As Jin Shu got ready to head back to Black Mountain City, the tiger cub yelped in pain. Jin Shu looked down to see what was wrong with it; when he did, he noticed something wiggling beneath its skin.
"That's probably the Living Metal transforming its skeleton like it did mine," Jin Shu thought.
He patted the little cub's head and whispered, "You'll be fine, little buddy. After the pain's gone, you'll become much stronger."
The cub's pained expression seemed to ease slightly as he pet its head.
Jin Shu continued walking out of the forest towards home. After a little over an hour of walking later, he could see the 30 feet tall walls of Black Mountain City in the distance. The cub had stopped yelping not long ago and was peacefully asleep now.
As Jin Shu walked through the city gates, the guards at the entrance noticed him.
"Welcome back, Young Master Jin."
As they welcomed him back, they noticed his ripped and bloodstained robes.
"Young Master Jin, are you injured? Are you okay?"
Jin Shu reassured them that he was fine. "I'm fine. I just had a small fight with a Demonic Beast."
"A Demonic Beast!? Isn't that a beast that has broken through to the Qi Gathering Realm!?"
The guards were astounded by the fact that Jin Shu had fought with a Demonic Beast and survived. As far as they knew, Jin Shu had only just broken through to the Qi Gathering Realm himself, and to fight a Demonic Beast of the same realm, most cultivators would have to be at least one stage higher, if not more, otherwise they would risk losing their lives.
The guardsmen all gathered around Jin Shu and started badgering him with questions. Hearing the commotion, Captain Shen Gong stepped out of the guard house and admonished his men. "You lot, get back to work and leave Young Master Jin alone!"
Captain Shen Gong turned to Jin Shu with a worried look on his face and asked, "Are you badly injured, Young Master Jin? Should I send for a doctor?"
Jin Shu shook his head and denied needing any help. "I'm not hurt too badly, so there will be no need to call a doctor. But thank you for your concern, Captain."
Captain Shen Gong sighed in relief, then continued to ask, "If you don't mind me asking, what is that creature in your hands?"
Jin Shu looked down and pet the little cub's head and responded, "Ah, this is my new pet. I picked her up in the forest. If there's nothing else, I'll be on my way now. I am quite tired from my trip and would like to wash this blood and dirt off."
"Ah, yes. Please don't let me hold you up. I need to get back to work as well."
Jin Shu continued on his way home, soon reaching the entrance to the Jin Mansion. A beautiful woman wearing a long red flowing hanfu with golden phoenix embroidery came around the corner, followed by a group of maids. When she saw Jin Shu in his dirty, bloody robes, she screamed and came running up to him. "Aah! My poor baby! What happened to you!?"
The woman was Princess Feng Huang, Sun Mei'er; Jin Shu's mother.
The little cub was startled awake by the scream and was nearly squished when Jin Shu's mother ran up and hugged Jin Shu.
"Oh, Xiao Shu'er, my poor baby! Why is there blood on your robes? Are you hurt? Maids, call a doctor!" Sun Mei'er was crying hysterically as if someone was dying. The maids were running around frantically, attracting the attention of other servants and passersby out on the street.
Jin Shu attempted to reassure his mother. "Mother, I'm fine. Look, there's not even a single wound on me." He pulled the collar of his robes down to show his mother that he wasn't injured.
His mother, seeing that he wasn't wounded, calmed down slightly but was still sobbing intermittently. "What happened to you? Why are you so dirty and bloody? Did someone bully you? Tell momma who bullied you; I'll have their entire family destroyed."
"No one bullied me, so there will be no need to destroy any families. As for my bloody robes, I fought with a Demonic Beast, a Winged Tiger in the forest, and it ripped my robes a bit. So there is nothing to worry about; I'm fine." Jin Shu replied while patting his mother's back to help calm her down.
"Oh, so you fought a Demonic Beast... WHAT!? A Demonic Beast!?" Sun Mei'er screamed in surprise.
Jin Shu tried brushing it off by showing the tiger cub to his mother. "Yeah, I fought with a Demonic Beast, and I got this little Winged Tiger cub as a new pet. Isn't she cute?"
Sun Mei'er looked up at Jin Shu accusingly and grabbed the little cub from him. "I know you're trying to distract me, but I'll let you off this time on account of this adorable little baby."
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She snuggled the little cub in her arms and asked, "What is this little cutie's name?"
Jin Shu scratched the back of his head. "Uh... I haven't named her yet. I'm no good at naming things, so could you help me name her?"
Sun Mei'er continued snuggling the cub as it mewed in protest and attempted to struggle free. Unfortunately for the little cub, even though it was a Demonic Beast in the 1st stage of the Qi Gathering Realm and was much stronger than even a fully grown wild beast, Jin Shu's mother was at the 9th stage of the Core Forging Realm, so the little cub had no hope of struggling free anytime soon.
Sun Mei'er thought for a moment. "Hmm... how about Xiao Yin Hu Zai?"
"Um... mother? Was it you or father that named me?"
His mother sighed and said, "Haa... You're father and grandfather wouldn't let me give you the name that I wanted and made me shorten it. I wanted to name you; Laizi Tiantang De Jinshu Ying'er Liwu. Isn't that a much better name than just Jin Shu?"
Jin Shu laughed nervously and took the little cub back from his mother's arms. "Haha... yeah... I think I'm just going to call her Yin'er. I'm going to go get washed up now; I'll talk to you later, mother."
Sun Mei'er sighed ruefully and called out to Jin Shu as he walked away. "Haa... why does no one appreciate my names? Come see me after you wash up; I have something to give you!"
Jin Shu waved back to show he had heard her. He looked down at the little cub and asked if what name it liked. "Do you want to be called Xiao Yin Hu Zai?"
