Chapter 17 In Chapter 17, Cang Li took a straight...
Cang Li took a straight bamboo pole. Last time she was cutting bamboo, she saw a clump of thin bamboo and specially picked a straight one to polish it. She used it as a walking stick, and when the child misbehaved, she could also swing it to beat him. It was very convenient.
"Okay, it's not hot anymore, let's go play by the river for a while."
The crowd cheered softly. The man went to pack the clothes into the basket, carried it on his back, and then picked up Yu and said to her:
"Stay with me and don't wander off."
The family arrived at the riverbank. The sun hadn't completely set yet, but it wasn't as hot as at noon. The river water was also quite warm. Cang Li pointed to the shallows and said, "You're only allowed to play here; you can't go to the middle."
The man nodded, put down the basket. Children love playing in the water. Several children stood in the shallow water, frolicking and having a great time.
Cang Li lay down on a straw mat on the flat riverbank, a blade of grass between her teeth, her eyes fixed on the mountain opposite. Cang Li felt that the mountain opposite her had a strange attraction to her, and she wanted to go up the mountain to take a look, but unfortunately she didn't have the tools at the moment.
But that's alright. The earliest she can leave here is after winter. Once she's finished building her bamboo raft, she'll go to the other side of the river to see what's different about that "Goddess Mountain" on the other side compared to the mountain where she lives.
Cang Li squinted her eyes, enjoying herself immensely. A gentle breeze blew by, and Cang Li suddenly sat up. She could vaguely smell the stench of blood in the wind.
The wind was blowing from upstream. Cang Li looked over there and, without thinking, said to the kids playing in the water, "Stop playing and get dressed and come over here."
Looking over, the children noticed Cang Li's serious expression. They immediately pulled their younger siblings ashore, hastily dried themselves with their dirty clothes, put on clean ones, and, carrying a basket of dirty clothes on their backs, ran to Cang Li and asked:
"Sister, what's wrong?"
Cang Li said, "I smell blood. I ask you, have you really never seen anyone who looks just like us?"
The man shook his head blankly: "No, it's just us here."
The Mother Goddess will not allow anything that poses a threat to enter.
So they were just often hungry before, but their lives weren't in danger.
Cang Li still frowned. The smell of blood was not a good thing, especially since she could smell it even here. However, she couldn't find any bloodstains in sight, which meant that the source of the bloodstain was far away from her. But she could still smell it from a distance. Cang Li couldn't imagine what kind of scene could make the bloodstain travel so far.
“I smell blood, let’s go back first.”
As Cang Li spoke, she began to clear away the traces of their activities on the riverbank. Then she had Ji lead the group ahead while she followed behind, trying to conceal the path they had created. The weeds here were almost as tall as her, and if someone was on the other side, they wouldn't be able to find the cave through this large patch of weeds unless they looked carefully.
She had looked from the mountain and saw that the weeds were like a natural barrier concealing the cave. You couldn't see the cave from the riverbank unless you had wings and could fly.
If it wasn't humans fighting, but wild beasts, Cang Li didn't think she could beat any wild beasts. So, if she cleaned up the traces, the scent from the riverbank wouldn't linger for long, and the wild beasts coming along the river shouldn't be able to smell the remaining scent. The only thing to worry about was that some mindless wild beasts would charge recklessly and actually crash into the cave entrance.
Cang Li sighed. It was indeed better to find a human tribe as soon as possible. At least with more people, they would have a fighting chance against wild beasts. Without people, she and her few children would just be feeding the beasts.
Back in the cave, Cang Li was still worried, fearing that the source of the bloody smell would come looking for him.
Therefore, Cang Li instructed the children not to leave the cave. Then he split the bamboo that was intended to be made into furniture, sharpened it into self-defense weapons, and surrounded the platform outside the cave with a slight tilt and the sharp ends facing outwards. Each bamboo was three meters long, just enough to protect the entrance of the cave.
Seeing Cang Li so nervous, Ji also became nervous and tugged at Cang Li's sleeve, asking, "Sister, what's wrong?"
Cang Li shook the bamboo that was half a meter deep in the mud to make sure it was stable before saying, "I smelled blood, but I didn't see any corpses or bloodstains, which means the source of the smell is very far away. If I can smell it from that far away, it must be more than just a little blood. I'm afraid there are bad people or large wild beasts hunting it."
"No matter which one it is, we shouldn't go out for the next few days. It's good to stay in the cave. I'll find some big rocks to block the entrance a little smaller, just big enough for us to come in and out. Tomorrow morning I'll go up the mountain to cut some more bamboo. You all stay at home and don't wander off. If you notice anything amiss, hide. Conceal yourselves in the weeds, understand?"
Cang Li hadn't encountered any large wild beasts in recent days, which made her almost ignore the dangers of primitive society. It wasn't until today's bloodstains that she was reminded that this wasn't modern society. She couldn't ignore the possibility of wild beasts just because she hadn't encountered any danger. She needed to make some weapons for self-defense.
Cang Li sighed and installed the simple bamboo gate she had just made on the steps. This way, if wild animals came at night, they would destroy the gate first. When they heard the noise, she would have time to run up the mountain with her cubs. Cang Li deliberately left a small opening on the west side and didn't seal it with sharp bamboo, just so that they could escape if anything went wrong.
