Spring Trees and Sunset Clouds

After staying on the mountain for three days, Mo Shu really did drag a fiery-red beast over during the night of the third day. Nan Ge Er almost finished reading his book. He lifted his gaze up, just in time to see Mo Shu displaying a graceful and ethereal posture while strolling slowly over—if the beast, which he dragged like a rug, in his hand was ignored.

Nan Ge Er glanced at the flame-like redness of the beast’s skin, only finding a little familiarity with it. However, he couldn’t remember it, so he just frowned while mulling what exactly it was in his heart.

“What’s wrong?” Mo Shu walked to the mouth of the cave, asking casually when he noticed Nan Ge Er was deep in thoughts. Following after, he sliced off the forelimbs of the beast. Its meat was then taken, washed, coated with ingredients and roasted.

Nan Ge Er obviously wouldn’t reply to the question Mo Shu blurted. He simply followed Mo Shu back into the cave, sitting by the side while watching him working busily. The fragrant roasted meat lured away every single bit of his thoughts in an instant.

Mo Shu’s skills were, of course, excellent. Although he claimed he was just relatively skilled, in truth, his skills were exceptional. Nan Ge Er felt that the palace cooks of Bei Jun probably couldn’t even hold a candle to the fellow’s skills.

Once Nan Ge Er finished a huge chunk of meat, Mo Shu refused to give him more—after all, Nan Ge Er was weak, unable to eat so much in one go. Two days ago, he just gave Nan Ge Er a large amount at once. In the end, he couldn’t digest it all, the stomachache in the midnight causing him to barely sleep at all. Yesterday, he merely gave him a bite-size, which made him uncomfortable the whole day too. Thus, Mo Shu ate unhurriedly under the watchful eyes of Nan Ge Er.

After staring for a long while, Nan Ge Er reckoned he wasn’t able to snatch a piece from Mo Shu this time. Therefore, he turned his gaze towards the wild beast, which was thrown haphazardly near the opening of the cave. What exactly is it? It just feels… so familiar. While pondering, Nan Ge Er stood up and walked over.

“Where are you going?” Mo Shu asked behind him.

“This thing just feels so familiar.” Nan Ge Er scrutinised the wild beast all over, perplexed.

The wild beast wasn’t quite big, around the same size as a horse. It had long, fiery red fur on every inch of its body. On the forehead of its tiger-like head was a scarlet horn. Two glittering teeth protruded out. Even though it was still killed by Mo Shu, it still looked formidable and fierce.

“Ah.” He remembered.

“Ah?” Mo Shu stopped eating, looking at Nan Ge Er, who was dazed by that time.

“Mo Shu…” Even Nan Ge Er noticed the tremble in his voice.

“Hm?” Seeing that Nan Ge Er wasn’t in any danger, Mo Shu continued chowing down.

“Hands off, stop eating…” Nan Ge Er whispered, frustration plastered all over his face.

“Why not?” Mo Shu’s confusion was evident.

“This is a Cloud Beast!” Nan Ge Er let out a shriek at last.

“Cloud Beast?” Puzzlement clouded over Mo Shu’s response.

“The one and only sacred beast in the whole continent, the protected animal treasured by all countries!” Nan Ge Er dashed over, attempting to snatch away the meat from Mo Shu’s hands.

Mo Shu dodged agilely, “No can do. I can’t let you be wilful today; you’ll get a stomach ache if you eat that.”

What’s with that child-pacifying tone of yours?! Nan Ge Er made a face, “Who wants to eat your meat?”

“So you want to eat me, huh?” Mo Shu let out a slightly sinister laugh. He spread his hands out, making a dignified pose, “Come on, I won’t resist.”

Hanging around in the red-light district for such a long time, Nan Ge Er obviously knew he was teased by Mo Shu, the heartless fellow. However, he didn’t care about attacking back then, merely grabbing Mo Shu’s hands, “It’s a Cloud Beast!”

“So what if it is a Cloud Beast?” Mo Shu finally gave a definite answer to Nan Ge Er’s bewildered question.

The continent of this world was collectively called Yun Lu Continent. Rumor had it that it was a single country in the beginning, only slowly breaking into four countries later on. Cloud Beasts were exceedingly rare and unique on the continent; alleged to be fierce and abnormal, and a symbol of royalty since ancient times. Even if the person who found a Cloud Beast were a commoner, the person would still receive a commendation from the country, with the highest prize being a noble title of a prince.

As it was difficult for Cloud Beasts to reproduce, kings in various countries would always mate them with other beasts. The resulting mixed-blooded baby beasts would be weak. The unbeautiful colors they possessed weren’t quite significant, since most of them died before they reached adulthood. He had never seen such a bright red colored and strongly built Cloud Beast even in Bei Jun country. That was just the reason why the thought of his dinner actually being a Cloud Beast never even crossed Nan Ge Er’s mind at that moment…

His present level of shock was comparable to, after eating a satisfying barbeque in his former twenty-first century, being abruptly told the meat he happily ate was actually from a panda. Alright, if he recalled correctly, Mo Shu planned on making him clothes from the fur of a Cloud Beast…

Nan Ge Er’s eyes bulged out, stunned as he looked at Mo Shu’s indifferent face, “This is a Cloud Beast! A Cloud Beast!” he could only repeat dumbly at the moment.

