Mountain God’s Forest Farm

Chapter 83: Eagle Form

Wen Zhongshan’s house was very close to Ying Kongtu’s.

By motorcycle, they arrived in two minutes.

Ying Kongtu had no time to bother with Wen Zhongshan. He swung his long leg over, got off the motorcycle, and ran straight into the courtyard.

Shuangzhong was not in the courtyard. Instead, noises came from the kitchen.

“Shuangzhong!” Ying Kongtu shouted and ran into the kitchen.

The kitchen was a complete mess. Things had been knocked over everywhere. In particular, the hornets they had placed in the cabinet had now been knocked down, scattered all over the floor.

Ying Kongtu swept his gaze over them and immediately realized that the number of hornets on the floor did not match the number they had brought back.

More than half the hornets were missing!

They must have been eaten by Shuangzhong.

In one corner of the kitchen, Xian Niao was using its paw to open the refrigerator and had taken out the fresh-keeping box containing the honey.

Shuangzhong was huddled under the cabinet, listless and almost curled into a ball.

Tiaozhu anxiously circled around it, looking as if it wanted to help but could not find a way.

“Meow-ao!” As soon as it saw Ying Kongtu, Tiaozhu immediately cried out at him, signaling for him to hurry over and help.

“I’m here.” Ying Kongtu quickly stepped forward.

Shuangzhong heard the movement and stretched its head out from under its wing. The moment it saw Ying Kongtu, it immediately stood up.

“Ki!” It stumbled over, half-spreading its wings as it threw itself against Ying Kongtu, hugging his leg with its wings and crying somewhat aggrievedly, “Jiu jiu.”

Shuangzhong usually cried in a high-pitched “kiki” voice and rarely called “jiu jiu” like a little golden eagle.

Hearing it, Ying Kongtu’s heart turned soft and sore. He gently held it. “It’s all right. I’m here. Don’t be afraid.”

Xian Niao carried over the fresh-keeping box filled with honey.

Ying Kongtu reached out and rubbed Xian Niao’s head. “Thank you, Xian Niao.”

Tiaozhu also came over and licked Shuangzhong’s feathers.

Ying Kongtu rubbed Tiaozhu as well, then quickly opened the fresh-keeping box and took out the honeycomb pieces inside for Shuangzhong to eat.

Shuangzhong regained a little spirit. It picked up a piece of honeycomb, tilted its head back, and swallowed the piece in one gulp.

Ying Kongtu pinched another piece of honeycomb and fed it again.

Shuangzhong ate one piece per bite. In a short while, it had eaten the entire box of honeycomb.

As it ate the honeycomb, its feathers slowly fell off, turned into points of light, and then sank back into its body.

Its new feathers also grew out at a speed visible to the naked eye.

These new feathers carried a metallic sheen. They were broad and strong, draped over its body like a layer of feathered armor.

The process of Shuangzhong growing new feathers went very smoothly, but its spirit was not good. The entire golden eagle was listless.

The molting process consumed a great deal of its energy and strength. The faster the molt, the harder it was on it.

But in the end, it was not a golden eagle of the natural world. It could not be like an ordinary young golden eagle, using a long stretch of time to slowly replace its feathers, beak, and claws. It could only endure through it.

Wen Zhongshan came in, crouched beside them, and stayed with it together with Ying Kongtu.

Tiaozhu and Xian Niao also stayed by its side.

Shuangzhong half-closed its eyes, struggling through the molt.

When it was almost unable to hold on, Ying Kongtu gently placed his hand on its body and sent divine power into it.

Shuangzhong finally recovered a little and gathered its spirit to continue molting.

Besides its feathers, its eyes and beak were also slowly changing.

Ying Kongtu stayed beside it the whole time, supporting it and doing his best to send divine power into it.

Leaning against Ying Kongtu, Shuangzhong proved very determined and replaced all of its feathers in one breath.

It grew from a subadult bird into an adult bird. Its body became larger, and its feathers became glossier.

The most unique thing was the feathers from the top of its head to the back of its neck.

