Hua Yi knew that he was a lecher. At the sight of this scene, his heart softened before he could help himself.

 

Hua Yi dragged the beastman’s corpse into a nearby brushwood. He did not bother to hide it and wore an indifferent expression, as though it had nothing to do with him.

Then he calmly adjusted the rain hat on his head and continued walking. This time, he was in no hurry. He strolled along at a leisurely pace. As they moved farther and farther away from the site of the bloody tribal war, Hua Yi even had time to hum a little tune, badly out of tune.

Chang An watched him with curiosity and finally discovered what was strange about his “benefactor”: Hua Yi’s words and actions never matched.

So he asked, “Why do you sometimes say you are not capable of saving someone, yet turn around and help them?”

Hua Yi’s face twitched.

Chang An simply nodded to himself and continued, “Bei Shi says this is called saying one thing while meaning another. It is like saying you like someone when you actually hate them, or pretending not to care when you actually like them very much. Women are especially like this... Why are you like that too?”

Hua Yi wanted to say, “Listen to yourself. Do you realise how ridiculous that question sounds?” But when he looked at Chang An, he found the situation both amusing and exasperating, and somehow did not feel like saying it after all. He seemed unable to lose his temper whenever he was dealing with Chang An.

“Can’t you figure out something so simple?” Hua Yi rolled his eyes and deliberately changed the subject. Then, pretending to be profound, he tried to fool him. “You ignorant mountain boy, do you know what this tune I’m humming is called?”

Chang An honestly shook his head.

“This is a little song from the Far North,” Hua Yi said. “It is sung by those birdmen. Look at how small their heads are. Even they think their heads are too small to look proper, so whenever there is a festival, they stick a ring of flowers around their necks and decorate themselves until they look like flat-faced sunflowers. When they shake them hard, they make anyone laugh their head off. Do you know what the song means?”

Chang An was easily distracted by something new. He seemed to have forgotten his earlier question and followed Hua Yi’s deliberate temptation. “What does it mean?”

“What else would birdmen sing about? It must be about laying eggs!” Hua Yi did not actually understand the language unique to winged beastmen. He was simply making wild guesses and talking nonsense to fool Chang An. When he saw the young man nod solemnly, as though he found the explanation quite reasonable, he continued making things up. “These birdmen are rather pitiful, when you think about it. Everyone in their tribe, young or old, male or female, hatches from an egg. They look like freaks in human form, and even when they transform into beasts, they are still freaks. There is only one small branch of their kind in this world. They have to hide from others all day long, living in the extreme north, where they work with strange poisons. They really are rather pitiful.”

Chang An actually believed his nonsense and listened very attentively. At this point, he seized on the key question and asked, “So what came out of their mouths that day was poisonous? How can they keep something poisonous in their mouths? And why were those beastmen with them?”

As long as Chang An did not ask blunt questions that were impossible to answer, Hua Yi was quite happy to talk to him. Whenever he saw those eyes, so like the ones buried deep in his memories, his mood always improved.

Seeing that Chang An had forgotten the earlier matter, Hua Yi immediately went along with it and explained, “The birdmen are poisonous from head to toe, even their blood. Fighting poison with poison, they naturally have no fear of the medicines they make themselves. Alliances are merely a matter of shared interests. But even if people form an alliance for a time, who truly trusts them? Those who are not of our kind must always be kept at arm’s length.”

No one had ever explained such complicated matters to Chang An before. He listened and frowned as he thought it over. He felt that it made very little sense. Some people had large eyes, some had long noses, and some had small mouths. Everyone looked different. Why did it not matter whether other parts of the body were large or small, yet having a small head alone made someone a different kind?

Could it be because the head was more important than the other parts?

“When the Twelve Heavenly Gods first created the heaven and earth, they placed birdmen in the Far North, beastmen on the continent, and merfolk in the sea. The people in different places worshipped different gods. If the gods could live in peace, then people could live in peace too. But if the gods quarrelled and went to war, people would lie dead for thousands of li, and rivers would run red with blood.”

Hua Yi seemed to have guessed what was troubling him. Like a reliable older brother, he explained in a low, measured voice, “Later, legend has it that the twelve true gods fell one after another, plunging the world into chaos. The ground froze for thousands of li, and dead fish filled the seas. Those who were lucky enough to survive no longer had any faith, and they no longer had to fight one another because of the gods. But the hatred had already sunk into their bones.”

Chang An’s eyes widened. He held his breath as he listened to Hua Yi’s description.

“There are no trivial matters between tribes. If the two continents were to clash as well, the earth would shake and the mountains would tremble. It would not be a matter of just one or two lives. Every debt would have to be paid in blood. How could anyone ever settle the score?” Hua Yi looked at Chang An’s bright, clear eyes, so transparent that they seemed to reveal everything within, and sighed. “For millions of years, we have survived amid this kind of hatred.”

