Chapter 96 - Afraid
The scene of Zhuang Qing toiling to support the management bureau surfaced in Fu Li’s mind. He took out his Qiankun pouch, dropping it onto the floor. A small mountain of gold, gems, and the sort poured out.
“These things are all very pricey in the human world, go exchange it for money,” Fu Li looked at the mountain of gems that was the same height as him. “Don’t worry about money, I have more here even if it’s all used up.”
“Quickly keep all those things,” Zhuang Qing flashed to the door in an instant and locked the office door tightly. Turning, he reprimanded Fu Li, “How many times did I tell you not to reveal your valuables! Why do you still not remember it!”
“Aren’t you short of money?” Fu Li gently kicked the mountain of gems twice, as if they were cheaply-priced gla.s.s beads. A pile of gems tumbled down with a crash. “I don’t have much use for these. They’re all just things the elders on my mountain threw to me to play with when I was young and not sensible.” Fu Li was being honest. To humans, these were indeed treasures. But to many yao cultivators whose original forms were animals, these gems weren’t very different from the stones by the riverside.
The reason why many yao cultivators were reluctant to leave the mortal world wasn’t because of the gold, silver, and jewels in the human world, but because the human world was full of all sorts of emotional temptations. Who knew how many yao cultivators had been subjugated by this? What was most interesting was that humans were clearly afraid of yao and ghosts, yet liked to set up yao and ghosts as the protagonists of films and literary works so as to stimulate their longing for the mysterious.
For instance, the works , , and so on were filmed and modified time and time again. This was truly the epitome of liking something and never tiring of it. But if a yao or ghost were to appear for real, the humans’ first reaction would be fear and not pleasant surprise.
The so-called ‘feigning fondness for something one actually fears’ was probably like this.
“We work for the sake of the country, how can the country treat us unfairly? Keep these things first,” Zhuang Qing s.n.a.t.c.hed the Qiankun Pouch from Fu Li’s hands, and then discovered that there was a blood restriction on it. Apart from Fu Li, no one else would be able to let this Qiankun pouch automatically take in items. Left with no choice, he could only stuff the gems a handful at a time into the bag.
Gold, agate, chysoberyl, jadeite, natural crystals, diamond, pearls…
While sweeping these items into Fu Li’s Qiankun pouch like they were trash, Zhuang Qing channeled such strong will that he nearly turned numb. He now understood why so many people hated yet envied rich second generations. He spent a long time filling the bag, but the mountain of gems had only decreased by one-third. Zhuang Qing threw the Qiankun pouch to Fu Li. “Quick, put them back in.”
“You really don’t want them?”
“No!”
“Okay then,” Fu Li helplessly retrieved the gems. He now had a new understanding of the arrogance of young yao. “Remember to let me know if you need them in the future.”
Zhuang Qing heaved a long sigh of relief when the pile of gems disappeared before his eyes. He felt both disappointed and relaxed, just like a person on a diet watching someone else remove the delicacies that tempted them. His emotions were extremely complex.
“There’s a drought somewhere?” Fu Li shrank his Qiankun pouch and sealed it in his ear.
“En,” Zhuang Qing nodded. “The southern region of Zhongshan Province should be a geographical area with an abundance of water, but there hasn’t been a single drop of water since July. The relevant department has also tried using artificial precipitation methods, but they haven’t succeeded because the natural conditions didn’t meet the requirements. Rumors have sprung up all over Zhongshan Province, stirring up many jokes.”
“Then who from our bureau will be more suitable to resolve this problem?”
“Let Qing Xu go. He’s one of the most outstanding Daoist priests in Lin An Monastery, and is most proficient at calling down rain. He’s never had the opportunity to go out on his own for training during the past few months he’s been with the management bureau, it’s appropriate to let him handle it.”
Fu Li suddenly understood. “You think things through very thoroughly. New staff require training opportunities.”
Qing Xu was ecstatic at receiving the news that he would be out on an official job. He hadn’t had an opportunity to showcase his abilities despite having been with the bureau for so long, so now that there was finally a place that needed him, he happily packed his luggage at once, booked a train ticket for that night, and rushed towards Zhongshan Province.
The train reached the most severely-impacted urban district in Zhongshan Province the next morning. Upon alighting from the train, Qing Xu was nearly swept away by the heatwave outside. He hastily took off his jacket and wool sweater, and met up with the worker in charge of receiving him.
The worker receiving him saw the clothes in Qing Xu’s hands and said helplessly, a bitter smile on his face, “It’s been a tough journey. We haven’t managed to succeed at lowering the temperature here at all. The temperature today is still considered okay, it’s only thirty-six degrees. The highest temperature the past few days was forty-one degrees. Many factories and schools had no choice but to go on vacation.”