That patch of feathers had turned into a brilliant gold, dazzling and lustrous, as though sunlight were shining over them.

Ying Kongtu had never seen a golden eagle in real life with such beautiful golden feathers.

It was far too beautiful.

The divinity shimmering over its body made it look entirely different from usual.

Ying Kongtu and the others looked at it and could not move their eyes away.

“Jiu.” Shuangzhong gave a soft cry and tucked its head into Ying Kongtu’s hand.

Ying Kongtu stroked it.

Its body temperature was extremely high, probably around forty-three or forty-four degrees Celsius.

With such a high body temperature, the moisture it breathed out made its feathers slightly damp.

It truly looked exhausted, leaning against Ying Kongtu and unwilling to move anymore.

Ying Kongtu let it lean for a while, then picked it up and sent it to its nest to rest.

After Shuangzhong changed from a subadult bird into an adult bird, its body became even larger, and its previous nest almost could not hold it anymore.

It seemed they would need to find time to change it to a new nest.

Ying Kongtu stroked it and thought again.

After settling Shuangzhong, Ying Kongtu turned back to look.

Tiaozhu and Xian Niao were quietly following behind him, also guarding Shuangzhong.

“You worked hard today,” Ying Kongtu said softly. “Thanks to you, Shuangzhong’s transformation went so smoothly.”

Tiaozhu nudged Ying Kongtu with its head, while Xian Niao licked him.

Ying Kongtu said, “It’s all right now. Hurry and go rest.”

Shuangzhong had eaten all the honeycomb, and a little honey remained in the fresh-keeping box.

Ying Kongtu used warm boiled water to rinse the remaining honey into honey water and divided it between Tiaozhu and Xian Niao, then made dinner for them.

Only after the whole family finished dinner did Ying Kongtu realize he was utterly exhausted.

Wen Zhongshan told him to rest and went to change the bedsheets first.

Usually, they did not sleep at Ying Kongtu’s house. Dart and the others occasionally slipped in to play, making the room messy.

As soon as Wen Zhongshan changed the sheets, cat fur and wolf fur hidden in the gaps were sent flying by the airflow, drifting everywhere.

“Awoo.” Xian Niao gently held the corner of Wen Zhongshan’s clothes in its mouth and dragged him outside.

“Xian Niao?” Wen Zhongshan lowered his head and asked.

Ying Kongtu tiredly translated, “Xian Niao means we should go home to sleep. It’ll stay here and watch over things.”

Wen Zhongshan was worried.

Ying Kongtu stood up and walked to his side, naturally wrapping an arm around his waist and leaning against him. “It’s fine. Let’s go back and sleep. Xian Niao is very reliable.”

They had ridden the motorcycle from Wen Zhongshan’s house to here in only two minutes, which was about the same as coming out from a room.

If anything happened, they would have more than enough time to rush over immediately.

Ying Kongtu did not want to clean the room. He was too tired.

Xian Niao also nudged Wen Zhongshan, signaling that it was fine.

Only then did Wen Zhongshan say, “Then we’ll go back first.”

Before going back, the two went to check on Dart and Jingwei.

The two of them had drunk the honey water and were still deep asleep. They looked as if they were sleeping very comfortably, with no problems at all.

The two then returned to Wen Zhongshan’s place hand in hand.

After washing up and lying under the covers, Ying Kongtu’s eyelids were almost glued shut. “I might change a little tonight. Don’t worry.”

Wen Zhongshan held him. “Because Shuangzhong’s state changed?”

“Smart.” A faint smile appeared at the corner of Ying Kongtu’s mouth. “I’m only saying it’s possible.”

“I understand.” Wen Zhongshan patted his back and said in a low voice, “Sleep.”

Wen Zhongshan’s words were like a switch. As soon as he spoke, Ying Kongtu fell directly into sleep.

They started sleeping a little after eight at night and slept all the way until after three in the morning.

Ying Kongtu’s body temperature suddenly rose, and the divine power in his body also began to overflow.

