Dreaming for 10,000 years

Chapter 405 The Way
Lord Mi slowly picked at his ear, his thick fingers gleaming in the sunlight: "My territory is small and my power is weak. If you can't catch someone, then naturally I can't catch one either."

He suddenly grinned, revealing gleaming white fangs. "But if only my territory were a little bigger—"

The bear paw drew an exaggerated arc in the air: "Twenty mountain peaks, a hundred miles of river!"

"absurd!"

Chu Shanzhu's cloud chariot jolted violently, and the leopard-print embroidery on the curtains fluttered without wind. Her beautiful red lips curled into a cold smile: "Mi Heizi, are you dreaming?"

The River God's dragon whiskers stood on end, and his gilded vertical pupils shrank to slits: "Wishful thinking!"

Both men knew perfectly well that this was not just a matter of territory.

If territory is truly ceded, not only will other mountain lords seize the opportunity to cause trouble, but even the spirits under their command will likely harbor rebellious intentions.

If you grovel before a mere mortal, how will you ever gain the respect of the masses in the future?

Chu Shanzhu lightly tapped the carriage shaft with her slender fingers, then suddenly changed the subject: "Since you keep saying you've suffered the same fate..."

A sly smile appeared on her beautiful face. "How about our two families send some people to help you search the mountain?"

"Alright!" Lord Mi agreed readily, but his black nose wrinkled up: "However..."

He counted on his bear paws, saying, "No more than ten mountain spirits, no more than thirty aquatic creatures. If you exceed that number—" Suddenly, a fierce glint appeared in the bear's eyes, "I'll take that as a sign you want to start a war!"

The scales on the River God's dragon head clicked and clacked. With such restrictions, the demon soldiers sent would probably not even be enough to fill a bear's teeth.

He said coldly, "Mi Heizi, is this your sincerity?"

With Lord Mi's interference, it became difficult for Lord Hebo and Lord Chu to directly cross the boundary and attack Yu Tian.

"Ha!" Lord Mi suddenly slapped his thigh and laughed, making his chariot creak and groan: "You were the ones who begged me to negotiate!"

He ripped open the bearskin cloak, revealing a crisscrossing network of scars on his chest, one claw mark so deep it exposed bone and still gleamed with a bluish light: "Look! Who gave me all this?"

Throughout his childhood, he was bullied by these two families, and he barely managed to survive in this place thanks to his innate intelligence. Now that he has finally grown up, he will naturally not give them any kindness.

The River God proclaimed, "A thousand catties of fish and a hundred catties of mountain delicacies, in exchange for that man!"

"Pah!" Lord Mi spat a mouthful of phlegm into the river. "Are you trying to fob me off like a beggar?" He deliberately used the tone of someone who had been humiliated in his childhood. "What? Do you still think of me as that little bear cub who used to scavenge for leftovers?"

Yu Tian gently patted Xiao Lingdang's shoulder, indicating it was time to leave. The pine branches trembled slightly, and his figure with Xiao Lingdang drifted down silently like a falling leaf.

"No need to look anymore." Yu Tian brushed the pine needles off his sleeve. "They can't reach an agreement."

Little Bell looked up and saw the knowing smile on Yu Tian's lips. She suddenly realized that all of this was part of Mi Shanzhu's plan.

That seemingly rugged black bear was actually more cunning than anyone else, which is why it sent the eagle owl to give them a heads-up.

"Let's get back to what we're supposed to be doing!"

"Ok!"

Only by living, cultivating, and becoming stronger can one better do what one wants to do in this world.

Just as Yu Tian had expected, the eagle owl brought news of an unpleasant parting.

"The talks broke down." It shook its feathers gleefully. "Old Chu was so angry that he broke the carriage shaft, and Old Blind Dragon overturned the Three Mile River."

Although the Lord of Chu Mountain is clearly a woman, the Eagle Owl and the Lord of Mi Mountain secretly call her "Old Chu Head," which shows their contempt for her.