“That really is a torment,” Qing Xu glanced at the sun hanging in the sky. It wasn’t even ten o’clock in the morning, but the sun was already so strong.
The worker only knew that Qing Xu was a specialist arranged by the higher-ups and wasn’t in the know about what exactly Qing Xu would do, but asking too many questions was also not a good idea. After leading Qing Xu to the hotel, other departments would arrange for staff to accompany him.
The accompanying workers arranged to come over naturally knew of Qing Xu’s true ident.i.ty. They politely accompanied Qing Xu for lunch, not daring to press him to investigate the real reason behind the drought. On the contrary, it was Qing Xu himself who felt that this scene was a little strange. The moment he finished eating, he took a bath, burned incense, and brought his lunch buddies to a tall mountain with extremely good feng shui. Then, he set up a formation to make offerings to the G.o.ds.
Qing Xu was in the middle of setting up the magic formation when he sensed a strange aura coming from the east. The aura was influencing the normal circulation of Heaven and Earth’s Five Elements. In particular, it restrained the water element. His expression turned grave as he drew his magic weapon. “Which yao is it causing trouble here?”
Yao?
The accompanying workers grew anxious as well upon hearing his words and fished out the special weapons at their waists.
A faint image of a gigantic snake appeared among the towering mountains and precipitous ridges. Its long tail could be seen halfway up the mountain. It was a terrifying sight.
“There are two tails, two monster snakes!” The faces of the accompanying workers turned pale from fright. Although they knew a few cultivation techniques, they could not truly step on the great path of cultivation due to their lack of talent. Therefore, they were only affiliated with the security department. In reality, they were public security officers stationed at the various provinces.
“Daoist priest Qing Xu, what should we do now?”
“What should we do…” Qing Xu gritted his teeth. White suffused the fingers gripped around his magic weapon. He kept all the things on the altar, turned, and broke into a run.
“What else can we do! Of course it’s to call for the boss ahhhh!”
His voice echoed through the valley, resounding far into the distance. The two enormous snakes that revealed their tails swiftly withdrew their tails and vanished into the mountain.
Zhuang Qing was in a meeting with the bureau staff when his phone rang. He glanced down at the caller ID before telling all the staff members, “It’s a call from Qing Xu.”
Everyone found this a bit unexpected. Wasn’t Qing Xu out on an official job, why did he think to call them?
The moment the call connected, Qing Xu’s miserable shriek sounded.
“Boss, save me!!”
Zhuang Qing instantly stood up from the chair, his expression solemn. “What happened?”
“There are monster snakes at least tens of meters long, I suspect they were drawn out by the drought. I don’t have profound cultivation, and can’t defeat these two monster snakes,” Qing Xu gasped for breath as he ran with all his might. “I need reinforcements.”
“Send the coordinates to my phone, I’ll rush there straight away,” Zhuang Qing hung up. “The meeting will be concluded for the time being, continue your work according to what was arranged just now.”
“Wait,” Fu Li stood up too. “I’ll go with you.”
“No need, it’s just two snakes. I can deal with them,” Zhuang Qing had long noticed that Fu Li wasn’t very fond of snakes, so he didn’t intend to bring him along.
Fu Li chased after him outside the meeting room. Lowering his voice, he said, “Don’t try to be brave, it’s not embarra.s.sing to be afraid of snakes. By going with you, I can also boost your courage.”
Zhuang Qing came to a stop and flashed a smile at Fu Li. “Okay.”
Sure enough, he was still afraid of snakes, thought Fu Li. That was why Zhuang Qing was so happy after hearing that he would be accompanying him. Zhuang little dragon was good in all aspects, but he was a bit too eager to be at the top. He would keep everything hidden in his heart and shoulder all burdens himself. Living like this was simply too tiring.
Given the urgent situation, the two people couldn’t be bothered with the usual procedures and directly traversed a thousand miles in an instant. Soon after, they rushed to the foot of the mountain. In the distance, they saw Qing Xu leading three to four people down the mountain at a speed that would outpace even a sprinting champion.
Fu Li flashed to Qing Xu and grabbed a hold of him. “Stop running. Where are those two snakes? Lead us there.”
“Fu ge, Boss, you’re here,” Qing Xu’s eyes shone. His breath evened out instantly and his fear vanished. He straightened his chest and said, “I’ll bring you over.”
The several people behind Qing Xu were huffing and panting as they plopped down on the ground. Seeing how worn-out they were, Zhuang Qing said, “Rest here, you don’t have to follow us over.”
