Mo Ran felt that taking Chu Wanning as his master was a mistake.
His Shizun was just so similar to a cat, while he was like a silly dog.
Dogs and cats were biologically different. The silly dog hadn’t originally intended to put his furry paws out towards that cat.
He originally thought that dogs should be with dogs, like his senior brother, who was beautiful and docile, like a cute Japanese Spitz. They would look so good together.
But after dying and coming back to life, after living two lifetimes, the one he’d brought back to his den both times was that snow-white kitty Shizun that he didn’t even have his eye on at first.
The Husky and His White Cat Shizun
is a danmei xianxia Web Novel written by Meatbun Doesn't Eat Meat. Also known as 2ha or Erha.
Emperor of the cultivation world Mo Weiyu deceived elders and slaughtered ancestors, and committed all crimes and sins known to man. After ending his own life he was reborn and transmigrated to the year he first became a disciple.
In the shell of a boy held the soul of the old and weary. After coming back to life, truth after truths that were hidden below the surface in the previous life floated to the top and broke through the waters one after the other.
Of all the revelations, the one that stunned him the most was the Shizun he hated to the bone in his previous life had always been protecting him from the shadows.
The heart of man could change, even demons and monsters could become compassionate and good. Only, he had sinned deeply. Could the blood on his hands ever be cleansed?
It was picked by Seven Seas Entertainment for an English release, with the first volume slated to release in November 2022.
Immortality, a Live-Action Adaptation, is rumoured to air in 2022... maybe.
The Husky and His White Cat Shizun provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents:
- Mo Ran's father chased off and repudiated his desperate and starving illegitimate son to avoid losing face.
- Chu Wanning's father figure Huaizui emotionally abused him for the first fourteen years of his life and when Chu Wanning tried to leave he almost tricked Chu Wanning into commiting suicide.
- Accidental Marriage: A mission derails and Chu Wanning and Mo Ran find themselves with a demon conducting a wedding ceremony for the two of them, along with several ghosts.
- Action Girl: Ye Wangxi.
- Action-Hero Babysitter: Mo Ran finds himself having to babysit his "younger disciple brother" Xia Sini (who in reality is Chu Wanning, who was reverted to his child form after a qi deviation) for some time. Shenanigans ensue.
- Action Mom:
- Previously thought to be completely non-combatant, near the end of the novel Lady Wang reveals her true power at the cost of her life.
- Also Nangong Si's deceased mother Madame Rong Yan was noted for being an Action Girl without peer.
- Affectionate Nickname: Mo Ran enjoys calling Chu Wanning "Baobei" and "Wanning" after they've gotten together, in addition to "Shizun", which takes on an affectionate tone, and in the extras "en gong gege" is also used.
- And I Must Scream: The shards of Mo Ran's core are dug out before an entire audience while he is bound and unable to do anything, even scream.
- And Now You Must Marry Me: After Taxian-jun captured and removed Chu Wanning's golden core, he marries Chu Wanning in an official wedding ceremony and makes him into his Imperial Concubine.
- Antagonist in Mourning: Chu Wanning's death in the first timeline drives Taxian-jun into becoming mentally unstable, so much so that he preserves Chu Wanning's corpse in the Red Lotus Pavilion to visit and speak with. It also made Taxian-jun lose the will to live.
- Anyone Can Die: It would be easier to list the characters that don't die in some form or another than talk about all those that do.
- Awful Truth: Mo Ran's degeneration into Taxian-Jun was not the result of his own choices. Shi Mei had infected him with the Flower of Long Hatred, which acts as a Hate Plague and makes a person Brainwashed and Crazy in addition to making them artificially fall in love with the flower's creator. Mo Ran never committed atrocities out of his own will and he never loved Shi Mei.
- Awful Wedded Life: For Chu Wanning, in the first timeline.
- Ax-Crazy: One word: Taxian-jun.
- Back to School: The essentials of the novel's plot can be summed up to this.
- Bad Samaritan: Shi Mei AKA Hua Binan.
- Band of Brothers: Mo Ran's and Xue Meng's relationship improves drastically after all their adventures together, with Xue Meng even risking both life and limb for him later on.
- Bathe Her and Bring Her to Me: Taxian-jun after capturing Chu Wanning in the first timeline. Also the fourth Ghost King, though Mo Ran saves Chu Wanning in time.
- The Beast Master: Nangong Si and Ye Wanxi.
- Being Evil Sucks: As Mo Ran can attest. All his efforts to crush the world under his feet just left him more lonely and frustrated, until he ultimately gives it all up to pursue a life dedicated to his loved ones.
