The Little Peacock Raises a Snake (GL) Chapter 55

Yun Su could not help feeling shocked. She had already seen Mengzhang’s strength. She truly did not have the power to fight him.
Fu Zhuochen was right. If she left now, with his illusion, they could still deceive Mengzhang. If she kept hesitating, when Mengzhang caught up, truly none of them would be able to leave.
Zhiming had ignored his own heavy injuries to take down a piece of cracked shell. Fu Zhuochen had risked internal injury to trap Mengzhang. Ciyin had brought her primordial spirit down into a body double. Was it not all to help her escape like a golden cicada shedding its shell?
“Susu, do not hesitate!” Ciyin gripped Yun Su’s cold hands hard. Her eyes were full of determination.
Even now, Ciyin could not forget how, three hundred years ago, when Yun Su returned from her lower-realm tribulation, her eyes had held bottomless pain.
For three hundred years, Ciyin had also noticed that although Yun Su was as quiet every day as before, her eyes had completely lost their light, hollow and dim, as if she had lost her soul.
Ciyin had feared pain since childhood. But if a little injury could make Yun Su free from now on, she suddenly felt it was not so frightening.
Yun Su looked at Ciyin’s determined gaze and suddenly understood that her hesitation at this moment was only letting them down. She stopped wavering.
“I have one last question. Three hundred years ago, did I really…” Yun Su stopped here. She took a deep breath, wanting to control her emotions, but she could not stop her eyes from reddening. “Did I… truly die in the flood dragon clan’s blood sacrifice?”
“This…” Ciyin instinctively looked at Fu Zhuochen, and a trace of hesitation flashed through her eyes.
That moment of hesitation gave Yun Su her answer.
She smiled faintly, and her reddened eyes lost a little of their light.
In truth, she had known the answer long ago. She had only held onto one thought, hoping those memories were not real.
As long as one person told her, as long as someone she could trust told her that the truth back then was not like that, she could lie to herself and make herself believe Qu Linyan again.
But there was no one. In the end, there was no one.
Fu Zhuochen frowned and said, “Qu Linyan is not that kind of person. Perhaps there was some unavoidable difficulty in it. Three hundred years ago and three hundred years later, since you have firmly chosen to stand with her both times, you should give her a little more trust.”
Unavoidable difficulty? Was it not for the sake of her own elder sister?
Yun Su believed Qu Linyan loved her. But she also understood that her life, as an outsider, could not compare to the life of Qu Linyan’s closest family in Qu Linyan’s heart.
But although Qu Linyan could bear to treat her that way, Yun Su could not harden her heart and abandon Qu Linyan.
With great reluctance, Yun Su released Ciyin’s hand and lifted her eyes. “A-Yin, you… must be careful.”
“Mm.” Ciyin nodded. Her voice was already a little choked. “Susu, hurry and run. From now on, you have nothing to do with the heavenly realm. You are free!”
Yun Su was about to leave when she saw Fu Zhuochen form a red feather at his fingertip and place it into her palm.
Fu Zhuochen said, “If you meet danger, burn it, and I will come help you.”
In that instant, it was as if a memory crossed the layers of time and surged into her heart.
Yun Su bit through her lip. She turned and fled, leaving those pasts where everything had changed far behind.
She ran with all her strength. Relying on memory, she ran all the way back to the bamboo forest protected by the barrier, yet no matter what, she could not escape that broken dream from her past life.
That red feather was a peacock tail feather. Burning it could make its owner sense her life soul.
Fu Zhuochen’s cultivation was far higher than hers. Though he could not compare to the Four Symbols of the heavenly realm, in the human realm and earth realm, few were his match.
This promise already meant he would help with all his strength. Yun Su knew she should feel happy or moved, but she suddenly remembered something.
He had made the same promise once before.
“If one day Qu Linyan fails you, burn it. No matter where you are, I will sense it.” Three hundred years ago, he had once said, “As long as you need me, even if you are on a mountain of blades, in a sea of fire, or in a dragon’s pool and tiger’s den, I will come save you.”
She had believed this deeply and had once burned that red feather.
Only, that little peacock called Fu Xiaoba had held a faint hope to the end and watched her own blood drain away bit by bit.
In the end, no one came to save her.
That despair, even after more than three hundred years, still crushed her three souls and seven spirits.
Only in that moment did she understand why her self back then had been ruthless enough to choose to forget everything that had once been so important to her.
*
Mengzhang was full of anger as he followed Yun Su’s spiritual aura in pursuit.
Since the day he became a god, no one had ever been able to injure or trap him. A small Blue Luan who normally did not love cultivation, even after ascending as an upper god and gaining divine power, should have been easy to deal with.
Destroying a god was by no means easy. Even for him, after cultivating for tens of thousands of years, he had to use all his strength to set up an array before he could scatter a god’s soul.
If he wanted to maintain a god-destroying array, flaws would inevitably show around him. But no matter what, he had never imagined that a lower-realm demon like an ant would dare attack him from behind and interfere with the heavenly realm’s affairs.
At that moment, he had reacted quickly and raised his protective spiritual power at once, but in the end, he still suffered some internal injury and let the Blue Luan run.
Ridiculous. The earth realm held either demons or devils. An upper god’s spiritual aura was so special that tracking it was as easy as turning over his hand. Where could she flee, and for how long?
He transformed into an Azure Dragon and chased that familiar spiritual aura at full speed. Before long, he found the two.
“Blue Luan Upper God, if you are still willing to change your mind and return with me, I can ask the Heavenly Emperor to give you one chance to repent!” The Azure Dragon hovered in the air and looked down at the weak woman on the ground. “Zhiming suffered heavenly punishment for you and still cannot rise from his heavy injuries. Are you truly going to betray his feelings for the sake of a demon?”
