Published at 26th of August 2019 11:20 pm

Chapter 1- Tribute

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The sky was not yet bright, little girl Bai suddenly awoke from her dreams, and rubbing her eyes, she saw a few villagers pushing open the gate, entering, upon which, they wrapped her father, who was still lying atop the bed, "sleeping," with a straw mat. Her mother was weeping softly, so she hopped off her bed, and walked beside her mother. The villagers brought her father out, and didn't walk really far away, but rather, started digging a ditch beside the foot of the mountain that neighbored the village entrance.

Little girl Bai walked beside her father, who had still been wrapped by the straw mat, and extended her small hands to shake him, but he didn't awaken. She lifted her gaze, looking over by her mother beside her, and with a sweet and milky voice, asked, "Mother, why isn't father waking up?"

Her mother, choked on her tears, was unable to respond. Someone attending there told her, "Your father died."

Little girl Bai turned her head sideways, inquiring, "What does it mean to be dead?" Nobody answered, but rather, some people lifted her father up, and put him into the ditch. Little girl Bai walked over to the side of her mother; it turns out that what dying meant, could it possibly mean just being buried? She softly asked, "Mother, we've buried father so deeply, when he awakes, how is he going to get out?"

Her mother who had been depressed the whole time suddenly hugged her, and wailed loudly. No knowing how long she wept, her mother finally pulled her, returning; she turned back, taking another glance at that ditch that had already been filled, still uncomprehending.

Right when they had returned home, old granny Yang from the village came immediately to disturb them. She sat by the gate pedestal, only hearing granny Yang speaking softly to her mother, suggesting something, "This time of natural disasters, you, as a sole woman, bringing up a child, your household devoid of food, how are you to keep on living......" "Based off of your looks, wanting to remarry isn't a difficult task; but because you're bringing a child along, it still ends up becoming a complicated matter......"

She was only a little bit past five years old, and only half understood, but she still understood a bit. Waiting a bit after granny Yang had left, she ran beside her mother, and grasping the hem of her sleeve, called out, "Mother, please don't send me off to someone else, next year, I'll go with the adults to learn hunting, and in the future, I'll support you

Her mother hugged her, her tears falling like rain.

In the village more and more people started getting sick from a strange sickness. They coughed, became feverish, coughed up blood in their phlegm, dying not long after, and then were buried in the dirt, or cremated into a pile of ash.

The village elder summoned everyone together, stating that the heavens inflicted disasters, because it must be the unrighteous behavior of mankind, enraging the deities. The villagers had long been scared witless, and although this area was really close to the capital of Great Yan, but the government already couldn't even take care of itself, and if they really waited for the government officials to come and deal with the problem, unfortunately it was highly probably that the villagers would all have already been wiped out.

Asking others was useless, but perhaps they could beg the gods. As such, the entire village decided to make a sacrifice to the deities.

Just south of the village was South Mountain, which had a temple for the deities, and beside the template was a strange hole, which was so deep one could not spot its bottom. The villagers that had entered it had all never been seen again, and amongst the elders of the village, there was the rumor that within the hole was a direct passage to the underworld.

When they were making a sacrifice to the deities, as long as they put the five drums of the deities within the temple, and threw a young boy and a young girl into the hole, it could be counted as having done their part. Only, with good, living children, who was willing to use them as sacrifices to the gods? For a long time no one made a sound, so the village elder stood taller, looking at the villagers, said, "Whomever's household is chosen, we'll reimburse an ounce of silver."

Little girl Bai held her mother's hand, standing in the midst of the crowd, entirely not knowing what this was about. By her side, another child had grabbed a wooden stick and was playing with her; she hid by her mother's side, playing hide and seek with her companion. A little bit later, her mother took her home, and stared out blankly for a long while, then changed her into new clothes, and brushed her hair again, before re-wrapping her hair with a red hair band. She rushed into her mother's embrace, "Mother, after I'm older, I will be filial towards you."

Her mother's tears fell into her hair, feeling frigid. With a "bang", the gate was kicked asunder, and the village elder brought people, trespassing inside, pulling her out of her mother's embrace, heaping her over his shoulder, the whole world flipping upside down. She flailed her arms and legs, loudly screaming, "Mother! Mother!"

