Little Alpaca – Chapter 85

Volume 2: Fuzhu Huodou

At Your Mercy.

At that moment, the surroundings fell deathly silent, and Yi Qiu was also stunned into a daze.

She had thought that You Yan had rushed here in such a hurry to save people…

No, that wasn’t right. You Yan had indeed come to save someone, but the one she wanted to save wasn’t the entire Xianlu Sect, just that Zither Immortal, Chu Tinglan.

You Yan had seen too much slaughter in this world. To her, human lives were not a fraction heavier than blades of grass.

She had journeyed here, bearing a body of unhealed wounds, not to commit evil, nor to perform good, but merely to save one person.

And the reason that person was able to receive this “special honor” was simply because, not long ago, a little alpaca had casually mentioned once that she wanted to hear the songs he played.

Yi Qiu frowned as she looked at You Yan, completely unsure how to react.

For a moment, she felt her square inch fall into great chaos, her thoughts seemingly submerged in a thick fog, completely losing all sense of direction.

The sea of fire once again burned toward this small patch of land. Everyone’s gaze turned to Chu Tinglan. He was the only one You Yan had chosen, and also the only one who could decide who lived and who died.

While waiting for a response, Yi Qiu subconsciously clenched a corner of her sleeve. The soft, red feathers protected every inch of her skin amidst the encirclement of the scorching sea of fire.

In truth, she wanted to save everyone, but she also knew that with You Yan’s current strength, it was impossible to defeat the Huodou and save every single person here.

The gray-headed and earth-faced¹ disciples of the Xianlu Sect didn’t dare to speak—five spots were too few. Besides the two Revered Ones, who could the remaining three be?

After a period of dead silence, Chu Tinglan took a long, deep breath, took half a step back, and said with a resolute expression, “I am honored by your misplaced affection, and can only thank you for your kind intentions, young miss. Even if this Chu is to be reduced to ashes today, I must protect the disciples of my sect until my strength is exhausted. If you are willing, I ask that you please take the few youngest children of my sect away from this place…”

After speaking, he pulled several children who looked to be just over ten years old from the crowd, then closed his eyes with a long sigh, turned, and plucked the zither strings.

The strings rang, the zither’s melody stirred. A mortal’s spiritual energy, which could not be considered powerful, was nothing more than a mantis trying to stop a chariot² before the heavenly fire, yet it was done with righteousness without a backward glance³.

No one raised any objections to this.

Their gazes were filled with either pain or despair. Only those few children began to cry one by one, shouting that they refused to leave.

Watching this, Yi Qiu felt it was not the right flavor⁴.

“Whether you go or stay is not up to you!” You Yan said, stepping forward to seize Chu Tinglan, but was stopped when Yi Qiu grabbed the corner of her robes.

“You Yan.” Yi Qiu shook her head. “Don’t be like this…”

Don’t be like this, forcing someone to abandon their firmly held beliefs just because of a single sentence from me.

You Yan frowned. After a moment of silence, she clenched the five fingers of her right hand, and Chuixue was already in her palm.

The next second, with a single wave of the water-colored long whip, the surrounding flames that were burning toward them were lashed back slightly.

But her power, in the end, awakened the Huodou.

The crimson-eyed black hound emerged slowly from the sea of fire. With every step its massive body took, the ground trembled.

“It’s you again.” A young girl’s voice came from the black hound. “Speaking of which, you should count as half a benefactor to me.”

“I had just gotten out of the seal that day and wasn’t very clear-headed. I was a bit heavy-handed. You don’t mind, do you?” the black hound said with a light chuckle, continuing to walk forward. “I have important business today. We can discuss my thanks another day. For now, take that little demon⁵ beside you and leave this place, lest you be accidentally injured by me.”

That voice was clearly exceptionally childish, yet it carried a hint of gloom and paranoia. Every single word sent a chill to the bottom of one’s heart.

You Yan turned to glance at Yi Qiu. Seeing the intolerance in her eyes, she seemed to make up her mind and took a few steps forward under everyone’s gaze.

“Since I count as half your benefactor, why not repay the favor today.” You Yan said, pausing for half a second before raising her brows and enunciating each word heavily, “You. Now. Please. Leave.”

Her voice wasn’t loud, even a bit low, but it was carried to the surroundings by her spiritual energy, sounding as if it were right beside one’s ear no matter the distance.

Hearing this, the Huodou couldn’t help but let out a cold laugh.

The laughter was as clear as a child’s, yet it carried the intent of “destruction”.

“I never said I was going to repay the favor.” the Huodou said, lightly humming a couple of lines from an unknown ballad before continuing, “And even if I were to repay a favor, I wouldn’t mind if I—take kindness and repay with enmity⁶.”

As its voice fell, the Huodou spat out a ball of fire.

You Yan spread her wings in mid-air and shattered the flame with her whip.

The next second, the scattered sparks drifted down from the sky like falling rain.

Jiang Xuan, Mu Qingshuang, and Chu Tinglan quickly joined forces to erect a barrier, protecting all the disciples within it.

It is slow to tell, but it happened fast. In just a few short seconds, You Yan had already exchanged several blows with the Huodou.

Previously, in that narrow stone cavern in Wuzhou, You Yan’s speed advantage as a member of the Feather Clan couldn’t be utilized at all. At this moment, however, things were much better. Although she was at a disadvantage, she showed no signs of defeat.

Just then, a terrified cry came from within the crowd.

“A bird demon! Another bird demon!”

That word “another” was simply too stimulating. Countless pairs of eyes once again looked toward the sky.

