Chapter 167: Go or Stay
Looking at the black cat walking out leisurely, Long Qi was surprised.
Although the journey was relatively safe, we did encounter many problems. Could it be that this cat has been following us like this all the time?
Zhao Wuyang stared at A Jin, his face thoughtful. He remained silent until A Jin came closer.
Just as A Jin sat down in front of Zhao Wuyang, his body suddenly shone brightly, causing Long Qi to close his eyes quickly. But even under such a dazzling light, Zhao Wuyang still stared at A Jin intently.
Also not afraid of the strong light was the mountain god who was sitting on a big rock nearby, tapping his toes leisurely.
In just a moment, all the light retreated. At this time, there was no black cat Ajin in front of Zhao Wuyang, but an eight-foot-tall man.
Long Qi opened his eyes and saw that Zhao Wuyang was so short in front of this man, just reaching his chest. But there was no fear in Zhao Wuyang's eyes. He just raised his head and looked at A Jin in front of him, with an inexplicable expression in his eyes.
Seeing this, Long Qi was about to step forward to ask, but was hooked by the mountain god's wooden stick. Long Qi was puzzled, but the mountain god just made a hushing sound, signaling him to watch quietly.
Seeing him like this, Long Qi was even more confused. The mountain god sighed and said, "What a bad fate..."
Bad fate? What bad fate?
Long Qi was just wondering when he heard Ah Jin ask, "When did you find out?"
Zhao Wuyang stared at him intently. Under the illumination of Ajin's divine light, his eyes were clear. "Ever since I read the Records of Strange Stories from Mountains and Seas given to me by Elder Fu Cang, I have guessed it."
"You guessed it based on just one book?" Ajin frowned when he heard that.
Zhao Wuyang sighed and lowered his head: "Although Elder Fu Cang looks tough, she always has her reasons for doing things. When she first gave me the book and told me to read it carefully, I didn't understand what she meant until I read the chapter about Xishan Strange Stories. Then I understood what she wanted to tell me."
Ah Jin smiled softly when he heard this: "So, what does she want to tell you?"
As soon as this question was asked, Zhao Wuyang remained silent. After a long while, he raised his head and asked, "Have you been following my mother for a long time?"
"Yes." Ajin replied with a smile.
After hearing his answer, Zhao Wuyang lowered his head again and didn't speak for a long time, which made Long Qi beside him feel a little strange.
But Ajin just smiled and looked at Zhao Wuyang without saying a word.
After a long while, Zhao Wuyang suddenly raised his head, stared at Ah Jin and asked, "Then you went to Yuanqing to look for me. Was it my mother's request?"
Ah Jin answered yes again, his expression remaining the same.
After hearing Ah Jin's answer, Zhao Wuyang's eyes were filled with tears: "Are you here to look for me because of my mother...she..."
He couldn't say the next words, and could only stutter, with a painful expression on his face, as if he didn't want to believe it.
Seeing him like this, Ah Jin's expression froze, and without waiting for him to finish, he directly said:
"Yes……"
This "yes" sounded very plain at first, but Long Qi seemed to hear a sigh from it.
After hearing the word "yes", the mist in Zhao Wuyang's eyes finally condensed into tears. The bean-sized tears rolled down, and were particularly dazzling under the illumination of Ajin's divine light.
Seeing Zhao Wuyang like this, Long Qi cursed A Jin for being unkind in his heart. He hurriedly stepped forward to comfort Zhao Wuyang, but was stopped by the mountain god with a stick.
Long Qi was very puzzled, and turned his head to ask, but the mountain god shook his head and sighed, "This time we may have to decide whether he stays or leaves." He raised his staff and pointed at A Jin, "Besides, the fate between the two of them is not something that outsiders can participate in. You just watch and worry about it..."
Hearing him say this, Long Qi was confused. He had always treated Zhao Wuyang as his own brother. Now that his brother was so sad, how could it be considered as meddling in other people's affairs if he, as an older brother, showed some concern?
Seeing the confused look on his face, the mountain god laughed and mocked him, "I can tell from the looks of it that you don't read books on weekdays. You don't even know as much as a kid. The legend of the cat spirit in the West Mountain has been passed down since ancient times. You call yourself a cultivator, but you don't even know this."
Speaking of which, when Long Qi was cultivating with Ling Xiang, he really didn't like to read any strange stories. Even when Ling Xiang asked him to, he just dealt with them perfunctorily. Most of them were just cursory reading, and now he has completely forgotten them. Compared with these strange stories, Long Qi prefers to read more books that can improve his cultivation, such as Taoism and magic.
