Chapter 326
Perhaps it was because the aura of Kirin's "Gloomy Mushroom" was too strong, Canglong, who was talking to someone, and Fenghuang, who was discussing the follow-up arrangements with Bai Ze, subconsciously looked in the direction of Kirin.
Qilin was standing not far from them, holding a ball of white fur in his arms, and said quietly, "Don't you feel guilty for crowding me out like this?"
Canglong Baize Phoenix: "..."
Although they did not exclude Qilin, for some reason, they inexplicably felt a little guilty.
After taking over a tribe and making rapid progress, Bai Ze, who is now more shameless than before, immediately chose to turn the tables: "Do you think we don't want to play with you? It's because we can't get in touch with you!"
Qilin took Di Ting to "wander" everywhere, which was very far away from where they were. His magic skills were not very good, so the situation Bai Ze mentioned was very likely to happen.
Qilin knew it well, and didn't want to dwell on this issue any more. He just continued to say in a plaintive tone: "These are all excuses!"
Canglong, who never thought of contacting other people: "."
The phoenix who didn't even think of Qilin: "."
Shirazawa, who tried to contact her once but failed, never tried again: "."
The three of them finally formed a united front and began to appease the particularly deceitful (?) Qilin. After so many years together, they all knew each other very well, and everyone had some experience on how to appease Qilin.
Di Ting pricked up his little head quietly, feeling something was amiss, but he couldn't tell why. He could only attribute it to the fact that his teacher was perhaps... more understanding?
The "backstab" incident was thus put to rest.
The person who was talking to Canglong had been sent away by Canglong with an excuse as soon as Qilin appeared. Now there were only four of them and a little Di Ting who had not transformed at the entrance of the valley.
"High Priest?" After Kirin calmed down, he began to sourly fire at the map, "Our Canglong is so helpful~"
The cold expression on Canglong's face melted a little: "They wanted to call me that, not me."
Qilin: “…Heh.”
He turned his gaze to Bai Ze again, but before he could open his mouth, Bai Ze grabbed his shoulders and forcibly interrupted his "attack":
"The Valley Gathering only happens twice a year. You just happened to make it. It's so lively! Come on! I'll take you around. If you have any other questions, we can talk after we return to the tribe..."
Bai Ze picked up the two Qilin brothers and turned around and left. He also naturally took out Di Ting and stuffed it into the arms of the Phoenix next to him, and gave the Phoenix a wink.
【You can handle this small one. 】
As for letting Canglong coax him?
Never mind. Don't count on it.
After Feng Huang made eye contact with the bewildered Di Ting, he slowly smiled softly, his voice as gorgeous as his appearance: "Di Ting?"
There was a gentle touch on the head. Di Ting squinted his eyes in comfort and a small purring sound came out of his throat unconsciously: "Ah~"
Phoenix followed them with Di Ting in her arms, and asked them in a gentle voice about their experiences in the past two years. How could the cub, whose voice was still milky, be a match for Phoenix? With the help of the beauty trap, she sold out both herself and her teacher.
After Qilin, led by Bai Ze, toured the entire valley and exchanged some strange little gadgets, he realized that his silly kid was coaxed into a daze by the Phoenix and spoke all the questions without hesitation. He guessed that even if the Phoenix sold him on the spot, he would still say thank you sincerely.
Qilin: “???”
"Listen carefully!" Seeing that the topic was becoming more and more "dangerous", Qilin had to tighten his skin for the cub, "Listen carefully!"
"Yeah, I'm here!" Di Ting turned his head and said with his gapped milk teeth showing, looking a little silly, "What are you doing, teacher?"
Qilin had a heart attack. He tried to stop the matter from sliding into an even more unknown abyss: "Fenghuang has been holding you for so long, he must be tired. Come! Let the teacher hold you!"
"Little Di Ting is not heavy." Phoenix touched the horn on Di Ting's head and got a soft smile. "Very cute, I like it very much."
"Hehe~" Di Ting rubbed his palm, "I like you, too!"
It seems like a peaceful time here, but Qilin has heard the voice of the phoenix in his ears.
[Spreading rumors about me in front of the little cubs and making me half dead? Huh? ]
Qilin: “…”
How could he have forgotten that the cub he raised was not only a little stupid, but also obsessed with looks!
…
After the valley exchange meeting, Qilin went to visit the tribes of Canglong and Baize. The people of Canglong's tribe had already moved down from the cave. They built mud houses not far from the river. There were fences behind the houses. Some fences were planted with surviving plants, some fences were used to keep prey, and some fences were filled with scattered tools... The whole tribe looked well organized and planned.
