Chapter 152: Reunion of Old Friends
The peapod pointed to the queue in front, and kindly reminded. “Hurry and return to your original form. That way, it will be more convenient for the great deities to undergo your registration.”
“Ah?” Zhu Yao blanked. “No… No need.” She didn’t want to turn back into a jade.
Seeing that she was unwilling, the peapod did not continue to persuade her, and queued up behind her in a serious manner.
Goudan then explained at the side. A very large number of spiritual monsters wished to enter the Advent Cloud Hall, so, for the sake of convenient registration, everyone would return to their original forms to accelerate the registration process. In order to prevent confusion, the ones queuing here were basically all vegetables. There was even a zoo at the other side.
Zhu Yao turned her head around, through the half-open door, she looked at the other side. As he had said, it was a room filled with animals. Everything from chickens, ducks, cranes to rabbits could be found there. It seemed like, the Advent Cloud Hall was rather popular, seeing that so many people wished to enter it.
“Then what about human pract.i.tioners?” Zhu Yao could not help but ask.
“Why would human pract.i.tioners need to register? As long as they are willing, they can enter the sect.”
So that’s the case.
Zhu Yao and Goudan queued for exactly four hours, before their turns came. The one in-charge of registration was an Earth Deity, and evidently, he wasn’t really paying attention.
“Do you have a name?”
“Yes, great deity. I’m called Li Goudan.” Dog-Egg proudly answered.
The Earth Deity’s hand paused, and he even woke up from his drowsiness. He raised his head and swept a strange glance at Goudan. This name was really too…
Zhu Yao silently looked away.
“What’s your original form?”
“Oh, I’m an arrow.”
That man once again gave him a strange look, and Dog-Egg once again raised his head proudly.
The corner of the Earth Deity’s lips twitched, as he recorded it on the deities’ list. Then, he looked towards Zhu Yao at the back.
“Next. Name?”
Zhu Yao hesitated for a moment. Since she’s concealing her ident.i.ty, naturally, she shouldn’t reveal her Daoist name.
Seeing that she wasn’t speaking up, Goudan answered on his behalf. “I’m together with her. She’s Till Yo-“
Zhu Yao slammed him onto the table. Till your sister! You’re Till Your Throat Breaks!
“Hoho. I have the surname Zhu. Zhu… Po!” She simply did not want to use the word “Jade” in her name, and her original surname “Zhu” did not actually matter.
The Earth Deity looked at the two of them strangely. “Original form?”
“Uh… a jade.”
Only then did he sloppily record it down on the deities’ list.
Though, Goudan gave her several strange looks. Although he could sense that Zhu Yao wasn’t a human pract.i.tioner, he had never thought that she was actually a piece of jade. It was no wonder she dealt such painful hits.
After the two of them had successfully registered, they were brought into a room. In that room, there were only four spiritual monsters, and all of them were vegetables.
After a closer look, there was that peapod from before. Other than him, there was a carrot, a garlic, and a cabbage. The moment the two of them arrived, they were brought out by someone. After countless turns, they actually arrived at a water-filled domain. In front of them was a boundless silver-colored ocean.
A few people were scattered by the ocean sh.o.r.e. After a closer look, they were a rabbit and a weasel. The Earth Deity who brought them over pulled out a paper boat. The paper boat quickly grew larger, and not a moment later, it turned into a huge boat which dozen people could sit on.
“Get on the boat.” The Earth Deity said to the animals and vegetables present. “The Advent Cloud Hall is past this water domain. As long as you reach the other end, your first entrance trial will be considered pa.s.sed.”
Getting on the boat together? Zhu Yao blanked. Including those two animals? Wouldn’t something occur like this? Those several vegetables evidently became fl.u.s.tered, as they looked at each other.
Hey! That rabbit over there, can you restrain yourself? Can you stop drooling while looking at that carrot?
“Great deity, are we really going to… get on the boat together with them? Are there any other…”
The Earth Deity who guided us, coldly glared at the vegetables. “What’s with all the nonsense? If you don’t want to go on the boat, you can opt out now.”
