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Chapter 85 - Fu Li

When Peng Hang rushed to the police station, he was met with the few suspects babbling strangely. He inexplicably thought of the chief labor contractor who had turned himself in not too long ago while carrying beer and stewed meat.

“There really is. There are yaoguai, that rabbit can eat humans!”

“A tortoise weighing several hundred catty brought the children away.”

“Yaoguai exist, they want to eat us. Police comrades, you have to protect us.”

How big was a tortoise weighing a few hundred catty? How big was a rabbit? Could they even eat people? Some people suspected they were deliberately feigning mental issues to shirk their legal responsibilities and thus got them to do a mental assessment. Everything came back normal.

What was most mystical was that someone discovered the two kidnapped children at a certain street. They were seated quietly beneath a house’s eaves, and even had bread and milk in their hands, as if they were merely tired out after a day of fun and sat down by the road for some rest.

Peng Hang felt that there was something wrong with his brain. After the occurrence of these bizarre incidents, the first thing he thought of was Fu Li. In the end, after pondering over it, he could only accept this outcome – namely, that Fu Li’s identity was tied to the security department, so even if he exhibited some strange behavior, it was related to work.

Convinced of this, he no longer specially went to investigate the surveillance cameras at the entrance and exit of the airport in order to determine if Fu Li had taken the scheduled flights in the records.

Mid-Autumn Festival, the day when families reunited.

Bao Yu had made many court mooncakes. Covering an entire table in mooncakes, he carried the table to the rooftop.

Chu Yu looked up at the moon in the sky as the cold night breeze blew against him. He asked out of curiosity, “Fu ge, what is there to be gleaned from praying to the moon?”

“Moonlight can raise cultivation,” Fu Li looked up, gazing at the bright moon in the sky. He told the yao cultivators on the rooftop. “All of you have your own cultivation method; there is nothing much I can guide you in. The added cultivation from praying to the moon is similar to the money you secretly made from a second job. There will not be any bad effects on everyone’s orthodox cultivation methods.”

Everyone grew even more serious when Fu Li uttered these words. Tidying the edges of their clothes, they resolved to pray well to the moon later.

Seeing everyone so solemn, Fu Li walked to Zhuang Qing and asked softly, “Are you going to pray?”

Zhuang Qing answered him with a question, “What about you?”

“Of course I will. I prayed every year in the past,” Fu Li grabbed Zhuang Qing’s wrist and found a good spot on the roof. “Let’s stand here and pray later.”

Zhuang Qing glanced at his shining eyes before turning his gaze towards the moon in the sky. “All right.”

Zhang Ke, who was tidying his clothes, saw Fu Li standing at the other end and was just about to head over when Chu Yu grabbed onto him. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to stand with Fu ge,” Zhang Ke didn’t understand why Chu Yu was holding onto him. “Why are you pulling me back?”

“Stand? Where are your eyes?” Chu Yu lowered his voice. “Didn’t you see that the boss came over tonight? Two handsome guys standing together is eye candy, but if you barge in, it’s equivalent to a carrot appearing amongst ginseng. Would that be nice to look at?”

Zhang Ke: ...

This description was a bit ruthless, but when he looked at Zhuang Qing standing beside Fu Li, he did indeed put a stop to his intentions to go over.

It was midnight. Fu Li said, “No need to stand on ceremony, it’s fine to just pray a bit with a sincere heart.”

It wasn’t like the moon was human; it wouldn’t insist on unnecessarily elaborate things. The respectful bow of a sincere person would be reciprocated by moonlight. If there was an absence of sincerity, even praying thrice and kowtowing nine times wouldn’t be of any use. He turned to look at Zhuang Qing. The other party was also looking at him. Fu Li placed both hands together, closed his eyes, and bowed towards the moon. The next instant, he transformed into a white rabbit. Placing his front claws together, he did a complete bow.

Endless brilliance was cast onto his body, as if there were countless rays of light enveloping him. Every strand of fur shone. Zhuang Qing quietly watched Fu Li for a while before bowing towards the moon.

The power of the moonlight was extremely gentle. Upon bowing, his entire person felt like it was encased in a warm box. The giddy, contented feeling it brought about made him want to fall into a deep sleep. It felt like only a short period of time had passed, but at the same time, it felt like a long stretch of time had gone by. By the time he opened his eyes, it was almost dawn.

“You’re awake?” A mooncake was held out to him. The contrast between the fair, delicate hand and the mooncake gave a delicious-looking appearance to the mooncake.

Zhuang Qing picked up the mooncake and turned to look at the side. His other colleagues were already digging into their mooncakes while seated cross-legged on the ground. Not even a single mooncake was left on the table.

