Chapter 193 – An Ox Munching on Peony (1/2)

Milliped considered the question seriously, while Li Qingshan grew nervous. He was afraid this Daemon General would say something along the lines of, “You!” He would be done for if that were the case.

But fortunately, Milliped said at the end, “Yellow seeds. White seeds.”

It took Li Qingshan a moment to understand that he was talking about millet and rice. He was actually a herbivore, but he soon remembered that most millipedes in the world were herbivores anyway.

Of course, most daemons never followed this. Even if it had been a goat who had grazed on grass for most of its life, it would happily eat meat and drink alcohol after turning into a daemon. This guy was probably so stupid that he had not even bothered to change his diet!

“I’ll go up to grab them!” Li Qingshan was just about to leap out of the hole above him with Xiao An.

“Hold on!”

Li Qingshan’s heart sank, but he heard Milliped say, “And that colourless water!”

“Water? You mean alcohol?”

“I think so…”

“Okay, I’ll go fetch that!”

As expected, Milliped did not stop him. He did not even try taking Xiao An as a hostage. He just pressed him. “Quickly! Quickly!”

Li Qingshan leapt out of the secret room underground. The hole just happened to be above the back garden, which was why the buildings had not collapsed. He rushed out with Xiao An, before collapsing on the ground and gazing at the deep, blue night sky, gasping for air.

He felt like he had gone fishing, only to catch a great white shark. That was far too dangerous. Fortunately, this shark was not particularly clever, nor could it leave the water, or it really would have cost him his life this time.

Xiao An laid beside him, also looking at the night sky. The faint wisps of clouds floated by, but she seemed slightly depressed.

Li Qingshan suddenly stood up, grabbed her, and helped her to her feet. He lectured, “You haven’t been behaving yourself at all. I told you to go, so you go. Why’d you come back?”

Xiao An waved her hands and eeked and ahhed in argument.

Li Qingshan shot her a glance. “Hmm? You’ve just learned how to speak, yet you’re gonna talk back at me? It was pure luck in the Boundless mountains, which was why you happened to help me. That doesn’t mean you were right. If I say you’re wrong, then you’re wrong. I’m saying all of this for your sake!”

The rims of Xiao An’s eyes reddened from anger. She turned around and no longer said anything.

Li Qingshan said, “You’re not allowed to cry!”

As a result, tears streamed down Xiao An’s face.

Li Qingshan’s heart immediately began to ache. He steeled his resolve. “Crying won’t work this time. You need to learn.”

“You-” Li Qingshan was completely stunned, like he had been struck by a Lightning Summoning talisman.

Xiao An had finally spoken a complete sentence; this should have been something worthy of a great celebration, but the sentence made his heart ache slightly. He laid back down on the ground, defeated. He too experienced the worries that came with a growing child.

In the hole in the garden, Milliped asked, “Do you have it?”

“I don’t!” Li Qingshan barked.

“Why are you so loud?” Milliped asked in a daze.

“It’s got nothing to do with you!” Li Qingshan barked again, “Just keep waiting!”

“Okay.”

This was the first time Li Qingshan had realised the severity of the issue. Xiao An was growing up slowly, so she would definitely develop her own thoughts and opinions. Perhaps, there might even be the legendary rebellious phase. It was impossible to avoid conflict as a family—no, it was possible to say that the closer they were as a family, the more easily they would come into conflict with each other.

As the head of the family, he had to consider just how he was supposed to communicate with her. He had to guide her growth slowly and patiently, but just how was he supposed to go about it?

He felt his mind descend into a mess. This was far more complicated than cultivation. As a result, he just laid there as he thought about a lot of things. He thought about how his parents treated him. He thought about the methods of education mentioned by those professionals on television during his previous life.

Li Qingshan suddenly sat up. “Yep. I need to treat her as an equal first.” He crawled to his feet and made his way over to the door slowly. He raised his hand to knock, but he ended up hitting nothing. The door suddenly swung open and a petite figure threw herself into his arms.

Li Qingshan was slightly taken aback before breaking into laughter. He could feel how attached she was to him. He stroked her hair. “I’m sorry. I was too brash earlier. I’ve never wanted to abandon you. I just want to protect you.”

“I… want to… protect… you too…” Xiao An was still not very fluent, but she was extremely serious.