The Little Peacock Raises a Snake (GL) Chapter 4

Fu Xiaoba said she was a peacock. It was truly the greatest joke under heaven.
Little Black seriously suspected Fu Xiaoba was teasing her for fun.
Although peacocks were indeed a less common kind among the bird clan, Little Black was not some frog at the bottom of a well. How could she have never seen a peacock?
Set aside the difficult peacock she had met before on Qixia Mountain.
On normal days, Fu Xiaoba often carried her to quiet places to stare into space, but Little Black had still stayed in the valley for some time. More than once, from far away, she had seen those long-tailed, colorful fellows in the mountains, the ones who opened their tails from time to time.
Were those not peacocks?
Peacocks were so beautiful. How could a green-necked pheasant compare? Why would a little mountain demon be so vain? She did not even make a draft before lying.
“Ha… ha… ha…” Little Black laughed slowly and with great insincerity.
When Fu Xiaoba heard this, she stamped her feet in place. “You do not believe me? I really am a peacock!”
“You are a peacock?” Little Black asked back.
“Of course!” Fu Xiaoba nodded again and again like a chick pecking rice.
“Ha.” Little Black instantly stood up straight. “Then I am a dragon.”
“This is why I said you are ignorant.” Fu Xiaoba rolled her eyes and sat down on the ground. She began to lecture. “Among us peacocks, males and females are different. Only male peacocks have bright, beautiful feathers and pretty tail fans. But that does not mean female peacocks are not peacocks! If you do not believe me, wait until my brother comes back and ask him. He is the greatest demon in Wuyou Valley. He would never trick you.”
Fu Xiaoba’s tone was extremely serious. She truly did not seem to be lying.
“So that is how it is…”
“Yes! If you still do not believe it then, next year when the peacocks in the mountains court and mate, I will take you to see the world!”
Little Black was speechless for a moment. This was the first time she had ever been called “ignorant” by a little demon who had not even taken human form. Worse, she truly had no ground to stand on and could not argue. Shame rose faintly in her heart. After hesitating again and again, she lowered her head humbly and apologized.
Seeing that Little Black could admit her mistake and correct it, Fu Xiaoba felt especially comforted.
Although Little Black had just been fierce to her, the cold wind was heavy tonight, and Little Black’s serious injuries had not healed. It would be bad if she froze.
After thinking it over, Fu Xiaoba finally placed her head on the edge of the nest, bringing her face very close to Little Black’s head.
This move startled Little Black, who had been lost in thought. She quickly drew her head back a little. “What are you doing?”
Was this little demon rushing to throw herself into her arms?
Fu Xiaoba said, “Little Black, let me in?”
When Little Black heard this, the words slipped out at once. “Are you a hooligan?”
As soon as she spoke, she remembered that the nest beneath her had originally belonged to Fu Xiaoba. Fu Xiaoba had only given it to her because her injuries were serious. Now the wind and frost outside were harsh, and the doors and windows leaked. This little demon with low cultivation was probably cold on the floor and wanted to return to her nest.
When Little Black thought of this, the guilt she felt for mistaking Fu Xiaoba’s species deepened at once.
Just as she was about to rise and give up the spot, Fu Xiaoba spoke again.
“Little Black, I am afraid you will freeze. I want to warm you.” In that moment, Fu Xiaoba’s voice was serious and gentle. “Your wounds have not healed, and your cultivation is low. It would be bad if you caught more cold. My legs went soft and I did not squat steadily just now. This time I will be careful not to press on you.”
Little Black froze. For a moment, she was ashamed to speak. “You… what you did just now, on top of me, was… was because of that?”
“Yes!” Fu Xiaoba’s eyes were innocent.
Little Black had nothing to say for a moment.
The guilt in her heart grew deeper and deeper.
Fu Xiaoba could not see that Little Black’s conscience was uneasy right now. Seeing that Little Black did not refuse, she took it as permission and immediately stood up, putting one leg into the nest.
“Wait!” Little Black quickly stopped her.
Nonsense! What was her status? How could she be pressed under a moun… under a peacock!
