TFBAT – Chapter 45

Chi Yuyang took a deep breath.

Just mentioning this matter still made her nervous.

“Hu Jin, when you were fighting Yuan Wu, he clearly didn’t even touch you.” Her eyes swept over the wounds on Hu Jin’s back, then drifted away as she changed the subject almost reflexively. “Did you get hurt when I was trapped in the illusion?”

Hu Jin pressed his lips together but didn’t answer.

To Chi Yuyang, that silence already counted as an admission.

He raised his eyes and gave her an innocent smile.

“Wife, Yuan Wu was using Father’s power. It’s normal that he could hurt me.”

At that moment, the blood-streaked wounds on Hu Jin’s body began to fade, and before her eyes they started to heal rapidly.

“One day, I’ll surpass my father.”

Hu Jin flicked his tail, his face full of pride.

Chi Yuyang couldn’t help but smile too—she had been pulled along by his way of thinking again.

But those injuries… he had taken them for her.

The thought deepened her smile.

“Hu Jin, I really have something to tell you.” After finishing applying medicine, Chi Yuyang moved to sit in front of him, meeting his gaze directly.

She sat down first.

Hu Jin, as usual, wanted to pull her into his arms, but Chi Yuyang held his hand to stop him.

“Sit down first.”

Watching Hu Jin obediently sit on the other side of the fur blanket, Chi Yuyang took another breath.

“Hu Jin, do you… want to use your beast form to… do the couple’s act with me?”

Actually, Chi Yuyang could have pretended not to know anything about beast forms.

Hu Jin had never demanded to use his beast form with her…

But he had mentioned wanting to have cubs with her.

He would definitely be a good father.

And she wanted to have a complete family with him.

“Couple’s act?” Hu Jin looked momentarily puzzled, but once he realized what those four words meant, his eyes lit up.

“Wife! You want to mate with my beast form! Of course I want to too!”

“Hu Jin! Keep your voice down!” Chi Yuyang’s face instantly flushed red.

This tiger—usually he spoke in such a low, calm voice, but once excited, his words turned into a booming bass that could shake the walls.

She didn’t really mind, but Xue Ye lived nearby.

Couldn’t he at least restrain himself in front of elders?

Hu Jin leaned forward and lifted Chi Yuyang onto his lap.

“Hu Jin, I haven’t finished talking yet.” She tried to struggle, prying at the arm wrapped around her waist. “You’re still hurt—don’t use so much strength.”

“Wife, I know.” Hu Jin’s voice showed that he was listening.

But he didn’t move, nor did he loosen his hold.

His tail and ears twitched slightly.

They twitched again… and soon started wagging in sync.

When Chi Yuyang turned her head, she saw his ears and tail swaying together.

“So happy?” she asked, grabbing his tail. The soft, fine fur felt so nice that she couldn’t help stroking it, and the steady rhythm helped calm her pounding heart.

Then she turned around to look him in the eyes again.

“…” She’d forgotten where she was sitting.

Why was this tiger so sensitive!

She didn’t know if it was her words or her movements, but his beastly desire seemed to surge instantly.

“Wife, go on,” Hu Jin said, his eyes gleaming.

In his pupils seemed to lie the sea and the sky—and her reflection.

That pure blue gaze was full of tenderness and temptation, two conflicting emotions blending perfectly in his eyes.

Chi Yuyang couldn’t help but clutch the hem of her clothes nervously.

This was Hu Jin’s lustful expression.

But now wasn’t the time.

She gently placed his tail back behind him.

“Xue Yin said that if you want to have a child with a snow tiger, it has to be with his beast form,” Chi Yuyang said, swallowing nervously, her eyes darting around. “To… to mate.”

Hu Jin went silent for a moment, but his eyes grew even brighter.

“…I’m willing to mate with your beast form,” Chi Yuyang continued. She finally lifted her gaze back to his childish face. “But—!”

She suddenly grabbed his twitching ears.

“Not now!” she quickly said, stopping him before he could transform.

“Awuu…” Hu Jin’s low growl ended on a disappointed note.

Chi Yuyang stroked his silvery hair to comfort him.

“You’ll have to wait until your next heat cycle,” she said. “It’s less than a year away.”

Without his heat period, even if they did it, she wouldn’t be able to conceive.

And even if she was mentally prepared, she still needed some time to adjust.

After all—he was a tiger!

Even if he was her tiger.

Hu Jin’s face was still filled with excitement, making Chi Yuyang’s lips curve unconsciously.

“Awuu!”

Though he was in human form, the sound he made was pure tiger’s roar.

“Oh right, before that we’ll need to find a kind of fruit.” Chi Yuyang tilted her head thoughtfully. She decided not to get into awkward details like reproductive isolation.

This was another world, after all—things might not work the same way.

“Anyway, Xue Yin said that fruit can make your barbs… um… not hurt so much when you go in.” She rushed through the embarrassing words in one breath—only to find Hu Jin still staring blankly at her.

“Rooaar!”

“……” Chi Yuyang sighed softly. “Hu Jin, do you want to turn back into your beast form?”

“No!” Hu Jin leaned close to her ear. “Wife, I want to stay in human form. Can I?”

“My father went out hunting—no one will bother us!” he quickly added.

