Chapter Nine: Envoys from the Elven Empire

“Now, as the story goes, Tang Monk refused to believe Sun Wukong no matter what, and so…” Zhou Tian sat atop a massive stone, his words flowing like a river as he recounted the tale of Sun Wukong's three encounters with the White Bone Demon. Beneath him, hundreds of white tigers lay quietly on the ground, listening intently to the story.

Though in Zhou Tian's telling, Sun Wukong had become a formidable divine beast, and the gods and Buddhas had transformed into various deities, a classic remains a classic. Even with Zhou Tian’s small adaptations, his revised version of Journey to the West still managed to awe the white tigers, leaving them utterly convinced that the events in his story were true.

The life of a magical beast was, by nature, rather dull. They needed only to practice their innate magic a little, hunt for food, and otherwise simply wait to grow stronger. For a tribe of white tigers, born with formidable power and never needing to worry about food, their days passed in an exceptionally uneventful manner.

When Zhou Tian noticed that the white tigers spent their days eating and sleeping, and even the White Tiger King wandered aimlessly to pass the time, he quickly devised a way to profit from their boredom. The white tigers had nothing to do and were terribly bored?

Well then! While Zhou Tian’s strength was nowhere near the white tigers’, when it came to entertainment, he far surpassed them all together. Once this idea took root, Zhou Tian acted swiftly.

With a tale of “Snow White,” he easily turned Princess Anna into an avid fan of stories. Using Anna as his backer, Zhou Tian soon set up a stage among the white tigers and started his business.

He had enough stories in his mind to last three or four years, and if he was to entertain the white tigers, surely they wouldn’t let him do it for free! Thus, every tiger had to pay a magic core as an admission ticket, with their seating determined by the grade of the core.

What? Zhou Tian was just a little snake and didn’t deserve their magic cores? Fine, if you’re unwilling to pay, take it up with Princess Anna! Did you know Anna gets nine out of every ten magic cores? Zhou Tian himself only receives one as his “wages.” If you’re still unwilling, prepare for Princess Anna’s wrath!

Given Anna’s status among the white tiger magical beasts, whatever kind of magic core she desired, the White Tiger King and the others would surely find a way to obtain it. Yet this did not mean magic cores held no allure for Anna. Even if Anna cared nothing for their actual value, as a young cub, being able to obtain magic cores “by her own power” was deeply satisfying for her.

Thus, even though the magic cores Zhou Tian shared with Anna were returned to him almost as soon as he handed them over, Anna still valued their partnership highly. With Princess Anna presiding, Zhou Tian’s business had nothing to fear from troublemakers, and with the white tigers’ boredom, he had only been telling stories for a short time, yet his collection of magic cores was already astonishing.

Between his share and Anna’s rewards, Zhou Tian had been among the white tigers less than a month, and yet his accrued spirit energy already neared a million. Such vast reserves would have taken him ten years or more to gather on his own, were it not for the entire white tiger tribe supporting him.

Though he had no opportunity to “slay monsters and level up” within their ranks, the daily contributions of magic cores left Zhou Tian deeply satisfied with his current life. If nothing unforeseen happened, he wouldn’t object to spending two or three years among the white tigers.

But could Zhou Tian truly remain peacefully among them for so long? Clearly, that was impossible.

As a transmigrator equipped with a divine artifact, Zhou Tian was destined to be the protagonist of this world. And a protagonist, besides being immortal, possesses an affinity for attracting trouble.

It could be said that anyone with the protagonist’s aura will find trouble flocking to them, even if they themselves don’t seek it. At first, seeing how he could earn heaps of magic cores by telling stories, Zhou Tian intended to use this method to exchange spirit energy for an otherworldly ability or artifact before venturing out on his own.

Yet he was given no such time. Barely a month had passed among the white tigers when the arrival of an elf abruptly shattered the tribe’s peaceful existence.

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“Monkey God is simply amazing! No matter how fierce the magical beast, none can match him. If only I had skills like Monkey God, I would…”

“Hmph! Monkey God is indeed formidable, but what does that matter? In the end, he was restrained by that super artifact, the Golden Circlet. A mighty beast god controlled by a mere mortal—if it were me, I’d never docilely accompany that mortal Tang Monk to fetch the Divine Codex.”

“You’re not allowed to speak ill of Monkey God!”

“I will, I will! What are you going to do about it—bite me?”

“I’ll bite! What am I afraid of?”

“Awooo! Scoundrel, you actually bit me!”

“…”

“Hold on, stop fighting. An elf is headed this way.” The two gatekeeping white tigers, who had started quarreling over their differing opinions, somehow sensed an elf approaching their territory. With a quick word, they immediately stopped their squabble.

The elf approaching the white tiger tribe moved swiftly. The two gatekeepers barely had time to compose themselves before she appeared before them.

Given the white tiger tribe’s strength, they ranked among the continent’s formidable powers. Though elves, like humans, were a mainstream race, even the Elf Queen would not dare to slight the white tigers, let alone a lone elf seeking their audience.

Despite her anxious expression, the elf took a moment to compose herself before addressing the two tigers: “Please inform your king, the envoy of the Elven Empire requests an audience.”

“Wait here.” Upon hearing her words, the two tigers exchanged a glance. One remained to watch the elf, while the other turned and ran back.

Not long after, having received the White Tiger King’s permission, the returning tiger signaled to his companion and addressed the elf: “Follow me.” With those words, he turned and led the way back.