The voice pierced into his ears, and Little Jiu Nian’s eyes, which had been squinting from the pain, suddenly widened.

He looked around suspiciously.

He found himself inside a cave, with a warm bonfire burning.

There was no one nearby, it seemed, he wasn’t dead yet.

Who was talking to him?

At this moment, the voice came again.

"If you move, the wound will reopen, and not even an immortal could save you."

This time, Little Jiu Nian heard it clearly—the voice was coming from the small tiger, Chichi, crouching across from him.

"You, you, Chichi, how can you talk?"

Ignoring the pain, Little Jiu Nian stammered, staring at Chichi as if he’d seen a ghost.

Though he was young, it didn’t mean he couldn’t understand.

Tigers don’t talk; he’d never heard of animals talking before.

Thinking of this, Little Jiu Nian’s mouth puckered, and his voice started to choke, his little shoulders trembling.

"I must be dead to hear such crazy sounds. Mother, Jiunian is sorry for not finding the heartless father and dying now. Grandpa, Grandma, godfather, aunt, Jiunian is sorry to you all."

"Enough already, you’re not dead, what’s the point of crying?"

Little Red Tiger rolled its eyes impatiently; its expression was so human-like that it seemed impossible for a little tiger to do such a complex eye-roll.

Little Jiu Nian was dumbfounded.

"Is it really you speaking? Chichi, how did you suddenly start talking?"

"I’ve always been able to talk, I just usually don’t speak in front of people."

After saying this, Little Chichi held its head high, walking over to the side near the bonfire, where several roasted pieces of beast meat were skewered. Chichi grabbed a piece and offered it to Little Jiu Nian.

Little Jiu Nian also noticed that Chichi’s mouth didn’t move when it spoke.

Its actions and demeanor were very different from when it was at the Lan Residence.

There was medicine applied to the wound on his body, though he didn’t know what it was, it worked well, stopping the bleeding and forming a scab during the few hours he had been unconscious.

Due to the arrow wound, he’d lost a lot of blood, and coupled with having traveled for a day, Little Jiu Nian was also hungry.

He, filled with doubt, took the meat Chichi offered and started to bite into it.

Honestly, the taste of the meat was really good.

The more Little Jiu Nian ate, the more confused he became. Not to mention, Chichi was truly a magical tiger. Apart from talking (though not moving his mouth), it could make delicious roasted meat (don’t beasts only eat raw meat?), and it could heal wounds?

While Little Jiu Nian ate, Chichi squatted nearby. It seemed to understand Little Jiu Nian’s thoughts, disdainfully curling its lip.

"Ignorant, only lower-level demon beasts eat raw meat. Generally, those who reach the Great Demon Level can awaken spiritual sense, especially nobles like me from a noble family within the Demon Clan, have been learning human words and language since childhood, eating meat, drinking wine, just like the nobles of your Human Clan. Also, I’m communicating with you using spiritual power, only you can hear it; the basic principle is similar to the spiritual power used by your clan’s alchemists."

"Ah!"

Unexpectedly, Chichi knew all his thoughts.

Furthermore, Little Chichi mentioned it’s a demon beast?

Demon beasts are known to eat humans.

Little Jiu Nian was so frightened that he nearly dropped the meat in his hand.

At this time, the sound of footsteps approached, and a Vajra Star Ape, over two meters tall, walked in.

Seeing the awe-inspiring Star Ape filled with Demon Energy, Little Jiu Nian instinctively shrank back, warily reaching for his self-defense dagger.

"Put away that embarrassing toy."

Chichi snorted, walking with high pride toward the Star Ape.

What happened next made Little Jiu Nian’s eyes widen—the Star Ape actually knelt down, making some muttering sounds to Chichi.

After hearing this, Chichi looked worriedly at Little Jiu Nian.

It then walked back.

"I have some bad news for you; the road back to the Ancient Nine Provinces has been blocked by people from the Jiu Provinces Alliance. Moreover, they are now hunting us all over. I’m afraid, for a short time, you won’t be able to go to Huangquan City to reunite with your aunt."

According to Chichi’s plan, as long as Little Jiu Nian was healed, he would be sent back to human territory.

After all, the Central Plains was dominated by demon beasts; Chichi could temporarily protect Little Jiu Nian but couldn’t guarantee that they wouldn’t encounter mortal enemies on the way unless it returned to its own land, where it could walk freely without worries.

"Were those Jiu Provinces Alliance people the ones bullying us earlier? I want to kill them."

Little Jiu Nian thought of those earlier villains’ deeds and swallowed the last bite of meat fiercely.

A hint of ferocity not belonging to his age flashed in his eyes.

"You have no chance. Your companions were rescued by powerful Human Warriors, and those villains were all killed. Had I known... Let me ask you, little fool, why did you save me back then?"

Little Chichi suddenly changed the topic.

Demons and humans have always been enemies.

Due to certain reasons, it got ambushed by hostile clans, ended up in the Qing Province Continent, and almost got sold as an ordinary Beast Pet.

When Dao Ge bought it, he didn’t notice anything unusual.

During the days at Lan Residence, it pretended to be friendly with Little Jiu Nian, tricking him into trust because it identified him as an easily deceived little fool.

Especially after learning he was planning to sneak away to the Ancient Nine Provinces, Chichi firmly decided that once in the Ancient Nine Provinces, it would slip away when Little Jiu Nian wasn’t paying attention.

Being pursued by the Jiu Provinces Alliance was a great opportunity.

Little Chichi intended to carry out its plan then.

Who would have thought that Little Jiu Nian foolishly protected it?

Seeing Little Jiu Nian gravely injured because of it, Little Chichi felt a brain-numbing shock, forgetting its escape motive for a moment, and its Demon Mark prominently appeared.

"Why?"

Little Jiu Nian was stumped by the question; he scratched his head, speaking bashfully.

"I don’t know why, maybe because you’re my first true friend."

Although Little Jiu Nian was noble and handsome, due to his unknown biological father, he had always been ostracized by other noble children of Xia Capital.

Though elders cared for him, he never had peers to play with.

Those people always spit behind his back and used slingshots against him.

Previously, he said he had many good companions at Imperial College just to not upset his mother, grandmother, and grandfather.

In fact, he had no friends.

The first true friend?

Could demons and humans be friends?

In its education, humans were food, enemies, and certainly not friends.

Little Chichi paused in thought.

"Yes, a true friend. Little Chichi, you wouldn’t refuse to be my friend, right?"

Little Jiu Nian looked nervously at Chichi.

Chichi looked at Little Jiu Nian, its eyes reflecting his naïve yet sincere gaze. Its heart was stung by something, and inexplicably, it nodded, considering it an agreement.