Chapter 441 - 353: Da Guo Is Going to Shapeshift
Stone Village was a remote and backward little mountain village in the northeast.
The villagers were feudal and superstitious.
From childhood, nearly everyone in every household knew of certain so-called taboos.
If a child cried, it meant they were possessed by something unclean.
If a child fell ill, it meant their soul had been lost.
...
Through beliefs like these, this remote and backward little village developed its own set of rules.
Namely, the worship of a Great Immortal.
The legend of the Great Immortal originated a long, long time ago. No one knew exactly when that "long time ago" had begun.
They only knew that from the time they could remember, the village elders had told them stories of the Great Immortal.
And in this place, the Great Immortal was a being akin to a god.
The wealthier families, and even those willing to risk everything they owned to have a wish granted, all worshipped the Great Immortal.
Little White’s clan was the line of Great Immortals that Stone Village had always worshipped.
A pact of sorts seemed to exist between humans and the Fox Clan: humans paid a price, and in return, the Fox Clan helped them realize their wishes.
But very few people had ever seen a true Great Immortal; perhaps the Great Immortals were simply too mysterious, never revealing themselves to mortals.
Or at least, very rarely.
Stone Village was nestled in the barren countryside, surrounded by vast, pale mountains. Within those forests, it was said, dwelled forbidden, legendary things.
The people revered and feared everything within the mountains.
Only designated hunters dared enter, and only at specific times.
In this way, the Fox Clan was worshipped by Stone Village for nearly six hundred years.
Perhaps six hundred years was an ill-fated number.
After an invasion by some uncontrollable power, the head of Stone Village led the people to exterminate the Fox Clan they had worshipped, welcoming a new Great Immortal in their place.
At that very moment, the sole survivor of the Fox Clan, a little fox, lay unconscious deep in the sprawling mountains.
Beside him, the spirit of his mother slowly dissipated into the air. Little White slept on, lost to the world.
When he next awoke, everything was pitch-black.
He didn’t know where he was; all he knew was that it was dark and gloomy.
But then, a hand scooped him up, and Little White’s eyes slowly adjusted to the light.
He saw that what he’d thought was a dark room was actually the inside of a human’s thick, padded jacket.
He had been tucked inside someone’s coat for warmth.
Little White craned his neck, looking all around, but he couldn’t see his mother.
He began to panic.
’Didn’t Mama come looking for me?’
’Why would she find me just to abandon me again?’
Perhaps seeing Little White squirming restlessly, the person holding him set him down on the ground.
The man stood quietly to the side, watching Little White scamper about frantically, running farther and farther away.
He ran from dawn until dusk, with no rhyme or reason.
When Little White dragged his filthy body back to the man, he fainted before the man even had a chance to speak.
He placed Little White in his arms, concealing him with his greatcoat.
He secretly brought him home.
「The next morning」, he took Little White and left Stone Village.
But when Little White awoke again, he seemed to have forgotten everything, reverting to being an ordinary fox.
The man, however, knew Little White’s true identity. How could he possibly treat him as an ordinary fox?
In a distant, foreign land, even as they started over, he passed down a mandate to his descendants: This was the Great Immortal their ancestors had worshipped.
The younger generations of the family were to treat him with the utmost respect.
Like a fleeting montage, Little White saw his own past flash before his eyes.
Until, a hundred years later, he met the young Doctor Wen.
Little White woke up in the evening. After dinner, Wen Ying and Kong Jian were sitting together on a swing.
Wen Ying had made the swing herself from wood and creeping vines.
The forest was lush with trees, which made it easy to build.
Swinging on a swing with Liger... Kong Jian had never even dreamed of it, yet somehow, it had come true.
He was deeply content.
He cherished every moment he spent with Liger.
So when Kong Jian saw Little White wake up, his eyes fixed on them on the swing, he didn’t want to tell Liger he was awake.
But then he noticed that Little White’s mood seemed... off?
Little White didn’t charge over like he usually did, trying to pull Kong Jian down and monopolize Liger.
Instead, Kong Jian saw confusion and... was that sadness in his eyes?
His heart instantly ached for the little fox.
Kong Jian looked up at Liger. "Liger, Da Guo’s awake."
Wen Ying hopped off the swing and walked over to Little White, with Kong Jian following close behind.
’Even though I don’t want Da Guo competing with me for Liger,’ he thought, ’he’s actually been pretty good to me.’
’I wonder what’s wrong with him. He looks so sad.’