Chapter 36: A Thing for a Thing?

Upon hearing Zhang Dadan's words.

The handsome young man looked at the seemingly ill-intentioned burly man and shook his head.

"If even She Po couldn't take down this little Ice Silkworm, I won't suffer that disgrace."

Then he stroked his chin as if talking to himself, asking and answering his own questions.

"From what I know, an Ice Blood Cold Silkworm is very hard to be born naturally in the wild—extremely rare, truly once in a hundred years."

"How could one suddenly appear out of thin air, and land in this Duanlong Mountain Range? Strange, truly strange! I seem to recall Guangshan Dashi stayed nearby a few years ago."

Who would have thought that once these words came out, the bald burly man who had just acted as if he didn't care about anything suddenly turned ugly-faced.

He fixed the youth with a dangerous gaze for quite a while, then said in a muffled voice.

"Then I won't trouble you to worry, little brother. Since none of you can take it down, how about I give it a try."

As he spoke, he was seen taking a mouse out of the cloth pouch at his waist with his left hand.

The moment the mouse appeared, it shrieked and struggled in utter panic on his palm, and along with its shrieks, drops of liquid dripped from beneath it, quickly covering Zhang Dadan's fingers.

Seeing this, Zhang Dadan frowned. He was tempted to crush it to death, but remembering that he still needed it for the purpose of this trip, he could only rein in his temper.

Ignoring its pitiful big-eyed gaze, his free right hand took out a precious little wooden box, pointed at the mouse, then pointed at the Ice Silkworm over there.

He actually started talking to it: "Go over there, put that Ice Silkworm into this box, and bring it back."

Just like that, he repeated it several times, then took out what seemed to be a piece of food and stuffed it into the mouse's paw.

The mouse actually listened in a dazed, half-understood way. First it ate that piece of food, then, as if agreeing, it stretched out its two little paws and grabbed the little wooden box that was about as tall as itself.

Stumbling along, it took three steps and looked back once, heading toward the Ice Silkworm.

Zhang Dadan's bizarre behavior drew some surprise from the people present, but She Po, who normally kept company with venomous creatures, fell into thought.

……

Xiao haozi?

In the tree, Baichuan's eyes were now wide open, his heart full of shock!

Wasn't this the Spirit-filled mouse he had run into before?

What was going on? After he had let it go back then, it had actually been caught again?

And it was connected to this bald man?

Judging by Zhang Dadan's behavior just now, he must be especially familiar with the specifics of this kind of mouse—so was this mouse raised by him?

But how could a mere ordinary mouse, at most a little clever and spirited, take down an Ice Silkworm?

Baichuan recalled again how ferociously cruel this plump, weak-looking Ice Silkworm had been earlier.

Could this mouse actually do it?

At this moment, countless questions rose in Baichuan's heart, and he didn't know whether to feel relieved or speechless.

In this vast forest, if it wasn't a coincidence, the fact that Zhang Dadan could find back a single tiny mouse—if it wasn't a coincidence but deliberate…

If he had eaten this mouse back then, what would the situation be now?

Would he have been half-dazed when they came knocking on his door? Or led a whole bunch of humans to gang up on him?

Or perhaps nothing would have happened at all?

At this moment, Baichuan didn't even know his own feelings. Should he say that the momentary kindness he'd shown upon meeting a Spirit creature had spared him a great pile of trouble?

Truly, every sip and every peck is ordained by Heaven.

While Baichuan was lost in wild thoughts.

The situation below changed.

The Ice Silkworm, which had been ferociously savage toward anyone who approached, the moment this mouse appeared and drew near, suddenly sprang up its body as if wanting to attack again.

But at that moment a gust of wind appeared, rising from behind the mouse and blowing toward the Ice Silkworm.

"Splat!"

After this gust of wind passed, that pale, tender insect instantly and involuntarily drew in its cold aura, and as if it had lost its vitality, fell from midair.

Not long after, it actually struggled to crawl back up, staring fearfully at the mouse and shrinking back, no longer as savage as before.

"What?"

"What's going on?"

"What happened to the Ice Silkworm?"

In an instant, several exclamations of astonishment rang out.

The Zhao siblings widened their eyes in disbelief, staring at this utterly absurd scene.

And Baichuan at this moment also wore an expression as if he'd seen a ghost.

Seeing everyone's reaction, Zhang Dadan nodded in satisfaction, laughed heartily, and began to speak.

"Didn't expect that, did you? An Ice Silkworm powerful enough to be once in a hundred years is actually afraid of a powerless dead mouse."

"Oh~ why is that? I imagine this mouse must not be an ordinary mouse either?"

At this moment, the handsome young man beside him also wore a puzzled look, glancing at him in some confusion.

"Ha~ you little brother do have some insight." Zhang Dadan glanced at him with some surprise, then continued: "Indeed, this mouse before you was vigorously cultivated by my old undying one before he died."

"Now that he's dead, I don't mind telling you."

As if he had finally found an audience, or felt the Cold Silkworm was already within his grasp, this tall, broad man opened his floodgates of talk.

"You must have guessed before, right? Where did this Ice Blood Cold Silkworm come from?"

"That's right, it really is the one my old undying one was keeping."

"After all, how rare the Ice Blood Cold Silkworm is, everyone knows—it's basically impossible to be born in the wild. And this one is the one the Zhang family had back then."

"The Zhang family?" The words had barely fallen when the pretty girl beside them cried out in surprise, "The Zhang family from that Hedong Rebellion that involved several great sects?"

As if his words had been interrupted, Zhang Dadan was slightly displeased, but he still continued answering: "That's right. On the eve of the Zhang family's destruction back then, my old undying one happened to arrive for an appointment, and at the last moment the Zhang family head entrusted it to that old undying one, telling him to hand it to the one it should be handed to."

"Originally this thing should have ended up with me in the end—after all, I am his senior disciple, serving him day in and day out, enduring hardship without complaint. But… but…"

"But why on earth did he plan to hand it over to that good-for-nothing who only knows how to play and never learns a thing?! Where am I inferior to him?"

As he spoke, the man's face twisted into something savage, his tone laced with unwillingness: "A good-for-nothing, a good-for-nothing who only knows how to cause trouble every single day! How could he possibly be worthy of such a precious treasure? Why must he be so biased? Is it because I haven't done well enough somewhere?"

"I've endured hardship without complaint for so many years, serving him tea and pouring his water, and I still can't compare to a good-for-nothing?"

"So that's why you murdered him like this? And killed your junior brother too?" She Po frowned as she asked.

"That's right!" Zhang Dadan raised his head and let out a savage laugh. "Since he was unjust, I decided to take it myself. So I took the chance I usually had when cooking, and day by day I mixed slow-acting poison into his meals. In the end, once he lost his strength, I finished him off with my own hands!"

"Then why did the Ice Silkworm end up appearing in this place in the end?"

At this moment, the handsome young man raised the key point.

Zhang Dadan choked, shot him a glance, seemingly resentful that this fellow always had to poke at the sore spot.

After a moment of silence, he continued: "Who would have thought that that old bastard would rather let the Ice Silkworm escape than hand it over to me, the disciple he raised since childhood."

"Fortunately, a creature like the Ice Silkworm won't run too far. It took me several years of Time before I finally tracked down its traces."

"Speaking of which, you lot from these small families probably don't know any intelligence about these rare Spirit creatures."

At this point, Zhang Dadan cast a contemptuous glance at these fellows who had risen from the bottom thanks to sheer dogshit luck.

(End of this chapter)