The little cub shook its head in denial. "Mew!"
"How about Yin'er?" He continued to ask.
The little cub nodded vigorously. "Mew! Mew!"
"Alright, you'll be named Yin'er from now on."
Yin'er rubbed her head against his chest and purred in satisfaction.
---
All washed up and changed into a new hanfu, Jin Shu, along with Yin'er, made their way to his mother's courtyard.
When Jin Shu stepped into the courtyard, he noticed his mother and a young girl wearing a yellow robe with blue bird embroidery sitting at a stone table in the middle of the courtyard. He wondered who the young girl was, as he didn't recognize her. His mother stood up to greet him and to steal Yin'er from his arms. "Ah, you're here. Come sit down and have some tea with us."
Yin'er mewed in protest but was powerless to stop Jin Shu's mother from snuggling her.
As Jin Shu sat down, Sun Mei'er introduced to him the girl who was sitting opposite him. "This is Fan Biyu. She's your mother's first disciple, eighteen, and has just broken through to the 2nd stage of the Qi Gathering Realm. She's very beautiful, isn't she?"
"Yes... er, I mean, she has very beautiful blue birds embroidered on her robes," Jin Shu replied, flustered.
Fan Biyu blushed slightly and chuckled. "Hehe, thank you for your compliment."
Jin Shu turned to his mother and asked, "Mom, didn't you say you wanted to give me something?"
Sun Mei'er looked up from petting Yin'er and said, "Oh, that? I lied hehe."
Jin Shu looked at his mother incredulously. "What... you lied?"
Sun Mei'er giggled. "Yep."
Jin Shu stared blankly at his mother.
Sun Mei'er burst into laughter. "Hahaha... you should see the look on your face! Hahaha! It was just a joke; here, take this."
The ring on Sun Mei'er's right hand glowed, and a scroll appeared in her hand. Jin Shu thought to himself, 'That's a space ring. I heard from father that only runesmiths in the Spirit Strengthening Realm can craft those.'
Sun Mei'er handed the scroll to Jin Shu and explained to him what it was. "That scroll records an Earth-tier combat technique."
Jin Shu looked at the scroll in confusion. "What is an Earth-tier combat technique?"
Now his mother looked at him in confusion, then came to a sudden realization. "Ah, that's right! I'd forgotten since I've been away at my sect for so long. That stubborn grandfather of yours insists on not teaching his descendants any combat techniques, always saying that they're a family of blacksmiths who belong in a forge and shouldn't go around fighting all day. Ugh, now I'm pissed off. Biyu, you tell him about combat techniques. I need to snuggle my little baby Yin'er some more to calm down."
"Meew!" Yin'er had just fallen asleep when she was awakened by some aggressive snuggling from Sun Mei'er.
"Yes, Master." Fan Biyu took a sip of tea, then began explaining what combat techniques were to Jin Shu.
"A combat technique is what cultivators use to harness the power of their realm to do battle against other cultivators and Demonic Beasts. There are different tiers to combat techniques; starting at the Mortal-tier, Earth-tier, and Heaven-tier. I have heard that there are tiers above Heaven, however, our region of the world doesn't have any of those to my knowledge." Fan Biyu paused for a moment to wet her throat with another sip of tea.
"The technique that my Master has given you is the Earth-tier Phoenix Claw technique. She stole... I mean, she borrowed it from the Matriarch of our Sect."
Jin Shu looked at Fan Biyu in bewilderment. "Did you just say she stole this scroll from the leader of your sect?"
Fan Biyu shook her head hurriedly. "No, you must have misheard."
Sun Mei'er stopped snuggling Yin'er, although it looked more like she was strangling the poor thing. "Ah, it's fine. Yes, I stole it. My junior sister stole the Matriarch position from me just because she's a little more talented than me. Then she has the gall to make me the Grand Elder of the Sect. Look at me, I'm still young and beautiful. What about me looks like a Grand Elder?"
Sun Mei'er continued to rant endlessly. From her ranting, it was evident she was quite vain, but that's to be expected as she grew up as the most spoiled Princess in the Qi dynasty's Imperial family.
Jin Shu was curious about the different cultivation sects in this world. As he didn't have much knowledge about them, he turned to Fan Biyu and asked her, "Miss Fan, do you mind telling me about the various sects? I'm quite curious as I've never seen them for myself."
Fan Biyu glanced at her Master as she was ranting to herself, seemingly in a world of her own. "Sure, there are three sects in our Western Region. I'll start with our sect. Our sect is the Immortal Phoenix Sect; we exclusively accept only female cultivators. Our Matriarch has reached the Spirit Strengthening Realm. Unfortunately, our previous Matriarch, your mother's master, passed away when she was attempting to break through to a realm above the Spirit Strengthening Realm. Next is the Great Mountain Sect; they focus on training and strengthening their bodies to the extreme through physical cultivation techniques. And lastly, there is the Wild Beast Sect; they focus on raising Demonic Beasts."
Jin Shu smiled and thanked her. "Thank you for explaining that to me. I've always been curious. However, my father doesn't know much about the sects, and my mother has been gone for too long."
Fan Biyu smiled and nodded. She leaned back to rest, tired from all the talking.
Noticing the sun dipping over the walls in the distance, Jin Shu stood up and said, "Alright, it's getting late. I'd better be on my way now."
Jin Shu grabbed Yin'er from his mother's arms and said his goodbyes. "Goodbye, mother. Goodbye, Miss Fan. I'm going back to rest now, as I'm tired from my trip this morning."
"Goodbye, Shu'er." His mother waved him goodbye.
"Goodbye, Jin Shu." Said Fan Biyu.