"...Don't do that again. Do you even realize how embarrassed I was?" I walked with Tang Yue down the street after we both left the restaurant.
"Who knew you wouldn't have a single yuan? How did you even think of trying to pay with a flower?" Tang Yue looked at me with a sly smile and sparks of amusement in her eyes. She clearly didn't regret her actions and was enjoying their consequences.
"It's not an ordinary flower, it's a Thunder Lily! By the way, it's worth about four million yuan! These waiters really don't know the subject! They could have sold it, covered the lunch cost, and gotten rich on tips!" I snorted. The waiter's contemptuous look after I tried to pay for lunch with this flower would haunt my nightmares for the next couple of days.
"Well, in the end, I had to pay anyway." Tang Yue's smile threatened to split her face in two, she was so pleased. Is this her intricate revenge?
"You were supposed to pay. After all, you invited me here initially." I gave her a reproachful look.
"But you're a man. By gender, you're supposed to pay for a woman, even if the invitation came from her." Tang Yue waved her hand, unwilling to admit she deliberately staged the whole show. She knows perfectly well I rarely carry money.
"But in the public's eyes, and by our agreement, you're my 'sugar mommy.' So, to not break the cover, you were supposed to pay anyway." Our whole conversation turned into a game – who would admit first that they should have paid.
"Yes, but as my 'sweet boy,' you're supposed to buy me gifts and treat me using my money. So the cover isn't broken..."
Bickering like that along the way, we walked the entire path to the large lake, in the center of which was an island about the size of a large village. That was the home of the Tang clan, as well as their ancestral land, from which they emerged along with the Totem Serpent. Who, by the way, was there now too.
"I'll call us a boat..." Tang Yue was about to send a special signal, but I just abruptly picked up her body in my arms and threw her with all my strength toward the island, jumping after her myself.
Boom!
Regrouping in the air, Tang Yue managed to land neatly on the island's shore, on her feet, scattering sand around. Not in vain had she spent so much time with the body of the junior Pack Leader; she had excellently mastered its power.
"Have you gone mad?! What are you doing?!" She turned her indignant gaze on me as I landed beside her.
"It's faster and more convenient this way. Seriously, why wait for a boat when we can get there on our own?" I looked at her condescendingly. Couldn't win the argument, so at least vent my soul by throwing her across the lake. As it turned out, it was a great way to relax!
"Grrr!" The growl was her answer. Heh-heh, and Tang Yue in anger is as beautiful as ever.
Without answering me, the girl straightened her slightly disheveled clothes from the impromptu flight and, trying to stomp loudly on the ground with her feet, led me to the grotto on the other end of the island, where the Venomous Serpent should be.
We didn't have to walk far, and my eyes beheld a beautiful grotto with a couple of small holes in the ceiling letting in sunlight. Below was water. It seemed like a passage to a tunnel connected to the lake outside. At the moment, the water surface was calm, and no serpent was visible.
Approaching the water, Tang Yue dipped one of her hands into it and poured magic into her earrings, which began transmitting special vibrations through her arm into the water. And already a minute after starting this, the water surface rippled, making the previously blue water turn black. Obviously, something very large was approaching from below.
Noticing this, Tang Yue finally pulled her hand out of the water and approached me, smiling strangely. But I didn't have time to pay attention to it, as a huge red-and-black serpentine head rose from the water and stared at me with its bright green eyes. Stared unfriendly...
"Big serpent, this guy who bullied me! Teach him a couple of lessons!" Grinning joyfully, Tang Yue pointed at me with her finger. Her face had the expression of someone whose long-planned prank had finally succeeded.
Hm, though the Totem Serpent's size of nearly a kilometer inspires respect, its aura is too weak now, only at the level of a peak Commander-in-Chief, and not the strongest in that class. At most, it can attack with its mass now, but during molting, its body is too fragile, and it'd only hurt itself trying such a trick. No wonder in this state it tries to avoid all High-level and above mages. They really can threaten it to some degree.
"Tang Yue, I wouldn't want to injure Hangzhou's guardian, better calm it down and let's talk peacefully." Watching the serpent's pupils narrow more and more, I took a step back and began pondering how to win a fight with this thing without injuring it. Otherwise, Tang Yue would never forgive me.
"Hmph, are you scared? Now you know not to mock and cruelly joke with me. Don't worry, as soon as it beats you up a bit, I'll call it off." She looked down at me haughtily. Girl, I understand I'm like an ant before the true power of the Totem Serpent, but right now it's horribly weakened! The saying "A lean camel is still bigger than a horse," so loved by the Chinese, is not appropriate now!
Realizing words wouldn't resolve this, I summoned Bul and Pikachu, immediately mentally ordering them to merge. Understanding me at half a word, my two Senior Commander-in-Chief level summons merged into one, with a weak tendency toward peak Commander-in-Chief level. Feeling their aura, Tang Yue's smile instantly faded from her face.
"Stop, stop! I get it! That's it, stop the fight! Big serpent, I was joking, this guy is my student, just very cheeky and annoying, no need to pounce on him! He's also a guardian of another Totem! Mu Bai, show him!" Quickly realizing which way the wind was blowing, Tang Yue instantly changed her mind and rushed to calm the most unstable factor in this equation – the Totem Serpent, who was already picking the perfect angle to strike me.
Sighing and cursing Tang Yue's adventurous nature for the umpteenth time, I poured magic energy into the White Tiger pendant, which emitted special vibrations that the serpent instantly picked up and calmed a bit, even showing a faint hint of respect in its eyes. After all, the White Tiger is one of the four main Totems, while it itself is just a descendant of one of them. If I had the Black Tortoise vessel, it would flatten itself on the ground right now, acknowledging my dominance. As is, just respect for a strong ally. Well, at least it doesn't want to attack anymore – that's something.
"Pika-Bu!" In their merged form, looking like a Huge Pikachu made of water covered in lightning, my summons asked if we were still going to thrash the big serpent. After I gave them a negative answer, they separated and sat on either side of me. They didn't like being in the merged form. What can you do.
Apparently, despite growing up together and being friends, neither wants to yield dominance over the resulting body. But good that they don't pull such stunts during battle. They understand the need to unite against someone stronger.