20 - A Farewell to Mr. Luo

Si Bu Xiang stared at Bai Fan's snake-like face, the small scales tightly wrapping her features. Her slightly stunned expression made her thoughts transparent to him. How should he put it? Si Bu Xiang had been a divine beast of the world for countless years and had been nesting in this canyon for many millennia. If not for his injuries, he would have left long ago. Although every fifty years, a bunch of youngsters would come in, none posed any real threat to him in his wounded state. Even if they discovered him, it wouldn't matter; at most, he would just eat them if they crossed paths. But the aura around this little snake in front of him was very chaotic. If he hadn't scented the aura of the true dragon, he might have indeed eaten her by now. "Little snake, where did the true dragon aura on you come from?" he asked. When Bai Fan snapped back to reality, she was still elated to realize she could speak. Suddenly, Si Bu Xiang posed this cold and abrupt question in front of her. Where did the true dragon aura come from? Of course, the Panlong Pillar. She had no clue what Si Bu Xiang wanted to know, and she didn't see any harm in telling him the truth. "Uh, it's from the Panlong Pillar," she answered. "Panlong Pillar?" Si Bu Xiang seemed to mull this over, muttering to himself, "Could it be that the dragon clan has perished?" "That’s odd. You are clearly a snake, so why do you have the scent of a flood dragon?" He began circling around Bai Fan, his large lantern eyes shifting over her body. He stared at her abdomen for a while, twitched his nose, still appearing puzzled, and finally shook his head. Bai Fan's flood dragon core was deeply hidden within her, in a very secretive space. If not for Si Bu Xiang's innate spiritual sense, no one would have detected it. Remaining silent, Bai Fan thought that if she admitted to being an ordinary snake demon, she might indeed be eaten. Better to be mistaken for something more formidable. Si Bu Xiang pretentiously raised his head to look at the cave ceiling and blew out a string of sulfurous smoke rings from his nostrils. "It seems fate has favored you, allowing you to encounter me here. I won’t hide it from you; I am the divine beast of the world, Huo Qilin." As he finished speaking, the flames on his four hoofs flared up even more, and a gust of wind from nowhere lifted his mane, adding to his majestic and ferocious appearance, truly seeming like a divine beast. Bai Fan, enduring the pain on her body, looked at the self-proclaimed Huo Qilin in front of her, thinking, Is this really the demeanor of a heavenly beast? After revealing his identity, Huo Qilin seemed to conduct a runway show, striking several poses in front of Bai Fan. "Though you are not a true divine beast, you carry the bloodline of the flood dragon and have the true dragon aura. This could be heaven's favor towards the dragon clan. If they have indeed perished, you might be the last hope of the clan," Huo Qilin stated with a you-have-struck-gold look. Hearing this, Bai Fan felt like a swindler had suddenly appeared, claiming her extraordinary lineage and entrusting her with the task of saving the world. Seeing Bai Fan remain silent, Huo Qilin presumptuously continued, "If you follow me in cultivation, conquering the world would be trivial, and traversing the three realms would be no problem." "Why do you want to teach me?" Bai Fan felt there was no such thing as a free lunch. Could she really stumble into a cave and find a divine beast willing to be her teacher? Huo Qilin’s face turned slightly awkward hearing Bai Fan's question. To cover his unease, he replied, "I am concerned about the dragon clan." Seeing Bai Fan's earnest gaze fixed on him, Huo Qilin’s old face turned red. Luckily, he was red all over, so he continued seriously, "Do you think I’m going to take advantage of you?" Bai Fan thought for a moment. She didn't have anything worth coveting. If this Si Bu Xiang really intended harm, he would likely have done it already. This stroke of luck was hard to trust, leaving her feeling uneasy. "Then, what can you teach me?" Bai Fan asked. "What do you want to learn?" Huo Qilin asked in return. After considering it and adjusting her pained posture, Bai Fan said, "I want to cultivate and ascend. Can you teach me that?" "Ascend? That’s simple enough. I can handle that," Huo Qilin boasted. Seeing the confident Huo Qilin, Bai Fan finally felt a bit more reassured. Having a powerful master certainly seemed better than staying in the Qingxu Sect. "Alright, I will follow you to cultivate." Hearing her consent, Huo Qilin showed his horse-like teeth in a grin and excitedly ran deeper into the cave. Bai Fan had no idea what it was doing but could only lie there, groaning from her severe burns. Before long, the sound of hoofbeats approached, with Huo Qilin's hooves like four big torches. Although the cave was completely dark, his presence made it