His words carried a deeper meaning, but Chang An only half understood them. After listening for so long, he had grasped just one thing: all these endless conflicts between generations had apparently been caused in ancient times by those damned true gods, whose very existence was uncertain. But if they were gods, why had they not done something useful? Why had they insisted on stirring up trouble?

Unable to hold back any longer, he asked, “Do gods really exist?”

“I don’t know. But I have a friend who spends all day acting as though he is possessed by spirits. You could ask him. Still, even if there are no gods, there will always be something else. If people want to fight, they will always find a reason.”

Hua Yi’s words were extremely vague. Chang An had never imagined that the world could contain something so unreasonable, so he pressed him further. “What do you mean by ‘something else’?”

Hua Yi glanced at him and thought with something close to affection, This silly boy cannot even tell Beta currency from pearl stones. He only knows that if one person is fed, the whole family need not go hungry. How could he possibly understand the boundless desires in people’s hearts?

Hua Yi could not explain it clearly, but Chang An’s question gave him a faint, melancholy feeling about what it meant to be human. He shook his head and remained silent for a long while before finally saying, “Some things do not need to be investigated down to their roots. A wolf needs to eat meat, just as a bird needs to lay eggs. All you can do is keep walking. The more people you meet, the more strange things you will see. There are many things you will come to understand without even realising it. Do you understand?”

His explanation had no clear beginning or end. It was simply Hua Yi making things up; in short, the very essence of nonsense. Sure enough, he successfully left Chang An utterly confused.

Having successfully diverted Chang An from the awkward subject, Hua Yi thought proudly that this brother of his really was an extraordinary character. He was simply far too easy to fool.

Still feeling pleased with himself, he unconsciously began humming the little tune in the winged clan’s language again and strode ahead. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that bringing Chang An along had been a wonderful decision, better than travelling with any of his previous companions. Chang An could help him fight when necessary, and when there was nothing to do, he could amuse himself by teasing and fooling the boy. Seen in that light, even his annoying habit of standing by and doing nothing could be forgiven.

But before Hua Yi had finished congratulating himself, he heard Chang An ask from behind him, seemingly out of nowhere, “But what does any of that have to do with what I asked you earlier?”

Hua Yi’s foot caught on a protruding tree root, and he fell flat on his face with an almighty crash.

Hua Yi rolled over on the ground and lay on his back, staring up at Chang An, who looked utterly puzzled as he gazed down at him.

Backlit by the sun, the young man was so handsome that he almost seemed unreal. Hua Yi knew he was a lecher. At the sight of this scene, his heart softened at once. What a beauty! he thought. Even though this fellow is the sort of beauty who would believe a wooden club if you told him it was something else, I still cannot bring myself to scold him.

After pausing for a moment, Hua Yi could only let out a sigh and cover his face with his hand.

Just then, however, a rumbling vibration travelled across the ground from the distance. Hua Yi froze. A cold glint flashed in the eyes hidden beneath his hand. He could judge the number and speed of approaching people from these vibrations. This was clearly a force of at least a hundred beastmen, advancing aggressively. At that speed, they were certainly not merchants travelling from place to place.

Hua Yi was about to warn Chang An, but when he looked up, the young man had already disappeared. He stared for a moment, realising that he had not noticed when Chang An had hidden himself, or where he had gone.

Hua Yi frowned and carefully scanned the surroundings, watching in every direction and listening for the slightest sound. At last, he spotted Chang An in a tree. The other deliberately left one hand visible, clearly signalling where he was hiding.

Is this “beauty” actually a monster? He must be a monster, surely!

Filled with a profound sense of defeat, Hua Yi nimbly sprang up into the tree as well.

Soon, the large group came thundering towards them. Hua Yi caught sight of a familiar tribal banner and immediately froze. It belonged to his employer. And among the crowd, he also saw someone he recognised.

The man was blind in both eyes, and his face was partially transformed into that of a beast. Long hair grew around his nose, making him look neither fully human nor fully beast. He suddenly raised a hand, and the galloping beastmen immediately came to a complete halt at his command.

The blind man’s nose twitched slightly. He soon pinpointed Hua Yi’s location and turned his head towards the place where he was hiding.

Hua Yi knew this man and was familiar with his extraordinary skill of navigating the world by smell. The blind man had probably caught his scent long ago, so Hua Yi stopped hiding. He quickly jumped down from the tree and stopped two paces in front of the blind man. With some hesitation, he asked, “Old Blind, what are you doing here? Where are Suo Laimu and the others?”

