The Little Peacock Raises a Snake (GL) Chapter 57

Demon realm, Hundred Flowers Valley.
Ciyin walked slowly through the flowers. Her thin fingers brushed over cluster after cluster of blossoms, while her gaze drifted into the distance, lost in thought.
Footsteps sounded behind her, neither light nor heavy. She came back to herself and turned.
Fu Zhuochen said to her, “We are ready to leave.”
“There is still no news of Susu here at all?” Ciyin could not help asking.
Fu Zhuochen closed his eyes and shook his head. “None.”
It had been more than a month since the day they tricked Mengzhang and sent him away.
By rights, Yun Su had Fu Zhuochen’s tail feather. Even if she had refined that piece of broken Black Tortoise shell, it should only have sealed her bloodline and hidden her spiritual aura. It should not have cut off the link between the feather and Fu Zhuochen.
But in truth, for more than a month, Fu Zhuochen had tried again and again to sense that tail feather, and not once had he felt even the slightest trace of it.
No matter what, since Yun Su had been willing to stay behind for Qu Linyan, she would surely go to the devil realm to save her. Perhaps she had already decided to go to Yuntian City alone.
Hundred Flowers Valley in the demon capital was not far from Yuntian City. They had come here to ask about the devil realm’s current situation, and also to try their luck and see whether Yun Su had passed through by following memories from her past life.
“Then… what exactly happened in the devil realm?”
“The demon and devil clans have always stayed out of each other’s affairs. The Fox King had very limited news too,” Fu Zhuochen said. “Three hundred years ago, for some unknown reason, the Devil Venerable’s eldest son, Chi Qiong, urged the Withered Lamp clan to rebel with him. That civil war ended only a hundred years ago. Chi Qiong never repented, even to his death, so the Devil Venerable had no choice but to kill his beloved son. After that, he never recovered. Not long ago, at the Devil Venerable’s five-thousandth birthday banquet, he gave the throne to his second son, Chi Heng. After that, Chi Heng sent people to slaughter the flood dragon clan, who had served him for three hundred years.”
Ciyin was at a loss. “Why?”
Fu Zhuochen said, “The Devil Venerable had only two sons. One died in the civil war, so the other no longer needed to fight for anything to obtain everything. By all logic, after the flood dragon clan attached itself to the devil clan, it did a great deal to help settle the civil war. That should count as helping Chi Heng. Yet he still chose to kill them all. As for the reason, I fear only Qu Linyan knows it.”
Ciyin pressed her lips together. “Your demon and devil matters are truly messy.”
“Let’s go. To Yuntian City.” Fu Zhuochen turned and walked ahead.
Ciyin hurried after him. On impulse, she plucked a flower beside her and looked up to ask, “Brother Fu, I do not understand. In the human world, all flowers are arranged by us flower fairies in the heavenly realm according to the monthly calendar. Then where do the flowers of the earth realm come from?”
Hundred Flowers Valley had no winter. It was spring in all four seasons, with a hundred flowers blooming in beauty. It could be called the most beautiful place in the earth realm.
In the human world, the blooming and withering of seasonal flowers were all managed by the Flower God of the heavenly realm, then carried out by the flower fairies. Because of this, before Ciyin came to the earth realm, she had always believed every flower in the world was granted by the Flower God and the flower fairies.
“All things between heaven and earth have their own spirit. Not everything is managed by the heavenly realm. When heaven and earth were still chaos, before the three realms were divided, how could there be ranks of high and low, noble and lowly among the clans?” Fu Zhuochen glanced at Ciyin and continued, “You immortals in heaven may manage everything in the mortal world, but all things in the mortal world were not born because of you. Flowers bloom and fade because of a set fate, no different from mortals growing old, dying, and entering reincarnation. So-called flower fairies are only watchers over these cycles.”
“So even without flower fairies, the flowers of the four seasons would still bloom and fade?”
If that was true, then immortals and gods seemed able to control everything, but only in the human world.
Thinking this, Ciyin frowned and shook her head. “But Mother did not say it like that…”
Fu Zhuochen asked back, “Then where do the flowers of the earth realm come from? Can the hands of your heavenly realm reach even here?”
Ciyin was speechless. Before she could think of how to argue, Fu Zhuochen asked, “The demon clan has never been weak, yet your heavenly realm has always looked down on demons. Do you know why?”
“I do not.” Ciyin shook her head.
“Rather than looking down on them, it is more like disgust. In the three realms, anything neither human nor devil that gains spiritual awareness becomes a demon. Most demons are born in the human world,” Fu Zhuochen said. “But in the eyes of heavenly gods, the human world is their property. The existence of demons becomes an uncontrolled change.”
It was like flowers blooming and fading. Ordinary flowers followed the rules of the seasons, but a flower demon with spiritual awareness, even one without human form, would not obey so-called heavenly will.
If it wanted to bloom, it would not easily wither.
The heavenly realm disliked these beings that did not follow rules. Yet because controlling them was troublesome, the gods could only resent them in their hearts.
One immortal cursed today, another god cursed tomorrow. In their mouths, demons were all wicked, stubborn, and beyond saving. As time passed, demons became the lowly race the immortals and gods of the heavenly realm most despised.
