The Devoted Donkey Guardian

The Devoted Donkey Guardian

"Great Immortal Kongchen, who relieves suffering, saves the afflicted, exterminates demons, and protects the Dao! Let there be fewer people like the Silver Flower Demon Lord in this world."

"Qian Kun of the Wushan Sect thanks the Sword Immortal for eliminating the Silver Flower Demon Lord!"

"Bless me, Immortal! Bless my son Bao Er that nothing goes wrong when he travels to the capital for the examinations this time. May he never encounter a River Demon."

"Great Immortal Kongchen..."

"Great Immortal..."

It was as if the cries of hundreds and thousands of people echoed by his ears, then converged into a voice like mountains roaring and seas crashing, jolting Gao Xian awake from his sleep.

"Who's that?"

Gao Xian flung back the covers and looked outside. The sky had not even begun to brighten.

Furious, Gao Xian rolled out of bed, determined to find the bastard who had disturbed his sweet dream and hammer him to death, teaching him what public decency meant.

"Why are you shouting nonsense instead of sleeping in the middle of the night?"

"And shouting so loudly too? You even got so many people to shout with you?"

The Azure Dragon Guardian and Donkey Guardian, who had sensed Gao Xian's restless emotions in his sleep, appeared one after the other.

"Clang!" The Azure Dragon Guardian let out a sword cry from the wall and shot into the air.

"Bang!"

The Donkey Guardian burst through the door and immediately declared its loyalty. "General Donkey has come to protect His Excellency!"

Yet after making a round of inspection, it found no one inside or out.

Before dawn, the Azure Dragon Sword shot into the sky, circled once, and returned. The donkey made a confused circuit of the courtyard and came back as well. Outside was utterly silent; not even half a shadow could be seen.

In the end, only one man, one donkey, and one sword remained in the room, staring wide-eyed at one another.

"Great Immortal? Did you really hear a voice?"

Gao Xian furrowed his brow as well. Yet that voice was indeed too strange. Even now, it still echoed faintly in his ears.

Gao Xian searched the entire room and finally discovered that the sound was coming from a painting hanging on the wall.

It was precisely the Daoist Venerable Divine Painting Lu Canghai had given Gao Xian before departing. After Gao Xian had temporarily settled in Yinglai Inn for the winter, he had hung the Daoist Venerable Divine Painting in his room and placed a small incense burner beneath it.

After all, he was a Daoist. Hanging a Daoist Venerable Statue and burning incense while meditating gave the place the proper atmosphere and suited his identity.

Only, the Daoist Venerable in the painting had now changed slightly.

"When did this Daoist Venerable Divine Painting turn into a portrait of me?"

Gao Xian was astonished. At some unknown point, the Daoist Venerable on that divine image scroll had become him.

He wore a Daoist robe, rode a donkey, and passed through the clouds sideways.

With an immortal sword on his back, he looked incomparably mysterious and full of Daoist charm, comparable to the Daoist Venerable from before.

Only when he held the painting did the voices by Gao Xian's ears cease.

Gao Xian took down the painting and carefully examined himself within it. Then he once more heard countless prayer-like voices, drifting up from beneath the clouds in the painting.

It was as if the unseen multitudes of mortals were begging the immortal gods above the clouds for protection.

Every plea and every cry of a divine name turned into a wisp of smoke that rose into the clouds, curling around the Daoist Venerable.

With every breath of the Daoist Venerable Statue, the countless threads of smoke finally condensed into a single wisp of green smoke. It floated amid the clouds and mist, giving the immortal in the painting even more of an immortal aura and a trace of incense-offering essence, like a clay statue upon an altar that had long received worship.

With a thought from Gao Xian, that wisp of green vapor drifted directly down from the painting and landed in his hand.

"?" This thing could actually be taken out.

"This thing smells so good. It seems edible." The donkey caught the scent, and its eyes instantly went red. It rushed over at once, shamelessly unable to hold back from swallowing it in one bite.

Gao Xian smacked it on the head and sent it back. "You eat everything you see."

What Gao Xian had not expected was that the Azure Dragon Sword also began circling around him, radiating an overwhelming desire for the thing through their mental link.

The Azure Dragon Guardian and General Donkey began fighting over it.

"Looks like this thing should be useful to both of them?"

Gao Xian's eyes shifted. At first, he wanted to give it to the Azure Dragon Guardian, but then he reconsidered. What if there was something wrong with it? His treasured Azure Dragon Sword could not be used for a casual test.

He looked at the sly donkey, which was clashing hooves and sword with the Azure Dragon Guardian in an inseparable fight.

Gao Xian immediately recalled how someone had delivered silver the day before yesterday. This donkey had become increasingly disobedient lately, even daring to compete with this Great Immortal in putting on airs.

Then he recalled catching the lecherous donkey yesterday secretly reading this Great Immortal's book, a slanderous storybook called Romance of the Sword Immortal. It was filled with misleading, wholly imagined, unhealthy content. He had beaten it up, but this stupid donkey remembered food, not beatings. It was a thick-skinned rascal and had surely forgotten everything by now.

And just moments ago, when this Great Immortal had shouted, the Azure Dragon Guardian had been the first to come protect him. This donkey had not even arrived first.

