Little Alpaca – Chapter 129

Volume 3: Old Tales of Kunlun

The Alpaca is Riding an Airplane!

Recently, the perpetually tranquil Kunlun Mountains¹ had seen some changes. Immortals and gods from all paths flocked there one after another, and the mountain’s demonic spirits all grew excited.

Kunlun was a heavenly mountain under the protection of the Queen Mother of the West², so most of the demonic spirits born here harbored some notion of ascending to immortality.

How long was the lifespan of an immortal or a god? How could they celebrate their birthdays every year?

The Queen Mother of the West’s birthday celebration occurred only once every thousand years. Gods and immortals from the four directions would all come to offer their congratulations. If one could just absorb a bit of the immortals’ heavenly aura from the event, their future cultivation would become much easier.

If one’s luck was a bit better and they were directly taken a fancy to by some high god, brought back to serve as a spirit pet or a mount, they could shed their demonic status and become a heavenly or divine beast. It was like ascending to the heavens in a single step.

Such an opportunity—who wouldn’t be moved by it? For a time, many lesser demons with insufficient cultivation began to ponder how they might get to the summit of Kunlun Mountain.

You Yan, however, had not the slightest bit of interest. She simply took her little alpaca and climbed a large tree. The snow from the tree fell to the ground, but they only gazed together at the distant mountain peak shrouded in heavenly mist, chatting idly about this and that.

“Has the Queen Mother of the West always lived on the summit of Kunlun Mountain?”

“Yes.”

“Gods really do live high up. Ordinary lesser demons with insufficient cultivation probably can’t get up there, right?”

“Gods are always like that, high and mighty.” You Yan spoke faintly, her gaze as placid as her tone.

Such a gaze, such a tone, was undoubtedly similar to the You Yan of many years later, yet completely different.

Many years later, You Yan would still speak in this manner, but the difference was that every time You Yan mentioned the heavenly gods of the Heavenly Realm³, she would add a few more points of ridicule, and her eyes would even hold a trace of animosity.

But at this very moment, such animosity did not exist.

Something must have happened on the day of the Queen Mother of the West’s birthday.

Things having come to this, if she wanted to accompany You Yan peacefully through all of this, then she ought to stop You Yan from going to that birthday banquet. If she wanted to experience that pain together with You Yan, she should encourage You Yan to go.

But this time, she did not want to be the one to make the decision. She would follow You Yan’s choice. No matter what decision You Yan made, she would always remain by You Yan’s side.

The days of companionship in the mountains from dawn to dusk were always incomparably peaceful. As the days passed one by one, the Queen Mother of the West’s birthday drew nearer and nearer. The mirror that the bird woman outside the dream had mentioned still had not appeared, and You Yan showed no intention whatsoever of wanting to go to the Queen Mother of the West’s birthday banquet to have a look.

That “Queen Mother of the West’s birthday,” which both You Yan and the system had marked as a key point, seemed today to be just an exceedingly ordinary day. No matter how lively the Kunlun summit might be on that day, it would not affect her and You Yan’s life, which was as placid as water.

But could that day truly be passed so peacefully?

The more placid everything before her eyes was, the more Yi Qiu felt that this was the calm before the storm.

On the eve of the Queen Mother of the West’s birthday banquet, Yi Qiu was shaken awake from her bed by You Yan. She drowsily opened one eye, only to see You Yan gazing at her, her expression particularly complex.

“What’s wrong?” the little alpaca mumbled softly, striving to open both eyes, trying to wake from her sleep.

After a brief moment of grogginess, she heard You Yan say something to her.

“I’ve figured it out.”

“Hm?”

“I should go up the mountain.”

“Huh?” Yi Qiu was instantly awake. She shook her head forcefully, a look of astonishment on her face. “Why… why say that all of a sudden?”

“Yi Qiu, you said that some things will happen on the day of the Queen Mother of the West’s birthday, and these things will change my entire life…” You Yan said, her eyes unable to help but lower. “You asked me to help you find the mirror, to find a way to avoid all that. I was always unwilling… Actually, I lied to you.”

Yi Qiu stood there dumbfounded, her brain somewhat crashing as she tilted her head at You Yan, her eyes filled with bewilderment.

“It’s not that I’m unwilling to escape everything. It’s that I’m afraid that by doing so, I will instead bungle things up and run right into what could have been avoided.” You Yan continued speaking. “My mouth said it cannot be avoided, but a thought has always lingered in my heart… I’ve been thinking, did that future me you spoke of do something to be forced by the heavenly gods of the Heavenly Realm to fall into the demonic path? If I don’t do those things, can I pass this calamity safely…”

“You Yan…”

“Yi Qiu, when you told me about that future me, I was truly happy after hearing it. Happy that after so many years, I would have the good fortune to meet you… But I also heard it. All this beauty came because of you. In the two thousand five hundred years before you appeared, I was still that same me, all alone… Even if I was no longer rejected by the world, I still couldn’t find a reason to accept this mortal realm.”

“You…”

“I don’t like this version of myself. The moment I think about how I suffered in the darkness alone for so long, I lose the courage to face everything after waking up… I’m afraid that the beauty you spoke of won’t be enough to pull me out of the abyss… So, I selfishly thought, if I could stay in this dream forever, if I could… stay in this dream forever with you, why should I wake up?”

Yi Qiu was momentarily at a loss for words.

