Chapter 698: Chapter 698
“This tiger has cultivated into a demon!”0
“It must have! Otherwise, how could it grow that big? And how could it slaughter all those armed bandits in just a few moves?”0
“It didn’t eat the bandits! And it spared us!”0
“Could it be the mountain god of this range?”0
“Ah, heavenly spirits revealing themselves to save us…”0
The crowd was still shaken, but noisy all the same.0
Someone finally came back to their senses, recalling what had just happened, and looked toward Song You’s group.0
“May I ask, sir, whether you are acquainted with that… that…”0
“Mountain Lord,” Song You prompted.0
“Yes, yes! Mountain Lord! Sir, are you acquainted with the Mountain Lord?” someone asked.0
“We met many years ago.”0
“No wonder, we often hear that travelers are robbed and killed by bandits on this road, but never that the Mountain Lord came to save them. In truth, we all owe our lives to you, sir!”0
As he spoke, the man quickly bowed deeply.0
The others, realizing the same, hurried to follow suit.0
“Please don’t,” Song You shook his head. “Your thanks should go to the Mountain Lord.”0
The man immediately turned toward the direction the Mountain Lord had departed and bowed there instead.0
The others also turned around to bow.0
“The bandits have been dealt with. This place isn’t safe to linger,” the Daoist said. From the moment the tiger appeared, he had pulled little Jiang Han in front of him, covering her eyes the whole time. Now, glancing around at the bloody scene of corpses crushed to pulp and bodies with half their torsos missing, he saw women crying in fright and men covering their faces, unable to look. So he said, “We’d best leave quickly.”0
Everyone hastily picked up their bundles and hurried away.0
As they left, they didn’t forget to glance back at the Daoist.0
He was carrying Jiang Han, still shielding her eyes with one hand. She kept reaching up and trying to pull his hand away, looking exactly like Lady Calico had back in the day.0
“Look!” she even murmured the word indistinctly.0
“Be good, don’t look,” the Daoist said to her gently.0
“Let’s go,” he said to Lady Calico.0
The group set off again.0
But as they walked, Lady Calico would occasionally stop and look back toward the forest behind them, and the Daoist could feel a steady gaze coming from those woods, following them.0
At first, he thought this Mountain Lord was simply kind-hearted, wishing to follow and protect them. But seeing how the tiger sometimes drew nearer, sometimes further, and after walking for some time, he finally stopped.0
When the others saw him stop, they stopped as well.0
“It’s nothing serious, only that this Mountain Lord has been following us. I suspect he still wishes to speak with me, but with you all here, he may be reluctant to approach,” the Daoist said. “If I may trouble you to go on ahead, I’ll follow shortly.”0
“There’s more than one bandit gang in these mountains. Without you, we’d be frightened.”0
They all looked uneasy and clearly took the Daoist for a man of considerable cultivation.0
“No need to worry. I’ll catch up to you very soon,” the Daoist reassured them. Then he pointed to the sky. “Besides, my pathfinder is still here, watching over you. You’ve nothing to fear.”0
They all looked up at his words.0
A swallow flew down and landed on a treetop above.0
“Don’t underestimate him,” the Daoist said. “This is a descendant of the Swallow Immortal of Anqing, possessing deep cultivation and vast divine powers. Against ordinary bandits, or even mountain monsters and lesser deities, few could match him.”0
“A descendant of the Swallow Immortal of Anqing?”0
It was clear everyone had heard of the Swallow Immortal of Anqing.0
Since they had gathered at Nianping Ferry Crossing and were heading toward Yizhou, eight or nine times out of ten they had come from the lower reaches of the Liujiang River, which was precisely the direction of Anqing. What’s more, these days the Swallow Immortal of Anqing was already a household name; the poorer a person was, the more they remembered his benevolent deeds. His renown now rivaled that of the Duke of Thunder Zhou.0
A short while later…0
The group, led by the swallow, gradually walked farther and farther away, leaving the Daoist, Lady Calico, and little Jiang Han behind.0
From the forest behind them, a great tiger suddenly bounded out. Its sheer bulk made a loud noise as it shoved aside the trees and grass.0
The Daoist stood at the roadside, watching it. Lady Calico also stared at it solemnly.0
The tiger approached at an unhurried pace, as if strolling in a courtyard. Even alone, it took up half the official road. Then, astonishingly, it rose to stand upright and bowed to the Daoist.0
“Your Excellency, it has been a long time.”0
