On the main seat, the crow was preening its feathers. There was no lamp lit in the room, but its wings shimmered with a faint emerald glow, as if it were a divine crow from an ancient immortal painting.
It glanced at Jiu Hui kneeling on the ground, cawed once, and all the doors and windows in the house were tightly shut, a soundproof barrier was deployed, and in the corner Bai Qi and the Linchi bird huddled together trembling.
“Uncle Wu! Uncle Wu!” Seeing that Uncle Wu had even set up a soundproof barrier, Jiu Hui realized that something was wrong. She quickly got up and ran to the crow, kneeling down with a louder thud, “Little Jiu really knows her mistake. Please forgive me just this once.”
In the entire village, she feared Uncle Wu the most. Because when other elders said they would beat her, they were probably just trying to scare her, but Uncle Wu was different. He would really beat her.
When she was a child, Uncle Wu chased her for five miles because she wasn’t serious about studying and writing, and he caught her and beat her until she cried.
“Did you really make a mistake?” The black crow jumped onto a chair, his tone somewhat cold and hard. “Tell me what mistake you made?”
Her knees were a bit sore, so Jiu Hui secretly sat back a little. The black crow’s wings moved, and she quickly knelt up straight. “I, I shouldn’t have lingered outside after seeing you and not returned to the sect.”
“Hmm, what else?” The black crow closed its eyes, seemingly taking a nap.
“I shouldn’t have taken the risk… going to kill Chi Quan alone.” Jiu Hui’s voice softened.
The black crow opened his eyes, his gaze filled with anger. “You also know that was risky?!”
“I had no other choice…” Jiu Hui crawled forward two steps, squeezing out a flattering smile as she approached the black crow. “Chi Quan’s third moon worship is just around the corner. If I don’t find a way to stop it, it will devour thousands of living beings and ascend to become a yao immortal.”
The black crow raised its wings, intending to give her a good beating, but seeing her pitiful appearance, it coldly put its wings down. “Since you knew that Chi Quan was already fifteen thousand years old, why didn’t you send us a message?”
The child was always underfoot, which was annoying, but after not seeing her for a while, he missed her a little, and even had a little more patience.
“I thought about sending you a message, but I went back and forth through the Jiutian Sect several times, and I didn’t miss a single nook and cranny, but I couldn’t find any loopholes in their protective formation.” Jiu Hui explained obediently, “As soon as a yao enters the gates of the Jiutian Sect, the protective formation will immediately detect it. I don’t want to put you in danger.”
“Continue your excuses, I’m listening.” The black crow glanced at her.
“How can you call them excuses? I’m just stating the facts.” Jiu Hui twisted her waist and looked at the black crow pitifully. “Uncle Wu, my knees hurt. Can you let me get up and talk?”
“Do your legs hurt?” Black Crow snorted coldly. “If your legs were broken, you wouldn’t be in pain.”
Jiu Hui clasped her hands together and blinked her big eyes. “Uncle Wu, I really had no choice but to go and kill Chi Quan by myself. What’s more, with all the protective magic weapons you prepared for me, there’s no way I would have lost my life.”
Bai Qi and Linchi in the corner trembled even more violently. It turned out that Chi Quan, who was over ten thousand years old, had died at the hands of the little yao girl. The two of them were able to live until now, all because the little yao girl was beautiful and kind-hearted!
“Your life was not in danger, but with your cultivation level, it’s impossible for you to come out unscathed.” The black crow stretched out its wings and probed her forehead, slightly surprised. “You’re not injured, and your cultivation has even improved.”
Jiu Hui nodded vigorously. “I’m perfectly fine. Are you reassured now, Uncle Wu?”
“Alright, you don’t have to kneel to speak.” The black crow’s heart softened after all. It used its spiritual energy to check all of Jiu Hui’s meridians. “Your meridians have traces of Moon Essence. This item is extremely rare. Where did you get it?”
“My little junior brother gave it to me.” Hearing that she didn’t have to kneel anymore, Jiu Hui quickly sat down on the ground with her legs crossed, and stretched her head out to the black crow, rubbing her face against its wings. “Uncle Wu, I’ve missed you all so much.”
“I’m afraid you’re thinking of your Village Chief Grandpa, Grandpa Long, Grandpa Liu, Auntie Jiao, Grandpa Bu…” Black Crow snorted and read out a long list of names, but he didn’t mention himself. “How could you think of me?”
“I miss the village and all the elders in the village.” Jiu Hui took out a pile of things from her storage ring in a very flattering manner. “These are the gifts I specially bought for you. Qiyue City is a very famous city in the human world. Not only does it have a lot of delicious food, but it also has a lot of fun things to do.”
