Seal of Loyalty

His expression did not soften in the slightest.

She played her trump card—reaching out to scratch his chin. Stubbornness sparkled in his eyes, but his body yielded, eventually resting his head directly in her lap. After luxuriating for a while, he muttered, “Since you’ve become my master, you must take responsibility for me, stay by my side always. You’re not allowed to leave. Trading your life for mine—what you think is for my own good—is actually selfish and foolish. Let me tell you honestly: even if you exchanged your life for mine, I wouldn’t live alone.”

In her heart, she replied, “Alright.” She agreed with a smile, but inwardly, she was deeply shaken. In some mysterious way, the fate of herself and Mo Tu seemed tightly knotted, impossible to untangle or sever, calmly bound together in life and death.

A cough sounded nearby. Both looked up to see Jiu Yu’s face filled with a “shameful, truly shameful” expression, glaring at them with disdain and reproach. “Hey, this is my home. You two are so indecent in broad daylight, utterly shameless. Could you perhaps consider the feelings of your host?”

Mo Tu shot him a glance, lazily rolled over, and changed to lying on Qing Yin’s knees, drawling, “Scratch my back.”

Qing Yin’s face flushed crimson, but she dared not disobey her pet’s command and dutifully scratched away… This was no mere pet—he was practically her ancestor!

Jiu Yu huffed and swept out in a rage, filled with boundless grief and indignation. He had kindly brought them home to heal and hide, providing food and lodging, fetching water and cooking meals, yet he was constantly subjected to vicious attacks from the jealous black-haired beast. Jiu Yu, so elegant and flamboyant, had never suffered such humiliation.

At dinner, the table was set with several exquisite dishes—meat, vegetables, soup—all rich in color, aroma, and flavor, nourishing and delicious.

Jiu Yu had prepared it all himself. He was a person—well, a bird—with a keen sense of quality living. Not only was his home beautifully furnished, his food was equally refined, and he enjoyed cooking personally. He regularly flew to distant towns to procure the finest ingredients. Still, Qing Yin and Mo Tu were not freeloaders; her pouch contained plenty of treasures scavenged from the Dong family estate. To compensate for his spiritual and material losses, Jiu Yu had extorted a hefty rent from her.

All in all, Qing Yin and Mo Tu were enjoying great fortune, especially Mo Tu, who, while recuperating, benefitted hugely from nutritious meals.

Only, every time Jiu Yu served these “ungrateful scoundrels,” his feelings were terribly imbalanced. Thankfully, the two gluttons were so entranced by their food, they entirely failed to notice Jiu Yu’s sour expression.

Mo Tu, as usual, lounged against Qing Yin, letting her feed him. Jiu Yu’s brow twitched uncontrollably; he couldn’t stand it any longer. In the past, Mo Tu’s injured spine prevented him from sitting upright, so leaning was necessary. Now his spine had healed—he should be able to sit straight!

Across the table, the pair clung to each other, their saccharine exchanges making Jiu Yu’s scalp tingle.

“Be good, open wide~” “Come, have some soup~”

“It’s hot.”

“I’ll blow on it~ There, not hot anymore~”

“I don’t want that.”

“Come on~ This one’s nutritious~”

“Just one bite, just one~”

Clatter!

Jiu Yu slammed his bowl heavily onto the table. “Enough. I can’t take it anymore. You damned black-haired brute, your injury is on your back, not your hands. Must you really be fed bite by bite?”

Mo Tu glanced at him, a cold smile flickering on his lips. Ignoring him, he pursed his lips at Qing Yin. “I want that one…”

Jiu Yu ground his teeth. “I can’t stand it…You damned black-haired beast, will you ever stop? Back then, I had Qing Yin feed me just to provoke you into living again, and now you’re repaying me a hundredfold, a thousandfold in disgust…”

Mo Tu’s eyes suddenly cooled. He sat up, shedding all weakness, seized a bowl of egg custard, and pressed it hard against Jiu Yu’s handsome face.

“Is ‘Yin-er’ yours to call?”

Jiu Yu wiped the remnants from his face, unfazed, and turned to Qing Yin with a flirtatious smile. “Yin-er, your Brother Jiu’s greatest hatred is when others use the Summoning of Burning Feathers. But you’re different. You still have two chances to summon me. Brother Jiu is very much looking forward to it~” He wink seductively, clearly implying he’d love to be stroked by her…

Qing Yin, whose anger had just subsided after much effort, suddenly found it reignited. She panicked, only to see Mo Tu pick up a steaming bowl of soup and hurl it at Jiu Yu. This time, Jiu Yu was ready, dodged nimbly, and escaped, feeling he’d won the round, leaving behind a trail of triumphant laughter.

Mo Tu rose, intent on chasing the damned bird down for a beating, but Qing Yin rushed to embrace his waist, pressing him back onto the chair. “Don’t fuss with that magpie!”

He shot her a sidelong look. “Are you worried I’ll hurt him?”

She hurriedly swore to the heavens, “How could I care about him? I’m worried about you, alright? You’re my cat—who else would I worry about? You’re just recovered, can’t beat him yet. Wait until you’re truly well, then you can thrash him all you like.” To appease her cat, she ruthlessly and shamelessly relegated Jiu Yu to the bottom rung.