The vegetables instantly turned silent, and obediently went on the boat. Though, that rabbit’s eyes turned even redder. The only one which was calm was that weasel. He simply narrowed his eyes at the rabbit, before instantly retracting his gaze and raising its sharp mouth up high.
After getting on board the boat, everyone consciously returned to your human forms. Only then did Zhu Yao was able to clearly see the genders of these animals and vegetables. The peapod, garlic, and weasel were three youthful men, while the carrot and cabbage were two little ladies. Unexpectedly, the rabbit was actually a fatty, his stomach was so huge, it could even fit a swimming pool. His eyes were still staring at the carrot little lady, unblinkingly.
The atmosphere was especially tense.
“Let’s get to know each other.” The peapod youth stood up, and said with a friendly expression. “I wonder how I should address everyone?”
With someone breaking the ice, the rest of the people heaved sighs of relief as well. The rabbit gulped down his saliva. “I’m Whitey.”
“Yellowy.” The weasel replied after.
The carrot said. “I’m Carroty.”
Zhu Yao’s expression darkened. Whitey, Yellowy, and Carroty. These names were given a little too sloppily, right? It’s as though the next one would be called Cabby.
“I’m called Cabby.” The cabbage little lady stood up.
“…”
Zhu Yao instantly felt stuffy in her heart. You guys gave yourselves such sloppy names, do your parents know about them?
In an instant, she felt that not only did these spiritual monsters not have high cultivation levels, their intelligence weren’t actually great either. She silently glanced at Dog-Egg at the side. Alright, this person’s name wasn’t really high-end either.
An instant later, the animals and vegetables had all said their names, and it was time for Zhu Yao’s and Goudan’s turns.
Goudan proudly slapped his chest, and said out loud. “I’m Li Goudan.”
The moment his voice fell, Zhu Yao instantly sensed that the gazes of all the spiritual monsters had concentrated on Goudan. This idiot, no matter how poor your name is, you shouldn’t just give up on yourself. Look, as expected, you’re being scorned now.
“Such a good name!”
Eh?
In an instant, all of the vegetables and animals came gathering towards him, and looked at Goudan with worshiping gazes.
“Your name is actually made of three Chinese characters![1]”
“That’s right, just like those great deities. Brother Li, how did you come up with this name?”
“You even have a surname. Your cultivation level must be really high, right?”
Zhu Yao: “…” There’s something wrong with this scene, right?
“Heheh, it’s just so-so!” Goudan scratched his head a little embarra.s.singly. “I received my name from boss.” He stretched out his finger, and pointed at Zhu Yao who had long been squeezed out of the crowd.
In an instant, all of their lines of sight turned towards Zhu Yao one after another.
Zhu Yao revealed the name she just came up with. “Uh… I’m called Zhu Po.”
In a mere instant, the crowd’s sparkling eyes which were filled with expectations, were extinguished after a single sizzle.
“What, isn’t it just two Chinese characters as well!”
“And here I thought that her name would be much better.”
“That’s right. It should have four Chinese characters, right?”
How could the quality of names be determined by how many characters they had? Where did all of you learn your aesthetic standards from?
“Ah. I really wish to have such a beautiful name like Li Goudan!” The rabbit spirit said with an intoxicated look.
The crowd of vegetables and animals chimed in unison, as they continued to look at student Dog-Egg with worshiping gazes.
Zhu Yao: “…”
Just how was this name beautiful?
Letting out a sigh, she decided to not care about these spiritual monsters which had irregular aesthetic sense. Zhu Yao turned around, and asked the Earth Deity who guided them and was standing at the sh.o.r.e. “Great deity, may I ask when can we depart?”
The guiding Earth Deity turned and glanced at her. As though he had seen through her Profound Deity cultivation, he did not belittle her like the rest of the spiritual monsters. “Fellow deity, there’s no need to rush. Your group is still missing one person. After everyone has arrived, we can depart.”
Missing one person? Just as she was clarify, she suddenly heard resounding boing sounds not far away from them. Even the earth itself was trembling.