Wen Zhongshan woke with a start. Holding him, he worriedly touched his forehead, then found a forehead thermometer to measure him.

Ying Kongtu’s body temperature kept rising and finally stopped at forty-two degrees Celsius, the same as Shuangzhong’s body temperature.

As a mountain god, a slightly higher body temperature was not a major problem for Ying Kongtu.

But Wen Zhongshan could not help worrying. “Kongtu?”

Ying Kongtu did not answer. He still seemed to be asleep.

Wen Zhongshan held him and kept careful watch over his condition.

When Wen Zhongshan reached out to touch Ying Kongtu’s forehead again, Ying Kongtu grabbed his wrist and pulled his hand down. “I’m fine.”

“You’re awake? Are you uncomfortable anywhere?”

“I’m all right. Let me slow down a bit.” Ying Kongtu lay in Wen Zhongshan’s arms and said softly, “Shuangzhong has grown up. Among all the little mountain gods now, its divine power should be the strongest.”

“Will it affect you?”

“A little, but there are good aspects too.” Ying Kongtu closed his eyes and said, “I can borrow Shuangzhong’s ability now.”

“Ability?”

“To turn into an eagle, or half-eagle, half-human.” Ying Kongtu gestured. “That kind of eagle person with wings.”

Wen Zhongshan said, “That sounds very impressive.”

“Shuangzhong’s ability really is impressive.” Ying Kongtu’s voice carried a smile. “Give me a moment. It’s been many years since I used its ability.”

Soon, Ying Kongtu adjusted his state and pulled Wen Zhongshan. “Come on. Let’s go to the courtyard and I’ll show you my big wings.”

Wen Zhongshan held his hand in return. “After you’ve rested properly, we can look during the day.”

“No need. I’ve already rested now. My whole body is full of strength.” Ying Kongtu climbed up. “I’ll show you a mountain god’s ability!”

It was still not light outside. Ying Kongtu turned on the courtyard light.

Warm orange light instantly covered the entire courtyard.

Ying Kongtu stood in the center of the courtyard, smiling as he looked at Wen Zhongshan. Then, in front of him, he unfurled wings formed from divine power with a swift rustle.

Shuangzhong’s wingspan was already large, a full two and a half meters.

But the wings Ying Kongtu had formed from divine power had a wingspan of nearly five meters. When they opened, they almost filled the entire courtyard.

They were far too beautiful!

Wen Zhongshan looked at Ying Kongtu’s wings and could not look away at all.

The pure black wings behind him shimmered with a metallic luster, looking like some sort of creation from myth.

No—he himself was a god.

Ying Kongtu snapped his fingers. “Come here.”

Wen Zhongshan walked forward, placed both hands on his waist, and said softly, “Truly breathtaking.”

“There’s something even more breathtaking.” Ying Kongtu kissed him, wrapped his arms around him, and tried to lift him in a princess carry.

“Mm—so heavy!” Ying Kongtu had only just lifted him when he was shocked. “Why are you so heavy? Are you made of gold?!”

“Recently, my divine power has been relatively abundant, so my weight is a little heavier.”

“Then lifting you is way too difficult.” Ying Kongtu turned around. “Quick, hold on to me. I’ll carry you on my back.”

“Uh.”

“No nonsense. Watch my wings, don’t press on them.” Ying Kongtu patted his hip bones. “Hurry up!”

Wen Zhongshan lightly jumped onto his back. Ying Kongtu flapped his wings in place, adjusted himself, found the rising air current, and suddenly flew up with Wen Zhongshan on his back.

Wen Zhongshan’s field of view abruptly changed. The earth was right before his eyes, while the sky was behind the back of his head.

Just as they were about to crash into the ground, Ying Kongtu suddenly beat his wings several times and carried Wen Zhongshan upward.

“Exciting.” Ying Kongtu wiped the sweat from his forehead. “I haven’t flown in so many years, I almost forgot how.”

“What a peculiar angle of view.”

“Right? Although humans can fly now too, flying with the help of tools is different from freely soaring through the sky.”

