Chapter 29
After leaving the Muyun tribe, Jia'er and her mother traveled westward. The deeper they went into the inner region, the more deserted they became.
Those places where the horizon stretches to the horizon seem to have been forgotten by heaven and earth, where no life would linger, except for Jia'er and his mother who measure them step by step.
Xiaolong is much stronger now. He can carry his little backpack and run around everywhere. Centered on his mother, he will run around and then come back.
After traveling west for several months, until it seemed like they had reached the end of the world and had nowhere else to go, Yinglong took Zaizai and changed their route. They went north and then east again, making a big circle, and were preparing to go back.
Rocks stood tall, moss spread everywhere, and along the way they kept opening the ruins on the ancient map, slowly moving forward through the rugged terrain and ravines.
This journey was long and lonely. When I finally emerged, I had no idea what year it had been.
Jia'er's hobby of collecting pebbles remained unchanged. He picked them up as he walked, putting in the ones he liked and taking out the ones he didn't like to throw away. His little backpack was almost bursting at the seams.
"I said, what use are you to picking this up?"
Yinglong looked at the child's bowed head in confusion. He knew that once they returned to the East Sea, he could have as many of these things as he wanted.
Jia'er was stuffing his fingers into the backpack with all his might, hoping that the thin piece of cloth could cover all his beloved little stones.
"This looks good." He muttered as he stuffed it in his mouth, seemingly too busy to even talk to his mother.
Oh, this child has reached the age where he likes colorful little trinkets, Yinglong sighed helplessly.
The mother and child, carrying their shared little broken stone, crossed some high mountains, great rivers, and desolate wilderness, and gradually arrived at a place where life existed.
The further east you go, the more diverse the types of life become.
For example, Yinglong would often go out for a while and then come back to find his child wrestling and fighting with some withered vine spirits. The fight was so intense that it was hard to tell who was stronger.
She calmly stepped forward and separated the child from the monsters and spirits.
She didn't ask why they separated, since it was all for some inexplicable reason anyway. She would pat one child first, then comfort the other, and once they had calmed down, she would continue walking forward with the child in her hand.
It's no wonder she was so calm, because so far she's seen children fight with stones, mushrooms, pikas and the like.
Who knows, maybe one time when I come back, I'll see the child fighting with some unknown wild animal by the roadside.
In response, Yinglong established the following rules for his children:
"As long as you don't cause trouble for your mother, you can do whatever you want."
Jia'er nodded hastily, agreeing first, but causing trouble was something that could be avoided at all costs, and Xiao Long couldn't guarantee anything either.
But each time it happened suddenly.
One night, he and his mother were sleeping peacefully in the barrier when they suddenly heard the sound of a baby crying not far away.
Jia'er was a very active person, and he woke up immediately.
"Mommy, there's a sound!" he reminded his mother.
"Hmm," Yinglong responded only softly.
Jia'er calmed down; her mother hadn't said a word.
Does this mean telling him to go to sleep and not worry about anything else?
I think so.
But Jia'er was no ordinary person; the louder the baby cried, the more Jia'er twisted and turned.
In the end, his whole body was twisted as if he had been bitten by insects. He tossed and turned in his small bed, but what did this have to do with him?
It's related; he's going to go and see what's going on.
That's a child crying.
He tiptoed away from his mother, left the barrier, and ran tirelessly toward the source of the sound.
He hoped his mother hadn't woken up; he'd be right back. Jia'er comforted himself as he ran.
Dewdrops were already on the grass in the early morning. The wet grass scratched against Xiaolong's calves, making Jia'er feel itchy as he ran.
But he still ran to the center of the bushes as fast as he could.
The baby's cries grew louder and louder, seemingly lingering right beside him, but Jia'er was still somewhat disoriented. Where was the sound coming from?
With light footsteps, Jia'er held her breath and focused intently, carefully discerning the direction in the night sky.
Tiny fireflies were flying in the air. Jia'er moved step by step in a certain direction, and the sound was getting closer and closer—this was the right direction!
Finally, when they reached a dense thicket of bushes, Jia'er gently parted the branches and leaves and discovered a crying baby on the ground!
Oh no, this isn't a baby; it's clearly a small beast. Its appearance seems distinctly different from humans, but its voice sounds like that of a human infant.
Looking at the small animal on the ground, which was wrapped up tightly with only its furry head showing, Jia'er mustered up her courage and tried to pick it up.
It was too dark for him to see what kind of animal's child it was.
But just as he bent down, before he could even make a move, a huge black shadow suddenly swept past.
Jia'er was startled and sat down on the ground with a thud, instantly realizing that both of his buttocks were completely wet.
He felt a sense of unease. Who were they? Could they be the little beast's parents?
If these are the parents of this little animal, then they are guarding their child. Was my coming here really unnecessary?
But it doesn't seem like it. Otherwise, why would she leave her child on the cold ground and cry so desperately?
Jia'er was hesitating, and just as he was deciding whether to leave or not, the huge black shadow began to attack him.
