The Little Peacock Raises a Snake (GL) Chapter 12

Since Qu Linyan was taking away Fu Zhuochen’s younger sister, a note was always needed to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.
Qu Linyan turned and walked into the study she had made a complete mess of. She bent down, picked up a sheet of paper from the floor, ground ink, lifted the brush, and wrote one sentence with extreme carelessness.
Your family’s pheasant is very cute. I am taking her out to play for a few days. I promise not to eat her.
Fu Xiaoba gently tugged Qu Linyan’s sleeve. “What did you write?”
“Nothing.” Qu Linyan set down the brush and pressed a paperweight onto the sheet. “I only said that although our acquaintance is shallow, our fate is deep, and we hit it off at once, so I want to take you out to play.”
“Our acquaintance is shallow, our fate is deep… and we hit it off at once?” Hearing this, Fu Xiaoba lowered her brows and smiled faintly, unable to hide the secret joy in her heart.
So this little black snake did have some conscience. On the surface, she was cold, but in truth, she did have some feelings for Fu Xiaoba!
Fu Xiaoba only knew a little about what the world outside was like from things Fu Zhuochen and Qu Linyan had mentioned while chatting after meals.
But aside from urging her to cultivate, Fu Zhuochen rarely wasted words with her. Only when she thickened her face and clung to him would he sometimes tell her stories.
Fu Xiaoba did not know whether Fu Zhuochen had been deliberately brushing her off or whether he had truly stayed home in Wuyou Valley too long and was unfamiliar with the human world. In any case, in four hundred years, the stories he told her were always the same few repeated back and forth, with no freshness at all.
Later, she muddleheadedly picked up Qu Linyan. At first, she thought Qu Linyan was only a little snake demon without much experience, so whenever she had nothing to do, she told Qu Linyan all those boring stories. Who knew that little black snake would transform into a great black flood dragon? One day, after remembering the old stories she had been forced to hear, Qu Linyan laughed at Fu Xiaoba’s lack of experience while telling her many new stories.
Now that Fu Xiaoba had heard so many stories about the outside world, she could finally leave Wuyou Valley and see that world with her own eyes.
Qu Linyan reminded her again and again that the three realms had their own unspoken rules. Human matters were settled by humans. Demons and devils could not easily use any spells in front of people.
Many human cultivators held deep prejudice against demons and devils. If a demon used magic to disturb the order of the human world, even to punish evil and remove wickedness, it could still draw some extreme defenders of balance and cause needless trouble.
“For example?” Fu Xiaoba, who was listening seriously, raised her hand to ask.
Qu Linyan glanced at her. “For example, Fahai.”
“Oh!” Fu Xiaoba understood at once.
Was that not the old monk in the white snake legend who did not understand love? She knew this story well!
When Qu Linyan had still been a little black snake, the story Fu Xiaoba told her most often was this one. Put simply, there were many old stubborn people in the world who did not ask right from wrong. One could not give them an excuse or a chance to make trouble out of nothing.
“Do not worry. I will not cause trouble for you.” Fu Xiaoba answered very readily. “Only…”
“Only what?”
“I am so tired, Little Black…” Fu Xiaoba pointed at the stream ahead and blinked at Qu Linyan. “Let us rest first.”
Qu Linyan was speechless for a moment.
How had she forgotten? Fu Xiaoba’s cultivation was low. A demon who had only just managed to change into human form had many spells she could not use well, let alone flying on spiritual energy.
They had only left the bamboo courtyard a short distance. They had not even stepped out of the valley yet, and this girl was already tired.
Qu Linyan felt very guilty now.
Fu Xiaoba had grown up in Wuyou Valley. She knew very little about things outside the valley and did not understand what kind of person her brother was in the demon realm. But Qu Linyan had heard of him long ago.
For weak demons, no matter how hard they cultivated, there was still a limit.
The peacock clan could not be counted as especially powerful, but Fu Zhuochen had been born with a mutation and rare talent. Across the three realms, he was one in ten thousand.
At one hundred, he took human form. At one thousand, he became famous in the demon realm. Later, for some unknown reason, he gained the appreciation of the immortal realm’s Divine Lord Zhiming. Not only could the bird clan not order him around, even the lord of the demon realm had to respect him.
Provoking such a person was never a good thing.
Now Qu Linyan had abducted a foolish peacock from Fu Zhuochen’s home. Not only that, before leaving, she had lost her temper a little and casually torn down his house.
If she was caught, it would definitely be a huge problem.
Right now, Qu Linyan only wanted to take Fu Xiaoba and slip away quickly, as far from Wuyou Valley as possible.
After thinking for a moment, she patted Fu Xiaoba on the shoulder.
Before Fu Xiaoba could react, she discovered that the spiritual power throughout her body, which maintained her human shape, had been slapped back into her belly by that one palm. Qu Linyan, who had only been one head taller than her, suddenly became incomparably tall.
So tall, it was as if Fu Xiaoba had changed back into her old peacock form.
No… why was Qu Linyan picking her up?
