The Little Peacock Raises a Snake (GL) Chapter 56

Not very good?
She had clearly worked so hard just now. Even her tone and the words she would say had been modeled completely after Yun Su’s nature.
“How could that be?” Ciyin frowned and pouted in dissatisfaction. “Susu and I have known each other since childhood. What I said just now completely copied her personality and tone. It should have been very lifelike… Divine Lord Mengzhang believed it!”
As Ciyin spoke, she seemed to remember something. She pointed at Fu Zhuochen’s reddened eyes and said proudly, “Look, even you cried, yet you still say my acting was not very good!”
“That was from pain.” As Fu Zhuochen spoke, he endured the pain of his bones and flesh burning, took a deep breath, and pushed himself up from the ground with one hand. Through gritted teeth, he said, “That was the Azure Dragon’s full-strength strike. I nearly lost my life. Am I not allowed to… shed a few tears?”
“Then Brother Fu, tell me exactly which part I acted badly.”
Fu Zhuochen said, “She would never touch my…”
“Ah?” Ciyin froze.
“If you act, then act. Why did you touch me… touch my face?” Fu Zhuochen frowned, as if he found it hard to speak of this. “You almost made me unable to keep pretending.”
Ciyin rubbed her red ears and lowered her head like someone who had done something wrong. She asked softly, “Really? I thought if we were acting, we had to do the full set. Your relationship with Susu is not ordinary. The way she cared about you should have been…”
“To Yun Su, I am only someone she has never met before. To Xiaoba, I am only someone who broke his word. That she holds no resentment toward me is already a great fortune. What care is there to speak of?” As Fu Zhuochen spoke, he lowered his head to look at Ciyin. “Let’s go. We still have to find her first, to keep her from acting impulsively alone.”
“Oh…” Ciyin bit her lower lip in grievance. She wanted to stand, but her feet went weak, and she fell back down.
Fu Zhuochen hesitated for a moment. In the end, he hid his hand in his sleeve, stepped forward, and helped her up. “I can handle what comes next alone. Your primordial spirit is badly injured. You really did not need to come down again so quickly.” After speaking, he seemed to feel something was missing. He thought about it and added, “It would have been fine if you had not come down.”
“I could not stop worrying about Susu.” Ciyin spoke softly, then lowered her eyes to look at the arm Fu Zhuochen held. The corner of her mouth could not help lifting slightly.
Fu Zhuochen quietly released her hand. “If you cannot walk, you can hide in the flower like before.”
“I can walk!” Ciyin said. She turned to take Fu Zhuochen’s hand, but as soon as she touched it, he pulled back as if shocked by lightning.
That damp, uneven touch made Ciyin remember something. She hurried forward, grabbed his wrist, and lifted the blood-stained long sleeve to look. She saw that the flesh on his hand had split open inch by inch, some of it scorched black. The bleeding had stopped, but one glance was enough to make a person feel pain.
“It is nothing.” Fu Zhuochen pulled his hand back and turned to continue on.
Ciyin hurried after him and asked, “Will you not treat it?”
“I do not even have time to regulate my internal injuries. Why bother with this?” Fu Zhuochen said indifferently. “For a demon, this little wound is nothing.”
“No. You have to treat it!” Ciyin shouted loudly. She reached out and pulled Fu Zhuochen’s arm with force, her gaze very firm. “External wounds must be treated properly, or what if they leave scars? Or do you think lightning-roasted bird claws look good?”
“You…” Fu Zhuochen was speechless for a moment. He stared blankly for a long while before saying, “Why so particular…”
“I am exactly that particular!” Ciyin huffed and walked to the side to sit down.
She closed her eyes and formed seals. Spiritual power gathered from between her brows to the tips of her fingers. Then it slowly fell and pressed into the soil beside her knees.
A tender sprout suddenly broke through the earth, grew quickly, and bloomed into a round-leafed blue flower.
The next second, Ciyin opened her eyes, plucked the flower, pointed at the empty ground beside her, and said, “Come here!”
Fu Zhuochen frowned. “There is really no need to delay.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Ciyin slap the ground beside her hard and shout with a fierce little softness, “Come sit down!”
Fu Zhuochen was silent.
Were all immortals in heaven this fussy?
*
Inside the bamboo forest barrier, Yun Su was using all her strength to refine that piece of broken Black Tortoise shell.
To refine it completely, she did not eat or drink, spending a full half month.
Legend said the Black Tortoise’s shell was the strongest shield in the world. There were many kinds of spiritual energy in the three realms, but unless the Black Tortoise was willing, none could break his shell.
Refining a piece of broken shell from the Black Tortoise’s body was not enough to make it useful for defense, but it was enough to seal the phoenix blood power inside her body. It could also block every search and probe made by spiritual power between heaven and earth. No matter who looked, no one would again be able to see her true identity.
From then on, to the heavenly realm, the Blue Luan was completely dead. She had died by the Azure Dragon’s hand.
She was free.
But when the broken shell successfully fused with her inner core, Yun Su felt as if she had lost every direction.
Before making this decision, even if Qu Linyan had failed her, she could still return to the heavenly realm.
But now, she truly had no home to return to.
From now on, she was only a fallen immortal in the three realms, not even allowed to have an identity. Whether it was Zhiming, who had once promised to care for her for a lifetime, or Ciyin, who had risked herself for her, she might never see either of them again.