From the mountain of gifts, she dug out a large gift box: “This is your share.”
The black crow glanced at the gift box several times, then looked away with feigned indifference. “Just leave it there.”
“Alright.” Jiu Hui rubbed her fluffy head against the black crow, causing it to stumble and almost lose its aloof and mysterious demeanor.
He flapped his wings, put away his own gift, and then swept the pile on the ground into his wings: “Your little junior brother is not an ordinary person.”
“I don’t think I’m an ordinary person either, so it’s okay.” Jiu Hui explained for Zhi You, “Besides, he’s silly and honest, and he’s very generous to me. He must not have any evil intentions.”
The black crow never worried about Jiu Hui’s ability to recognize people and things. As an elder, he could teach her how to distinguish between good and bad, but he could not restrict her freedom of choice in the name of care. Seeing that she had her own ideas, the black crow did not talk about it anymore, but instead talked about the Jiutian Sect’s protective sect formation: “Have you explored the Jiutian Sect’s protective sect formation?”
Jiu Hui nodded. “The Jiutian Sect’s protective grand formation connects the entire underground mountain range. The divine beast diagrams in the main hall, the protective formations formed by the front and back halls, including the sect’s plaque, are just superficial illusions. The real formidable formation is the protective sect formation that their founding ancestor set up in the mountain range.”
“You went to pry off the formation gems on the Jiutian Sect’s plaque and sent them back to the village, also to remind us not to rashly enter the Jiutian Sect’s gate?”
“That’s not it.” Jiu Hui shook her head honestly. “I saw that the gem was pretty and thought Grandpa Long might like it, so I pried it off.”
“I had forgotten that you and your grandpa have always been close.” Black Crow laughed sarcastically.
“We have deep feelings for each other.” Jiu Hui quickly spoke up. “Am I not your good, obedient baby anymore, Uncle Wu?”
“What a good baby, not disgusting at all.” Black Crow said with ill humor, “When have you ever been well-behaved since you were little?”
Despite his words of disdain, when Jiu Hui’s head drew near, he gently stroked her head with his crow’s wing.
“I’ve always been very well-behaved.” From a young age, Jiu Hui felt that within a hundred miles, there was no little yao more sensible and clever than her.
“When you were three, you insisted on having an iron-eating beast* cub as your pet. When it refused, you clung to its leg and refused to leave. At four, you stole honey from the mountain bee clan and were chased all over the mountains. In the end, you were stung all over your head and cried that you had turned into a pig yao. At five, you fought a tiger yao in a mud pit for a chicken leg and lost the new shoes that Jiao’er had made for you. At six, you got lost in a human city and ate the fruit from someone’s yard. You left two gold ingots behind, which scared the people so much that they couldn’t sleep for three days and three nights…”
TN: they’re pandas!
“Uncle Wu, Uncle Wu, stop talking. There are other yaos here.” Jiu Hui reached out to pinch the black crow’s beak. “Save me some face.”
Bai Qi and Linchi covered their ears and shook their heads vigorously, indicating that they had heard nothing. Bai Qi, in particular, not only covered his ears, but also covered his face. He did not dare to let Lord Black Crow know that he was the tiger yao who had fought with the little yao girl in the mud pit.
“How dare you say you’re well-behaved?” Ever since they adopted Jiu Hui, the entire village, young and old, realized how difficult it was to raise a child.
“Those were all minor mistakes I made when I was young and didn’t know any better. I’ve changed now.” Jiu Hui blushed and glanced at Bai Qi and Linchi before whispering, “I’m the hope of the entire village now.”
“Was the village’s debt book taken by you, the village’s hope?” asked the black crow.
“I originally wanted to help you collect the debts, but I didn’t expect that most of the people who owed you debts were gone.” Jiu Hui muttered, “It’s easy to lend but hard to get back. I’ll definitely not lend things to others in the future.”
“Really?” The black crow suddenly became serious. “I’ve been to the Zhentian Cauldron outside of the Jiutian Sect.”
It turned its head to look at Bai Qi and Linchi in the corner, and used its wings to fan them out of the room.
Bai Qi and Linchi were thrown out of the window. They dizzily raised their heads, but the window had already been shut. They got up from the ground, shook the fur on their bodies, and each found a corner to squat in.
“Immortal, Immortal Zhi You?” Bai Qi had just laid down when a large hand lifted him up.