Qilin stayed in this tribe for a while, and he could clearly feel that Canglong had changed.
Perhaps to people who are not familiar with him he is still taciturn, distant and indifferent, as if he could withdraw at any time, but only his companions like Qilin who grew up with him know that Canglong really cares about this tribe.
This kind of care was never shown openly, but only in the little things in daily life - for example, when he was on patrol, he would use his spiritual power to repair the roof that might leak, his spiritual consciousness was attached to the children who were alone, and his breath would shock the weak defenses. In the reclaimed fields, he would casually point out some small problems that the growers themselves did not notice...
After the master left, Canglong's personality changed a lot, and so did the others. Everyone's heart seemed to be missing a piece, and the wind was blowing into the missing place, as if this chilling cold would never stop. But now, new ties have brought out new emotions, and thin threads have sewed up the gap, blocking the cold wind.
Qilin knew very well that this was a good change.
He lived in the tribe for nearly half a month, helping Canglong from time to time, and this feeling became stronger.
The night before going to Bai Ze's tribe, Canglong made an appointment with Qilin to go to the highest peak near the tribe. The moonlight was very bright at night, and from their position they could take in the entire quiet tribe.
"Would you like a drink?" Canglong handed Qilin a clay jar with the mouth of the jar sealed with mud and hemp.
Qilin broke the mud seal and smelled a familiar yet unfamiliar pungent odor.
Distant memories were awakened. When the master was still alive, he had also brewed this kind of strange "water". The master said that the name of this water was "wine". The wine was brewed from the fruits sent by the longevity tree. The master used it to entertain his friends, but did not allow them to drink it.
Forbidden things always arouse the curiosity of the cubs. They were eager to try and wanted to sneak a little out in the middle of the night to taste it, but they were caught by the master who was well prepared.
The gentleman did not punish him, but added a few new formations to the outside of the wine jar and then buried the jar under the sycamore tree.
"When you grow up, I won't forbid you to drink." In my memory, the teacher said so.
But when do we become adults?
"Hmm..." The gentleman hesitated for a moment, "When do you really feel that you are adults?"
Transformation does not seem to be the standard set by the master, probably because Canglong still had three heads when he transformed.
But it seems like it will take a very long time to become an adult.
So the wine under the phoenix tree remained buried until the four forgetful cubs almost forgot about it, and until the courtyard was destroyed in a disaster, and the wine disappeared along with it.
When Canglong took out the wine that was similar to the one in his memory, Qilin was suddenly shocked to realize that many years had passed and he was no longer the cub he once was.
"I'm an adult now." Qilin brought the wine jar to his lips and took a sip. The taste was a little bit pungent and spicy with a hint of fruity aroma. "It doesn't seem to taste very good either."
He could no longer remember the guesses he had made as a cub about the taste of wine; they were as vague and illusory as mist.
Qilin smacked his lips and gulped down another half can. His spiritual power unconsciously stopped flowing. He felt a little light-headed, and it seemed that he was a lot braver than usual. At least he would not ask so directly normally—
"You like these humans?"
Canglong cast an indifferent gaze over. The wine jar in his hand had just been opened, so there was no question of whether he was drunk or not. Under the moonlight, Canglong stared at the quiet tribe at the foot of the mountain: "Maybe."
"If you like it, then you like it. If you don't like it, then you don't like it. You're so tiring, it's tiring to watch you act so shy." Perhaps it was because of the alcohol that made him bolder, Qilin blurted out the words that he had been suppressing in his heart, "I'm not saying anything bad about you, but is it shameful to admit that you care? As for humans, although I don't have much contact with them, I feel they are okay. They are not as brave as us. If you like to be less cold-faced, look at those..."
Canglong cast a silencing spell on him: "You are so noisy."
Qilin: “……?”
He used his spiritual power to remove the silencing spell and continued to mutter: "You shut up when you disagree with me - you are angry because of shame, right? No, you are embarrassed, right? Right? Right? Right -"
The subtle emotion on Canglong's face was hidden without a trace. He felt that drinking the wine he had brewed with great difficulty with Qilin was a very wrong decision.
The drunk Qilin was much noisier than Bai Ze. Canglong stared at him expressionlessly, but Qilin didn't notice anything. Even after finishing the can in his hand, he boldly snatched the can that Canglong hadn't touched and continued to drink.
In the aroma of fruit wine, Canglong shifted his gaze from the drunk Qilin beside him and looked back at the tribe that he had guided and built bit by bit in the moonlight.
"I care." He said softly.
But the drunk Qilin didn't hear anything and just burped loudly.
…
"My head..." Qilin climbed up from the ground with weak hands and feet, muttering in pain, "Who plotted against me!"