“Mn.” Mo Shu nodded his head, “The quality of meat is slightly tender. Most importantly, its fur is pretty good for keeping warm, and it isn’t heavy either.” Thinking for a bit, he continued, “Plus, it is easier to hunt, so it can be considered a suitable hunting target.”

“No, it’s not that!” Nan Ge Er screamed uncontrollably, “This, this…” his fingers quivered as it pointed at the Cloud Beast; he almost fainted over. Oh my god, I just… ate a Cloud Beast! And Mo Shu… killed the most protected animal of the entire continent!

“Calm down. “Mo Shu found the rare panicky expression of Nan Ge Er to be rather funny but perplexing, “Although I don’t know why you’re so concerned about a wild beast, I’ve killed it anyway, so what can you do?”

Killed it anyway, killed it anyway, killed it anyway… Those few words occupy Nan Ge Er’s entire mind.

Mo Shu continued finishing the meat in hand calmly, raising his head after that to look at Nan Ge Er, “Do you really like this? If you like, I can capture a small one to rear back at home. But this type of wild beast is difficult to tame, and will probably die.” Pausing for a moment, he spoke again, “But, the younger beast has a softer fur, its meat is much more tender too. It can be eaten even if it dies, so it’s okay too.”

Nan Ge Er’s pair of eyes widened. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard. How can someone state his wish of eating the sacred beast of Yun Lu Continent so brazenly? And even planning on eating the child after eating its parent!

“Should I catch it tomorrow?” Mo Shu was still contemplating, “but capturing a baby beast isn’t quite appropriate.”

Nan Ge Er wasn’t able to listen on anymore. He grabbed Mo Shu’s hands again, looking at him with sincere eyes, “You don’t need to, really. Don’t capture it anymore. Please just let it live on well. You’ve already harmed its dad, even planning to harm the son now. This is seriously inhumane.”

“True enough.” Mo Shu nodded his head, deeply agreeing, “Hunting baby beasts is indeed unlawful.”

It isn’t a normal wild beast! Nan Ge Er wanted to howl those words to him, but after noticing Mo Shu’s collected expression returned, he could only feel pain in his balls.

…Forget it, I reckon the people in Guang Tian didn’t even care if it is a sacred beast. They only differentiate beasts by how delicious their meat is. But, why did such a sacred beast, last seen in Yun Lu Continent a long time ago, appear on the mountain of such a small county like Guang Tian? And judging from Mo Shu’s tone, there seemed to be quite a few of them?

While Nan Ge Er was mulling over that, Mo Shu spoke up, “Well, this is actually a female. So, it should be the mother; the one I harmed is a mother.”

Nan Ge Er squatted down without a single bit of expression, picking up a bone left on the floor, and throwing it at Mo Shu’s head. After that, he told a barefaced lie calmly, “Sorry, my hand slipped.” Despite ‘awarding’ Mo Shu that bone, he still didn’t feel appeased at all. He only felt his whole heart being replaced by just one word – frustration. Can you not interrupt me with the long expired, totally irrelevant topic when I’m thinking?!

Mo Shu touched the swelling forming on his head as he smiled bitterly “Xiao Nan, you really do like to act spoiled.”

Nan Ge Er squatted down again, picking a bone up.

“Sorry, I said nothing.” Mo Shu yelped at once.

Unmoved, Nan Ge Er picked an even bigger bone, throwing it at Mo Shu’s forehead.

“Why?” Mo Shu asked, a hint of grief in it.

“I just do what I wanted to.” Although Mo Shu didn’t avoid it, Nan Ge Er still felt black lines forming all over his face, his heart filled with gloom.

“Small little child is starting to get naughty.” Mo Shu spouted out stupidly.

Nan Ge Er squatted down.

“I’m wrong.” Mo Shu’s apology was clear-cut. He rolled up his sleeves, sweeping away every bone in front of Nan Ge Er while he was at it.

“Who told you to utter such stupid words? Such stupid words?” Almost exploding from his restraints, Nan Ge Er finally went crazy, continually pelting Mo Shu’s body with small stones he picked on the floor.

“Who told you to kill sacred beasts? Kill sacred beasts? Those are treasured animals; do you know? You environmentally unaware idiot! Who is acting spoiled?! Who is acting spoiled?!”

“Xiao Nan, Xian Nan, simmer down, simmer down! Be careful not to get sick! Look, I’ll just stand here. Don’t be angry. Don’t run around; you’ll fall. Alright, alright. Here, a bone. Ow, you’re too cruel!”

The silent forest was still bustling with noise that night.