“You’re crushing the spiritual plant I planted.” Zhi You moved Bai Qi to the side, and only then did Bai Qi notice that he had accidentally crushed a spiritual herb near the fence.
It quickly tucked its tail and apologized, then scurried up the peach tree in the courtyard.
Under the moonlight, Zhi You stood outside the fence, looking at the window of Jiu Hui’s room. He bent down to straighten the spiritual plant that had been bent by Bai Qi, then turned and went back to his room.
When Jiu Hui heard the black crow mention the Zhentian Cauldron, she immediately became honest. She secretly glanced at Black Crow’s eyes, not daring to speak.
“Five hundred years ago, the Gan tree died due to the calamity, and you should have been born as the new generation of the Immortal Tree. However, something unexpected happened. Not only were you born four hundred years late, but you also violated the will of heaven and turned from an Immortal Tree into an Immortal Herb.” The black crow sighed.
“The Immortal Tree is one of the three divine trees in the world, and its status is extraordinary. If you don’t take the soul and bones of the previous generation of the Gan tree from the Immortal Cauldron, you will never be able to become a true Immortal Tree.”
“Of the three divine trees of ancient times, the Jian tree is dead, and the Fusang fell with the sun god bird. The flesh and blood of the last generation of the Gan tree was used as a medicinal primer, and its soul and bones were used to make the Immortal Cauldrons.” The black crow looked at Jiu Hui. “Old wood does not rot, and new wood does not grow. Are you really willing to give up?”
“But I don’t think it makes any difference to be an Immortal Tree that is revered by ten thousand yaos. There’s nothing wrong with being a garlic chive.” Jiu Hui rested her head on the black crow’s wing, relying on its warmth.
“Aunt Jiao would hold me in her arms to appreciate the flowers and the moon. You would hold my hand and teach me to write, stroke by stroke. Grandpa, the village chief, would lead me back to the village with my head covered in bandages, saying that even if I were a little pig, I was the cutest little pig in the world. Grandpa Long would take me to the sea to see how ugly the ugliest fish was. Grandpa Bu would tirelessly teach me divination, even though I never got it right…”
“I just want to be the garlic chive you picked up from the ground. I’m useless, rebellious, mediocre, and spineless.” Jiu Hui hugged the black crow in her arms. “But I love my grandparents, uncles, and aunts so much. I don’t want to be a lofty divine tree.”
The black crow was stiffly held by Jiu Hui. It was silent for a long time before saying, “We never looked down on you.”
“I know,” Jiu Hui rubbed against the black crow’s feathers, “You must like me very much too.”
The black crow remained motionless.carpreads.pages.dev
She was not a three or four-year-old child, so why was she still acting spoiled?
“The Immortal Cauldrons have long since become one with the mountains and rivers. I can sense that Mu Qi willingly became a part of the Immortal Cauldrons, sacrificing her soul to defy the heavens and change fate for all living beings,” Jiu Hui said. “If the Gan tree’s spirit bone is removed from the Immortal Cauldrons, the earth will shake, floods will rage, and plagues will return. Even if I could truly become the new Immortal Tree, fate would not allow a second Gan tree to defy the heavens for the world.”
The final result might be that she would ascend to immortality as a divine tree, while all living beings in the world would die under natural disasters.
Fate wanted her to become the new Immortal Tree, and it also wanted to destroy the entire world.
“The world has its flaws, but it also has its merits.” Jiu Hui spoke with righteous indignation. “I’m just an eighteen-year-old girl. I can’t make decisions that will affect the world.”
“I understand.” The black crow jumped out of Jiu Hui’s arms. “If you don’t want to be a Gan tree, then don’t be one.”
“The Immortal Tree and the Immortal Herb only differ by one word, so they’re not that different.” Seeing that her elder wasn’t blaming her, Jiu Hui instantly regained her energy. She giggled and leaned in close. “Uncle Wu, it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other. Did you miss me?”
“Take these things. They asked me to give them to you.” The black crow did not answer the question. It threw a large package to Jiu Hui, flapped its wings, and jumped onto the beam. “If you’re not happy outside, come back to the village. We’ve found another spirit mine these past few days, and you can come back and help us mine spirit stones.”
“Which yao clan’s spirit mine did you rob this time?” Jiu Hui asked, tapping her toes and flying onto the beam, sitting next to the black crow.
“The Bear Clan disrespected us, so taking one of their spirit mines is hardly considered stealing.” Black Crow saw that she was sticking to him again and flapped his wings. “If you have something to say, send a message to your elders to deal with it. Only an idiot would try to solve a problem single-handedly.”
