The Tail Can't Be Hidden (GL) - Chapter 1

“Lin Lang—”

“Lin Lang~~~”

“LIN LANG!!!”

The woman’s furious shouts echoed throughout the entire Three Saints Mountain. Birds scattered from the trees, and the roar shook the leaves, sending them fluttering to the ground.

An adult white tiger covered her ears, burying her head as she grumbled in a muffled voice, “There she goes again.”

The other adult white tiger next to her sighed with a helpless expression. “That little tiger cub, Lin Lang, has run off to play somewhere again.”

The so-called “little tiger cub,” Lin Lang, was a juvenile white tiger. Right now, she was frolicking in the forest, chasing after two scruffy gray wolf pups.

When she heard the woman’s angry shouts, Lin Lang stopped dead in her tracks, letting out a frustrated “Awoo” to signal to her wolf pup friends that she had to go home.

The little white tiger, who had been so fierce just moments ago, was now crestfallen. The wolf pups stopped running too, and whispered behind her back, giggling that she was going home to get a beating again.

The little white tiger wasn’t having it. She turned and bared her teeth at them. But before she could say anything, another roar came from the mountaintop: “Lin Lang! If you don’t get back here, I’m going to skin you and use your pelt as a blanket!”

The little white tiger let out a pitiful “woo” and took off faster than a rabbit.

Lou Manqiu held a large club. Her true form was a rabbit demon, and her eyes were naturally red. The angrier she got, the redder they became. When little Lin Lang came bounding back, she saw that her mom’s eyes were practically glowing.

“Awoo~” she whimpered, lying on the ground with her head bowed, playing the part of a good little girl. That big club hurt like crazy; every time her mom hit her with it, her little tiger butt would be sore for days.

“How many times have I told you! ‘Awoo’ is what wolves say, you’re a tiger! Do you understand?” Lou Manqiu said in a tone of exasperation, tugging on the little white tiger’s fluffy ear to correct her pronunciation.

The little white tiger seemed to understand, and tentatively tried a different sound: “Meow-woo?”

“…”

Well, it wasn’t completely wrong. Big cats meowing wasn’t exactly incorrect, but…

“Can you stop being so lazy? Didn’t I teach you to speak human?”

The Three Saints Mountain was home to three clans: the White Tigers, the Gray Wolves, and the White Rabbits. The White Tiger clan was powerful but the smallest in number. Because of their difficulty with breeding, where other clans had eight cubs in a litter, they were lucky to have even one.

In Lin Lang’s generation, she was the only juvenile white tiger who hadn’t yet fully transformed. This meant she spent all her time playing with the little wolf pups. The little ones of the White Rabbit clan were too gentle-natured and found her too hyper, so they didn’t like to play with her.

This was why Lin Lang, a white tiger, always made “awoo awoo” sounds like the little wolf pups.

Lou Manqiu pinched her little cub’s ear, but couldn’t resist the urge to stroke her fluffy little head, happily petting her.

The little white tiger flipped over submissively, exposing her belly. The “king” character on her forehead glowed faintly as she spoke awkwardly, “Mom, pet, meow-woo, A-Lang.”

Human language was still a bit difficult for her. Her mom could understand all her thoughts with a simple “awoo,” yet she always insisted on her speaking human.

Lin Lang wanted to transform, but she had only cultivated for a little over two hundred years. Her magic was still too weak; sometimes her ears wouldn’t disappear, and other times her tail wouldn’t hide.

When she transformed into a small girl with a pair of tiger ears and the “king” character on her forehead, her tail wagged back and forth. “Mom.”

The little white tiger looked distressed. “Tail, can’t, can’t hide.”

Lou Manqiu picked her daughter up from the ground. “That’s normal, you’re still little.”

A member of the White Tiger clan only became an adult at three hundred years old. Even then, if their magic was too weak, they couldn’t maintain their human form for long.

“Then, A-Lang, how long, adult?” The little white tiger was not used to sitting like a human. She wiggled on the chair, her little butt shifting back and forth and her tail swishing restlessly.

“Didn’t Mom teach you math?”

Lou Manqiu frowned, tapping her daughter’s head. “You figure it out.”

Lin Lang raised a pair of tiger paws and began counting on her fingers. “One, two, three… eighty-eight… one hundred eighty-eight…”

Lou Manqiu couldn’t take it anymore. This little dummy! “It’s 213 years old. You have another 87 years until you’re an adult.”

The little white tiger instinctively let out an “awoo.” Seeing her mom’s expression change, she immediately corrected herself in human speech, complaining, “Too, too long.”

“A-Lang wants to transform?” Lou Manqiu didn’t understand. Didn’t her silly daughter just love running wild all over the mountain? Was transforming that important?

“Uh-huh, uh-huh.”

Lin Lang pointed at the pretty, youthful woman. “Like Mom, like this, pretty.”

Then she grabbed her own tail and ears. “This, not good.”

The “king” character on the forehead of the girl-like Lin Lang was dull. The little white tiger was obviously sad, unable to understand why she could never hide her tail and ears.

But Lou Manqiu thought her daughter was adorable just the way she was, as cute as her own annoying-but-beloved partner. Why else would she have willingly given birth to a little white tiger with her?

Still, seeing her daughter so unhappy, her heart ached. She deliberately reverted her hands to their true form—the thick paws of an adult rabbit demon—and patted Lin Lang’s little head to comfort her. “Once A-Lang becomes an adult, you’ll be able to transform easily.”

“A-Lang, how, become an adult meow?” Lin Lang shook her head unhappily. Her mom’s paws were so heavy~

Lou Manqiu offered some questionable advice. “A-Lang, find a partner and mate, and you’ll become an adult.”

