The Little Peacock Raises a Snake (GL) Chapter 31

Only after Fu Xiaoba arrived at the flood dragon clan did she learn that many things Brother had told her when she was little did not exist only in stories.
“Those not of my race must have different hearts” was not only hatred humans had for demons. Demons also disliked other demons.
Fu Xiaoba simply did not understand why there were always people who carried strange malice toward others who posed no threat at all. She was clearly only following behind Qu Linyan and had not even said a word.
Along the way, Qu Linyan had long noticed Fu Xiaoba’s unhappiness. But she could not change the clanspeople’s rejection of outside demons in a short time. After returning home, she could only pull Fu Xiaoba into the familiar room from the dream, hold her hand, and say, “The flood dragon clan has cut off ties with the outside world for a long time. To them, outside demons count as enemies, especially the fox and bird clans. These are old grudges, and they cannot be changed quickly… But do not worry. With me here, no one will dare hurt you. After enough time passes, they will all accept you.”
Fu Xiaoba obediently nodded after hearing this. She raised her eyes and looked around, then lowered her head and smiled silently.
Seeing this, Qu Linyan could not help curving her brows. “Why did you suddenly smile?”
“On the way here just now, everything felt rather unfamiliar, but this place has not changed much,” Fu Xiaoba said. “It feels like going back to the dream.”
Qu Linyan lowered her brows and thought for a moment, then smiled. “If you like how it looked in the dream, I will change it back for you, exactly the same as in the dream.”
Fu Xiaoba shook her head again and again. “No need, Little Black. I know everything from before was invisible pressure to you. I do not need you to change anything back to how it used to look for me. As long as you are there, I like any place.”
Whether the human world or the demon realm, as long as you are there, everything is good.
When Qu Linyan heard this, she reached out and gently pinched Fu Xiaoba’s slightly childish cheek. Softly, she said, “Your wounds have not healed, and you barely rested on the road. Hurry and sleep.”
“You still say that about me. You are much more badly hurt than I am.” Fu Xiaoba reached out and grabbed Qu Linyan’s sleeve, pulling her to her side. She asked softly and tentatively, “If we sleep together… will it press on your wounds?”
Seeing Fu Xiaoba’s little expression that clearly wanted to sleep with her, Qu Linyan could not help smiling. “That depends on whether you behave.”
Hearing this, Fu Xiaoba quickly nodded like a chick pecking rice. “I will behave!”
As she spoke, she ran in a few small steps to sit by the bed, patted the mattress with both hands, and gave two silly giggles.
“Wash first,” Qu Linyan reminded.
“Oh, oh…” Fu Xiaoba stood up sadly.
After washing, Fu Xiaoba lay inside by the wall. Qu Linyan removed her outer robe and also gently lay down.
Just like that, the two lay with arm against arm and stared at the ceiling together for a long time. Neither of them could sleep.
After quite a while, Qu Linyan could not help turning her head to ask, “Xiaoba, can you not sleep?”
Fu Xiaoba gave two soft hums and answered, “I cannot sleep. My mind feels noisy. It is like I am thinking about something, but I cannot sort anything out… What was that phrase in the human world again? Heart tangled into a ball?”
“Do you mean your heart is as tangled as hemp?”
“Yes, yes, that seems to be the phrase.” Fu Xiaoba answered a little embarrassedly.
Qu Linyan could not help laughing.
Fu Xiaoba pouted. “What about you, Little Black? You are not asleep either.”
Qu Linyan thought for a moment. “I am the same as you. My heart is as tangled as hemp.”
“Then tell me a story,” Fu Xiaoba said. “Maybe as you talk, you will get tired, and as I listen, I will fall asleep.”
“Then what should I tell?”
“How about… tell me things related to you? About the flood dragon clan, about A-Qing, or that girl named Xiangsi… I want to understand you. I want to hear every one.”
Qu Linyan nodded. “Then I will tell you slowly, one by one.”
“Xiaoba, did you think I was a little black snake because you had never heard of the flood dragon clan?”