“It has indeed been many years. Mountain Lord, your cultivation has improved greatly,” the Daoist replied, quickly raising his hand to return the bow. “I must thank you for what you did just now.”0
Lady Calico, still expressionless, also raised her hand in salute.0
“They’re just a mere rabble of villains, nothing that could trouble you, sir. I only wished to spare you the inconvenience,” the tiger said, holding its bow a moment longer before dipping its head again. “While patrolling the mountains today, to catch sight of you here was an unexpected delight. I came over specially to speak with you in person, to thank you for what happened back then.0
“First, to thank you for sparing my life. Second, to thank you for your words of guidance that day. If not for them, even if I hadn’t perished one stormy night at the hands of the Thunder God, I might have been killed by soldiers or demon-slayers. In any case, I would never have the life I have now.”0
“You overstate it, Mountain Lord. Back then, when you came down the mountain, you had only eaten a single livestock animal. You were already hungry, yet you could restrain yourself from eating people. How could I, in good conscience, destroy such a rare chance at cultivation and life?” Song You said. “As for my words that day, they were only a few casual sentences. You needn’t be so formal.”0
“In those days I was still ignorant, my wits barely awakened. I didn’t understand much. Only later did I realize how much your patient words had helped me. Without you, I would have nothing today.”0
After finishing its bow, the tiger lowered itself to the ground again and sat where it was, glancing at the Daoist, then at the girl and the infant beside him.0
“If you truly insist on thanking me, Mountain Lord,” the Daoist said with a faint smile, “then I’ll shamelessly accept it. Let’s call today’s assistance even with that old debt.”0
“Thank you, Your Excellency.”0
The tiger’s manners were exceedingly proper.0
Song You met its gaze and could not help but be surprised that this was actually the same tiger from twenty years ago.0
After a brief pause, he asked, “I notice you now carry a trace of incense power upon you. How did you come by it?”0
At these words, the tiger immediately sat up straighter. Its eyes showed both wariness and unease.0
Lights flickered in those bean-sized eyes. After hesitating several times, it decided to speak the truth, “After you set me on the right path that day, I returned to the mountains to cultivate in peace, and my intelligence gradually became complete. In recent years, for some reason, there have been more and more demons and spirits in the mountains, and my cultivation has advanced quickly.0
“To learn human speech more fully, I once went secretly down to Liu Family Village, lying outside people’s houses to listen to the conversations of villagers and wealthy households. Over time, I was occasionally discovered.0
“Later, monsters appeared in the hills behind the village, and zombies plagued the people. Each time, I came forward to subdue them, both to repay the debt of the livestock I had harmed and to repay the kindness of those who had unwittingly taught me to speak.0
“I don’t know if they realized I was the same demon tiger that came down the mountain twenty years ago. They only took me for the Mountain Lord, or the incarnation of a mountain god, and began to worship me, praying for my protection.0
“After that, whenever I roamed the mountains to hunt and train, I was sometimes seen. Combined with the village’s tales, people took me as a divine mountain spirit, and little by little, I acquired some incense power.”0
The tiger’s voice carried a hint of apprehension.0
Back then, it had only felt an instinctive wariness toward the Daoist, dimly understanding his words and thinking them reasonable before returning to the mountains to train. It was only much later that it realized the man must have been of deep cultivation and skilled in magic. Had his temper been even slightly violent, the tiger would have been destroyed on the spot.0
Even though the world had changed greatly since then and its own power had grown immensely with tigers being naturally strong and fierce, it still could not be certain it could escape from this man’s hands.0
“Mountain Lord, there’s no need to be nervous. Although I’m a Daoist, I don’t meddle in such matters. Even the Lady Calico beside me once carried the aura of incense offerings. Besides, what you’ve done is a good deed. If I were to punish someone for doing good, wouldn’t that make me far too cruel and unjust?” Song You paused, then patted Lady Calico’s head. 0
“I’m only curious, since you possess such ability and already have incense power, and since this road is often plagued by bandits who harm travelers, with some victims even being mistakenly thought to have been killed by you, why not take action to eliminate them and thus gain more incense offerings?”0
