Don’t Discriminate Against Species

"Do you feel like the boss is in an especially good mood today?"

Chao Yun bit into a Zhuyu fruit. "I heard the boss had an unpleasant disagreement with the dragon clans yesterday night. Many people saw it?"

Everyone looked at Zhang Ke in curiosity. As the party that hosted yesterday night's birthday banquet, Zhang Ke ought to be the person most in the know.

Zhang Ke grumbled internally. Seeing everyone's eyes on him, he could only answer, "My sect's elder didn't know that the boss isn't on good terms with the dragon clans and arranged for them to sit together out of kindness."

Sss.

There was a collective sucking in of breath. He had probably already given Sect Leader Zhao plenty of face by not fighting them on the spot.

"I was helping to welcome the guests at that time, so I'm not too clear on the details, but I heard news from other guests yesterday night that the boss fought with the white Dragon Lord in the sky." Zhang Ke added, "The white Dragon Lord was completely trounced, without even the strength to fight back."

His little bit of strength wasn't enough for him to win whether it was in combat or cursing, yet he deliberately went to provoke Zhuang Qing. Wasn't he just picking a quarrel?

"He's in a good mood even after fighting with someone else?" Chao Yun was so astonished that she even stopped eating the Zhuyu fruit. "This isn't scientific."

"What is science at this place?" Xu Yuan pointed at an official business webpage on the computer. "The boss even personally wrote violation tickets last night - one for him, and one for the white Dragon Lord."

"He probably… turned foolish from anger?" Chao Yun straightened the cheongsam she was wearing. With a beautiful posture, she said, "For the boss to want to beat up the white dragon even if he had to give himself a violation ticket, he must have been quite angry."

"That's not right, isn't it because the boss and Fu ge were wearing a couple outfit?" The honest and pure Wei Cang who still didn't understand office culture asked in confusion. "Love puts one in a good mood - isn't this the logic?"

"What love? Whose breeding season is it?" Fu Li had gone to Zhuang Qing's office, and happened to hear Wei Cang's words when he came back. Out of respect for his colleagues' privacy, Fu Li rarely used his cultivation to specially listen in on what others in the office were saying. Thus, he hadn't heard Wei Cang's earlier words.

"I was saying the boss and…"

Zhang Ke reached out and pulled his junior disciple back, smiling cooperatively. "We were saying that Wei Cang's breed of tiger is about to go extinct and that it isn't easy to find a suitable partner."

"That's indeed difficult," Fu Li nodded. "When there's time, everyone can go search around in the forests, just in case there's someone suitable."

"Fu ge is right, I'll accompany him in the search when I have time," Zhang Ke nodded seriously. "I definitely won't let him live as a bachelor."

Wei Cang: …

Seeing that Fu Li really hadn't heard Wei Cang's words, everyone heaved a sigh of relief. If what was originally a few teasing words spoken in private ended up overheard by the person involved, then that would be too awkward.

"Zhang Ke, our sect was really shown a lot of face to have even managed to invite the Kongyou," Chu Yu was scrolling through the cultivators' forum on his computer. "It's rare for the noble and virtuous Lord Kongyou to be willing to show his art for Sect Leader Zhao."

"Stop bringing it up. There was a drunk guest yesterday night who kept making a fuss about their beauty. The other disciples and I were so busy that our feet practically didn't touch the ground, how did we have the time to look at the performances?" Zhang Ke yawned. "If I didn't have to work today, I would love to sleep till noon before waking up."

"What Hundred Birds Worshipping the Fenghuang is this?" Song Yu, who hadn't attended the birthday banquet, took a few looks at the performance video on the forum. He said contemptuously, "The real Fenghuang wouldn't need to do so many garish movements. The moment a Fenghuang appears, all birds would obey it."

"Song ge, you've seen a Fenghuang?"

"Of course," Song Yu said proudly. "Which yao in that era of ours hasn't seen a Fenghuang?"

The others felt envious, dejected, as well as an inexpressible sense of sadness at the demise of a fellow comrade.

At this moment at the Qing Xiao Sect, Zhao Xiu and several elders were tearing open the presents given by the guests. They were noting them down in a book so that they would know what to give as a return gift in the future. Spiritual qi was weak now; even if everyone had good stuff, they wouldn’t have much, so they wouldn’t give very rare things even if Zhao Xiu had some reputation in the cultivation world.

It was all right as long as the present appeared consistent with propriety - everyone was well aware of this.

"Dragon Lord Zhuang gave a pair of blood corals from the East Sea, as well as a box of sea pearls."

