Whack!
"Ouch! Master Ling-ling! What was that for?"
'Ling-ling?' Ling Hou's mind screamed. Whoever dared to mock him back in the main land never rose to walk up to their window the next day! There legs have been broken. 'But here, this child dares?' His gaze turned sharp as he glared at the tan girl beside him.
Whack!
"How dare you slander me?" He finally spoke through gritted teeth.
"Slander? What? No! it's an endearment!"
"Oh, so you mean in your modern world life, it is okay to call your teacher some degrading names? No?" That instant, Celes felt the shreds of regret blowing by her face. 'For what reason convinced me to tell this master about my life back in the modern era? Ah so stupid.'
It was not out of will but should have been an accident. Some tyrant she was yet got too excited at showing off her modern skills in cooking. 'Well, just knowledge,' she thought, 'Not applied knowledge.' Celes did not know nor did she ever intended to learn how to cook. Who was she? The epitome of tyranny. No boss will cook for herself when she had tons of people to serve her.
Anyway, that was not the problem. This cultivator master could be really sensitive. Simple nicknames and losing concentration were normally committed by any human! 'Anyway, not to be a hypocrite, I admit what I have done to all those greenhorns and nosy bastards. But still, they deserved getting some law of the jungle principles. I paid them because I needed them to work and produce results! Good results!'
And then, when the girl became too silent with her fox-like eyes blankly staring off the distance while her lips were drawn to a smirk as if she was grinning, Ling Hou took notice. Celes, no matter how ordinary and harmless she physically appeared, her mind was too full of confusing malice. An immediate sense of danger rose in him that he pulled the dragon from her lap to put it behind him. And then, just the final move to bringing that fox back to reality-
Whack!
"Celes! You brat! Get back to work!"
But that hit just now have caught her off-guard that sent Ling Hou feel pricked with invisible shards of ice. A slight amount of killing intent had leaked out from that tiny body of hers.
"That was the third time, Master Ling-ling." Though her words sounded normal, her voice was coated with thorns. Ling Hou felt like inching away and keeping the dragon farther from her than before. Anything else like talking would be troublesome as the mighty cultivator have learned through the months he spent teaching her that have shown him enough terror.
She was the type who usually returned evil with twice the cruelty and dark humour intended.
He could clearly remember the night after he took her back from that spiritual beast nest. To see that she was alive and well over there, untouched by the lingering dangers was already another mystery to tackle. She was ragged and injured, with her current prowess he doubted she would be able to heal in a week or more. Who knew that it only took a night? Then that crazy girl challenged him for a handicapped duel, 'to test her new rank' she said. Cold sweat drenched his clothes back then and even now just by thinking about another realization. When they fought, she knew how to fight all too well! Her strength was formidable too! When Ling Hou had delivered his blows, those thin, tan arms that were supposed to break felt like a wall of gold. Her body has been tempered so hard, it was comparable to his! He leaped back with disbelief in his eyes as her skills were undeniably excellent and her tempered body was strong. The only thing this girl lacked was the strength in her martial warrior ranked blows and spiritual strength.
But who knew she was crazier than how he initially had perceived her? After the duel was dinner but when Celes, a brat from the Unforgiven Forest, said that the food tasted bland, Ling Hou who grew up eating high class food in the sect felt prideful. He retorted with a small sneer, "Then what do you eat? Just fruits and some raw beast meat?"
And Celes, who was a tyrant and still is, did not take things all too well. Her forehead creased, those pair of fine brows knotted and her lips twitched as the fox sent him a dagger-like glare, enough to cut through his carotid veins if it was possible. She hated jokes directed towards her. "No but I eat food Master can only dream about." She began to tell him about the spiritual fruits in the forest and then about her modern culinary her elite private chefs often cooked for her. Both master and disciple were at a competition of who ate better but one thing settled in their separate minds. It was not something to be said oh-so-proudly because one similarity they shared in common was the fact that both people were bags of air.
