“Also,” Lu Qiancha mysteriously tiptoed closer to Shangguan Yunzhu, her blue eyes shimmering with the light of uncovered secrets, “I also saw… this so-called Taoyuan Village is actually a fragment of a Secret Realm attached to the Main World!”
Shangguan Yunzhu nodded gently, not particularly surprised: “I’ve lived here for months and indeed sensed that the laws of this land are somewhat different.”
“So, that monster bug just now—could it really be the Mountain God here?”
There was confusion in Shangguan Yunzhu’s voice.
“If it were a false god, how could it bear the Mountain God’s Command? But if it’s a true god, why would it poison living beings and create a hell? Why would Netherworld sit idly by?!”
Lu Qiancha shook her head, lightly pressing her fingertip to her forehead as she guided the information drawn from the Mountain God’s token:
“It’s not the Mountain God. It’s merely a greedy borermoth that attached itself to the divine body, eventually hollowing it out and replacing it.”
“Borermoth?”
“Exactly.”
Lu Qiancha’s gaze seemed pulled by invisible threads, piercing through the distance to fix on the edge of the mountaintop cliff—
the remains of a massive peach tree, nearly withered to death. “Do you know… Taoboring?”
“What’s that?”
“A… pitiful pest doomed to bind its fate to the peach tree.”
Lu Qiancha’s voice carried a calm storytelling tone:
“From the moment the larva hatches until it transforms into a butterfly, mates, lays eggs, and dies… its entire life is never satisfied, its only instinct and fate—to bore through the peach tree’s branches, trunk, flowers, and fruit until its host withers completely.”
“So that giant bug… is it the Taoboring that cultivated into a spirit?”
Shangguan Yunzhu suddenly understood.
“No,” Lu Qiancha withdrew her gaze and slowly concluded, “it’s a Taoboring… but it’s not a Taoboring that has cultivated into a spirit.”
“What do you mean?”
Shangguan Yunzhu was growing more confused. If the bug wasn’t a Taoboring spirit, what else could it be? Could it be some other mutated insect?
Lu Qiancha didn’t explain further but bent down to pick up a Storage Ring lying by the Burnt Land’s edge. She lightly probed it with spiritual power, and with a soft “click,” the seal broke.
Immediately, a dim-colored, ancient bamboo slip appeared in her claws.
Lu Qiancha gently handed this secret bamboo slip, which spanned the bounds of time, to Shangguan Yunzhu: “The truth is all in here.”
***
Filled with doubts, Shangguan Yunzhu cautiously unfolded the bamboo slip. On the antiquated, slightly yellowed bamboo pieces, elegant ink strokes recorded a past story:
“When I was young, my family was poor, lacking grain to fill our bellies. I often wandered through bamboo forests, catching mice and digging bamboo shoots to eat.
“One day, I suddenly encountered a mountain bear, fled in terror, and mistakenly entered the depths of the bamboo forest. I became lost, bewildered and unable to find my way back.
“Fortunate indeed! It was the time when bamboo flowers bloomed and bamboo rice scattered everywhere, allowing me to survive by these means.
“Though troubled for several days, the way out remained obscure until I saw ahead a massive cliff wall that blocked the sky—majestic like the gate of heaven, towering into the clouds.”
“On the wall was an opening. I was frightened but curious, so I forced my way in. The interior was dark; after walking over a hundred steps, I suddenly beheld a peach valley stretching thousands of acres, crowned with emerald green.”
“One tree stood out atop the peak, about a hundred zhang tall, its blossoms brilliant and stretching for miles, its leaves like jade, gentle and wispy with mist.”
“Seeing this, I plucked a peach and ate it; its flesh contained the essence of the sun, one fruit satiating three days of hunger.”
“Overjoyed, I built a hut beneath the Divine Tree. One day, I saw a Black Phoenix carving wood and drinking sap. Moved, I licked its wounds and tasted the sap’s nectar—sweet, clear, and refreshing, like cleansing dust and forgetting worries.”
“From then on, greed grew. Day by day, I gouged its bark with blades, stealing its divine sap to drink. Gradually, my greed grew fiercer, and the sap could no longer satisfy my desires.”
“Eventually, I foolishly chopped at the Divine Root with an axe and found something hidden in the heart of the tree. It was round like a Dragon Pearl, fragrant like Nine Heavens Nectar. My heart aflame with demonic desires, I brazenly grabbed it and swallowed it.”