After dinner, Cang Li quickly cooked all the food for the next day. She cooked extra so it wouldn't spoil in her backpack, and she wouldn't have to cook in case of an emergency, which would greatly increase her safety.
Cang Li didn't sleep well at night, dreaming of being chased by wild beasts, and even dreaming of her cubs being carried away by wild beasts. This caused Cang Li to look very unwell when she woke up in the morning.
The culprits behind all this were two cultivators fighting outside the mountain: Kunpeng Daoist and Hongyun Ancestor. Their fight devastated the vegetation, and the colorful light they saw was also created by their battle.
Hongyun was ambushed and injured at the beginning. He was no match for Kunpeng. After fighting for a day and a night, he was about to be destroyed. Bloodstains were splattered on the ground. Hongyun thought to himself: My life is over.
Just then, out of the corner of his eye, Ancestor Hongyun noticed that the area affected by their battle was very wide, but the two mountains over there, which were clearly within the range, were completely unharmed. After thinking for a moment, Ancestor Hongyun gritted his teeth and flew towards the two mountains, throwing the Nine-Nine Soul-Scattering Gourd behind him to block Kunpeng. He then flew into the mountains through the gap in the barrier that had been smashed by the dragon last time, and then fell down due to exhaustion.
The Kunpeng Daoist behind him was in hot pursuit. Just as he was about to chase after them, he saw the mountain that resembled a goddess. His body froze instantly. He belatedly realized that the aura of the mountain and the aura of the barrier were very familiar. He then remembered that not long ago, the Demon Court Lord Di Jun had invited Fuxi.
Fuxi himself was fine, but his sister Nuwa was a disciple of Hongjun Daozu and a future quasi-sage.
Kunpeng had also heard the Dao and recognized the aura as Nuwa's at first glance. He dared to covet Hongyun's aura, but he dared not covet the Primordial Purple Qi on Nuwa's body. This was not only because Nuwa was a disciple of the Dao Ancestor, but also because of Dijun and Fuxi. Dijun wanted a sage to emerge from the demon race, and Nuwa was clearly a sage in the making.
After weighing his options for a long time, Kunpeng finally left this place unwillingly, planning to go back to the Demon Court and add fuel to the fire in front of Dijun and Fuxi. He would then follow Fuxi into the barrier and believed he could capture Hongyun!
Cang Li hasn't let the children go out to play these past few days, and he hasn't gone out himself either, for fear that if he goes out, he might encounter that thing that he doesn't know whether it's a beast or a person.
Ji Hejie didn't understand what Cang Li was worried about. They had the Mother Goddess protecting them, and there wouldn't be any ferocious beasts in the mountains that they couldn't handle.
Cang Li checks the bamboo fence every day and doesn't even have the mind to look at the rice he planted.
After five or six days of nothing happening, Cang Li began to wonder if she was just overthinking things.
Cang Li frowned, his expression not good. As the saying goes, "You can be a thief for a thousand days, but you can't guard against thieves for a thousand days." Worrying like this every day would make it impossible to do anything else. Cang Li put down the bamboo strips in his hand, stood up, and said to the boys behind him who were arranging the bamboo strips:
"I'm going to the river. You all stay at home."
She wanted to follow the river upstream to find out what kind of blood it was. After all, only five or six days had passed, so the traces should still be there. Only by figuring out what it was could she feel at ease. So, she decided to go and take a look.
But we can't take the children there and risk it out. Ji is already capable of supporting a family. If something happens to her, she might go back to the modern world. With Ji here, the kids won't starve.
Cang Li took everything out of his backpack and put it in the cave, then picked up his axe, tied up his trousers, and walked out.
The man pulled Cang Li back:
"Sister, what are you going to do?"
Cang Li explained seriously, "There are still unknown dangers over there. I have to go and see. Otherwise, how can I live a good life if I'm worried all the time?"
The man was anxious and held onto Cang Li for a while. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him, and he pointed to the mountain opposite and blurted out:
"Mother Goddess! Mother Goddess will protect us, we will be safe!"
Cang Li was about to pull Ji's hand away when he heard Ji's words and slowly turned around, his face full of question marks. What Mother Goddess?
After being addressed, the person spoke more fluently, pulling Cang Li along and repeating, "The Mother Goddess will protect us. She created us. There is no danger..."
Cang Li rubbed his forehead and put down the axe, his mind a bit of a mess.
She had previously guessed that this was a primitive society and even planned to go to other places to find human tribes to join. Now she heard the title "Mother Goddess" from the mouth of the man.
And the Mother Goddess created...
Cang Li gathered his thoughts and pulled Ji aside to ask him in detail:
"What Mother Goddess? Explain it to me clearly."
亼: ?
The man didn't quite understand why Cang Li didn't know, but he still earnestly told Cang Li:
"The Mother Goddess is the Mother Goddess. She created us and sheltered us."
Cang Li pondered for a moment. Was this Mother Goddess the mother of these children? And where was she?
"Where is the Mother Goddess?" Cang Li continued to ask.
The man pointed to the mountain opposite and said, "The Mother Goddess is there."
Cang Li looked over and thought, "Great. They can live on that mountain across the way. Letting the original owner, a fool, raise five children who can't survive here is a waste. Once I get there and find this so-called Mother Goddess, as long as she's not dead, I'll give her a good beating! And that potential father figure too, I'll take him down too!"
A note from the author:
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