Mu Shiyue immediately sealed off her sense of smell, but the horrifying stench still lingered in her memory.
Her face turned green.
"Wuu…" After relieving herself, Hu Niu finally felt better.
She tried to rub against Mu Shiyue's hand, only to receive a slap.
"Clean this up!" Mu Shiyue's face looked ready to drag on the ground. "Clean it up properly!"
She didn't even dare look at the mess on the floor, afraid that if she did, she might lose control and shove Hu Niu's big head straight into it.
"Awroo…" Hu Niu whined softly.
"Three… two…" Mu Shiyue said expressionlessly.
"Roar!"
Hu Niu immediately sprang into action.
Soon a gust of wind rose out of nowhere, sweeping up the waste inside the room and carrying it outside without leaving a trace behind.
At the same time, Hu Niu blew away the remaining smell.
The waste was carried into the backyard and finally dropped onto an empty patch of land.
Then a pile of soil was lifted and covered the filth.
Once everything was done, Hu Niu wagged her tail and smiled ingratiatingly at Mu Shiyue.
Unfortunately, that didn't make Mu Shiyue smile at all.
She poked Hu Niu's big head fiercely with her finger, "If you eat random things again, just wait for death! Let's see if I bother saving you next time!"
"Awroo~"
Hu Niu wagged her tail and pushed her big head into Mu Shiyue's arms, rubbing and shaking it.
She also knew she had caused trouble with her gluttony this time, but how could she have known those little things would be so destructive?
As a Soul-Devouring Tiger, especially a fifth-rank Soul-Devouring Tiger, Hu Niu's body was practically impervious to blades and spears, and even her stomach was like a fortress.
That's why she had been so fearless.
More importantly, there usually weren't dangerous or poisonous things here.
Normally, whatever Mu Shiyue took out was delicious.
Those little pebble-like things looked tasty and smelled appealing to her.
But once they entered her stomach, everything started churning violently!
Hu Niu had been completely caught off guard.
Her large head kept rubbing against Mu Shiyue's hands while she whimpered coquettishly.
Being fussed over by such a giant cat gradually cooled Mu Shiyue's anger.
"I'm warning you, this is the last time!" she said coldly, roughly kneading Hu Niu's face. "If there's a next time, you can just wait to die!"
"Aw aw~" Of course Hu Niu obediently nodded.
As for next time…That's a matter for next time!
Other spirit beasts peeked in through the doorway. After seeing Hu Niu was fine, they also relaxed.
She had screamed so miserably earlier that everyone thought something terrible had happened.
Thankfully, she was okay.
"Aw aw!" Little Tiger Baby also toddled in on its short legs.
But before it could get close, its mother pushed it away with a large paw.
Seeing its mother desperately rubbing against Mu Shiyue, the poor cub's psychological trauma deepened a little more.
"Alright, let go of me!" Mu Shiyue pushed Hu Niu's big head aside. "I'm going back to sleep, I don't have time to deal with you."
Hu Niu whimpered and pulled her head back, obediently lying down on the bed.
Little Tiger Baby finally seized the chance to run over and plopped down on Mu Shiyue's shoe, glaring angrily at its mother and complaining loudly.
Unfortunately, Hu Niu wasn't affected at all and simply yawned.
She was sleepy too.
Little Tiger Baby: "..."
Mu Shiyue scooped Little Tiger Baby up, "Alright, you already know what your mother's like. Let's go."
She carried Little Tiger Baby out.
The next morning, Mu Shiyue took out several bottles and jars and began putting makeup on the Black Abyss Falcon.
Yes, makeup.
From the information sent back by her disciples, she had roughly learned what had happened.
The centipede Da Hei brought back had been someone's spirit beast.
There must've been conflict between the two sides, otherwise Da Hei wouldn't have done this.
Now that the centipede was dead, the grudge had definitely been formed.
If Da Hei simply returned as it was, it would definitely be recognized, which would lead to a lot of trouble.
And trouble, of course, should be avoided whenever possible.
Her disciples had said the other side didn't know Da Hei was responsible and were currently searching for it.
So she needed to change Da Hei's appearance to avoid those problems.
Da Hei was completely black and rather eye-catching.
So she decided to add some colors.
A few days earlier, Qin Yiwei had accidentally produced several powders while refining medicine.
These powders had different colors. Once applied, they could only be washed off with special substances.
Wasn't that basically hair dye?
Unfortunately, the powders smelled terrible, and no one here had any interest in dyeing their hair, so the powders ended up with Mu Shiyue.
Important sect supplies were managed by Qin Yiwei.
But miscellaneous things like this always landed in Mu Shiyue's hands.
See? Aren't they useful now?
"Come on, let me dye you into a nice color!"
Mu Shiyue rubbed her hands excitedly, pulled out several small bowls, and began mixing colors.
Da Hei crouched on the ground, staring in horror at the bowls of various colors in her hands. The smell alone made every feather on its body scream with rejection.
But Mu Shiyue simply took out a big steam bun, "It's fine. Trust me, I'll make you look so handsome it'll blow everyone away!"
Da Hei didn't understand what 'so handsome it'll blow everyone away' meant.
But the steam bun successfully calmed it down.
The steam bun contained the centipede meat, making it even tastier than before, it liked it a lot.
So Da Hei lowered its head and ate the steam bun which was harder and more flavorful than usual, while letting Mu Shiyue fiddle with its feathers.
"Done!"
By the time Mu Shiyue cheered, Da Hei had just finished the steam bun.
When it turned around and saw its colourful body, it screamed in shock.
"Screech—!"
What were these ridiculous and messy colors?!
It had originally been a pure black bird, now it had turned rainbow-colored!
There's barely any black left anywhere on its body!
It didn't look majestic or imposing at all!
"Ang~!"
Even Da Yuanzi, who had been watching nearby, let out a shocked sound, dropping the bamboo it was holding.
This was basically an entirely different species!
"Don't worry, don't worry." Mu Shiyue patted it cheerfully. "This can all be washed off. It won't hurt your body. Also, with this disguise, who would recognize you?"
"Screech—!"
The Black Abyss Falcon flapped its wings angrily and anxiously.
"It's fine, it's fine." Mu Shiyue took out another steam bun. "Here, calm down."
The moment the steam bun appeared, Da Hei's anger finally vanished.
Fine, for the sake of food, it would forgive her!
Chu Jingzhuo and the others waited on Minglu Peak for an entire day before Da Hei finally returned.
But when they saw Da Hei, their eyes nearly popped out.
"Is that Da Hei? That's Da Cai(1)!" Meng Fanze blurted out. "There's not even a trace of black left!"
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(1) Is that Da Hei? That's Da Cai!: Da Hei means Big Black, Da Cai means Big Rainbow