- Being Good Sucks: As Chu Wanning can attest. He continually sacrifices himself for the world and his loved ones, struggling against impossible odds and making himself more and more miserable, so much so that by the end of the novel his continued dedication to doing the right thing nearly breaks him completely.
- Berserk Button: Chu Wanning, for Mo Ran. Ironically, Chu Wanning was this for Mo Ran even before Mo Ran stopped hating him.
- Big Damn Heroes: Chu Wanning pulls this on multiple occasions, most notably coming to Mo Ran's rescue from the feathered tribe and saving Xue Meng from Taxian-jun in the original timeline.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Shi Mei, everyone thinks he is so soft, sweet and gentle. In actuality he is the Hidden Villain who put a Brainwashed and Crazy curse on Mo Ran which transformed him into Taxian-jun and plans on commiting genocide.
- Blood-Splattered Wedding Dress: Chu Wanning's wedding robes from ghost marriage end up soaked with blood. He tears them off, leaving his typical white robes underneath, making his injuries all the more evident.
- Body Horror: A lot of the plot involves gorey imagery. Readers be warned.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Mo Ran's transformation into Taxian-Jun was not the result of his choices and decisions. He was infected with a curse by Shi Mei.
- Broken Pedestal: In the first timeline, Mo Ran's hatred for Chu Wanning began after the latter's failure to save the life of Shi Mei, who Mo Ran thought he loved. Too bad Shi Mei wasn't actually dead.
- Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: Mo Ran, who died and was "reborn" creates butterflies to match Chu Wanning's flowers. At the end of the novel, his heritage as member of the Butterfly-boned clan allows him to return to the living once more.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Chu Wanning deeply cares for and loves Mo Ran, but has terrible communication issues.
- Cerebus Call-Back: An early gag is about Sisheng Peak's terrible naming sense, including the Aaaaah and Waaaaah Cliffs. It's later revealed that the cliffs' names weren't humorous references to people falling off them, but rather to the wailing sound Xue Zhengyong made when he mourned Mo Ran's father there.
- Chained to a Bed: Happens to Chu Wanning an several occasions.
- Coitus Uninterruptus: Taxian-jun bangs Chu Wanning behind a screen while holding an audience with some monks. Mo Zongshi is not that different from his past life in that regard, he also performs oral sex on Wanning while his cousin Xue Meng is behind the curtains, having a conversation with their Shizun.
- Cool Sword: Several, but particularly Bugui and Huaisha.
- Covers Always Lie: Take a look at the cover design above and make your best guess as to the plot. Then read the rest of this page.
- Crapsack World: Even before various characters started dabbling in forbidden magic that could destroy the world, things weren't exactly great in a world rife with injustice, poverty, struggle, and murderous ghosts.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: There are some who were subjected to this, but one of the most horrifying ones, aside from Song Qiutong being boiled alive, is Hua Binan being smashed to death by the gate closing on him.
- Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Three of them!
- Deus Exit Machina: The final arc is stretched out quite a bit due to Mo Ran 2.0 being dead. He gets better though.
- Deus ex Machina: It takes Chu Wanning dying at the end of the first book for Mo Ran 1.0 to finally leave go of his preconceptions and truly realize that his Shizun was a wonderful person that deeply cared about him. Chu Wanning gets to return back to life thanks to the cold and neglectful Huaizui being willing to use a Dangerous Forbidden Technique for him.
- Dirty Coward: Huaizui in his youth caused a horrible tragedy due to his cowardice and selfishness. Later on, he repents to some degree. Unfortunately his way of expressing remorse is to create an Artificial Human to turn into a Human Sacrifice.
- Domestic Abuse: Taxian-jun was emotionally, physically and sexually abusive to Chu Wanning while married to him in the first timeline.
- Dude, She's Like in a Coma: Under the effects of an emotion-heightening spell, Mo Ran ends up kissing a sleeping Chu Wanning and tearing at his clothes. He snaps out it.
- Dying as Yourself: Taxian-jun dies as himself, finally freed from Hua Binan's control and fully aware and cognizant of his own mind and true feelings. His last words are to declare that the only one he has ever loved is Chu Wanning.
- Dying Declaration of Love: the undead Taxian-jun's last words are to declare to Chu Wanning that he was the only one he ever loved.
- Fantastic Racism: The Butterfly Boned Beauty Feasts, a clan of people descended from the Demon Race. Dual cultivation with them and eating their flesh significantly amplifies one's cultivation, and they are seen by the cultivation world at large as subhuman fodder. Their fates tend to be either to live out as cauldrons (and live in what's essentially sexual slavery), or to be eaten, either directly or by being made into cultivation pills. On top of that, the Guyue'ye Sect has a long and sordid history of running a Baby Factory to keep a steady supply of them to use as fodder for creating medicine with; most of them don't survive past the age of thirty, and after centuries of genocide, the number of them remaining in the entire cultivation world is in the double digits. This is a major plot point as it's the real motivation of the story's Hidden Villain.
