Under the hot sun, a cyan flash quickly passes across people’s eyes. Old Mr. Hong shakes, trying to make a tough decision between telling the secret and saving the villagers’ lives, and then, he sees the small cyan fox on the top of the wall.
The fox with cyan fur must be the nine-tailed fox king. Old Mr. Hong, who is in his seventies and eighties, doesn’t know how he can remember this sentence, which was said by an old man in Tao’s Village when he was a child.
Hong, who has been painting foxes all his life, knows about special pigment, but he never thought he would see a cyan fox in his lifetime. He also suspected before, “Is there really any cyan fox being the king in this world?”
Hong’s two hands are trembling. Sakurako Asada follows his eyes. She sees a small cyan fox, standing in the low wall of Hong’s home. From far and near, the ochre mud wall, the blue and high sky over its head, and the green distant mountains behind it, form an ink painting of Huaxia style that Nihonese love most… But these colors are not comparable with the cyan of the fox’s fur. With the sun around it, its cyan looks so transparent and pure, just like the fine silk. And its eyes seem to be communicating with people directly.
Sakurako Asada holds her breath. She has never seen such a beautiful fox, especially the legendary king in the Country of Green Mountains. Is it really a coincidence that the fox appears in this village?
The little cyan fox nods slightly, being indifferent. For this moment, it is not as poor as Lin Luoran saw it in the underground world, and not as an imp as he was at Lin’s family. The fox looks cool and noble. The Terran like Sakurako Asada, in its eyes, is a grass of the earth and a piece of clay at the foot, which is not worth trampling or looking at.
The appearance of the fox is strange. The three Nihonese men left in the yard pull out their Katanas.
“Back off!” Sakurako Asada suppresses the joy of the heart.
“Mr. Hong, you are not needed now.” Sakurako Asada bows to him. This fox is drawn out by this Huaxia old man deliberately pretending to be silly, “You are not needed,” she said very politely, but in fact, she has the intention to kill him. The fox has shown up, naturally, they no longer need this stubborn old man.
Just then, the cyan fox gives a sneer and jumps off the wall.
Sakurako Asada pauses, “catch it!”
“These villagers…?” One man carefully asks. Sakurako Asada quickly thinks about the priorities in the heart. It’s not appropriate to kill these people, because the death of so many people in one village must arouse the Huaxia government’s attention. Besides, she met the top female cultivator of Huaxia in the bamboo forest. If the cultivator tribes of Huaxia determine to track down, her purpose of looking for the Country of Green Mountains will be exposed, and even worse, the news leaks to Asada’s main site…
“Business matters, these people, forget it.”
Sakurako Asada firstly jumps out of the fence, followed by three men. These four are the most loyal men trained by Sakurako Asada these years. To tell the truth, they have never seen her let people go alive.
Of course they do not know Sakurako Asada is reminded of Lin Luoran’s warning. Kazuo Yamamoto in the entrance of the village also catches up, chasing towards the direction of the little fox with them.
The people of Tao’s Village just wake up from a nap. After a few hours of the most intense sun, someone opens the door every now and then begin to work. Those who make pottery, who weave bamboo, who search for delicacies in the mountains, who cut grass on the slopes, and who tend sheep and cattle, are living busy and quiet days.
These villagers still do not know that they have been escaped from a disaster of death. Poverty has left them ragged and swarthy, but many are quiet and peaceful without the urban intrigue.
Old Mr. Hong, after a turn through the hell, suddenly remembers the dead body in the front yard.
Murder, in any dynasty, is a felony.
Old Mr. Hong struggles to get up, sees Hong Bin next door standing in the courtyard. Although at a young age, he is not in panic like ordinary children.
“Great-grandpa, what should we do?” Hong Bin kicks Interpreter Sun, but there is no response.
Old Mr. Hong pulls him, “stop, he is dead… You saw it all?”
Hong Bin feels a little embarrassed, and nods with a white face. Old Mr. Hong thinks he is afraid. In fact, Hong Bin regrets being greedy for candy and money. If he were not a spy, he would not have found it.
A dead man in the yard… One is an old man and one is a child. What should they do?
“Go to the police outside the mountains?” After two years of school, he knows to go to the police when something happens.
Old Mr. Hong shakes his head, “tell the police, some Nihonese went to Tao’s Village for clues of the Country of Green Mountains？” Although this is true, can the police believe such a mythical thing?
The uninformed Tao’s villagers do not know the practitioners are no longer a secret in the outside world at this time. The ordinary people have a certain amount of faith in the myths of Huaxia that have been told over the years.
The door of the small courtyard is pushed open gently when the old man and the young boy are considering their own solutions.
“Is this Old Mr. Hong’s house?”
A boy of fifteen or sixteen speaks politely. He is carrying a big mountain bag, looking like an urban youth.