“Over the next ten months, my belly swelled, and I lost appetite and thirst. Secretly, I rejoiced: Could it be that I had achieved the path to immortality?”
“At the end of this bamboo slip, chaotic as if scrawled by a madman’s brush, dark ink carved heavily a sentence: ‘Pain! Regret! Truly a heavenly demon toxin entered my belly!”
“Now my viscera burn like heavenly fire, no food tastes good, no drink moistens—forever trapped in the Hell of Hunger and Thirst!!!’”
The bamboo slip did not record this person’s fate.
But Shangguan Yunzhu’s gaze involuntarily and heavily shifted to the scorched, charred stain left after the giant bug’s incineration and dissolution…
The answer was clear.
Greed, like fire, burned the Divine Tree and eventually consumed itself. A man turned demon bug, wreaking havoc upon the world!
“Greed without contentment… ultimately brings disaster.”
Shangguan Yunzhu sighed deeply and gently returned the bamboo slip—laden with endless greed—to Lu Qiancha’s claws.
Lu Qiancha nodded in agreement, then prepared to slip away with her little legs: “Work’s done! I’m heading straight back to the sect. Yunzhu Junior Sister, want to come along?”
“Hey, Little Qiancha, call me Sister Yunzhu.”
With the crisis averted, Shangguan Yunzhu resumed her previously relaxed demeanor, quickly catching up. Her amber eyes curved sweetly like crescent moons.
“Don’t run off!”
Lu Qiancha didn’t stop her footsteps, rolling her eyes slightly and forming a seal with her claws—a soft White Cloud suddenly condensed beneath her feet.
She lightly leapt, the small blue figure riding the cloud, flying off toward the remembered Secret Exit without looking back.
“Hey hey hey?! Little Qiancha, don’t run away—!”
Shangguan Yunzhu panicked slightly and shouted after her, “Wait for me! I haven’t even packed my things yet!”
As she spoke, her Spirit Sword hummed beneath her feet, instantly transforming into a streak of Red Streamer, chasing at full speed.
Eventually, Lu Qiancha slowed her cloud.
***
A moment later, the two landed before the familiar Small Wooden House at the edge of the Secret Realm.
Shangguan Yunzhu hurriedly stuffed her belongings in with unprecedented speed.
Then, a White Cloud and a Red Sword, like birds returning home, quietly swept through Taoyuan, heading toward the single exit.
Along the way, mist flowed.
Unable to contain her curiosity, Shangguan Yunzhu guided her sword closer, gazing at the small figure standing on the cloud, sleeves fluttering in the wind:
“Little Qiancha, now that you’re the Mountain God, have you… unlocked some divine ability to move mountains, fill seas, call wind, and summon rain?”
“I’m the Mountain God… not the Dragon King. I don’t have the power to fill seas, make land, or control the weather.”
Lu Qiancha turned reluctantly, throwing a giant eye-roll, then shrugged her tiny shoulders and spoke with a half-joking tone:
“All I know is that this Mountain God title lets me control the Secret Realm’s entrances and exits.”
“And then?”
Yunzhu pressed.
“That’s it!”
Lu Qiancha spread her claws, face full of righteous confidence:
“No Faith Incense, no Believers, not a single incense burner or kowtowing worshipper. You really expect me to turn stones into gold or call thunder and rain?”
Shangguan Yunzhu nodded, then switched instantly to a solemn look of disappointment, delivering a precise jab: “Tsk, Little Qiancha, your Mountain God position… sounds pretty useless, doesn’t it?”
Lu Qiancha almost toppled off her cloud from being stung, her deep blue eyes glaring at this ice-cold junior sister who always poked the sore spot.
Did it really have to be said so bluntly?!
But Lu Qiancha was in a good mood and didn’t want to argue.
She then placed her little claw on her waist, chin raised slightly, trying to strike a dignified pose and half-jokingly said, “Hmph! No more ‘Little Qiancha.’ From now on, you must call me—Mountain God Great Lord!”
“Yes, yes~”
Shangguan Yunzhu couldn’t help but smile, immediately forming a formal salute on her sword midair, even bowing respectfully.
Her voice became sweet and soft: “Disciple of the Tianyuan Sect, Shangguan Yunzhu, respectfully obeying Mountain God Great Lord’s decree! I salute the Mountain God Great Lord~~!”
“Hmph hmph, that’s better.”
Lu Qiancha beamed at her “obedient” posture, her little tail proudly raised as she continued riding the cloud, fully satisfied.
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