Chapter 322
His casual announcement shocked all the plants and trees present. What kind of strange power could cause a tree to change its temperament so drastically?
"I think you are crazy!" Ruomu's eyes were filled with anger, "Do you know what you are talking about!"
"I'm very sober." Yinmu looked at him, "Do you dare to say that you didn't have that predictive dream?"
Following Yinmu's emphasis, Ruomu rummaged through his memories for a long time before he remembered the vague dream he had some time ago. He could no longer remember what the dream specifically described, and could only manage to recall a few fleeting fragments.
"If you don't believe it, you naturally won't remember the content!" Yanmu showed that kind of crazy smile that made Shu extremely uncomfortable. "Plants and trees are the creatures closest to heaven and earth, so there is this ray of hope. You can't doubt it. You have to believe it with all your heart, and then the opportunity will favor you!"
"Don't trust Yuchuan. He appears just to make you willingly follow the decision of Heaven without resistance! It is common for new tree species to be born between heaven and earth, but there has never been a new tree species that does not communicate with Jianmu, and there has never been a new tree species that can foresee the future———" Yanmu's tone was very firm, "Why don't you ask him if he has ever had a prophetic dream?"
"He doesn't have predictive dreams. He is a lackey of the Heavenly Dao. The Heavenly Dao doesn't need to spend too much effort on him." Yinmu said, "Do you dare to ask him? Do you dare?"
Yenmu kept emphasizing this, and the atmosphere suddenly became terribly suffocating.
"Sir, I'm not a lackey of the heaven!" Suddenly, a white shadow rushed over and collided violently with Yinmu. Both of them fell on their buttocks. "You are crazy!"
Bai Ze felt like his limbs were paralyzed by sleep, and it took him a long time to wake up. After waking up, he looked at the empty courtyard and listened to his stomach growling. He flicked his fur with his paws and fell into a daze - he had a vague feeling that he had slept for a long time, but when he woke up, there was no one by his side. This was obviously unscientific!
According to their family tradition, if there is a sick person at home, they will leave one person to watch over the animal no matter what happens. Although it is awakening and is not considered sick, it is impossible to leave it alone at home and not care about it! Something must have happened!
Bai Ze jumped out of bed with his limbs a little stiff from not moving for too long, lowered his head and sniffed the ground. A lot of information was fed back to his mind - there were familiar smells and unfamiliar smells. These smells intertwined together made his head a little dizzy. The only thing that was certain was that there were a lot of them.
Bai Ze lowered his head and sniffed, trying to find the direction of the aura. He just found the special training ground that the master had built for them, and then he heard someone talking nonsense in the training ground. When he listened carefully, he found that the person was scolding the master!
Mr. Baby, who scolds its baby in its home, is lawless!
What were the phoenixes doing? They just let strangers scold them and didn't stop them?!
Bai Ze was so angry that his furry claws popped out sharp claws. He swung his tail to open the door and hit the person who was cursing happily in the field with a hammer on the head—hammer first! Then deal with the situation later!
But Bai Ze overestimated his own strength when he just woke up. He did knock the person over, and he also fell heavily to the ground. However, due to his usual strict training, Bai Ze didn't care about the pain at all. He jumped up and was about to take advantage of the victory, but he kicked the ground with his powerful hind legs... but didn't get up.
Shirazawa: “???”
It looked down at the familiar green vines that were wrapped around its two paws, then turned its head to see its three companions who were also pinned by the vines—they were the only four of them at the same line of sight and height.
The flame of grievance was burning in his heart. Bai Ze pouted and tears started to well up in his eyes: "The teacher scolded you in front of you, why did you still endure it!!!"
The familiar green vines bound him, and the aggrieved mood was about to spread into a raging fire. Before the golden beans in his eyes fell, a pair of familiar hands picked him up and touched his head as usual.
Bai Ze felt that Mr.'s hands were very cold, and the coolness almost penetrated into his bones through his hair. He couldn't help but shiver. Bai Ze looked up and saw that Mr.'s face was so pale that it was almost bloodless.
For no apparent reason, an extreme sense of uneasiness surged in its heart.
It arrived too late and had no idea what had happened. What on earth had happened?