Fu Xiaoba blinked. “Yes. Brother taught me to recognize many living beings, but he never mentioned the flood dragon clan.”
“Because the flood dragon clan has been sealed inside Soul-Wounding Valley for a long time. Outsiders do not dare come in, and the flood dragon clan does not go out. To the outside world, we are no different from nonexistent.”
“Why?”
“There is a reason why few flood dragons wander outside, and most remain in Soul-Wounding Valley of the demon realm.”
Qu Linyan said that the flood dragon clan had not originally liked living in groups. Most of them chose a stretch of water to occupy, making nearby living beings stay far away from the water source, angry but not daring to speak.
Roughly counting, it had been nearly two thousand years since the fox clan united the demon realm. But the flood dragon clan had never obeyed its rule. They even still saw many weak demons as food, no different from pigs, horses, cows, or sheep.
The flood dragon clan was born powerful. Asking them to change the habits of thousands of years and speak of equality with small clans was something they were unwilling to do.
They wanted freedom. They did not want to bow below others. They wanted to be as they had been for thousands of years.
But the current ruler of the demon realm was not some good-tempered fox either. “You will not obey? Then you are not one of my people, and there is no need for courtesy.”
One day, news spread from Hundred Flowers Valley, the demon capital. From then on, if flood dragons caused trouble in any clan’s territory, those clans could fight without worry. If anything happened, the fox clan would support them.
Before this, those weaker races had not dared provoke the entire flood dragon clan for the lives of one or two clanspeople now and then. But now that they had the fox clan supporting them, the small clans who had long been bullied by flood dragons suddenly grew bold. They made something called a Flood Dragon Expulsion Plan and beat the flood dragons occupying different waters until their heads were broken and blood flowed. One after another, they fled back to Soul-Wounding Valley.
Many clanspeople who had been bullied outside returned bruised and swollen. With tears in the corners of their eyes and their teeth clenched, they looked at their clan leader, wanting her to seek justice for them.
Because of this, Qu Muqing went alone to Hundred Flowers Valley, the demon capital. When she returned, she brought back a piece of “good” news.
People of the flood dragon clan could return to the places they had occupied before, but they could only eat beasts that had not gained intelligence. They could no longer threaten the safety of demons or humans.
Qu Linyan remembered that she had been not yet eight hundred years old that year. At that time, the previous flood dragon clan leader, who was also her and Qu Muqing’s father, had just died from the seventh hundred-year heavenly tribulation after reaching the age of heavenly tribulation.
Qu Muqing was only a thousand years old that year. Her cultivation could not count as high, yet she had to take on the whole flood dragon clan.
Qu Linyan had also reached an age where she understood things. Naturally, she understood that what Sister carried was not only the title of clan leader.
Putting it nicely, Qu Muqing was the new clan leader of the flood dragon clan. Putting it unpleasantly, Qu Muqing was only the successor the old clan leader had not fully trained, the obedient little puppet in some clanspeople’s hearts, pointed wherever they wanted her to go.
Just like Qu Linyan now. Aside from one title spoken aloud, there was not the slightest respect.
When such news was brought back by Qu Muqing, it instantly enraged most of the clanspeople.
In their eyes, demons had always followed the law of the weak being prey to the strong. The flood dragon clan had long used eating humans and demons to nourish their own spiritual power. How could they change just because an outside clan said so?
“Back then, the clanspeople had no kind words at all. Hearing them made even me feel chilled for Sister.” As Qu Linyan spoke, she turned her head and glanced at Fu Xiaoba beside her pillow. Suddenly, she smiled at herself, lowered her voice, and imitated those stubborn old people in a strange tone.
“If the old clan leader were still here, he would absolutely never agree to such terms from the fox clan!”
“What weak animal is a fox? How do they dare ride on the flood dragon clan’s head?”
“Could the clan leader be afraid of one fox’s threat?”
“Or perhaps she was charmed by the fox. That is possible too.”