"Lord Fu Li…" The elder tearing open the gift box stared blankly and said with trembling hands, "Sect Leader, this is a five hundred year old wild mountain ginseng!"

"What?" Zhao Xiu stood up and took the box for a look at it. There was indeed a wild mountain ginseng of exceptionally high quality placed inside. What was rare was that this wild mountain ginseng had been preserved perfectly - the person who dug it out had been very careful, resulting in extremely thick spiritual qi.

"Good stuff," Zhao Xiu lightly wiped the wild mountain ginseng. The humans had been developing rapidly these few years, and there was practically no place in the sea and mountains devoid of human presence. There was a certain mountain rumored in the cultivation world for being dangerous and cultivators with slightly lower cultivation dared not even enter it. In the end, ordinary humans operated their planes and cars, brought a horde of workers over, and actually dug a tunnel through the mountain, setting up a railroad.

There were also some reefs at sea that ordinary humans had built islands on by depending on their own abilities, without the help of cultivators.

Human strength and their speed of development was boundless. In the near future, perhaps these humans would go beyond earth and occupy the entire universe. Although, it was unknown if they would be restricted by heavenly law after breaking away from earth.

"Note down this favor," Zhao Xiu put the cover back on and handed the wild mountain ginseng to the elder in charge of managing affairs. "Refine this into medicinal pills and let the inner sect elders consume it."

Humans possessed the ability to invent and innovate, but their lifespans were not even a tenth of a yao cultivator. Even if they stepped onto the path of cultivation, it was still possible for them to age and die. It was tough for yao cultivators to gain intelligence, but the moment they did, it wasn't difficult for them to live more than five hundred years. On the other hand, human cultivators had it easier than plants and animals when it came to cultivation, although anyone who lived more than five hundred years would already be a rare expert.

With losses, there would always be gains. It wasn't clear who was at a greater disadvantage.

The great sea would forever be the place that was most out of reach and unfathomable. In the past, humans couldn't be apart from water, yet feared the disasters that water brought, so they would constantly offer sacrifices to all sorts of divine creatures related to water. For instance, the Dragon King, Water Jiao, He Bo, and so on.

As human knowledge and experience increased, they realized that offering sacrifices to divine creatures wouldn't help them, so they gradually learnt to abandon these divine creatures and started to rely on their own created tools. This was why, the earlier the time period in historical records, the more devout humans were towards divine creatures, and the later the time period, the more the humans believed in themselves.

This was probably humanity's greatest strength, which was why they could rise above so many living creatures and stand at the top of the food chain.

A certain historical science program was playing on a public television in a certain tiny restaurant. The heavy rain that had been pouring down the last few days had washed a stone statue out from the bottom of a river. The stone statue resembled a dragon, yet also resembled a tortoise. There was even an upright slab of stone beneath its stomach. Its four limbs were even bound by iron chains. It had a rather monstrous appearance.

The eventual conclusion the archaeologists arrived at was that this was an ancient type of water-evading beast. Reportedly, frightening floods would not occur at river basins with its presence. Humans then subsequently carved out stone statues of this water-evading beast, used chains to bind them, and then let them sink to the bottom of the ocean so that he would protect their offspring for many generations at the river basin.

Once sunk, it was said that the water-evading beast could not be towed out no matter what. If the stone statue were to suddenly run aground, an enormous flood unstoppable by even the water-evading beast would erupt at the area.

After learning after this ancient saying, some people proposed that the experts place the water-evading beast back. But an even greater number of people felt that it didn't matter, and that many disasters wouldn't have happened if they could rely on a single stone statue to evade natural disasters.

People came and went at the restaurant. Not a single person had any interest in knowing what exactly this stone statue was. They were busy going to work, busy making a living, busy realizing their unattainable dreams.

However, coincidences were rampant in the world. The day after the stone statue was towed away by a vehicle, it rained unceasingly for ten days in a row. With the assistance of the government, the civilians in the vicinity of the water basin moved away temporarily. No one knew how long the rain would last, nor did they dare to confirm if a flood would happen. Nobody dared to bet on the civilians' lives.

What was scarier was that the stone statue towed back for research had gone missing. The staff members and the police had scoured the surveillance material countless times without finding any suspicious people. The only thing was, the surveillance camera had flickered abruptly a few times on the night the stone statue vanished. When it returned to normal, the stone statue had already disappeared. Only a pile of rusted, splotched chains as well as the incomparably heavy, enormous stone remained.