And to make it worse, the night seemed endless for Ling Hou. When all the lights in the golden place were out, a petite, dark figure sneaked to the head of his bed. When he opened his eyes, he expected a girl trying to throw some bugs at him for revenge! But to see a vague human figure releasing cracking, gasping and suffocated cries made him panic! Her long hair dripped and he could smell the coppery, thick liquid on his face. Of course he did not dare move, where in the world would a ghoul be haunting him except for this forest?! 'But I am a high ranked martial supreme nearing my breakthrough to a low ranked martial honour!' he repeatedly chanted in his head. And yet the haunting did not stop. A hand that was pickled, slimy and cold started to caress his face sending chills down his spine. His body stiffened but the figure continued to breathe through its mouth, crying as if suffocated, wet, sticky liquid dropping on his face and continuously let it's fingers wander around his head, his hair, his face, his neck, his nose, his lips, his eyes, his ears, the back of his ears, the back of his neck-- until he gulped. His jaws trembled and when the figure took notice, a high pitched, screeching laughter left it's mouth. Then followed by squishy sounds from massaging some raw, smooth flesh could be heard. Slowly, it raised some long, intestine-like object above his face. Ling Hou may have killed his enemies but he was no maniac. When he realized that the figure was digging out it's organs and laced them around him, his fingers twitched but instead of fighting against the ghoul, who knew a warrior like Ling Hou could let out a blood curling scream?!
This girl was a huge maniac and she would cross the line if she wished so. Looking at her current state, the burning gaze she gives needed some soothing. If he cannot fight the enemy, befriend them, Ling Hou convinced himself. It was good that she liked to provide him recipes, her favorites at that. So being a wise and kind master, he pulled out his outdoor kitchen from his storage dimension.
Speaking honestly to his own mind, Celes is a treasure. If he brought her back to the sect and they learn about her, it will be a series of funny discussions with obvious helpless sighs after they learn who her master is.
Celes on the other hand sighed as she looked at her private chef. 'This master seemed like a good person. Better than my vile, wicked grandma! He cooks for me and plays with me a lot! Plus,' she thought, 'He actually is a great teacher. Who knew he can also tame a creature such as this dragon?'
The dragon, that little deceitful dragon by his side was one of the divine beasts. 'But just observing the his actions, I sort of think that master may not be aware of this species.' Back in her previous life, she defeated one but when it refused to make a contract with her, the heartless Celes Fallon de Lin has mercilessly sent it to the kitchen to become her meal.
But right at that moment? Her face somehow turn slightly green in a quick-to-disappear jealousy simply from looking at how attached it was to her new master. A small tinge of regret flashed through her eyes. "If only I had more patience, she sighed. 'Sooner or later, I'll get back to the capital anyway so having pets would be too much. And. . . The Celes that the world feared and hated is long dead. Compared to her, I'm lightly tanned, not deathly pale like her. She liked red and gold? I like royal blue and gold. She sported long hair, I love my hair short. At least that makes a big difference.'
"Master, how long are you going to cook? This disciple is dying from starvation!"
"Ugh! Celes, you better practice your etiquettes or we would take another year or so before leaving this forest!"
"My etiquettes?"
"Yes!"
"What's wrong with me?"
"Which lady in the capital behaves like a bratty tyrant? Who cannot recite a single phrase of literature, not even poetry? Who seats down like an old man, talks like the king and harass anything you dislike? Ah! You will not survive a day!"
But feeling upset about his words were no such thing to occur with Celes who lived three lives and one more. A smile pulled the edges of her lips. "Aww, Master really cares for this lowly disciple. Please, your worries will not be wasted! This disciple can appear weak but can indefinitely torture and/or murder my bullies! How dare they? And if it's somebody stronger, Master will always be there for me!"
That day, it served as a warning. His soul drifted out of his body. "How long! One year? Two years? Celes, when we return to the capital, you will be looking like a dignified disciple, strong and to be looked upon as a strong figure worth of respect!"
Celes' jaw dropped. Her selective hearing at work, she started complaining inside 'Not good! Two years of further isolation will turn me crazy! Especially with this greedy leech inside me!' Initially, she thought of becoming a bounty hunter and feed on them yet who knew it would take much longer? 'If only I knew how to get out of here!'