Kindness was kindness, but this could not happen.
Fu Xiaoba still had not understood why Little Black was being fierce again when she saw Little Black crawl out of the nest and all the way out of the room.
The door, which already leaked wind, was pushed open by Little Black. Cold air instantly poured inside.
The wind and snow outside had not stopped, but a rare silver full moon hung in the sky. Snow covered the mountains and reflected the moonlight. Heaven and earth were all moon-white.
“Little Black, why are you going outside? It is so cold…”
Fu Xiaoba stood, shook her wings, and chased out the door while trembling. She was just about to use her beak to carry back this little black snake, who always did whatever suddenly came to mind, when a cloud of black mist appeared around Little Black. It seemed ready to swallow the silver-white world before her, and it was especially frightening.
“Little Black!”
Fu Xiaoba cried out in alarm and hurried forward to save her. But the black mist was scattered by the cold wind. Between heaven and earth, only a huge black “snake” remained.
Two horns grew backward from the snake’s head, straight and long. The great snake body had four feet, strong and sharp.
Black scales, purple fins. She rose into the air and covered the moon. Powerful, icy spiritual energy poured from her body, curling around her like black smoke and bloody mist.
At this moment, in this world, where could the little black snake who had accompanied Fu Xiaoba for so long be found? That weak, pitiful, ugly little black snake was gone.
Mother above, what was this…
This thing would not eat peacocks, would it?
When Fu Xiaoba thought this, her legs suddenly went soft. She fell to the ground with a thud, and her whole peacock body froze.
The “great snake” looked at her and said in a deep voice, “Ignorant little demon, I am a black flood dragon. Look carefully. Do I need you to warm my bed?”
The black flood dragon bit down especially hard on the words “warm my bed,” with a hint of teasing in them.
The flood dragon coiled in the air and quietly stared at the tiny peacock on the ground, as if waiting for an answer.
But that little peacock seemed stupid from fright. She sat there blankly, not even blinking.
A gust of wind blew past. The silly tuft of feathers on her head shook. She still did not move.
For a while, the mood became very awkward.
“Ahem…” The black flood dragon cleared her throat.
Fu Xiaoba trembled on the ground, then fell into another daze.
“You, you…” The black flood dragon was briefly speechless.
She took a deep breath. Thinking that her appearance must have frightened this little demon who had never seen much of the world, she sighed lightly and gathered spiritual energy to change form.
The black mist scattered. A graceful woman appeared in the snow, black hair like a waterfall and black robes trailing on the ground.
She slowly stepped forward with both hands behind her back. Bending down, she looked at the little peacock on the ground, who was staring up at her. Her long narrow eyes curved faintly, and a very beautiful arc lifted the corner of her mouth. “What is this? On normal days, you are so good with words. Now you cannot speak?”
Fu Xiaoba blinked blankly and looked a little dazed.
She had stayed in these mountains for nearly five hundred years and knew countless colors. Yet in her heart, she had always believed the most beautiful color in the world should be red.
Only now did she learn that the plain black of night could also make a person unable to look away.
“You are so beautiful.” Fu Xiaoba praised her with great sincerity. She tilted her neck and asked, “Are you Little Black?”
“What do you think, little pheasant?” The black flood dragon reached out and touched the feather crown on Fu Xiaoba’s head.
“Heavens, Little Black! Your cultivation is actually this high. You…” Fu Xiaoba spoke excitedly and wanted to stand. But her legs were weak, and her bottom was frozen stiff. She could not use any strength. She had just risen when she fell back down again. Feeling awkward, she simply stayed sitting on the ground. “Why did you never tell me? I thought… I thought you…”
“Thought I was an ignorant little demon?” the black flood dragon said. Then, like pulling a radish from the ground, she grabbed Fu Xiaoba out of the snow with one hand, held her in her arms, and smoothed her feathers. “Thought I was a snake, disliked me for being ugly, disliked my bumps, disliked my ugliness, hm?”
“I, I, I…” Fu Xiaoba wanted to defend herself, but the black flood dragon suddenly began patting the snow off her bottom. Again and again, the pats made her tremble repeatedly.