Because of Shirazawa's unexpected collision, Yumu sat on the ground. He shifted his gaze from Yuchuan to Shirazawa with a strange look in his eyes: "You've raised these alien cubs so well. They are all so loyal to you that they would even die for you—"
“Bang!”
Suddenly, fresh branches hit Yanmu's face. His mouth was entangled by the soft branches. He swallowed all the words back into his stomach, leaving only the sound of whimpering. Fusang's golden hair flew behind her. She said, "Enough."
After being together for hundreds or even thousands of years, no one had ever seen Fusang's face look so ugly. Little Jinwu was even scared and threw himself into Ruomu's arms, trembling.
The branch did not stop after controlling the oak tree to stop uttering hurtful words. It continued to multiply and tied the oak tree into a cocoon.
Shirazawa felt that the master was holding his arm and pulling it inwards. The master's body temperature seemed to be getting colder. Shirazawa heard him say, "I definitely didn't have a precognitive dream."
It thought the gentleman would say something more, but after saying this, the gentleman was like a clam shell washed ashore by the sea, and there was no more word.
Bai Ze tried hard to recall the somewhat disjointed words he heard before it broke in, words like "he doesn't have predictive dreams", "a running dog of heaven", and "a lot of effort". These were very unpleasant words.
"Didn't he tell you to ask?" Bai Ze stretched out a furry paw and pointed at the elm wood on the ground, with a tone of disappointment in his voice, "Why don't you ask?"
According to his experience of listening to stories since childhood, a lot of misunderstandings are caused by the fact that both parties do not have mouths. If they had mouths, they would have solved it long ago! There would not be a lot of heart-wrenching problems at the end!
"Mr. likes to keep things to himself. If he doesn't explain things clearly today, he will have sleepless nights!" The three friends were silenced. Bai Ze, who had just woken up and was still confused, was forced to use his little brain to fight alone. He was like a restless grunt in Yuchuan's arms, roaring anxiously with a baby voice, "We have lived for hundreds and thousands of years. Is there any problem that can't be answered directly? Why do you have to guess!!!"
"The mouth is not for display, ah ah ah ah ah ah ah———" Bai Ze was talking when Yuchuan covered his mouth. He struggled even harder, using his claws and tail. "If you have any questions, please speak frankly———Sit down and talk———"
The atmosphere finally eased a little after being interrupted by Shirazawa's anxious, sincere and funny interruption. Fuso used its branches to wrap the ash tree even tighter, until no corner of the clothing could be seen.
After temporarily trapping Yuki in the training ground, Fuso sighed. In her eyes, Tamagawa's pale face was reflected: "Tamagawa, we didn't doubt you. But what Shirazawa said is right. Let's talk."
…
"So what did those adults talk about behind our backs?" After Qilin gave Bai Ze a summary of what happened during his coma, Bai Ze found a piece of wood to sharpen his claws, and complained angrily while sharpening, "I was the one who solved the knot in your heart, why can't I listen!"
"That's right!" Phoenix rarely agrees with Bai Ze, "Don't young cubs have the right to know?"
"It's because we are too weak." Canglong held his own formation sandbox and drew on it with his five claws. "Mr. is the youngest among the plants, but he will never be left behind in important decisions."
"Canglong, you are always trying to urge us to study harder." Qilin rolled his eyes, "You are becoming more and more like a replica of you, sir."
The teacher is good in every way except that he is too strict when it comes to studying. What's even more terrifying is that Canglong is a curl king. As the youngest cub, Qilin feels a fear of being dominated by the curl king every time he studies.
"The faster we learn and the more we know, the more pressure we can relieve for you, sir." Canglong gave Qilin a formation sand table like a magic trick. Qilin was so frightened that he threw his four hooves around. "Although the last matter has been resolved, have you all forgotten how you, sir, looked at that time?"
The unicorn's hooves stopped pushing the formation sandbox.
Everyone knew that Yanmu was talking nonsense that day, and that the Master was not the kind of person he said he was. The other plants and trees did not misunderstand or alienate themselves from the Master because of his words, but they all knew that the Master began to doubt himself.