The little white tiger, clueless but trusting, nodded.

She remembered the keywords: partner, mate.

For the next few days, the little white tiger was deep in thought. She lay lazily on the grass, basking in the sun, when her aunt, Lin Weiwei, passed by and smacked her on the back.

“Yo, little A-Lang, why aren’t you out playing?” She greeted her enthusiastically.

“Cough, cough, cough~”

Lin Lang felt, at that moment, that transforming was a truly great thing. Her white tiger elders, in their true forms, hit with serious force.

“Auntie, that hurts,” Lin Lang said, rolling away from the impact.

“Hahaha~” Lin Weiwei laughed heartily, enjoying the chance to tease a kid.

“What are you thinking about? You look so listless, kind of pitiful.”

Lin Lang was indeed troubled, and she figured her aunt was wise and could help. She immediately scrambled to her feet, revealing two cute little tiger fangs in a sweet smile as she cooed, “Auntie~~”

“Hmm? You’re smiling so sweetly, trying to con me now?”

Lin Weiwei transformed into her human shape and sat beside her, saying with an open air, “Tell me. What’s bothering our little A-Lang so much?”

The little white tiger chuckled sheepishly and cut right to the chase: “Mate.”

She added, “A-Lang, don’t know how.”

“Pfft~” Lin Weiwei was caught completely off guard by the two words. She stared in shock at her niece, who was as cute as could be.

“What did you say? You want to mate?”

“Yes, mate.” Lin Lang thought to herself, Why is Auntie making such a big deal out of this? Does Auntie not know how either? When will I ever be able to transform?

Lin Weiwei saw the subtle disdain in the little tiger cub’s eyes and knew Lin Lang was laughing at her for not knowing. Lin Weiwei truly didn’t know; she didn’t even have a partner yet, so how could she?

But she couldn’t lose face to a child. As an elder, Lin Weiwei put on a knowing act. “That’s simple. It’s just mating, isn’t it? Auntie will teach you.”

“Good, good, Auntie, teach.”

The little white tiger was so excited, her tail wagging wildly and the “king” character on her forehead flashing.

“Ahem.” Lin Weiwei patted her conscience, which was completely painless, and pointed to the mountain in the distance. “See that mountain over there?”

Lin Lang followed her finger. It was a very distant mountain, just a tiny black speck in her vision. The little white tiger calculated that even if she ran day and night without stopping, it would probably take her a few days to get there.

“That’s Qingqiu, where the Fox clan lives. The Fox clan is the most skilled at mating. If you go there, you’ll definitely find a partner to mate with.”

If she can’t find one, it’s not my fault, Lin Weiwei thought to herself. It’s just that the little white tiger has no charm. She quietly added in her mind, Serves her right for secretly laughing at me for not knowing how to mate.

The honest little Lin Lang had no idea her aunt was getting revenge for being mocked. She looked at Lin Weiwei with gratitude. “Thank you, Auntie.”

With the hope of transformation right in front of her, the little white tiger ignored the fleeting look of guilt on Lin Weiwei’s face.

“No problem, we’re family,” Lin Weiwei said.

When she saw Lou Manqiu approaching in the distance, she remembered her sister-in-law’s fiery temper, and with a quick turn of her foot, she bolted.

Lin Lang’s mother, Lin Tang, a big white tiger, asked with curiosity, “What’s wrong with your sister? Why did she run when she saw us?”

Lin Tang glanced at her own sister, thinking to herself with a hint of schadenfreude that she must have done something wrong and felt guilty about it.

“I don’t know,” she replied with her usual indifferent expression. In any case, her wife would definitely take care of Lin Weiwei later.

“A-Lang,” Lou Manqiu called, waving. “Come back for dinner.”

The little white tiger “awoo’d” and ran up to her moms. Lin Tang looked at her daughter, her expression softening a little. “A-Lang, come here.”

Lin Tang occasionally had to go down the mountain for business and had been gone for a month. Lin Lang, who hadn’t seen her mom in a while, rubbed against Lin Tang’s legs, whining with excitement.

She made “awoo awoo” sounds, then “meow meow” sounds, too excited to express herself with words.

Lou Manqiu had no choice but to pat her little tiger butt. “Speak human.”

Lin Tang, however, just laughed and said, “It’s fine.”

“You’re spoiling her,” Lou Manqiu said, unable to watch the two of them. Although the little white tiger wasn’t an adult yet, her true form was still quite large. Even in her transformed state, Lin Tang was 1.8 meters tall, but a white tiger that was clinging to her waist to be pampered was quite a sight…

Lin Tang casually sent out a burst of energy, and the half-human-sized little white tiger instantly became a small, adorable white cat.

Lin Lang let out a “meow” and, clinging to her mom’s pants, climbed into her arms to curl up.

“She’s the little darling you gave birth to for me, how could I not spoil her?” Lin Tang said, pinching and petting her now much smaller daughter. She smiled and asked, “Isn’t that right, A-Lang?”

The little white cat giggled foolishly. “Yes, Mom, you love, your baby.”

Then she began to act spoiled. “A-Lang, want, transform~”

She was asking for more magic. If her mom could change her size with just one burst of energy, then maybe a few more would allow her to transform easily, right?

Lin Tang looked at her daughter with an expression of helplessness. “I can’t do that, sweetie. Transforming isn’t that simple. A-Lang, you need to work hard and keep cultivating.”

“Awoo~”

The little white tiger was frustrated but began to scheme in her mind about how to sneak out of the Three Saints Mountain and go to Qingqiu, where the Fox clan lived. Once she successfully learned how to mate, she would definitely be able to transform.