Chapter 138

Chapter 138

The rain shrouding Golden Saddle Mountain eased a little.

Several red fragments of the jade disc lay before Qin Ying, dug up by Wangcai and carried over by the Hou.

She smeared the remaining blood from her palm over them, but none of the dulled red fragments produced the strange vision from before.

It was as if they had already fulfilled their mission of passing on that message.

Having no other choice, Qin Ying could only comfort herself with the thought that at least she had obtained a map.

She found a thin stone slab about the size of her palm and quickly used blood to draw the rough shape of the map onto it.

The gash in her palm throbbed with pain.

It took a long while for the bleeding to stop and the wound to close as before, but there was now a clear depression in the flesh of her palm.

When she pressed that dent through the skin covering her hand, she could distinctly feel that underneath was wood, no longer flesh and blood.

Qin Ying guessed that if she kept getting hurt and bleeding, the flesh and blood on her body would be used up like consumables.

In the end, the puppet would return to its original form, and she might not be able to find another place for her consciousness to dwell.

The moment that thought occurred to her, she scared herself into a shiver.

She dared not move recklessly anymore. Closing her hand, she let Han Lie carry her away.

“Let’s go to Aman’s Tribe first.”

Judging by the hunger coming from her stomach, Qin Ying needed to eat.

Fortunately, she was used to preparing backup plans. When she had lowered the hanging basket, she had tucked two cans of dog food into the bottom, along with a small bottle of mineral water and some packed supplies.

They could return to where the basket was, take the supplies, and set off again.

Qin Ying had looked fairly presentable when she left; when she returned, she was covered in dust and dirt.

Once they reached the basket, she had Wangcai pull out the cans of dog food and the mineral water.

At that moment, the Thunderbird, which had been playing outside all this time, came to help and fished out two bundles about the size of peanuts.

Inside were some crushed bits of compressed biscuit that Qin Ying had packed.

Opening the cans of dog food proved somewhat difficult. For the sake of that one mouthful, Wangcai ran far away and transformed into its Huodou form, forcibly biting the can open with its teeth.

Then, with a whoosh, it shrank back down into a puppy and buried its head in the food on the spot.

Seeing this, Qin Ying hurriedly urged, “Fuzhu, Thunderbird, you two go eat a little too.”

The Thunderbird was rather loyal. It swooped down, grabbed Fuzhu by the antlers, and carried it over beside the can.

Wangcai kept making possessive whining sounds as it ate.

From a distance, Qin Ying said coldly, “Thunderbird, zap it.”

At her words, the Thunderbird darted through the thunderclouds, and a bolt of lightning as thick as a bucket struck Wangcai with perfect accuracy.

Wangcai was not afraid of electricity, but it was at least somewhat wary of Qin Ying.

After being struck twice, its fur standing on end, it still gave them some face and made room by the food.

Unlike Wangcai, who was unhappy without meat, the Thunderbird and Fuzhu were the type to eat anything and love anything. They liked dog food too and buried their heads in it, happily devouring it.

Several times, Wangcai swept out its tongue and accidentally rolled Fuzhu into its mouth, only to spit it back out again.

While the three of them ate to their hearts’ content, Qin Ying looked at Han Lie. “You should eat something too.”

Han Lie, however, did not touch the food. He knelt on one knee before Qin Ying, a smile appearing on his face.

“I’m not hungry yet. I’ll eat once we reach Aman’s Tribe.”

He knew that the World in the Box was unlike the Divine Realm above. These dry rations were precious and should be saved for the Supreme Deity to enjoy.

Qin Ying could not persuade him and did not keep arguing over such a small matter.

She simply waited until Wangcai and the other two were full, then burned the bamboo handbasket that had held the supplies and let the Hou consume the flames from the burning basket.

Like Thumbelina, Qin Ying herself ate a tiny piece of crushed biscuit crumb.

Once they had finished reorganizing, she sent the well-fed Thunderbird to find the way.

The Thunderbird landed, scraping the ground with its little claws, rather unwilling.

Now and then, it pointed its wings outside Golden Saddle Mountain and chattered at Qin Ying in complaint.

There were some humans out there, and they were terrible, absolutely terrible. They had broken their oath and tried to poison it to death with a fine horse that had hidden poison.

If the Thunderbird had not flown across the barren stone flats and found medicinal herbs to swallow, it would already be dead.

As the Thunderbird said this, it launched into a long, chattering song, then brought its head close to Qin Ying’s hand, nudging her palm with its big head.

Qin Ying patted the glowing blue feathers on top of its head. “You’re a good bird, and the people aren’t bad either.”

“They only broke their oath because they were coerced.”

At the mention of coercion, Han Lie awkwardly scratched his cheek with his sharp claws.

Wasn’t the one who had forced the Sand People to break their oath none other than Great Xia?

Ashamed, Han Lie lowered his head and said, “It truly isn’t the Sand People’s fault.”

“Please forgive them, Brother Bird.”

He and the Thunderbird could at least be considered friends bonded by peeling Ham Sausage casings. After crying for a while, the Thunderbird nodded at him.

The bird was magnanimous. It would not hold it against them anymore.

It spread its wings, let out a clear cry, and flew straight into the thunderclouds.

Han Lie continued carrying Qin Ying as he ran through the jumbled rocks, a bag of dry rations slung over his shoulder.

Wangcai had a tied plastic bag on its back, containing the small bottle of mineral water and the last remaining can of dog food.

Its legs were short, and it was carrying something on its back, so on the sand dunes it fell once every five steps, kicking up yellow sand everywhere.

Even Qin Ying and the others were dragged into it, each of them blasted into little clumps of sand.

All along the way, Qin Ying spat small stones out of her mouth as if she were cracking melon seeds. In the end, unable to bear it anymore, she simply buried her face against Han Lie’s chest to hide.

In his Monstrous Beast form, his body temperature was already on the high side and his heartbeat faster than usual. Now, even without pressing her ear to him, she could hear his heart pounding like a drum.

By the time they drew near Aman’s Tribe, Han Lie finally slowed down.

Standing atop a sand dune, they could see in the distance, beneath two slanted Black Stone Mountains, flames illuminating the darkening sky.

The arrival of the rain and thunderclouds had disturbed the festival here.

The Shaman, her body smeared with medicinal paste, looked solemnly up at the Giant Bird weaving through the thunderclouds.

She did not know why this Envoy of Thunder had returned to the village.

With unease in her heart, she sat cross-legged before the offering table and began divination.

Several black stones used for divination fell. The Shaman muttered under her breath, not truly expecting a response.

Unexpectedly, Qin Ying, who had been blown into something like a mud ball atop the sand dune, suddenly looked around in surprise.

“Who?”

This was the first time she had heard the voices of Believers praying so clearly.