“Many thanks, Chief Zhuang. Pardon our sorry figures,” The accompanying workers were a little embarra.s.sed, though they knew very well in their hearts they wouldn’t be of any help even if they followed them over.
Zhuang Qing pulled Fu Li to his side. He picked up Qing Xu with his other hand and soared into the skies, flying to the top of the mountain.
At this moment, Qing Xu recalled the terror of being flown back and forth by Chao Yun. In front of Chao Yun, he could still let loose a few screams, but in Zhuang Qing’s presence, all he dared to do was cover his mouth.
When they arrived at the place where Qing Xu had set up the altar, Zhuang Qing furrowed his brows. “There is indeed something off about the qi field here.” The Five Elements were in disarray, it was no wonder that the water vapor couldn’t form rain in accordance with the natural water cycle.
Zhuang Qing took off his jacket and glanced at the blazing sun in the sky. It was already this season, yet the sun was still giving off such blistering heat.
Despite only half of his blood being dragon, there was still some of the dragon race’s pride in Zhuang Qing’s bones. For instance, not fearing any type of snake. The next moment, countless dragon scales appeared on his face. He issued a dragon roar at the mountain.
In a blink of an eye, birds flew off and beasts left. The water and energy deficient trees even shook their branches.
Strangely, the two monster snakes didn’t appear.
“Strange, did I see wrongly?” Qing Xu was a bit uneasy, concerned that the boss would think that he was making a fuss out of nothing.
“No, you didn’t see wrong,” Zhuang Qing grabbed at the empty air, ripping apart a barrier. Behind the barrier, a monstrous snake with two bodies and one head was coiled around the mountain, its enormous body wrapping around the entire mountain.
“What monster is this?” Gooseb.u.mps too numerous to count popped up on Qing Xu’s arms. This snake looked a little too strange.
“This is a Fei…” Zhuang Qing hadn’t completed his statement when something round and fluffy pounced on him. The fluff smashed onto his face before rolling into his arms. It was a chubby rabbit.
“Fu Li?” Zhuang Qing hurriedly reached out and caught the rabbit, preventing him from falling onto the ground.
The fat rabbit pushed its head forward vigorously, hiding its head in the crook of Zhuang Qing’s arm. The rabbit clenched its tail towards its b.u.t.tocks and then ceased to move. No matter how much Zhuang Qing yelled, he didn’t emit a single sound.
Qing Xu looked at this scene dazedly. It was said that snakes were the natural enemies of rabbits, but given how high Fu ge’s cultivation was, was he still unable to resist his biological instincts?
“Don’t be scared. This is a Feiyi, it doesn’t have high combat ability, so I can handle it on my own,” Seeing that Fu Li was actually afraid of this thing, Zhuang Qing laid his jacket out on the ground. “Lie here for a while first, I’ll come back after settling the Feiyi.”
The rabbit who had been silently feigning death all this while shook its head maniacally, its front claws gripping his sleeves tightly. ‘I don’t want to be alone even if it kills me’ was written all over him.
Qing Xu felt that given the boss’ aloof att.i.tude, he would probably fling the terrified, clingy Fu Li off.
But reality gave him a tight, hard slap on the face. Not only did the boss not fling Fu ge off, he even transformed into his original form and placed Fu ge on top of his head. Qing Xu looked at the majestic golden dragon and was a bit moved. He took a few steps forward. “Boss, I…”
“You stand here, help me keep an eye on the clothes,” The golden dragon flew towards the Feiyi without even looking back.
Qing Xu: …
Oh, so there was even a difference in treatment. Qing Xu sat down cross-legged, took out his phone, and clicked on the internet search engine.
Requesting to know how to curry favor with my superior. Waiting online for an answer. Very urgent.
Fu Lu lay on the dragon’s head and covered his head with the hair on the side of the dragon’s temples. He didn’t want to take even one more look at the Feiyi, there was nothing more disgusting than it in this world. Fu Li would never forget the shame of being frightened by the Feiyi into peeing his pants when he was five hundred years old.
Squatting on top of Zhuang Qing’s head and covered by the soft dragon whiskers, Fu Li finally felt a sense of security. His four limbs pulling on the dragon’s whiskers, Fu Li could feel Zhuang Qing circling the sky multiple times. After that, an intense strike went through the body beneath him.
Had they started fighting?
Fu Li kicked out his feet guiltily as he listened to the dragon roars and strange cries of the Feiyi that drifted into his ears. As a senior who had more than four thousand years’ worth of cultivation, wasn’t it a little cowardly of him to be hiding behind a junior? After a fierce inner tug-of-war, Fu Li felt that he ought to be a little braver.
