A sound of pleasure
Tianshu deliberately took them on a detour towards the top of the mountain. Ah Li and Cha Suxun were, after all, completely mortal, and the continuous walking was still a bit too much for them, leaving them breathless and exhausted. Ah Li couldn't walk anymore, so Cha Suxun supported her, standing half a step behind her, leaning against her body, letting her lean on him to save her some energy.
In order not to disturb them, Heqi took Tianshu and walked very fast, leaving A Li and the others half behind. Tianshu was not ignorant of Heqi's childish thoughts. Although he felt jealous, it was his own choice and he had to accept it.
Thinking of the blow from yesterday, He Qi apologized: "I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you yesterday. Does it still hurt?"
"It doesn't hurt anymore. It's nothing serious. I just acted too suddenly."
Hearing this, He Qi felt a little relieved. After a moment of silence, He Qi continued to look at him, and hesitantly asked, "Will it have an impact?"
"Hmm? Oh... no."
Upon receiving a positive answer, He Qi nodded obediently, uttered a "oh," and then resumed his venomous tone, saying, "Even though it's useless for a self-proclaimed pure-hearted immortal like you, it hasn't affected you... It's humane, and that's fine. I feel at ease."
"My mouth can't speak, so I can donate it to the disaster victims to make pig's snout soup."
"Are you immortals forbidden from falling in love? If you're forbidden from falling in love, and the inspections are so strict, how come there are still so many descendants of immortals?"
Tianshu pondered several times, organizing the words in his mind again and again, but in the end, no words could form a sentence, and even he couldn't convince himself. He took a deep breath and said, "To be honest, I don't know how to answer you."
"Because you know that what you're doing is contradictory. I used to be baffled by how, despite my sister's countless virtues, you were so unwilling to truly accept her. It's ridiculous that the ruler of two realms isn't worthy of a conquering war god from your heavenly realm. But then I realized that not accepting her would actually be a good thing for her. Otherwise, whenever something goes wrong, you might unreasonably blame my sister. My sister loves freedom so much, she's so bold, and if she's forced to follow the rules, I wonder how suffocating her life would be."
Tianshu agreed dejectedly, "Yes, it's a good thing Ah Li didn't jump into this fire pit. She wouldn't like the life in heaven, and she wouldn't like herself after deliberately integrating into heaven."
He Qi suddenly realized something and asked, "So, before this, you chose to remain friends with my sister forever because of this?"
"Not entirely. That's only part of the reason. She wouldn't like life in the celestial realm, and I can't abandon the celestial world I've dedicated my life to. Ultimately, I can't give her the best of everything, so I choose not to even reveal my feelings. Besides, I'm not a good person. Between the celestial world and her, I would choose the celestial world I protect without hesitation. Another reason is that I know she'll never have feelings for me otherwise. And I'm not worthy of her. She relied on her own tireless efforts to achieve the unity and peace of the two realms, while I simply had the advantage of being born a celestial being."
"In the original heaven, the gods abandoned all emotions and desires, devoting themselves solely to saving the common people. Emotions, with their numerous pros and cons, must be weighed, leading to many selfish sins. This shouldn't happen, and it should be the same now. The gods' original purpose was to uphold righteousness and protect the people, but after so many years of peace, they were gradually no longer needed. Even many of the gods, originally created by the heavens out of the people's faith, have disappeared. Gradually, without knowing when, everything changed. Gods were no longer born of faith. Gradually, without knowing when, everything changed. Gradually, gods were no longer born of faith, but were mostly inspired and nurtured."
"If you ask me, this is a classic case of someone who's had too much peace and quiet and is just whining for no reason. It's all their own fault, but they have to make some noise to prove some illusory things. We in the demon world are open and honest. We fight for what we want without regrets, and we dare to love and hate. We uphold our beliefs and stick to them. Even if it's for selfish desires, we dare to act and admit them. How wonderful."
Tianshu replied, "They are indeed brave enough to admit it. Those demons who followed Xie Yuan's former subordinates admitted it openly."
The two of them bickered and insulted each other all the way. Tianshu led them in the right direction while taking a detour. In just half a day, they reached the edge of the cliff at the top of the mountain.
Looking down, there is a bottomless abyss.
Several people worked together to gather many vines and weave them into two strong and reliable vine ropes, as well as a thinner vine rope for transmitting signals. One end of the vine rope was wrapped around the tree dozens of times and then tied into a tight knot to secure it.
Before Hua Xuandu was about to go down, Ah Li stood at the edge of the cliff and casually threw down a stone. After a long time, there was no echo of the stone hitting the ground. Ah Li was a little scared and hesitated, wanting to retreat.
Before he could say anything, he turned back and saw that Hua Xuandu on the shore had disappeared. Fortunately, it wasn't long before the other thinner vine rope began to sway, signaling that it was safe to go down.