“I can feel it.” Wen Zhongshan looked at the quietly sleeping mountain forest and small county town below. “I’ve never seen all of this from this angle before.”

“That’s normal. You’re a war god. Anything flying in the sky, you can knock it down. But when it comes to flying, gods like you probably can’t do it.”

Ying Kongtu beat his wings forcefully and carried Wen Zhongshan toward the mountains.

Flying directly up was much faster than climbing the mountain the way they usually did.

In only a few minutes, Ying Kongtu had flown over Ai Mountain.

He found a flat place to land. “I’m tired. Let’s rest first.”

Wen Zhongshan got off his back and touched his wings. “Are they heavy?”

“Not at all. These are wings constructed from divine power, without real physical volume.” Ying Kongtu smiled. “It’s just that I haven’t flown in a long time, so I’m not quite used to it.”

Wen Zhongshan said, “You’re already very impressive. I think I understand why you let Shuangzhong become a little mountain god. Can you borrow all the abilities of the little mountain gods?”

“More or less,” Ying Kongtu said. “They may not be very useful now, but several hundred years ago, their abilities were extremely useful.”

Wen Zhongshan imagined the scene. “I can picture it. Especially when using Shuangzhong’s ability to patrol the mountains. It must have been very useful.”

“Yes. In the past, when I patrolled the mountains, I didn’t need to climb them one by one at all. Most of the time, I only needed to fly into the sky and borrow Shuangzhong’s eyesight to sweep over them, and I would know whether there were any problems in the mountain forest.”

As he spoke, Ying Kongtu smiled again. “But patrolling the mountains this way is also quite interesting.”

After resting for a while, Ying Kongtu was still savoring the feeling of flying.

He pulled Wen Zhongshan along and unfurled his wings again with a rustle. “Come on, let’s do it again. I’ll take you to see the snow mountains.”

The mountains in their area overlapped layer upon layer. If one climbed to the summit, one could see the snow mountains in the distance.

The snow mountains looked close, but in reality they were very far away. One had to go to the neighboring city’s neighboring city to reach the foot of the snow mountains.

Now that Ying Kongtu could fly, he carried Wen Zhongshan on his back and flapped his wings, approaching the snow mountains rather quickly.

“What a huge snow mountain.” Wen Zhongshan stared dazedly at the snow mountain. “I’ve never seen snow mountains from this angle either.”

In summer, the snow line was very high, and snow remained only at the top of the snow mountains.

When they looked at the snow mountains from within the mountains, the snowy peaks appeared steep and rugged. But when looking down from the sky, the snow mountains instead became graceful, giving off a completely different feeling.

The sky was about to brighten, and the snowlight reflected the glow of dawn.

The distant morning sun shone over, turning the snow mountain into a peak capped with orange. Its colors and lines became softer.

The two flew in midair. The sky was deep blue, the forest cold green, and the morning wind was fresh and damp. The feeling of it rushing past them was exhilarating!

“We need to go back.” After taking Wen Zhongshan to see the snow mountains, Ying Kongtu smiled. “If we don’t go back soon and humans see us, the Special Management Bureau will deduct my and Xing Chang’s subsidy.”

Ying Kongtu flew back again, until they were almost above Wuchuan Mountain.

A dense black swarm of insects flew straight toward them.

There were many insects in the early morning. When they had been flying just now, they had also run into small bugs.

Ying Kongtu used divine power to block off most of them, but a small portion still slipped through the net.

Small bugs were no big deal. From far away, Wen Zhongshan could directly deal with them.

This was the first time insects had charged straight at them—far too fierce.

“Locusts.” Ying Kongtu recognized them at a glance. “Locusts that flew out of Wuchuan Mountain.”

As he spoke, Ying Kongtu found it rather astonishing.

He had always known there were insects in his territory, but he had never paid much attention.

In the end, this swarm of insects had actually treated them as prey and wanted to hunt them.

Ying Kongtu did not know what to say. Perhaps it was precisely because they were insects that they dared to be so fierce.

