Canyon mouth, gentle breeze blowing.
The originally lying black tiger stood up suddenly and showed a strong interest on its face, "Gossiping about the old Taoist? Good, let's talk."
It walked to the canyon mouth while speaking.
Chen Yun said with a smile: "OK, Fenghu senior, then I will count down Zhen Tianshi with you."
As he said this, he was secretly pleased, having guessed correctly!
Yes, Chen Yun was betting that there were countless mysterious relations between this black tiger and Zhen Tianshi.
Why?
Basically, anyone who is familiar with Taoist culture knows that the portrait of Zhang Tianshi often depicts him holding a seven-star magic sword and riding a black tiger on his hip.
Zhang Tianshi's initial mount was a black tiger, but later it became the Agui.
It was said that when Zhang Tianshi was not yet enlightened, he traveled to famous mountains and rivers. Initially, he came to Yunjin Mountain to refine the elixir. After refining the elixir, the dragon and tiger emerged, and therefore Yunjin Mountain was renamed Longhushan.
Later, Zhang Tianshi came to the Chuan Mountain, Huaniming Mountain. During his stay and cultivation of Daoist practices and elixirs in Huaniming Mountain, a local epidemic was raging, causing widespread suffering among the people.
At the same time, the Chuan region was also plagued by six demon kings, eight ghost generals and other demons and ghosts who often appeared to disturb the people.
Qingcheng Mountain also had a monster named the "Qingcheng Demon King," who often stirred up trouble in the human world.
Zhang Tianshi was a master of Daoist practices with a deep level of spiritual attainment. His black tiger mount assisted him in vanquishing demons and subduing evil spirits. Furthermore, he had three major treasures bestowed by the Old Immortal: the "Zhengyi Merging Strength Scriptures," the "Three Five Cutting Demons Sword," and the "Yangping Treatise Seal." The Qingcheng Demon King was no match for Zhang Tianshi.
The people, in gratitude to Zhang Tianshi, invited the Master to drink wine on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival.
Unbeknownst to Zhang Tianshi, when he returned home, he found that his black tiger had been defeated by the Qingcheng Demon King and his divine sword had been stolen.
Zhang Tianshi was not alarmed.
He casually plucked a sprig of mugwort and transformed it into a ferocious tiger, and plucked a leaf of calamus to turn it into a treasure sword.
Zhang Tianshi rode the mugwort tiger and wielded the calamus sword, defeating the Qingcheng Demon King.
This is the entire process of Zhang Tianshi's mount changing from a black tiger to an agui.
Therefore, when Chen Yun saw the black tiger, he instinctively pondered, could this black tiger be Zhang Tianshi's original mount?
Moreover, considering that the black tiger only guarded the three mist springs but did not harm people, Zhang Tianshi, my master, asked me to confront this black tiger which was more powerful than a supreme spiritual realm heaven god, and Zhou Jiwen didn't show fear at all.
Chen Yun can basically determine that this black tiger has an intricate connection with Zhang Tianshi, even to the extent of being his mount.
It was precisely because of these thoughts that he attempted to communicate with the black tiger using words, and the result was that the black tiger reacted very intensely.
Now, Chen Yun was almost certain that the black tiger was Zhang Tianshi's previous mount.
After all, a mount and its owner are very close, and using the phrase "to live and die together" is not an exaggeration. By all accounts, one should not speak ill of their owner in the presence of the mount.
However, this black tiger had once lived and died with Zhang Tianshi in the fight against demons and evildoers. Now that Zhang Tianshi has ascended to the celestial realm and left the black tiger to guard the Three Mist Spring Valley alone, it's not surprising that the black tiger holds some resentment.
Chen Yun was betting on the fact that the black tiger harbored some resentment towards Zhang Tianshi.
The man and the tiger both seemed to be in high spirits.
However, Zhang Jiwen was scratching his head in disbelief. After all, Chen Yun and the flying tiger were saying bad things about their ancestor in front of him. How could he possibly be happy about it?
