Chapter 18: Waiting For His Return

“Humans are weak, base creatures from birth. Eating them is just that – eating.” In the eyes of the Zhuyan, only those species stronger than him had any sense of existence. The rest could be slaughtered or eaten at will. Human lives were brief and frail; if not for the increasingly weakening spiritual qi in recent years, as well as the appearance of some management bureau, there would be no need for him to resist his innate tendencies. “You’re yao, yet you rush about for the humans. Truly a disgrace to my yao world.”

The Heavenly Book morphed into a beam of light and entered Zhuang Qing’s body. He was silent upon hearing the Zhuyan’s scoldings.

“What, you have nothing to say now?”

“Did no one tell you that I was born to a human mother and have human blood running through my veins despite having the shell of a dragon?” Zhuang Qing’s expression was serene. “Not only do I protect humans, I also protect the entire yao race. Do you think the situation now is like that of several thousand years ago?”

“Humans possess formidable weapons and ubiquitous monitoring devices. Unless human cultivators don’t ever appear in the human world, there will come a day when they are discovered by humans,” Zhuang Qing smiled coldly. “You’re an ancient yao. Perhaps you don’t fear human weapons, but what about the yao cultivators whose cultivation aren’t high enough?”

“Survival of the fittest – if they can’t overcome human weapons, then death is what they deserve.” The Zhuyan’s vicious, large mouth opened, letting out a roar, “There is no need for you to talk so much. A sordid creature like you who is tainted with human blood isn’t fit to talk to this king.”

After uttering these words, the Zhuyan was struck by a beam of blue light, immediately rendering his entire body painful and numb. Without any other choice, he could only lie at the bottom of the ocean and wail in pain.

“I’m not fit to talk to you, but I can hit you.”

“Kill me if you have the ability!”

“You must be joking,” Zhuang Qing raised a hand and yet another bolt of blue light landed on the Zhuyan. The expression on his face was exceedingly solemn. “You are savage and brutal; the number of human and yao cultivators who have died at your hands cannot be counted. Death will not be able to eliminate your crimes. Heavenly law dictates that I cannot kill you.”

“But…”

“I can hit you.”

The Zhuyan was beaten till he broke out into loud wails. Afterwards, he no longer talked back, and his temper was also no longer that explosive. He lay on the ground curled in a ball.

“Laozi has long wanted to beat you up,” Zhuang Qing composed his expression, as if he wasn’t the one who had just spouted profanities. “Reflect on yourself here, got it?”

The Zhuyan’s massive body trembled. He didn’t dare to speak.

At this moment, he was somewhat glad that there weren’t other yaoguai present at the bottom of the ocean to witness his miserable appearance, otherwise he wouldn’t be left with any face. He looked up and borrowed the golden radiance of virtue from Zhuang Qing’s body to look around stealthily. What were those incomparably hideous creatures, why were they forming a huge circle in the distance?

Those fish whose eyes grew on their stomachs, why were their mouths split open?

Their tummies were so huge, and they had such ugly looks. Could they still be looked upon if their mouths were split open?

Only at this instance did the Zhuyan realize that being shut inside the bureau’s spirit lock formation wasn’t anything scary. What was truly scary was being imprisoned within the deep sea without any knowledge of the year and month he would be able to leave.

Turning, Zhuang Qing transformed into a dragon and vanished before the Zhuyan’s eyes in the blink of an eye. The bottom of the ocean was an expanse of darkness, without a single hint of light.

Only when light was lost would one realize how beautiful it was.

When Zhuang Qing was about to reach the shore, he transformed into his human form and jumped out of the water. Several drunk fishermen in the distance were crooning some undecipherable song lyrics. With a shake of his body, his originally wet clothes instantly became dry, albeit with some wrinkles.

He looked down at his clothes for quite a while with some dissatisfaction.

“Young man.” An elderly lady stood behind him and persuaded him somewhat worriedly, “If there’s something bothering you, avoid dwelling on it. Don’t walk in. It’ll be high tide a while later, go home soon so that your family members won’t worry.”

Zhuang Qing looked back. The elderly lady was dressed in a black shirt and pants. She was wearing a green cloth official-like hat as well as green cloth shoes. Her black and white hair was combed very neatly. Under the reflection of the moon, her complexion appeared a little pale. The sea waves beat gently against the sandy shore, gently lapping the back of her feet before slowly retreating.

“Auntie, who are you waiting for here?” Zhuang Qing patted the wrinkles on his clothes and took a few steps towards the shore.

Seeing him move away from the seawater, a smiling expression appeared on the elderly lady’s face. “I’m waiting for my child. He’s been out at sea for a very long time. He said he would be back in June, but it’s already July; I can’t feel at ease.”

Zhuang Qing’s gaze landed on a spot behind her. Thrusting both hands into his pockets, he let out a sigh. “You’ve been waiting here every day?”

“I’m scared he doesn’t know the way.” The elderly lady seemed resentful, but in fact she was a little proud. “He’s had good grades since young. After joining the navy, he even rescued many people at sea. But he has one shortcoming – his memory isn’t very good; he even forgot the way home.”

Zhuang Qing turned and glanced at the sea that stretched as far as the eye could see. A bright lighthouse could be seen in the distance, illuminating the direction back for the ships far from home.

“Your son will come back,” Zhuang Qing shifted his line of sight. When he reached the carpark, he met an acquaintance – a yinchai from the underworld.

“Mr Zhuang,” When Wang Zhen caught sight of Zhuang Qing, a few hints of deference unwittingly appeared on his face. “Why are you here?”