“This swarm of locusts has actually learned to eat meat,” Ying Kongtu finally said, looking at the swarm.

“They may not be trying to eat meat,” Wen Zhongshan said. “They usually live on Wuchuan Mountain and have been nourished by divine power. Now that they’ve sensed a large amount of divine power here, they’ve gathered to engage in abnormal predatory behavior.”

Ying Kongtu caught the implication and turned to look at him. “You’ve seen this before?”

“I’ve seen locusts devour baleful energy before.”

“That’s way too impressive.”

Mere locusts could be handled by Ying Kongtu alone, let alone with Wen Zhongshan beside him.

Wen Zhongshan took out a dagger, preparing to kill all the surrounding locusts.

Ying Kongtu suddenly remembered something. “Wait!”

“What is it?”

“Can you collect this swarm of locusts?” Ying Kongtu looked at the dense swarm flying over. “These locusts have been nourished by divine power, so their quality is quite good. We can take them up the mountain and feed them to the fish. If the fish can’t eat them all, we can chop them up and feed them to the chickens.”

Wen Zhongshan looked them over. “I’ll try.”

Ying Kongtu said, “See which direction we should fly in. Let’s get more to bring back. This swarm of locusts looks like it could become pretty good feed.”

Since they had run into them, they should not waste them.

Wen Zhongshan asked, “Do we need to catch them alive?”

“No. Dead ones are fine. I believe the Ai fish and the chickens won’t be picky.”

With such a large swarm of locusts, if they had to catch all of them alive, it would truly be difficult. Bringing dead ones back was much more convenient.

Wen Zhongshan took off his jacket to hold the locusts, killing and catching them at the same time.

Meanwhile, Ying Kongtu carried him excitedly into the insect swarm and scattered the locusts in a few swift moves.

There were fewer and fewer locusts flying in the sky, while there were more and more locusts wrapped in Wen Zhongshan’s jacket.

In the end, the few hundred locusts still gathered in the sky sensed danger and buzzed outward in every direction, fleeing immediately.

Even Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan had no way to chase them back after they scattered in all directions.

“Forget it,” Ying Kongtu said. “Let them go back. We’ll catch them again once they reproduce and grow stronger. Perfect timing anyway. I’m tired from flying too.”

“Straight to Ai Lake now?”

“Go!” Ying Kongtu said. “I’ll speed up a bit. Hold on tight.”

Ying Kongtu excitedly carried Wen Zhongshan on his back and flew to Ai Lake. He pulled the small boat out of the mud, scrubbed it briefly, and directed Wen Zhongshan. “Get in the boat.”

After sitting down in the small boat, once the excitement faded a little, Ying Kongtu finally felt that his back was as tight as stone and very uncomfortable.

Wen Zhongshan looked at him with some concern. “Uncomfortable?”

“My shoulder blades hurt a little.” Ying Kongtu rubbed his back. “Let me look at the locusts.”

Wen Zhongshan gave him the locusts wrapped in his jacket and helped rub his shoulders while he was at it.

Ying Kongtu opened the jacket. It was full of yellow locusts, their bodies covered with black patterns, making them look rather sinister.

Such locusts gave one no appetite at all, but there was no problem using them to feed fish.

Ying Kongtu grabbed a handful of locusts and threw them into the lake.

The locusts were relatively large, so the small fish might not be able to eat them.

However, their purpose in coming was not to feed small fish. They mainly relied on the big fish.

After flying in the sky for so long, Ying Kongtu was somewhat tired. At this moment, he was growing drowsy.

He was too lazy to wait too long, so he simply reached his hand into the water and released a little divine power to lure the fish.

Soon, the Ai fish swam over in groups, both big and small.

The large fish fiercely squeezed the small fish aside, dragged the locusts away, bit them apart with their teeth, and swallowed them.

The small fish picked up the fragments of locusts beside them.

The large fish competed fiercely for the locusts. Soon, even bigger fish came and swiftly joined the battlefield.

Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan fed them from the boat.

More and more large fish surged over. The biggest few were over two meters long, almost longer than their small boat.

