Mu Tian Zi

Verdant Green Maiden returned along the same path and saw Little Hong Luan fluttering back and forth at the cave entrance, chirping noisily. She reached out and grabbed the bird by the tail, asking, "What's wrong? One Winter Day apart, and you haven't gone mad, have you?"

Little Hong Luan startled, then saw it was Verdant Green Maiden and heaved a huge sigh of relief, flinging herself into her arms!

"Stupid Snake! I almost thought you'd been taken as Wild Game!"

Verdant Green Maiden glanced at Little Hong Luan, then looked toward the Cave Entrance, feigning sudden realization. "So that inconsiderate one was you!"

Little Hong Luan: "..."

"Go die, Stupid Snake!"

Bird Sister irritably stomped on Verdant Green Maiden's hair. "I was afraid you'd starve to death, so I even brought you back some Fruit!"

Verdant Green Maiden grabbed at her hair and chuckled.

Two thousand years, and for the first time, someone had waited for her to wake up.

This feeling wasn't bad!

"Where's the Fruit?"

Little Hong Luan tossed a string of Green Fruit at Verdant Green Maiden with a smack. "Eat yourself to death!"

Verdant Green Maiden, the little ingrate, caught the Fruit, sniffed it, grinned cheekily, and bowed to Little Hong Luan. "Thanks for the feeding, Bird Sister!"

"Shameless! You're two thousand years older than me!"

"What use is that thing?"

Seeing Little Hong Luan turn her face away and ignore her, Verdant Green Maiden patted her shoulder and said, "Little Hong Luan, don't be mad. Come on up, I'll take you to see Hao Jing in early spring."

Little Hong Luan cracked one eye open to glance at her, gave a proud snort, and flapped her wings to land on her shoulder.

Verdant Green Maiden flicked her sleeves and stepped toward Hao Jing. She plucked another Fruit, bit down with silver teeth, and juice splattered.

She paused, her expression unchanged.

"Little Hong Luan..."

Verdant Green Maiden rarely called her name so seriously.

Little Hong Luan tilted her head and asked, "What is it?"

"Next time, just let me starve to death!"

One person and one bird, laughing and bickering, arrived at the foot of Hao Jing's walls, only to see the Citizens streaming out!

Clearly, they weren't there to welcome them.

"Hey hey, stop!"

Verdant Green Maiden grabbed one person and tossed him a handful of Coin Shells, asking, "What's going on today? Did they find some rare Wild Game in the mountains outside Hao Jing? Everyone rushing to dig it up?"

Snake Brain's thoughts, besides becoming a dragon, were only about what to eat today and what to eat tomorrow.

The man, suddenly grabbed, looked angry.

But before he could see who it was, he was pelted with Coin Shells.

Clattering Coin Shells fell like rain!

His face was forcibly beaten into a beaming smile as he hurriedly bent down to pick up the Coin Shells.

He wiped his old face and replied, "It's the Great King! He went West with the Immortal Master last year to seek Immortals, and now he's back. He's summoned the Citizens to the western outskirts of Hao Jing for an audience! He must have found a True Immortal!"

Verdant Green Maiden looked the man up and down.

Could he be that legendary all-knowing Hundred Knowledge Person Passerby NPC that novel protagonists always run into?

Pfft!

It was just Ji Man. Not as good as Wild Game.

Verdant Green Maiden wanted to snatch the Coin Shells back.

But the man had already scurried off with the Coin Shells in his pouch! He seemed to realize that if he didn't run, the Coin Shells would be taken back by some shameless snake.

"Hey..."

Verdant Green Maiden's eyes widened, and her mouth opened.

Little Hong Luan stamped on her shoulder, sighed, and shook her head. "What a Stupid Snake. If you want to know why, just follow and see. Did you have to spend money? Now you've got bad news and no money left!"

"I have plenty of Treasures. I don't care about this little bit!"

Verdant Green Maiden shook her head, comforting herself.

If it came to it, couldn't she just swipe some from the Royal Palace?

With Hao Jing's city mostly empty now, Snake Girl was like a Bandit who'd entered a village, specifically targeting the Nobles' homes to loot. Those guys didn't produce anything; their Coin Shells were all tributes from below. What harm was there in Verdant Green Maiden taking a little?

