“Ditch?”

“Pfft… what kind of name is that?”

The green-robed girl’s face became animated. She burst into laughter, clutching her stomach. Even the child, who came from an ordinary tribe, blushed. A strange sense of shame rose from the depths of his heart, along with an indescribable sorrow.

This sorrow didn’t come from him, but from the girl before him.

But, could such a person, who could summon lightning like a deity, also have sorrows like ordinary people? The thought surfaced in the child’s mind. He looked at the smiling girl, not daring to speak, but cupped his hands again in thanks.

“I… I haven’t thanked you for saving my life yet.”

“Hmm? Why are you always looking down?”

For some reason, the girl wanted to tease him, saying:

“Am I so ugly that you don’t want to look at me?”

“No, no, no, you, I, I…”

This child, who came from a poor tribe, had never encountered such a situation before. He was speechless for a moment, his face flushing red, unable to say a word.

He only felt that the green-robed deity before him had a personality that was inexplicably fond of teasing people.

“I’m not teasing you. Have you been running for your life? Are you hungry?”

“Ah… yes.”

The green-robed girl used the fierce beast she had killed, taking the parts of the meat that were more suitable for roasting, and roasted some meat skewers, handing them to the child before her. Because the tribe had a legend that ‘a humble name makes for an easy life’, the child who was called Ditch (Shui Gouzi) looked only eleven or twelve years old, and he devoured the skewers.

But after all, it was the meat of a demon beast, extremely tough, even after being roasted by lightning and fire.

The child still bit down very hard, his teeth aching, biting until the meat skewers stretched into an exaggerated arc. The girl just watched the distant clouds indifferently, not knowing what she was thinking.

The child finished eating.

The green-robed girl called out, “Shui Gouzi?”

“Ah? Yes.” The child answered honestly.

The green-robed girl couldn’t help but burst into laughter again:

“Pfft… Shui Gouzi, Shui Gouzi, this name is just too funny.”

She laughed until her stomach hurt. Finally, looking at the child, she seemed to have laughed too hard, tears in the corners of her eyes. She raised her hand to wipe away the tears and said, “Okay, Shui Gouzi, where is your tribe?”

“In… the mountains in the northwest…”

“Alright.”

The girl patted her clothes and stood up, smiling and reaching out her hand, her voice gentle, “Your home is quite a distance from here. I don’t know how you came here. This road is full of wild beasts, very dangerous. I’ll take you home.”

The child reached out his hand, thought for a moment, and retracted it to wipe it on his clothes.

Then he carefully stretched it out.

The girl grabbed it and pulled him forward, stumbling. Suddenly, his feet felt lighter, as if stepping on clouds and flowing wind. The speed suddenly increased, and the surrounding mountains quickly receded. It was the first time the child had seen such scenery. His eyes widened, and the green-robed girl introduced the surrounding scenery to him with great interest.

Sometimes she would stop and reach out her hand to pick many fruits from the trees.

“This, this fruit can’t be eaten.”

The child stammered, pointing at the fruit she had picked, “This thing is very sour.”

“Even the birds don’t like it.”

“Sour? No, it’s actually very sweet.”

The green-robed girl smiled and handed over a fruit. The child looked suspiciously at the seemingly immortal woman, but still chose to believe her, and took a bite. In that instant, the feeling of sourness that seemed to make his teeth fall out swept over him.

“Waah, so sour!”

The child’s face wrinkled up.

The green-robed girl chuckled, “Ah, sorry, sorry, is it still sour?”

“It’s sour, probably because it’s not ripe yet.”

The child’s face was all wrinkled up, “So it can’t be eaten yet…”

The green-robed girl quietly looked at the child in his dusty clothes and said softly, “Yes, it’s sour. The first time I ate this fruit, it was also very sour, just like you are now…”

“Let’s not talk about this. Here, take these things.”

“I’ll take you to a fun place.”

“Ah?”

While the child was confused, everything in front of him blurred. It seemed like he had only taken a few steps when he saw a large, bustling city that was many, many times bigger than the largest tribe he had ever seen. People came and went, and there were even people from the legendary overseas countries, with different races.

“This, this is…”

The green-robed girl replied, “This is the current royal city of the human race. It used to be Xuanyuan Hill. Later, Xuanyuan Hill was destroyed because of a great war. Zhuanxu led the human race to migrate and relocate to the hinterlands. During this time, there happens to be a grand trade fair spanning a hundred tribes here. It’s very lively!”

“Ah? But, but…”

The child couldn’t understand at all why, in the blink of an eye, he had suddenly come here from a place that shouldn’t be too far from his tribe. But the prosperity before him immediately gripped the mind of this child, who had hardly ever left his tribe since he was little, making him linger and forget to return.

