Chapter 517 Extra: Dream of a Past Life
In the 3,521st year of the Immortal Era, news came from the Nine Provinces that there was unusual activity on Chicken Cry Mountain in the Danxue Mountains, and that a primordial alien species had appeared in the world.
This message was written by Shan Zhongfeng and delivered to Ji Rong with his paw print.
Because a large number of rare treasures have been moved to the Nine Provinces in recent years, the spiritual energy in the main veins of the Nine Provinces is so dense that it can gather into fog in the air.
In the Central Continent, the vegetation is often so dense that it can gather into rain, and innate alien species spring up everywhere like bamboo shoots after a rain. There are even many minor gods appearing in the world from time to time; logically, everyone should be used to it.
The letter did not specify what this innate alien species was, but Ji Rong knew that an alien species that came from Jiming Mountain and could make the elderly Shan Zhongfeng personally deliver the letter with his claws could only be related to "Huang Da".
Ji Rong didn't need to think deeply to feel her calm heart churning.
The past is gone, and even if it returns, it will only be a being like Han Jun, both her and not her.
Even so, Ji Rong still felt a long-lost soreness in her heart.
She gently placed the jade tablet under her wing, then flew to a mining planet, pulled the Horned Jade from the pile of spirit crystals, and said to the Horned Jade, "Big brother, I heard that a rare innate species has appeared in Jiming Mountain. I need to take Sister Qingqing and my brother back to Jiming Mountain. Before I return, you need to keep an eye on the operation of the outer realm for me."
Jiao Jue, upon hearing that the strange creature originated from Jiming Mountain, naturally understood Ji Rong's intentions.
He looked at Ji Rong, whose figure had softened considerably but whose neck remained stiff, and nodded, saying, "Go then."
"But without my cover, it would be unseemly for you to go back like this. Why don't you conjure the tree trunk from your head, just as we hold divine authority atop our heads?"
Ji Rong did as instructed, conjuring the golden crown of the tree trunk from her head, saying, "This is just as heavy, and my head can't move much either."
Jiao Jue squinted and said with satisfaction, "But such composure is befitting of your status as the Lord of the Star Domain."
"Let's go, I'll take you to the Ascension Platform."
Ji Rong, with the tree supporting her, returned to the Nine Provinces with Gu Qingqing and Ji Zhuang.
——————
When Ji Rong and the others arrived at Jiming Mountain, it had already been surrounded by guards from the Danxue Mountain Range.
Ji Rong and her group revealed their identities and began to walk upwards.
After walking for a short while, they saw that under the stone tablet with the image of the virtuous fox, the old mountain peak was boasting about his elixir to a yellow fox-shaped phantom that was squatting on the stone tablet and wouldn't come down.
He picked up a gray pill with some blood-red patterns with a smug look on his face, and said with a mix of emotion and arrogance, "Huang Da, come here, as long as you let me touch it, this Blood-Patterned Pill is yours."
The fox-like creature, about a foot long, merely flicked its tail, turned its head, and continued to bask in the sun on the stone tablet, leaving its back for Shan Zhongfeng to see.
As Ji Rong and her group gazed at the seemingly real yet illusory fox-like creature on the stone tablet, tears streamed down their faces.
Gu Qingqing said in a hoarse voice, "Arong, this form must have only been created recently; I will use the illusion array, Azhuang will keep watch, and then you will transform into a tree body and take it over."
Ji Zhuang nodded, then reached out with one claw and pulled the still-chattering Shan Zhongfeng aside.
As the illusion array activated and the fog spread, Ji Rong and the others were quickly engulfed, while the fox shadow continued to glow.
Ji Rong didn't speak. She conjured a thick aerial root and circled around the alien species. When it reached the alien species, golden leaves grew on the root, and golden dew gathered on the leaves.
Upon seeing this, the fox-like creature immediately sat up and reached out its claws to hook it. Ji Rong then took the opportunity to roll it up and gently placed it on her head.
Feeling the almost invisible weight of this strange creature, Ji Rong said to Gu Qingqing with tears in her eyes, "Sister Qingqing, the outer realms are too harsh. Let's put it behind the Dragon and Phoenix Palace and take good care of it."
Looking at her yellow claws, Gu Qingqing said with satisfaction, "Good." Then she called Ji Zhuang to go to the Dragon and Phoenix Palace.
As soon as Gu Qingqing and Ji Zhuang arrived at the Yuanliu Regeneration Pool, they carved a jade platform and built a small house by the pool.
Once the house was completed, Ji Rong placed the fox-like creature inside.
Upon seeing the pool full of source water, the alien creature's body instantly shone brightly. It used its claw to scoop up some and taste it, as if to confirm its presence.
It stood up again, rubbed its eyes, and tasted it once more. It leaped high and then circled around the jade pillar on the roof.
At this moment, Ji Zhuang began to pluck his soft belly hair. He plucked two handfuls of hair, then gently pecked Ji Rong with his mouth and gestured to her with his eyes for the hair.
Ji Rong slowly lowered her head, pulled out thirty-six feathers from her body, sat down, and started weaving a nest with Ji Zhuang.
