The Little Peacock Raises a Snake (GL) Chapter 53

The stories from Qu Linyan’s mouth, familiar yet strange, seemed like an invisible pull that broke open the seal over Yun Su’s memories.
These memories were broken, blurred, and without order. They suddenly poured in all at once. They no longer cared whether she was dreaming or awake, nor where she was. Every moment, they flashed before her eyes and sounded beside her ears.
All kinds of past-life memories suddenly disturbed every strand of her thoughts and would not leave.
And those memories were no longer only the days and nights in Wuyou Valley between the little peacock and the little black snake. They were no longer only Qu Linyan.
She remembered the peaceful life in the dream, with A-Qing beside them for dozens of years.
In the dream, Qu Linyan’s body was small, but her temper was very big. She clearly could not beat Yun Su, yet she was always chasing her around and fighting over tiny little things.
She remembered the years traveling through the human world with Qu Linyan.
The human world had many, many delicious things. As long as Yun Su wanted to eat something, Qu Linyan would buy it for her. Also, in her memory, there seemed to be a woman traveling with them, but when Yun Su tried hard to think of her, she still could not remember that woman’s voice or face.
She remembered a place where a hundred flowers bloomed. There, she had once seen a little fox cub with wings. It was terribly cute.
At that time, she had not known that it was the Fox King’s daughter and had nearly offended her. Luckily, Qu Linyan had stopped her.
Later, she remembered “Brother.” She remembered that eye-catching flash of red in the long years of Wuyou Valley.
This was the first time in three hundred years that she clearly remembered that person.
Only when the memories surged into her mind did she realize that in the nightmare that had never let her go for three hundred years, such a person had always existed.
He said, “It is only a tribulation. Why rush? There is nothing good about being an immortal. How free and happy it is to be a demon.”
He also said, “If you live according to the tribulation and die to answer it, would that not mean you came to this mortal world for nothing?”
People of the heavenly realm looked down on demons and disdained the ordinary mortal world even more.
Perhaps only a demon clan member who had lived freely all his life could say such things.
Only, this person was always saying one thing and meaning another.
When she was still a little peacock, every time she made a mess at home, burrowed around in her nest, or refused to cultivate properly, he would scold her so harshly she could not lift her head. But as long as she put on a pitiful look, she could always be forgiven.
Also, it turned out Fu Xiaoba was not a name anyone had specially chosen for her.
Her parents were the most ordinary peacocks in the mountains. In their short lives, who knew how many nests of little peacocks they had hatched? Each was ranked by number. She was the eighth to break the shell in the family, so she was called Xiaoba.
When she was more than eighty years old, Fu Zhuochen picked her up and took her home. Only then did she follow his surname.
She had always wanted a name, and Fu Zhuochen had once promised that when she cultivated a human form, he would give her one.
Only, when she cultivated a human form, Fu Zhuochen was not by her side. Qu Linyan did give her one, but she did not like it.
What kind of name was Fu Shanji? Just hearing it, one knew Qu Linyan had no good intentions.
Back then, Qu Linyan truly had a belly full of bad water and only knew how to bully Yun Su for being inexperienced and ignorant.
As those past events from another life slowly revived in her heart, Yun Su’s dependence on Qu Linyan also deepened without her realizing it.
Many times, when she sat on the steps outside the house and looked at the white snow in the courtyard, she could no longer tell whether she was awake or asleep. She could not tell whether she was Yun Su or Fu Xiaoba.
She gradually stopped wanting to return to the heavenly realm, yet she was afraid she could not hide for a lifetime.
Only every day, when Qu Linyan arrived, did whether she was dreaming or awake, whether her heart belonged to the past life or this life, even the heavenly rules and laws, all become unimportant.
As long as she stayed here and could see Qu Linyan every day, she could temporarily put everything else down.
But one day, Qu Linyan hurried to her side, kissed the space between her brows, and said goodbye.
When she left, her expression was grave.
“Something happened in the devil realm. I must go to Yuntian City.” Qu Linyan said with utmost seriousness, “Promise me, no matter what happens, no matter what noise you hear outside, do not step out of this barrier.”
“As long as you stay here, no one can discover you.”
Yun Su could not help asking, “How long until you come back?”
“I do not know… But I will definitely come back. Wait for me here. You must not leave, all right?” Qu Linyan’s tone was almost pleading.
Yun Su faintly felt something unlucky, but she still nodded. “Be very careful.”
Seeing her agree, a trace of a smile finally rose at the corner of Qu Linyan’s eyes. “I will definitely come back.”
After speaking, she turned and left.
Perhaps afraid Yun Su would be hungry, before leaving, Qu Linyan prepared many fresh ingredients and filled the cellar under the kitchen to the brim.
In the more than one month since Yun Su had been taken down to the lower realm, there had not been a single day when she did not see Qu Linyan. But from that day onward, Qu Linyan truly did not come again.
The habit that was suddenly broken left Yun Su somewhat at a loss.
She tried cooking for herself, only to discover the things she made were truly hard to swallow. After one bite, she began missing Qu Linyan.
Fortunately, immortals did not need ordinary grains. Back in the heavenly realm, other than pastries made from immortal herbs and spiritual fruits, and fine dew, she basically ate nothing else and had never been hungry.
Now she had only changed places. Hungry, she would not be. At most, she would be greedy.
During the days Qu Linyan was away, Yun Su’s past memories still recovered bit by bit.
Those simple and ordinary joys in her memories were exactly the life Yun Su liked most.
From childhood to adulthood, she had never liked grand, dramatic things. She only wanted to pass each day plainly and simply.
Only, one day, there was suddenly a huge commotion outside the bamboo forest.
She saw spiritual light crossing in the distance at night. Instinctively, she followed the sound, then stopped at the edge of the barrier.
