Chapter 39 - Don’t Underestimate Rabbits
“Bah, what is this taste?” The Kun spat out the foreign matter in its mouth. A pile of battered, corroded metal as well as plastic bags of all colors came pouring out. With a flick of his tail, the sea waves rose ma.s.sively and water surged, swirling up water and air. Perhaps the nearby land would experience tsunamis or typhoons not too long later.
His fins were very large, enabling him to cover a great distance in one flap. By relying on its strength, it absolved itself of the rumors stating that it had the slow speed of a fatty.
“What is this?” Using his fins, he swept up an unmanned underwater surveillance device, and bit into it. “Bah, it’s not edible.”
The department controlling the unmanned device was baffled. Why was there suddenly no signal from the surveillance device? This area of the sea was truly strange; if submarines weren’t being captured, unmanned devices were destroyed for no rhyme or reason. Did deep sea devils really exist?
After spitting out a mouthful of fragments, the Kun twisted its tail and shrunk its body a little. This way, at least he could see the tips of his fins by angling his eyes. His body might have become smaller, but the speed at which he swam was not slow. Within a blink of an eye, he reached the surface of the water. Upon getting a clear view of the surface of the water, his first statement was an angry one, “Which b.a.s.t.a.r.d made my family’s water so stinky?”
A sound was heard from above his head. He glanced up. A glittering bird flew across the sky. Not only was its appearance ugly, its cries were odd, and there was a long row of eyes on both sides of its body.
The Kun leaped towards the surface of the water. His fish scales morphed into feathers, and his fins extended to form wings. Raising his neck, he gave a long hiss.
“What’s that?” Zhuang Qing immediately caught sight of the Kun transforming into a bird upon rushing to the coast. With its wings extended, the bird was more than ten meters long. Its feathers gave off a red light, just like burning flames. The moment Zhuang Qing got a clear view of the bird’s appearance, he instinctively went on high alert.
“That’s a Peng. When a Kun leaves the water, it transforms into a Peng, so the birds gave it the name of Kunpeng,” Fu Li’s expression was even more severe than Zhuang Qing’s, because he had heard of the Kunpeng’s deeds from White Ape. Its qi could swallow the clouds and sea, the sea was a mere lake to it, and its Divine Might was incomparable. At that time, White Ape was scared that he wouldn’t know what the Kunpeng looked like, so he had specially drawn the Kunpeng’s two forms for him and told him of the way to deal with it.
Namely, to run the moment he saw it. And to run as far as he possibly could without looking back.
“En? The scent of dragon?” The Peng who was just about to fly up to take a look at the strange bird flapped its wings and turned its head, looking towards the sea in search of dragon traces.
“You hide first,” Fu Li stuck a talisman on Zhuang Qing. The talisman was drawn by White Ape that year and was said to be able to conceal the qi and cultivation base of a yao cultivator. “Who knows how many tens of thousands of years the Kunpeng has lived? It’s said that he ate dragons during those years when the dragon race was large in numbers.”
Zhuang Qing didn’t reject his kind intentions. Fishing out his phone, he noticed that there was still two signal bars despite being at the sea. Thus, he hurriedly contacted the relevant department and sent them a video of the Peng. The country could make preparations in advance in the event that they were not able to hold the Kunpeng back.
Netizens frequently joked about the large size of the Kun and how it wouldn’t fit into a pot, but if they were to see the appearance of the Kunpeng in reality, they would be immensely fortunate not to be eaten by him, much less speak of eating him.
“It disappeared again?” The Kunpeng sniffed. Flapping his wings, he circled the surface of the sea and found two humans standing on the water. He swooped down, shrunk his body, and stood before the two people. “Who are you?”
Fu Li took a step forward. “This humble one is a little yao from Weishui. I pay my respects to Kunpeng daren.”
“Weishui?” The Kunpeng pondered over it for a while. He did seem to have some impression of this place, so he responded, “I do have some impression of it.”