Fu Xiaoba lowered her head and looked at her body. Fine. It was not “as if.” She really had changed back.
Actually, being carried by someone on the road was rather comfortable. It saved even the effort of moving her feet.
Thinking this, Fu Xiaoba carefully shifted into a comfortable position and happily buried her little head in Qu Linyan’s chest.
What kind of little lecher had she abducted? How could this peacock be given one ray of sunshine and shine this brightly?
Qu Linyan was just about to flare up when she lowered her head and saw Fu Xiaoba lazily yawn, hum comfortably twice, and close her eyes to sleep.
Qu Linyan: “…”
Could it be that Fu Xiaoba had not meant to act like a hooligan, and had only treated her… treated that place… as a soft pillow?
Fine, fine!
She would not argue with an ignorant little demon!
*
For a demon of Qu Linyan’s cultivation, traveling from Wuyou Valley to Wuzhou City took only one day.
After waking in Qu Linyan’s arms, Fu Xiaoba was incredibly excited.
She knew every inch of stone, grass, and wood in Wuyou Valley. To her, for five hundred years from childhood to now, no matter how the four seasons changed, year after year, the flowers still looked the same, and the people were still the same. It was terribly boring.
If the dream realm did not count, this was her first time seeing different scenery.
It was not as lovely as the underwater cavern in the dream, nor did it have Wuyou Valley’s clear mountains and water. But every blade of grass and every tree felt especially fresh.
Not to mention, when they arrived at Wuzhou City, people came and went everywhere. It was wonderfully lively.
Fu Xiaoba looked left and right in Qu Linyan’s arms, happy as a child who had been given candy.
“So many people! Little Black, look! There are so many people ahead!”
Qu Linyan pursed her lips and did not want to speak.
“Little Black! That courtyard gate is so huge! I cannot see the end of the courtyard…”
Qu Linyan glanced at the city wall and did not want to speak.
“Little Black, look over there! Is that person painting? Why is he not painting on paper? It can even stand up. So amazing!”
Qu Linyan lightly sighed and still did not want to speak.
Luckily, people came and went in the city, and the noise was loud. No one noticed that this voice came from the mouth of a “pheasant.”
But just then, a handsome young gentleman passed beside Qu Linyan. As the two brushed shoulders, Fu Xiaoba remembered the original reason she had come here for tribulation and stretched out a small wing to pat him.
That man froze. He turned and looked blankly at the black-robed woman holding a chicken beside him, as if trying to guess why she had patted him.
Qu Linyan said nothing. She only took a deep breath, turned her back to that man, and left coldly without looking back.
So angry. Truly so angry!
This wretched girl had not even taken human form and was already flirting with men. Once she changed into human form, would she directly change species too, stop being a peacock spirit, and become a fox spirit instead?
“My name is Fu Xiaoba!” Fu Xiaoba struggled to poke out her little head and greeted the person behind them, using the same tone she used with insects and birds in the mountains.
How could that man know the silver-bell-like voice came from the pheasant in the beauty’s arms? He thought this woman had a bold nature and had fallen for him at first sight, announcing her name in the street. His heart instantly bloomed, and he remembered the name.
Only…
The name Fu Xiaoba… did not match that beauty’s cold manner at all.
Qu Linyan’s brows drew tight. She could not help poking Fu Xiaoba’s pointed beak several times with one finger and sent her voice secretly. “Can you be quiet? In human eyes, pheasants cannot talk! Are you afraid people will not know you are a demon?”
“I am a pea… wa… wah?” Before Fu Xiaoba finished speaking, she suddenly lost human words. “Uh-ah… ah-ow…”
Someone nearby was drawn by the cries.
“Miss, that green-necked pheasant has quite a strange call.”
“Yes, yes. It sounds a little like a cat.”
“Where did you catch this pheasant?”
What pheasant? What pheasant? She was a peacock, a peacock!
Fu Xiaoba felt so wronged that she cried out again and again. The more she cried, the more excited the people nearby became.
Qu Linyan smiled without speaking. She only carried Fu Xiaoba to a roadside candy-figurine stall, took out a few copper coins, and asked for two candy figures made in Fu Xiaoba’s likeness.
Eh, was this not the uncle who was painting just now?
Was Little Black buying her a portrait?
Fu Xiaoba suddenly quieted down. Tilting her head, she watched the uncle make the candy figure. The more it looked like her, the happier she became.
After the candy figure was finished and handed to Qu Linyan, Fu Xiaoba stared with large expectant eyes. But before her eyes, Qu Linyan bit off the silly feather tuft on the picture of “her” head.
Fu Xiaoba let out a wounded little whimper.
The little peacock felt so wronged that she made a sound like an injured kitten. With pitiful eyes, she watched Qu Linyan finish eating that “her,” and she fell silent along with it.
She had reason to suspect Qu Linyan was threatening her.
She could almost hear Qu Linyan laughing wickedly and saying to her, Little pheasant, cry then. Keep crying! If you do not listen, I can eat you at any time!
Fu Xiaoba’s eyes could not help growing wet. She started trembling uncontrollably in Qu Linyan’s arms.