His head ached and he felt dizzy, the ground didn't seem flat, and it was a bit soft to walk. Qilin rubbed his temples and suddenly found that everything around him was quite unfamiliar - this seemed to be the outskirts of a tribe, but not the tribe where Canglong was.
Qilin rubbed his eyes blankly, but nothing in front of him changed. Could it be that sleepwalking is the aftereffect of drinking?
He walked towards the strange tribe, but before he got close, he saw a speck of white rushing towards him from afar, accompanied by a cheerful voice:
"Teacher! Teacher————!"
Listen carefully?
Qilin blinked blankly, and past Di Ting who was running towards him, he saw Bai Ze and Feng Huang following him from a distance.
Did he sleepwalk to Bai Ze's tribe?
Soon, Bai Ze gave the answer——
"Qilin, what did you do in Canglong's tribe? How could he throw you here overnight?"
Bai Ze was sleeping soundly in the house when he suddenly heard Canglong's message saying that the Qilin had been sent to the outside of their tribe. Bai Ze was confused and before he could ask a few more questions, Canglong unilaterally disconnected the link.
The memory that was a little fragmented due to drunkenness instantly reverberated in his mind. The puzzlement on Qilin's face gradually stiffened, and it froze into an ancient and strange expression. He remembered that after he finished complaining to Canglong, he took Canglong to the highest point of the mountain and sang to the moon with ghosts howling and wolves howling. The extremely penetrating sound made the tribes below the mountain think that there was a beast attack, and they lit torches at night to patrol...
Qilin slowly covered his face, his voice escaping from between his fingers: "No, it's okay."
This is too embarrassing, he would never let anyone else know!
Bai Ze moved his nose and smelled a faint smell of alcohol from Qilin. After thinking about it, Bai Ze roughly guessed what was going on, but considering that Qilin was already so embarrassed, he decided to pretend that he knew nothing.
Qilin, who was thrown over by the disturbed Canglong, was picked up back to the tribe. It was just dawn and there were already signs of morning activities in the tribe. Qilin saw the doors of the adobe houses being pushed open, and people with tanned but smiling faces walked out of the houses one after another. When they passed by Bai Ze and Feng Huang, they would greet them earnestly.
———Respect from the heart cannot deceive anyone.
Qilin watched and felt inexplicably envious, but he did not think too much about it.
Phoenix saw something, and he casually suggested: "Qilin, do you want to stay and build the tribe with us?"
Qilin was tempted for a moment, but after thinking for a while, he shook his head and refused: "I am not suitable to stay in the tribe."
To build a tribe, one needs to consider all aspects of the matter, most of which are trivial and complicated, and require patience and perseverance. Qilin is not a person who likes to be restrained. This kind of life is fine in the short term, but it is not suitable for him in the long term. Qilin realized this deeply when Canglong was helping him.
"If you don't settle down in a fixed place, what will Xiao Di Ting do?"
Before Qilin went to visit Canglong's tribe, he entrusted Di Ting to the Phoenix. Once they got along, they would develop feelings for each other, and the Phoenix would naturally consider the little cub in his arms.
"Life is indeed hard, living outdoors." Qilin sighed and took Di Ting from Phoenix's arms. "The reason I left it in your tribe is to see what kind of life it prefers."
Since Di Ting called him teacher, he naturally couldn't just leave him alone. Letting Di Ting temporarily stay in the tribe built by Bai Ze and Feng Huang was a decision he made after careful consideration - his pursuit of freedom did not mean the same for the little cub.
"I want to follow the teacher!" Di Ting was woken up early and was a little sleepy. He was frightened and grabbed Qilin's clothes, "I don't want to stay alone!"
It likes tribal life very much, but it doesn't want to be separated from its teacher even more. Although the teacher is sometimes unreliable and likes to play tricks on it, it just doesn't want to be separated from the teacher!
"Don't you like tribal life?" Qilin asked.
"I like it!" Di Ting said, "but I like the teacher more!"
Perhaps because it was Qilin who had taken care of it when it was at its weakest, Di Ting relied on Qilin more in his heart and was unwilling to be separated from him no matter what. After Qilin confirmed Di Ting's thoughts, he took it to live in the tribe for a while, and then said goodbye to Fenghuang and the others on a fine morning.
When leaving, Qilin put the somewhat depressed Di Ting on his shoulder and asked: "Are you sure you don't regret it?"
Di Ting closed his eyes, put his arms around his neck and nodded.
"Don't be sad." Qilin wiped the tears from its eyes and said, "I will bring you back to visit often."