Seeing the Kunpeng’s relaxed att.i.tude, Zhuang Qing grew even more vigilant. Only yao cultivators who were powerful to the point of not having any weaknesses would dare to be so nonchalant in front of other cultivators.
“Who are you?” The Kunpeng smelt the scent of human flesh and blood from Zhuang Qing. Turning, he spoke to Fu Li, “Since you’re a yao cultivator, why are you with a human?”
Fu Li smiled. “This fellow daoyou isn’t a human cultivator, but he does have a human mother.”
“So, he’s a mixed-blood yaoguai,” The Kunpeng arrogantly shifted his line of sight. He no longer looked at Zhuang Qing, instead continuing to ask Fu Li questions. “Let me ask you, where has the dragon race gone? Why did I not see a single one after waking up?”
Waking up?
Zhuang Qing’s eyelids trembled slightly. Another one who woke up?! Could… he be the yao emperor the Zhuyan spoke about?
“Daren, you might not be aware, but the dragon race is already on the brink of extinction.”
“What?!” The Kunpeng transformed into his human form, a slightly plump man with crescent-shaped eyes. He said with fl.u.s.ter and exasperation, “Which blind yao s.n.a.t.c.hed my food and even ate them to extinction? Don’t they know the logic behind giving everything some leeway for the sake of long-term growth?”
“Yup, whether human or yao, one should look from the perspective of sustainable development,” Fu Li strongly agreed. “But the dragon race didn’t go extinct from being preyed on, but from natural death.”
“Such a strange matter actually occurred?” The Kunpeng looked pensive. Pointing at the seawater below his feet, he exclaimed with sudden understanding, “I know the reason, there’s poison in the seawater!”
“Ah?” Faced with the Kunpeng who had lived for who-knew-how-many-years, Fu Li finally understood what k2018;generation gap’ meant. He watched the dolphins in the distance leaping about in the seawater and then took another glance at the Kunpeng. He didn’t know what angle from which he should praise the Kunpeng.
“Before I fell asleep, the seawater was still clear and sweet, yet it carries a stench now. The dragon race is usually fond of staying in the water, so it’s possible they were poisoned to death by the water,” The Kunpeng sighed. “Forget it, if there aren’t any dragons, I’ll make do with some humans and fish.”
At that time, he had been sealed at the bottom of the sea for nearly four thousand years by those meddlesome creatures – Dangkang and Xing Xing. His mouth had become as dry as a tiny brook. He had managed to leave after much difficulty, yet there weren’t any dragons for him to eat; he was really thoroughly down on luck. If he had known that life would be this hard four thousand years later, he would have eaten a few more dragons at that time and slept a while longer.
His top priority now was to prevent these two juniors from realizing that he had been sealed at the bottom of the sea, otherwise the entire Kunpeng race would be left with no face because of him.
Fu Li wanted to say that the seawater wasn’t poisoned but polluted. But what difference was there between polluted water and toxic water?
Zhuang Qing took a few steps towards the Kunpeng and saluted him. “Kunpeng daren, the humans of today are also no longer tasty.”
“En?” The Kunpeng’s crescent-shaped eyes widened into full moons. “Why is that so?”
“Nowadays, the humans don’t choose what they eat carefully and even like to smear strange things on their bodies. Leaving aside their impure blood, their meat is both paltry and smelly. It’s not fresh and tasty at all,” Zhuang Qing said with a straight face. “The southerners are bland and tasteless due to excessive exposure to rain, while the northerners aren’t fresh and tender due to lengthy periods of time under the sun. There’s nothing edible about them.”
“Ai,” The Kunpeng furrowed his brows upon hearing his words. “These humans, why don’t they fatten themselves a bit more?”
“Daren, most of the humans nowadays are dry and skinny. In particular, the thighs of many women aren’t even as thick as my arm. The chewing texture will definitely be very poor,” Zhuang Qing continued.
“Your words make a lot of sense, but…” The Kunpeng grinned. “You smell quite good, why don’t I first use you to pad my stomach?”