“Alright.” Chi Yuyang nodded.

By now, she had already learned to calmly accept the kind of “bonding activities” between her and Hu Jin in his human form.

However, just as Hu Jin helped her take off her outer coat, he suddenly stopped moving.

His nostrils twitched slightly.

“Wife, your period came.” Hu Jin’s long lashes lowered, hiding his eyes. “It’s not convenient now, is it?”

Her period?

Chi Yuyang blinked in surprise.

Now that she thought about it, the last time she had her period was indeed more than a month ago.

Looks like what Xue Yin said about snow tigers rarely being able to impregnate other races was true.

There really wasn’t any other reason stopping him from using his beast form.

Hu Jin let her go and fetched her the cloth bundle.

When Chi Yuyang finished changing her sanitary pad, she saw that Hu Jin had already turned back into his beast form.

The white tiger lay on the ground with his fluffy rear facing her.

His entire tail was saying: he’s–not–happy.

“…Wuu.” Even the sound he made was only half-hearted.

Chi Yuyang walked over and stroked the tail drooping on the ground.

“Hu Jin, it’s just seven days. Be patient, okay?”

The white tiger kept his head buried in his front paws and refused to lift it.

She patted his head lightly. “Didn’t your father say he wanted to teach you new moves? By the time you learn them, my period will be over.”

The tiger still didn’t move.

“Alright, alright—when it’s over, you can do it for as long as you want, okay?”

The white tiger suddenly turned his head, round eyes sparkling with light.

“Rooaaar! Roaar! Roaar!” Wife, you said it—you promised!

Chi Yuyang’s hand froze midair.

…Why did she feel like she’d just been tricked again by this so-called “pure” tiger?

The next day, Chi Yuyang sat on a patch of grass barely visible under the snow, watching the distant figures of Xue Ye and Hu Jin.

She held a freshly roasted beggar’s chicken in her hands, eating while observing the father and son spar.

She had already noticed before—Xue Ye’s attacks were quite different from Hu Jin’s.

Every one of his strikes carried traces of blue lightning.

Moreover, the power he had given Yuan Wu did not, like Hu Jin’s, leave any visible marks on a beastman’s body right away.

“Let’s rest for a bit,” Xue Ye finally said, stopping his movements.

Since he had given part of his power to Yuan Wu, his stamina was greatly reduced, while Hu Jin’s strength seemed inexhaustible—he didn’t even know what fatigue meant.

The source of Hu Jin’s pressure was unclear, but Xue Ye could feel that the young tiger was venting his emotions.

He had to take a short break before continuing.

Youth really is a wonderful thing, he thought, watching Hu Jin walk toward the girl sitting nearby. He shook his head slightly.

Once upon a time, he too had met a beastman who stirred his heart this way.

“Hu Jin, you’re sweating so much,” Chi Yuyang said, taking a clean piece of beast hide from her bundle.

It was midwinter—the sun barely peeked halfway above the horizon.

Yet Hu Jin’s body was drenched in sweat, proof of how fiercely he’d just been fighting.

He casually wiped his face and even licked the corner of his lips.

“To protect you, I have to become stronger.”

Chi Yuyang lowered her head without answering, carefully wiping the sweat off his body.

Xue Ye had told her that although Hu Jin’s attacks on Yuan Wu would fade quickly, each strike carried an invisible pressure that left a lasting psychological scar on other beastmen.

Chi Yuyang figured Yuan Wu must have been terrified of Hu Jin—so much so that he ran for his life.

The thing was, Hu Jin’s aura might be strong, but not every one of his attacks carried that oppressive force.

Hu Jin had been taught by his father, so his fighting style naturally reflected the clan leader’s temperament—

Ferocious in appearance, but actually a paper tiger with a gentle heart.

When Xue Ye had said that, the sigh in his voice had carried a trace of cruel irony.

Fortunately, Hu Jin was different from his father.

When they left the snowy mountain, Chi Yuyang was filled with mixed emotions.

She didn’t think Xue Ye was a good mate—nor a good father.

But he had saved Yuan Wu, and the power he left inside Yuan Wu’s body ensured that the latter would never again be able to approach Hu Jin, ever.

In other words, Chi Yuyang would never see Yuan Wu again.

Perhaps Xue Ye had realized Yuan Wu might strike at Hu Jin once more, so he took it upon himself to make that “compensation” decision.

“Hu Jin.” Chi Yuyang turned to look back at the shrinking snowy peaks. “Let’s go home.”

“Hu Jin, explain this to me clearly!” Chi Yuyang pressed a hand to her forehead.

“Yes, wife!” Hu Jin rubbed against her hand, nodding seriously.

Chi Yuyang’s fingers felt icy cold.

She had always had a strange feeling about it—

The flow of time in this continent wasn’t the same as in her own world.

So when her period came late, she assumed that time here just moved slower than what she was used to.

But when they left the snowy mountains and she saw the blooming flowers and chirping birds before her…

They had only been up there for ten days!

It was hard to believe—but she still asked anyway.

And Hu Jin’s answer completely shattered her understanding of time.

“You mean… one season here is only a month and a half long?”

Then that means—

Chi Yuyang almost choked on her breath.

In just over four months, Hu Jin’s next mating season would come again?!