Fearing that this excessively strange matter would send the local civilians into a panic, the matter was suppressed and the relevant department sent a report to their superiors in hopes that they would find a way to resolve the case.

Two days had already passed when the management bureau received the documents from the security department. Zhuang Qing flipped through the photographs. His gaze landed on the iron chains binding the water-evading beast's four limbs, an exceedingly ugly expression on his face.

1800 years ago, he had once seen this yao beast. He was on the run at that time, so after encountering this yao beast, he assumed that the other party also wanted to eat him. Yet, contrary to his expectations, the other party merely lay down lazily at the waterside and asked him where he was heading to.

He was both tired and on guard at that point, so he hadn't spoken the truth. On the other hand, it was this water-evading beast who pulled at him and jabbered on and on.

He said his name was Gong Fu, and that his birth father was the Azure Dragon, the auspicious animal equally as well-known as the Vermilion Bird. He had inherited his birth father's ability to control water, so with him around, there was no fear of floods. Right before they parted ways, Gong Fu, the self-proclaimed bloodkin of the dragon race, even gave him a box of medicinal pills. His reason for doing so was that they were both of the dragon race.

Although, in Zhuang Qing's eyes, that strange-looking, lazy yao cultivator had little relation to dragons.

"Gong Fu…" Zhuang Qing stood up, pushed his office door, and walked into the working area. "Chao Yun, Qing Xu, Fu Li. Come with me."

"What happened?" The three people who had been named stood up. From Zhuang Qing's grave expression, Fu Li knew that it definitely wasn't anything good.

"Let's talk after we reach," Zhuang Qing didn't have the time to explain. He led his three colleagues and rushed in a haste to the location where the stone statue of Gong Fu had been fished up.

"What thick resentment," Qing Xu's feet had just touched the ground when he was given a huge shock by the resentment on the surface of the water. He hurriedly recited a resentment-clearing Daoist chant, dispelling the resentment on the surface of the water that was so thick it had nearly materialized into physical substance.

"This is…" Chao Yun and Zhuang Qing's dragon qi protected them, preventing the resentment from nearing them. Chao Yun glanced at Fu Li. Fu Li seemed to have fused together with the resentment; he didn't seem uncomfortable at all.

Zhuang Qing placed a hand on Fu Li's shoulder. Instantly, the golden light of virtue wrapped around him. The resentment hastily fled in disarray; any resentment that didn't make it in time dissipated in the golden light of virtue.

"How many years of resentment does this place hide for it to be so scary?" Chao Yun removed the hairpin holding her hair up. She tossed it into the air, and the hairpin released thousands of streams of auspicious qi, dispelling a considerable amount of resentment.

"What did the people here do?" Chao Yun wore an extremely ugly expression. As she looked at the resentment that wouldn't clear no matter how much it was dispelled, she thought of something not very good. She turned to look at Zhuang Qing. Zhuang Qing silently spat out the dragon pearl in his body.

The dragon pearl radiated a golden glow in all directions. Even the thickest resentment faded away under the golden light. Gradually, the resentment lessened.

As the resentment dissipated bit by bit, Fu Li caught sight of a person not far from the shore suddenly jumping into the water. Treading on the surface of the water, he flew over and picked the person up from the river. The person had already fainted. Fu Li threw him onto a pile of grass at the side. When he looked back at the other side of the river, he realized that thick fog had risen above the water. He could no longer see the opposite bank.

Wu… wu…

The wind over the river whistled as it blew. It resembled the wails of a certain creature, yet also resembled the angriest of all denunciations.

Fu Li waved his sleeves, sweeping the thick fog away from the surface of the river. However, the scene that met Fu Li's eyes wasn't the opposite bank, but what had happened after Gong Fu's death. His skeleton was placed by humans into the stone statue before iron chains were wound around it. Talismans were engraved onto the stone statue, and the statue was then thrown into the water.

One year. Ten years. One hundred years. One thousand years.

Resentment was borne from the shackled skeleton. He hated the heavy iron chains that imprisoned his body and hated the vicious talismans for imprisoning his soul. But what he most hated was those humans who wouldn't even let him rest in peace after death and made him live day after day at the bottom of the sea, where it was full of decay, mud, and fish.

This wasn't Gong Fu. It was his resentment after death.

Fu Li had heard Gong Fu's story from White Ape before. He was said to be one of the sons of the divine dragon. Because his birth mother was a spiritual tortoise, he resembled both a dragon and a tortoise. He was very lazy and was most fond of playing around in the water. From time to time, he would tease the humans or yao near the shore. If the other party was to his liking, he would give them a present. He was an auspicious beast with a very interesting personality.

