Pearl hadn’t been as happy as he was now since the days after the death of the Dragon Emperor and the peace he felt for having avenged his father and mother. The days afterward that he spent with his family had been sothing he had dearly missed in his ti during the immortal journey with Alex.
That had been fun too, but more often than not, Alex was distracted by sothing or had sothing important to do, which caused Pearl to go through days by himself.
Sotis, it was the shop he had opened. Sotis, it was the sect Alex had joined. Sotis, it was the preparation for the alchemy tournant, and sotis it was the tournant itself.
And mainly, it was the years he had to stay in one location with no one else at all. That hadn’t been fun.
The other Alex and Emily had been there, and so was Whisker. But the two humans had to stay in the Tiless Palace most of the ti, and Whisker was busy keeping the entire secret realm running.
Not to ntion, Pearl had spent years going through Soul Space, finding what he could use and what he could not.
That was to say, he was very happy now that he could be around so many of his family mbers, knowing that there was nothing there to separate them except for when it was ti to leave.
Then, he would go et another one of his family if he was lucky.
Today, he had finally t another mber of his family: Bai Heijing. She was Bai Jingshen’s mother, and thus his great-great-grandmother.
Bai Heijing was old in age and was very happy to have t Pearl. But at the sa ti, she also didn’t seem as excited as Pearl would’ve expected her to be.
She t him, gave him a protective necklace she had prepared for him, and then left after having said very little to him. Pearl was far too confused for his great-great-grandmother to have such a dull reaction to his presence.
Pearl even wondered if she was angry with him or sothing since she made no effort to show more than just the basic courtesy.
"Does she hate , grandpa?" Pearl asked after Bai Heijing had left.
Bai Jingshen gave a rueful smile. "You’ll have to forgive my mother. She is fond of family, but she has so many that at this point she just does not care."
"How many?" Pearl asked.
"She has 8 children, of which 3 are White Tigers. I am the 6th one, and the last White Tiger. All of my siblings together have over 50 children, all of whom then have hundreds of other children. And you co a generation after that. At this point, she has so many great-great-grandchildren that the ergence of another one just doesn’t surprise her, nor does it excite her."
"Oh..." Pearl said. He wondered if he could ever be such a beast that would stop caring about his own family. Surely not.
"It’s confusing to say this, but in a way, my mother’s disinterest toward you is a sign of how she is in fact a kind beast."
Pearl gave a quizzical look. He couldn’t see a world where such a thing could be true.
Bai Jingshen saw his face and knew he had to explain. "Among the White Tigers, there are a group of us that we call the Purists. The Purists are ones that do not want to call soone a White Tiger if they were not born a White Tiger or don’t look like one."
"This includes beasts that have gained White Tiger as their Creation and can turn into one, White Tigers that had to go through an evolution to beco a White Tiger, or... White Tigers like you that don’t look the part."
Pearl looked at himself. "My lack of stripes," he said.
"That’s one of them," Bai Jingshen said. "There are so that are regular orange tigers with a White Tiger’s bloodline. There are ones whose stripes are blue. There are ones who have spots on their body instead of stripes. That kind of thing."
"If they are not pure-born White Tigers with a Tiger’s body, white fur, and black stripes, they don’t consider them a White Tiger. They will call you a fake and will hate you."
"I see," Pearl said.
"That is part of the reason why I told you to hide that mark of yours," Bai Jingshen said. "If any one of these White Tigers were to get a hint of what was going on with you, they will try to steal your blood essence. We cannot give them the chance."
Pearl felt a chill go through him. "I will do my best to keep a low profile."
"That will be great," Bai Jingshen said.
"So... this ans your mother is good?" Pearl asked.
Bai Jingshen nodded. "If she was a Purist, she would have made her hate known the mont she saw you. If she only cared about White Tigers, then she would have shown her love, since there’s only been about 10 White Tigers in total that have co from her bloodline."
"Since she did neither, you know that she doesn’t hate you, and at the sa ti, she loves all of her family equally, which sadly becos indifference after seeing a new mber of the family every few decades for hundreds of thousands of years."
Pearl finally understood. "I cannot bla her for that then," he said.
Bai Jingshen patted him on the back. "Anyway, you’ve t my mother now. My father has long since died, so I cannot show you to him. My grandmother is dead too, and my grandfather is in closed cultivation, so you can’t et him either."
"Do I have to et everyone?" Pearl asked.
Bai Jingshen chuckled. "No, but you will have to et my great-grandfather."
"Oh, is he important?" Pearl asked.
Bai Jingshen smiled. "Quite important, after all, he is the patriarch of the White Tigers."
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