Finally, the green-robed girl stopped, and he didn’t come back to his senses for a moment.

“Um, where is this?”

The girl looked at the large trade fair next to her and said, “The Xiling Tribe, also known as the Leizu Tribe.”

“Leizu raises silkworms and weaves silk. The Leizu Tribe is also the most skilled artisan clan of clothing in the human race.”

The child was stunned. He looked at his dusty clothes, with weeds in his hair, which were completely different from the majestic style of this human royal city, like a piece of dross suddenly falling on a delicate work of art, so out of place.

The girl casually tossed out a beautiful jade and said, “I’ll go inside and pick out some clothes.”

The child waited quietly outside. Soon, perhaps because of that temperament, the dilapidation of his own clothes didn’t make the child feel awkward for long. He just quietly and joyfully watched this thriving human city, watching the guests coming and going, gathering in the human royal city.

He heard the sound of silver bells in his ears.

The child turned his head and saw the girl stepping out. The light-colored shoes on her feet had been replaced with delicate deerskin boots. She was wearing a white garment with ancient tribal patterns on it, looking dignified and elegant. Her black hair fell behind her, tied up once in the middle with a simple hair rope.

A string of bells hung on her waist, ringing as she walked.

“How is it?”

The girl spun around, her skirt slightly raised and then falling, like the beautiful sunset light falling at dusk.

The child scratched his head and said, “It looks good.”

The girl was very satisfied. She pointed to the embarrassed child over there, looked at the female merchant of the Leizu Tribe, and said, “Get him a set too.” The child was stunned and pointed to himself, “Do I have to change too?”

“Of course.”

The girl’s voice was gentle:

“Just consider it the reward for accompanying me here.”

The child hesitated for a moment, but was still taken inside. The girl stood with her hands behind her back, looking at the street ahead. After a moment, she heard footsteps behind her and turned around, seeing that the child’s original dusty, tattered clothes had been changed into a green robe, with an ink-colored wooden hairpin, and his face had been washed clean.

It was as if she saw the Taoist in green robes and white hair smiling in the past.

Until the illusion finally dissipated, and the noisy sounds of people entered her ears.

“This child looks much better than just now. What’s his name?”

The woman from the Leizu Tribe asked with a smile.

The child was about to speak, but the girl with bells hanging on her waist replied, “Yuan.”

“Returning water is Yuan, the judgement of the Ni Huan is Yuan, the judgement of still water is Yuan, the judgement of flowing water is Yuan.” (Explanation: All of these are different interpretations of the Chinese character 渊)

The Leizu Tribe was surprised and said, “A good name…”

The child in the green robe pulled on the girl’s sleeve, lowered his voice, and asked cautiously, “But, my name isn’t Yuan, I’m Shui Gouzi…” The girl in white smiled gently and explained the origin of this name, saying:

“So, the meaning of Yuan is the same as the meaning of your name.”

She looked at the ignorant child, her eyes sad, but she smiled as usual and said:

“You are Yuan…”

“Um, but, is this one set of clothes enough for you now?”

The girl looked at him playfully.

The child nodded seriously and said happily, “Having this one set is already very good!”

“Don’t you like anything else? Don’t you like the clothes inside?” The girl pointed to the various clothes inside the Leizu Tribe. Compared to hundreds of years ago, after solving the Heavenly Pillar matter, the Human Emperor’s achievement in killing the Gonggong incarnation was recognized by all the races, and the human race also developed greatly.

The current clothing styles and styles are much better.

The child scratched his head and still answered honestly, “I like them all.”

So the girl looked at those clothes, stretched out her finger, and counted them one by one as she did in the past, saying, “I want all of these!” Then, while the child was shocked, she showed a regretful expression and said, “Unfortunately, I don’t have enough money on hand.”

“But it’s okay, it’s okay, I still have some fruits.”

“There are ways to exchange them for money.”

“Let’s go, Yuan, let’s set up a stall, let’s set up a stall, let’s set up a stall!”

“Ah?!”

The child was stunned and was pulled forward, while the manager of the Leizu Tribe’s caravan was stunned. Just the precious jade that the girl threw out just now was enough to buy all the clothes and still have a lot of surplus. Just as he was about to speak, he was stopped by a voice transmission. He just felt curious in his heart.

He reported this matter to the Xiling Tribe, that is, the patriarch of the Leizu Tribe.

“She doesn’t seem to be here to buy things.”

“She seems to value the act of [buying things with that child] itself more.”

The patriarch of the Leizu Tribe was surprised: “Is that so?”

“What’s the child’s name?”

“…It’s called Yuan.”