Having lived with Mr. Xian for so many years, they had long known that Mr. Xian had suffered a serious injury before his transformation. That injury damaged his consciousness, causing Mr. Xian to suffer from amnesia. He had been trying to recover his lost memories, but with little success.
Although the Master seems gentle and distant, once you get his sincere treatment and are included in his sphere of protection, you will know that he is actually the hardest-hearted person. The ones who are most hurt by the provocative words of the 涼木 are not the plants or the alien beasts, let alone these cubs, but the Master himself. Those provocative words are based on distorted and tampered facts. If any of them come true, the Master will probably blame himself and take all the blame on himself.
Qilin silently pulled back the sandbox he had kicked away: "...I'll learn."
Even Qilin, who usually loves to slack off, started to practice more actively. Fenghuang and Bai Ze felt even more embarrassed to be idle. The four cubs put the tables together under the ivy trellis. Qilin took out a bunch of photo stones and said, "Look at the teacher's lecture video. If you don't remember it well, you can study it again."
除了蒼龍，其他三只幼崽臉上都露出痛苦的神色，閑聊聲沒了，畫陣法的畫陣法，練符文的練符文，玉川回來時就感受到了這方小天地那濃濃的學習氛圍。
他疲憊的臉上露出些許笑容，然後一只崽塞了一串糖葫蘆。
認認真真心無旁骛學了一上午的四只幼崽扔下手中的材料，歡呼着接過糖葫蘆嘎嘣嘎嘣開啃———這是光明正大的中場休息！
鳳凰已經學會了控制自己的體型，它變回拳頭大的小絨球落在玉川肩上，撒着嬌要他喂糖葫蘆，其他三只幼崽反應同樣迅速，它們立刻變小，像毛絨挂件一樣挂在了玉川身上，仿佛回到了他們最初相見時的模樣。
“一晃眼你們都長這麽大了。”四只暖烘烘的團子挂在身上，玉川的神色漸漸變得柔和，他的身軀再不像之前那樣緊繃，“也都變得越來越厲害了。”
因為天地間的急劇變化，他們已經很久沒有這樣安安靜靜地坐下來聊過天了，鳳凰團在他的頸側，白澤蹲在他的肩上，蒼龍窩在他的心口，麒麟癱在他的膝間，今天是個難得的好天氣，微風裏有花香。
“事情什麽時候能解決啊？”白澤用爪子摸摸他的額頭，漂亮的眼睛裏含着擔憂，“每天都這麽累，會生病的。”
“他們是不是被什麽控制了？”鳳凰莫名想起之前看到的棪木，他狂熱與漠然的神色交織着，顯得相當怪異，“先生你們在找解決的方法？”
蒼龍言簡意赅：“有什麽我們可以幫上忙的嗎？”
麒麟用尾巴悄悄拍了拍玉川的腿，是無聲的安慰與催促。
四雙真誠的眼睛注視着他，玉川內心像有暖流經過，沉甸甸的壓力好像被這股暖流泡開一個角，悄悄地洩露些許。
玉川內心忽然升騰起一股莫名的沖動，這股沖動促使着他問出一個奇怪的問題：
“假設天地間有一場無法避免的災難，大家都會在災難裏死去，如果願意放棄重要的東西做出妥協，就有可能活下去———你們會怎麽選？”
鳳凰歪歪頭：“很重要的東西是什麽呢？”
“沒辦法定義。”玉川說，“也許你放棄了這些東西後，你會變得不像你。”
“我不知道。”鳳凰誠實地說，“也許真的到了那一天，我才知道怎麽做。”
“我和鳳凰的感覺差不多。”麒麟支愣起腦袋，“要有确切的東西，我才會知道我的選擇。”
“為什麽一定要放棄什麽？一定要去妥協？”白澤用爪子理理身上的毛，“都已經到這種地步了，為什麽不找一條新的路？”
麒麟故作老成地嘆了一口氣：“要是新的路這麽好找，先生幹嘛還要假設‘無法避免的災難’？”
“也對。”白澤露出思索的神色，想了一會兒想不出破解的方法，它直接擺爛了，“反正我是不會就這麽妥協的，不到最後一刻我才不放棄！”