“Good grief.” Ying Kongtu looked at the group of Ai fish. “I didn’t even know there were Ai fish this big in the lake. Where did they come from?”

“They probably usually hide at the bottom of the lake.”

“They’re far too good at hiding.” Ying Kongtu stared at the Ai fish. “Let’s feed them properly. When there are more big fish in the lake by New Year, we can come straight over and catch a few. These big fish are delicious.”

Ai fish were different from most fish.

For most fish, the bigger the fish, the coarser the flesh and the worse the texture.

But the larger Ai fish were, the richer and more delicious their flesh became.

Those large fish weighing over a hundred jin and the small fish weighing only a few jin tasted almost like completely different species.

Wen Zhongshan said, “All right. The new batch of fish has grown up too, just in time.”

“Honestly, the survival rate of the small fish in the lake is quite high. I estimate there are still a few thousand now.”

Batches of fish came over, surrounding the boat and fighting over the locusts until water splashed everywhere.

The locusts they had caught were soon eaten clean, and the lake surface became peaceful again.

Day broke, and the sun rose.

Orange sunlight shone on the snow mountains, making the snowy peaks glow warmly.

The sunlight was brilliant, and the sky was a pale white tinged faintly with blue.

The lake reflected the sky, and the water seemed to connect with the heavens.

As they rowed the boat, they could hardly tell whether they were rowing across water or across the sky.

In this subtle confusion, Ying Kongtu became even sleepier.

He rested his head on Wen Zhongshan’s long, firm thigh and stared blankly at the sky, somewhat unable to tell whether this was reality or a dream.

Wen Zhongshan looked at his face and could not help lowering his head to kiss his forehead.

Feeling that warm, soft kiss, Ying Kongtu could not help smiling.

“What are you smiling at?”

“Now I know whether I’m awake or dreaming.” Ying Kongtu looked into Wen Zhongshan’s eyes and smiled. “It doesn’t feel like this in dreams.”

Wen Zhongshan kissed his lips.

The two stayed on the lake for a very long time before finally rowing the boat back toward the shore, still reluctant to leave.

After hiding the boat, Ying Kongtu took Wen Zhongshan to gather ground ear mushrooms. “I saw them when we were in the sky just now. The ground ear mushrooms have grown again, and they’re growing quite well.”

Wen Zhongshan looked at the place where they had gathered ground ear mushrooms last year. “This year’s ground ear mushrooms seem larger.”

“Because my divine power is stronger.” Ying Kongtu said easily, “Even if Ai Mountain still doesn’t really count as my territory now, it’s connected to me in the end. The plants and fungi on the mountain will definitely grow better too.”

They had not brought a container, so Wen Zhongshan patted off the jacket that had previously held locusts and offered it to hold the ground ear mushrooms.

“When we get back, let’s stir-fry some ground ear mushrooms, beef, and shredded bamboo shoots as a topping, then use chicken broth to cook the handmade farmhouse rice noodles we bought last time.”

As Ying Kongtu gathered the ground ear mushrooms, he said, “Once it’s cooked, we’ll pile three big spoonfuls of topping onto the rice noodles. After we eat our fill, we’ll go catch up on sleep.”

As Wen Zhongshan listened, he began to imagine it. “I’m a little hungry.”

“Me too.” Ying Kongtu pulled him up. “Come on, let’s go down the mountain and eat.”

Author’s Note:

Sometimes, when Dart gets angry while playing with Wen Zhongshan, Ying Kongtu will manually lift its big tail up and bend the tip into a little question mark.

A raised tail means happiness.

Dart gets confused by its body signals and soon forgets to be angry.

Shuangzhong copied him. When Tiaozhu got angry, it quietly hid behind Tiaozhu’s butt and tried to push its tail up. Unexpectedly, with one careless move, it pecked the golden cat’s butt.

Tiaozhu: Aowoo!

Shuangzhong was beaten up by a flurry of cat punches. Flapping its wings and striding away on its two long legs, it ran off like a land chicken with rapid thudding steps.