The woman's two arms were locked in place, her shoulders quivering, unwilling to lift her gaze. She squirmed like a bug, "You lied to me, I hate you!" Her mother cried harder, and the man who was carrying her smacked her head, saying, "Be a bit more mature!"

She took the pain, the tears streaming wave after wave, "Mother, if my father didn't die, he definitely would not use me to exchange for one ounce of silver, right?" The woman wrapped her own head with her arms, crying bitterly. She no longer said anything-- dying really wasn't a good thing; after one died, there was nothing left, nor would one ever exist again.

Little girl Bai continued to continuously struggle her body, but with her little strength, it could entirely be ignored. A few villagers used rope to tie her up, stuffing her mouth with cloth, and carried her to the deities' temple, tied to a stick. The other stick was carrying a small boy from the same village; he had also been tied up in a similar situation. Little girl Bai continued to cry, trying to say something to him, but he just continued crying, not even taking a glance at her.

The village elder and the masses were all at the deities' temple, saying something that could not be made out. Sometimes the villagers would bow and make obeisance, other times they would quietly mumble something. Then, some people lifted the two children, and little girl Bai just felt that things in front of her just went dark, and before she could even make out a sound, had been tossed into the cavern.

As they tumbled the whole way down, the young boy in front of her continued to struggle, but their voices could only reach their throats. Little girl Bai spat out the cloth that was in her mouth, and pushed forwards, continually trying to bite the rope that was between that young boy's hands. Something cold was swimming around in that young boy's clothes. She voice milky, asked, "Hey?! What do you have here......"

The young boy didn't answer her, at the beginning his body was still spasming desperately, but later, it stilled, not moving at all. Her mouth was filled with blood, and she finally bit through the rope that was between her two hands; pushing him around with satisfaction, she said, "Hey, you can move now!"

But the young boy didn't move, and from within his sleeve, a patterned and green cranium extended its head, flickering and spitting out a slithering tongue.

She opened her mouth wide, wanting to scream but being unable to. In the endless dark, that cold thing, disgustingly slippery thing that was squirming in the boy's body, devouring the whole thing!

When dragging her out of the cave, that black wolf injured her leg. But she actually didn't feel the pain. She just dazedly sat by the cave entrance, looking at this "big black dog" that she had no idea where it had come from.

The villagers would often come to make their sacrifices, and the beasts of the mountain all knew that this cavern would often have something to eat within it. As that black wolf was dragging her out of the cave, it happened to run into another pack of wild wolves.

The black, one-eyed wolf and the other pack fought wildly, and as if she suddenly recovered her senses, she finally freed herself from her ropes, and lifting the stick the villagers had used to carry her as an offering, she wildly thrashed it about, yelling, "Hey, you group of guys, taking advantage of others using your numbers, what type of honorable warrior are you? Oh, right, what type of good dog are you?!"

The ravens in the trees all rolled their eyes.

The fierce one-eyed wolf finally defeated the pack of wolves that had come to steal its food, and perhaps it was because it had eaten its fill, no longer bothering with her, but rather began dragging a wild wolf's corpse, leaving there, walking away, towards the depths of the mountain. She didn't feel scared, only taking a look at that lonely deities' temple, looking down from this place, it seemed as though she could almost make out that village. She sniffed her nose-- my father died, for the sake of remarrying, you also didn't want me anymore; I hate you, and I will never bother with you again.

She followed the one-eyed black wolf, entering the depths of the big mountain.

The mountain was really fun; one didn't need to do chores, one didn't have to study, or repair clothes, and there wasn't the mother that would only weep all day. She played for a whole day, and it quickly became dark.

Twilight came, and she stood in the forest, her surroundings devoid of light and sound. No, there was noise, it was the slithering sound, the sound of what had crawled into the clothes of her companion, which had carried a flowery pattern, that which was frigidly cold...... she hugged her head with her two hands, wailing painfully, and weeping deeply.

She picked the mushrooms that the animals had eaten from, picked some of the fruits that bugs had bitten into. The one-eyed wolf just lived in the stone cavern beside her, around them grew a wall of wild roses, circling into the sky.

