Chapter 324

Qilin soon realized that this was not an illusion.

"teacher---!"

This was the Nth time that Qilin heard the little cub calling him. It was so lively that it was a little too lively. Qilin wondered if there was something wrong with his brain that made him soft-hearted and want to adopt this little cub.

Having already promised, he couldn't go back on his word, so Qilin threw a branch into the burning fire and went to pick up the cub at the edge where the fire could reach.

Pushing aside the waist-high grass, Qilin saw a bunch of brightly colored mushrooms next to the rotten wood. Some of the mushrooms had been broken, leaving only the stems exposed. Little cubs were squatting next to the mushrooms, giggling. He knew at a glance where the disappeared mushrooms had gone.

"Teacher~" The little cub's tail swung back and forth, and his purring voice was filled with excitement, "You have three heads, nine tails, five paws, and your color changes all the time!"

Qilin: “…”

You idiot, you must have eaten too many poisonous mushrooms!

He skillfully lifted Di Ting by the scruff of the neck, and Di Ting stretched out his limbs in his hands: "Wu Hu~ Fly up!"

The little cub continued to shout: "Come and fly with me, it's fun~"

"Gift! I prepared a gift for the teacher!" Its movements have changed from flat-footed to doggy paddling, with one paw still pointing at the mushroom, "It's super super delicious!"

Qilin: “…”

This is really filial piety to him.

Qilin pinched Di Ting's mouth, ignored its resistance, and forcefully led it away from the mushroom field. The cub in his hands struggled like a turtle that couldn't turn over. Qilin used his spiritual power to travel back and forth in its meridians several times before calming it down.

"...Teacher?" The struggling Di Ting finally stopped his claws, and his eyes revealed a clear stupidity, "Is there something wrong with the mushroom?"

Qilin said unhappily, "What do you think?"

"There must be something wrong!" Di Ting's neck skin was still in Qilin's hand. He reluctantly put his paw under his chin and put on a thoughtful posture, "But the mushrooms are really delicious."

Sincerity is the ultimate weapon.

Qilin threw it to the fire and said through gritted teeth: "You want to eat it but not your life, right?"

Di Ting curled up into a little white ball and looked at him with pitiful eyes.

"Just wait here for me." Qilin rubbed his forehead with his hand, "I'll get you something to eat."

Spots of light emerged from his palms and gathered into a butterfly with a star-shaped tail. The butterfly flapped its wings and landed on the tip of Di Ting's nose. Di Ting tried to see the butterfly clearly, and then his eyes turned pale.

Qilin almost laughed, but soon, the smile turned into sadness, and he emphasized: "Don't run around."

Diting nodded, and the butterfly left a shadow on its nose: "Yeah~"

Qilin stared at it for a while, and then used his consciousness to fumble for the photo stones in the void constructed by his talent. As a result, he found out sadly that he did not have any of the photo stones that the gentleman talked about common sense. They had all been given to other people.

In other words, this silly kid needs to be taught common sense by him step by step.

For a moment, Qilin felt that his future was bleak.

…

After parting with Qilin, Bai Ze chose another direction. After going around a small hill in the other direction, there was a plain. Under the moonlight at night, everything was desolate.

The bronze sword behind him was heavy and had a strong presence. Bai Ze crossed the plain and looked back at the way he came. He had walked a long way. The fire lit by the phoenix was no longer visible. Only the silent mountains were left in the night.

The four of them have been together for so many years, and there is always a sense of emptiness and discomfort when they suddenly separate, but Bai Ze knows that he will get used to it sooner or later.

Bai Ze didn't know where the new race born between heaven and earth was, but he had enough patience and he believed that he would always find it.

The wind blew across the sea of ​​grass on the plain, and Shirazawa's figure became a tiny dot. In the depths of the mountains in front of him, morning light began to appear.

It's getting light.

*

Bai Ze was still searching for human beings, but Cang Long met them before him. Looking at the crude trap and the trembling people around the trap, a question popped up in his mind -

Is this the new race that Mr. likes and promotes?

So weak that he could crush it to death with just one claw.

Canglong sat cross-legged quietly in the trap. The sharpened wooden stakes and bamboo branches could not cause any harm to him at all. Instead, they were all turned into debris.

The people surrounding the trap thought they had caught some prey, but when they cautiously looked out, they saw a young boy in the deep pit where the trap was set.

"It's not a beast, it's a child!" The leader turned around and shouted, "Go find a cane and get him out!"

After he finished shouting, he turned to look at the Canglong in the pit. The child who had accidentally fallen into their trap had a terrifyingly cold look in his eyes: "Is the little kid hurt?"

Canglong shook his head.

Looking at the vines they threw to the bottom of the pit, Canglong did not reach out to grab them. Instead, he tapped the bamboo branches on the wall of the pit with his toes and got out of the deep pit in a few steps.