三只幼崽都說了自己的想法，只有窩在心口的蒼龍還在沉默，白澤從肩膀上探下腦袋，麒麟仰起頭，鳳凰轉過身，大家都在等它的答案。
蒼龍沒有說不知道，也沒有說明确代價，更沒有選擇頭鐵，它問：“這是先生現在面臨的困境嗎？”
它敏銳得令人心驚。
玉川沉默了片刻，最終沒有隐瞞：“是。”
“如果放棄一些重要的東西做出妥協……”蒼龍慢吞吞地反問，“那我還是我嗎？”
舍棄自己最重要的東西去求一個活命的機會，即使僥幸活了下來，或許也不再是之前的自己了。
“之前罵先生的那棵棪木，是放棄了很重要的東西才會變成那樣？”蒼龍繼續問，“那真的還是他嗎？”
得益于先生的性格，他們與很多草木以及異獸都打過交道，棪木簡直異常得突出。
“假設他全盤否定了過去的自己，那和死過一次又有什麽區別？”蒼龍将腦袋抵在玉川的心口，青色眼瞳裏是滿滿的不解，“以這樣的方式活下來，又有什麽意義？”
“唉，就你想的最多最複雜。”麒麟拿蹄子輕輕踹踹蒼龍的尾巴，“你腦袋累不累呀？”
“我只是不理解。”蒼龍尾巴一卷尾巴輕巧地抽回去，“活下去就這麽重要嗎？”
它也在努力求活，如果要它去死，它舍不得這三個偶爾有點煩的朋友，更舍不得先生，但如果要它拿出重要的東西去妥協，比如抽走它的記憶，丢棄它的情感，割舍它的過去……那它就不是它了，活下來也沒有什麽意義。
蒼龍內心有很多想法，但它并不擅長也并不習慣将自己一點點在他人面前剖析，于是它閉上了嘴，恢複成了安安靜靜的模樣。
白澤他們三個還在就這個問題讨論着，先生抱着它們坐在爬山虎藤架下，聽着它們叽叽喳喳的你來我往，蒼龍仰起頭，它看到爬山虎藤架将陽光分割成一塊一塊的，今天是個很好的晴天。
它希望以後的每一天，都是這樣的晴天。
*
變異的異獸異植在整片天地生靈的配合下，盡數送往了建木所構築的特殊空間，無一逃脫。
沒人知道建木具體在做什麽，因為祂很少再與其他草木溝通，祂的全部精力都用在了這些被送來的異獸異植上。
要不是靈氣日益稀薄，一切都似乎恢複到了往昔模樣。
四只幼崽已經不再被關家裏不讓出來了，玉川會帶着它們在周邊轉轉，也會帶着它們去見見其他草木，幼崽們敏銳地發現有些熟悉的面孔再也沒有出現過，可他們沒有提出疑問，只是心照不宣。
先生布置給他們的課業比往常重了很多，所以即使解除限制，它們出門的時間也大大縮短———做作業太耗時間。
壽木有時也會來串門，他算是草木裏來的最勤便的了，白澤他們偶爾會去套壽木的話，壽木倒是坦誠，但真話雜着假話，一時間倒也分不清哪句真哪句假。
先生留在家裏的時間開始變多，一切都好似恢複了原樣，生活再次步入正軌，但不知為什麽，四只幼崽總覺得有無形的刀懸在頭頂，有種莫名的緊迫感。
強化版卷王蒼龍再次上線，卷得另外三個小夥伴哭天喊地，它們傳承的吸收和術法能力都在麻花卷裏飛速進步，以它們現在的水平，合力幹掉幾個大人不成問題。
麒麟越來越喜歡舉着留影石到處拍攝，即使它生活的小院已經被它翻來覆去拍了N遍，它還是會找不同的角度繼續拍，被白澤吐槽為“留影石拍攝狂魔”。
帶着壓力的日子一晃又是很長時間，在一個極尋常的午後，白澤一爪子拍開了一個西瓜，西瓜沒有四分五裂，而是極有眼色地平分成了大小一樣的五塊———
先生去年不知道在哪座山上找到了一種綠色的藤蔓，然後告訴他們這種藤蔓叫能結出一種名叫“西瓜”的好吃果實，可能是因為先生描述的太過饞崽，四只幼崽稀裏糊塗地就接過了種瓜的重任，并用拍着胸脯保證來年讓先生吃上它們種的大西瓜。
為了圓自己誇下的海口，四只幼崽被迫勤勤懇懇地學習植物種植方面的相關知識，以保證這株脆弱的西瓜苗能在他們手裏活下來，在長達一年的折騰後，它們終于收獲了帶着花紋的綠色果實。
四只幼崽圍着它們千辛萬苦種出來的西瓜研究了好一陣子，最終挑挑揀揀選了一個最大最圓的西瓜上了桌，又在一番明争暗鬥後，白澤榮幸地擔任了開瓜手。
綠色的大西瓜裂開，露出了紅豔豔的瓜瓤，四只幼崽不約而同地咽了咽口水，眼裏流露出興奮的神色，之前他們吃的食物不是外出捕獵采集得來的，就是其他草木與異獸長輩們送的，這還是他們第一次憑借自己的雙手從地裏種出了食物！
好神奇的感覺！
四只幼崽不約而同地想。
白澤開完瓜後迅速撤回爪子，并将離自己最近的那塊瓜摟到懷裏，張嘴啊嗚一口咬上去———自己辛勤勞動種出來的成果就是甜！
茂密的爬山虎藤架下，四只幼崽吃瓜吃得不亦樂乎，在解決掉自己的那份後，鳳凰用翅膀尖将留下來的最好看的那塊瓜放到了桌子的正中間，又貼心地用靈力捏了個罩子罩上，避免灰塵與蚊蟲。
“未來的食物無論吃多少次都會覺得好吃！”麒麟用小蹄子揉揉鼓起來的肚子，“要是我們能活到那個時候就好了！”
“做什麽夢呢！”白澤用彎角戳戳它的腦袋，“按先生隐約透露出來的意思，這些東西大概在萬年以後———我們可活不到那麽久。”
“就算是龜爺爺也不可能活到一萬年。”蒼龍說，“白日做夢也稍微實際點啊。”
"You can't, but maybe I can." The phoenix raised its gorgeous feathers and said proudly, "My inheritance tells me that my talent is Nirvana. When my life comes to an end or I am seriously injured, I can try to open it. Maybe I can really live for ten thousand years after I have achieved Nirvana again and again!"