The Kunpeng rose up all of a sudden. Moving swiftly, he stretched out an arm. His five claws extended, about to grab hold of Zhuang Qing’s neck. With exceedingly quick reaction speed, Zhuang Qing moved sideways to evade him and started fighting with the Kunpeng. After several moves, the Kunpeng smiled. “Sure enough, you aren’t an ordinary human. No human has ever escaped my claws. Saying all that about humans not being tasty is nothing more than your desire to protect them. What great courage you have, actually daring to play me.”
“Daren has been asleep for so many years and isn’t aware of the many delicacies in the world, how am I playing you?” Zhuang Qing’s expression didn’t change. He maintained a distance of ten meters from the Kunpeng. “You’ve misunderstood this humble one.” Seeing that Fu Li was about to come over, he fished out his natal sword and stated calmly, “Fu Li, this is my responsibility. There is no minor here, only the leader of the management bureau.”
Fu Li took back the foot he had just extended. Forget it, he would make his move when Zhuang Qing could no longer hold on. Even if he was a minor, he would still want face.
“Misunderstanding or not, I’ll know once I swallow you and have a taste,” The Kunpeng’s two hands stretched out and a divine staff of true fire appeared in his hands. Raising it, he struck in the direction of Zhuang Qing.
Ding! Zhuang Qing used his natal sword to block the divine staff.
The Kunpeng suddenly let out a laugh. “Interesting, this sword smells of dragon scales. You aren’t human.” His gaze swept across Zhuang Qing. “There’s something on you that can actually cover up your qi and even fool my eyes. Who did you study under?”
Zhuang Qing drew back his sword and rose into the sky, replying coldly, “This humble one has no teacher nor father.”
Fu Li stood on the surface of the water and watched Zhuang Qing exchange close to a hundred moves with the Kunpeng without any sign of defeat. In his heart, he gained a new understanding of Zhuang Qing’s strength. However, no matter how powerful Zhuang Qing was, he was limited by his age. The Kunpeng possessed supreme divine force since its birth – this was a racial advantage that could not be envied by other races.
Ding!
There was an abrupt change in Zhuang Qing’s expression. A crack had appeared on his sword.
“It’s a good sword, but it’s only this good,” The Kunpeng opened its mouth, about to swallow Zhuang Qing. Zhuang Qing’s legs transformed into a dragon tail, sending the Kunpeng more than ten meters away. The talisman on Zhuang Qing also lost its effect because of his transformation.
“Oh, so you’re a dragon?” The Kunpeng’s brows creased. He said with quite a bit of resentment, “And even a mixed-blood dragon?”
He was least fond of eating dragons with impure blood. Their spiritual qi wasn’t as good as dragons nor were they as fresh and tender as humans. They simply didn’t measure up to either. Out of everyone, the dragon race had to be the most shameless creatures. They could reproduce with any type of animal and didn’t let anyone off, whether it was a cow, sheep, fish, bird, or human. They just couldn’t keep it in their pants.
After obtaining a clear understanding of Zhuang Qing’s breed, the Kunpeng’s appet.i.te was lessened by a huge amount. He turned his gaze towards Fu Li. This little yao had pure qi and seemed quite delicious.
“Daren, I’m just a rabbit with plenty of fur and little meat. I’m not tasty,” Fu Li took a huge leap back, nearly losing control of his spiritual qi and falling into the sea. Fortunately, Zhuang Qing nimbly pulled him back.
“Rabbit?” The resentment on the Kunpeng’s face grew even stronger. “Rabbits are weak and small, how did you cultivate a human form?”
Fu Li: …
Mind your own f*cking business!
“Neither of you are nice to eat,” The Kunpeng waved a hand. “Scram then. I’ll eat the humans.”
“Daren, eating humans is against the law.”
“What law? Can the law control what I eat?” The Kunpeng was too lazy to pay any heed to these two unpalatable yaoguai. Transforming into a Peng, he readied himself to fly towards land.