"What a great skill! Which tribe are you from?"

The leader's eyes lit up. Although their tribe was not one of the largest tribes, it was not small either. If a child born to a woman was blessed by God, he would be extremely powerful at birth and could even control part of the natural environment. Some could even ignite dry grass and trees to make fire for the tribe. The tribe called such children "chosen children", and each chosen child was a precious treasure of the tribe.

"I have no tribe," said the Canglong. "I did not know you lived here."

They had never seen the clothes on Canglong before, but they looked exquisite, not like those from a small tribe. He also didn't look like he had ever suffered any hardship. The leader guessed that he was a child who ran away from a big tribe. No matter which tribe it was, there would always be some unruly chosen ones who would quarrel, fight, and run away in anger. It wasn't common, but it did happen.

The leader was worried about leaving such a young chosen one out there, who was likely to have run away out of anger, so he invited him: "Little kid, do you want to follow us back to the tribe first?"

When this chosen one figures it out, he will probably go back on his own.

Canglong neither agreed nor objected, but when the hunting team called on him to follow, he slowly followed behind them.

The prey they carried was not much, just a few skinny pheasants and rabbits. It seemed that it was only enough for them, but if you think about it, you will know that these prey must be enough to supply the entire tribe.

There were four hunting teams in this tribe. Except for the one that Canglong encountered, the other three hunting teams had mediocre results. The prey of the four hunting teams was mixed with collected wild vegetables and fruits, but it was barely enough to provide a meal for the entire tribe.

The hunting team returned to the tribe with not much prey, but they were not blamed. Instead, the people who came to pick them up were concerned about whether they were injured instead of how much prey they had.

The tribe was bustling in front of it. Canglong followed from a distance, watching the joyous scene. Suddenly, he made eye contact with the leader who came out from the crowd.

The tribe seemed to have no defenses against an outsider like Canglong, the chosen one. Even though Canglong was taciturn, he was still brought into the tribe. He was given the best seat by the tribe's campfire at night, and a bowl of wild vegetable porridge with meat was stuffed into his hands.

"Our tribe is pretty good, isn't it?" The leader sat next to Canglong. He was no longer young, with gray hair, wrinkles all over his skin, and scars all over his naked upper body, which were the testimony of his contributions to the tribe. "If you like, you can stay for a while."

After observing for most of the day, Canglong knew that this tribe was not very wealthy. Although the tribesmen were not starving, they could not eat as much as they wanted. In addition to providing daily food, they also had to store some food for the future, and the food that could be eaten would be reduced further. At this time, keeping an outsider who could not contribute would only add to their pressure.

Canglong was holding the bowl of wild vegetable porridge, the shadow of the fire casting on his face, making his expression a little blurry. The others by the fire had already started eating, and the slurping sounds sounded rough and harsh. The others also heard what the leader said, but no one showed any objection - even though they knew that the price of keeping this half-grown boy was to take away their edible food.

Canglong took in everyone's expression and finally came to only one conclusion - foolish kindness.

"Today's food has salt added to it." Seeing that the bowl of wild vegetable porridge he was carrying was getting cold, the leader kindly advised, "It's especially delicious."

Looking at that clear gaze, Canglong lowered his head, took a sip, and couldn't help frowning.

Fishy, ​​bitter, astringent and salty.

He had never eaten anything so disgusting.

He put down the stone bowl and walked away without saying a word.

"Where are you going, little kid?" The leader first looked at the wild vegetable and meat paste on the ground that had only been touched once, then looked at Canglong's back, climbed up and chased after him, "It's not safe to leave the tribe at night———"

But the Canglong disappeared in just a few steps, and the leader chased after it in vain.

The others around the fire were also shocked by this sudden change, and everyone talked at once—

"What happened to the child? Why didn't he eat suddenly?"

"Don't you think it tastes good?"

"How can it not be delicious? I added a lot of salt to treat him today!"

"Be careful not to get taken away by monsters when you leave the tribe at night!"

"Do you want to go and get him back?"

"Ouch! We can't run around at night!" The leader sighed, the wrinkles between his eyebrows could almost kill a fly. He pointed to a few strong young men in the tribe and said, "You guys come with me. The kid shouldn't have gone far!"

That kid was a bit willful, but we couldn't just watch him die at night!