Because of her special talent, Phoenix was so proud that her tail was about to fly up: "If you are gone, I will go to your graves and put out all the delicious food to feed you. If I can meet your next bloodline successor, I will take them all in as my little brothers, and they will follow me around and call me big brother every day!"
Bai Ze Cang Long Qilin: "..."
My paws and hooves are a little itchy.
Bai Ze pretended to be sullen and said, "You stinky phoenix, I'm going to make you call me big brother now!"
Qilin was shooting glares: "If I die, I will write in the inheritance book for my next successor that 'the phoenix is the most sinister and cunning alien beast in the world'."
Canglong stabbed him with his sword, drawing blood: "Are you sure your talent can be activated successfully?"
Phoenix: "...You are all petty-minded beasts."
They know about life and death, but they don't have such a strong and clear concept of life and death, so they can laugh and make such jokes without any burden.
The three phoenixes were clearly no match for them, so they immediately changed the subject: "When will the master come back? The melons won't taste good if they're left out for too long..."
Canglong had already cast a preservation spell on the melon, so even after a day and a night the taste would be no different from when it was just cut. However, considering the phoenix's delicate personality, it thought about it and decided not to expose it. If the phoenix got angry and sprayed fire at the three of them, it would not cause any harm, but the temperature of the courtyard would double, which would be too hot in the summer.
Seeing that it had cleverly dealt with the somewhat dangerous topic, the phoenix breathed a sigh of relief. It used its spiritual power to drag the plate of Lianshi over and prepared to continue eating. It had recently shown signs of transforming early, so its appetite had increased greatly. The Qilin had even mocked it for turning into a glutton, but was chased and pecked by the angry phoenix and fell into a mud pit, where it became a ball of mud.
