Chapter 34: Processes

“The mountain we lived on was lacking in spiritual qi and didn’t have much fame. Whenever our mountain’s little yao went out, they’ll claim to be from Weishui. That way, they’ll have a bit more face,” Fu Li felt somewhat embarrassed upon recalling the lie they had told those years for the sake of bragging. “All you modern yao may not quite understand how much importance the yao cultivators in the past placed on one’s birth, how good one’s followers were, how famous one’s mountain was, and whether one was revered by countless evil yao. If one really didn’t have all these things, then it was still good to link oneself to famous mountains or rivers.”

Speaking about the difficult conditions of his past in front of a younger generation caused Fu Li’s face to turn slightly red. “Our cave dwellings were located at Weishui’s river basin. The tall mountains and steep paths there meant that the area was usually desolate, so we never received any offerings from humans.” As he spoke about not receiving any offerings from humans, Fu Li’s face turned so red that blood was on the verge of dripping off it. “Although that was the case, there were many little yao on the mountain, and no one felt that we were poor. The mountain we stayed on didn’t have a name, but the mountain was wrapped in clouds and mist all year round, so we named it Reflecting Mist Mountain. The White Ape said that this name will make our mountain appear a bit more mysterious.”

Zhuang Qing thought, who would have expected the yaoguai several thousand years ago to have already started paying attention to style? However, he indeed hadn’t heard of the name ‘Reflecting Mist Mountain’. Nor had this name ever appeared in the ancient texts he had read.

“But more than half of the mountain was destroyed a very long time ago due to an incident,” At this point, the gaze Fu Li directed at Zhuang Qing was somewhat profound, seemingly containing a subtle race-based dislike and loathing. “By the time I woke up, the mountain was destroyed and the yao had perished. My past companions had all vanished.”

Not expecting him to have such a bitter past, Zhuang Qing couldn’t bear to continue probing. He couldn’t imagine how angry and sad he would be if everything he once had was gone after waking from sleep.

“I mustered my courage to ask a yao from the neighboring mountain, and only then found out what exactly had happened.” It had been two thousand years since that incident. Fu Li seemed to have come to terms with his past, yet also seemed to have never walked out from it. This was why he continued to call himself ‘little yao of Weishui’ – what all the little yao of Reflecting Mist Mountain called themselves – even till this day, as if doing so would safeguard his territory and mountain, symbolizing that Reflecting Mist Mountain had not been wiped out.

“The yao cultivator said that the azure dragon clan was romping around Weishui, causing countless farmers within the radius of a few hundred kilometers to drown. Our Reflecting Mist Mountain’s yao cultivators can’t bear to see people suffer, and thus went forward to stop them. In the end, even the skeletons of the dead did not survive.” Fu Li’s voice was so tranquil that it bordered on unreal. “In the entire Reflecting Mist Mountain, only me, the little yao personally raised by them to adulthood, had slept through it and survived.”

“I apologize, I shouldn’t have asked you about the past…” Zhuang Qing suddenly remembered that the Zhuyan had also mentioned such an incident. Only, the Zhuyan had talked about another incident – that the azure dragons who created trouble at Weishui had enraged the yao emperor. In the end, some died, and others were injured; they hadn’t had a good end either. Zhuang Qing hastily braked to a stop at the roadside. “Then do you know who killed those few azure dragons?”

Fu Li was awoken from his memories. “Oh, it was me.”

His tone was too serene, so serene that it seemed as if he was merely purchasing a piece of streaky pork at the food market.

“It was you who did that?!” Zhuang Qing stared at Fu Li, looking as if he had found history’s greatest Godzilla.

“Didn’t you say you were on bad terms with the dragon clan? Why still so shocked?” Fu Li didn’t understand. “When I went, those azure dragons all had broken horns and injured limbs. Some of them even had their scales plucked out and were floating on the surface of Weishui, unable to move. They were already in such wretched states, yet they still didn’t forget to mock me for being a furry domesticated animal. My deep animosity towards them naturally meant that I felt no shame in hitting them while they were down. I killed some, wounded some, and then hurriedly fled before your dragon race’s reinforcements arrived.”

“So what if I have fur?” Fu Li snorted coldly. “Those with no fur are the ugly ones.”

“I can only be counted as half a dragon. There’s human blood running through my veins too,” At this time, Zhuang Qing didn’t have the slightest intention of helping to redeem the dragon clan. He specially mentioned his human blood to let Fu Li believe that he wasn’t the same as those deranged azure dragons. But after listening to Fu Li’s words, Zhuang Qing could be certain that the yao emperor the Zhuyan had spoken of had no link to Fu Li. At best, Fu Li could be considered someone who had a stroke of luck.