“I came out to see the nightscape and just happened to bump into an elderly lady waiting for her son to return home.”

“She…” Wang Zhen wanted to say something but hesitated.

“The heart of a caring mother is everlasting. Perhaps her son will return soon.”

“You’re right, he’ll definitely return soon,” Wang Zhen kept his Soul-Locking Chain and Soul-Pulling Bell, smiling at Zhuang Qing. “This humble one will come again three days later.”

“Many thanks,” Zhuang Qing nodded at Wang Zhen.

“You’re too polite,” Wang Zhen morphed into smoke, vanishing at his spot. Zhuang Qing turned and cast a glance in the direction of the beach before turning back and vanishing into the dim light of the night.

The news of Fu Li’s heroic act very quickly circulated among the hotel’s security guards. The colleagues who originally bore some dislike towards him were now much gentler towards him. Before two days had even gone by, the colleagues working the same shift as him took the initiative after work had ended to invite him to a night gathering to drink and eat grilled skewers.

Although Fu Li wanted to rush back to study, this was the first time his new colleagues had invited him out for a night gathering, so he still cheerfully agreed.

The four men changed out of their security guard’s uniform and then brought Fu Li to a well-known snack street.

“Little Fu isn’t local, right?” Li Shi pried off the cap of the beer bottle using his teeth. He filled the four cups to the brim and told Fu Li, “If we’re talking about authentic snacks, the ones in this alley are still the most authentic. Two certain well-known snack streets are meant to deceive foreigners. Come, have a drink.”

The taste of iced beer during a summer night was particularly fresh and crisp. However, the four people didn’t dare to drink too much. They still needed to work tomorrow night and feared making a mistake. Several skewers of mutton and chicken wings went into their tummies, while several bottles’ worth of beer went into their intestines. These people then started calling Fu Li brother, with Li Shi even jokingly commenting about introducing a girlfriend to Fu Li.

Another colleague pulled the rug out from under his feet. “Don’t listen to his nonsense. He himself is a single dog, how is he going to introduce a girlfriend to someone else.”

“That’s hard to say. With this face of mine, finding a girlfriend is a bit more challenging. But our little Fu has no need to worry about that,” Li Shi downed a cup of beer. “Look at this face and legs. Didn’t you see how those little girls at the front counter like to distribute snacks to him? Has any one of you ever received that kind of treatment?”

Fu Li listened to them teasing each other with overflowing doubt in his heart. In the past, he had seen dogs who wanted to cultivate into humans, but he had yet to see any human call themselves a dog. Sure enough, the times were progressing, and society was advancing; even the humans had started to accord importance to the equality of all living things.

After finishing the skewers and beer, the four men each went back to their respective homes.

Fu Li walked along a quiet trail, bathed in gentle moonlight. His mood was especially good.

“This mister, may I know the way to Sixth Month Road?” A man dressed in a white military uniform stopped Fu Li. The uniform the man was wearing was very neat; it could be seen that he was an extremely strict person.

“Sixth Month Road?” Fu Li blinked. “I’ve never heard of such a road.”

The man rubbed his head, his face filled with distress. “My house is very close to the ocean, but for some reason, I couldn’t find the way home after getting off the ship.”

The moonlight shone on him. There was no shadow under his feet, though there was a faint golden light in the space between his brows.

“This is the capital. There’s no sea nearby,” Fu Li came to a stop. “Are you in a rush?”

“I’ve been at sea for more than a year and managed to get two days off with much difficulty, so I thought of coming back to accompany my mum. She’s suffered a lot the past few years for the sake of raising me, and her health isn’t good either.” For some reason, in front of Fu Li, the man in the military uniform felt a longing to speak. “I promised her that I would definitely rush back this month. I don’t know if she’s anxious from waiting by now.”

He shook his head, seemingly confused about why he had come to the capital.

Fu Li cocked his head in thought. This was human affection between mother and son. Could even death not severe the fetters between them?

He moved closer to the man in military garb and smelt the subtle fishy smell of the sea on him. Closing his eyes, he saw the man’s course of fate after death.

A few men dressed in military uniform walked off a plane, a black-colored wooden trunk in their hands. The man’s photo was plastered on the side of the trunk. A military uniform and a model of a ship was placed on the wooden trunk. The military uniform on the trunk was identical to the one the man was wearing.

“I’ll send you back,” Fu Li was suddenly interested in this soldier’s mother.

Human emotions were truly strange.

But they were also very interesting.

Zhuang Qing, who was swimming in a luxurious villa’s swimming pool, suddenly broke past the surface of the water and looked up at the sky.

There was a faint instability in the spiritual qi in the air. It seemed as if some formidable yao was using the Thousand Mile Technique? He slipped on his clothes and chased after the source of the yao qi.

Fu Li brought the man in military uniform to his house, yet the house was completely empty. The mother he had talked about was not home.

The man walked through the house before telling Fu Li, “My mum must be waiting for me by the sea. When I was studying in the past, I liked going to the seaside to play, so she would often go to the coast to bring me home. After I became a soldier, going out to the sea was my duty and ever since then, she liked waiting by the seaside. She said that she could be closer to the sea that way and feel more reassured about me.”

He ran out while speaking.

Fu Li looked back at the house. A photo of an elderly woman was hung on the wall. Her smile in the photo was gentle and she looked extremely kindly. The man seemed like he would vanish into the distance very soon, so Fu Li followed after him.

He had just stepped out of the door when someone blocked his way.

“Mr Fu.”

Fu Li looked up and thought somewhat doubtfully, why was the mixed-blood dragon whose pants didn’t tear when flicking his tail here?