“Yes, yes.” Jiu Hui nodded obediently.
“Good.” The black crow looked at her and said after a moment of silence, “I should go now.”
“Uncle Wu.” Jiu Hui tugged at the feathers on its wingtip. “Don’t go. Tell me more about the Bear Clan.”
The black crow knew that she was playing tricks and didn’t want it to leave.
It jumped down from the beam. “You go lie down in the bed, and I’ll tell you slowly.”
“Thank you, Uncle Wu. I knew you liked me the most!” Jiu Hui cast a cleaning spell on herself, obediently lay down in bed, and looked at it expectantly. “I’m all set!”
Looking at her like this, the black crow recalled that more than a decade ago, the three-year-old garlic chive had also been lying obediently in bed, pulling on his sleeve and asking him to tell her stories about the mortal world.
“A few days ago, a yao from the Bear Clan saw your Aunt Jiao alone outside and thought she was weak and easy to bully…”
“He must have been beaten into a laughingstock by Aunt Jiao.”
“After he escaped back, he brought the Elders of his clan to seek revenge.”
“I know, I know, they must have been beaten back by our village again!”
The black crow’s storytelling was straightforward, but because of Jiu Hui’s singing and harmony, he was always able to tell a chaotic and exciting story.
After finishing the account of how they obtained the spirit mine, Jiu Hui fell fast asleep. The black crow stood quietly by the bedside until the sky turned a pale white. Then, it extended its wings, condensed a spiritual energy orb equivalent to 500 years of cultivation, and gently infused it into Jiu Hui’s inner elixir. It also placed a brocade pouch by her pillow.
Its eyes were serious as it retracted its wings. As an elder, it was worried that the child would be bullied by other yaos outside, so it gave her 500 years of cultivation without her noticing, which was not considered spoiling her. As an elder, it was worried that the child would not have enough money to spend, so it gave her some more spirit stones, which was even less considered to be spoiling her.
The black crow jumped out of the window and spread its wings to fly when it saw the door of the house next door open.
It hopped onto the fence and watched Zhi You walk out of the room without making a sound. It still remembered what Little Garlic Chive had said, that this little junior brother had no parents and no one to care for him.
The man and the bird stared at each other. Zhi You lowered his head and tidied up the jade pendant hanging from his waist.
His spiritual energy was pure, his features were righteous, and his body was bathed in an auspicious rosy glow. He was a person of great merit. The golden statue enshrined in the temple seemed dull in comparison.
“Are you… going to eat the fish?” Zhi You brought a plate of dried fish to it.
Snap.
A brocade pouch fell out of the black crow’s wing and landed on the plate that Zhi You was holding.
“Caw.”
This was a meeting gift from an elder to a younger generation.
It glanced at the fish jerky on the plate, it was actually top-quality moonfish?
After packing all the dried fish, it nodded in satisfaction, spread its wings, and flew away from Wangshu Pavilion, disappearing into the depths of the sea of clouds.
Zhi You opened the brocade pouch and saw that it contained spirit stones and a small, adorable defensive magic weapon. The magic weapon looked like a trinket that an elder would give to a child to make them happy.
“Uncle Wu…” Jiu Hui sat up from the bed. The room was silent. She stared blankly for a moment at the sunlight streaming in through the cracks in the window before noticing the brocade pouch by her pillow.
She opened the brocade pouch, which contained nearly a million spirit stones and ten top-grade defensive magic treasures.
She rolled around on the bed with the brocade bag in her arms. Uncle Wu had once again proven to be tough-talking but soft-hearted.
This was Uncle Wu, who would spank her mercilessly when she made mistakes, but would also secretly think of ways to coax her while keeping a straight face.
-—–
The black crow returned to the village and landed, transforming into a middle-aged man dressed in a black robe. Grandpa Bu and Grandpa Long, who were playing chess at the entrance of the village, were so frightened that they dropped the chess pieces in their hands when they saw him return expressionless.
“Old Hei, why are you back so early?” Grandpa Bu was a little afraid of his cold face. “How is Little Garlic Chive? Is she injured?”
“Aren’t you good at divination?” The black crow looked at him expressionlessly.
“When you care too much, you get confused, and even fortune-telling can be inaccurate.” Grandpa Bu shamelessly chuckled. “Tell us quickly.”
“She’s just an eighteen-year-old little yao, yet she dared to kill Chi Quan. It’s all because you old fools spoiled her.” Looking at Grandpa Bu’s grinning face, the black crow felt a fire in his heart. He couldn’t bear to scold the child, but he had no qualms about scolding these old fools. “You’ve lived for over ten thousand years and still haven’t made any progress. I might as well stew you and use you as fertilizer for Little Jiu!”