- Field Trip to the Past: Mo Ran and Xia Sini witness the previous breach in the barrier through a memory illusion generated by the feathered tribe.
- Fire Is Red: Spiritual energy from fire cores is red.
- First-Episode Resurrection: Taxian-jun kills himself in the first chapter of the story, only to come back immediately as his younger self for the remainder of the narrative.
- First Girl After All: Mo Ran never actually loved Shi Mei. It was just a side effect of the Long Hatred Flower planted in him by the fellow disciple. Mo Ran's first and only love has always been Chu Wanning.
- From Bad to Worse: Things in the cultivation realm are already a mess when the story begins, with the lower realm struggling with poverty, starvation, and of course, the rampant ghost problems, while the upper realm mostly ignores their suffering. Things only get worse for everyone from there.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Mo Ran in his first lifetime as Taxian Jun. Also, thought Shi Mei was just the sweet, innocent, but ultimately forgettable final member of the Chu Wanning disciple squad in addition to being a prime example of the Disposable Fiancé? You thought wrong.
- The Great Flood: The end result of abusing the forbidden techniques, resulting in the destruction of the world.
- Happily Married: After the events of the novel, Mo Ran and Chu Wanning retreat to their cottage, get married, and live their lives together.
- Hate Sink: Quite a lot of characters are utterly repulsive with absolutely no redeeming qualities, but Mo Ran's biological father and Nangong Liu are the standout examples.
- Heel–Face Turn: Mo Ran starts out as merciless Evil Overlord that cares for nothing, but gradually changes for the better over the course of the story, turning his back on the person he used to be.
- Help Yourself in the Future: The Chu Wanning of the first timeline travels back in time to prevent Mo Ran's emotional degradation, ultimately saving the Chu Wanning of the new timeline.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Poor Chu Wanning suffers this to an extreme level. Partially the reason he never gave up Mo Ran as a bad job despite how monstrous the disciple grew.
- Hidden Villain: For a fair portion of the novel, the identity of the culprit behind the massacres and traps is a mystery. It's Hua Binan, Shi Mei's Alternate Self from the original timeline.
- Hot for Teacher: Mo Ran certainly burns with lust and desire for Chu Wanning. So does Shi Mei.
- Hot Springs Episode: On the way to the lake to retrieve weapons, Mo Ran and the others stay at an inn with a hot spring. Shenanigans ensue.
- Hot Teacher: Chu Wanning. Two of his disciples, Mo Ran and Shi Mei are romantically and sexually obsessed with him. Xue Meng platonically worships him. The rest of the Shisheng Peak disciples comment on how ridiculously pretty he is.
- Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: Mo Ran is nowhere as knowledgeable of the past as he believes. He is missing most of his memories due to the Flower of Long Hatred curse that Shi Mei infected him with.
- I Have You Now, My Pretty: Taxian-jun towards Chu Wanning. Also Hua Binan towards Chu Wanning.
- Irony:
- Taxian-Jun and Mo Ran insist on paying back the people that have been kind to him. When both Mo Ran and Chu Wanning were children, Chu Wanning saved a newly orphaned Mo Ran from starving and freezing to death in the snow over the objections of Master Huaizui. When Mo Ran became Taxian-Jun he was unable to find out who had saved his life so he just spared Wubei Temple and gave 100 boxes of gold to Huaizui. Therefore he rewarded Huaizui who wanted to let him die and tortured Chu Wanning who saved him for nearly a decade.
- Huaizui planed to use Chu Wanning as a Human Sacrifice for a ritual Powered by a Forsaken Child to revive Chu Xun's son Chu Lan as a way for making up for the tragedy caused by Huaizui's cowardice and selfishness. Chu Xun, having been a honorable, highly moral man would be utterly disgusted at Huaizui's plan to murder a child to try and revive another one and had he been alive he would have done everything in his power to put a stop to it.
- Song Qiutong believed that she could bad mouth Chu Wanning as much as she liked after his death in the 0.5 timeline. Since Taxian Jun's true love supposedly was Shi Mei and Chu Wanning just a Lust Object. Her insults toward Chu Wanning enrage Taxian Jun so much that he orders her to be boiled alive in oil and never even thinks about her afterwards outside of regretting ever marrying her. Later, the reader finds out that Mo Ran's one true love has been Chu Wanning. The infatuation with Shi Mei was artificial and a side effect of the Long Hatred Flower in Taxian Jun's heart.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: At the start of the novel Chu Wanning is at best cold and at worst outright abusive towards everyone around him. Later chapters give more insights into how miserable, lonely, and full of self-hatred he really is.