*
"Humans" became the most active race on this land, and the new world after the disaster was called "The Great Wilderness".
Qilin took Di Ting through countless cycles of the sun and the moon, countless spring, summer, autumn and winter. Di Ting gradually grew from a small cub as long as an arm to a young beast that was a head taller than an adult.
After helping Bai Ze to get the tribe's arrangements on track, Phoenix returned to the mountain courtyard he had built. He reproduced every corner of the courtyard that was once full of life, and planted lush ivy vines in the middle of the courtyard. There were stone tables and stone benches under the vines, and not far away there were wooden chairs covered with array patterns. Everything seemed to be the same as it was in the old days.
Every few years, other people would come to the mountain courtyard in winter when their shoulders were covered with snow and knock on the door. The phoenix would open the door from the inside. The returning guests in the wind and snow would gather together for a short time and leave before the snow melted. The lantern under the eaves silently witnessed all of this.
Qilin took Di Ting to travel around the wilderness, and also set out on a journey home with Di Ting in the wind and snow. Di Ting was confused and puzzled. The small courtyard where Senior Fenghuang lived seemed like a home, but also seemed not to be one.
It didn't understand why it was snowing heavily every time they returned. The teacher told it that a certain day in the snow was called "New Year", which was the day for families to reunite.
Di Ting has celebrated many New Years. Sometimes he celebrated the New Year in Senior Fenghuang's courtyard, sometimes in Senior Bai Ze's residence, and sometimes in the Dragon Tribe - the tribe where Senior Canglong lived. The prototype of Senior Canglong was used as the totem of the tribe.
The original form of Senior Canglong was revealed unexpectedly and suddenly. When the tribe encountered an irresistible disaster, he transformed into his original form that covered the sky and the sun in order to buy time for everyone to escape.
As the saying goes, "Those who are not of my race must have different hearts." Canglong thought that his fate with the human tribe had come to an end. However, the people in the tribe were not afraid of him. The smart people in the tribe had long guessed that Canglong was not an ordinary human. Even the most powerful Chosen One could not do this. Rather than the fact that Canglong was an alien beast, they were more afraid that Canglong would leave.
They blocked Canglong's way out, begged him to stay, and swore an oath—
"We will always protect and trust the High Priest!"
On a snowy reunion night, Canglong talked about this matter lightly. He said that the people in the tribe did not care about his alien identity. He said that the people in the tribe cared more and more about him. He said that he would make the tribe better and better. He also said that after the tribe used his prototype as a totem, he had the ability to sense the safety of the tribe... He may not have noticed it himself, but when he said this, there was a warm smile in his eyes, brighter and grander than the fire in the house.
The exposure of Canglong's identity was like a trigger, and Bai Ze's identity was also exposed soon after. The people in their tribe didn't care either. The tribesmen who were witnessed by Bai Ze growing from a child to an adult and still having a childlike innocence even discussed giving Bai Ze a unique new name - the Divine Beast Bai Ze.
According to their tribe, the title of "High Priest" of the Dragon Tribe sounds impressive, and their tribe cannot fall behind. "Alien" doesn't sound nice to pronounce, and it feels a bit alien to say, so it's better to modify it a little.
Shirazawa brought about earth-shaking changes for them, taking them away from hunger, disease and short life. Does this have anything to do with humans?
They love Shirazawa from the bottom of their hearts, who has brought changes to them. They believe in Shirazawa and are proud that Shirazawa can be their totem.
Canglong and Bai Ze became famous in the wilderness and then became very successful. Feng Huang did not stay in the small courtyard in the mountains all the time. He would occasionally accept Bai Ze's invitation to go down the mountain, and would also stop at other weak tribes to lend a helping hand.
Qilin took Di Ting on a tour through the wilderness. He compiled everything he saw and heard into a book, which briefly recorded the appearance and functions of various plants. Wherever he went, Qilin left a manuscript to help the people there survive better.
Human life span is less than a hundred years, so as generations are superimposed, they soon begin to face death.
Canglong sent away the leader he met at first. He was the oldest human in the tribe's recorded history. He was very old, so old that his muscles had disappeared, his bones were covered with grooved skin, his eyes were cloudy and no longer clear, and his hair was so sparse that it was almost falling out.
When he left, the entire tribe came to see him off. Canglong stood beside him, watching the skinny old man stretch out his hand to him: "High Priest..."
He called Canglong respectfully as before, but at the end of his life, when his consciousness was unclear, he murmured "little baby" and asked him if he was injured. It was as if he had returned to the deep pit where he hunted beasts at the beginning. His hair was still gray, but his charm was not diminished.
