Chapter 27
Ji Ying muttered softly, with a hint of uncertain expectation, and sat down obediently in the chair beside the bed and waited.
An hour later, 'Ji Ying' who chose to believe in the stinky god was sent back to the village.
He was placed in front of a makeshift wooden cross, with lavender leaves at his feet that emitted a strange and refreshing fragrance.
The burning torches illuminated the surroundings, and the air was filled with a solemn and tense atmosphere.
Tang An stood in the shadows not far away, his face grim.
When he realized that he had been deceived, Ji Ying's pale and handsome face was instantly filled with incredible shock and great grievance.
He struggled, the chains rattled, and the eyes belonging to Chi Ying stared at Tang An.
"You lied!!! You said you would talk to me when you waited! You lied to me!!!"
Tang An's heart seemed to be pierced by that look, but he forced himself to harden his heart. His voice was cold and firm, clearly piercing the firelight: "I don't care who you are, immediately, immediately, leave Chi Ying's body..."
'Chi Ying' has lived in the deep mountains and forests since childhood. He is a country dragon who has never seen the world.
Hearing this, I just felt wronged.
He was just sleeping soundly in his own nest when he heard a child's heart-wrenching cry from somewhere. The evil sound penetrated his head and disturbed his peace.
I wanted to cover my ears and pretend not to hear it, but the crying kept going on and on.
There was no other way, he could only dig up the dirt impatiently, intending to see which little bastard dared to disturb Uncle Long's sweet dream.
Then, the bad luck began.
Following the crying sound, he saw the little kid hanging precariously on the branch of a towering ancient tree not far away.
It doesn't look like I can climb up by myself.
He impatiently transformed into a human form, flew to the tree, and picked up the child who was crying so hard that he was almost out of breath.
The child fell to the ground, looked at him with tears in his eyes, and asked with sobs: "Are you...are you a god?"
Long patted his dusty clothes and said with disdain: "God? Humph, gods are not good things. I am..."
Before the word "dragon" could be uttered, a loud thunder suddenly exploded in the originally clear sky, deafening everyone.
The child was so frightened that he cried out "Wow" and hugged his legs again.
Long shrank his neck and rolled his eyes towards the sky in dissatisfaction: "...I know, I know, but I haven't said it yet."
He didn't dare to openly violate the rules of the Heavenly Master, so he could only change his words: "Yes, I am a god, I came from heaven, isn't it awesome?"
The dragon thought, "Don't mortals worship the gods the most? This should be fine, right?"
Unexpectedly, this casual remark made the kid named Gu Ming completely obsessed with him.
In the days that followed, Gu Ming went to the mountains every day and brought him all kinds of novelties and delicious cakes bought from the market at the foot of the mountain.
As the storybook says, one should be grateful to those who have benefited from it and be soft-hearted when receiving it.
Although Long considered himself a proud dragon, he also valued the word "righteousness". Seeing that the child was sincere, he reluctantly nodded, accepted this younger brother, and promised to protect him.
Spring goes and autumn comes, flowers bloom and fall. For the immortal species, a hundred years in the human world is just a blink of an eye, like a slightly longer nap.
In the blink of an eye, the child grew up and became an ordinary young man among thousands of people.
Maybe I won’t have time when I grow up.
The young man went looking for dragons less and less frequently.
The last time they met, Gu Ming, with a bruised face, was holding a plate of steaming mung bean cakes. He smiled and said to Xiao Qi, who was dozing on a tree branch, "Xiao Qi, I'm getting married!"
Xiao Qi opened half an eye, glimpsed the wound on his face, and frowned: "Being bullied again?"
Gu Ming put down the cake, found a clean stone to sit on, and pretended to be relaxed: "It's okay, I fought back."
Xiao Qi turned over and jumped down from the tree, picked up two pieces of cake and stuffed them into his mouth, mumbling: "With your small body? You were bullied before and you always said peace is the most important thing. I wanted to help you vent your anger, but you stopped me."
