Striving for Science C52

Shen Chang'an's expression froze. He looked at Dao Nian, then at the lavish dinner on the table, his expression becoming serious.

"Go." Dao Nian saw Shen Chang'an's face turn pale, thinking he misunderstood that he wasn't going to accompany him. "I'll have Liu Mao arrange it later." They say humans become increasingly pampered the more they're cared for, and it seems this is true. He hadn't even said he wouldn't go, and Chang'an's face changed. If he really didn't accompany him, he might hide under the covers and cry secretly later.

"I was just saying it casually." Shen Chang'an lowered his head and ate, too embarrassed to look at Dao Nian. "If you're busy with work, you don't have to accompany me. I've lived in the capital for many years, and I'm quite familiar with the area."

"Too lazy to work, accompanying you out." Dao Nian returned to his usual concise style, looking at Shen Chang'an. "When are we leaving?"

"Two days later." Shen Chang'an looked up, seeing Dao Nian staring at him, and grinned.

Looking at Shen Chang'an's silly smile, Dao Nian pointed at the bowl: "Eat."

Although his mind wasn't very sharp, this was the person he had chosen. A little foolish was fine. Recalling the night a few days ago, when Shen Chang'an had food poisoning and hallucinated, thinking an evil spirit was going to eat him, and used his body to block him, Dao Nian felt a strange sensation in his heart.

He had awakened his spiritual awareness and gained a body, becoming the ultimate representation in the eyes of all living beings. He could turn his hand to create clouds and rain, even determining the rise and fall of a species within the bounds of the laws. He didn't believe that "protection" could be applied to him, and other living beings wouldn't dare to have such thoughts.

Chang'an.

This name reminded him of a distant dynasty, a dynasty with a place called Chang'an*. Chang'an was home to many talented men and beautiful women, who pledged their love to each other with vows of eternal devotion. But when war came, countless people abandoned their sworn promises and fled alone.

TN: ancient name of Xi'an 

It's easy to say "protection," but it's incredibly difficult to achieve.

Chang'an had never made any promises to him, yet he had done what those who made grand vows couldn't. He turned his head to look out the window, thinking that the Great Dao wanted to use the power of the Dao of Life to eliminate him, the Heavenly Dao, so he could be reborn. It seemed he wouldn't be able to have things his way.

"If you go to the capital with me, I'll ask Director Du for a few extra days off. I'll take you to try the local delicacies." Shen Chang'an finished his meal in a few bites, pushed the bowl away, and began to imagine their upcoming trip to the capital. "After I turned eight, I lived in a courtyard in a military district. The elders there were very kind to me. I'll apply to the leaders there to see if I can take you to meet them."

Dao Nian thought, he had just given him the keys, and now he wanted to take him to meet important elders. According to human etiquette, wasn't this a bit too fast?

"Those elders are all big shots in their respective fields. You're a businessman, it's a good thing to show your face in front of them." 

Shen Chang'an whispered, "They're all good people, just a bit serious. I missed two years of school when I was young, and after moving to the compound, my grades couldn't keep up. The grandfathers and grandmothers in the compound tutored me every day, saying that there were no bad students who came out of their compound."

Thinking back to the days of hanging by a thread and stabbing himself with a needle*, Shen Chang'an shivered. "Of course, I think if the schedule doesn't allow it, we won't go see them."

TN: err, to keep oneself awake to study

These grandfathers, grandmothers, uncles, and aunts were all good, but they were a bit too competitive. In the words of today's young people, they were all "Top Cancer," striving to be the best in everything. He was afraid that if he took Dao Nian there, they would push Dao Nian to develop his company into the top 100 in the country.

"Meet." Dao Nian said decisively, "We should meet."

Shen Chang'an looked at him sympathetically.

Since Dao Nian had said so, he had no objections. After all, he wouldn't be the one being constantly urged to pursue his career.

***

On a different note, since Hu Ming had returned from the human world with his tail between his legs, he hadn't dared to see any yao cultivators, afraid of being ridiculed for his seduction skills being inferior to even a human.

He stayed in his cave for a while, discovering that no yao cultivators were discussing him. Everyone's attention was focused on the bird clan's phoenix lineage hatching, and it was being raised in the Heavenly Dao Lord's divine mansion.

Speaking of which, countless yao cultivators were secretly envious. The yao realm was not having a good time these days. With the bird clan's strength, raising a phoenix would probably require them to sell everything they owned. But being raised in the Heavenly Dao Lord's place was different. Not only could they eat and drink for free, but they could also help the bird clan gain recognition from the Heavenly Dao Lord.

They, the yao beasts, would often privately mock the bird clan for only growing feathers and not brains, committing errors that the Heavenly Dao Lord couldn't tolerate, resulting in no new birds awakening their spiritual awareness for nearly twenty years. They had also offended the human who was most valued by the Lord recently.

Unexpectedly, these birds were seemingly simple but cunning. A few months ago, they had gone to them and kept saying how scheming that human was, deliberately trying to please the Lord and gain benefits for humanity. Who knew that they would turn around and put on a different face in front of the Heavenly Dao Lord and the human?

To please that human named Shen Chang'an, they had shamelessly made a parrot yao from their clan the human's pet, fawning and flattering him every day. What was the difference between this and those who flattered the concubine, hoping she would whisper sweet nothings to the emperor?

They said bad things, they flattered and fawned, and they got all the benefits. Poor them, the beast yaos followed the bird yaos to join in the fun, and got nothing in return.