My cousin immediately grabbed the vine rope that secured her body and tied it around her waist. She earnestly instructed, "Cousin, I'll go down first. When I feel safe, I'll give you a signal and you can come down later. Cliffs in mountains like this are usually very slippery, so be extremely careful when you go down. Cousin, you can be the last one down to avoid danger when I'm alone on the edge of the cliff."
"I know, you have to be more careful too."
She spoke calmly, but when she was about to go down the cliff, A'li was still shaking with fear.
Upon seeing this, Cha Suxun immediately hugged her, and his warm palms gently stroked her back to comfort her.
"I promise you, there's no danger. Trust me. We've climbed over cliffs and waterfalls so many times looking for red-tailed scorpions. We're pretty experienced, aren't we? If you're scared going down, just think of it as another scorpion hunt. This uninhabited, undisturbed mountain should have plenty of poisonous insects you'd like."
He let go of her, leaned over to look her in the eye, and said with a gentle smile, "Do you remember how you comforted me every time I went down the cliff?"
A'li nodded and said the words that belonged to them alone in unison with him.
As she descended, Ah Li cast aside all distracting thoughts and focused entirely on the steep cliffs. This cliff was steeper than any she had climbed before in search of scorpions. It was a stone wall that dropped straight down to the ground, almost like a wall. It was covered in moss and could easily cause her to slip if she wasn't careful.
The protruding rocks on the cliff have long been washed smooth by the seeping mountain water and can only be used as stepping stones without any leverage.
When they safely landed in the crevice between the stone wall where their cousin and Hua Xuandu were, one of them helped pull the rope while the other caught her firmly on the ground. Only after she stood firmly did they dare to speak to her.
The cousin looked at her nervously and asked with concern, "Are you okay?"
"No. What about you? You don't have any either?"
She gradually began to get used to it, and even liked her cousin's care, as if she really had a biological sister and they cared about and cared about each other.
"That's good. I don't have any either."
Heqi was also happy in his heart. He had missed his sister's warmth for thirty thousand years. Now, her caring words were enough to make him indulge.
It’s so good to feel the presence of loved ones.
Tianshu asked them to stand inside, and he shook the rattan rope vigorously to signal Cha Suxun on the shore.
After everyone gathered, they began to take out the tinder to illuminate the dim crevice of the cave and observe.
Since they were only in a long gap under the cliff, the available path was extremely narrow. In the distance on the opposite side, there should be some half-mountain, which mostly blocked the light, making it particularly dark under the cliff.
Heqi held his sister's hand tightly since she came down, protecting her at all times and reminding her of danger.
After walking along the narrow path for a while, we came into a dark cave. Because there were too many unknowns, no one dared to enter rashly, so we were in a dilemma.
Ah Li picked up a large stone and threw it down the cliff again. This time, it didn't take long before the sound of the stone splashing into the water was heard.
Hua Xuandu suggested, "Rumor has it that if we float downstream along the river, we'll pass by Huamian Village. We don't have many tinderboxes, and we don't know how long the cave will take. We might get stuck. Why don't we take another gamble and go down to the bottom. If Huamian Village is really down there, then there must be land there."
Ah Li was truly frightened this time. She said in disbelief, "Are you crazy? You don't even know how deep or fast the water is down there. And you mentioned what ifs. What if there aren't any what ifs? Is this all a gamble? Let's stop looking and go home."
"We're already here. It's okay, just like before, I'll go down and explore the way first." As he said that, Tianshu grabbed the rope he had just used. He knew how deep it was down there, so the woven vine rope was definitely enough.
Ah Li grabbed Hua Xuandu and sternly refused, "No! No matter what your reason for going to Huamian Village is, it's not as important as your life."
If they wanted to get down safely using the same method as ordinary people, this was the only way. But no matter how much Tianshu and Heqi persuaded her, Ari refused to give in.
In desperation, Cha Suxun had to control his strength and knock her unconscious with his hands.
Under the watchful eyes of the Celestial Realm, Tianshu was the only one who could legitimately use his magical powers. Cha Suxun had no choice but to let Tianshu take A'li down directly. He and Heqi still used the mortal method of climbing down using vine ropes.
They landed at the shabby entrance of Huamian Village, a place filled with the smell of dampness and mildew. The light was dim and eerie. The ground creaked wetly as they walked. The bushes were sparse, the vegetation tangled and unkempt, as if no one had weeded it in ages.
Cha Suxun carried A'li on his back, and the other two lit a fire to illuminate the way ahead. On a huge rock beside them were the words "Huamian Village" clearly engraved.
There is a small wooden house at the entrance of the village. There are several square wooden tables and long wooden benches piled up in the open space. There are four steamers overlapping on the earthen stove, and the steamers are as wide as the square wooden table top.
Approaching the wooden house, one can vaguely see a door god carved on each of the double-door panels.
However, this door god looks a bit evil and weird.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