Qu Linyan imitated them with full feeling. Fu Xiaoba listened beside her, angry yet amused. She could not help turning sideways, looking into Qu Linyan’s eyes, and sighing, “That is too much! What about A-Qing? How did she handle it?”
“At the time, she did nothing. She only let those clanspeople make trouble.”
“And later?”
“Later, the clanspeople kept denouncing Qu Muqing, but she still did nothing. I was curious and asked why she did not explain, why she did not reason with them.”
“Was she truly afraid?”
“At the time, she said something to me, and I still remember it even now.” Qu Linyan looked at Fu Xiaoba, her emotions very calm. “She said that the three realms of the weak being prey to the strong in the flood dragon clan’s eyes had always meant the flood dragon clan was strong and the outside clans were weak. But after thousands upon thousands of years, as the world changed, no matter how unwilling the clanspeople were, they had to accept one fact: the flood dragon clan was far weaker than before. If they could live peacefully, why insist on fighting others for victory?”
The decline of the flood dragon clan was not because their racial power had degraded, but because the whole clan lacked experts and its people were not united.
The flood dragon clan’s ability to reproduce had never been strong. Their numbers grew fewer and fewer. Most clanspeople lived scattered outside year-round, so there was no unity to speak of. Not to mention, for thousands of years, the flood dragon clan had not produced even one name that would make people tremble on hearing it. Why should outsiders fear them?
Reality was always cruel. The more the world followed the law of the strong preying on the weak, the more the strong were honored.
About four thousand years ago, a mysterious organization of unknown origin had relied on only five top experts to throw the three realms into chaos. They even killed the demon realm’s ruler at the time, causing the demon realm to break apart for nearly two thousand years.
At that time, the devil clan had also produced a person whose name shook the three realms. With that person’s power alone, they scattered that mysterious organization and united the devil realm’s clans, which had been scattered for tens of thousands of years.
Such a strong person was born one in ten thousand. If others wished to defeat them, it would be like an ant trying to shake a tree, laughable beyond measure.
“At the time, she told me that the person who had now won the hearts of all clans in the demon realm was one such person born one in ten thousand. This was not someone the present flood dragon clan could afford to provoke… The premise of freedom has always been enough strength. The flood dragon clan had long since lost that kind of capital.”
As Qu Linyan spoke, she smiled at herself. “At the time, I still did not believe it. Thinking now, it is true. Father only endured seven tribulations after reaching the age of heavenly tribulation before his strength ran out and he died. And that person in Hundred Flowers Valley is now more than five thousand years old. At that age, if it were an ordinary demon, they would probably have trouble even breathing. When I met him at Qixia Mountain, I almost died by his hand…”
“Ah, so you were not injured by Brother?” Fu Xiaoba looked shocked.
“That fire turkey? What gives him the right to hurt me that badly? Was he not relying on having many people…” As Qu Linyan spoke, she saw Fu Xiaoba’s unhappy gaze and quickly made her tone a little more respectful. “I mean, your brother took part at the time. Was that not using numbers to bully the few? If it had truly been one-on-one, who won and who lost would not be certain…”
Fu Xiaoba pouted and pulled the topic back. “Then what happened later? Why did the flood dragon clan develop into such a terrible state now?”
“This terrible state now is already something we should thank that Fox King for, for raising his noble hand.”
As Qu Linyan spoke, her gaze suddenly grew distant, as if her thoughts had returned to long ago.
She said that at the time, Qu Muqing did not manage anything. She simply quietly watched the few people leading the trouble bring the clanspeople into an uproar.
Back then, one voice rose in the clan, saying the old clan leader had only recently died, and the new clan leader was only a young woman who was inexperienced, timid, and afraid of trouble. She had bowed her head to the fox clan and made the entire flood dragon clan lose face.
This voice gradually grew louder. A few leaders took most of the hot-blooded young clanspeople away from Soul-Wounding Valley. They searched everywhere for good waters to occupy and cause trouble, using this to show defiance toward the fox clan.
In less than half a year, they came back.
When they left, they were full of spirit. When they returned, many were dead or badly wounded.
