trishna bowed deeply. Then, turning to face Tu Zhe, she sobbed, “Please, Young Heavenly Son... grant me death...”