A donkey whose loyalty had not been tested, whose heart was filthy, and whose thoughts were not yet sound would sooner or later stray onto a crooked path and fall into the demonic way.

You, then.

Though that was what he thought, he could not say it aloud.

Great Immortal Kongchen immediately put on an expression of grave deliberation, as if he had decided to entrust an important duty.

He straightened his back and shouted, "Donkey Guardian General, step forward!"

"Donkey Guardian General is here!" The Donkey Guardian immediately stepped forward, so delighted that its tongue flopped out. It stared with wide donkey eyes at the green vapor in Gao Xian's hand.

Gao Xian said solemnly, "Though you have made many mistakes lately, your steadfast loyalty deserves praise. Do not say this Great Immortal does not cherish you. Whenever there is something good, this Great Immortal still thinks of you."

The Donkey Guardian General immediately stepped forward to declare its loyalty. "Rest assured, Great Immortal. General Donkey will surely remain loyal and unwavering, ready to be commanded beneath your banner."

"Through wind and rain, through mountains of blades and seas of fire, I shall never refuse."

As usual, the sly donkey spouted one pretty phrase after another, twisting its donkey head so high it nearly reached the heavens.

The Azure Dragon Guardian spun around Gao Xian like a fish. Gao Xian caught the Azure Dragon Sword and stroked it several times before calming its sword cry and sheathing it.

With a push of Gao Xian's hand, the green vapor immediately fell before the Donkey Guardian.

The Donkey Guardian swallowed it in one gulp, then inhaled deeply. Its entire body felt as though it were floating like an immortal, swaying from side to side.

Then it felt its whole body turn scorching hot, as if fire were burning from head to hoof. Its nose itched, and it kept scrunching it up.

"Ahhh... achoo..."

With a sneeze, a ball of flame shot straight from the donkey's nostrils.

"What's going on? Why is my nose breathing fire?"

The donkey was badly frightened and ran toward the door.

Yet when it roared and opened its mouth, a fire dragon surged straight out, scorching the air until it exploded and boomed.

"General Donkey can breathe fire! I can breathe fire!"

Its fright came first, but then the donkey became wildly delighted. It discovered that it could actually breathe fire and even control the flames.

"Great Immortal, did you see that? General Donkey can breathe fire."

Gao Xian's gaze remained calm and composed, as if he had long seen through everything. "Not bad, not bad. This Great Immortal already knew you possessed extraordinary potential. Otherwise, why would I value you so highly and bestow such a precious treasure upon you?"

The donkey did not doubt him and was overwhelmed with gratitude.

That black-hearted Great Immortal Kongchen finally knows my worth. Unlike before, when he was always thinking of slaughtering me and carving up my meat every few days.

Thinking this, General Donkey felt a few more traces of emotion in its heart. Following its usual practice, it stepped forward once more to declare its loyalty, only this time with several more measures of sincerity.

"Many thanks, Great Immortal Kongchen. Now that General Donkey has such a formidable divine ability, I will not merely be able to serve you before the saddle and behind the horse. I can also help you face powerful enemies."

"If we encounter that Young Master Silver Flower in the future, there will be no need for Azure Dragon to act. This little donkey can burn him to death with one mouthful of fire, making Great Immortal look even more impressive."

Gao Xian, however, was far from calm. He was thinking of much more.

Though the Guardian Deities had displayed some strange abilities before—for instance, the Donkey Guardian possessed immense strength and could release a powerful aura that struck fear into people's hearts, while the Azure Dragon Guardian could fly like a flying sword and, after learning Sword Intent, could even release its intent through its divine soul across a hundred-meter radius, with the effect of changing heaven and earth—those abilities all came from the peculiar nature of the Guardian Deities' divine souls.

But this donkey was now completely different. This could truly be called a divine ability.

"What exactly is this thing gathered by the painting? It can actually allow a Guardian Deity to advance further. A single wisp of green vapor let the donkey develop a divine ability."

Gao Xian's eyes lit up. Based on memories from his previous life and the overwhelming prayers from before, he immediately had an idea. "Could this be incense offerings?"

Guardian Deities were also a type of god. Since they were gods, they naturally could not do without incense offerings.

Gao Xian had long been considering how to make the Donkey Guardian and Azure Dragon Guardian advance further. He had thought of the path of incense offerings as well, but after many attempts, neither the Donkey Guardian nor the Azure Dragon Guardian could sense incense offerings at all, much less anything else.

So the key was this painting.

Gao Xian's gaze fell upon the divine painting in his hand once more.

"This divine painting can actually gather incense offerings?" Gao Xian again recalled what Lu Canghai had said when he gave him the scroll.

"This scroll is a Daoist Venerable Divine Painting I acquired long ago. It came from Kunlun, the Ancestral Court of Daoism, and is said to conceal certain secrets. The Son of Heaven of Shu in the west once searched everywhere for it, but I believe only a figure like you, a Daoist immortal, is worthy of this painting."

While responding to the donkey's declarations of loyalty, Gao Xian made up his mind.

"Kunlun, the Ancestral Court of Daoism?"

"Perhaps, when the chance arises, I should visit the Ancestral Court of the Daoist Sect."