Gu Ming just smiled: "Thank you, Xiaoqi."
Xiao Qi snorted and took another piece of cake: "Did you get together with that girl?"
Gu Ming touched his nose embarrassedly, his eyes shining: "Yes! A Ru said she is willing!"
Xiao Qi clicked his tongue twice and patted his shoulder: "Alright, alright! When you have cubs, give them to me to play with! Human cubs are the most fun!"
Gu Ming laughed heartily, his voice bright and clear: "Of course, I will bring Aju and the child to see you when the time comes, so you can have some fun too."
Xiaoqi kept this promise and waited in the mountains year after year.
The leaves outside the mountain turned green and then yellow, and then yellow and then green again, but Gu Ming and his family never arrived.
As time went on, Xiao Qi began to feel anxious.
He took the storybook he borrowed from the bookstore at the foot of the mountain and decided to visit the village where Gu Ming lived before returning the book.
The village is not far from the mountain.
When Xiao Qi, in human form, walked to the entrance of the village, a strong and disgusting smell of blood hit him in the face. The scene before him made him feel cold all over.
The village has become a scorched earth and a mess. Among the broken walls and ruins, the bodies of the villagers are lying densely packed, their deaths are miserable.
"Gu Ming——"
Xiao Qi's heart sank suddenly: "Gu Ming! Gu Ming, where are you?! I'm here to find you!!!"
He searched and called out, from the blazing sun to the dusk, and from the darkness to the dawning east, but the only response he got was the dead wind and the circling crows.
Just when he was about to give up in despair, an extremely faint but unusually clear baby cry pierced the silence like a sound from nature.
Xiao Qi's heartbeat almost stopped. He followed the sound and frantically used his spiritual power to lift up piles of heavy corpses and rubble.
Finally, in the deepest part of the ruins, he saw...
Gu Ming.
His little brother, who used to laugh cheerfully, was brutally cut into two pieces by human weapons. His face was facing the gray sky, and his eyes, which always wore a smile, were wide open, solidifying the boundless fear before death. His broken body was trying its best to cover the woman under him with an attitude of trying his best.
That was his wife Aju, who had also passed away long ago, but her arms were still tightly wrapped around the baby in a protective gesture.
A baby still in swaddling clothes, its little face covered in blood and dust, was miraculously safe and sound, just crying loudly because of hunger.
Xiao Qi seemed to be nailed to the spot.
He slowly squatted down, stretched out his trembling hands, carefully picked up the crying baby, and then gently wiped away the cold blood and dust on the baby's face with his fingertips.
A delicate, fair and tender little face was revealed, pure and untainted by dust.
The immense sorrow overwhelmed him like a tsunami.
Xiaoqi lowered her head, and hot tears burst out without warning, dripping onto the corners of the baby's wet eyes, mixing with smudges and sliding down.
"You've lost your father...and your mother..."
His voice was choked with sobs, filled with endless desolation and tenderness.
"I also lost... my only true friend."
He held the fragile and warm little life tightly in his arms, as if he was holding the last thought of his best friend left in this world.
"From now on... we will depend on each other."
Xiaoqi lowered his head and gently pressed his forehead against the baby's small forehead, making a heavy promise that spanned life and death.
"I will take good care of you... always... and watch you grow up..."
The baby who survived the sea of blood and corpses had the surname Gu. As for his name, Xiao Qi racked his brains after going through all the storybooks he borrowed from the bookstore at the foot of the mountain and chose it.
The single character "Ean" in his name means a tall tree. It is hoped that he will be as strong and upright as a tree and live a stable life.
In order to let the little flesh and blood left by his best friend Gu Ming grow up safely and smoothly like ordinary human children, Xiao Qi made huge changes.
He spent longer and longer periods of time in human form, from being clumsy and unfamiliar at first to being able to almost make out the real thing. He even forced himself to blend into the world that he once thought was noisy and tedious, and learned to live like a real mortal father.