Canglong listened to his faint breathing gradually fading away, and finally disappearing in the wind.
Human beings are like this: resilient, intelligent, and ephemeral.
In the years that followed, Canglong saw off many familiar people, from the original leader to the youngest child in the tribe. The familiar people grew up one by one, grew old one by one, and left one by one. On the high mountain not far from the tribe, the number of graves increased year by year.
Canglong is still the high priest of the Dragon Tribe. No one knows the tribe better than him, but he sometimes feels as if this is not the tribe he is familiar with—even though he has watched every child in the tribe grow up.
Like him, Bai Ze began to face death.
It seemed like those people were laughing and joking with him the day before, and they were sleeping forever underground the next day. There were fewer and fewer familiar people, and Bai Ze slowly discovered that he seemed not to laugh anymore.
Death was like grains of dust, seemingly lightly covering him. The dust had no weight, but it accumulated more and more, and was about to crush his heart.
The previous separation had cut a deep wound in his heart, and the wound healed leaving a huge scar, and now countless tiny knives fell, tearing the scar open again.
Bai Ze saw many fish swimming in the sea and many white birds flying in the sky. They were so lonely and yet so eternal.
He used his talent all night under the moonlight, and when the morning light came, white hair began to appear on his temples.
Di Ting already had a human form. After obtaining Qilin's permission and asking for Di Ting's opinion, Bai Ze kept him by his side. He took Di Ting to live in this familiar yet unfamiliar tribe and taught him many things that only a "divine beast" knew.
Qilin still appears mysteriously in various places in the wilderness, but his records begin to include more alien beasts and plants that existed before the disaster - alienated beings. Their inheritance seems to have been affected, and even if new inheritors are born between heaven and earth, they will be alienated unknowingly as they grow older.
They seemed to be full of resentment towards the new races born between heaven and earth, so they regarded them as the source of replenishing their strength. In the book integrated by Qilin, there were gradually more records of cannibalism, such as the sparrow, the Hehui, and the Zhuhuai.
As a result, humans in the wilderness faced the biggest crisis since their birth, and countless people died and were injured in a short period of time. They collectively called these alienated beings "fallen beasts" and spread the characteristics of fallen beasts in the wilderness.
More and more humans began to awaken their spiritual powers, gained attributes, and followed the methods spread by Qilin and others to cultivate themselves in order to resist the crisis of fallen beasts.
They had been fighting the Fallen Beasts for thousands of years, long enough for their language to develop into a mature system, for villages to become cities that sprang up from the ground, and for so long that the entire wilderness was turned upside down.
Over the past thousand years, no matter if they were the proud sons of heaven or ordinary mortals, they could not escape the passage of time. Bai Ze watched their existence and extinction. He no longer had the sharpness of his youth. Time had made him steady, prudent and gentle.
During a gathering in winter one year, Bai Ze suddenly said that he wanted to go back to the place where they came from. He didn't say where that place was, but the other three knew it well.
Qilin asked: "Have you really thought it through?"
They accompanied Bai Ze back to the mountains.
After thousands of years, this place is no longer what it used to be. There is no trace of the past anymore. The big pits and chaotic ruins that were once left behind have all been smoothed out by time.
Thick snow covered the place, and it was all white. Bai Ze put down a red lantern and exhaled a breath of hot air.
He turned around to look at his companion who was still as handsome as ever, and then looked at the worried young man. Suddenly, he smiled after a long absence and said, "I've thought about it."
"Let's go home."
In the early spring of the following year, a dark blue "sea" suddenly appeared somewhere in the wilderness. In the sea, there were white fish like silhouettes. The white fish swam upward from the bottom of the sea, turned into beautiful white birds on the sea surface, and flew into the sky with their wings spread.
Shirazawa's body and his immense telekinesis were left here, transforming into a place between life and death that could not be seen by ordinary people. His consciousness was thrown into the sea, reincarnating with countless humans.
Di Ting took over Bai Ze's position and became the wise man leading mankind. The Qilin, who was supposed to travel around the wilderness, also stayed in the human territory with him.
Qilin is the one who is most unwilling to be restricted, but he is still worried about his students.
Feelings are the most terrible bond in this world.
The struggle between the fallen beasts and humans never stops, and there are new white fish in the sea every day.
One day, a green fish suddenly swam up from the deepest part of the sea. It fluttered its tail and turned into a green bird on the sea surface. It then flew into the clouds and fell from the clouds.
A seed fell into the soil.
Between heaven and earth, many golden fine threads penetrate into the soil, lasting for hundreds and thousands of years without interruption.
One spring, when everything was reviving, a tiny sprout popped out from a piece of soil.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