Yi Qiu followed the gazes and looked up, seeing a pair of golden wings that seemed to be burning with red flames in mid-air. She was overjoyed and shouted loudly.

“Little Pig Trotter! Hurry up and save us!”

Yi Qiu’s shout made the nearby Xianlu Sect disciples feel that joy came from beyond expectations⁷—regardless of whether they could be saved, at least this bird demon wasn’t here to kill them!

The distant bird demon sped over, drawing closer and closer under the expectant gazes of countless people.

Suddenly, someone exclaimed in shock, “Shijie! It’s Yuyao-shijie!”

“That bird, that bird demon is… it’s Luo-shidi!”

“Luo-shidi is a demon! How can he be a demon… ah!”

A disciple was shouting loudly when he was suddenly slapped hard on the back of the head from behind.

“What’s wrong with being a demon! Did a demon eat your family’s rice?!” Yi Qiu cursed. “He’s been busy serving you all for so many years. No one cared when he was captured by demons back then, and now that you’re in trouble, you still need him to rush back and save you! Still going on about ‘demon, demon, demon’—demon my ass! Grow a heart, will you!”

The little alpaca demon had quite the set of lungs. After she finished her tirade, many people fell into silence.

Before long, Luo Mingyuan landed steadily before the crowd with Jiang Yuyao. Jiang Yuyao looked up at You Yan, who was locked in combat with the Huodou not far away, and said with a frown, “Father, two Shishu⁸! That black hound is called Huodou, an ancient fierce beast⁹. Miss You is not its match…”

Jiang Xuan didn’t dare to relax his strength for a moment, holding up the barrier with all his might. He asked through gritted teeth, “Then what did you come back for!”

“I couldn’t not come back!” Jiang Yuyao said, also injecting her spiritual energy into the barrier. “Luo-shidi, save them!”

“Little Pig Trotter, hurry up and get people out of here!” Yi Qiu was extremely anxious and gave Luo Mingyuan a push.

Luo Mingyuan was stunned for half a second, then hurried forward and said, “Master, I can take everyone across!”

A trace of relief flashed in Jiang Xuan’s eyes, but it couldn’t hide his overwhelming guilt. He thought for a moment and said, “Mingyuan, your master and junior uncles must leave last. You take the others first.”

Luo Mingyuan nodded, quickly picked up two children that Yi Qiu had pushed toward him, and flew to the other side of the chasm amidst the children’s cries of alarm.

With someone holding off the Huodou on one side and someone else ferrying people across the chasm, the emotions of the Xianlu Sect disciples finally stabilized a little.

Despite this, some people were still making demoralizing comments.

“Why is Luo-shidi so slow? The fire is about to reach us…”

“At this speed, we won’t make it before everyone gets across. The ones left behind will all die!”

“He won’t save me. I used to…”

Yi Qiu gritted her teeth and cursed, “Shut up, you lot! If you’re so capable, grow your own wings and fly across!”

After she finished yelling, everyone instantly fell silent.

The vast sea of fire was held back several meters away. Amidst the thick smoke and heatwaves, Luo Mingyuan flew back and forth again and again, but had only managed to save seven people.

Although Luo Mingyuan was quite strong and could carry two ten-year-old children at once, he could definitely only carry one slightly larger adult at a time.

His strength was limited. When he returned from the other side again, he was already covered in sweat, and the old wounds on his body had split open once more.

“Are you still…” Yi Qiu hadn’t even finished her worried question before the boy took another person and left.

What is all this? How could there be such a deadly situation!

Why aren’t Jian Li and Xun Chi here yet?

Are those who run on the ground that much slower than those who fly in the sky?

Just as Yi Qiu was getting anxious, a great rain pouring like ladles¹⁰ suddenly began to fall from the horizon, bringing hope to everyone.

On the other side of the chasm, a four-horned white deer radiated a pure glow. Her pristine white antlers stretched upward like tree branches, stirring up fierce winds, a torrential downpour, and flashes of lightning and thunder.

At that moment, the Huodou stopped its assault on You Yan, its gaze turning toward the distance.

“Jian Li…” the Huodou murmured, speaking the name from its memories.

The white deer stood in the distance, gazing at the black hound from afar. “Yue Zhuo, stop hurting people!”

“You only have half of your cultivation base left. How can you stop me?” the Huodou asked through gritted teeth. It suddenly transformed into a ball of flame, shot past You Yan, and landed before the white deer.

The pure black giant hound was much larger than the white deer. She quietly gazed at the white deer and the High God of the Heavenly Realm before her, and after a moment of silence, let out a series of intermittent, self-mocking chuckles.

The laughter echoed between heaven and earth. Neither the wind nor the rain was as desolate as this.

“Now, can you still save people from my grasp?” she asked, a trace of resentment surfacing in her eyes. “Now, can you still seal me away for a thousand years!”

“Yue Zhuo, you…”

“Xun Chi, I advise you to shut up. You were once very good to me, but that doesn’t mean I can’t bear to kill you,” the Huodou said as red flames ignited on its body, incinerating all the surrounding grass and trees to ash.

Several Xianlu Sect disciples nearby were so frightened they couldn’t move at all.

Xun Chi shielded them behind him, his eyes full of guilt as he looked at the Huodou. “The fault is all mine…”

“Yes, it’s yours!” the Huodou questioned through gritted teeth. “You must be full of regret now, regretting that you didn’t just kill me back then, right?”

“Yue Zhuo.” The white deer slowly approached the Huodou, her tone as gentle as it had always been. “Let everyone go, and I will go with you.”

“…”

“Whether it be resentment or hatred, this time, I will be at your mercy…”

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