The Little Peacock Raises a Snake (GL) Chapter 18

Fu Xiaoba had been born afraid of getting tired and afraid of pain. During her free time, if she could lie down, she did not want to sit. If she could sit, she did not want to stand. If she could stand still, she naturally did not want to move even half a step.
Thinking carefully, a lifetime of love tribulation only seemed to mean changing from a demon into an immortal. The reason she had looked forward to it before was only because the status of an upper god sounded very high. If she became an upper god, then Fu Zhuochen would probably no longer chase her to cultivate every day, and she could do whatever she wanted.
If a love tribulation was truly as painful as the stories from the human world, then to Fu Xiaoba, Qu Linyan’s promise to protect her for life was a beautiful thing she could only wish for.
She already liked being with Qu Linyan. Now Qu Linyan treated her so well. If she really could return to the flood dragon clan with her, she could avoid the pain of a love tribulation and live peacefully for one lifetime. Of course she was very willing. She had no reason to refuse at all.
Qu Linyan said that since they were going back, there was no need to linger in the human world for too long.
From Wuzhou to the flood dragon clan in the earth realm, even with Qu Linyan’s speed, traveling day and night would still take more than ten days at the fastest. That was not even counting the fact that she had to bring along a little peacock who needed care at any moment.
When Fu Xiaoba heard this, she nodded again and again to show she understood. She immediately began packing her luggage, looking as if she could set out with Qu Linyan that very night.
Qu Linyan did not know whether to laugh or cry. She casually reached out to stop her, then thought for a moment and said, “There is no rush. This is your first time in the human world, so treat it as a kind of cultivation experience. We will go back slowly, walking and looking around along the way. Play more. As long as you are happy.”
“Really?” Fu Xiaoba’s hands paused in the middle of packing, and joy rose in her eyes.
When she saw Qu Linyan nod, she happily clapped her hands. “Then when do we leave? Where are we going?”
Qu Linyan said, “Tomorrow. First to Fenglu, then to Qianyang. Through the Nai River Spiritual Territory, we can enter the earth realm from the underworld.”
Fu Xiaoba nodded with a serious face. She had never heard a single one of the place names Qu Linyan said, but she did not need to think to know that what Qu Linyan said would not be wrong.
*
The next day, Qu Linyan woke early. Fu Xiaoba was sleeping soundly beside her, with one hand and one foot draped over her. Qu Linyan could not help curving her lips and smiling silently.
She carefully moved the restless arms and legs off herself, then got up and washed quietly. She changed into the clothes Fu Xiaoba had chosen for her earlier, brought out a water mirror, and admired herself for a good while. Only then did she draw the water mirror back into her palm and turn toward the door.
At that moment, Fu Xiaoba suddenly kicked the blanket behind her. Hearing the sound, Qu Linyan instinctively turned back. She saw that the girl, wearing only a thin inner robe, had half her body exposed outside the quilt. So Qu Linyan walked back, covered her properly again, and only then left the room with light steps.
Before leaving the inn, she also told the waiter to send breakfast upstairs after half an hour.
During this time in the human world, Qu Linyan had discovered that Fu Xiaoba especially liked sweet things. Ever since she ate candy figures, sweet cakes, and candied fruit, her mouth had not stopped.
Last night, Fu Xiaoba had eaten while cultivating and finished the last small packet of candied fruit.
If they traveled from Wuzhou to Fenglu at Fu Xiaoba’s speed, they would spend quite some time on the road. Without anything to eat, she would probably grow greedy. Qu Linyan had to buy more for her.
Besides that, she should prepare some dry food too.
Qu Linyan’s cultivation was high enough that she would not starve to death even if she did not eat or drink for more than ten days. Fu Xiaoba was different. If she missed one meal, she could howl from hunger. Qu Linyan had to consider her more.
Thinking this, Qu Linyan prepared a great many things all at once.
Not only candied fruit and dry food, but even some seasonings. If Fu Xiaoba did not like eating dry food, Qu Linyan could hunt pheasants or rabbits for her, or catch fish from the water, so she could still eat with some flavor.
Now fully loaded and ready to return, Qu Linyan put everything into her spiritual pouch. In her hand, she only held two sticks of candied hawthorn. A faint smile rested in her narrow eyes.
Suddenly, a cold wind swept by and brushed the joy from her face.
The wind carried a familiar and hateful spiritual aura. In only an instant, it locked onto where she stood.
Qu Linyan frowned. She turned, rounded several corners, and stepped into an empty alley. Gathering spiritual power in one hand, she cut off the spirit-searching spell following her.
That was all? That fire turkey really was too tender.
Qu Linyan was scornful in her heart. Just as she was about to flee, she looked up and saw red light spread across the sky like a barrier, pouring through the empty alley and instantly shining on her until she had nowhere to hide.
Excuse her. She took back what she had just thought.
For a demon to dare cast such a wide-range spirit-searching spell in the human realm was simply treating the common rules of the three realms as if they were nothing.
For hundreds of years, immortals and demons alike had called her, Qu Linyan, arrogant, wild, and lawless. Compared with Fu Zhuochen, who knew which one of them was worse?
Qu Linyan raised the corner of her mouth, turned toward the source of the spiritual power, and looked at that ball of red mist like flame. She smiled coldly. “Impressive. You spread that stench of yours so widely. Are you not afraid of disturbing order in the human world?”
Her gaze at that moment was full of disdain. Unfortunately, she was still holding candied hawthorns, so her air of power instantly lost a good chunk.
In the silence, a person stepped out of the red mist. He wore red robes, his gaze was sharp, and his tone was icy. “Black flood dragon, where is Xiaoba now?”
Qu Linyan asked back, “Who is Xiaoba?”