After eating just a few, Phoenix suddenly found that the Lianshi in his plate had "come alive" and was rolling around in the plate.
Phoenix: “……?”
It's gone! The fruit I picked has become a spirit!
Before he could finish his silly words, the Canglong beside him suddenly stood up, and his spiritual power turned into a defensive formation, covering the small world they were in: "Be careful! It's a ground dragon turning over!"
---earthquake?
This was the last thought in Phoenix's mind.
The horrific earthquake mixed with the runaway spiritual energy formed a powerful weapon that fiercely swept across the sky and earth. The densely packed defensive formations outside the courtyard became fragile paper in such a terrifying movement. The runaway spiritual energy destroyed everything with a devastating force, almost condensing into a substantial wave. The defensive formations they hastily set up were like an ant trying to shake a tree, and were swallowed up in a moment.
The same thing was happening everywhere in this world. The runaway spiritual energy seemed to destroy all living things in this world. Wherever it went, nothing could stop it, until a line of golden light appeared in the east.
That is the "burning" Jianmu.
The golden flames on Jianmu's body formed a rainbow bridge spanning the sky and the earth. The rainbow bridge spread in all directions. At each landing point of the rainbow bridge, there was a small dot flying. The closer these dots were to Jianmu, the more the light on their bodies became similar to that of Jianmu, like countless moths flying towards the flames.
The greater their momentum, the more spiritual energy that ran wild between heaven and earth headed in that direction. As the flames of Jianmu grew brighter, sixty to seventy percent of the spiritual energy gathered in the direction of Jianmu, forming a spiritual energy vortex visible to the naked eye. The vortex was stained with strands of gold, and was swallowed up by the gold inch by inch.
The spiritual energy in other places between heaven and earth was still violent, but it was no longer as ruthless as before. Instead, it had a chance to catch its breath.
On the rainbow bridge constructed by Jianmu, there are also some "moths" escaping from the vortex of spiritual energy. The "moths" escaping from the vortex of spiritual energy appear in various places in the world, blocking out the sky and the sun, and then firmly sink their roots into the ground. The rich spiritual energy interweaves among the branches and leaves, protecting the shadows under the tree canopy layer by layer.
Some giant trees stand alone, while others are guarded by equally huge monsters. In short, everywhere between heaven and earth, towering giant trees rise from the ground, facing the violent spiritual energy that has been weakened a lot.
The violent spiritual energy generated during this kind of calamity and turmoil in the universe was extremely difficult to resist. Some giant trees suffered broken branches and leaves at the mere first contact, some were caught off guard and had half of their crowns chopped off, and some were cut in the waist with hideous scars. In the first wave of encounters, not a single giant tree was unscathed.
The alien beasts that were about the same size as the giant trees were also covered in wounds in the violent spiritual energy. Some of the wounds were so deep that the bones were visible. The blood on their bodies had not even dripped onto the ground before they had been torn into pieces by the spiritual energy.
Outside the protection of giant trees and strange beasts, mountains collapsed and sank into basins, canyons squeezed to form ridges, snow-capped peaks turned into lakes, and cliffs became flat land...
There were no clouds in the sky, but the sky seemed to be pressing down so tightly that it was within reach. On the ground, huge, terrifying, deep cracks penetrated these unrecognizable changes. The world was turned upside down, and it was almost impossible to find a complete pure land.
Amidst such great changes, a leaf fell and landed on the face of a cub with its eyes tightly closed. It slowly opened its eyes and saw a emerald green tea tree that blocked out the sun. Green spots of light were constantly scattering on the tea tree, forming a protective shield that looked extremely fragile. Every impact from the outside would make the shield tremble, but it never broke.
The familiar courtyard has turned into ruins. It pushed away the wood that was pressing on itself and went to dig out other cubs in the ruins. After digging out the other three unconscious cubs and placing them on the open space, it raised its head. The huge tea tree was reflected in its pupils, dyeing its blue eyes into emerald green.
Green leaves kept falling, and soon formed a thick layer on the ruins. At first they were lush green, and then they turned curled and withered yellow. With a light touch, they turned into flying smoke in an instant.