Dong Hua Dijun carefully observed the little fox for the next few days. His biggest surprise so far was her reaction to his identity. The fox child was still utterly shameless yet charming little glutton, however, he could also spot clear signs of fear in her behavior.

The most amazing thing was that the Little Jiu was not afraid of him but all the women around him. When a servant girl came to his study to bring tea supplies, the little fox child always hid behind him or jumped on his neck and pretended to be his collar.

She did not fool anyone in Tai Chen Palace with this trick. All the servants knew that their Lord preferred fishing to hunting. And even if he hunted an animal to wear, it would be a legendary beast, not a little fox!

Every dinner had turned into a cooking lesson. Jiu prepared recipes for each day and Dong Hua cooked. The little fox managed to instruct, taste, comment and always eat at least two or three portions.

After dinner, the little glutton would find a pillow, make herself comfortable not far from his person and shamelessly fall asleep in minutes. The only sounds coming out of her were occasional cute little snores.

During the day time, Little Jiu would stalk him as her life depended on it. She was never more than two steps away from Dijun, especially if they left his personal study.

The master of Tai Chen Palace clearly saw that something was bothering his new little cooking instructor.

On one afternoon that was spent fishing, when the two of them were completely alone, the Emperor Lord decided to address the issue of Jiu's strange behavior.

"Little Jiu, why are you so afraid of other people in Tai Chen Palace?"

The fox was sunbathing and her eyes were closed. Her little ears twitched at the question. Then Jiu lazily opened her eyes and turned her head. The expression she made clearly was made to imply that he, Dong Hua Dijun - the previous Emperor of Nine Heavens, was being a bit dim.

"Em, Dijun... Do you really not know?"

Ding Hua continued staring at her with no expression whatsoever.

"Don't you pay attention to things around you?" the fox questioned incredulously.

Jiu was pinned down by another stare, forcing her to elaborate.

"So it's like this... Hmm... How to explain this? You know that you are a popular figure in the Nine Heavens, right?"

"Hmm."

"So, lots of immortal and immoral ladies pay attention to you. The scary, obsessive kind of attention."

Dijun nodded. If his generals were as dedicated to victory as some of those women, achieving stability in the world would have been much easier. Looking back on it, he probably should have just recruited them to his army, instead of tossing them out of his bed. Regretfully, sometimes his best ideas come a little too late.

"My Master warned me about you specifically. She said that your admirers are truly vicious and could destroy anybody who dares to come close to you."

The previous Heavenly Emperor was surprised to hear that. Nowadays he was not nearly as popular as when he ruled the Nine Heavens. And who was this Master she kept mentioning? There were not that many immortals gutsy enough to bully Si Ming into providing free childcare and then gossip about his person with said child.

"How we met was the best example," Jiu continued. "I just took a stroll in your garden and immediately my life was threatened by your passionate follower/sister. So I decided to adopt a survival strategy - stick to the strongest person around and try not to make them mad."

The little fox looked very proud of her idea. A little too proud in Dijun's opinion. Maybe he could fix it? An almost invisible smile graced Dijun's lips at his wonderful idea.

"This truly is a remarkable strategy from your side, Little Jiu. Why don't I help out you a bit?" The words Dong Hua said sounded gentle and encouraging, however, the look in his eyes did not match at all.

"From tomorrow morning I will be teaching you some battle and evasion strategy, so you can protect yourself better."

"Dijun, really you are too kind. I don't want to trouble you. Not at all. This honor is too big for me to accept." The little fox now looked truly terrified. She was shaking her head and slowly moving away from him.

"It is no bother. Consider it repayment for cooking lessons. Don't you want to grow up to be an immortal of many talents?"

(*^_^*)

"Dijun! What are you trying to teach me? The true meaning of fear!?"

It was the next morning and Bai Feng Jiu was receiving her first lesson in evasive maneuvers.

To put it simply, Dong Hua Dijun was leisurely resting in the middle of the garden, reading Buddhist sutras and shooting small fireballs with one hand. All of them were obviously targeted at Princess of Qing Qiu.

She was not in a bad shape overall and managed to avoid the majority of strikes. However, her new cooking pupil was no slouch and just picked up the pace slightly, whenever she managed to evade too many shots at once.

The fireballs did not cause a lot of pain, however, her pride hurt horribly. The fox hide protected her from any real damage. At worst her fur would be slightly singed and she would smell like wildlife barbeque for days, but the intensity of the fireballs was not for the faint of heart.

While avoiding the steam of fireballs, Feng Jiu wondered if all High Gods turn to casual sadism when they reach a certain age. Dijun has probably reached that age two or three times over by now. She must never let him and Master Nu Wa meet! It would be equal to courting death.

After two hours of this extreme exercise, the princess was truly exhausted. She feigned to the left and made a jump, landing in front of the Emperor Lord.

He stopped shooting the fireballs. Bai Feng Jiu made her most miserable face and started her charm attack.

"Dijun, I worked so hard already. Why don't we take a snack break? "

"I have all the snacks I need here," he pointed to the cakes and tea set near his lounge.

"When did this get here?" Feng Jiu was feeling crushed. That man dared to snack without her. He was more evil than all seven demon lords combined!

"About an hour ago," Dijun answered calmly, not even glancing at her as he was still reading his Buddhist sutras.

How? How did she not notice the gentle aroma of persimmon blossom cakes? Was she really so distracted? The fox's despair was becoming deeper.

"You are welcome to have some," the calm and even tone did not change, however, Emperor Lord's words immediately removed any traces of unhappiness in the little fox and replaced it with elation.

"You are the best person ever!" Bai Feng Jiu exclaimed and attacked the plate of persimmon blossom cakes, all grudges completely forgotten.

Two minutes later, when the Princess of Qing Qiu was stuffing her fifth cake down her throat, Star-Lord Si Ming approached them.

"Little Highness! I have been looking for you for a week!"

How did she completely forgot about Si Ming?