The strange face of Old Blind broke into a smile. In his hoarse voice, he said, “What would a sub-beast be doing following us around? Don’t worry. They are all with Chief Luotong now. Shanxi and Luquan have already arrived. They just aren’t as capable as you, since you’ve managed to stay so lively all the way here. The others are probably still on the road. Chief Luotong sent me and the Great Elder to meet you and escort you the rest of the way.”

As he finished speaking, an old beastman stepped out from the crowd. He placed one hand against his chest and bowed slightly to Hua Yi.

Hua Yi returned the greeting. Nothing could be read from his expression, but with one hand behind his back, he gave a slight wave towards Chang An, who was hiding in the tree.

The Great Elder said to Hua Yi, “Please.”

Hua Yi had only just lifted his leg when Old Blind’s nose twitched. He frowned and turned his face towards the tree once more. “There... is there another friend over there?”

A sub-beast’s scent was much fainter than a beastman’s, yet Old Blind had still managed to detect it.

Hua Yi replied without changing his expression, “I met a boy on the road. We seem to be fated to meet, so I brought him along. He has just suffered a sudden and great upheaval and is reluctant to see people. I hope you won’t take offence. Chang An, come down.”

Chang An jumped down from the tree and swept his gaze over the faces of the people around him.

The Great Elder was taken aback. He looked Chang An up and down in surprise. “A... sub-beast?”

Chang An simply lowered his head and looked at the spaces between his toes without saying a word. He had no idea what these people were doing here, so he did not intend to speak rashly. Hua Yi had said that he had suffered a great upheaval and did not want to see people, so Chang An went along with it and acted as though he did not want to see anyone. Fortunately, this was not difficult. He was simply being himself.

Hua Yi casually put an arm around Chang An’s shoulders and said, “I’ll take care of him. There’s no need to worry.”

The Great Elder’s gaze swept over Chang An like a knife. Seeing that his clothes were neat and he showed none of the dishevelled appearance of someone who had travelled a long way, and noticing how handsome he was, the Great Elder seemed to understand something. He nodded knowingly and said to Hua Yi, “Please.”

Hua Yi turned to Chang An and said, “Climb onto my back.” He then transformed into a giant beast and lowered himself.

Chang An did not stand on ceremony. He promptly sat down on Hua Yi’s back.

Beastmen were naturally strong, and Chang An’s weight alone was nothing much. But when Chang An picked up the large bundle that had been resting on the ground, things became quite different.

Hua Yi had brought this trouble upon himself. He had not expected the boy’s enormous sabre to be a genuine, solid weapon. Carrying both the boy and the sabre was like hauling an enormous wild boar capable of knocking down a house.

Yet with all these people watching, Hua Yi could not let anything show. He had no choice but to grit his teeth and carry Chang An along. He thought to himself, If a fight breaks out, that little brat had better show some gratitude for all the hardship I’ve endured on this journey and put in a good deal of effort to help me.

Old Blind hesitated. He had once met an even more extraordinary sub-beast, so he had always felt that sub-beasts were either utterly useless or some kind of monster.

He had dealt with Hua Yi several times and knew that Silver Fang, one of the Exiled Travellers, was a deep and calculating man. Hua Yi would never be so blinded by lust that he would pick up some unknown person halfway through a mission and bring him along. Old Blind was afraid Hua Yi had picked up another Suo Laimu, so he deliberately stayed close to Hua Yi as they travelled, trying every now and then to draw the boy into conversation and find out more about him.

To his surprise, Old Blind soon discovered that the boy seemed to be mute. No matter how much he talked himself hoarse or how persistently he tried to engage him, the boy did not react at all. He simply kept his eyes lowered and said nothing.

The sub-beast boy’s face was pale, as though he suffered from some kind of deficiency. He kept his head down and turned the excessively large bundle in his hands over and over. After sitting for a while, he seemed uncomfortable. His breathing became slightly hurried, and he unconsciously raised a hand to press against his chest.

Is he a sickly fellow too?

Old Blind had been talking to a brick wall for quite some time without receiving a single reply. In the end, he could only withdraw to one side, somewhat awkwardly.

Chang An lowered his eyes and skillfully took out a few pieces of medicinal herbs, then chewed them.

He felt that Old Blind seemed wary of him, or perhaps even afraid of him. Although the man spoke in a flattering manner, there was also a layer of cautious malice beneath his words. Chang An could not understand this malice or fear. From childhood until now, he had rarely experienced the feeling of being afraid. After puzzling over it for a while, he finally seemed to understand why Bei Shi had told him to descend the mountain and meet people.

There really are so many things going on down the mountain.

The bitterness of the herbs slowly spread through his body. The dull pain in his chest, brought on by days of travelling, began to leave him exhausted. Bored, Chang An simply hugged his sabre, curled up on Hua Yi’s back, and fearlessly fell asleep once again.

 

Translator : DarNan