蒼龍并沒有離開部落很遠，他找了一處溪水漱了漱口，去掉了嘴裏的怪味，之前的疑惑又重新浮現在他心間———

恕他直言，被先生喜歡并推崇這個新種族他一點也看不出來好在哪兒，弱小的武力、愚蠢的善心、難吃的食物、亂糟糟的習慣……看起來簡直一無是處。

在溪邊簡單的洗漱了一番後，蒼龍就近挑了一棵大樹，三兩下爬上去睡在了樹枝上，半夢半醒的時候，他聽到嘈雜的人聲，還看到隐約的火光，有些耳熟的聲音忽遠忽近。

好像……是在找他？

蒼龍一路上并沒有刻意掩飾行蹤，于是嘈雜的人聲慢慢來到了西邊，尋找的隊伍裏有個眼尖的，看到了坐的樹枝上的蒼龍。

“在這兒！這孩子在這兒！”

領頭人很快從旁邊過來了，他手裏舉着火把，臉色疲憊，露出來的古銅色肌膚上汗水混合着劃痕，看到蒼龍後，他神色放松下來，但又帶上了幾分責備：“晚上的野外可危險了，小娃娃你可再不能亂跑了！”

蒼龍坐在樹上，居高臨下地俯視着那些尋找他的人：“你們為什麽要來找我？想從我身上得到什麽？”

他的話語尖銳直白，甚至帶着幾分咄咄逼人的不客氣。

舉着火把的人群陡然沉默了下來，尋找了大半夜還被這樣不客氣地質問，每個人的臉上或多或少都帶出了些許憤懑。

領頭人嘆了一口氣。

除了天選子，其他普通人的眼神在夜晚不能不好，他不能看清蒼龍的臉，但能從他的語氣裏聽出毫不掩飾的懷疑。

或許這個孩子并不是負氣出走，而是遇到了什麽更加糟糕的事，所以才會這樣尖銳與防備。

“我們并不想從你這裏得到什麽。”他說，“只是因為你還小，我們并不放心你留在夜晚的野外。”

蒼龍問話的時候已經悄悄開啓了測謊用的法陣，法陣告訴他，領頭人說的話沒有半點摻假。

果然是愚蠢的善心。

和他們僵持了一會兒，蒼龍還是從樹上跳了下來，這些愚蠢又執拗的人類始終不肯走，硬留在這裏也是耽誤他的休息，還不如勉強順了他們的意。

返回部落的途中，火光照不到的黑暗深處，似乎有什麽詭異的響動，在發現異動的第一時間，之前對蒼龍還有些憤懑的人卻是下意識地将他護在最中間———部落總是會優先保護老幼，哪怕這個“幼”似乎并不需要保護的樣子。

火光裏，蒼龍的身形微微晃了晃，突然從中間消失了，黑暗中的響動突兀地停止，緊接着蔓延開始血腥味。

蒼龍從黑暗裏走出來，他的臉上還是沒什麽表情：“解決了。”

隊伍裏膽子大的人對着他身後用火把一照的，看見了一頭比人還高的、渾身長滿了尖刺的野豬，野豬的脖子上有三道血痕，正在往外噴湧着鮮血。

他下意識地喃喃：“好厲害……”

這個突然出現的奇怪少年，好像确實不需要他們保護的樣子。

“算你們來找我的報酬。”蒼龍淡淡道，“兩清。”

……

從部落給他騰出的石洞中醒來後，蒼龍嗅到了淺淡的血腥味，從洞裏走出來，他看到他的洞口堆了三堆東西，一堆拆好的肉、一堆拆好的皮、還有一堆剔完了肉的骨頭。

這些東西旁守着一個看起來和蒼龍年紀不多的、皮膚黝黑的少年，見他從洞裏出來了，少年一躍而起：“你醒啦？族長讓我在這裏給你看着獵物，你現在趕緊搬進洞裏，別被天上飛的叼了去！”

“不是給你們了嗎？”蒼龍擰眉，“給出去的東西我可不會再收回來。”

“這麽大一頭野豬呢———”皮膚黝黑的少年睜大了眼睛，“還是你一個人殺的，我們怎麽可能要你的戰利品？”

“你是不是不想搬？”少年熱情道，“那我幫你搬吧！”

“不必。”蒼龍嫌棄地看了一眼地面上蔓延開來的血水，他還不想自己臨時落腳的地方被這些東西污染，“我說了，我不要。”

他這樣連續拒絕了好幾次，少年也不知道要怎麽做了，他吶吶道：“可族長說了這獵物是你的……”

看樣子昨天的那些認知，還能在添上一個固執。蒼龍想。

他看也沒看地上的東西，徑直從少年身邊走過：“你今天跟着我做事，這些東西算你的報酬。”

之前和鳳凰他們在各處游歷的時候，他們也會收集一些先生教過的植物，蒼龍的調味料已經消耗了大半，這時候補些新的倒也無妨。

“哦哦。”少年立刻跟在他身後，“幫忙可以，但值不了這麽多呀！”

“要不我把其他人也喊上？”他用手比劃着大小，“你不用給我們分這麽多，就這麽大一塊肉就行了！”

蒼龍回頭看了他一眼：“我不喜歡聽廢話。”