The sounds of killing outside did not stop. Worry rose in her heart, but she did not dare leave this place by even half a step.
After worrying for a long time, she still returned to that small bamboo courtyard.
The unusual commotion outside lasted several days, fierce at first, then slowly calming.
Yun Su always remembered Qu Linyan’s words and did not step out of the bamboo forest once.
Holding that worry, she waited for Qu Linyan’s return. Yet before Qu Linyan came, what she waited for was a nightmare.
…
“Fu Xiaoba, can you distinguish right from wrong, good from evil?”
“I can!”
“Then am I good or evil?”
“Why even ask? You definitely are not a bad person!”
“What about your brother?”
“Brother is not a bad person either.”
“If neither of us is bad, why does he want to kill me? Between him and me, one of us must have done something wrong, right?”
“At least you are both good to me.”
The little peacock who had just entered the human world did not know the world’s dangers. She only knew that the two people who treated her best in the world were her brother and Qu Linyan.
She did not want the people she cared about to hurt each other, but she did not know why they had formed hatred.
That day, Qu Linyan told the little peacock a story.
A-Qing in the dream was actually Qu Linyan’s elder sister. She had fallen asleep more than a thousand years ago. For more than a thousand years, Qu Linyan had searched heaven, earth, and the three realms only to wake A-Qing.
Her feud with Fu Zhuochen had begun because she wanted to seize the bird clan’s legendary treasure, said to revive the dead and grow flesh on white bones. That was how she offended the entire bird clan…
…
One day, Qu Linyan bought a candy figure for the little peacock. The bird on the candy figure was one Yun Su had never seen.
Qu Linyan said it was called a phoenix.
They were born noble, with an extremely rare bloodline, and they were the most beautiful birds in the three realms.
At that time, the little peacock could not help sighing. “So the most beautiful birds in the three realms are not us peacocks… That makes sense. Female peacocks are not very pretty. We drag the whole clan down…”
Hearing this, Qu Linyan smiled and said, “I once heard that phoenix clan blood can make withered trees bloom in spring and revive the dead…”
The little peacock asked foolishly, “Then where do phoenix clan members live? If we can find one, would you no longer have to oppose my brother?”
Qu Linyan said, “In the heavenly realm. Five hundred years ago, I secretly went there once.”
…
On the theater stage, the opera ended.
The little peacock sat quietly below the stage and thought about it for a long time. Why could she never understand this thing called love?
“In the end, Xiaoxiao sacrificed herself to fulfill Jiang Lang’s ambition because she had already lost everything. She could only gamble with her own life, betting that Jiang Lang would suffer for her all his life, using that as revenge.”
“She succeeded. The person she took revenge on gained everything but lost her. From then on, he grew old with guilt and regret every day, and finally died of sorrow.”
“These stories that begin in the human world never seem to have perfect endings. Your brother tells them this way. I tell them this way. The theater also performs them this way.”
…
“Do you not want to undergo a love tribulation?”
“Yes.”
“A love tribulation… is like those stories. It will hurt.”
“Ah? So it is not as simple as finding someone and accompanying them through birth, old age, sickness, and death?”
The little peacock back then still did not understand what love was or what tribulation meant. She only looked at the person before her blankly, her eyes full of trust.
“Xiaoba, do not undergo the tribulation. There is nothing good about being an immortal. Come back with me. Whatever you want, I will give you.”
Truly… anything?
“If you are willing, then from now on, I will protect you.”
…
The little peacock had forgotten some things, but now she remembered them again.
She remembered: Qu Linyan… was a liar.
“Xiaoba, do you not want to undergo your tribulation? Either way, you will return in the end. Before you go back, save A-Qing, all right?”
“Do you know that a sacrifice pushed onto the life-exchange altar will have their soul scattered after death?”
“I cannot go back. I have no next life…”
“I am sorry…”
Blood blurred her vision in that instant.
Vines pierced into her chest.
She was bound on that altar surrounded by raging fire, and the blood in her body was drawn away drop by drop by a terrible power.
She was slowly dying.
She looked at every cold gaze below the altar.
She was waiting for something, but in the end, she waited for nothing.
…
She woke from the dream with a start.
Outside the window, the wind swept snow across the ground.
She rose, wrapped her robe tighter around herself, and slowly walked outside. Lifting her head, she quietly looked at everything familiar before her, yet her heart had lost that firmness.
Qu Linyan had wanted to kill her eight hundred years ago. In her mortal life, Qu Linyan had used her thoroughly.
Yun Su laughed at herself. Suddenly, with heavy steps, she walked out of the bamboo courtyard and out of the bamboo forest.
She walked aimlessly through the mountain forest before her, and at last reached the broken cliff of Soul-Wounding Valley. Through an undercurrent at the riverbed, she entered the flood dragon clan spiritual cave.
She wanted to find someone and ask where Qu Linyan had gone, but all she saw was a scene of ruin. Coagulated blood covered the ground, and bloody scales with skin and flesh still stuck to them were especially glaring.
The aura of red-eyed blood wolf devil soldiers lingered all around.
They had slaughtered this place.
In that instant, Yun Su felt her heart lose every direction. Anger and grief suddenly had nowhere to go. Only worry remained.
Yuntian City…
Qu Linyan had said she went to Yuntian City.
Yun Su hurriedly turned, wanting to set off there, but at the entrance of the flood dragon clan spiritual cave, she ran into someone.
“Blue Luan Upper God, you have made me search hard for this whole month.” The newcomer looked cold and stern. “Since Upper God has escaped, please return with me.”
She had seen this person before in the heavenly realm.
First among the Four Symbols, Azure Dragon Mengzhang, who had guarded the east of the human world for tens of thousands of years.
Yun Su could not help frowning. “Divine Lord Mengzhang…”