Anyone with some brains would understand that there was no way a yao emperor capable of stirring up wind and rain would diligently study to enter university for the sake of becoming a civil servant. Even the most ridiculous dramas didn’t have the nerve to spin such a plot. If a yaoguai like Fu Li could become the yao emperor, then the entire yao race would probably have gone extinct two thousand years ago. Even then, the azure dragon clan would still be the cause of the destruction.

“When I woke up three years ago, I went to take a look at the mountain I once lived on. That mountain had already nearly fused with the mountain beside it. There were even humans selling tourists tickets to view the neighboring mountain ranges,” Fu Li recalled the grand occasion on that day and swallowed his saliva. “At that time, the whole mountain was packed with people. I had never seen so many humans in the many years I’d lived and was so scared that I quickly concealed myself and came back to hide.”

Zhuang Qing thought to himself, he had probably encountered the peak period for tourists.

“What was the name of the mountain?” Zhuang Qing felt like his brain must have been submerged in water for him to have asked such a boring question. He started the car and slowly drove forward.

“I don’t know what it was called in the past, but you humans seem to call it Qinling now.”

Zhuang Qing, someone who had been navigating the human world for 1900 years and had mastered all six of the noble arts, finally had his first car accident in the entirety of his dragon life. He had knocked into a streetlamp.

Zhongnan Mountain made up a part of Qinling, while it was hypothesized by many people that Qinling had been termed Kunlun Mountain many years ago. Many supernatural sayings in the land of China had originated from Kunlun. As for the current Kunlun Mountain on maps and books, it was possible that it had no relation to the Kunlun Mountain in the supernatural sayings.

This was because the legends surrounding Kunlun Mountain had broken off abruptly during a certain era. Perhaps the mountain had already vanished, or perhaps it was hidden in a location undiscoverable to the living.

Zhuang Qing glanced towards the boot of the car. The gem embedded in the car roof hadn’t fallen off, good. He called the insurance company and the traffic police before turning and speaking to Fu Li, “You were actually born on Kunlun Mountain?”

“Kunlun isn’t located in the western part of our country, what link does it have to me? Moreover, just because I lived there doesn’t mean that it was my birthplace,” Fu Li was a little doubtful whether Zhuang Qing was truly a dragon who had been a great government official in the imperial court. Why was it that he didn’t even know this little bit of geographical knowledge?

After all that talking, a spoilt car, and him asking a bunch of nonsensical questions, Fu Li was just a stupid four-thousand-year-old yao who didn’t even know the name of the mountain he had lived on. Zhuang Qing unbuckled his seatbelt, nearly angered into laughter. “Luckily you didn’t leave the mountain in the past, otherwise you would even help the people who’d sell you.”

Seeing that Zhuang Qing was unhappy once again, Fu Li shook his head. That lousy temper of his really wasn’t charming.Besides, his original body wasn’t valuable, who would buy it?

His conversation with Zhuang Qing ended with a minor car accident. Fu Li still needed to rush to work in the afternoon, so he left Zhuang Qing at the scene of the car accident and jogged to squeeze into public transport.

Zhuang Qing stood on the spot and watched Fu Li’s tiny body successfully make it onto the public vehicle while clamped between various elderly men and women with herculean strength. He looked back at his own car and stood foolishly at the spot for a long time before coming back to his senses. His heart started to ache for his car.

He had probably been angered by Fu Li into stupidity.

There should not have been many people taking the bus at this time, but Fu Li happened to have just barely managed to squeeze onto this one, so there were quite a few people on board. The passengers’ expressions were cold and apathetic. Some who saw the elderly boarding leaned their heads against the window and went to sleep.

The elderly’s gazes swept across the bus, fixing unrelentingly onto young ladies who were seated. These young ladies had thin skin and thus gave up their seats to them. Some received a grateful word of thanks, while others only received silence.

“Little girl,” An elderly woman who had snatched a seat suddenly beckoned towards a young lady. “Come, sit.”

Fu Li remembered that it was this elderly woman whose movements were the fastest and whose feet were the most stable when they were boarding the vehicle. By relying on her sturdy physique, she managed to snatch the only seat on the vehicle. He turned and looked towards the young lady the elderly woman had called out to. Her complexion was pale, and she was covering her tummy as if in discomfort.

“Thank you,” The young lady uttered a soft word of thanks. She was bent over at the waist, resembling a shrimp that had just been taken off the grill.