"I'm robbing the rich to help the poor!"

Verdant Green Maiden said so.

Little Hong Luan: "Pfft! You robbed the rich, sure, but the poor? How are you helping them?"

"Isn't it simple?"

Verdant Green Maiden took Hong Luan strolling through the streets of Hao Jing, buying a little here and there when something caught her eye, paying extra coin.

As she came and went, she not only helped the poor but also dug up news about Ji Man.

It turned out that on the way back from Kunlun Mountain, Yao Jiang had died!

That Old Man's constitution couldn't handle the travel; climbing Kunlun had already cost him half his life. Then on Kunlun, Verdant Green Maiden had angered him, and on the road back, he couldn't hold out any longer—he went straight to report to King Yama.

"Poor King Yama~"

Verdant Green Maiden sighed, then heard the Peddler say that Ji Man was planning a grand funeral for Yao Jiang.

He'd also ordered the whole realm to capture the woman in green!

"Oh dear? Noble Lady, your clothes are green too—you'd better change quickly, or you might get mistaken for that Demoness and arrested! The Tian Yuan Palace people don't listen to reason."

The Peddler said frantically.

Verdant Green Maiden looked down at her own robes.

These robes were formed from Azure Scale she'd shed in the past, priceless!

Change them?

She might as well go beat up Ji Man!

And so she did!

That night, Verdant Green Maiden slipped into the Royal Palace with Hong Luan and gave Ji Man a thorough beating.

To keep him from fighting back, she even used a bit of poison.

Ji Man only felt like he'd had a dream full of aches and pains, but when he woke up the next day and saw himself covered in bruises, his eyes went dark and he fell back into a return sleep.

To this, Verdant Green Maiden remarked.

Ji Xiao Man's mental fortitude was just too weak!

He lay in bed for over a month before the wounds on his face healed enough to see people.

The first thing the Bastard did when summoning his ministers was to strictly urge them that State Affairs could wait—catching snakes was the real priority! Hurry up and bring that pretty Little Snake Demon back, he wanted to teach her a lesson day and night!

Verdant Green Maiden was pleased that the Bastard called her pretty.

But she didn't like his words.

So she beat him up again!

Not only that, but under the cover of a moonless, windy night, she dragged Ji Man to Ji Fa's grave and scolded him right there. Only then did Ji Man recall the Royal Family legend passed down from King Wu—the Banished Immortal who would take the last Zhou Monarch's life's blood!

"You... no, Goddess is the Banished Immortal?"

Ji Man knelt on the ground, staring blankly at Verdant Green Maiden, unable to speak clearly.

"Could it be... Gu... Gu is the last Monarch of Great Zhou, so Goddess came before Gu?"

"No... how could Gu be!"

"Gu's Great Zhou, the Four Barbarians submit!"

"Why..."

Hong Luan stood on Verdant Green Maiden's shoulder, preened her feathers, and said quietly, "You hit too hard. Look, you've beaten him stupid."

Verdant Green Maiden was silent. She turned to look at Ji Fa's grave.

"I'm not deliberately bullying your Later Generations, don't come haunting me tonight, bye-bye!"

With that, she vanished.

Ji Man passed out too.

Losing something in the Royal Palace was normal, but losing a Monarch—that was a death sentence!

When they found Ji Man wasn't in the Royal Palace, the Eunuchs were more distraught than if their own parents had died! They searched for most of the day before finding him at King Wu's Mausoleum. Ji Man could only explain that he'd snuck out in the middle of the night to pay respects to his ancestors, not daring to mention Verdant Green Maiden's existence at all.

But this explanation naturally earned him a scolding from the ministers who revered Zhou rites!

Your Majesty!

If you wanted to think of your ancestors, you could have just slipped out on your own—do you know that the Eunuchs, upon finding you missing from the palace, nearly went to see their own ancestors?

Does this conform to Zhou rites?

Ji Man apologized repeatedly, not daring to argue.

That scare from Verdant Green Maiden turned him into Mu Tian Zi. The Bastard, terrified of being the last Zhou Monarch, governed with vigor, worked hard for Decades, and went to see King Wu with a clear conscience.