“These juniors are too savage when it comes to eating,” Fu Li took out two plates of mooncakes from his Qiankun pouch. “Luckily I reacted quickly and snatched two plates in advance, otherwise we won’t have anything to eat.” While speaking, he handed a plate to Zhuang Qing. Then, he fished out two soft cushions and sat on the ground cross-legged.

Zhuang Qing held the plate of mooncakes and silently looked at Fu Li’s bold sitting posture.

“Sit,” Fu Li patted the soft cushion beside him and threw a mooncake into his mouth. His mouth didn’t seem very big, but when the mooncake fell into his mouth, it seemed like it was falling into a bottomless pit; not even a shadow could be seen.

Zhuang Qing mimicked the way Fu Li sat and sat down as well. He bit into the mooncake he was holding. It really did taste quite good. What was even rarer was that the top was filled with spiritual qi. The spiritual qi was extremely pure, without any of the filth from the mundane world.

No wonder there was such a scramble for a few mooncakes. It wasn’t for the mooncakes, but for the spiritual qi on top.

“In the past at Reflecting Mist Mountain, we also liked to display offerings as we prayed to the moon. After praying, everyone would sit together and share the offerings. It was very lively.” Fu Li took out a bottle of spiritual essence and handed it to Zhuang Qing. “Drink some water when eating, don’t choke.”

Zhuang Qing opened the bottle and took a sip. His entire body immediately relaxed.

“Among the yao cultivators on the mountain, some were good at playing musical instruments, and others were good at singing and dancing. Everyone would sing and dance, and we would often play till the time was forgotten,” Fu Li revealed a smile. Among the times he mentioned Reflecting Mist Mountain in Zhuang Qing’s presence, this smile was his most natural. “Although Reflecting Mist Mountain isn’t around now, everyone might still be alive and well. As long as they’re still around, any place can be Reflecting Mist Mountain. When I find them in the future, I’ll bring you to Reflecting Mist Mountain’s gathering and treat you to a spiritual hot spring, spiritual wine, and to the most beautiful song and dance.”

Seeing the smile on his face, Zhuang Qing didn’t mention Zhu Yue’s true form. He wiped the corners of his mouth. “Okay.”

He too wanted to see the yao cultivators who had raised Fu Li from young. He wanted to understand how Fu Li had once lived.

Although, he himself didn’t quite understand why he had such a thought. But as a cultivator, he didn’t want to stifle his true thoughts too much. Many things for which there appeared to be no reason could only be understood after acting on them.

“You saved me from the Taowu. I want to say thank you, but those two words are too insignificant, too shallow. I can’t say them.” Fu Li’s bright eyes gazed at Zhuang Qing. “Lifesaving grace cannot be repaid. I will treat you very, very well to not dishonor this friendship.”

He didn’t say kindness, but friendship.

His eyes were too bright, so bright that its shine reached Zhuang Qing’s heart. His heart felt like it was firmly pinched by something. It loosened gently, and then once again firmly pinched his heart. He felt a bit short of breath, yet was reluctant to part with this feeling.

How strange.

“What friendship? Stop bragging,” Zhuang Qing lowered his head and ate three mooncakes in succession before drinking a mouth of spiritual essence. When he next looked up, he was still as expressionless as before. “I’m not a little kid, I don’t need you to treat me well.”

“I know you’re amazing, but shouldn’t you at least give me some face?” Fu Li took out another bottle of spiritual essence for Zhuang Qing. “Since I want to treat you well, then you can just reluctantly accept it on account of us being colleagues, okay?”

Zhuang Qing turned his head to the side. “Whatever you say. How senseless.”

“The sun’s about to come out,” Fu Li suddenly slapped him on the shoulder and pointed at the sky in the east. “Quick, look.”

Zhuang Qing cast his gaze in the direction Fu Li was pointing at. The line of light that had already appeared in the dim sky was particularly striking. This line was the key to opening light. Very soon, the sky in the east turned increasingly red, and the sun slowly made its way up the horizon, looking like the egg yolk of a duck’s egg.

It was daytime.

“Let’s eat fried eggs for breakfast,” Fu Li stared at the morning sun for a very long time. He turned towards Zhuang Qing. “Let’s go to your house to cook.”

Zhuang Qing polished off the last mooncake and foisted his plate on Fu Li. He stood up and patted his pants. “Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“To my house to cook.”

“When did the boss and Fu Li sneak off?”

“When you were snatching the last mooncake,” Huang Hou stroked his beard. “I don’t need to work today, I’ll go back and rest.” More importantly, he had taken in a lot of spiritual qi last night and needed to go back and absorb it.

