Chapter 5 Customs
Three more years passed.
That year, Ji Rong finally had an older brother who became intelligent, but the brother was slow to react and could not speak; moreover, the brother was as gray and strong as Ji Er.
Therefore, Ji Er named him Ji Zhuang.
Therefore, Ji Er went to Jiming Mountain to find Huang Pinjie again;
Huang Pinjie said that Ji Zhuangcai's intelligence development is normal, and he will become smarter with proper care.
As Ji Rong and Ji Zhuang grew stronger, they moved to live in the tree hole with Ji Er and Qing Shi.
As Ji Rong's other sisters grew older and more unruly, no matter how much jade marrow Ji Er placed in them, their spirituality no longer increased.
In the end, they all flew away from their nests with the flock of birds as the season came.
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When Ji Rong and Ji Zhuang turned ten, Ji Er took them to the Tonglin Forest every day to learn about the uses of the plants and trees they could see. If they couldn't answer a question, he would give them a piece of spirit wood.
Ji Rong was quick-witted and had a good memory, so she wasn't beaten much;
But the clueless Ji Zhuang was in a terrible state; he would be beaten by Ji Er more than ten times a day.
That day, unsurprisingly, Ji Er became enraged again and tried to hit Ji Zhuang. Ji Rong stood in front of her brother Ji Zhuang to prevent Ji Er from hitting him.
During the stalemate, Huang Pinjie suddenly appeared, limping as she carried a spirit sack on her back.
Ji Er hurried over and saw that Huang Pinjie's left and right paws were wrapped in spirit linen, and the color of its fur had also become much duller.
Ji Er took a deep breath and looked towards Huang Pinjie's tail. Seeing that the five tails were still there, he felt relieved.
Huang Pinjie told Ji Er that the aptitude test was done, and that they would set off together for Luohuang Ridge ten days later.
Then, she let Ji Er take the bag off her neck, and instructed Ji Er to put the two jade pendants away carefully before lying still on the ground.
Ji Er quickly picked up Huang Pinjie with his beak and took her to his own nest to rest.
In recent years, Ji Rong has also learned the full story of Dang Cai from her mother.
When Ji Rong first repeatedly asked Ji Er about this matter, Ji Er would occasionally squint and scrutinize Ji Rong, but later Ji Er became too lazy to confirm it again.
Ji Er thought to himself that it was a good thing to have a child as smart as Ji Rong, and that children would eventually grow up and understand the situation, so he told Ji Rong everything he knew.
It turns out that beings like Ji Er living in Zhongzhou are not actually free.
The current celestial deities all love to hold banquets and enjoy eating rare and exotic beasts. The Lord of the Commons holds banquets that last for ten days to half a month each time.
What the superiors do, the subordinates follow suit;
Therefore, throughout the year, there are at least eighty banquets of all sizes in the various palaces.
When God wants to hold a feast, He usually makes a menu and sends a letter to the Jade Pool in the Golden Tripod Palace to order the food.
If the menu contains rare and exotic ingredients not kept in the Jade Pool, the Jade Pool's manager will note them down and give them to the Golden Cauldron Palace's regulations.
Guiyuan would then send celestial maidens down the mountain to distribute the necessary materials to the mountain range leaders.
If it is spirit beast meat, the leader of the spirit beast's clan will decide who will be the dish by drawing lots within the clan, based on the dishes they have received.
If it is a rare vegetarian dish, then the creature skilled at discovering such a rare item will find it and offer it on a designated day.
Although Huang Pinjie is a wild beast that has become a spirit, she has already become a five-tailed beast, so she should not need to draw lots.
But her backer—the third young lady of the Fire Fox Clan—was crippled and was sent to the remote Chicken Cry Mountain to fend for herself.
If she happens to be at a grand celebration in the Heavenly Palace, as long as she is still alive, she still risks being skinned and used as a congratulatory gift.
However, later, she held onto Ji Er and, through her charm and talent, managed to establish trade between the Fox Clan and the Wuhuang and Qingluan Clans. She also contributed 80% of the trade proceeds to the Fire Fox Clan, which allowed her to temporarily remove the lot that belonged to her.
Huang Pinjie knew in her heart that if she were no longer useful one day, her fortune stick would most likely be hung up again.
Therefore, Huang Pinjie takes great care of these two chicks who have already developed intelligence.
She could not advance any further in her life and originally did not want to live; but she really couldn't bear to part with Ji Er. As long as Ji Er had someone to rely on, Huang Pinjie could die in peace.
Ji Rong had many, many questions. She asked, "Gods would eat us? Aren't they supposed to live on dew and eat phoenix liver and dragon marrow?"
Ji Er stroked the boy's clever head and replied, "What's the point of eating nothing but wind and dew? We should eat something better."
However, there are quite a few phoenixes and dragons that have submitted to the various palaces and become servants, so we can't keep killing and eating them.
Huang Pinjie said that nowadays, real dragons and phoenixes are no longer used at banquets in the Heavenly Palaces. Instead, mixed-blood dragons and mixed-blood phoenixes raised in the Jade Pool are used to make this dish.
Our colorful chickens are of the same lineage as the phoenix family, and their meat is delicious, affordable, and tasty.
The enlightened beings were provided for the enjoyment of the gods;
Those who haven't yet gained wisdom can be given as rewards to the followers of the gods.
Feathers can also be made into various ornaments, which are very popular.
"It's only because Yaochi now raises colorful chickens that they don't keep coming down to collect them like before."
Ji Rong understood. She looked at Ji Er as if he were a fine ingredient and said, "Mother, since this place is so dangerous, why doesn't everyone escape? Why are they staying in these mountains waiting to be caught?"
Seeing Ji Rong's irritating gaze and idiotic questions, Ji Er suddenly exploded. She raised her beak and pecked at Ji Rong's head, saying, "Don't even think about that anymore. When you go down the mountain, do you want to send a piece of clothing to the Shenlong Clan or add a dish to the Xuanyuan Clan's menu?"
“Even Huang Pinjie, that stinky... your Aunt Huang has five tails, but she doesn’t really leave Zhongzhou.”
Seeing that the peck had drawn blood, Ji Er sighed and brushed Ji Rong's head with her wing, saying, "Good boy, you can fly now. Listen to your mother. You can't trust those birds outside. If they call you out to play in the future, you must never go, or you'll be sold."
There were still some things, but Ji Er thought Ji Rong was too young, so he swallowed his words.
Ji Rong grasped the key point and asked, "Is Aunt Huang able to go because she has cultivated the Five-Tailed Fox?"
Ji Er said yes, and then added, "But your Aunt Huang won't stay outside for long either. She said that if she stays too long, she'll easily be targeted by bad cultivators."
Ji Er had never left the Danxue Mountains; Huang Pinjie had told her all of this.
In the past few years, Ji Rongjin has grown taller, now nearly two meters tall. Da Yu has also grown to almost the same size, and can now carry his older brother Ji Zhuang around the treehouse.
After Ji Rong awoke in this world, she learned about some of the realities of this world through her mother in this life, as well as the living conditions and fates of colorful phoenixes like her.
There are many mountains here, and the mountain ranges stretch endlessly, so far that you can't see beyond the mountains and the sky.
Harmony among the tribes on different mountain peaks is extremely rare; everyone adheres to the principle of respecting the strong.
If someone is beaten to death outside because they are weak, they have no recourse at home.
Therefore, Ji Rong was very much looking forward to the upcoming test. If she could inherit the bloodline of her ancestors, would she have the opportunity to become a bird on a bird like her ancient ancestors?
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