“Yuan, huh…” The patriarch of the Leizu Tribe didn’t take it seriously. He just saw from afar that the girl pulled the child to the house prepared for foreign merchants and used the last of her money to rent a room.

Then, she prepared the stall a little clumsily.

The child in the green robe sat on a stone, watching the girl with picturesque eyebrows and blood-like rouge preparing the stall. She was clearly a goddess with such a high status, but she seemed to be very good at doing these things. However, this uncommon scene still attracted people’s curiosity.

The child, who came from a poor background and was just in a small tribe, reached out and pulled on the girl’s sleeve, lowered his voice, and said cautiously:

“Did buying this set of clothes for me cost too much money?”

“Let’s return it…”

“Return it?”

“Why return it?” The girl said with a smile, “Don’t you like it very much?”

The child was uneasy, “But coming to the city is already very good. You really don’t have to set up a stall just for a gift…”

The girl’s eyes drooped, and she smiled softly:

“It doesn’t matter. If you like it, then it’s valuable.”

“I… I was also used to these things.”

“I once thought that these things would last forever.”

As the sun set, the evening glow shone in the royal city. The girl’s stall had earned a part of the money, but unfortunately, her cooking skills didn’t seem to be very outstanding, only considered ordinary. Finally, she took the child back to the banks of the Chishui River.

Stepping on the pebbles by the river, walking down the Chishui River, it was as if they could catch up with the setting sun.

“Alright, your tribe is ahead, not far away. You can go back by yourself, right?”

The girl smiled.

“Yes!”

The child nodded heavily and forcefully, ran a few steps forward, turned back and waved heavily. After hesitating for a moment, he still asked, “Immortal sister, you seem to have been a little sad… Is there something on your mind?”

“You felt it?”

The girl said softly, “I’m just waiting for someone.”

The child asked, “Did he go to a very far place?”

“Yes… very, very far.”

The child cheered her up, “But, he should be coming back, right.”

“I will also help you find him!”

“Our tribe will migrate everywhere, I will definitely help you find him!”

The girl looked at the determined child and just smiled and urged him to go back. Finally, she pointed to the Chishui River and said, “There is a kind of shrimp that grows in this river. It can’t be cooked with fire, but if you eat it raw, the taste is very delicious. If you have the opportunity, you can try it.”

“Yes!”

The child nodded heavily and ran towards his tribe.

The girl just watched quietly.

“Are you just letting him go like that?”

A sudden voice. For some reason, Bai Ze, who had rushed back from the Great Wilderness, calmly looked at the child running away and said, “…Although the true spirit is young and weak, the most core part is exactly the same. That’s him.”

“Aren’t you going to keep him by your side?”

The girl Xian didn’t answer, just asked, “How did you get back from the Great Wilderness?”

Bai Ze rubbed his messy hair and said, “A guy named Si Wenming from the human race has come of age. The Xuanyuan Sword seems to sense him, so I rushed back from the Great Wilderness to see… if he is qualified to be the master of the human race’s revival.”

“After all, the matters of Shun and Gonggong still hurt the human race’s vitality again.”

“That’s not right, why are you answering my question with a question? I’m saying, are you really going to let him go?”

The girl Xian was silent for a long time, just saying, “But he’s not him.”

Bai Ze was quiet for a while, emphasizing, “From the perspective of the true spirit’s core, that is him.”

“No, it’s not…”

“What I want to wait for, how could it just be a mere true spirit?”

Xian answered, “My meeting with him was when he kidnapped the moon and the Heavenly Pillar and ran in the Great Wilderness, and I appeared suddenly. That was in the distant future… If the experiences shape a person, then the current him is not the him I want to wait for at all.”

The girl looked at the setting sun, looking at the child walking towards the tribe:

“I want to wait for him, only him.”

“Not his previous life, not his reincarnation, only him.”

“Missing a trace, missing an event, a word, it’s not him.”

Bai Ze opened his mouth, “That will be a very, very long wait…”

“Yes, but I can wait.”

The girl smiled brightly, causing Bai Ze to be lost in thought.

From the beginning of his death, until the world returns to silence, time loses its meaning, and the myriad phenomena of heaven and earth return to paleness, he will completely belong to me, belong to the green-robed Xian. And the years are long, death is eternally silent, everything is destined here, I should naturally wait quietly, without rushing,

Isn’t this the grace of a god?

The girl smiled quietly, stepping back step by step, turning around, the silver bells rang softly, the white dress on her body faded in color, turning into a green robe. Then she smiled a little lonely, turned her back to the setting sun, and stepped into the eternal night, stepping on her own shadow.

Step by step, she stepped into five thousand years of loneliness.

ps: Second update today…

Thanks to |Sparrow| for being the alliance master, thank you~