Longevity Candle

Chapter 79 Three-Headed Dark Raven (Over 10,000 words updated, please subscribe)
"belch."

Three burps, and three strange birds lay comfortably on the grass, basking in the sun.

Li Qingxuan glanced down at them: "Mountain and sea spirits? Or immortal masters and Taoists?"

"I don't know." The three-headed bird squinted. "Stand back a bit, you're blocking my sun."

"Don't know?" Li Qingxuan asked curiously, "One, or three?"

“I’m the boss,” said the man in the middle.

"I'm the boss."

The left and right heads immediately protested and rammed into the middle head.

Li Qingxuan stared in astonishment at the strange bird with three heads, which was actually fighting.

Three heads, none of them willing to submit to the others?

Having met the spirit of the green lamp, sent away many wandering souls, and learned the art of controlling snakes, she had also met extraordinary people, so she was not afraid.

The three-headed bird didn't attack her; it just drank with her, so it probably meant her no harm.

Even if she did, she has done a lot of good deeds over the years.

Noticing her gaze, the three heads stopped, exchanged a glance, and said in unison, "Don't lose face in front of outsiders."

"it is good."

The three heads simultaneously released their grip and lay back down to bask in the sun.

"Want to drink peach blossom wine again? I'll bring you three more jars tomorrow," Li Qingxuan said.

"Peach blossom wine? The taste is so-so." The three-headed strange bird said rather reluctantly, "Fine, I'll give you face and bring six jars tomorrow."

Li Qingxuan chuckled lightly: "You don't like it that much? Then I won't bring it."

"Hey, you little girl, it's your good fortune to drink your wine. The Chang family has been worshipping me for hundreds of years, but I've never paid them any attention." The three-headed strange bird stood up, proudly raising its head.

"Then are you a spirit of mountains and seas, or a celestial master? And why are you drinking my wine?" Li Qingxuan asked.

"Didn't I say I didn't know?" the three-headed strange bird said.

"You're not a celestial being?" Li Qingxuan frowned. "How can you possess sentience?"

"I am a celestial being, but I do not know whether I am an elf or a celestial master."

The three-headed strange bird tilted its head and said, "Mountain and sea spirits are born of heaven and earth, I am not. Immortal masters and Taoists are cultivated or blessed by spirits, I am not either."

"Then how did you become a celestial being?"

“I am also troubled by this.” The three-headed birds looked at each other, and the middle head said, “As for drinking your wine, is it because you can send away wandering souls, or because you are a lamp?”

"You mean it's because of this lamp?" Li Qingxuan took down the peach wood lamp.

“Yes, yes, we’ve seen a lamp.” The three-headed birds circled the peach wood lamp, their three heads examining it closely. “But I’ve long forgotten where it was. Although the material was different, it was just as faintly glowing with moonlight.”

"What material is the blue lamp you saw made of?" Li Qingxuan asked hurriedly.

"I've forgotten. It seemed to be an ordinary green lamp, or perhaps it was made of a rare Taiyin stone. I can't remember."

The three strange birds shook their heads in unison, with the left head saying, "Two useless pieces of trash, they can't remember anything."

"So you remember?" The two heads glared at each other.

“Of course I remember, that was our home, the lamp we saw when we woke up,” said the three-headed bird.

Where is our home?

"How would I know?"

"Go to hell, you trying to make fun of me, huh?"

The three heads started fighting again, black feathers flying everywhere, falling into the void and melting away like snow.

Li Qingxuan frowned. Did this strange bird really enjoy fighting amongst itself?
She simply sat down to the side, watching the three heads fight, occasionally commenting, "Pecking his eyes, plucking his feathers, do you even know how to fight? Can't you peck the feathers on his head? Pull him bald..."

Seemingly caught up in the conversation, Li Qingxuan stretched out her finger and pointed, saying, "Here, yes, here, pluck the feathers hard."

The three heads stopped and glared at her angrily: "None of your business, why are you interrupting?"

"It's none of my business, then I'm leaving." Li Qingxuan stood up, preparing to leave.

"Remember to bring wine tomorrow," the three heads said simultaneously.

"It depends on my mood." Li Qingxuan's voice came from afar, and in a moment, she was several hundred meters away.

She didn't know what the three strange birds were, but the lamp they mentioned piqued her interest.

Whether it truly can't remember or not, only it knows.

Then, the sound of three heads fighting came from behind.

She rubbed her temples; it really was...

She returned home and told her parents what had happened.

"A strange bird with three heads?" Li Zhu and Li Meng said, "There are many strange things in the world. As for whether it is a spirit or a celestial being, as long as there is no malice, it's fine. However, have strange things entered the mortal world so early?"

"Should we bring it more wine tomorrow?" Li Qingxuan asked.

"It's just six jars of peach blossom wine. As long as we don't offend them, it'll be fine," Li Zhu said.

Li Meng nodded slightly: "We won't deliberately pursue it. Since it has shown itself on its own initiative and has no ill intentions, let's get to know it and see how it goes. Remember to bring Taiping Yiye and Qingdeng with you."

"Okay." Li Qingxuan nodded.

The Peaceful One-Page Book can suppress supernatural phenomena, and it can also protect itself should the Three-Headed Bird show any ill intent. "I'm wondering if the lamp it saw might be helpful to Jiang Zhu?" Li Qingxuan said.

"Don't deliberately pursue it," Li Zhu said seriously.

“I understand,” Li Qingxuan replied.