She had always thought that as long as they avoided the source of the pain in the nightmare, they could break out of the dream. She had never considered that being immersed in a sweet dream would likewise make one unable to awaken.

It was just as she had always thought: You Yan not doing anything was just her wanting to let nature take its course. She never imagined that it was actually a form of escape.

In her heart, You Yan had always been someone who faced danger without fear, who remained incomparably rational no matter what happened.

But she had, after all, overlooked that the little You Yan at five hundred years old was just a child who had not yet experienced true hardship. She was not yet capable of remaining calm at all times like her older self.

The five-hundred-year-old You Yan was not yet able to calmly analyze the situation, to calmly weigh the gains and losses.

“I… almost, almost wanted to pull you like this, to pull you with me, to stay in this dream forever and ever.” As You Yan spoke, her cold fingers, as usual, gently stroked Yi Qiu’s little head. “But if we did that, we would die in the dream, wouldn’t we?”

Then, her fingertips followed the pointy little ears, tracing down the fluffy fur that had been mussed up by sleep.

“Actually, I don’t care… because I’ve never known why I’m still alive… If there’s someone who cares about me who can die with me, isn’t that better than facing that unfamiliar future you spoke of?”

Yi Qiu had never thought that the outwardly placid You Yan was actually thinking such things in her heart.

At that moment, she suddenly found it difficult to breathe. The feeling was like a needle piercing her heart—not fatal, but it would hurt with every touch. If it was not pulled out, it would torment her endlessly.

But she knew this needle was not in her heart.

On the contrary, she was the one who had thrust this needle into You Yan’s heart.

Only at this moment did she truly understand why in every story, people would say “heavenly secrets cannot be divulged.” Once someone learns of the future, it is impossible for them not to be influenced by that future in the slightest.

It was like a poor person learning they would become rich in the future. They might give up working hard because of it, and thus be unable to walk toward that future.

For this very reason, a future that was already preordained in the great unseen, from the moment it was known, was not necessarily the future anymore.

But regardless of whether the future would change, the person who learned of it would be troubled to a certain extent.

You Yan was a case in point.

The future she told You Yan about sounded wonderful, but upon careful thought, it was only a very short period of time.

Aside from that period, all that remained were over two thousand five hundred years of solitude.

If not for that, the You Yan in 《Thin, Withered Branch》 would not have been so determined to throw the three realms⁴ into chaos, trying with all her might to plunge the world’s living beings into misery and suffering.

This was You Yan. Her love and her hate were so simple, yet so insane.

If there was someone in the world who loved her, she was willing to live and die with that person alone.

If there was no one in the world who loved her, she would make the people of the world feel all the pain she had endured.

From beginning to end, she had not changed one bit.

“Was I wrong to tell you…?” Yi Qiu said, her eyes unable to help but turn red.

“No, you should have told me.” You Yan, however, simply hugged her neck gently. “I want to thank you for not hiding it from me, thank you for giving me the chance to choose.”

She said she had chosen to escape.

But at this moment, she regretted it.

She had no memories of the outside world. She was afraid that after getting out, she would no longer be herself, so she rejected everything unfamiliar outside.

She was afraid that the tragic future Yi Qiu spoke of truly existed, so while trying hard to pretend she did not care, she was madly trying to escape it.

But she could not do it. She could not, with a clear conscience, forcibly keep this world’s only little fool who cared about her by her side, forcibly keep her in this illusory dream, to accompany her until her soul was annihilated.

This was her nightmare. The calamities in the dream were things she should not have been avoiding in the first place.

“If it’s an illusion, there must be an exit. If we stay here forever, we’ll never get out.” You Yan said, releasing the little alpaca in her arms. She messily ruffled that fuzzy little head, whose eyes were glistening with tears, silly and fluffy. She curved her brows into a smile. “I’ll take you to find the exit.”

“…Exit?”

“If it’s really as you say, a nightmare buried deep in my heart, then the past I’m most unwilling to face must be the exit of the dream.” You Yan stood up and patted the back of Yi Qiu’s head. “Let’s go, we’ll go to the summit and have a look!”

“…”

“Let’s go, let’s leave this place!”

Yi Qiu sniffled and took two deep breaths, then pounced onto You Yan’s shoulders, which You Yan had deliberately lowered after getting out of bed.

She did not say much more, because she knew that this time, You Yan had made a decision that belonged to her.

On that snowy night, the little alpaca lay on You Yan’s back and left the small, narrow wooden cabin behind them.

She subconsciously glanced back.

She thought, perhaps this was the last look before their departure.

The mountain was high and the journey far, impossible on foot.

The Qinyuan⁵, born with a body of red feathers, unfurled the wings on her back that were regarded as inauspicious. Her massive form soared through the snowy night sky of Kunlun Mountain.

The little alpaca lay on the giant bird’s back. The bird’s feathers were soft, and her flight was exceptionally steady. A current of spiritual energy protected her securely.

It had to be said, this feeling of having a solid footing was far more comfortable than being held and flown by that bird woman.

“Yi Qiu… this form of mine, are you afraid?”

“No!” Yi Qiu crawled forward a bit, stretched out her two front hooves, and hugged the giant bird’s neck tightly, shouting loudly and excitedly, “This is my first time flying like this, You Yan! This feels like a dream, AHHHHHH! The alpaca is riding an airplane!”

“…”

“AHHHHHHHHHH!”

“I am not a flying chicken.”⁶

Uh, judging by her tone, it seemed the airplane was not happy.

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