“He’s here.” The Earth Deity said.
Not far away, a circular pillar-shaped object was currently running over one leap at a time. With every leap, large amount of dirt would be lifted into the air. After a closer look, that was actually a pure-white mushroom.
“Mushmush!” Zhu Yao could not help but shout out.
The mushroom blanked. Raising his mushroom cap, he looked towards the boat. After sizing her up for a moment, the mushroom cap tilted, and he called out. “Guo’er?”
Uh…
What’s with this feeling of having a reunion after sixteen years?[2]
As though he had confirmed her ident.i.ty, the mushroom took a forceful breath, and leapt onto the boat.
Boom…
The floor of the boat was penetrated with a smash.
Everyone: …
“Guo’er? Guo’er, is it you? I had such a hard time finding you!” The mushroom nudged himself, and then, came pouncing towards her, as though he was so excited, he could only express it with a hug.
With speedy hand-eye coordination, Zhu Yao instantly stepped away. A hole was already made in the boat, if she was crushed under him, wouldn’t she become a piece of meatloaf? “Mushmush, why are you here?”
“In order to find you!” The mushroom looked at her with teary eyes. “You materialized your human form?” He sized Zhu Yao up in surprise, before satisfyingly nodding his mushroom cap. “Not bad. As expected of the jade spirit which had stayed with me. You have only materialized your human form a little later than me.”
“You can materialize your human form as well?” It had only been a few months since they last saw each other. Not bad.
“Of course.” The mushroom carried a prideful look. “My cultivation has improved by a huge amount. That’s right, where did you go? I searched the entire forest, yet, I was still unable to find you.”
“This… It’s a long story.”
“What’s with the two of you?” Just as Zhu Yao was about to explain, she was interrupted by the Earth Deity by the sh.o.r.e, whose expression had darkened. “By destroying the boat, do you guys not want to go to Advent Cloud Hall?”
Only then did Zhu Yao realize that this wasn’t the time to reminisce. After giving the mushroom a ‘we will talk about it later’ look, she turned around and apologized to that Earth Deity. “Great deity, please forgive us. Me and my friend were simply too excited over our grand reunion.”
“Even if you’re excited, you can’t just destroy the boat!” The Earth Deity still carried a fuming expression.
“I will fix the boat now.” Zhu Yao cast a restoration art, speedily restoring the smashed hole which Mushmush made. Not even a single scar could be seen from the damaged spot after the restoration.
Only then did the person’s expression look a little better, though he still moved his lips a little. Or was he not speaking up in consideration of Zhu Yao’s Profound Deity cultivation?
He loudly shouted. “You people can depart now.”
The boat then automatically slid into the waters, travelling towards the boundless ocean.
The mushroom then came leaping towards her. Because of his huge figure, every single one of his bounce would cause the boat to tremble thrice. After bouncing for two to three times, he had successfully pulled in all of the hatred from the entire boat full of animals and vegetables.
“Jade spirit, let me tell you…” Yet, he was still unconscious of his surroundings, as his entire mushroom figure was filled with the excitement of being able to see her again.
“… Why don’t you first return to your human form.” You have improved your cultivation, but don’t give up on your intelligence, hey. Can’t you see that rabbit is no longer looking at the carrot, but is now looking at you with drool on his lips?
The mushroom blanked, revealing a look of extreme unwillingness. After hesitating for a moment, he said. “Alright then, I shall allow you to witness the heroism and might of my human form.”
“…”
The mushroom closed his eyes, and circulated the divine energy in his body. A white glow emitted from his body, enveloping the entire mushroom within it. His gigantic figure began to shrink as well, and gradually, he materialized a human-like figure. After a moment, the white glow slowly receded.
And the face that was revealed…
Zhu Yao simply felt a tremble in her heart, as she fiercely widened her eyes.
This is impossible!
[1]The Chinese names of the vegetables and animals only have two characters at most. Ex: Yellowy (黄黄-Huanghuang), etc.
[2]In Legend of the Condor Heroes, Guo’er and his aunt were separated for sixteen years at one point.