Chen Yun didn't care about Zhang Jiwen's reaction and sat down next to the black tiger casually, pouted slightly and said: "Senior Black Tiger, do you think Zhang Tianshi is a little unscrupulous?"
The black tiger asked, "Why do you say that?"
Chen Yun deliberately pointed to aspects related to the black tiger and said, "You see, when Zhang Tianshi defeated the six demon kings, the eight ghost generals, and the Qingcheng Demon King and other demons and spirits in Qingcheng Mountain earlier, after he became a celestial being, he did not reward his mount with a title. Don't you think it's unethical?"
The black tiger seemed to be touched by Chen Yun's words, and its claws were pounded hard on the ground angrily, "Indeed! People all know that this nose-horned old Taoist is famous as a celestial being, but who knows the name of his mount? This person is too unscrupulous!"
Chen Yun echoed the black tiger's words, "Exactly, he's too unscrupulous!"
The black tiger, as if it had been given a free reign to speak, angrily spat at Zhang Tianshi, "This nose-horned old Taoist's lack of ethics isn't just this one thing. Take the time when Zhao Sheng wanted to become his disciple. Do you know how he reacted?"
Chen Yun asked, "What happened?"
The black tiger harrumphed and muttered, "The old Taoist set up seven hurdles for Zhao Sheng, and the first was an humiliation."
These stories, Chen Yun had actually heard before, but he pretended to know nothing, showing an appearance of great interest: "Shame?"
"Yes!" The black tiger spoke with anger: "Zhao Sheng admired the Daoist's cultivation and knocked on the door to be his disciple. The old Taoist not only refused to open the door, but also had people repeatedly abuse him. This abuse lasted for more than 40 days! Do you think that's right? If it were me, I would have turned my back on that old Taoist long ago!"
Chen Yun felt a drop of sweat, thinking to himself that his master's test of him was quite lenient. If it were Zhang Tianshi testing him, he might have gotten angry long ago and not even dreamt of seeking enlightenment and immortality.
Zhang Jiwen was equally bewildered by the test, which was indeed tough. However, Zhang Tianshi was their ancestor, and he couldn't say anything negative about him. So he could only lower his head and remain silent.
The black tiger was still raging at Zhang Tianshi, "Moreover, you said that you took Zhao Sheng as a disciple, and then arranged him to guard crops. But you turned into a beautiful woman and rubbed and ground against him to prove if he was good at lust? A normal man would never be able to tolerate this kind of thing. Zhao Sheng actually held back and showed great restraint. I even sometimes doubt that Zhao Sheng is not quite normal."
"Oh? What does Senior Fenghu mean..."
"Yes, I suspect that Zhao Sheng might be a male homosexual."
"Probably not?"
"How could it not be? Listen to me..."
Zhang Jiwen stared in disbelief as Chen Yun and the black tiger chatted about gossip.
He never expected that Chen Yun's "smart strategy" would involve communicating with the black tiger in a market stall chatting style to build rapport.
That indeed is a clever strategy.
Just that this cleverness may be a bit...
Well, Zhang Jiwen's first reaction was that Chen Yun's personality seemed a bit inappropriate...
The man and the tiger chatted there for nearly an hour.
The black tiger spoke with great passion, criticizing Zhang Tianshi in various ways, but without any intention of insulting him. It seemed like the black tiger was expressing his dissatisfaction.
As they chatted more, the black tiger became increasingly sighing and lamenting.
Seeing that the time was right, Chen Yun changed his approach immediately, "Actually, from what you said earlier, Master Zhang is actually quite good."
Zhang Jiwen looked at Chen Yun in surprise, never expecting that after criticizing Zhang Tianshi for half a day, Chen Yun would suddenly say good things about him. This made him a bit confused about what Chen Yun was using.