Hong Bin certainly knows him, “why do you come? … We didn’t kill him.”
Lin Luodong nods, “of course we are here to solve this matter.”
Huang Weijian squeezes in with a cold expression. “Noisy.”
Old Mr. Hong looks at the two uninvited city youth. His obscure eyes then fall on Lin Luoran, who comes after them.
It is a pretty little girl, better looking than the daughter of great families in the old days. But there is a golden eagle sitting on her shoulder, which, in spite of its dignity, is nondescript.
“Old Mr. Hong? I am afraid we must talk about the Country of Green Mountains.” The wind in the afternoon blows the bamboo leaves slightly, and the sound of that, intermixes with Lin Luoran’s voice, which surprisingly let people calm from such a thing as the murder.
Old Mr. Hong does not speak. Hong Bin whispers, “The little cyan fox just now is hers.”
Old Mr. Hong’s face finally stretches. Lin Luoran smiles at the old man, touches Goldie on his shoulder, and says, “you go with fox… If they have a threat to the fox, don’t wait for me. All those people can be your dessert, okay? Otherwise, don’t expose yourself…”
Goldie tilts its head and calls out twice. Lin Luoran is puzzled. “You ask me where the fox is? I don’t know either. Dear, go and follow it.”
Goldie did a few days of spy, not even eating anything. Lin Luoran takes out a hand of boluses. Goldie eats them and flutters away.
Old Mr. Hong stares at Goldie, which becomes a small black dot and disappears in the horizon in an eyeblink.
He is nearly 80 years old, but had never seen such a psychic eagle. No, this is not an eagle.
Lin Luoran looks at Interpreter Sun on the ground. He is poisoned with a black face. This is the sign of poisoning and this man is dead as a doornail. Lin thought Sakurako Asada may be different, but in fact, she is as insidious as other Nihonese. As practitioners, her act of using poison is not aboveboard.
Such a person, with only ambitions, is shortsighted in the state of mind. Being a bad guy is also in a hierarchy. Even to be a bad man, she should be a respectable evildoer.
Lin Luodong is so bold to see the body of Interpreter Sun. Lin Luoran covers his eyes, “children cannot get into these.”
Huang Weijian is triumphant. He is not a child in Sister Lin’s eyes? However, Lin Luoran drives the three of them out and calls them to check whether the Nihonese put any poison to the water in these days when they were in the village.
Old Mr. Hong still says nothing. Lin Luoran thinks, “firstly let’s solve the body, and then we can have a relaxing talk.”
To deal with a dead body in the day? Now little girls talk in such a big tone?
An orange-sized firelight comes out on Lin Luoran’s fingertips, and falls on Interpreter Sun’s body. The fire spreads all over his body. It isn’t a huge fire. But seeing the body shrink and turn to ashes in just a few minutes, Hong knows the flame is definitely not as ordinary as it looks.
As for why people’s fingertips can emit fire, Old Mr. Hong knows it in a minute. He is not surprised subconsciously.
Lin Luoran changes her gesture, and a small tornado comes. The ashes on the ground are picked up by the wind and fly to the depths of the mountain.
Mr. Hong shows his lone front teeth, “that cyan…Yours?” He wanted to say cyan fox, but he felt that the name was not respectful and clear.
Lin Luoran claps her hands. “it might be strange to say that. If I say a White Fox please me to care for it, would you believe me?”
Old Mr. Hong feels relaxed. Sure enough, the royal lineage is so proud. How will it recognize a little girl as the master?
“Have you ever heard of a flower that blossoms in the morning and fades in the evening, and that can fulfill the mortal’s wish?” Old Mr. Hong smiles mysteriously.
Lin Luoran looks at the color pot that Sakurako Asada forgot. The dry mushrooms spill on the ground. What a pity. She picks up the pot and marvels at the vivid painting, especially the back of the cyan fox. She can barely see what the fox will be like when it grows up.
“You mean the flower?” It’s colorful and really beautiful. If a flower can easily realize people’s wishes, these cultivators, who practice hard but still can not achieve what they want, are like a joke?
She looks incredulous. Mr. Hong nods,
“But some people, including my ancestors… They believe. Isn’t that strange?”
Lin Luoran gets a stool to Mr. Hong to sit down. She finds another place and chats with Hong in the yard in the sun.
Old Mr. Hong slowly tells the story which passes in many generations. Lin Luoran listens carefully, shaking or nodding from time to time.
Old Mr. Hong feels this little girl has two deep and clear eyes, showing cleverness. But she is not bad and makes people reliable and quiet. With a peaceful heart, a lot of hazy memories all turn to be clear.
Lin Luoran holds the colored pottery in his hand and occasionally beats her fingers. The secret of the Country of Green Mountains is uncovered gradually this afternoon.