The Blue Luan lifted her head and looked toward the Azure Dragon. A trace of a smile rose at the corner of her mouth. “Divine Lord Mengzhang, my mind is decided. If I am destined to have no freedom, then whether I live or die no longer matters!”
“Stubborn fool!”
The Azure Dragon angrily breathed out dragon breath. At once, heaven and earth changed color. A wild wind rose, and rolling dark clouds came with lightning.
Fu Zhuochen used all his strength to raise a spiritual barrier, but beneath the might of the dragon god, he seemed terribly small.
“Ant of the demon realm. Since you are willing to waste several thousand years of cultivation for an impossible thing, I will fulfill you!” After the Azure Dragon spoke, he circled and flew through the sky. Everywhere he passed, he gathered a huge wind-and-thunder vortex. Like a black hole in the abyss, it sucked up all the surrounding mountain stones and trees.
“Do not worry about me!” The Blue Luan’s eyes reddened with panic. She tried to push away the person beside her, but he held her wrist tightly.
In the hunting wind, he stood like a long spear, his gaze so firm that even gods and Buddhas would not frighten him.
The Azure Dragon seemed to feel challenged. He bent down and roared, his angry cry shaking the heavens. The huge vortex then pressed heavily downward.
That enormous spiritual pressure was like the collapse of the sky, so heavy it seemed able to crush the tallest mountains in the world. Fu Zhuochen did not dodge even half a step. He only gathered spiritual power with both hands, as if intending to use his life to hold up that collapsing sky for the woman beside him.
Already injured internally, he lasted only a short time before fresh blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.
Lightning shattered his protective spiritual power. In that instant, both his hands were torn into a bloody mess, yet he still did not give up resisting.
“Mengzhang! The one you want to kill is only me!”
The Blue Luan’s eyes were bloodshot. Suddenly, she shoved Fu Zhuochen hard away. Holding Qingchen tightly in both hands, she stabbed it through her own chest with force.
The next second, she used all the strength in her body to raise a weak spiritual barrier for the person beside her.
In truth, it was only a useless act. Her cultivation was not even as good as that demon’s. Who could she protect?
Mengzhang could not help frowning, and the huge vortex that seemed ready to swallow heaven and earth stopped in midair at that moment.
“What are you doing!” Fu Zhuochen rushed forward and pulled the Blue Luan into his arms, his eyes full of pain.
The Blue Luan only shook her head. She forced down the sweet metallic taste rising in her throat, lifted her head toward the high and mighty Azure Dragon, and smiled weakly. “He came here to save me because Zhiming entrusted him… He and Zhiming… have some connection. Please… Divine Lord Mengzhang, for Zhiming’s sake… spare him…”
“As for my soul, please scatter it…” As the Blue Luan spoke, she reached out and touched Fu Zhuochen’s tear-stained face. Seeing his body tremble lightly, her own eyes reddened, and she shook her head. A faint, miserable smile rose at the corner of her mouth. “Brother Fu, do not cry… This is my choice… I am willing to stay here. Even if I turn to ash, I will follow the wind to find her… Do not, do not sacrifice yourself for me anymore… It is not worth it…”
“I am sorry. I cannot save you… I am useless…”
Mengzhang was silent for a long time. Then he transformed back into human form, landed beside them, and sighed softly.
“Upper God Yun Su, I am also acting under orders… I am sorry.”
After speaking, he formed seals with both hands and separated the two.
The god-destroying array rose again. The Blue Luan was trapped within, but she no longer struggled as before.
She closed her eyes. In pain, her voice turned hoarse and exhausted. In the end, her soul vanished completely, leaving only one person in grief.
…
Heavenly realm, Northern Xuan Palace.
Zhiming’s face was deathly pale. His fingertip touched Ciyin’s tightly furrowed brow as he poured spiritual power into her body without stopping.
Ciyin suddenly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, then fell weakly into his arms.
“It is all right now.” Zhiming spoke softly and gently wiped the bean-sized sweat from her forehead with his sleeve.
“That hurt so much…” Ciyin coughed heavily twice, then opened a pair of crafty eyes and said weakly, “Divine Lord, was my acting incredible just now? I saw Divine Lord Mengzhang was fooled until his eyes turned red…”
Zhiming stared blankly at Ciyin’s little expression, which was clearly begging for praise, for a long while. He shook his head. “I could not see it. You will have to ask Zhuochen.”
“I still have one petal body double with Brother Fu. Will Divine Lord send me down?” Ciyin asked softly.
Zhiming said, “You are too weak right now.”
“It is all right!” As if to prove she still had strength, Ciyin sat up from Zhiming’s arms at once. Her lips were deathly pale, but her eyes were bright. “To fool Divine Lord Mengzhang, Brother Fu was badly injured too… We still have to confirm whether Susu is safe. Divine Lord, please send me down quickly!”
“All right. I will send you down now.” As Zhiming spoke, he rose and formed seals to set up an array. At the same time, he did not forget to remind her, “Remember, you must not stay too long in the lower realm. Once you confirm Yun Su is safe, come back quickly. If your primordial spirit remains outside your body too long, even if you can hide it from your mother, it will damage your foundation.”
Ciyin nodded and smiled. “I know!”
She closed her eyes, and her primordial spirit left her body again. Everything before her sank into boundless darkness.
When all her awareness gathered again, she slowly opened her eyes. In the ruined world, Azure Dragon Mengzhang was gone. Only Fu Zhuochen sat before her, his face serious.
Ciyin grinned. “Brother Fu! How was my acting just now?”
Fu Zhuochen said, “Not very good.”