Little Alpaca – Chapter 189
by Little PandaVolume 5: Tribulation of All Beings
Winter Departs, Spring Arrives.
The formation had indeed been set, but it was only meant to deal with the Fei. If the Wood God did not return for a long time, then even if no ancient Ferocious Beasts appeared, the Mortal Realm would still have its own calamities.
Soon, people would discover that nothing was growing anymore. Crops that were planted would not sprout, faded grass and trees would not turn green again. Having lost the Wood God’s power, even the Flower God could no longer make the seasonal flowers bloom across the Mortal Realm.
A spring like this was like a harbinger of the apocalypse. As the ecosystem fell out of balance, many demons, in order to survive, would be forced to surge from the mountains into human cities. Some would cause trouble everywhere, others would struggle to survive in the cracks. For a time, the Mortal Realm would fall into great chaos. The common people would suffer mental torment, which in turn would give rise to even more sinister and evil things to ravage the land.
When they no longer needed to worry about a single ancient Ferocious Beast, how to stabilize the people’s hearts and wait for hope to return became the most important problem at hand.
However, a problem like this was clearly already part of You Yan’s plan.
You Yan said that people in darkness, even if they see a single sliver of light from afar, will regard it as hope.
As long as there is hope, people will not fall so easily.
When winter ended, ordinary plants could not grow, but the branches of the Fusang were no ordinary plants.
That evening, as everyone ate together, You Yan stated calmly that the reason she had Jiang Yuyao scatter the Fusang branches all over the Mortal Realm was not just to gather Resentful Qi, but also to give the Mortal Realm a measure of hope.
Many times, a children’s rhyme of unknown origin, carrying a prophecy that made people half-believe and half-doubt, was enough to throw the world into a panic.
In that case, during a time of despair, a faint hope could naturally also calm people’s hearts.
When all life ceased to grow, the divine bird Jinwu would have scattered the Fusang branches across the land. For them to sprout leaves in soil where nothing else grew would be a sign of heaven’s will—a salvation from the gods for the Mortal Realm.
The more remote the hope, the more the existence of faith would strengthen people’s will.
Only by firmly believing that they had not been abandoned by the heavens would people not easily give up on their lives and their conscience, not easily destroy the order of the world, and not easily commit those unforgivable sins.
You Yan’s words made Yi Qiu nod in thought.
After a brief silence, Yi Qiu suddenly raised her eyebrows and said, “So we also have to write a children’s rhyme, or a doggerel verse or something, and then find a way to spread it?”1
Yue Zhuo asked seriously, “But who knows how to write one?”
For a moment, everyone at the dinner table fell silent.
Of those present, every single one was an expert when it came to fighting and killing, but writing poetry was truly asking a bit much of them.
After a long, awkward moment, Yi Qiu raised her small, chopstick-wielding hand and asked weakly, “How about… I give it a try?”
It was just doggerel verse. As long as it was catchy and easy to remember, it shouldn’t be too hard.
As Yi Qiu said this, she propped her chin on one hand and fell into deep thought.
After a moment of contemplation, Yi Qiu began to recite, “Winter’s end, spring’s birth is slow, when all things wither, a hundred ghosts wail… How is it? Does it have that vibe?”
Yue Zhuo played along. “It’s alright, I can understand it.”
“Hmm… the first line is about the disaster arriving, so the next should be a prophecy of hope. Let me think again…” Yi Qiu rubbed her temples and spoke once more. “The Jinwu appears, the Fusang blooms… and then what happens?” As she spoke, Yi Qiu couldn’t help but look at the five people before her. “The last line, you all think of something too!”
“Spring will surely come!” Yue Zhuo shouted.
An ending like that undoubtedly made the already corny doggerel verse even more cringe-worthy.
As everyone fell into a stunned silence, Yue Zhuo couldn’t help but pout and tilt her head. “Isn’t it catchy?”
Yi Qiu muttered under her breath, “It’s too awkward… I can’t say it out loud, anyway…”
Yue Zhuo frowned. “But the part you made up was terrible too!”
Yi Qiu was momentarily speechless, unable to find a retort for a long while.
“It would be better to keep it simple,” You Yan said, raising her eyebrows. “Just say, when despair arrives, hope will naturally descend upon the Mortal Realm.”
“That casual?” Yi Qiu was astonished.