Yu Tian, ​​who was meditating cross-legged, didn't even look up when he heard this: "Next, they should heavily guard the border."

"Clever!" The eagle owl tilted its head, its amber eyes gleaming with a strange light. "What a pity, what a pity." It suddenly lowered its voice: "If you hadn't believed in that cat god, and you had conquered the Chu Mountain territory in the future, the mountain lord might have appointed you as the master of the mountain."

Yu Tian stopped meditating, raised his head, and met the eagle owl's probing gaze.

"How about," the eagle owl's beak opened and closed, revealing fine, serrated teeth, "that you convert to the Bear God?"

"The Bear God?"

The eagle owl's feathers suddenly fluffed up, and it cleared its throat like a storyteller: "Long, long ago, there was only one true god in this land—the Bear God. He expanded the territory and divided it among the mountains under his command."

Its voice suddenly turned melancholic: "Unfortunately, times have changed, and the lineage of the Bear God has gradually declined. If it weren't for the sudden appearance of Lord Mi, and if you had believed in the Bear God, you would be nominally brothers with Lord Mi, and worship the Bear God together!"

Yu Tian smiled slightly and said, "Can a man and a god really be brothers?"

"Are you even human now?" the eagle owl suddenly smiled mysteriously.

The cave suddenly fell silent. Little Bell saw Yu Tian's pupils glow faintly in the darkness—a restrained divine light that only those who had cultivated to an extremely high level possessed.

Yes, to ordinary mortals, how is Yu Tian, ​​who can control the wind and water and fight against mountain spirits, any different from a god?

Yu Tian suddenly chuckled softly, "Please thank the Mountain Lord for his kindness." His voice was soft, yet it caused the eagle owl's feathers to bristle involuntarily. "But regarding the matter of faith..."

Suddenly, the sound of pine trees rustling outside the cave blew away the second half of the sentence in the wind.

The eagle owl shivered inexplicably, suddenly realizing that the young man before it might be far more dangerous than the three mountain lords had imagined.

So it said nothing more, just rambled on and on, and then flapped its wings and flew into the vast twilight.

The mountain wind howled as the eagle owl swept across the layered peaks and finally landed atop a steep, solitary peak.

The massive figure of Lord Mi stood on the edge of the cliff, his thick bear paws clasped behind his back, gazing at the undulating mountains in the distance. The twilight cast a dark golden glow on his dark fur.

"Old man, you're back!" Lord Mishan didn't even turn his head, his voice like muffled thunder rolling in his chest.

"You old black devil, why do you send me to run errands every day!" The eagle owl came to the Lord of Min Mountain without any politeness and ate the dried rats in front of him without any politeness.

Those were snacks prepared for him by Lord Mi. After all, he couldn't work for free.

"He's dangerous."

"Oh?"

“I advised him to convert to the Bear God.” The eagle owl swallowed the last piece of rat meat. “He refused.”

Upon hearing this, Lord Mi's thick, dark eyebrows did not even twitch.

He reached into a crevice in the rocks and pulled out a jar of aged mead. He bit open the mud seal with his teeth, tilted his head back, and drank it down. The amber liquid dripped from the corner of his mouth, wetting the fur on his chest.

"A hidden dragon should not be used." Lord Mi wiped his mouth, smashing the wine jar on the rock. "How many of those who can gain the favor of the Cat God are ordinary people?"

The eagle owl leaped onto a higher rock, looking down at the seemingly rugged but actually shrewd old bear: "Aren't you afraid of raising a tiger that will turn out to be a threat? That you won't be able to control him in the end?"

"Heh," Lord Mi suddenly laughed, the sound causing the rocks on the cliff to tumble down. He turned around, his seemingly simple bear eyes gleaming with a shrewdness that belied his size: "I've known this principle since I was a child."

"What's the point?"

Never treat others as fools.

(End of this chapter)