1063 A Hundred Thousand Years Worth of Predicamen (1/2)
Celestial Venerable Ling stood there silently, only recovering after a while.
Suddenly, this maiden, who didn't care about her appearance, rushed forward and took her hairpin from Qin Mu. She kicked Qin Mu to the ground and attacked him ferociously.
The rod spirits riding the bamboo rods rushed forward too. They also beat up Qin Mu until bones began to snap.
Celestial Venerable Yue, Yan'er, and the others were dumbstruck. Meanwhile, the dragon qilin napped on the ground and pretended not to see anything.
”You stole my hairpin! Who let you steal my hairpin!”
Celestial Venerable Ling hollered while beating him, ”Who let you slip away and return sneakily! Do you know how bitterly I waited?”
Qin Mu curled up on the ground while hugging his head, begging for mercy.
Celestial Venerable Ling didn't care, continuing while furiously saying, ”Do you know how tough it was on me all these years? After you left, everyone said I was wrong. Only I knew that I was right because you are my proof!”
She began to cry as she continued on with her venting and beating.
”Everyone said I was crazy. Even Yun and Yue thought I was wrong and that I could never succeed!
”I wished for you to be by my side so badly, just to tell me I'm right!
”Yet, you ran away and disappeared!
”I'll beat you to death!”
…
She jumped on Qin Mu and cried like a girl who had been wronged for a long time. She clutched her peachwood hairpin in one hand and Qin Mu's shirt in another, afraid he would disappear again.
Others might not be able to understand such a feeling, yet Qin Mu understood the loneliness brought forth by setbacks and misunderstandings deeply.
At such a time, one only needed acknowledgment from a Dao friend to muster up some courage and continue on.
Qin Mu encountered this before, and so did Celestial Venerable Ling.
Qin Mu had the dragon qilin. Even if the dragon qilin didn't understand him, he would at least encourage him.
Celestial Venerable Ling had nothing.
Celestial Venerable Yue held her up, and Celestial Venerable Ling jumped on her shoulder to cry while still pinching Qin Mu's clothes.
Qin Mu patted the footprints on him and said, ”If you didn't succeed, how could I return?”
”I knew I would succeed!” Celestial Venerable Ling insisted.
Qin Mu laughed before seriously saying, ”You're right.”
”I know!”
After a while, Celestial Venerable Ling stabilized herself and threw Qin Mu aside. She took the peachwood hairpin and looked at it repeatedly. Meanwhile, Celestial Venerable Yue dragged Qin Mu away to drink tea at a clean place. It was hard to find a clean place in Celestial Venerable Ling's garden.
Those ponies riding the bamboo rods were still charging at Qin Mu's legs. Qin Mu tried to chase them away, but he failed.
Yan'er led the six heavenly dragons to help Celestial Venerable Ling clean her room and garden and organize the papers she had written on.
”Yan'er, this scroll is organized in a wrong manner,” the dragon qilin glanced at it and said.
”It's wrong?” The ponies became energetic again. They gave up on Qin Mu and went after the dragon qilin instead. They beat him up while he continued to sleep, refusing to budge.
Celestial Venerable Yue looked at Qin Mu, then looked at Celestial Venerable Ling, who was laughing at the hairpin in her hand. She blinked and probed, ”Mu, are you really from the future?”
Qin Mu drank the tea and pouted his lips towards Yan'er. He said, ”You will adopt this girl in the future and give her the name Yan'er. Her mother gave birth to her and gave her to you personally. She will feed you until you are all chubby and fat.”
Celestial Venerable Yue examined Yan'er and said, ”Nonsense! There's no way I'll be fed until I'm fat by her! Unless, I sent her to you in the future?”
Qin Mu smiled as he put down his teacup, asking, ”Celestial Venerable Yun went to complain to the celestial heavens?”
Celestial Venerable Yue nodded and, with a faint gaze, said, ”Not long after you disappeared, Celestial Venerable Hao built the half-gods' celestial heavens upon the order of the ancient Celestial Emperor. It's called the Dragon Heaven Celestial Heavens. Their power rose, especially in places like the Primordial Realm, which has caused greater friction between humans and half-gods. However, humans are still weak, so even though we have worked together with other Postcelestial races, we have still been bullied by the half-gods. It has been hard for us.”
Qin Mu looked at her face. The once gentle and weak Celestial Venerable Yue was way tougher now.
”We have worked with them and fought many times against half-gods. However, we have mostly lost.”
Celestial Venerable Yue smiled bitterly as she played with her teacup with her finger. ”It sounds like the half-gods and the Postcelestial races fighting for territory and advantages, but it's more like sharing loot. The ones sharing loot aren't us, however, but the ancient gods. We have lost more than we've won because of how unwilling we are to sacrifice to them.”
Qin Mu's heart moved slightly.
Celestial Venerable Yue continued, ”Whenever we fought them, and both sides amassed their armies, we would have to perform a blood sacrifice to get the ancient gods to come down and help us. Mu, you come from the later generations. Do they still do that in combat then?”
Qin Mu shook his head.
”Guess, what did we use as a sacrifice for the greedy ancient gods?” Celestial Venerable Yue said.
Qin Mu shook his head, and he hoarsely said, ”I don't want to.”
”When people are desperate, they can do anything.”
Celestial Venerable Yue drank her tea, yet she coughed as if it was strong alcohol that burnt her throat. She took a while to recover before sighing. ”Unfortunately, it isn't wine. Then, we were desperate, for we were pushed back to the Heaven Han Celestial Heavens and the Jade Capital. Thus, we sacrificed to the ancient gods.”
She said rigidly, ”Us, as gods protecting the Heaven Han Celestial Heavens, sacrificed ourselves to the ancient gods high up. We made ourselves beasts and food for them. Soon, the ancient gods descended. Celestial Venerable Hao did the same. Guess what happened.”
Before Qin Mu could say anything, she laughed and said, ”Both sides had ancient gods, and the battle had been bloody and filled with deep hatred! Everyone thought that it would become an unimaginably bloody massacre, but both sides' ancient gods actually negotiated, acting as meditators!”
She revealed strong mockery as she clenched her teeth and said, ”They peacefully negotiated and set down a peace treaty for us to put down our hatred and to get the half-gods that were about to attack the Heaven Han Celestial Heavens to withdraw! They couldn't take it, so they protested. They only left quietly after a batch of them were eaten. It was then that we knew…”
The mockery became denser as she said, ”We are food. The entire Primordial Realm is a giant breeding ground! Mu, this is a breeding ground! We are livestock bred by the ancient gods! They ate us directly in the past, but now, they are civilized! They let us fight amongst ourselves so that we have to sacrifice ourselves for them to eat!”