“Is it really like that…” Ciyin found it hard to believe.
Seeing that she did not believe him, Fu Zhuochen laughed at himself. “You can keep thinking I was talking nonsense. After all, you once called me an evil beast.”
“I did not…” Ciyin’s face flushed red.
Three hundred years ago, when they first met, she truly had held deep prejudice against demons. In front of Zhiming, she had angrily called Fu Zhuochen an evil beast.
Now that she had come to the earth realm and seen so many demons along the way, she finally felt that whether one was an immortal or a demon, there was not much difference besides lifespan. Good and evil came from the heart. Nothing else mattered.
Ciyin could not help becoming curious. What kind of demon was this black flood dragon whom everyone in heaven spat on? Why could she make Yun Su, who feared fatigue, pain, and trouble, first break the marriage contract Fairy Yunni had set for her before leaving, then ignore heavenly rules and laws so completely, loving her with no fear of life or death?
The word love truly made people unable to understand.
*
Soul-Wounding Valley, bamboo forest barrier.
For half a month, Yun Su cared day and night for that heavily wounded little black snake.
This time, the little black snake’s injuries were clearly far worse than the injuries from three hundred years ago. Fortunately, it recovered much faster than it had back then.
First, the little peacock from back then had very low cultivation and could at most help bandage wounds and change medicine. She could not, like now, use her own spiritual power to heal Qu Linyan.
Second, Qu Linyan’s cultivation was now far above what it had been then. If such injuries had happened back then, her soul would probably have scattered already.
Even so, the little black snake slept for a long time.
While it slept, Yun Su could clearly feel its breathing was terribly weak, so weak she could almost fail to notice it was still breathing at all. It was as if simply being alive had already used up all its strength.
Whenever Yun Su saw that little black snake lying in the peacock nest, covered in wounds and motionless, her heart ached uncontrollably.
She could hardly imagine what kind of will had let it drag such heavy injuries, escape the devil clan’s hunt, and flee all the way back here.
Yun Su was terrified Qu Linyan would sleep like this forever.
She even wondered whether she could use her own blood to speed the healing of the little black snake’s injuries, at least to make those flesh wounds close faster and ease a little of its pain.
But when she cut her finger and smeared blood over the little black snake’s whole forehead, she discovered that the Black Tortoise’s power had hidden her spiritual aura and also sealed the bloodline power inside her body. She could no longer use her blood to heal the little black snake. She could only use spiritual power to slowly repair its inner and outer wounds.
The little black snake woke on the fifth day.
At that time, it only had the strength to open its eyes. Exhaustion and pain tortured it so badly that even breathing brought great agony. Its small eyes were dim and lightless.
When Yun Su saw the little black snake wake, she quickly ran to the kitchen and cooked some plain porridge. She blew on each spoonful until it cooled, then pinched open its mouth and forced the porridge in.
The little black snake was wounded all over. Truly, moving one part tugged at the whole body. Even opening its mouth to swallow thin food made its organs feel as if they were burning and churning. Tears fell from the pain.
Yun Su’s heart ached when she saw it, but she also knew it was injured so badly that it could not use spiritual power to keep up its strength. Since it had finally woken, it had to eat something, or it truly would not last.
“Bear with it. You still have to eat.” Yun Su coaxed it while feeding it. When it had trouble swallowing several times, she could only harden her heart and use magic to help guide the food down.
After finally finishing, the little black snake’s eyes rolled back, and it fainted again.
After that, Yun Su stayed by its side for two days without moving away. When she saw its body shift slightly, as if it might wake, she hurried to the kitchen and reheated the porridge she had prepared ahead of time.
The moment the little black snake opened its eyes, it saw Yun Su beside it with bowl and spoon in hand. It obediently flicked its tongue.
This time, the little black snake finally did not fall unconscious again right after eating. It only opened its eyes weakly and quietly watched Yun Su.
Yun Su had too many things she wanted to ask Qu Linyan clearly. But she was afraid those words would only add frost to snow for the injured snake. After thinking again and again, she finally swallowed all the unwillingness in her heart.
After the little black snake regained awareness, its wounds healed much faster. In less than three days, it could move a little.
Yun Su still gave it spiritual power to heal each day and cooked porridge to feed it.
On the thirteenth day, Yun Su woke from a dream and felt something beside her. She lowered her head and looked into the bedding. The little black snake had climbed into her bed at some unknown time. Its thin tail was lightly wrapped around her wrist, and the front half of its body lay at her waist, eyes closed as it slept sweetly.
“Little Black.”
Yun Su called its name softly, testing. Seeing that it slept deeply, she could not bear to wake it. She simply stayed in the position she had woken in, staring at the roof without moving, lost in thought.
She had thought that when she saw Qu Linyan again, she would be angry and unwilling. She thought she would cry and shout, questioning why Qu Linyan had been cruel enough to sacrifice her three hundred years ago.
But now, she only watched over it day and night, quiet and calm, neither crying nor making a scene. She only hoped it would recover soon.
Then she would ask her…
I saved you again. You owe me. How will you repay it?