After dinner, and seeing off the two wandering spirits, Li Qingxuan drifted off to sleep with anticipation.

The next day, she visited Zhang, bringing six jars of peach blossom wine and some roasted meat, and went to the peach grove.

The three strange birds were still fighting, but they temporarily stopped when she arrived.

"Damn, how come your wine jar is so big?"

The three heads each chose a jar, wanting to drink at the same time, but because their necks were too short, none of them got to drink.

"Why don't the three of you drink from one jar, or take turns drinking it?"

"Then who goes first and who goes last?"

They clearly hadn't considered that the three of them would share a single jar of wine.

Li Qingxuan took out a wine bowl and poured three bowls of wine: "Drink up, I'm only fifteen years old, and I've already started serving birds."

“Hey, don’t you humans say you respect the elderly? We’re at least several hundred years old,” said the three-headed strange bird.

"Don't you remember how old you are?" Li Qingxuan asked.

"I don't remember. Who remembers this useless stuff?" the three-headed strange bird said. "Only you mortals can remember years and have birthdays."

"Life is short, which is why we cherish it all the more. Remember your birthday and treat yourself every year," Li Qingxuan said.

They gulped down a bowl of wine. Although they were birds, they drank very quickly, and Li Qingxuan continued to pour them more wine.

“I remember now, the lamp we saw had a name, it was called the Soul Guide,” said the left-hand head.

"The Soul-Guiding Lamp?" Li Qingxuan asked hurriedly, "What else do you remember?"

"I don't know, our brains were damaged long ago, we don't even know what we can remember," said the right head.

"Did you damage your brains? You guys are so ruthless to yourselves?" Li Qingxuan exclaimed in surprise.

"We're not crazy yet. The reason we're fighting is that we're trying to remember something through this method."

The one with the middle head said, "I only remember that we were called the Three-Headed Ravens, and that we were beaten up once, but I can't remember who it was. It was a long time ago."

"old?"

“Yes, back then, Yunmeng Kingdom wasn’t called Yunmeng Kingdom yet, I forget what it was called,” said the Three-Headed Crow.

"Before Yunmeng?" Li Qingxuan frowned and pondered, "I also wonder why Yunmeng Kingdom has changed its name repeatedly, even though the country has changed its name so many times? Ning Kingdom in the north was formerly Qian Kingdom. New countries change their names."

"I don't know." The three-headed crows shook their heads in unison. The left head said, "I remember now. We came out yesterday to remind you not to send away any more wandering souls."

"Why? Is it affecting you?" Li Qingxuan asked.

"You've sent all the wandering souls away. When the spirits of the mountains and seas, the immortal masters and Taoists enter the world in the future, what merit will you have left?" The middle head chimed in, "They haven't noticed you yet, but if those immortal masters open their eyes and see you one day, you'll be in big trouble."

“With endless war and countless wandering souls, I can’t possibly send them all away,” Li Qingxuan said. “Besides, they’re too domineering. Are they the only ones who can do good deeds? Isn’t it enough for them to build temples and enjoy the incense offerings?”

"They often say that mortal desires are insatiable, and the same is true for mountain and sea spirits and immortal masters."

Who would think that merit and incense offerings are too much? You seem to know so much about Ningguo; are you from the Ningguo in the north?

“Yes, the spirits of Ningguo’s mountains and seas, immortal masters and Taoists, will enter the world at the end of the kingdom’s reign, build temples, and do good deeds. They will leave once the new kingdom is established,” Li Qingxuan said.

"It's similar here, but here, every dynasty accumulates countless wandering souls."

The right head said, "But I have been here for many years and have never seen any elves or immortal masters from the outside world. Do you know why?"

"Because the spirits and immortal masters of Yunmeng won't let them in?" Li Qingxuan asked. "Is it a contest of merit?"

“That’s right, none of them dare to compete for this merit, so what makes you think you can?” the middle-headed man said.

Li Qingxuan's face was grim, but she still had questions in her mind: "My ancestors also had some good fortune, but in Ning Kingdom, there weren't so many wandering souls, while in Yunmeng Kingdom, they are almost everywhere."

"Furthermore, I have a technique that, when practiced as martial arts, gathers moonlight and erodes the body. Yunmeng is inherently hot, so why is the moonlight so easily drawn upon?"

The three ravens raised their heads in unison, giving her a strange look: "Yunmeng has always been like this. Wandering souls cannot leave and need elves and immortal masters to guide them. As for Yuehua, it is the same. Why do you find it strange?"

“Because Ningguo is not like that, compared to Yunmeng, it is very abnormal,” Li Qingxuan said.

"To us, what you're saying about Ningguo is abnormal."

"This……"

Li Qingxuan paused. She had known about some things in Ningguo since she was a child. Her parents had also been puzzled by Yuehua and asked Jiang Zhu, but they did not get an answer. They said that there was a problem with Yunmeng.

But for the native Three-Headed Raven, this is the fundamental rule of Yunmeng, and it has always been so.

She looked up at the sky and said, "If we weren't under the same sky, I would really suspect that Ningguo and Yunmeng are two different worlds, not under the same sky."

"sky?"

A look of confusion flashed across the middle head, then it exploded as if its head were about to burst: "What sky? Where is the sky?"

"What sky? What the hell is sky?"

"The Eternal Heaven? No, the Heavenly Order? That's not right either..."

All three heads were in pain at the same time, and their bodies were rolling around on the oxcart.

"What's wrong with you?" Li Qingxuan rushed forward, wanting to help, but didn't know how.

(End of this chapter)