He knew those bird yaos with their pretty feathers, chirping all day long, were no good.

Listening to his fellow tribesmen's discussion, Hu Ming didn't dare go out and join them. He was afraid they would ask him why Fei Ying could stay, but he had to slink back.

After hiding in his cave for so long, Hu Ming finally mustered the courage to apologize to the elder. He moved with the speed of the wind, arriving in an instant outside the beast yao temple. Not wanting to be seen by others, he used his invisibility spell and quietly approached the elder's side chamber.

As he reached the side chamber, he was about to reveal himself and knock on the door to find the elder, when he suddenly heard the elder shout, "This human must die."

The elder's words were filled with killing intent and coldness, a far cry from his usual kind and gentle demeanor. For a moment, Hu Ming instinctively chose to suppress his own aura.

"If it weren't for Hu Ming, that good-for-nothing who can't even beat a parrot, how could we be in such a passive position!" the Pig Elder snarled, "As a fox, you can't even master the art of seduction, what use are you?"

Hu Ming tightly clutched the invisibility artifact given to him by the fox elder, his mind in turmoil, but his expression remained terrifyingly calm.

"You're going a bit too far with that." The voice of the person who shared the room with the Pig Elder sounded somewhat unfamiliar. Hu Ming couldn't sense any aura either.

"Back then, the Nine-Tailed Fox of Qingqiu couldn't even get a glance from Heavenly Dao. He's just a common white fox with less than five hundred years of cultivation. How could he possibly attract Heavenly Dao's attention?"

"But why is it that human…"

"There are always unexpected events, especially when they happen to the human race. It's not strange at all." The person laughed, a laugh tinged with a hint of disdain. Hu Ming felt that he was laughing at both humans and the yao race.

In any case, the laughter made Hu Ming very uncomfortable.

"Now the bird race has the Phoenix bloodline, the human race has Shen Chang'an, and the water race has always stayed out of worldly affairs. Is it only our beast yao race that will forever remain at the bottom?"

"To solve the current situation, it's actually very simple." The person said lightly, "Kill Shen Chang'an."

"But he is the human favored by Heavenly Dao Lord. If we kill him, Heavenly Dao Lord will surely punish us. Wouldn't our beast yao race have an even harder time then?"

"You think he's Heavenly Dao, and can do whatever he wants?" The person sneered, "In the end, he's just Heavenly Dao born from the prayers of living beings. The prayers of countless living beings gave him a physical body, and the forty-nine laws left by the Great Dao gave him intelligence. Even if he's Heaven, he can't escape the constraints of the forty-nine laws. He's just a human. If he dies, he dies. Can he really violate the laws and exterminate the entire beast yao race?"

"Besides, why did you do it yourselves? The world is vast, and making a human die, even destroying their soul, is incredibly easy. Can't you think?"

Hu Ming gasped, taking in a sharp breath. Although he found Shen Chang'an utterly distasteful, wishing to see him fall from grace and become the most favored person by the Heavenly Dao Lord, he never imagined that he would be killed, or even have his soul extinguished.

Human lifespans are short, only a few decades. They are ignorant in their youth, struggle for survival in their middle age, and become frail in their old age. The time they can truly enjoy is limited. They, the yaos who cultivate the Dao, have almost never had the thought of killing.

Who, exactly, was the one who kept urging Elder Pig to kill?

He wanted to push open the door, to tell Elder Pig not to be foolish. Suddenly, a burst of spiritual energy erupted from inside the room, striking directly at his consciousness. He couldn't dodge it, and before he could even utter a scream, his consciousness was shattered, and he fell into the waterfall outside the divine temple.

The massive torrent of water crashed down on Hu Ming. He suddenly realized that the person not only wanted to kill him, but also to destroy his body.

Beneath this waterfall was a deep pool. Even when his consciousness was intact, he dared not enter it. Now, with his cultivation completely lost, his body would fall to the bottom of the pool, where only decay and disappearance awaited him.

Perhaps, the fox people would even think that Shen Chang'an didn't want him to share the favor of the Heavenly Dao Lord, so he killed him.

No body, no trace. That green tea man, Shen Chang'an, would definitely be unable to explain himself. Elder Fox loved him so much, he would surely do everything in his power to kill Shen Chang'an for revenge.

Well, he couldn't charm any great gods or immortals while alive, but in death, he might just cause chaos in the yao cultivation world. Truly, he was unwilling to die even as a fox.

***

While packing his travel bag, Shen Chang'an came across the newspaper he had brought back from the office. It printed a commendation article about a kind citizen who rescued a fox and sent it to the police station.

"I wonder how the fox that Brother Liu sent out is doing?" Shen Chang'an got up and took the newspaper to the study. Seeing Dao Nian sitting there, he said, "The fox we rescued last time, the newspaper said they were going to send it to the provincial zoo. When should we go to the zoo to see it?"

Dao Nian paused his hand flipping through the book. See the fox?

"That fox was beautiful, and it's a Class II protected animal. It should be very happy in the zoo, maybe even gained some weight." Shen Chang'an thought of the white fox's thick, beautiful fur and those beautiful eyes, and made up his mind. "Let's go to the provincial capital for New Year's Day, how about it?"

Although Dao Nian didn't like interacting with people, he probably wouldn't mind going to see animals?

Dao Nian nodded: "Good."

After receiving Dao Nian's promise, Shen Chang'an continued packing his luggage. Dao Nian furrowed his brow slightly and called for Liu Mao.

If that fox wasn't at the zoo, then have him stay there for a few days.