“Another one gone,” Lin Gui had a good temperament and was also a bit slower in the way he did things. He and Huang Hou were cleaning up the messy rooftop, and since both their original forms were of the tortoise species, they both had the shortcoming of being very slow when doing things.

“Fu ge really knows a lot,” Huang Hou wiped the table. “Just praying once to the moon gave me the feeling that it was even more effective than a few years of cultivation.”

Lin Gui smiled and nodded.

“It’s just a pity that despite Fu ge being so powerful and him putting in most of the effort whenever a great yao causes trouble, so much of his salary was deducted by the boss,” Huang Hou said in a low voice. “They all say that the boss is very stingy in private, is that true?”

“What do you think?” Lin Gui asked back with a smile.

Huang Hou shook his head. “I don’t dare to think.”

“That’s okay. You’ll slowly get to know in the future,” Lin Gui’s eyes were filled with tolerance for the younger generation. “I believe in you, good luck.”

Huang Hou: ...

This sort of trust didn’t make him feel proud.

Fu Li ran to Zhuang Qing’s house and successfully ate his fried eggs. Afterwards, he turned into his original form and fell asleep on the couch. For some unknown reason, he constantly felt tired the last two days and would fall asleep immediately after lying down.

After cleaning up the kitchen, Zhuang Qing walked out and saw the rabbit sprawled on its back on the couch, sleeping with its belly exposed. He found a bath towel and covered the rabbit with it before going upstairs. He took a book and headed back down.

The book had already turned yellow and some of the threads that bound the book had also come out. It was very likely that the book would fall apart if a bit more force was used. The book contained some recordings of the ancient great yao. However, in all cases, these great yao had formidable bodies and monstrous appearances. Cute looking yao cultivators like Fu Li had little fame. The most that would happen was them becoming the food of other yao cultivators.

Flipping a yellowed page, Zhuang Qing saw an abstract drawing that he vaguely made out to be a wild pig.

Dangkang. Similar in appearance to a pig. The appearance of the Dangkang is an omen that the world will experience a prosperous year.

It was a mere twenty-one words. Apart from a distorted drawing, there were no other records.

Zhuang Qing glanced at the peacefully sleeping rabbit and suddenly had a ridiculous conjecture.

Fu Li was having a very strange dream. He dreamt that he was a ball of light that couldn’t speak. Then, he was blown by the wind into a certain rock. He didn’t want to become a rock, so after a round of struggling, he became a rabbit.

The sky was an intense red. The ground was very dark. He cried out loudly in great fear.

Until a warm palm rested against his back. He opened his eyes and saw Zhuang Qing’s solemn face.

Zhuang Qing retracted his hand at lightning speed and said with a taut face, “You kicked the bath towel to the floor. I was going to help cover you with it.”

Fu Li sat up. Sure enough, he saw the bath towel on the floor. Shaking his tail, he climbed onto the cushions and lay back down. “Thank you.”

Watching Fu Li lie down obediently, looking as if he was waiting to be covered by the blanket, Zhuang Qing picked up the bath towel and covered him with it. “What do you want to eat at noon?”

“I’m not picky, I just don’t like carrots, cabbage, bittergourd, Yuxing vegetable...”

Hearing him recite the names of many vegetables, Zhuang Qing reached the end of his patience and gave the rabbit’s head a rub. “You really aren’t picky at all.” Though Zhuang Qing said so, he still avoided the vegetables Fu Li listed when he opened the fridge.

Sneezing, Fu Li thought about how an elderly human man had once told him that the way to a person’s heart was through their stomach. Given Zhuang Qing’s culinary skills, if he liked a female yao in the future, he would definitely obtain her affection with ease.

There were peeled fruit cubes on the side table. Fu Li switched the television on, leaped onto the side table, and started eating slowly.

By the time Zhuang Qing was done cooking, the entire plate of fruit cubes had been eaten by Fu Li. The exceedingly fat rabbit lay numbly on the couch, laziness exuding from every inch of his body.

“Time to eat.”

The completely motionless rabbit instantly bounded to the dining table upon hearing these words. Changing into his human form, he picked up his chopsticks.

“Wash your hands,” Zhuang Qing looked at Fu Li’s hands with displeasure. He had climbed all over the floor, couch, and side table in his rabbit form. How clean could his hands be?

Fu Li obediently went to wash his hands with this one shout from Zhuang Qing. Along the way, he even ladled out the soup in the kitchen.

“Bao Yu’s culinary prowess can’t be compared to yours,” Fu Li munched on the meat of the fish belly and gave Zhuang Qing a high evaluation.

“Don’t think that I’ll cook for you frequently even if you praise me,” Zhuang Qing put down his empty bowl. Seeing signs of fatigue still present on Fu Li’s face, he couldn’t help furrowing his brows. “Still sleepy?”