Those small clans who had once feared them now had someone backing them. They could no longer tolerate flood dragons rampaging freely in their territory. They were no longer scattered sand. Some clans even joined together and chased those flood dragons all the way to the outside of Soul-Wounding Valley.
Those outsiders shouted loudly outside the valley, demanding that the flood dragon clan hand over all those who had gone out to cause trouble within three days. Otherwise, they should not blame them for showing no face and directly charging into the spiritual cave at the valley bottom.
At first, the leader came to Qu Muqing with a miserable face, hoping she could step forward and solve this matter.
Qu Muqing only asked in return, “How should I solve it? Hand you over?”
“Clan Leader, you cannot. This is almost half the young people in our clan!”
When Qu Muqing heard this, she smiled faintly and raised her eyes to ask, “Then how many people are willing to stand up and go out with me to fight those outsiders?”
For a time, everyone looked at one another and said nothing.
With the fighting power the flood dragon clan had left, if they truly did as Qu Muqing said, it would likely become a trapped beast’s final fight.
After a long silence, someone said softly, “Clan Leader, this would be the act of a reckless fool…”
“Yes. I had already spoken properly with that Fox King. From now on, every clan would exist together and respect one another. Who was dissatisfied with my handling and took the first step to stir up trouble? Now I am only using the method you recognized earlier to handle the problem. Why are you blaming me for acting recklessly again?”
“This…”
“You described me as so unbearable before that I thought you truly were much more capable than me.” Qu Muqing’s tone was extremely light and mocking. Every sentence made that person, and the clanspeople who had gone out causing trouble with him earlier, feel ashamed and embarrassed.
She said, “Back then, I agreed to their terms. Less than half a month later, you ignored the promise I made to others, rushed out, and broke off relations with them. Clearly, you did not place me in your eyes. Now, one by one, when you do not know how to end this, you think of me again.”
After a long silence, someone knelt amid many angry gazes and slapped himself hard several times, regretting, “Clan Leader, I was wrong. You are broad-minded. Please speak for us…”
“Yes, Clan Leader. Discuss it with the Fox King again. We know we were wrong and will never dare again!”
Qu Linyan remembered that on that day, Qu Muqing looked down from above and coldly watched the kneeling person for a long time. She gave a soft laugh and said, “If you want me to handle this, I can. But from now on, do not interfere in things you should not interfere in. People who have made mistakes are not worthy.”
“Remember this. Today, I can protect you once. In the future, I can hand you over at any time. Hatred will not fade easily. Those who wanted to kill you today but failed are forever waiting for you to step out of Soul-Wounding Valley.”
At that moment, who knew how many people who had spoken badly of her behind her back could not stop their hearts from trembling.
So the clan leader who seemed soft on the outside also had a decisive, killing side.
“Later, I do not know how she persuaded the Fox King, but the fox clan stepped in and scattered the demons surrounding Soul-Wounding Valley. But from that day on, the demon realm also gained an unwritten rule. Outsiders who privately entered Soul-Wounding Valley would bear their own life or death. As for any flood dragon who left Soul-Wounding Valley, anyone could kill them.”
Qu Linyan sighed softly. “So from then on, the flood dragon clan could only remain in this canyon, in this spiritual cave.”
“No wonder… Your reputation outside is so bad. Causing trouble often is one thing, but it also has something to do with your race, right?” Fu Xiaoba asked.
Qu Linyan closed her eyes. “It does not matter. I do not care.”
Fu Xiaoba was silent for a long time. “Actually, I find it hard to imagine that the A-Qing you speak of and the A-Qing I saw in the dream are truly the same person.”
“That is not important.” Qu Linyan shook her head and smiled bitterly. “The dream only held one thread of spiritual awareness left after she was gone. What was sealed inside were only some beautiful memories. At that time, I was still young, Father was still alive, and none of us carried heavy burdens…”
The her of back then, and the her of now, how were they like the same person either?
Qu Linyan thought for a moment and said softly, “What you saw was only the illusion the dream-weaver wanted to keep.”