“No worries, no worries,” The elderly woman’s voice was very loud. The moment she spoke, the entire vehicle could hear her voice. Her complexion was ruddy, and her smiling, plump face wasn’t particularly good looking. She prevented any other elderly person from nearing the young lady’s seat till the young lady alighted.

This was why Fu Li constantly failed to understand humans. There were times when they were selfish and refused to let go of even the smallest advantage, but they also had moments of kindness when they were willing to lend a helping hand to strangers. They were not like yao cultivators who were either completely evil or completely kind. There had never been a fiend who was benevolent, nor had there ever been a divine beast who had engaged in wanton slaughter. This was because Heaven had already determined their character and fate at birth.

Only humans were capable of having different emotions, overcoming their biological instincts, and accomplishing many things that seemed impossible.

Many of the hotel employees didn’t like doing night shifts. To Fu Li, there was no difference in the time he went to work. The night shift was also much more relaxed compared to the day shift. As long as no one in the rooms called for service, he could sit in the restroom and quietly read books save for the need to patrol once every hour.

The night shift today was no different from the previous days – nothing special had happened. He was holding onto a geography textbook and reading it with keen interest. It turned out that there were so many countries in the world and so many interesting places. When he went on vacation, he had to visit all these different places.

Zhang Shan walked into the restroom. Seeing Fu Li reading once again, he couldn’t help yawning. “It’s the middle of the night, why are you reading again? Aren’t you sleepy?”

“Slept for too long, so I’m not sleepy,” Fu Li replied. “This book is quite interesting.”

“Someone who could call a geography textbook interesting probably has an obsession with studying,” Zhang Shan fished out his handphone and put on earphones. “Little Fu, I’m not being naggy. You can read at any time; it’s already the middle of the night, let your eyes rest for a while. No matter how handsome the man, having four eyes will reduce their good looks to some degree.”

“It’s fine, my eyesight has always been the same.” Fu Li watched Zhang Shan play with his handphone and asked curiously, “Are handphones so fun?”

“Of course they’re fun. A life without a handphone is no different from being a salted fish,” Zhang Shan walked over to Fu Li and held out his handphone to him. “During the past two days, a super glutton appeared on the internet. When he livestreams, he eats a huge pile of food, and even eats all of it with relish.”

Fu Li looked at the bald man in the video. “…”

Wasn’t this the Suanyu?

“He’s streaming live even in the middle of the night?” Fu Li couldn’t resist asking. “Don’t you think that’s strange?”

“What part of it is strange? The super gluttons nowadays livestream a lot. Although it’s obvious in the latter half that the other super gluttons are struggling to hold on, this brother is a talent who can eat with gusto from start to end. Watching him eat makes me hungry as well.”

Of course he could eat with gusto. It was said that the Suanyu had eaten a hundred cows and hundred sheep in one mouth in those days. Just this pile of food wasn’t even enough to fill the cracks in his teeth.

“Watching him is making me hungry.” Zhang Shan logged out from the livestreaming platform and told Fu Li, “I’ll order two portions of takeout. What do you like to eat? I’ll treat you.”

“I’ll just have the same as you.”

Half an hour later, knocks sounded on the door to the restroom. Fu Li opened the door and saw a delivery boy wearing a safety helmet. The two people’s gazes met, and the delivery boy exclaimed in happiness, “Big brother.” He took off the safety helmet, revealing a head of green hair.

“I didn’t expect this to be takeout ordered by big brother, make sure to give me a good review later,” The green-haired yao glanced inside the room. Seeing that there was a human present, he suppressed the excitement on his face. “Is that your colleague?” He carefully examined Fu Li’s clothes. It seemed to be a security guard’s uniform?

His big brother was so amazing and was even on good terms with the captain of the management bureau, yet he was reduced to being a security guard? Those bureau people were also too impartial. They didn’t even know how to take care of their own people. The least they could do was find him a decent job.

“Come in and sit for a while. It’s about to rain.” Fu Li took the takeout boxes and explained to Zhang Shan, “This is my friend.”

“Big brother, I’m called Ying Lu.” He didn’t doubt Fu Li’s claim that it would rain. He flashed a simple smile at Zhang Shan. “You can just call me Little Green.”

Zhang Shan, “…”

There was ‘green’ in his name, and his hair was also a lush green. It seemed he had a deep love for the color green. However, Zhang Shan had a straightforward personality. Upon hearing that the green-haired yao was Fu Li’s friend, he cordially invited him to sit before opening up the takeout boxes. All three of them sat around the table and dug in.

They hadn’t even taken a few mouths when the gurgling sound of water could be heard outside the windows. It had started raining.