In a moment of desperation, Zhuang Qing transformed into his dragon form and rammed viciously against the Kunpeng, knocking him into the ocean. Though, he himself also fell into the water due to the recoil.
“Bleh!” The Kunpeng spat out the water in his mouth, shaking the damp fur on his head. “Mixed-blood dragon, don’t think you can disrupt my hunt for food just because I dislike eating you. Take care not to be torn apart with one claw of mine.”
Zhuang Qing flew out of the water and flicked his tail silently.
The Kunpeng laughed upon getting a clear view of his appearance. “I’ve never seen such an ugly dragon, are the scales on your body fully grown?”
As the dragon of national fate, Zhuang Qing’s body had a beautiful l.u.s.ter to it. However, due to the fact that many scales on his body had come off, the flesh beneath them was revealed. It was akin to a beautiful piece of lacquerware that was peeling, thereby revealing the mottled interior. Such an appearance was especially ugly, even more so than ware that was without lacquer.
The beauty of the dragon race lay in their mighty horns and glittering scales. Zhuang Qing could practically be termed the ugly duckling of the dragon race with the way he looked.
“Hitting dragons is fine, but not their faces. Scolding dragons is fine, but not exposing their weak points,” Fu Li swiftly positioned himself in front of the golden dragon. “Kunpeng daren’s way of ridiculing the younger generation is not how the older generation conducted themselves.”
“You might be a tiny yaoguai, but you’re quite sentimental,” The Kunpeng flapped his wings a few times. “Step aside and I’ll spare you from death.”
Fu Li didn’t move. He turned and patted Zhuang Qing’s dragon horns. “I’m going to take out my magic weapon to fight, you stay a bit further away.”
Human speech came out of the golden dragon’s mouth. “Fu Li, did you forget that I’m the boss of the management bureau?”
“This isn’t the time to fight over status. I’m not interested in the position of boss,” Fu Li pushed the dragon’s head till it was at an angle. He took out a soft red whip from within his body and turned back to see Zhuang Qing looking at him. He said with some embarra.s.sment, “I know this weapon isn’t manly enough, but it’s the natal weapon that I chose myself. I have to use it even if I’m kneeling.”
“No wonder you insisted on using the sword even though your swordplay isn’t that outstanding,” Zhuang Qing looked at the whip in Fu Li’s hands and took two steps back. The smell of that whip made him uncomfortable.
The whip seemed ordinary, but the moment Fu Li flung it out, it started to lengthen, emitting a strange red light in the night. Before the battle, Fu Li even erected a barrier, keeping Zhuang Qing out and preventing innocent fishes from being harmed.
If the way Fu Li used the sword was clumsy and ridiculous, the whip in his hands seemed like an extension of his body. It was flexible and forever-changing. Even when faced with the Kunpeng’s gigantic bird body, it didn’t appear weak.
A flap of the Kunpeng’s wings was enough to bring about a hurricane. Yet, every time he wanted to flap his wings, the whip would bind his wings. Both parties were in a deadlock.
The Kunpeng emitted a long cry before suddenly diving into the water. He transformed into an enormous fish, his fins slamming onto Fu Li’s body. Fu Li was easily sent flying, just like a ping-pong ball that knocked against a paddle.
“Fu Li!” Zhuang Qing splayed against the barrier, wanting to pull Fu Li out of the seawater. But he had no way of breaking the barrier, so he could only forcibly bang on it with his horns.
“Stop banging.” Fu Li crawled out of the water and spoke to Zhuang Qing, “Your horns are already on the smaller side. If you break it from the banging, how are you going to find a wife in the future?”
“Release the barrier and let me in,” Zhuang Qing observed Fu Li’s deathly white complexion and the faint traces of blood at the corner of his mouth and knew that he was injured. “It’s very dangerous for you to be on your own.”
Fu Li glanced at the mottled scales on Zhuang Qing’s body and smiled. “What, you’re underestimating us rabbits?”
