The Little Peacock Raises a Snake (GL) Chapter 65

[You are the heavenly realm’s divine bird, the Blue Luan, while I am only a demon from dark waters. You and I are like cloud and mud, separated by a whole sky.]
[Yet the greatest fortune of my life was still meeting you when we were young and reckless, like a moth flying into flame.]
*
Human world, Wuyou Valley.
Ciyin hummed a little tune as she swept away a patch of snow. Facing the bald piece of ground beneath it, she formed seals with both hands and carefully planted healing immortal herbs.
Yun Su walked out of the house, looked around, and hesitantly asked, “Where is that person?”
“That person?” Ciyin froze.
Yun Su frowned. “Fu Zhuochen.”
Ciyin pressed her lips together. “I do not know. He said you did not want to see him, so he went out early in the morning.”
Hearing this, Yun Su sat down beside Ciyin, propped her chin in both hands, and stared blankly at the small sprout that had just broken through the soil.
Several days ago, while still badly injured, Qu Linyan had faced her heavenly tribulation.
Yun Su had no choice but to release the divine power inside her body and block the layers of heavenly lightning for her.
One strike, then another, then another.
Before she knew it, half the long night had passed.
It was common for lower-realm demons to undergo tribulations. But when immortal and divine power suddenly appeared to stop heavenly lightning, it would inevitably startle the heavenly realm.
While Yun Su endured the lightning tribulation, she faintly sensed immortals descending to investigate.
She knew she absolutely could not be discovered by the heavenly realm again. In panic, she withdrew her spiritual power and used her body to take four bolts of heavenly lightning by force.
Only four bolts completely drained her strength. She fell to the ground together with Qu Linyan in her arms.
The heavy rain was cold to the bone. She lifted her eyes toward the heavenly tribulation at the edge of the sky, still unwilling to retreat, and her heart felt desolate.
If the refined Black Tortoise power inside her had not protected her, scattering her spiritual power and taking heavenly lightning with her body would likely have killed her already. But even so, she still did not want the heavenly realm to find her again and force her and Qu Linyan apart.
If she had to blame anything, she could only blame the Heavenly Dao. It had never been fair to demons. What broken heavenly tribulation needed to strike for a whole night?
At the moment of despair, a red spiritual light suddenly lit the world.
She turned and lifted her eyes, only to see a person in red robes standing in the air between heaven and earth. With his sleeves whipping in the wind, he raised a hand and drew seals, blocking all the remaining heavenly lightning.
Yun Su did not dare speak. She only counted blankly.
A full sixteen bolts.
At last, the dark clouds carried the downpour away after washing heaven and earth clean.
By then, night had ended and dawn had arrived.
Fu Zhuochen flew down beside her. He stretched out a hand, wanting to help her up, but after a moment of hesitation, slowly lowered it again.
“You startled the heavenly realm. This place is not safe. Come back to Wuyou Valley with me.”
Resistance flashed in Yun Su’s eyes.
Fu Zhuochen was silent for a moment. “She is badly injured and needs quiet rest. Most clans in the demon realm hate the flood dragon clan. The current you cannot protect her.”
Yun Su lowered her head to look at the unconscious Qu Linyan in her arms. She pressed down that unwillingness and silently nodded.
If Fu Zhuochen had not arrived in time that day, only two endings would have waited for her: dying with Qu Linyan under the lightning tribulation, or releasing spiritual power, being discovered by the heavenly realm, and receiving punishment.
In the second ending, perhaps Zhiming could have saved her life. But in order to remain in the lower realm, she had done such a foolish thing as faking death to deceive Divine Lord Mengzhang. That would surely harm Qu Linyan and drag in everyone connected to that day.
Ciyin, Fu Zhuochen, even Zhiming would not be able to avoid blame.
Thinking of this, an indescribable struggle rose in her heart.
“Susu, I am not trying to lecture you, but this is someone else’s place. He lent it to you two to heal, yet you still cannot give him a decent expression… I really cannot watch this.” As Ciyin spoke, seeing that Yun Su’s face did not look good, she quickly changed the subject. “Right, what happened during this time? Where were you? And how did you find the black flood dragon?”
For a moment, Yun Su did not know where to start.
Seeing that Yun Su did not want to speak, Ciyin stopped asking and instead spoke of what she had gone through recently.
“Brother Fu said that even if you hid your spiritual aura, there should still be a link between him and the tail feather he gave you. But after we sent you away that day, for a very, very long time, he could not sense the tail feather at all. We did not know what method you used to cut off even that link, but we feared you would go alone to save the black flood dragon, so we went ahead to Yuntian City to ask for news… There was no real gain.” Ciyin shook her head and continued, “Half a month ago, Brother Fu said he could sense your location. He quickly brought me after you. You and the black flood dragon really can run. From the devil realm all the way here is so far. We did not rest for even a moment, and thankfully, we still made it in time.”
“So close. If we had been a little later, it would have been too late.” Ciyin turned and glanced at Yun Su, who looked more and more unhappy. Knowing she had said the wrong thing again, she quickly closed her mouth.