“How could I dare do such a thing?”0
The Mountain Lord grew even more alert and said, “I’ve heard people say that without the Heavenly Palace’s approval or an imperial decree, one who takes it upon themselves to do good and gathers incense offerings becomes a ‘false god’ or ‘corrupt shrine’ that must be destroyed! I would gladly do such a thing, but this incense aura I already carry worries me enough as it is. If I were to wipe out the bandits, even if I struck only at night without letting anyone see, there are many below the mountain who pray to me for this very matter. Once they learn that the villains in the mountains have all been killed, their devotion will deepen. Then, with an even heavier aura of incense, wouldn’t I be inviting disaster?”0
These words stirred Lady Calico’s own memories, and her eyes began to glimmer.0
“Hahaha, Mountain Lord, you worry too much.” The Daoist laughed and continued rubbing Lady Calico’s head. “First, the Thunder Division of the Heavenly Palace has changed leadership. Its new chief, Duke of Thunder Zhou, is more tolerant toward spirits and minor deities, and investigates matters more carefully. He won’t slaughter recklessly. Second, the Heavenly Palace itself has changed. Now, even if a local deity lacks official recognition, so long as they don’t cause trouble, the Court won’t send immortals or notify the authorities to eradicate them.”0
“I would never lie about such a thing.”0
The Daoist smiled and said, “Since you already have incense power, go forth and do good. Who knows, perhaps one day you may truly become a recognized Mountain God of the human realm. That would be the completion of your cultivation.”0
The tiger’s suspicious gaze flickered, but before long, it chose to believe him.0
Still, its expression grew more troubled. Standing upright again, it said, “I only just thanked you for your advice of twenty years past, and now you’ve guided me again. How am I to repay you?”0
“I am human, and represent the Human Dao. If you follow my advice, you are benefiting humanity, so where does talk of gratitude even come in?”0
“This…”0 Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on novel⟡fire.net
The tiger thought it over and found the reasoning sound.0
It didn’t give much thought to the phrase “represent the Human Dao,” taking it as an ordinary remark.0
After a few more words, the tiger bowed several times before turning back into the forest, gradually disappearing from sight.0
The Daoist watched it go, then turned to Lady Calico with a touch of emotion. “Without realizing it, Lady Calico, you’re no longer afraid of the Mountain Lord at all.”0
The girl also looked in that direction, her eyes flickering. She then turned back to meet his gaze, clearly recalling vividly the first time she had met the Mountain Lord years ago. After a long moment, she said, “It can talk now!”0
“So much time has passed. Haven’t you also changed greatly? Even more than the Mountain Lord.”0
“But it seems to have grown much bigger, while I’m still just this small. Even in human form, I haven’t grown much taller,” Lady Calico said with her usual expressionlessness.0
Somehow the topic had come back to this. The Daoist felt a bit at a loss.0
“Strength can’t be measured by height or size. If it could, then in your eyes, wouldn’t I be weaker than the Mountain Lord? Weaker than an immortal crane, that willow demon, or even that thousand-year-old sea dragon?”0
“No!” That answer came without the slightest hesitation.0
“There you have it, then. Lady Calico, your strength has nothing to do with height or size.” The Daoist walked on as he spoke. “No matter how small your true form is, or how short you are in human form, it can’t change the fact that your skills are formidable, nor can it hide your talent in cultivation and learning. Twenty years ago, the Mountain Lord was stronger than you, but now, the roles have reversed.”0
“...! You’re right!”0
“That is your true strength.”0
The girl’s expression grew solemn. At last, she began to feel satisfied.0
“I’ll carry little Jiang Han!”0
“Thank you, Lady Calico.”0
“Eeek! Pah! Lady Calico, you’re so big!”0
“That’s not me, that’s a tiger.”0
“Tiger. Foolish human.”0
The Daoist smiled faintly and kept walking forward.0
As they walked, it felt almost as though he saw Liu Family Village from years past. The settlement looked much the same as in his memory, and that made him recall the timid yet brave little cat who had once been deeply awed by the Mountain Lord’s size. Now, thinking of how Lady Calico could handle matters on her own and had learned more and more skills, he couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of disorientation.0