Chapter 436 Undercover Investigation (4)
Ji Rong transformed once again into a common colorful bird with a white dragon entwined around its neck and a python holding a rat in its mouth. She followed the route shown by Xiao Bai and flew around almost half of the Bingtian Mountain Range before arriving at a large, unremarkable ice wall.
Ji Rong initially wanted to raise her claws and go straight in, but then she thought that she was there to communicate with the cultivators inside and learn about the past, not to seize territory. There was no need to rush and scare them.
He then said, "Little Bai, you're small and easy to hide, so why don't you go in and take a look first?"
Xiao Bai nodded, accepted the order, and left.
Passing through the long crevice in the rocks, Xiaobai arrived at the edge of a pool of water. The water in the pool was shimmering with light, which was formed by the ingenious connection between the stone holes and the ice surface, creating faint white specks of light. At this moment, they were scattered faintly on the surface of the pool, adding a touch of ethereal beauty.
However, the strong smell of donkey odor emanating from the water created a jarring sense of "a fairyland being occupied by donkeys."
There were many cracks around the pool, each reeking of donkey odor. Xiaobai explored them all, and many were dead ends or waterways. Downstream from the pool, there was a relatively flat stone path. Xiaobai followed the stone path down and then walked out of the cave.
The second time, Little White came to the pool again and followed the cracks in the water upstream. He went astray seven more times, but on the eighth time, he finally found the right way.
He followed the seemingly small, narrow crevice down for a mile, and just as he was about to reach the end, he keenly noticed that there seemed to be another path in the shadows beside him, behind the stalactites.
As Xiaobai followed the path, it widened, and after a short while, a dark stone staircase leading to an endless top appeared. Following the staircase, Xiaobai arrived at a blessed land.
The reason it is only called a blessed land is because of the style of the hanging stone strip. There should obviously be several more words in front of the stone strip that says "blessed land", but at this time there is a deep pit. The half of the stone strip that says "blessed land" has also tilted down, making it look loose and extremely unstable.
In front of the blessed land was a patch of rotten rocks, with gravel and donkey droppings and urine stuck together, making it unrecognizable from its original state.
The gate to the bottom of the cave is gone, leaving only four smooth stone feet of varying degrees of damage for later visitors to guess that there was originally a cave entrance here.
Inside the stone foothills is a blessed land for the yellow donkeys.
This is a spacious grotto with some dilapidated inscriptions and stone shelves on the walls. The cave is warm as spring, and a babbling stream flows from the stone and down the walls into the holes in the stone. A white-bearded donkey, looking somewhat old, lies properly under a broken stone platform deep inside, lovingly watching the returning herd of donkeys.
The yellow donkey leader stepped forward and brayed softly. His voice hit the stone wall and echoed back, revealing a sense of anger and a touch of desolation.
The old donkey listened quietly as he brayed twice before interrupting him, saying, "Alright, Huang Shi, don't be angry. They're all back safely now."
"Huang Wushisan, come here."
The young yellow donkey who had acquired the herb immediately stepped forward and then, as if it were a precious treasure, pushed the remaining five herbs, which were covered in saliva, to the old donkey's side.
The old donkey licked her head and sighed, "It's no use, it can't be cured. Since this is what you got, just eat it yourself. Maybe you'll gain some wisdom and be able to get rid of the bone in one fell swoop."
The yellow donkey immediately shook its head. Seeing that it couldn't persuade him, the old white donkey picked a rotten, low-grade spiritual herb and ate it, saying, "Grandpa appreciates your kindness. You can eat the rest yourself. Eat quickly, lest someone else take it away."
Seeing that the old donkey had eaten, Fifty-Three rolled up his tongue and began to chew the rest of the donkey's food.
Seeing this, Xiaobai withdrew.
He found Ji Rong and told her the truth about the situation in the cave. Ji Rong said with satisfaction, "Low cultivation level doesn't matter, good character is what matters."
As she spoke, she looked at the boa constrictor and the rat and said, “I know that you used to want to live a better life and a longer life, which led you astray. Every living being would think that way, but you chose the wrong people. You should know that living with greedy people will inevitably lead to a short life.”
She said leisurely, "Enjoying things isn't about what's in front of you. Only by living a long life can we truly know what real enjoyment is. Do you two understand?"
Having said that, Ji Rong looked expectantly at the two mountain gods, waiting for their response so that she would have a chance to say more in this icy and snowy place; but she saw that the mountain python and the mountain rat were just staring at her with their eyes open, without flattering or responding. Ji Rong had no desire to give a long speech, so she could only send the two of them to go with Xiao Bai to survey the spiritual veins.
She herself, however, rolled her eyes and lay down near the ice wall, pretending to be a wild bird that had fallen unconscious from exhaustion.
It's hard for a bird to pretend to be unconscious. Although she wasn't cold, she had only been lying down for half a day when half of her body was soaked by tiny snowflakes that had gotten into her feathers.
In order to achieve a realistic effect, Ji Rong did not use her spiritual energy to remove the dampness. As a result, the small water droplets gathered into large water droplets, hanging coolly on her feathers, and quickly froze into ice.
During this time, Ji Rong secretly raised her neck to take a look, and good heavens! In just over half a night, she had become the same color as the icy snow.
This won't do! She immediately got up, swept the snow off, and then lay down against the ice wall, pretending to be a bird that hadn't seen the road clearly and had bumped into the stone wall and fainted.
As dawn broke, the hungry herd of yellow donkeys was about to emerge again in search of food. A strong yellow donkey led the way, cautiously looking around. Upon seeing Ji Rong lying motionless on the ground, it immediately nudged him with its hoof. Ji Rong sensed an opportunity and immediately relaxed his body, feigning a severely injured, half-dead state.
The yellow donkey tried to nudge Ji Rong, but found it couldn't budge her at all, so it went back into the cave.
Just as Ji Rong thought the yellow donkey was going to carry her back to the cave, dozens of strong yellow donkeys came out of the cave and surrounded her. They dug a path through the snow down the mountain and then used their heads to push Ji Rong down the mountain with all their might.
Working together, they used the slippery ice and snow to propel Ji Rong more than ten feet away, and then buried her on the spot with snow.
Ji Rong sensed something was wrong, looked up and saw dozens of yellow donkeys pawing at the snow and covering themselves with it.
Not a single kind donkey was seen, but dozens of indifferent creatures tried to bury him alive.
Unable to keep up the act any longer, Ji Rong let out a timely groan, sat up, and asked, "Did you save me?"
When the yellow donkeys saw the birds, who had been lying on the ground almost dead, suddenly get up, they were so frightened that they scattered in all directions. Ji Rong stretched out a wing and grabbed the largest donkey, saying, "Where is this? To meet you in this icy and snowy place is surely fate. Shall I bestow upon you a great fortune?"
The yellow donkey was terrified and let out a rapid, low braying sound that echoed across the ground. The donkeys, which had been running around in panic, immediately buried their heads and bodies in the snow to hide. Some of them did not hide well, only sticking their heads in, while their rumps were still sticking out, which looked ridiculous.
Seeing that the big yellow donkey was not cooperating, Ji Rong pointed to the yellow donkeys that were not well hidden and said helplessly, "I'm going to visit your home. You should make them all come out later. Your tribesmen are hiding their heads but not their bodies. Don't let them be captured by other creatures and then blame it on me."
"Don't worry, I won't capture you or eat you. I'm here to help you." With that, she released the big yellow donkey and flew into a crack in the ice wall.
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