Fu Zhuochen gathered the surrounding spiritual power into his palm and glared at Qu Linyan. “I advise you not to test my patience. If you dare harm even a hair on her, I will not spare you!”
“Oh?” Qu Linyan raised her brow and smiled. “Then I should advise you not to lightly threaten someone who has nothing to lose. Otherwise, even I do not know what I might do.”
As soon as she finished speaking, several red feathers formed at Fu Zhuochen’s fingertips, and killing intent surged in his eyes.
Qu Linyan deliberately glanced around as if relaxed. “Fu Zhuochen, think clearly. We demons and spirits cannot expose ourselves under human eyes. If this becomes too loud, neither of us will get away.”
“Enough nonsense. I will kill you first, then find her and bring her back!” After Fu Zhuochen said this, he swept his sleeve. Red feathers flew from his fingers and split into thousands in an instant, cutting through the air like bloody rain.
Qu Linyan frowned and flew backward. The two sticks of candied hawthorn in her hand vanished at once. In their place appeared a pair of silver eight-ridged maces wrapped in dark mist. She spun them before her and instantly wove a spiritual net, blocking the rain of blades outside it.
The blocked red feathers flew back to Fu Zhuochen’s hand and became an ordinary-looking feather blade in his palm.
He flew forward. One move had only just landed when the next arrived. His speed was like a ghost. Each move gathered spiritual power inward and focused it in one place. Though every strike was meant to kill, it did not damage even one brick or tile around them. Clearly, he still cared somewhat about that unwritten rule.
Fu Zhuochen pressed forward step by step, while Qu Linyan hesitated and only defended.
If she truly fought this person to the death today, Fu Xiaoba would definitely be heartbroken.
She had to think of a way to escape.
Qu Linyan deliberately moved toward the mouth of the alley, but Fu Zhuochen saw through her and sealed her path in only a few moves.
Just then, a woman holding a baby happened to pass by outside the quiet alley.
Fu Zhuochen’s body paused. He instantly withdrew the spiritual power around him and relied only on his hand strength to grip Qu Linyan’s arm. He pulled hard backward, and the feather blade in his palm cut a deep, long wound across her arm.
Anger rose in Qu Linyan. She threw out a burst of raw strength, sweeping the mace in her right hand toward his waist and knocking him several meters back.
By then, the woman had already passed the alley.
Fu Zhuochen had just been about to gather spiritual power and chase when he heard Qu Linyan shout, “Taste my ten-thousand-poison powder!”
Then she pulled out a handful of fine powder from somewhere and threw it straight at his face. Before he could tell what it was, he instinctively raised his sleeve to block it in his panic.
Who knew that in the brief moment his sight was blocked, Qu Linyan seemed to vanish from the human world.
When he lowered his eyes, he saw many grains of salt stuck to his sleeve.
Fu Zhuochen’s brows tightened. Gritting his teeth, he brushed off his sleeve and turned to chase out of the alley.
All around, aside from the woman walking away and the sleeping infant in her arms, there was no other person’s spiritual aura. There was not even a trace of blood left behind.
*
Qu Linyan held the Dreamweaving Shuttle and bandaged the wound on her right arm with one hand. She hid in the dream for a while longer, changed clothes, then concealed both her spiritual aura and her form before slipping out of the infant’s dream.
The place where she left the dream was a busy street full of mixed human presence. She let out a breath of relief, then turned and hurried back to the inn.
The moment she stepped into the inn, Qu Linyan completely failed to sense Fu Xiaoba’s spiritual aura. Her heart panicked, and she quickly ran up to the second-floor room and pushed the door open hard.
The next second, Fu Xiaoba, who was sitting at the table eating breakfast, turned back at the sound. She blinked at Qu Linyan, her mouth still stuffed with half a bun, and said in a muffled voice, “You are back!”
Qu Linyan could suddenly sense Fu Xiaoba’s spiritual aura again. She could not help letting out a breath of relief. The heart that had risen to her throat finally settled back down.
Just now, she must have cared too much and imagined it.
Qu Linyan walked into the room and closed the door behind her. Smiling, she came to Fu Xiaoba, spread one empty palm, and, under Fu Xiaoba’s curious gaze, brought two oil-paper-wrapped things out of her spiritual pouch and handed them to her.
“Is this something tasty?” Fu Xiaoba reached out to take them. She peeled open the oil paper and saw two sticks of candied hawthorn with their sugar shells broken. A lot of the sugar coating had stuck to the paper. She could not help making a small sound of surprise. “Candied hawthorns! Why are they broken like this?”
Qu Linyan smiled awkwardly and folded her arms. “I ran into a mad dog on the way back and was chased for a while. I accidentally broke them.”
“A mad dog?” Fu Xiaoba tilted her head. “What kind of mad dog dares chase even you?”
Qu Linyan did not answer. She only pointed at the candied hawthorn. “It only looks a little ugly. The taste should not have changed.”
Fu Xiaoba swallowed the bun in her mouth. Under Qu Linyan’s gaze, she bit off the top hawthorn, chewed twice, and happily nodded.
Qu Linyan curved her brows. “Is it sweet?”
Fu Xiaoba nodded. “Mm!”
“I want some too.” As Qu Linyan spoke, she childishly opened her mouth.
Fu Xiaoba was afraid the stick would poke Qu Linyan, so she foolishly used her fingers to pick at it for a long time. Only after some effort did she pick off a broken, shapeless piece and send it into Qu Linyan’s mouth. But her finger accidentally touched that warm, soft tongue.
She froze for a tiny moment, then pulled back her sticky finger as if she had done something wrong. After hesitating, she widened her innocent eyes and put the finger into her own mouth to lick it.
Her little face, white as jade, flushed an alluring red without her noticing.