bright, like a moving torch. Huo Qilin carried something in his mouth. As Bai Fan looked up, four red fruits fell, emitting a faint fruity fragrance. Their peels seemed to glow with a reddish light, and the dense spiritual energy made Bai Fan salivate. "Eat these," Huo Qilin directed. Without hesitation, Bai Fan swallowed the fruits in one gulp, the rich fruit flavor filling her taste buds. It was the best thing she had ever eaten. Smacking her lips, Bai Fan noticed her wounds healing at a speed visible to the naked eye. The fruits’ abundant spiritual energy not only tasted good but also repaired her damaged meridians. "What kind of fruit are these?" Bai Fan asked curiously. Huo Qilin blinked and replied, "Those outside call these vermillion fruits." Unaware of the vermillion fruits’ value, Bai Fan only knew they tasted good and were excellent for her meridian repair. She asked, "Are there more?" Secretly, Bai Fan was craving them. "The cave is out of these. You'll have to pick more outside." Bai Fan, mostly healed, painfully got up. Seeing her expression, Huo Qilin proudly led her outside to pick more vermillion fruits. Upon reaching the cave entrance, Bai Fan struggled to revert to her human form. Huo Qilin, puzzled, asked, "Why do you take on the appearance of these youngsters?" In Huo Qilin’s eyes, only beautiful scales and sturdy hooves were perfect. The human form seemed hideous to it, like a hairless monkey. Without hesitation, Bai Fan replied, "It's more convenient this way." Still confused but not opposing, Huo Qilin cheerfully led Bai Fan to pick vermillion fruits. After some climbing, they finally found a vermillion fruit tree on the canyon wall. The tree had no leaves, only bare branches with a few scattered vermillion fruits, resembling red glass balls. Bai Fan, spotting them, hurried over, plucking and devouring one straight away. The delicious taste made her squint in contentment. If I could eat these every day, I wouldn't even need meat, she thought. As Bai Fan savored the fruits, Huo Qilin stood by, watching her with a loving gaze, presenting a harmonious master-disciple scene. Just then, they heard voices from a distance. "Are you sure there are vermillion fruits here?" “Yes, I heard it from a senior brother who visited years ago. It's reliable.” A few foundation-building disciples cautiously climbed the cliff. Bai Fan turned to Huo Qilin and whispered, "Someone's coming." "It's okay; they won't see us," Huo Qilin confidently reassured her. Bai Fan blinked and thought, with this Si Bu Xiang around, probably no one in the canyon could harm her. If he said there was no problem, she relaxed. Thus, Bai Fan watched as the disciples passed by, oblivious to her presence. They eagerly harvested the last vermillion fruits, causing Bai Fan some heartache. "Don't worry, there are more elsewhere. You'll have your fill," Huo Qilin said, easily reading her reluctant expression. The departing disciples, delighted with their haul, discussed their find. "Why are vermillion fruits only found in this canyon at Wanfeng Platform?" “I don’t know, but I heard from my uncle that vermillion fruits grow from Huo Qilin’s droppings.” “Huo Qilin? Is there really a Huo Qilin in the canyon?” "Who knows? It's just a rumor. Have you ever seen anyone claim to have met Huo Qilin here?" Upon hearing this, Bai Fan turned green. Vermillion fruits grow from droppings? Unconvinced, Bai Fan turned to Huo Qilin, just about to ask, but Huo Qilin preempted her. “He's right.” The confirmation made Bai Fan feel nauseous. She'd been eating something grown from droppings, wasn't that akin to eating excrement? Bai Fan's face turned the color of a pig's liver with immediate disgust. She swiftly threw away all the vermillion fruits in her hands and began retching on the side. Huo Qilin, nonchalant, said, “You were just enjoying them so much! Why this reaction now? You're making your master quite unhappy.” “Ugh—” “Blah—” Bai Fan felt like she was about to vomit her bile out. She couldn't throw up much since most of the vermillion fruits she had eaten were already absorbed and digested by her body. The more she thought about it, the more aggrieved she felt. It was all her greed for tasty food that led her to eat so much 'filth'. She vomited so forcefully that tears even welled up at the corners of her eyes. “You've already eaten them, so why keep throwing up now? You were enjoying them so happily before. You didn’t actually eat excrement; these vermillion fruits simply result from certain fruits I ate, which then mutated inside my body and sprouted after being excreted," Huo Qilin explained. This incident caused a significant psychological shadow for Bai Fan. From that moment on, she never touched another vermillion fruit, and she shied away from anything Huo Qilin offered her. She lay weakly in the cave, lost in her thoughts. Huo Qilin would occasionally glance at her, wondering if the little snake was sick.