“This year has been an unusual one – it’s been raining quite a bit more than usual. There was even hail a few days ago that damaged the electric car I parked outside,” Zhang Shan picked up some crispy fried intestines with his chopsticks and swallowed it. He spoke to the green-haired yao, “Brother, you’re lucky you didn’t leave at this time. If not, the rain will turn you into a drowned rat.”

“Nothing will go wrong as long as I listen to big brother’s words,” The green-haired yao looked at Fu Li with shining eyes. Big brother was really worthy of being his big brother. For him, telling the weather was as simple as blinking.

Zhang Shan had never seen anyone who kissed up to someone else to this extent. Ever since this fellow calling himself Ying Lu entered the room, he had just been praising Fu Li in all sorts of fanciful ways. Even him who was listening from the corner couldn’t help turning red, yet the two people involved didn’t seem to feel an ounce of shame. One of them dolled out praises in an increasingly shameless manner, and the other listened without any change in expression – both of them were talents.

“I’ll go upstairs to patrol, you guys can take your time to eat,” Fu Li put down his chopsticks, rinsed his mouth with water, and left through the door. Ying Lu was entertaining in conversation, so there was no need to worry about the atmosphere turning awkward even if Fu Li wasn’t around and he was unfamiliar with Zhang Shan.

Upon leaving the restroom, Fu Li felt that the temperature along the corridor was a little on the low side. The light indicating the safety exit gave off a faint green light. The entire corridor was so quiet that it was scary. He headed upstairs through the safety passage and proceeded to patrol level after level.

The corridors of guest floors were softly carpeted, so almost no sound was produced when treading on it. At the corner, the lift door opened all of a sudden. No one was inside. Fu Li had just finished checking this floor, so upon seeing the lift door open, he walked in.

Ding.

He had pressed the button for the first floor, but strangely, the lift stopped for half a minute on every floor before continuing its descent.

In the security guards’ restroom, Ying Lu and Zhang Shan were chatting with concentrated attention when knocks suddenly sounded on the door. Zhang Shan put down his chopsticks and muttered, “Did little Fu forget to bring his keys?”

“Wait,” Ying Lu stared at the door for three seconds. “You step back, I’ll open it.”

Seeing caution written all over Ying Lu’s face, Zhang Shan unconsciously retreated a few steps. Ying Lu opened the door and glanced outside before turning back to tell Zhang Shan, “It’s nothing. Big brother hasn’t returned, let’s continue eating.”

Seeing that Zhang Shan was about to stretch his head over, he turned and shut the door.

The lift made its way down, punctuated by stops. Just as Fu Li thought that he was finally going to reach, a partition on the right side of the lift opened abruptly, revealing a girl in a white skirt with long hair trailing down her shoulders. Fu Li cocked his head and took a few glances at her, feeling that the human sense of aesthetics was becoming more and more strange. What beauty was there in shaving off all the brows and painting the lips a deathly pale color?

Seeing that Fu Li ignored her, the girl in the white skirt stretched out both her hands and hopped towards Fu Li.

“Wait a minute,” Fu Li pointed at a poster at the corner on the safe use of lifts. “Jumping is prohibited in lifts, such behavior is extremely dangerous.”

The girl in the white skirt came to a halt and silently retreated to her original spot. The partition was also placed back in its original position.

When the lift finally stopped on the first floor, Fu Li walked out and was surrounded by several people. One of them was even holding up a camera.

“Mister, I am the host of the television program . May I ask what thoughts you have on the incident that just happened?” The host raised the microphone towards Fu Li. “Did you not feel any fear when the lift kept stopping and when our actress appeared?”

There wasn’t a single bit of yin qi in the lift, how could there be a ghost? Even if there really had been a ghost, what was there to fear about such a low-leveled spirit?

Fu Li shook his head calmly. “What ghost would squat in the lift for so long? It’s not like the lift is a fun place to be in. Even ghosts have brains.”

The host of the television program, “…”

She actually had no idea what to say when faced with such a calm and collected filming target. After a period of silence, the host opened her mouth again, “May I ask if we can edit the content we filmed and include it in our program?”

Fu Li didn’t understand human processes, but he was still quite tolerant of creatures with a short life span. “Sure.”

“Then do you have anything you would like to say to the audience?”

“For your personal safety, please do not cause a disturbance in the lift.”

The program crew, “…”

After parting from these boring humans, Fu Li saw a man standing outside the security guards’ restroom. Water was still dripping from the man’s uniform. It was the colleague who hadn’t turned up for work today.