"Huh? Not again?"
Jia'er had a psychological trauma from being attacked by a giant bird, and suddenly, he felt his head throbbing again.
Waaah, I should have listened to my mother and not come over today.
Oh no, I should call Mother over too.
Just as he was trying to repent, someone grabbed him by the back of the neck.
Two wet buttocks lifted off the ground, and Jia'er turned around to look.
Waaah, it's Mommy!
Oh, how he longed to run into his mother's arms and cry his heart out, but it seemed he couldn't.
I saw my mother pick me up with a look of disgust and then carry me a little further away.
Jia looked down at himself. Oh, look how dirty his clothes are, covered in mud, especially around his bottom...
"Mother, that's not..."
"Shhh."
Yinglong shushed his cub, then put him on the ground and led him to a secluded spot.
The giant bird seemed to have poor vision in the darkness. After seeing that Jia'er's figure had disappeared, it slowly stopped and landed on a big tree to look around.
"Mother, should we go to save her...?"
Before Jia'er could finish speaking, her mother pinched her mouth shut.
"Let's wait and see," Yinglong said calmly.
Jia'er waited patiently, but as the cries grew fainter and fainter, he sensed that the little beast on the ground was about to lose its breath.
The night was as black as ink, so thick it seemed you could almost squeeze juice out of it. The wind whistled through the treetops, making a soft, mournful sound, like someone howling in the shadows. In this atmosphere, Jia'er instinctively clutched her mother's sleeve.
Yinglong sensed the nervousness of the little one beside her, and she simply touched his dragon horns casually.
"There's nothing to be afraid of, it's not like you insisted on coming..."
Before Yinglong could finish speaking, a deafening roar suddenly came from afar, followed by the ground beneath their feet trembling.
Jia'er's eyes widened as he saw a dark shadow, as large as a mountain, approaching them from afar.
"Mother, that!"
Jia'er pointed, clearly very excited. What could possibly be so huge?
Before the enormous figure could get close, the giant bird in the tree could no longer contain itself. It suddenly took flight from the branch, then roared and cried as it flew into the distance.
Judging from the direction, they were charging towards that giant beast.
"Wow!" Jia'er exclaimed, sensing that something big was about to happen.
Sure enough, a great battle suddenly broke out the moment the giant bird reached the shadowy figure.
It turns out that both of them were demonic beasts with hundreds of years of cultivation. Tonight, for some unknown reason, they clashed and fought fiercely as soon as they met.
A piercing sound began to echo through the sky, followed by sparks flying and a forest of blades and halberds. Xiao Long covered his ears and stared at the sky—even in the pitch-black night, the air above gleamed with a blinding, cold light.
"Mother, what's wrong with them?" Jia'er asked quietly. Why are they all so grumpy?
"It's probably because this bird stole someone's child, and now the parents have come looking for it, so the two of them started fighting."
"Why would this bird steal someone else's child?" Jia'er continued to ask.
Yinglong retorted, "Think about why they would kidnap you when your mother wasn't around?"
Jia'er answered seriously, "Because they want to eat me."
"That settles it."
Xiao Long covered his ears, thinking to himself, "Oh, so that's how it is." He hoped that the big black shadow would win.
His hopes were probably fulfilled. After fighting for dozens of rounds in mid-air, the bird was indeed struggling to keep up and looked like it would soon be unable to fly again.
"Wow." Koji lowered his hands.
"Mother, what's the name of that huge thing?"
Yinglong thought for a moment and said, "Maybe we should call it Kui Niu."
"The Kui ox? Then what about the bird?"
"Big bird."
"Huh, why does the Kui ox have a name, but the big bird doesn't?"
Xiaolong isn't so easily fooled anymore.
“Perhaps, the Golden-winged Bird,” Yinglong said casually.
"Oh." Jia'er was satisfied with both answers.
"Mother, guess who will win?" Jia'er asked mysteriously again, probably thinking that it would be difficult for others to predict the outcome.
Yinglong was too lazy to answer his cub.
"I'll tell you, it's..."
Before he could finish speaking, the giant golden-winged bird crashed to the ground with a loud bang.
The commotion caused quite a stir within a radius of several miles, and in an instant, birds and beasts all fled in panic.
Jia'er was so frightened by the commotion that he dared not speak. He watched helplessly as the golden-winged bird crashed to the ground and never got up again. Then the large black shadow walked step by step toward the small beast.
Perhaps driven by a genuine desire to save his child, the dark figure quickly rolled up his child as it approached, then turned to leave.
The little animal, held by its family, stopped crying immediately. The baby's cries that had been lingering in the air ceased, and the night seemed even quieter.
Jia'er was stunned by the spectacular battle in the wild. He was shocked and couldn't help but marvel in his heart: This beast is so powerful.
When it stood up, it was as tall as a small mountain. In a flash, it swept its child away and ran off, moving so fast!
That's amazing!
Jia'er then realized something and was somewhat stunned.