After they placed the nest in the ground, the fox-like creature seemed to light up and quickly flew over. It took out a green feather and a clay bird sculpture from its body, placed them beside it, and then lay down in the nest without moving.
Seeing that it was sleeping well and that it was getting dark, Ji Rong and the others suppressed their excitement.
They circled the ground, each finding a place to settle, and quietly watched the fox's face glowing faintly in the den, before unknowingly drifting off to sleep.
A thousand years have passed without a dream, but a dream takes me back to my past life.
One moment, Ji Rong was still reminiscing about the days when she and Ji Zhuang would warm Huang Pinjie's bed from either side; the next moment, she heard someone call out, "Xiao Rong, Xiao Rong..."
"Yes, I'm here." Ji Rong responded in her heart, and suddenly it seemed as if a million tree rings were spinning in her mind, fast forward, fast forward, fast forward... so fast that her consciousness became hazy, fast forward to the distant past.
On a rainy day, on a muddy ground, Ji Rong held an umbrella at an angle to her neck, staring blankly at her filthy fingers.
"Where am I...?"
"Xiao Rong, what are you daydreaming about? Hurry up and run, we're going to be late."
"I'm going to be late?!" Li Xiaorong suddenly woke up and ran towards the school.
She ran faster and faster, and time seemed to fly by, with more and more figures appearing before her.
The mountains are not only beautiful with clear waters and lush mountains, but also have steep roads and endless loess soil.
A trail of yellow dust followed the truck as it drove towards the front yard of Li Xiaorong's house and came to a stop.
The wrinkled man opened the truck, threw away the cigarette in his mouth, patted Li Xiaorong's head with satisfaction, and said, "Xiaorong is great!"
The opera sings, "Who says women are inferior to men? Who says you have to have a son to have a family line?"
Xiao Rong, you're the only one your father and I have in this life. You must study hard and bring honor to our Li family! Let those snobbish people see if we'll really die out!
"Dad, I will definitely get into a good university and leave this mountain!"
...
A tall, frail woman, holding a bamboo stick, coughed as she sternly questioned Li Xiaorong: "Why did you only get 98 points this time? You're still 2 points short! How can you get into a good university like this!"
The child under the stick covered his head and cried, "Mom, I was wrong. I'll definitely get a perfect score next time."
"Study hard, so that you can get out of this muddy road and live a decent life in a reinforced concrete house."
...
She ran past the primary school, through the middle school, and back to her home made of red bricks.
Wreaths had already been scattered around outside, and the usually quiet house was now full of people. When they saw her, they fell silent and made way for her.
She followed the path to the bedroom, where the woman on the bed had a sallow complexion and unfocused eyes.
After holding on for so many years, no matter how unwilling she was, she finally had to rest.
Seeing Li Xiaorong enter with her schoolbag, she instantly regained some strength. Li Xiaorong wrapped her mother Rongzhi's head around her lap and listened as Rongzhi said, "Xiaorong, don't... be sad, everyone... has to die... After Mom... is gone, Dad... will... take good... care of you!... Li... Li... Datou..."
"Oh dear," the man who had slumped on the edge of the bed quickly straightened up, leaned over the bedside and cried, "Mother of my child, rest assured, I, Li Dayou, will definitely give Xiao Rong a good chance to be released and I won't let her get married so early!"
Funeral music played, the wooden coffin was laid to rest, but life had to go on.
She wiped away her tears, ran to high school, and then went to university.
On the eve of her university graduation, her father, Li Dayou, died of stomach cancer. Li Xiaorong knew that his illness was caused by overwork.
He passed away peacefully in her arms, saying calmly, "My dear daughter, it was all worth it for your father to raise you to be a college student. After you die, you're just a pile of rotting flesh, so don't worry about it."
And after your father dies, you won't have to go back to the countryside anymore.
Li Dayou's illness cost 245,000 yuan in just six months. When Li Dayou passed away, Li Xiaorong had no money to bury him.
Fortunately, her classmates found out and raised money for her, which allowed Li Xiaorong to cremate Li Dayou and obtain a small coffin.
"That's for the best," Li Xiaorong said sadly. "We don't have to go back anymore."
With the remaining money, Li Xiaorong returned to her hometown and asked a bone collector to collect her mother's bones and place them in another identical urn.
Holding the two boxes in her arms, she thought to herself, "We will never go back to the mountains again; in the future, when I make money, I will buy you a grave so that it will be convenient for me to visit you."
...
The tree rings turn again, growing deeper and deeper as they grow from small to large, while the sound of typing echoes "tap tap" in the dead of night.
A white light appeared on the horizon, shining through the glass and refracting into a rainbow of colors that landed on Li Xiaorong's forehead.
"You're the one, child." From within the multicolored light, a pieced-together beast face emerged, then opened its mouth and spoke silently.
"So sleepy!" Li Xiaorong yawned wearily, closed her eyes, and a white light shone in her heart, growing larger and larger until it engulfed her and the two urns containing her ashes...
A ray of morning light shone on Ji Rong's tear-stained face, and Ji Rong finally woke up.
As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw the fox-like creature licking the dew from the treetops on her face, and she understood immediately.
All things in this world are created by the mind.
Do not say that the sea of suffering is boundless, for it is only created by the mind.
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