Now that he was ridiculed by the mountain god, Long Qi felt a little embarrassed, but he didn't know how to refute. He could only sit down beside him in a sulky manner, looking at Zhao Wuyang without saying a word.
Zhao Wuyang cried silently for a long time, then wiped his tears and looked up to ask A Jin about the matter of the City Lord's wife in the City Lord's Mansion. A Jin briefly explained that Mrs. Qiao was worried about City Lord Zhao, so she found a substitute.
Hearing this, Zhao Wuyang frowned and asked, "If it was someone you liked, would you really sacrifice a tail to fulfill his wish?"
Hearing this, the mountain god seemed extremely excited, and pulled Long Qi and whispered, "Here it comes! It's finally here!"
Seeing him like this, Long Qi was very confused. Why was he so excited when others made sacrifices? He really was just a spectator.
Seeing Long Qi's disdainful look, the mountain god cleared his throat and said, "You don't know this. Every hundred years, the West Mountain spirit cat will grow a tail. As long as it grows nine tails, it can become a god."
"So what? Even if he cultivates for 900 years, for a divine cat like him, years is just a blink of an eye?" Long Qi really didn't know what was wrong. If it was in the past, he would definitely be surprised, but now he has entered the Taoist sect. Although his practice is still shallow, he still knows some things. Not to mention a cat spirit, even an ordinary monster in the mountains can live for years. Why is it so strange?
The mountain god smacked his lips and said, "I told you to read more books, but you are so ignorant. The cat spirits of the Western Mountain were originally favored by the gods. They should have been the first of the twelve zodiac gods, but because of some personal grudges, the son god snatched the divine revelation, which led to them not being included in the immortal class." He poked Long Qi and pointed at A Jin, "Here, this is his ancestor."
"and then?"
The mountain god seemed to be a storyteller in the mortal world. He shook his body and even shook his legs off. "Later, in order to appease them, Taiyi God specially listed his clan as divine favors and promised them that as long as they cultivated nine tails, they could be ranked as ancient gods. But that is the position of ancient gods, the same status as the great goddess Nuwa, so it is naturally not easy."
Long Qi was confused when he heard this, nine hundred years was not a difficult thing for them, so why was it so difficult?
"Whenever the Western Mountain Cat Spirit cultivates to have eight tails, it must fulfill the wish of a mortal before it can grow a ninth tail. However, every time it fulfills a wish, it must sacrifice a tail. If it repeats this over and over again, it will never be able to become a god." The mountain god spoke in a rhythmic manner, and even imitated the storyteller in the mortal world and knocked his leg.
What kind of practice is this? Long Qi was shocked when he heard this.
"So, they were fooled by that Taiyi God?"
Hearing him say this, the mountain god almost dropped the stone. He quickly hit Long Qi, then put his hands together and begged to the sky, "Children's words are not to be guarded, children's words are not to be guarded, please don't be offended, Lord Taiyi!" Then he hit Long Qi again, "Be careful with your words, the gods above can hear them, don't speak without restraint all day long."
Long Qi rolled his eyes at him when he heard that. If the gods really showed up, they would have cleaned up those demons. What kind of gods are they if they just left them there and continued to harm the world? It's not just that they didn't care, but that they liked to eavesdrop on other people's affairs.
While Long Qi was still complaining in his heart, he saw eight tails suddenly jump out from behind Ajin. At that moment, a bright light appeared and divine light shone everywhere.
Seeing this, Long Qi finally understood what the mountain god was so excited about. This scene was truly rare to see!
Ah Jin was stroking his tail, still smiling, and said to Zhao Wuyang: "Yes, whatever wish you have, I can help you fulfill it."
Zhao Wuyang's face was covered with tears. He grabbed Ah Jin's black robe and said, "Even if it's bringing someone back to life, can you do it?"
Ah Jin sighed and reached out to wipe Zhao Wuyang's tears: "Even if it means bringing your mother back to life, it can be done."
Hearing this, the mountain god sighed, and still sighed softly: "Humans, this is how it is..."
Long Qi didn't know what the mountain god was sighing about. Just as he was confused, he saw Zhao Wuyang shaking his head, pushing Ajin away, then lowering his head and being silent for a long time. After a long time, he looked up, with no tears in his eyes and a determined look on his face.
"I haven't decided what wish I want to make yet. How about you stay by my side for now? I'll make a wish for you once I've made up my mind."