Grandpa Bu retracted his neck and said, “I’m old, and the soup I make is too bitter. Little Garlic Chive definitely won’t like to drink it.”
“Little Garlic Chive is fine. Her little junior brother is quite capable. He fed her a lot of moon essence.” After scolding Grandpa Bu, the black crow glared at Grandpa Long. “You still have the mind to play chess? Little Jiu Hui’s reckless personality is all your fault!”
He glanced at the chessboard. “Little Jiu’s terrible chess skills are all your fault!”
After scolding the two, the black crow flicked his sleeves and left.
As they passed by the pond on the edge of the village, a frog jumped out of the pond, but was kicked back in by the black crow.
“Stay away from him.” Grandpa Long pulled Grandpa Bu into the grass and crouched down. “I bet if a dog walked past him right now, he’d slap it a few times.”
That night, after everyone had returned, Grandpa Long and Grandpa Bu received news from the black crow—Little Garlic Chive was unwilling to become the new generation of Gan tree.
After hearing the black crow repeat Jiu Hui’s words, Grandpa Long stood up and said with tears in his eyes, “My child, do whatever you want. There’s nothing good about being a Gan tree.”
Aunt Jiao stood up and said, “Summer will be here in two or three months. I’ll go back and make a few more summer clothes for the child.”
The village chief sighed slowly, leaning on his walking stick, “I expected this a long time ago.”
Little Garlic Chive was occasionally mischievous as a child, but she was very likable. She walked through the streets, ran through the alleys, ate noodles from the east family, and tasted chestnut cakes from the west family. When those humans saw her, they always called her Little Jiu’er with a smile.
Having witnessed such beauty and warmth, she naturally could not turn a blind eye to the natural disaster that was taking the lives of all living beings for her own selfish gain.
He still remembered that year when Jiu Hui got lost. When he found her, she was being held in the arms of a woman wearing patched clothes. The woman was walking around asking if anyone had lost a child, while Jiu Hui was holding a fruit bigger than her face and eating it, her face covered in juice. She didn’t want to let go of the fruit even when she saw him.
“That’s good, that’s good.” The village chief raised his aged face, looking at the clear sky where the sun shone brightly.
“Humph.” The black crow snorted coldly. Although his face was unsightly, he did not refute the village chief’s words.
“Don’t put on a brave face.” The village chief chuckled at him. “If you were really unhappy, you wouldn’t have the time to sit here and talk to us. If you’re happy, then laugh. We won’t make fun of you.”
“Who said I was happy?” The black crow said coldly. “You all just spoil her.”
The village chief smiled without saying anything. It was as if everyone in the village had never spoiled the child before.
“I wonder if Little Garlic Chive has enough money to spend. She must have broken a lot of defensive magic weapons this time when she went to kill Chi Quan.” The village chief pretended to mutter, “Alas, how pitiful that the child is running around alone outside.”
“I gave her spirit stones, defensive magic weapons, and delivered everything you asked me to give her.” The black crow knew he was saying this on purpose to him, so he took a deep breath and said, “Village Chief, I just feel sorry for Little Jiu Hui.”
“There are gains and losses. Everything in the world is destined by fate. How do you know this is a loss, not a gain?” The village chief smiled. “I once witnessed the breaking of the Jian tree and the death of the Fusang Tree God. Even the most revered divine objects are but pawns in the hands of fate.”
“Raising a child, well, I don’t expect her to make a name for herself. Being able to live happily is better than anything.” The village chief patted the black crow: “Don’t you agree?”
The black crow was silent for a moment. “Of course I know that. It’s better for the child to live a good life than anything else.”
“We should be happy. The child we raised with our own hands can see the joys, sorrows, and anger of the mortal world and can distinguish between good and evil.” The village chief said softly, “Heaven and fate treat all things as ants and weeds, but even ants can have the ambition of a swan.”
-—–
“Yes! That’s exactly what happened.” Jiu Hui stood under the flower tree, sharing with her Senior Brothers and Sisters how she came to have 300,000 spirit stones: “At that time, the Demon Princess was only a dozen steps away from us, and we almost fought.”
“What happened next?”
“Later, she was released by Daoist Master Yin Ji.” Jiu Hui shook her head. “It was complete chaos.”
“Little Junior Sister.” Luo Yan said earnestly: “You must remember that if a man seduces you with his beauty in the future, then he is definitely not a good guy!”
Zhi You looked up at Luo Yan.