The two sat shoulder to shoulder in silence for a long time.
Ciyin could not help breaking the silence. She asked softly, “You remembered everything, right?”
Yun Su lowered her lashes and said nothing.
“Susu, sometimes I really envy you. Brother Fu truly treats you… especially well.” Ciyin lowered her head and gently fiddled twice with the new leaves growing in the winter snow. “If someone treated me like that, I would be very happy. But why… do you seem to have always disliked him? Three hundred years ago and three hundred years later, both are like this…”
Yun Su shook her head. “I do not dislike him.”
“Do you believe that yourself?” Ciyin muttered. “Look at your attitude toward him. It is as if he owes you a life…”
After winter snow melted, spring would come. Things withered and dead would bloom again.
But human hearts? After seeing the coldness of the world, could they truly find their old warmth again?
Yun Su bit her lip, lifted her eyes to Ciyin, and asked, “A-Yin, do you know what it feels like not to be cared about?”
“Ah?” Ciyin lifted her head and blinked at Yun Su in confusion. She shook her head. “Susu, Divine Lord Zhiming, Brother Fu, and I… we all care about you very much!”
“Yes, you all care about me. I am so grateful, and so disappointed.” Yun Su hugged her knees, curled into herself, and looked up at the gray sky. Tears blurred her eyes without her noticing. “But every one of you cares about Yun Su. No one cared whether Fu Xiaoba lived or died… Was she not also me?”
Ciyin’s eyes widened suddenly, full of shock and confusion.
Yun Su said, “I once asked him whether he saw me as his younger sister, or only as a passerby entrusted to his care for a lifetime, whose fate with him would end once I successfully completed my tribulation and ascended. At that time, he did not answer me directly. I gave myself the answer I wanted. Looking at it now, I was only being clever and deceiving myself…”
Yun Su said faintly, “The day I returned from my tribulation, I opened my eyes and saw Fu Zhuochen in Northern Xuan Palace… Do you know what I was thinking then?”
Ciyin shook her head and did not dare speak.
“Zhiming saved me, but if he had not gone to the earth realm, perhaps Little Black and I could have waited until dawn. When I saw Fu Zhuochen appear in Northern Xuan Palace, I truly hated him. I would rather not have seen him. That way, at least I could still lie to myself and say he and Zhiming were not on the same side… I could still lie to myself and say he did not fail to save me. I simply did not wait long enough.”
“But the truth was right there.” Yun Su smiled bitterly. “I trusted him so much, but he said that was my tribulation and he had no power to stop it… He cared for me and protected me only because of one request from Zhiming.”
Ciyin took Yun Su’s wrist and shook her head. “It was not like that…”
“I care about it so much. Truly, so much…” Yun Su’s eyes reddened. “That little peacock worked so hard to prove she was alive, worked so hard to live according to her own will. But other than the demon everyone spat on, no one truly protected her.”
Yun Su gave Ciyin a faint smile and asked softly, “Those past events were so important to me. Why did I choose to give them up?”
Ciyin had no answer.
“Before I remembered, I always thought Qu Linyan had hurt me completely, and that was why I chose to forget her. But after I remembered everything, I realized the thing that truly crushed me was that powerless feeling of not being cared about, not being needed.” Yun Su closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and choked through gritted teeth. “At that time, there was always a voice in my heart telling me: Fu Xiaoba was a person completely abandoned. The only person who cared about her was almost killed because of her… Her being alive was only a burden.”
At that time, she had felt helpless and alone. She could not bear to let go, yet she was afraid that if she kept clinging on, sooner or later she would get Qu Linyan killed.
When she chose to forget everything, she thought Qu Linyan had saved Qu Muqing. Even if Qu Linyan left her, at least someone would remain by her side.
“I forgot everything, and I was even going to marry someone else… When she found out, how heartbroken must she have been…”
At this point, Yun Su could not stop curling up and sobbing softly.
“Susu…” Ciyin reached out and gently patted Yun Su’s back, her own heart rising and falling.
After three hundred years, she once again watched her best sister suffer like this. At last, she understood why Fu Zhuochen had been willing to risk his life to save someone destined to face a tribulation.
Perhaps if he had gone back then, everything would have been different.
Even if he could not have saved that little peacock, at least he would not have let that once-burning mortal heart turn cold.
“Susu, three hundred years ago… it was not that he did not want to save you. He truly had no way…”
Yun Su laughed mockingly. “I truly cannot see that he also has times when he has no way.”
“You, listen to me first. After I finish, you can keep being angry, all right?” Ciyin saw that Yun Su did not answer and pulled her arm back and forth. “Listen to me!”
Yun Su was shaken until her temper vanished. “Say it. I will listen…”
“The magic artifact in Star Lord of Fate’s hands, the Reincarnation Mirror, can see an immortal’s tribulation in the mortal world. During your tribulation, Zhiming asked Star Lord of Fate for the Reincarnation Mirror. You and the black flood dragon became tangled together and finally entered the earth realm. None of that could escape the mirror’s watch. If the one who had seen it all was not Zhiming but Star Lord of Fate, the heavenly army would have attacked the flood dragon clan long ago.”