He gripped the whip in his hands tightly, his expression becoming solemn. “I’ll let you know today how almighty rabbits can be.” The moment he finished speaking, the whip emitted a lofty, divine light. This beam of divine light was horrifying and abnormal. If Zhuang Qing hadn’t reminded himself that this was his teammate, he would probably have been unable to hold himself back from escaping into the depths of the sea.
Then, he saw the soft whip suddenly transform into a dense net of blood that trapped the Kun. But there was no way the Kun would willingly be bound. His fishtail struggled vigorously in an attempt to rip the blood net and escape from within.
Fu Li’s complexion became increasingly pale. Countless wounds burst open on the back of his hand that was gripping the soft whip. Blood flowed along the whip into the net and the net’s b.l.o.o.d.y light shone even brighter.
“Ah!” The Kunpeng let out a pained screech. A burn wound appeared at the spot that had come into contact with the net. “What demonic weapon is that?” Why did he hurt as if his soul was being burned by raging flames?
He transformed into a bird once again. Though it wasn’t convenient to have a body of a bird in the water, his bird form was resistant to fire and would not fear this strange net.
In the end, he exerted all his strength and struggled free of the net. Transforming into his human form, he attacked Fu Li. Fu Li’s whip wound around the divine staff, and their palms collided. The Kunpeng shifted backwards slightly while Fu Li directly spat out a large mouthful of blood.
“You’re a rabbit who grew up eating toxic plants?” The blood Fu Li had spat out splashed onto the back of the Kunpeng’s hand. Instantly, he felt a pain akin to burning fire. He tactfully withdrew his hand and said with lingering fear, “It was fortunate I didn’t eat you just now.”
If not, he would become history’s first Kunpeng to have been poisoned to death by a rabbit. Though it was possible he was the last Kunpeng in existence.
He wasn’t scared of death. It was fine if he died. But it was a major issue if the Kunpengs went into extinction because of that.
“Rabbit, you don’t seem like you can last for much longer,” The Kunpeng was in a deadlock with Fu Li. “Why not let it be for today?”
“If King Kunpeng can promise me to not eat humans in the future, we can let this matter be,” Fu Li didn’t loosen his grip on the soft whip.
“Do we have to go so far!” The Kunpeng shrieked in disbelief. “I’m just going to have a meal, why are you two yao holding me back as if your lives depend on it? Do you have feelings for a human and have children with them?”
“That isn’t right either. The blood of the dragon race is special, so they can still have children even if they join with a human. You’re a rabbit who hasn’t received the generous love of heavenly law, so why are you going this far?” The Kunpeng asked helplessly. “If worst comes to worst, I won’t eat your wives. I’ll eat other humans.”
“No,” Fu Li didn’t give an inch.
The Kunpeng didn’t want to compromise either. That would be too embarra.s.sing. He was a majestic Kunpeng, how could he give in to a rabbit?
“Don’t take the face this old Kun gave you lightly.”
“I will not let go of my principles.”
Murderous spirit pervaded the air. No one moved. It was an expanse of silence.
The two yao raised their respective staff and whip, maintaining this posture till the sun rose, till the sun set, and till the bright moon once again appeared in the sky.
The terror felt by the relevant department’s employees in charge of monitoring the situation became anxiety, which then transitioned to worry. Eventually, the worry turned into numbness. They had stared at them for an entire day, yet there wasn’t even a change in the two yao’s postures. If there weren’t undulations in the seawater, they would have thought that they were looking at a picture.
“Are they going to fight or not?” An employee stared at the monitor, on the brink of collapsing.
“Why don’t you help fight?” The leader shot him a glance.
The employee obediently zipped his mouth shut. As he stared at the two people on the screen, he felt that they might maintain this posture until the end of time, when the seas ran dry and stones went soft.
After two days and two nights, even Zhuang Qing, who was slumped outside the barrier, also grew numb. A bird’s cry seemed to have sounded in the night sky.
Zhuang Qing turned his head and glanced over. All he saw was the dense ma.s.s of seawater and limitless sky. Nothing could be seen.