When Fu Li was young, he had once thought about what he could do to endear himself to Gong Fu so that he would receive a present if they ever met.

Never had he thought that a casual thought from childhood would end in him meeting this auspicious beast in such a manner.

Fu Li was very upset. He didn't know if he was sad for Gong Fu or disappointed in the humans. The worship of gods was one way in which humans sought psychological protection. In essence, their carving of the stone statue was also a form of worship. But why had they placed the auspicious beast's skeleton within the stone statue and trapped it in the water for so many years?

Didn't they revere him? Weren't they grateful to him? Then why did they still do such a thing?!

The thick fog on the surface of the river gradually converged to form a human figure. The person with scarlet eyes was clad in a black robe. His long hair fell casually down his back. He looked nothing like an auspicious beast.

The resentment after the death of an auspicious beast had cultivated into a yao. A yao that took form from resentment was foreordained to be evil by nature.

"Fu Li!" Zhuang Qing found him from who-knew-where. His expression underwent a subtle change upon seeing the person standing on the surface of the river. "Gong Fu?"

No. Not right. This wasn't Gong Fu.

The year Gong Fu gave Zhuang Qing the medicinal pills in his human form, his sleeves had fluttered and his hair had been bound by a jade band. He had looked completely ethereal. The evil yao before his eyes now looked identical to Gong Fu, but gave off an aura that was the complete opposite of his.

"I'm not a silly Gong Fu," The black-clothed person's black-red lips hooked up. "But I don't have a name, so it's fine for you to call me Gong Fu."

"Is the continuous torrential rain in the vicinity your doing?" Zhuang Qing walked to Fu Li's side. His gaze met the black-clothed person's. "What do you want?"

"Do you know how many years I was trapped in the water?" The black-clothed person gave an irrelevant answer. "For 1500 years, I hoped for a human to fish me up. I waited day after day after day, but there was no one. No one!"

Zhuang Qing gazed at him. After a long pause, he said, "It wasn't easy for you to take on a form by relying on resentment. If you behave in such an unbridled manner, I'm afraid you will very quickly vanish in this world. Is that worth it?"

"If I have to lie in decay and mud every day like I did for 1500 years, then I'd rather have a quick death," The black-clothed man laughed maniacally. "Those greedy, selfish humans should get their just deserts."

"But the humans who sank you to the bottom of the sea are already dead." Fu Li asked, "Are you going to seek revenge on their descendants?"

Zhuang Qing turned towards Fu Li, unsure if he was speaking with sincerity or lying to assuage Gong Fu's resentment.

The black-clothed person furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?"

"There are many innocent humans around us. They don't owe you, so you can't harm them. But those who owe others should repay it. The humans who did this out of selfishness ought to pay a price," Fu Li paused for a moment. "Are you able to find those humans' descendants?"

The black-clothed man was about to speak when the sound of footsteps came from a place not too far away. Fu Li peered through the thick fog. A little child was walking through a cluster of reeds with difficulty. Mud covered his back, chest, and legs of his pants. Who knew how many times he had slipped and fallen along the way?

The child seemed to be carrying something in his arms. He held the things bundled tightly in plastic bags to his chest protectively, as if they were treasures.

Zhuang Qing raised a hand and set up a barrier, concealing them.

Some human children still had their biological instincts and were capable of seeing certain souls or strange phenomena. However, this sort of ability would vanish as they grew older and they would become no different from an ordinary person.

Whereas children whose abilities never vanished could integrate into the cultivation world and step onto the path of cultivation.

The child took another tumble when he was about to reach the riverside. This time, he was a bit more unlucky. His entire person rolled like a watermelon, coating mud all over his face and head. There was no part of him that didn't resemble a person made of mud.

Fu Li looked at the black-clothed person. Unexpectedly, he didn't have any reaction and allowed the little child to arduously take step after step to the riverside. Crouching by the river, the child washed his hands and face clean, revealing a pair of large, bright eyes.

The little child wanted to use his sleeves to wipe the mud on the bags, but his sleeves were even dirtier than the plastic bags. In the end, he simply peeled off his jacket and scrubbed it clean in the water. After wringing it dry of water, he wiped the mud off the plastic bags.

Following that, the little child took off layer after layer of plastic bags before taking out a massive enamel cup from inside. The image of a Yingke Pine was engraved on the enamel cup. The cup looked to be an extremely old-fashioned one.

He opened the enamel cup, revealing a chicken leg as well two buns inside.

The little child found three pebbles and solemnly set the enamel cup on them.