The one eyed wolf was often mean and harsh, often baring its fangs and snarling at her; she would just feel that this black dog was really mean, no wonder its owner didn't want it anymore. But I'm not mean, and my mother also didn't want me. She curled up beside the stone cavern, having a dog watch the house, she wouldn't leave no matter what.

She shaved branches into long spears, and formed a bow out of an oxen's horns. She learned to become a trapper and hunter, dismantling the traps that the other hunters had set, trying to figure out how they worked.

The mountain was really fun to play in, as she had eaten some poisonous mushrooms, puking and getting diarrhea, she almost died. She encountered a tiger, and a piece of meat was scratched off of her leg, and bleeding, she rested atop a tree for a whole day and night. Upon encountering snakes, she would frighten and only cry in terror, crying until she lost her voice for many days.

The nights in the mountain were really frightening, even when the wind brushed the leaves, she could hear them.

She was afraid of the night, the morning light would make her feel safe.

In the mountain, there was no notion of time, but time would continue to flow. The animals she would end up catching kept growing in number, when that one-eyed wolf discovered this, would often come to her cave, and sneakily steal the animals she had skinned. She would get angry, pointing to his nose and cursing, but he would also counter curse in his wolfish manner. Slowly, she began understanding some of its meaning. For example- observe the surroundings, intimidate your foes, retreat, or summon companions.

When she learned how to kill wild boar with her traps, she had amassed seven or eight dogs by her side. The black one, light brown one, dark grey one, scraggy one, there were types of all colors. Some followed along upon discovering that she had things to eat, others were ones that had lost their mothers since young, and she had been a surrogate mother for.

These guys would bait the animals into her traps, and then she would skin them, taking away only what she needed. They would then begin to eat.

She would assist tourists and hunters that had gotten lost, pointing them to the way out. From the deceased, she would gather knives, swords, bows, and other weapons. But every time she saw a corpse, she would feel unhappy.

But she continued to hunt, and the dogs around her kept increasing in number; she needed sufficient food. The dogs got accustomed to following her, not getting near, but hiding afar in the grass, only lifting their ears occasionally to turn around.

This day, she killed a mature tiger, and the dogs ate meat as she skinned it. From the mountain the sound of a few horses could be heard, and from her mouth, she emitted a few wolfish noises, scattering the wolves to hide in the grass.

A group of ten-or-so men, all wearing white clothes and light armor, their horses all majestic, arrived. She hidden in the rose vine, the grass surrounding her, and roses everywhere amidst the grass sea, she saw a person taking the mane of the wild horse with a rope.

His clothes were flying, he was like the shadow of a demon under the gaze of the moon. The wild horse was startled, and the wolves became alarmed. He looked up towards her.

"What is that?" He lifted his hand to signal, and the ten or so men immediately looked over, looking into the rose grove.

The group neared, and she hid into the stone cavern before someone yelled, "Wolves! There are wolves!"

She drew her bow, carefully listening to the footsteps outside. But there wasn't the sound of any footfalls. Before her a strong light entered, and startled, she only saw a beautiful and smooth face. The arrow in her hand had already been loosed, and that man reached his hand out, catching it, peeling back the rose bush, his two fingers brushing against her.

"What is it?" In his hand there was a furry little ball, his expression was a bit disgusted, but his voice was really attractive. This close of a distance, she saw his soft, light, and black shirt, it was different from any fabric she had seen before, and atop it was a delicate pattern. She scrunched up her nose, breathing in that aromatic scent.

Beside them, some people were uncertain, "A child? Or a monkey? It seems like it's a child?"

He carefully appraised her, struggling a bit, he threw her a bit away, a little bit annoyed, "As you live in the wild mountains, and make companions of wolves, I'll gift you a name, surnamed Zuo, named Canglang." He flippantly tossed her to his guards, "Put her with the other children; if she survives, then keep her."

The guards were startled and quickly scattered the wolf pack, and pulling her beside a body of water, harshly gave her a bath.

At that time, the wild roses were in full bloom, and the grass was tall, the season was filled with flowers and foliage. He stood beside the silvery stream, rubbing his silky hands, his fingers long and smooth, graceful to the point of disorienting people. She lowered her head, seeing his tall and slender figure in the water, swimming through, making a circular pattern.

The man...... was he a god?

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