As she soothed him, she stroked his ears, bristling with anger. After a while, his fur smoothed, and he half-draped himself gloomily across her lap, still sulking.

Qing Yin quietly stroked him for a long time, then suddenly asked, “Mo Tu, was it because you heard Jiu Yu ask me to feed him that you decided to wake up?”

His teeth ground audibly. “Not just feed him—he licked your fingers too.”

Qing Yin drew a sharp breath. “You knew that? Weren’t your eyes closed then?”

“Even dead, I could see it.” He spat out the words bitterly, suddenly grabbing her hand and pulling it to his lips, taking her index finger into his mouth. He meant to bite, but couldn’t bring himself to, so he simply gnawed gently, sending tingles straight to her heart.

Since that damned bird had licked her once, he had to bite back a hundred times over to regain his balance.

Such outrageous tenderness made Qing Yin laugh and cry at once.

When Mo Tu was dozing on the small couch under the eaves, Qing Yin tiptoed away to find Jiu Yu. He glanced behind her, saw she hadn’t brought any “baggage,” and instantly grinned, grabbing her hand. “Yin-er, have you come for a secret rendezvous with Brother Jiu?”

She jumped away to the corner, glancing nervously at the door and lowering her voice, “Don’t joke like that! If Mo Tu sees, he’ll strip my sinews and pluck all your feathers!”

“Che…” He dismissed her with a sneer.

She edged closer and whispered, “Jiu Yu, listen, ever since Mo Tu woke up, he’s been so clingy, it’s unbearable.”

Jiu Yu’s eyes lit up. “Exactly! You’re tired of him too? Let me kick him—”

“Shut up!” Her hair practically stood on end, terrified Mo Tu might overhear and cause a bloodbath. “It’s just…he’s not acting normal. He used to be sweet, but now…” She grew genuinely sweet at the memory, her eyes curving like crescent moons. “But now, it’s like a bowl of sugar poured into a honey jar and stirred—Jiu Yu, you’re a beast too, tell me, isn’t something wrong with him?”

Jiu Yu was so provoked by her classification of “beast” that his brow twitched. “I am not a beast, I am an immortal bird—a celestial bird, alright?”

“Fine, celestial bird, divine beast.”

“Has he told you about the Soul Loyalty Talisman?”

“He has.”

“That talisman is deadly, not unlike the ‘Loyalty Gu’ of the mortal world. I nearly had one placed on me once—escaped only because I was clever and sabotaged it secretly. That’s how I retained my freedom, instead of becoming a slave to a celestial master like other immortal birds. When Mo Tu was adopted by the Star Lord, his heart was marked with the Soul Loyalty Talisman. Now the celestial charm has been broken. Normally, breaking it would trigger backlash, leading to a slow, painful death.”

She grew anxious. “Death?!”

Jiu Yu replied, “But judging by his current state, he’s pulled through and should not die. The talisman is broken, but its departure from his heart is still a slow and agonizing process. His excessive clinginess to his new master is likely a natural response to relieve this pain. Hopefully, in time, he’ll return to normal. Otherwise, I’m not sure how much longer I can tolerate him…” He clenched his fists, knuckles cracking.

Qing Yin felt suddenly relieved. A cat just abandoned by his old master and newly recognizing a new one would surely be gripped by endless anxiety, needing her patience and love to give him comfort. Well, she was happy to pamper him that way.

She breathed out, “So the Soul Loyalty Talisman is broken now—not so powerful after all.”

Jiu Yu shook his head. “Not so. The Soul Loyalty Talisman is a celestial charm; it’s not easily broken. Mo Tu has betrayed the Star Lord twice. The first time was when he fed you the celestial mushroom as a dying child. The second was when he faced the Star Lord again and refused to hand you over.”

Mo Tu had told her frankly before: he regretted giving her the celestial mushroom the moment he did it. He still couldn’t understand why he acted so, given the talisman on his heart—it was unthinkable to give away something meant for his immortal master. The Star Lord sentenced him to death, but Mo Tu escaped back to the mortal realm with the help of a celestial child, intending to find Qing Yin and return her to the immortal master as a substitute for the celestial mushroom, to redeem himself. But when the chance came again, he went against his original intent.

Jiu Yu said, “The second betrayal had its reasons. The first is truly baffling.”

Qing Yin paused. “You know the reason for the second betrayal?”

Jiu Yu looked at her. “Don’t you?”

She replied blankly, “I don’t know. If you do, tell me.”

He stared at her for a while, then snorted, “Foolish woman.”

“Hey, why insult me again?”

“If the celestial charm is a sword, then mortal love is a fire that melts steel. No matter how fierce the charm, it can never conquer the power of ‘love.’”

She acted as if enlightened. “So Mo Tu was willing to abandon his old master because he had me as his new master, so he wouldn’t become a stray cat. I get it, haha…”

Her laughter petered out awkwardly under Jiu Yu’s scornful gaze. She scratched her head. “Isn’t that right?”

“Right, my foot. It’s because Black Hair likes you. You silly woman.”

“……”

Author’s note: Jiu Yu is, without a doubt, an absolutely stunning man. According to a certain author’s usual style, the male lead is rarely the most handsome one. The prettiest usually ends up as cannon fodder, or reduced to… errand boy… otz