- Joke and Receive: The existence of rice cake monsters. They originally were something Mo Ran made up in order to distract Xue Meng from the fact that Mo Ran and Chu Wanning were having a sexual encounter in the woods. Several years later Mo Ran actually meets rice cake monsters and is not amused.
- Literal Metaphor: While on a punitive kitchen assignment, Chu Wanning makes (terrible) tofu and cabbage soup. His disciples, most of whom are secretly obsessed with their Hot Teacher, enthusiastically and literally eat his tofu. To eat someone's tofu is a Chinese idiom that means to take advantage of them, usually in a sexual way.
- Love Hungry: Mo Ran is blatantly desperate for love, particularly Chu Wanning's, but won't admit it even in his own internal narration.
- Love Hurts: Poor Chu Wanning in both timelines. Mo Ran also gets a hefty dose of this after the trip in the underworld after he realizes that Chu Wanning was the one to make the wontons for him and love him in both lifetimes.
- Love Martyr: Poor Chu Wanning. Is hard to say that Mo Ran actually deserves his devotion until the Awful Truth about the Long Hatred Flower.
- Love Potion: The Flower of Hatred acts as one given that it has a piece of the creator's soul. Mo Ran's romantic feelings for Shi Mei are artificial, and the result of brainwashing. The only person he has truly loved is Chu Wanning.
- Love Redeems: Mo Ran's love for the people he once tormented is what ultimately redeems him.
- Love Transcends Spacetime: Despite losing his core and his freedom, Chu Wanning is so determined to save, and stop, Mo Ran that he pulls off the forbidden technique and tears a hole in space and time.
- Love Triangle: Mo Ran, Shi Mei, and Chu Wanning all know they're in a love triangle of some sort. Mo Ran thinks he and Shi Mei are meant to be, and that his attraction to Chu Wanning is a mere distraction. Chu Wanning is convinced he is the Abhorrent Admirer that shouldn't intervene. They're both wrong, as it turns out; Mo Ran isn't the one Shi Mei likes. Also Mo Ran's feelings for Shi Mei are not real but the result of the Long Hatred Flower acting as a Love Potion. The only one he has truly loved is Chu Wanning.
- Mage Marksman: Nangong Si and Ye Wanxi.
- Marital Rape Licence: Poor Chu-fei endured eight years of this from Taxian-jun.
- Memento MacGuffin: Chu Wanning's handkerchief certainly qualifies.
- Mental Time Travel: The thirty-two year old Mo Ran of the future possesses his sixteen year-old self in the past. Or rather, his Alternate Self.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Mo Ran has multiple instances of this when he looks back on his actions in the previous timeline and can barely believe how cruel he was. The most notable moments, however, have to be following Chu Wanning's death in the new timeline, and when Mo Ran realizes Chu Wanning silently loved him all along and that Mo Ran trampled over his heart for two whole lifetimes.
- My Greatest Second Chance: The premise. Mo Ran believes his rebirth in the past is a chance to redo everything for a better ending. Turns out, it's not that simple.
- Named Weapons: In typical fashion, all the important weapons have their own unique names. notably, Mo Ran refused to name his sword for a very long time, only finally giving it the name "No Return" following a great tragedy.
- Nerves of Steel: Chu Wanning keeps his composure in nearly all situations. The only time he loses it is Mo Ran 2.0 has his core dug out by Mu Yanli and is near death.
- The Nose Knows: Nothing affects Mo Ran more that Chu Wanning's scent; too bad the dumb husky is too foolish to pay heed to his instincts.
- Obliviously Beautiful: Chu Wanning is likely the most beautiful person in the world but insists that he is ugly.
- Official Couple: Mo Ran and Chu Wanning.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Despite whatever their relationship is at the time, Mo Ran knows Chu Wanning extremely well, enough so that even the slightest shifts in behavior alert him to something being wrong. When Chu Wanning expresses discomfort or pain, Mo Ran always takes it seriously, as he knows better than anyone just how much pain Chu Wanning can endure completely silently.
- Outdoor Bath Peeping: The compilers of the Fictional Document "Size Ranking of the Cultivation World's Young Heroes" get much of their information about the penis sizes of the men of the cultivation world from extensive Outdoor Bath Peeping. Chu Wanning is shocked to learn this, especially since the publication explicitly discusses his Love Interest Mo Ran.
- Portal to the Past: The Spacetime Gate of Life and Death.