As soon as the words fell, Ah Jin was stunned: "Don't you want to make a wish to bring your mother back to life?"
Zhao Wuyang had tears in his eyes. He sniffed and said in a muffled voice, "My mother taught me since I was a child that I should never sacrifice others to satisfy my own selfish desires. I know it's not easy for you to practice, but you are still close to mortals for so many years. If I make that wish, it will go against my mother's teachings and I can't explain myself. But I really don't have any other wishes to make now, so I might as well put it aside for the time being. Hum, you have to follow me anyway, so it won't be too late to talk about it when I remember it."
Hearing this, Ajin frowned, and after a moment he retracted his divine light, turned around and changed into a cat, then climbed onto Zhao Wuyang's shoulder.
The mountain god was amazed by these words: "I have always believed that everyone in the world is influenced by greed, anger, ignorance and hatred. After all these years, this is the first time I have seen such a person. It is really rare."
Hearing this, Long Qi glanced at him and was about to say something, but suddenly he slapped his head - he had only listened to the story for half a day and had forgotten about Xinyi and Liu Xia who were still in the illusion! Now the two of them were standing there, and they didn't know if their minds were damaged!
He grabbed the short mountain god and brought him in front of the two of them.
“You almost fooled me just now. You better break the spell they are using to bewitch me, otherwise…” As he said this, he slapped the Seven-Star Dragon Abyss on his back.
The mountain god sighed when he heard this, "It's not that I don't want to help you, but the fact that you are under the spell of these two people has nothing to do with me. I don't have the ability to set up such a large formation. Even though I am the god of a mountain, my cultivation may not be as good as your master's!"
Long Qi didn't believe it when he heard it: "Aren't you a follower of the great god Pangu? How can you say that your cultivation is low?"
The mountain god smiled awkwardly upon hearing this: "What you said is true, and it sounds very pleasant, but in fact, the so-called followers are just born for the mountain. What we do on a daily basis is nothing more than taking care of the mountain spirits and guarding the land."
"Then shouldn't you be an ancient god? How can you say that your cultivation is low?" Long Qi was very puzzled.
"Hey, what's the big deal?" The mountain god struggled to get out of Long Qi's hands and walked around him in a circle. "People are divided into different classes, let alone gods. Take the dragon clan for example. Even the lowest fish dragons are their food. What's so strange about that? Besides, since they have fallen into the illusion, unless they walk out of it themselves or eliminate the person who set up the formation, even if the king of heaven descends, he cannot save them."
Long Qi was unwilling to believe what he heard. He turned his head and glanced at A Jin on Zhao Wuyang's shoulder. The latter nodded slightly to him.
"If that's the case, then why are you fine in this formation?" After getting Ajin's confirmation, Long Qi asked Xiangshanshen again.
The mountain god seemed very proud when he heard this: "No matter how low my spiritual power is, I am still an ancient god. This kind of soul-stealing technique naturally has no effect on me. Look at the baby on the shoulder, isn't it jumping around all the time?"
Hearing him say this, Zhao Wuyang was puzzled: "If that's the case, then why was your head stolen? Who stole your head?"
The mountain god sighed, leaned on his wooden staff and walked to a rock and sat down. "Speaking of which, I am also puzzled. Some time ago, I don't know what fell from the sky. It was full of evil spirits and wanted to build a lake in the mountain. It also wanted to occupy the lake and be the king. However, any changes in the mountain required the approval of me, the mountain god. I saw that he was full of evil spirits, so I didn't agree. Who knew that he took advantage of my carelessness and cut off my head. After that, he occupied the entire mountain and set up a maze everywhere."
After hearing this, Long Qi and Zhao Wuyang looked at each other. The thunder and lightning that the villagers talked about that day was the monster with evil spirit in it mentioned by the mountain god.
It seems that they must meet the monster again.
The two nodded to each other, and then Long Qi asked the mountain god: "In this case, let's go meet the monster. If we see your head, we will get it back for you."
The mountain god took a deep breath when he heard this, and said that a newborn calf is not afraid of a tiger.
"Good boy, how dare you speak so arrogantly? That monster is not something you can deal with."
Long Qi seemed to be unconcerned: "My two brothers are now trapped in an illusion. We are the only ones who can save them. We can't just watch them go on like this. If their souls are damaged, wouldn't it be dangerous?" He turned around and was about to walk in, but as soon as he took a step, he stopped...
"Um... where should we go to find that monster?"
(End of this chapter)