At an average speed of 0.5 centimeters per minute, Fu Li started stretching his head out of the dragon’s whiskers.
Just as his head was about to pop out, Zhuang Qing spoke all of a sudden.
“Make sure you’re hidden. I’m going to spit out water, it’ll be a bit cold.”
As a rabbit, h-he was afraid of the cold. Fu Li confidently retracted his head.
Zhuang Qing didn’t lie to him. He heard the powerful rush of water… and the sound of water swiftly freezing into ice. It had almost slipped his mind that Zhuang Qing was a dragon who was born with the ability to walk on clouds, summon water, and freeze water.
Chilly wind brushed against his body. Taking a deep breath, he secretly stretched his head out of the dragon’s whiskers.
Under the glittering sun, an immense block of ice stood on the mountain. The Feiyi was frozen in the ice, so he could only make out a faint silhouette. Sunlight hit the ice, refracting multi-colored rays of light. There was an indescribable beauty about it.
“Done,” Zhuang Qing turned back to his human form. Carrying rabbit Fu Li in his arms, he stroked the fur on his back. “I’ve already frozen the Feiyi, you don’t have to be afraid.”
As he lay in Zhuang Qing’s warm embrace, the memory in Fu Li’s mind about being chased by the Feiyi till he broke out into sobs seemed a little less vivid.
“Thank you,” He was a bit embarra.s.sed. After today, he would probably not have the face to put on a senior’s airs in front of Zhuang Qing. But that wasn’t important. What was important was that Zhuang Qing had helped him to vent, so he was now in a very good mood.
Zhuang Qing expressionlessly stroked the rabbit’s fur. “The Feiyi threw Heaven and Earth’s Five Elements into chaos. According to the management bureau’s regulations, he should be sealed in the bitter cold. What do you think?”
“Seal, seal seal,” Fu Li nodded repeatedly. “Otherwise drought will occur wherever he goes, all animals and plants will die in his hands.”
“Okay,” With a wave of Zhuang Qing’s hand, the Feiyi was absorbed into a magic device, which then floated to the ground. “Qing Xu.”
Qing Xu hurriedly kept his phone and stood up. “Boss, your instructions?”
“You can continue soliciting rain.”
“Oh,” Qing Xu glanced at Fu Li, who was still lying in the boss’ arms. “Boss, is Fu ge okay?”
Zhuang Qing stroked Fu Li’s fur. “He’s fine. He just had a breakthrough and can’t use too much magic power, so I let him turn into his original form to rest.”
Ennnn?
Hadn’t he changed into his original form because he was scared of snakes?
“Do you have any other questions?” Zhuang Qing raised his brows slightly. His jet-black eyes stared at Qing Xu, scaring him into shaking his head repeatedly. “No.”
“That’s good, I’ll go back with Fu Li first,” Zhuang Qing made use of the Thousand Miles into an Inch skill once more, vanishing before Qing Xu’s eyes.
“Aiya, heavens, scaring me to death,” Qing Xu sat on the ground again and took out his phone to look at the netizens’ replies. None of them were reliable. Thus, he posed another question.
I have a colleague who is particularly good at his job. But I discovered today that he’s actually afraid of c.o.c.kroaches, to the point that he even leaped onto the boss in fright. The boss didn’t blame him. Not only did the boss help him kill the c.o.c.kroach, he even helped him to cover up this small flaw. Doesn’t this mean that the boss places a lot of importance on this colleague of mine?
Netizen 1: Of course, which boss doesn’t place a lot of importance on an employee with strong work capabilities?
Netizen 2: Isn’t the crucial point the fact that this colleague leaped onto the boss? OP, what was the boss’ reaction when your colleague jumped onto him?
Grandpa Dao: He didn’t have much of a reaction, all he did was carry him.
Netizen 3: …
Netizen 4: …
Netizen 5: OP, I’ll tell you the answer – this is love.
Netizen 6: Powerful boss and the subordinate who has strong working capabilities but is scared of c.o.c.kroaches – this pair of lovers is a bit meng.
Netizen 7: Is it only me who realized that the OP uses ‘him’ when referring to the boss and colleague?
Qing Xu looked at the replies below that for no rhyme or reason had switched to the topic of ‘hegemonic chairman and good-looking employee’. Qing Xu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Keeping his phone, he stood up and got to work.
How could the boss and Fu ge be together?
Even the Three Pure Ones wouldn’t believe it, let alone him.
Ilyz: someone’s gonna be eating his words in the near future ?