"Good my ass!" The black tiger widened its eyes and said, "Yes, that old Taoist is indeed quite good. He fights demons and expels evils, and he helps those in danger and rescues people in need. To be honest, when I was a young tiger, my mother was shot to death by hunters. I almost starved to death without food, but it was this old Taoist who saved me. He taught me how to practice Daoism. Oh, how I miss those carefree days."
Chen Yun took the opportunity to say, "Maybe Master Zhang intentionally didn't take you with him to ascend to the celestial realm, so that you wouldn't be constrained by heavenly regulations and could live carefree and freely in the human world."
"Master Zhang also said that to me." The black tiger sighed, "I may have lived a carefree life, but Master Zhang is really heartless. It takes several months to see him again, and I miss him so much."
Chen Yun accompanied the black tiger in reminiscing about hardships and thinking of sweet times for about half an hour.
At the end, the black tiger seemed to lose interest, waving its paw and saying, "You can go fetch the spring water; I'm going to take a nap."
Only then did Chen Yun stand up, bow and bow to the black tiger: "Thank you, Senior Fenghu."
Oh?
To chat with the black tiger for over an hour and then have it agree to let Chen Yun collect the spiritual spring water?
Zhang Jiwen was stunned. As a descendant of Zhang Tianshi, how could he not be well-versed in the black tiger's temperament?
Because the black tiger was the ancestor's mount, it held a lofty status and position. On a daily basis, he would not even care about Zhang Jiwen, let alone the current Taoist leader of Longhushan Mountain. But sometimes, the black tiger's temperament would become explosive, and it would bark inhumanly and angrily curse in human speech.
So, what did Chen Yun do?
But he just chatted with the black tiger for a while and got the spiritual spring water from it!
This left Zhang Jiwen with his eyes wide in disbelief, completely unable to understand what was happening.
Chen Yun didn't care about Zhang Jiwen's expression. After thanking the black tiger, he went inside to fetch the spiritual spring water.
Shortly after, he waved casually to the black tiger and said, "Senior Fenghu, I must leave now. I'll come and chat with you again when I have free time."
"Alright." The black tiger waved its paw, then suddenly, as if remembering something, it asked, "By the way, what's your name, kid?"
Chen Yun smiled and said, "My name is Chen Yun. My Buddhist name is Chen Pu, and my courtesy name is Chongyong."
The black tiger was momentarily stunned, and then burst into raucous laughter, "You little guy is interesting! Interesting! Alright, if you see the old Taoist, give him my regards and ask him to bring me a dragon to taste next time he descends from heaven. It's been so long since I last ate dragon meat that my mouth is almost tasteless."
"Alright."
Chen Yun bid farewell.
Zhang Jiwen fell silent and trailed behind, no longer looking older than his years. His face was full of curiosity.
After running a mile or two, he couldn't contain his curiosity any longer and asked, "Chongyong brother, how did you manage to win the black tiger's favor? I've known him for many years, but I've never seen him show a good face."
Chen Yun blinked his eyes and said, "It's very simple. The black tiger is lonely in the human world, without anyone to talk to. By following its wishes and chatting with it, I was able to build a good relationship with it."
Okay, this statement is pure nonsense. Although it is complicated to explain, he did not elaborate.
Put simply, since the black tiger is a sentient being, it naturally has the seven emotions and six desires like humans.
As the saying goes, when words do not match, there are too many unsaid; and when wine meets a friend, even a thousand cups are not enough.
Find the emotions that the black tiger wants to "vent," and then speak along those lines. Isn't that how you become intimate with someone?
That means, when Chen Yun was chatting with the black tiger and criticizing Zhang Tianshi in a straightforward way, he was actually playing the role of an "emotional expert." These things, most people with a bit of life experience would understand.
Although Zhang Jiwen has a high cultivation, he is too young and has relatively less life experience, so it's natural that he doesn't understand this.
Because he couldn't understand the reason, Zhang Jiwen's gaze towards Chen Yun became bewildered, with a hint of admiration. He thought to himself, this Chongyong Taoist's ability to sway people's hearts is too formidable.
(Chapter complete)