Fu Li was a bit embarrassed.

“Forget it, I can’t hope for you to do much anyway. Go sleep.” Zhuang Qing picked up the dirty bowls on the table and walked to the kitchen. When he reached the door, he looked back. Fu Li had turned into his rabbit form again and was jumping onto the couch.

Zhuang Qing shifted his gaze. There was an uneasy feeling in his heart. He constantly felt that there was something abnormal about Fu Li the past two days.

When Fu Li leaped onto the couch, a rustling sound came from his feet, as if he had stepped onto some paper. He pushed the cushions away with his head, revealing a shabby, yellowed book. He had never been a yao who was fond of reading books, but since his greatest dream in recent times was to become a civil servant, he flipped through a few pages with his claws.

There was a brief introduction of a few yao beasts inside, though there wasn’t as much content as what White Ape had told him. His interest instantly dissipated. Just as he was about to close the book, lack of control over his rabbit claws caused him to flip to a certain page at the back.

The word ‘Dangkang’ caught his attention.

The Kunpeng had mentioned this yao beast when he chatted with him. However, he knew almost nothing about this yao beast because Elder White Ape hadn’t told him about it.

There were only a few words and there was little information to be gleaned. Although the kindergarten-level drawing did surprise him a little. The pig resembled King Ganglie quite strongly, though King Ganglie’s original form was much better looking than this one and he didn’t look this malevolent.

The Dangkang was an auspicious beast and could even bring bountiful harvests to the human world?

Whenever they had to plant things on the mountain, it was always Elder White Goat and Elder White Tiger worrying over it. All King Ganglie knew how to do was eat, cook, and host feasts. Apart from appearance, there was really nothing similar about the Dangkang and King Ganglie.

“Still not sleeping?” Zhuang Qing walked over. Seeing that Fu Li was reading the page on the Dangkang, he smoothly stated, “In the legends, the Dangkang is an ancient auspicious beast. His appearance can bring about bountiful harvests, and he can also sing and dance. The places he sings at will be lush with vegetation and abundant with fruit. The places he dances at will be full of vitality and its yield will double.”

King Ganglie’s singing was hoarse and unpleasant to the ear. His dancing was also only limited to twisting his buttocks and stamping his feet. It seemed like there was an even greater disparity in standards between him and the Dangkang now. Moreover, given King Ganglie’s fondness for bragging, if he really were the Dangkang, he would have long bragged about it to him for a hundred years. How could he not even mention it once?

“My cultivation has just advanced and my soul hasn’t fully assimilated yet,” Fu Li sneezed. “I’ll go meditate first, maybe I’ll get better after that.”

Zhuang Qing nodded, his expression grave.

In the past, he hadn’t been in very high spirits just after his cultivation advanced, but he had also never been as sleepy as Fu Li.

Fu Li transformed into his human form and picked up the book beside him. A page fell out, landing on his other palm.

Xing Xing. Similar in appearance to an ape. White-eared and walks like a human. Comprehends all living things in the world, but cannot foresee the future. When it consumes meat, it runs as fast as flight.

These words were accompanied by a picture underneath of an ape walking upright. The drawing was also an exaggerated, distorted image.

Fu Li clutched this piece of paper, his gaze fixed on it for a very long time. Then, he wedged the paper into the book and placed the book on the side table.

“What’s wrong?” Zhuang Qing didn’t see any changes in Fu Li’s expression, but he still subconsciously felt that Fu Li wasn’t very happy at this point in time. He threw the book to the side and told Fu Li, “These are just some jumbled up records. They can’t be taken as the truth.”

“No, you don’t understand,” Fu Li sat on the couch, hugging his knees. His expression was one of veiled bitterness. “I thought that all the yao cultivators on the mountain were like me – having defects from birth. But reality tells me that I might have just thought too much about everything. I’m the only one who really has defects.”

Even today, he could remember the many images Elder White Ape had drawn for him when he first reached Reflecting Mist Mountain.

“Little child, who does the sparrow I drew look like?”

“Like the little bird dancing on the tree this morning.”

“Correct.”

“Who does the pheasant I drew look like?”

“Like the pretty sister who wanted to carry me yesterday.”

“Very clever.”

“Who does this white ape I drew look like?”

“Like you.”

“That’s right.”

“What about this wild pig?”

“Like the fat uncle that brought me back yesterday with you.”

“You have very good vision.”

“After discussing with King Ganglie for a few days, we decided to give you a name.”

“What is a name?”

“It’s a way of calling you.”

“What name did you give me?”

“Fu Li.”

“What does it mean?”

“Fu – a symbol of the auspicious. Li – a reminder that once you encounter the auspicious, you must never let it leave you.”