- Rescued from the Underworld: Using one of the three forbidden techniques, Mo Ran has to rescue Chu Wanning's soul from the underworld.
- Retroactive Preparation: Chu Wanning goes back in time/space to handle the matter of Hua Binan's flower before his past self even knows it exists.
- Riddle for the Ages: Duan Yihan, Mo Ran's mother is quite the mystery. Mo Ran received his demon blood from her and yet no one knows if she was the regular, sheds golden tears type of Butterfly Boned Beauty Feast or the irregular type like her son. If she was the second, no one knows if she was herself aware.
- Roaring Rampage of Rescue: Chu Wanning slaughters several cultivators and injures a hundred more during his rescue of Mo Ran from his execution.
- Running Gag: Xue Meng walks into Mo Ran and Chu Wanning having sexual relations at least twice. The second time Mo Ran does not stop what he is doing to Chu Wanning given that they are mostly covered by a curtain.
- "Save the World" Climax: Despite Chu Wanning's best efforts, the end result of Hua Binan's plans leaves the two worlds in extreme peril.
- Scarpia Ultimatum: Taxian Jun's condition to Chu Wanning for saving a captured Xue Meng.
- Seal the Breach: Chu Wanning's specialty, and the climax of story before the timeskip.
- Secret Weapon: Downplayed. Chu Wanning has three holy weapons, but reserves two for emergencies and the most drastic of situations; however, at the start of the story, thanks to being from the future, Mo Ran has already experienced all three.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Part of the premise, as Mo Ran wakes up in the past and tries to save Shi Mei. Turns out, the whole thing is the original Chu Wanning's plan to save the world: go back in time/space and prevent Mo Ran from ever being consumed by the flower.
- Sickeningly Sweethearts: Chu Wanning and Mo Ran after their initial confession. They spend several chapters kissing and having sex and generally being a honeymoon phase new couple.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Mo Ran version 1.0. Sure he might have the memories of a mad tyrant emperor but at the moment he is only a 16 year old disciple. Yet quite often he insists on mentally referring to himself This Venerable One.
- Smells Sexy: Chu Wanning smells like haitang blossoms. His scent is basically an aphrodisiac for all versions of Mo Ran.
- Staking the Loved One: Attempted. Chu Wanning tries to kill Taxian-jun, who has become little more than a murderous puppet, so that no one else will have to die.
- Redemption Earns Life: Thanks to his demonic heritage, Mo Ran/Taxian-jun manages to resurrect and return to Chu Wanning, choosing a life of love over an eternity of power.
- Redemption Equals Affliction: Shi Mei loses his eyesight around the time of his Heel Realization.
- Redemption Equals Death: Mo Ran dies for his sins, twice. Taxian-jun, as well, crumbling to nothing in a destroyed world, having finally regained complete control of himself in his final moments.
- Timeline-Altering MacGuffin: Chu Wanning's magic incense burner, which he left in the past to fully remove the flower planted in Mo Ran. Also, less traditionally, the pieces of his souls he left behind.
- Tsundere: Chu Wanning. Also Xue Meng.
- The Unfavorite: Mo Ran thinks he and Shi Mei are both this to Chu Wanning, while Xue Meng is the preferred disciple. This misconception spirals quickly out of control. Mo Ran is actually Chu Wanning's favorite person and he is too decent a person to even have unfavorites.
- Unrequited Love Switcheroo: Chu Wanning spends a considerable amount of time thinking about his unrequited (or so he thinks) feelings for Mo Ran. The switcheroo happens after Chu Wanning dies in the second lifetime. Of course, the love was actually requited the whole time.
- Unwitting Pawn: Mo Ran to Hua Binan/Shi Mei in both lifetimes due to the Flower of Long Hatred.
- Villainous Crush: Both Taxian-jun and Hua Binan towards Chu Wanning.
- Villainous Rescue: Taxian-jun pulls a few of these near the end of the novel, always for Chu Wanning's sake.
- Villain Protagonist: Mo Ran starts out as one. In the first timeline he committed horrible crimes, and in the current one he initially plans to do everything the same.
- Villain's Dying Grace: Taxian-jun's final actions as a crumbling corpse are to help with the evacuation, hold back the literal end of the world so everyone can escape, and save Chu Wanning's life.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Shi Mei and Hua Binan. Also Mu Yanli.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: Both Mo Ran and Chu Wanning, to each other.
- Yandere: Taxian-Jun toward Chu Wanning.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Even in a new timeline, certain things are doomed to happen in more or less the same way. Nangong Si dies young, Sisheng Peak is annihilated, and Mo Ran and Chu Wanning are destined to fight each other.