For a moment, she faintly felt she had been offended, yet she was too embarrassed to speak. She could only freeze in the black flood dragon’s arms and let her touch as she pleased.
Seeing Fu Xiaoba act so timid, the black flood dragon suddenly felt like teasing her. After patting away the snow on her body, she asked softly, “Fu Xiaoba, you raised me for so long. Do you know what I usually like to eat?”
Fu Xiaoba shook her stiff neck.
“Me? I like meat, not vegetables. What I love eating most on normal days is…” The black flood dragon dragged out her words. Her slender finger poked Fu Xiaoba’s little belly. “Pheasant.”
Fu Xiaoba trembled all over. Her heart instantly rose into her throat.
“I… I, I, I am not a pheasant! I, I am a peacock!” A perfectly talkative peacock suddenly became a stutterer.
After saying that, she instinctively tried to jump out of the black flood dragon’s arms, but she did not have the strength. She could only keep begging, “I do not taste good. You, you… you were saved by me. I did you a kindness, a kindness!”
“I think this peacock of yours looks rather plump. You probably taste no worse than a pheasant.” As the black flood dragon spoke, she lifted Fu Xiaoba high and looked her over from top to bottom, left and right. Then her lips curved, and she gave a wild, beautiful smile. “I have no way to repay a life-saving kindness, so why not… let me eat you?”
“No, no! Do not, Little Black!” Fu Xiaoba was badly frightened. She struggled with all her life, but no matter what, she could not break free of the black flood dragon’s hands, just as she had not been able to beat Fu Zhuochen back then.
Heavens, was this the legendary act of inviting a wolf into the house and having kindness repaid with hatred?
The plays all said white snakes repaid kindness. She had thought black snakes would be the same. She never expected that after changing color, the ending would be completely different!
“Do not eat me. Do not eat me, sob…”
“If my brother comes back and… and finds out you ate me, he will never let you go!”
“Sob, sob… sob, sob, hic…”
“Little Black, I do not taste good. I really do not taste good… I am still very small, sob sob!”
“Do not look at how big I seem. I really do not have much meat…”
“I just… I just have a large frame…”
Fu Xiaoba was badly frightened, so frightened that her whole body shook.
The black flood dragon had not expected her courage to be so small. For a moment, she had nothing to say. With a light sigh, she carried Fu Xiaoba back into the room and placed her in the peacock nest Fu Zhuochen had made for her.
Fu Xiaoba instantly tried to lift her feet and run. But she saw the black flood dragon rise and sweep a sleeve. The door shut, and spiritual power sealed every drafty hole in the doors and windows.
That spiritual power was so thick… Who could break out?
The black flood dragon looked back at Fu Xiaoba and smiled at her in a friendly way. Then she turned and walked to the bed at the side and lay down.
As expected, a bed was the place a person should sleep. It was so much more comfortable than that cramped little peacock nest.
After thinking for a moment, the black flood dragon lifted a fingertip and twirled it twice. A strand of dark purple spiritual light drifted to Fu Xiaoba’s small nest and covered it.
Fu Xiaoba, who had still been trembling in the nest, instantly felt her whole body warm up. She was not cold at all.
The spiritual light was warm, dim, and gentle. It did not disturb anyone trying to close their eyes and rest.
Fu Xiaoba stared toward the bed with wronged eyes for a long time. Sadly, she was too short and could not see the person on the bed.
She hesitated for a long while. In the end, she could not hold back and asked, “Little Black… are you really going to eat me?”
The black flood dragon rolled over. “Stop talking. Sleep.”
Fu Xiaoba: “…”
It was over. It was all over. She was dead for sure.
Little Black had suddenly become Big Black. With my size, I probably would not even be enough to get stuck between her teeth. She will most likely fatten me up before eating me, right?
Fu Zhuochen, where in the world did you go?
Your valley has been taken over by someone else. Your bed is being slept in by someone else. Your younger sister is about to be eaten by someone else too!
If you do not come back soon, there really will not even be bones left!