Xiao Qi did his best to send Gu An to the best private school and urged him to study hard, hoping that he would one day be able to pass the imperial examination and gain honor to bring glory to the family.
In Xiaoqi's ancient and simple mind, a perfect picture has already been drawn.
When Gu An becomes successful, he will marry a kind and virtuous girl from a good family and give birth to several chubby, healthy and lively human cubs.
By then, even if he had successfully fulfilled his promise to his close friend Gu Ming, he would be able to retire with honor and return to the bottom of the cold pond in his old nest in the deep mountains without any worries, and continue his interrupted long sleep.
A human life is but a moment to Xiao Qi. He only needs to take a short nap. When he wakes up, the world will have changed completely. Gu An and his descendants may have turned into a handful of earth.
This is the fate of the immortal species, and it is also the end point he planned for himself, with a touch of warmth and comfort.
However, fate always likes to play cruel jokes.
Since when, these vague words and phrases such as "cultivating immortals", "immortality", and "ascending to the ninth heaven" have blown into Gu An's heart like wildfire.
He became increasingly indifferent to the path of studying hard and taking the imperial examination to become an official. What was burning in his eyes was a fanatical yearning for the carefree and happy life of an immortal above the clouds. Ignoring the strong opposition of his adoptive father Xiaoqi, he resolutely gave up the path to fame and fortune in the mortal world and became a disciple of a prestigious immortal cultivation sect. From then on, he began a long and arduous career of cultivation.
Gu An's goal was clear and determined, to ascend to the legendary Ninth Heaven and become an immortal who was free and at ease and lived as long as heaven and earth.
Xiaoqi was extremely shocked and deeply confused by this.
He didn't understand how a down-to-earth and honest man like Gu Ming could have a child with such rebellious and unrealistic ideas?
For a dragon who has slept in the deep mountains and forests for who knows how many years, his highest understanding of a good life all comes from his close friend Gu Ming, marrying a wife and having children, living and working in peace and contentment, and leading a stable and secure life.
Cultivating immortality and asking about the Dao? That was nothing more than a false legend in a storybook to deceive mortals. In Xiao Qi's opinion, Gu An was missing the point and pursuing trivial matters, embarking on a vague and illusory path that was doomed to have no good results.
As time went by, an unprecedented fierce dispute broke out between the two.
Xiao Qi's earnest advice and angry rebukes seemed pale and powerless in the face of Gu An's increasingly firm determination to follow the Tao.
Finally, in a fit of rage, he uttered harsh words, severed all ties with Gu An, returned to the mountains and forests in despair, plunged into the depths of a cold pond, and tried to use a long sleep to forget the disappointed expectations and incomprehensible rebellion.
And Gu An, who had been attached to him since childhood and regarded him as his only relative, was surprisingly stubborn and resolute this time.
He really hardened his heart and never set foot in the mountains again. He did not look for the father who raised and protected him. Instead, he poured all his emotions into the cold practice, running towards the unreachable immortal path without looking back.
Under the cold pond, time passes silently.
Xiao Qi was sleeping soundly at the bottom of the cold pool, unaware of the day and completely forgetting the mundane world.
He thought that he would sleep until everything changed, until Gu An had passed away and all the grudges were gone.
Who would have thought that when Xiao Qi was forcibly awakened again, what greeted him was no longer the familiar pond water, but the dazzling skylight and a cold, familiar yet extremely unfamiliar face.
At this moment, Gu An is no longer the high-spirited yet stubborn young monk he used to be.
He was covered in rosy clouds and surrounded by immortal aura, and between his brows was the indifference and majesty that came from experiencing vicissitudes of life.
Xiao Qi never expected that the stubborn boy in his memory had already achieved perfection and become the almighty Nine Heavens Immortal King.
And this Immortal Lord actually personally led his men to dig three feet into the ground, and forcibly dug him out from the depths of the cold pond where he had been sleeping!!!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