And Qu Linyan, the person for whom she had been willing to give up everything and stay in the lower realm, now had no news at all, and Yun Su did not know whether she lived or died.
The feeling that there was no one left to rely on made Yun Su deeply lost. She did not know where she should go.
She had thought of burning the red feather in her hand and asking Fu Zhuochen to help, but deep in her heart, she resisted that dependence which should not exist to begin with. After hesitating for a long time, she gave up.
The trust she had once misplaced left her heart cold and weary. She only felt that in this world, other than herself, there was no one she could truly rely on.
Before, she had relied on others for everything. In the heavenly realm, it was Zhiming. During her tribulation, it was Qu Linyan and Fu Zhuochen. But so what?
She refused to believe that without others helping her, she could accomplish nothing.
Thinking this, Yun Su put everything usable in the bamboo courtyard into her spiritual pouch.
Just as she prepared to ask for directions and go to Yuntian City alone, within this long-sealed barrier, there suddenly appeared an aura that was especially familiar to her.
That aura was terrifyingly weak, as if the journey here had already exhausted every bit of strength.
Yun Su’s heart moved, and she turned to follow that aura, running all the way.
She flew over the white snow. Where she passed, layers of snow sand flew up. At last, at the entrance to the bamboo forest barrier, she saw a little black snake covered in blood, completely unconscious.
Three hundred years ago, in Wuyou Valley, beside a pile of broken stones near the mountain stream, there had also been such a little wounded snake quietly coiled there.
Black, scaled, its forehead uneven and bumpy, not at all smooth and round like other little snakes.
Back then, when it saw the little peacock slowly come closer, it suddenly widened its exhausted eyes. They were bright as jewels, alert and fierce.
Three hundred years later, Yun Su picked it up from the ground again. But this time, it no longer had the strength to open its eyes. Covered in blood, it lay quietly in her arms, cold all over and trembling lightly.
In that instant, Yun Su felt all the resentment and hatred in her heart scatter like smoke and clouds.
At this moment, she wanted nothing else. She only hoped the little black snake in her arms could get better, open its eyes, and talk with her…
As long as it was alive, that mattered more than anything.
Yun Su protected the little black snake’s bones and flesh with spiritual power all the way and brought it back to the bamboo courtyard, gently placing it into that soft peacock nest.
She crouched down. While sending spiritual power into it to heal its wounds, she looked worriedly at its tightly closed eyes.
Some memories that had never appeared in her mind slowly surged into her heart.
…
The little peacock carried the injured little black snake home in her mouth. Without even cleaning the wounds, she dug out the spare medicinal cloth at home and used her clumsy little wings to wrap the snake tightly. Then she gently placed it into her own soft little nest.
No matter what, she could not relax. She guarded it for a long time and finally fell deeply asleep.
Suddenly, the little black snake beside her moved. The little peacock immediately came alive, her heart full of joy. “You finally woke up! You were unconscious for six days! I thought you would not make it!”
As the little peacock spoke, she jumped up and flapped her wings, turning several circles in place. Finally, she hopped beside the little black snake in a few little jumps and stretched out one wing, as if wanting to perform the handshake humans used.
The little black snake looked shocked.
“Oh, sorry. I forgot you snakes do not have hands.” As the little peacock spoke, she stretched out her wing and patted the little black snake’s bumpy head. With a serious face, she said, “The past is past. Do not worry. I do not dislike you for being ugly!”
The little black snake looked as if it had seen a ghost.
Seeing that it did not believe her, the little peacock could not help bragging. “Since I saved you, I will do good to the end! Looking over all of Wuyou Mountain, apart from my brother, I am the biggest demon. From now on, follow me. I will feed you and protect you. I will never let anyone bully you again!”
The little black snake suddenly grew excited. Its body twisted, and in the next second, two lines of little tears flowed out.
How could the little peacock know the little black snake was crying from pain? Seeing tears shining in its eyes, she thought it was grateful and felt deeply comforted.
“What is your name?”
“Hiss.”
The little thing looked like its cultivation was low and it could not speak.
“Ah, why am I asking useless questions? A little demon that cannot even talk probably does not have a name.”
So pitiful. As pitiful as she had been before being picked up and raised.
Thinking this, the little peacock’s eyes lit up, and she said happily, “I will give you one!”
“Hiss! Hiss!”
“Let me introduce myself. My name is Fu Xiaoba. I picked you up and raised you, so you can follow my surname.” The little peacock puffed out her chest and said, “From now on, mm… from now on, you will be called Fu Yao-San-Ba!”
The little black snake rolled its eyes.
The little peacock tilted her head.
The little black snake seemed not to like that name…
Right, it did not sound very good. And this little black snake had not hatched from the eggs of her parents, who had died hundreds of years ago. No matter how one said it, it should not be ranked among her family’s numbers.
“Forget it. Since you are black all over, I will just call you Little Black.” As the little peacock spoke, she patted Little Black’s forehead with her wing again and laughed foolishly. “Little Black, Little Black. It sounds pretty good, right?”
…
“Little Black, Little Black…”
A tear slid down her cheek and gently broke against the little black snake’s forehead.
“You had better wake up soon. I still have accounts to settle with you…”
She spoke softly, and the spiritual light in her palm was gentle as the moon on a snowy night.