“You can also go teach the children in the Mortal Realm to recite your doggerel verse, and tell them—The Jinwu appears, the Fusang blooms, spring will surely come.” As You Yan spoke, a hint of a smile flashed in her eyes.
Jiang Yuyao couldn’t help but chuckle, shaking her head with a smile. “Let’s not. Just hearing the first half makes me feel so embarrassed I can’t lift my head…”
Hearing this, Yue Zhuo quickly said, “See, Little Alpaca Demon? Our Benefactor can’t even lift her head after hearing the first part, so it’s not my fault!”
Yi Qiu coughed lightly, embarrassed. “My bad, my bad. Just pretend I never said anything!”
“No, Yi Qiu, that’s not what I meant,” Jiang Yuyao quickly explained. “I just feel that all this about the Jinwu and Fusang isn’t really worth mentioning. My shidi and I are just mortals now, we truly can’t bear such faith… If the Mortal Realm can survive this calamity, it must be because of everyone’s joint efforts.”
“Ah, don’t say that. You two are the main…” Yi Qiu paused for half a second, then corrected herself. “…the most indispensable part of the main plan. Without you, who knows when or where this Fei would have been born, or from where it would have begun to ravage the Mortal Realm.”
Jiang Yuyao was being far too modest. She and Luo Mingyuan were the protagonists of this novel! If even they couldn’t bear this faith and save this world, then who else was worthy?
Regardless, the plan was set.
Overnight, Jiang Yuyao used a magical art to condense a great many Spiritual Seeds, and on the morning of the second day, she personally delivered them into Yi Qiu’s hands.
When Yi Qiu took the Spiritual Seeds, she saw Jiang Yuyao’s pale face and couldn’t help but ask a couple of concerned questions, only to receive the reply, “It’s nothing.”
Jiang Yuyao’s original form was a divine tree. For a tree to spread its branches far and wide, it must first break them off from its own body to be transplanted. For a true god, this might not be a difficult task, but for the current Jiang Yuyao, it was no different from cutting her own flesh to draw blood.
But even so, Jiang Yuyao did not utter a single word of complaint. As soon as she left the Spiritual Seeds, she bid farewell to Yi Qiu and You Yan and left Moshui without a day’s delay.
Jiang Yuyao said that she and Luo Mingyuan would travel to the distant north, leaving the nearer lands of the south to Yi Qiu and You Yan.
After the two left, Jian Li and Yue Zhuo returned to the Mass Grave eighty li north of the city and set up a Killing Formation within the barrier ahead of time.
It had to be said, having them guard that place was incredibly reassuring.
A barrier to attract yin and a formation to interfere with the power of evil spirits had undoubtedly cost You Yan a great deal of spiritual power once again.
However, since she was uninjured this time, her recovery would be much faster than before.
You Yan had always done things at a slow and steady pace, completely lacking the desperate drive of Jiang Yuyao and Luo Mingyuan, so naturally, she wouldn’t drag her weakened body onward.
Although Yi Qiu was somewhat anxious, she couldn’t bear to let You Yan get tired, so she stayed by You Yan’s side, recuperating in Moshui City for more than ten days.
When the last of the ice and snow melted and winter gave way to spring, the Mortal Realm seemed much the same as in previous years, with no major changes.
But all of this was just the beginning.
When spring first arrived, Yi Qiu still held a bit of hope in her heart, hoping that the events described in the novel would not actually happen.
Unfortunately, while Little Bird Gu Gu Fly’s characterizations were full of bugs flying all over the sky, the world-building was rock solid.2 If the book said spring wouldn’t come, then it truly wouldn’t come.
Spring in the Mortal Realm was ultimately late this year. After the winter snow melted, nothing revived. The vast white land was sent off, but the new green and blossoms of early spring were not welcomed back.
Even though this was all within her expectations, when it truly came to pass, Yi Qiu couldn’t help but feel a surge of emotion.
At first, however, these changes were not taken to heart by the people. To them, these subtle differences were not yet worth noticing.
Meanwhile, Yi Qiu left Moshui City with You Yan. They carried the Spiritual Seeds Jiang Yuyao had left behind and, according to their earlier agreement, sent the branches of the Fusang to various places in the south.
The Spiritual Seeds contained divine power. They would take root and sprout the moment they touched the soil, requiring no spiritual power to activate. In a few days, they could grow into branches half a meter tall, and in about half a month, they could become small trees.