那眼神太兇，吓得少年抖了一下，他張張嘴想說什麽，最後還是一個字都沒吐出來。

等蒼龍走出部落的時候，他的身後已經跟了好幾個半大的少年，有的手上還拿着簡陋的自制石斧。

蒼龍憑借着自己記憶裏他所需要的植物生長特點，帶着這些少年找到了差不多的位置，在用靈力挖了幾株作為示範後，蒼龍就坐到樹上休息了，他的周圍，一群少年拿着自制的工具正在埋頭苦幹，時不時有毒蟲蛇蟻翻着肚皮死在旁邊———蒼龍将他們帶出來，自然也會保證他們的安全。

于是這些少年一邊挖着草一邊樂滋滋地撿着可食用的獵物，回程的時候每個人肩膀上背的東西都比腦袋還高，從背後看過去，像一堆植物長了腳。

蒼龍依舊是空着手慢悠悠地跟在後面，少年們時不時地回頭看一眼，生怕他跟丢了找不到路。

在回到部落後，因為蒼龍那明晃晃寫在臉上的嫌棄，堆在他洞口的東西終于被族長帶着人清理走了，因為放了一整天沒有處理，這些肉已經不适合處理後儲存，只能吃到肚子裏，于是部落在天黑後，難得地準備敞開肚子吃肉。

看着他們那粗糙的處理，蒼龍忍無可忍地将一些植物用靈力送到了他們旁邊，又言簡意赅地告知了使用方式。

在使用過蒼龍給予的植物後，部落的人驚訝地發現東西更好吃了，于是火堆旁邊，呼嚕呼嚕的聲音比昨日更響，蒼龍拿着自己分到的野豬上那最好的那塊烤肉咬了一口———還是難吃。

只比昨天強一點，但今天跟着他出了門的半大少年們卻個個吃得頭都不擡，腮幫子鼓鼓囊囊到沒眼看。

蒼龍将只咬了一口的肉丢給他今天早上最早遇到的少年，然後起身回了他暫住的洞穴。

明天得把過濾後的鹽弄出來，這難吃的飯，他是一頓也吃不下去了。

……

“你是降臨到我們部落的天選子嗎？”

白澤找了很久，終于見到了疑似“人”的存在，但這個“人”一張口，說出的話語就怪怪的。

白澤疑惑地問：“什麽天選子？”

被他詢問的是個很小的孩子，身上到處纏着藤條和樹葉，看起來像是偷偷跑出來的，這孩子一點也不怕生地回答他：

“翻過兩座山後有一個部落，天道給他們送去了一個天選子，天選子教會他們怎麽把食物做的更好吃，怎麽用更厲害的陷阱捕捉獵物，還能把山洞搬到地面上來，他們還有和冬天一樣的鹽，和秋天樹葉一樣的糖……”

小孩子說着說着吞了吞口水：“上次交換集會時阿媽給我換了他們部落的糖，可好吃了！”

“我們部落要是也有天道送的天選子就好了！”小孩子皮膚黑黑的，眼睛卻亮亮的，“所以你是天道給我們部落的天選子嗎？”

白澤：“應該不是吧？”

“沒關系！你長得看起來就像！”小孩子主動過來拉白澤的手，試圖将他拽進部落裏，“先試試，說不定你就是，只是你自己還沒想起來！”

白澤：“……？”

怎麽還帶強行給身份的？

他收着力道被小孩子帶着走，硬是拽進了部落裏，得益于對自己武力值的自信，白澤完全沒想過中途離開，只是———

看着那些突然對他熱情起來的人，白澤有些摸不着頭腦，他靈敏的聽力讓他捕捉到了一些奇怪的詞語，比如“衣服好看”“少年模樣”“看起來不像他們部落的人”。

他們在離白澤不遠的地方大聲密謀，最後密謀着密謀着變成了明謀，不知道話題是怎麽拐彎的，白澤莫名其妙對上了一大群亮晶晶的眼睛。

“你會把獵物做成好吃的嗎？”

白澤點點頭。

“你會制鹽和制糖嗎？”

白澤點點頭。

“你會将山洞搬到地上來嗎？”

白澤遲疑了一瞬，還是點了點頭。

“沒錯了！”最先提問的青年臉上的神色驚喜，“他就是天道賜給我們的天選子！”

這話一出，圍着白澤的人群瞬間熱鬧了起來———

"Doesn't the Chosen One know where our tribe is?"

"Are you not very good at directions? It's hard for you to find your way back after you leave the house?"

"You're finally here! We'll all listen to you from now on!"

Bai Ze was surrounded in the crowd, and somehow or other he became the supreme leader of the tribe. Many pairs of sparkling eyes looked at him with undisguised trust and love.

Several children in the tribe ran around him, shouting with joy: "We have a chosen one too!"

The joyous atmosphere of the tribe continued even at dinner time. Bai Ze sat by the fire holding his sword, and his thoughts, which had been stagnant due to all the noise, finally moved.

How did things... develop to this point?