As Ciyin spoke, spiritual light gathered at her fingertips to nourish the immortal herb on the ground. She continued, “But the Reincarnation Mirror belonged to Star Lord of Fate after all. If he came to ask for it back, how could Zhiming refuse? At that time, just when things were about to be impossible to hide, Fu Zhuochen came to the heavenly realm and took your sword from Zhiming. Using the sword’s spirit, he created a fake version of you and deceived the Reincarnation Mirror. Only then was the matter suppressed for the time being.”
Yun Su could not help being shocked. She had known nothing of this.
“Later, your identity was exposed in the earth realm. Star Lord of Fate discovered that the image in the Reincarnation Mirror had been tampered with by Brother Fu and hurriedly reported it to the Heavenly Emperor. The Heavenly Emperor was furious and ordered Brother Fu seized and locked beneath the demon-suppressing pillars…”
Yun Su fell silent.
“The Heavenly Emperor wanted to sever his six roots and six senses. Divine Lord Zhiming had no choice but to accept the order to bring you back to the heavenly realm within ten days, using that to ask the Heavenly Emperor to forgive Brother Fu.” Ciyin said, “It was not that he did not want to save you. On the day you faced your tribulation, I happened to go to the demon-suppressing pillars. I saw him damage his own inner core and force his three souls and seven spirits out of his body, only to escape and save you… If I had arrived one step later, he would have gone against the Heavenly Dao and become a wandering ghost forever unable to enter reincarnation.”
“How could…” Yun Su shook her head.
“That day, his heart meridians shattered, and his organs were torn. He slept for a long time and only woke a few days earlier than you…” As Ciyin spoke, a trace of blame entered her voice. “He endured so much for you in silence and never asked you to repay him at all. He is the one person you should least resent.”
“Why did no one ever tell me…”
“Yes. There are many things no one told you. You never notice them, and you never ask! In your heart, there is only the black flood dragon. Where can you see what others have given for you?” Ciyin’s eyes reddened as she spoke.
“Two months ago, because of you, he was injured by Divine Lord Mengzhang. His wounds still have not healed. Then he blocked the remaining lightning tribulation for you and the black flood dragon, making his internal injuries relapse. Yet you have not even asked one word of concern! For several days, you have stayed by that unconscious black flood dragon. How would you notice that he coughed blood alone while healing?”
“Yun Su, you are used to being cared for. To you, everything others give is only natural. If others do not mention it, you will not remember.”
“You are only suited to be with someone who says everything aloud. Back then, when the black flood dragon wanted to use you, she treated you with three parts kindness and called it ten parts love. You believed it all… You are foolish. Too easy to fool! So easy to fool that when someone treats you ten parts well, if they hide it a little, you cannot notice at all!”
“Would I be going too far if I said you are naturally cold-hearted?”
Yun Su suddenly felt all those chaotic thoughts explode at once.
The Ciyin from before would never have spoken to her in this tone. But today, not only had Ciyin said it, every sentence seemed to stab her heart.
No wonder, when they parted in Hundred Flowers Valley back then, Fu Zhuochen had once said, “This is the last time. From now on, I will no longer manage your affairs.”
Perhaps by then, he had already known what he would face for the great mistake he had committed. It was not that he did not want to help anymore. It was that he no longer could.
Ciyin was right. Yun Su truly was naturally cold-hearted.
Whoever treated her well, she relied on. Whoever stopped treating her well, she abandoned.
Past life or present life, heaven or human world, she had not changed at all.
No wonder she had missed so much for nothing. After all, for someone like her, who did not know how to cherish, every missed chance was deserved.
Seeing Yun Su’s face grow paler and paler, Ciyin realized she had spoken too harshly. For a moment, she felt lost and helpless.
Thankfully, the immortal herb before her was sensible and bloomed at this most awkward moment. Ciyin quickly reached out to pluck it and stood. “I will go heal Qu Linyan…”
Yun Su came back to herself and hurried after Ciyin, catching her wrist.
Ciyin’s head ached. “Just pretend I said nothing. I did not mean to scold you…”
“I am sorry. I ignored all of you…” Yun Su’s eyes were full of guilt. “You faked dying under Mengzhang’s hand for me. Were your injuries serious?”
Ciyin froze. After a long silence, she bit her lip and said with red eyes, “At least you have some conscience and know to care about me. But I was injured the least. Save your concern for someone else.”
After saying this, Ciyin turned and walked into the house.
Yun Su bit her lower lip and clenched both hands tightly into fists.
For the death in that lifetime, she had blamed Zhiming, blamed Fu Zhuochen, and blamed Qu Linyan even more.
If not for Ciyin, perhaps it would have taken her a long time to understand that the people she resented and hated deep in her heart had all treated her sincerely.
Before, she had not understood. From now on, she would no longer be that cold-hearted person.