To make people believe in the so-called “hope” when despair arrived, everyone had agreed from the start to plant the Fusang branches next to abandoned temples.
They grew in silence, growing in every place no one cared about, and they would eventually be discovered by people like a ray of hope when they felt despair.
But none of this would happen too quickly. After all, in the Mortal Realm right now, not many people could tell what was different about this year compared to previous years.
People lived their most ordinary lives day after day, even starting to make lively preparations for the New Year.
Since ancient times, the Spring Festival had always been a very important day.3 As long as it was a human town or village, there would be no lack of festive spirit.
This made Yi Qiu feel that, before the disaster struck, people could at least have one last good New Year.
She, on the other hand, was different. The New Year was almost here, yet she was still running around everywhere with You Yan.
During the day, she was either flying in the sky or searching the desolate countryside for suitable places to scatter the Spiritual Seeds. All day long, the only times she could rest peacefully were when she was eating and sleeping, and most of that was spent camping in the wilderness.
On New Year’s Eve, however, You Yan did take Yi Qiu to a human city, where they watched a fireworks display by the city tower from afar.4
The fireworks in this world were not as brilliant as those in her original world, not even as dazzling as the spiritual power that flashed during battles between immortals, demons, gods, and devils. Yet, Yi Qiu watched with a storm of emotions.
You Yan asked softly, “Does your hometown have fireworks like this?”
Yi Qiu nodded. “Yes, they’re also set off on New Year’s Eve. I liked watching them when I was a kid, but after I grew up, I thought they were too noisy…”
You Yan asked again, “And now?”
Yi Qiu thought for a moment, then said, “I haven’t watched them in a long time.”
It was a different kind of feeling stirring in her heart…
At this time last year, Yi Qiu was still in her living room with her family, watching the Spring Festival Gala that got more boring with each passing year, and eating freshly boiled, hot dumplings.5
Who could have imagined that in just one short year, she would become a little demon in a novel’s world, following her “big thigh” on a “chuunibyou” quest to “save the common people.”6
Speaking of which, since coming to this world, she had truly eaten all the bitterness she had never experienced before.
Even though everyone around her took good care of her, and You Yan was especially meticulous, always standing in front of her no matter what danger they faced, the hardships here were just so much greater than in her original world.
Because of this, she had personally experienced it all, and even gradually grown accustomed to it—the ceaseless trekking over mountains and rivers, the days and nights of eating in the wind and sleeping in the dew of the wilderness, and the physical pains she never could have suffered before.
It was as if she had truly become a little demon of this world, completely and utterly accustomed to everything in it.
If someone were to tell her that she could return to her former world tomorrow, back to that “salted fish” life with a phone to play on, a computer to use, and internet to surf, she wouldn’t feel a single shred of anticipation.7
Unless… You Yan could go back with her.
But she had been sent here precisely to fix this broken world. As an extremely important existence in this world, You Yan definitely couldn’t be taken away by her.
Even if it were possible, she would want You Yan to stay here.
Because that world had too many rules. They would restrain You Yan. Only by staying here could You Yan be truly free, truly and utterly unrestrained.
The author has something to say:
Jinjiang is bugging out, I couldn’t post for the life of me (:3」∠) I missed a day yesterday, so I’ll send out some red envelopes for this chapter as compensation.
Footnotes
- A doggerel verse (打油诗, dǎyóushī) is a type of simple, often humorous or crude, rhyming verse that is easy to remember and recite.
- The phrase “bugs flying all over the sky” (bug满天飞, bug mǎntiānfēi) is modern slang combining the English word “bug” with a Chinese idiom, meaning something is full of errors or inconsistencies.
- The Spring Festival (春节, Chūnjié) is the Chinese New Year, the most important traditional festival in China.
- New Year’s Eve (除夕, Chúxì) is the eve of the Spring Festival, a time for family reunion dinners and festivities.
- The Spring Festival Gala (春晚, Chūnwǎn) is a massive televised variety show broadcast on New Year’s Eve in China, traditionally watched by families together.
- In internet slang, a “big thigh” (大腿, dàtuǐ) is a powerful person one can rely on for support. “Chuunibyou” (中二, zhōng’èr) is a term for the embarrassing delusions of grandeur common in early adolescence.
- “Salted fish” (咸鱼, xiányú) is a popular internet slang term for someone who is unmotivated and prefers to laze around.
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