After the great beast and its cubs had vanished without a trace, he suddenly turned his head to look at his mother:
"Mother, is Father just as powerful as it?"
Yinglong was stunned when he heard this...
*
As the gentle east wind gradually replaced the biting north wind, in the blink of an eye, Jia'er and her mother found themselves in a warm and humid place.
The air was filled with the scent of thawing earth, and the sunlight had become bright and warm. However, the two figures, one large and one small, walking on the plain seemed to be moving with a hurried pace.
"Stay with your mother, don't get lost."
"Oh well."
Jia'er obediently replied, following closely in his mother's footsteps.
Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate; as we walked, a sudden, sharp chill ran down our spines.
Oh, it's raining. Jia'er covered his head and ran away like a rat across the plain.
"It's raining, Mother. It's raining, it's raining."
As Jia'er ran, he kept calling out to his mother.
Yinglong knew it was raining, but seeing her child running ahead with his head in his hands, she began to wonder if he had ever seen a rainy day before.
Not long after the rain stopped, the weather suddenly changed and it started hailing again. Jia'er ran away in fear.
"It's hailing, Mother! It's hailing! It's hailing!"
Jia'er was constantly startled by the weather; it was either raining or hailing, and he had nowhere to run. It was so troublesome.
Summer weather is so unpredictable!
Yinglong's opinion on this was:
"Isn't it all because of you? If you hadn't missed your father, would we have rushed back here in the summer?"
Yinglong complained softly, "At worst, they can come back in winter."
Unfortunately, Jia'er was too busy running away to defend himself.
Sigh, there's no need to explain. It all comes down to what happened last time. That night, the little one suddenly asked him if his father was as powerful as that beast.
He suddenly mentioned his father.
Yinglong knew that his son still missed his father.
I realized that I was thinking about it every single moment.
So, she quickly took her child on a tour of the sand-swept land in a short period of time, and then hurried with her child to arrive at the familiar Qingchuan Plain before summer.
Summer is rainy, especially in this plain area, where a sudden downpour can come without warning.
Xiao Long had grown accustomed to the desolate wilderness with his mother, and now that he had returned, he was extremely unaccustomed to the rainy and humid season.
It's raining. It's raining.
Xiaolong was still struggling to find a place to shelter from the rain, but couldn't find one. Seeing this, Yinglong couldn't help but sigh. She pulled the child to her side and then casually set up a barrier to protect herself and the child inside.
The rain finally stopped after they waited inside the barrier for a long time. Then the sky slowly brightened, and the sky above gradually began to show a thin glaze color like crackled glaze on celadon porcelain, as if it had been washed clean. Seeing this, Jia'er excitedly wanted to step out, but as soon as he took his first step, his foot "splat"ed, and water droplets immediately appeared on his shoe.
The rain just now was really heavy; it was so heavy that you could feel the grass under your feet getting very wet.
In just a moment, Xiaolong forgot the pain of the rain and started to find joy in the misery, splashing in the puddles on the grass.
"Let's go."
Nothing can stop a child of this age from having fun. Yinglong patted the child's head, signaling him to stop playing and that they should continue their journey.
"Oh." Jia'er is leaving again so soon. She packed her small backpack.
Of course, with Yinglong smiling and chatting happily with his son, we had to hurry up and set off.
She laughed, but a sly glint appeared in her eyes.
hey-hey.
When she first noticed that her son was showing even the slightest thought of missing his father, she almost immediately made up her mind to take him back!
Yes! Take the cub back, take it back to that stupid dragon. That way, we can solve both the child's longing for its father and the problem of the child following her...
Of course, she would never think that her baby was a problem; it's just that he's still young and needs more time to gain experience, otherwise she always feels he's a hassle.
Of course, it wasn't that she thought the baby was troublesome.
"Come on, follow your mother," Yinglong said happily to the child.
When it comes to going home, their schedules are much faster than before.
“Okay!” Jia’er replied loudly, unaware of what his mother was planning.
The mother and son started walking one after the other again, both in a good mood.
"Your mother knows you're tired from your travels and that you miss your father, so she brought you back quickly. Aren't you happy?"
"Uh? Mother, actually I..."
"Aren't you happy at the thought that you'll be seeing your father soon?"
"Mother, I..."
The vast plain was deserted, with only the mother and son muttering to themselves, though the little dragon didn't seem to have time to interrupt.
"You actually think so much about your father, that you'd rather give up your travels and have your mother bring you back. Your father would be very moved if he knew."
"Actually, I'd rather play outside with my mother than go back to see my father!"
Xiao Long held it in for a long time, his face turning red, before finally finding an opportunity to say it.
"What? Don't say things you don't mean! You just missed your father, that's why your mother brought you back!" Yinglong said recklessly from the front.
Jia'er's face fell again. He was thinking hard to refute his mother's words, but he was too busy to speak.
In the mother's eyes, this is tantamount to her child's tacit agreement; these are the child's true feelings.
Oh, that goes without saying, everyone knows that.
Mother knows everything.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
