Journey to the End of the Night-Chapter 1410 - 894: The Suffering of the Lv Tou Fish
Ying Ji noticed he had stopped walking, furrowing her brows slightly as she lowered her head, only to discover that the chicken feather duster she had hidden was carelessly exposed.
Shrugging off the need to conceal it any longer, adopting a reckless, "come what may" attitude, she raised her brows and said, "I’m getting old and my eyesight is failing; you’re standing so far away that I can’t see clearly. It’s better if you come a bit closer."
Baili An remained still, the two fingers behind his back twining faster and faster around each other.
Seeing his stubborn refusal to move, Ying Ji said nothing more, just quietly watched him, her eyes as dark as the night sky brimming with silent resentment.
The atmosphere instantly turned subtly tense; atop the mountain city, many citizens of the Central Netherworld dared not even breathe too loudly.
After a long standoff, Baili An finally gave in, "Well, it’s getting late, so I should just..."
Over there, Ying Ji silently squatted down, took off the small bundle from her back, spread it out, and the things she took out were unexpectedly...
A cutting board.
A kitchen knife.
And a lively green fathead fish.
The fish was plump all over, its head even plumper than its body, looking quite peculiar.
The fish lips were like two lumps of yellow sausage, with eyes black and round and goggling, and its large, protruding nostrils huddled right under the eyes.
It was flapping around on the ground with a smack-smack sound.
The citizens of Central Netherworld were left dumbfounded; no wonder they saw the emperor’s bundle jerking randomly all the way here. It turned out it contained such a thing.
Qiao Yu recognized this fish; it hailed from the strange land of Qionghai, known as ’Lu Tou’, fond of interacting with people, and was non-aggressive.
According to rumors, this fish could heal autistic people, live out of water, was durable and resilient, with a lifespan like a turtle, and looked comically ugly.
The Emperor truly had a peculiar taste, secretly raising such a... fish pet behind everyone’s back.
But, what was the purpose of taking out a kitchen knife, cutting board, and fathead fish at this time?
Could it be that the Emperor, on a whim, wanted to show off his culinary skills and cook a pot of fish soup in public?
Just as Qiao Yu felt ridiculous for this thought, over there, the Emperor Ying Ji casually brushed her robe, her gestures elegant like jade from Kunshan, full of bright splendor.
She sat down on the ground, her laziness and dignity mixed with a certain uninhibited wildness.
As everyone watched wide-eyed, just when they thought she would do something astonishing...
The Empress held the rust-covered, nicked kitchen knife in reverse grip.
Meanwhile, in the eyes of the vigorously jumping fathead fish, there appeared a human-like sense of indignation and grief.
Yet it sensibly leaped onto the cutting board by itself, closed its eyes, and appeared ready to face death with calm heroism.
Immediately afterward, its fat head was pinned down by an icy, slender jade hand!
With a clattering sound, the kitchen knife fell!
The fat fish’s body stiffened like a frozen log, displaying astonishing elasticity and life force under the Empress’s palm.
The not particularly sharp knife seemed embedded in a heap of fat; the fish’s head swelled a circle, eyes bulging like brass bells!
The fish’s mouth seemed to have suffered extreme painful stimulation, stretching excessively long, forming a massive ’O’ shape.
Simultaneously, an extremely sharp and piercing scream burst from its mouth, incredibly tragic and mournful, like the ghostly tune of death.
A breathtaking scene.
After chopping off the fish head, Empress Ying Ji sat on the ground to gather her mood, and after a little while, when she captured the right feeling, she lightly pinched her sleeve, lifted her fingertips, and red mist like teary pear blossoms gradually spread from the corner of her eyes.
Amidst the shrill cries of the fathead fish, although the Emperor’s actions were undeniably intense, her teary-eyed, delicate demeanor still oddly evoked tenderness from others.
Everyone was stunned!
Almost choking on the cold mountain air.
Yin Baishuang was also shocked and speechless, thinking to himself, could little An’s mother have such an intriguing personality?
Just as everyone found Ying Ji’s actions utterly baffling.
Baili An, however, knew that his mother was about to employ her infamous tactic of crying, making a scene, and threatening to hang herself.
This was a little secret that no one else knew, known only to him.
The world only knew the Central Netherworld Empress as a regal, stern, and untouchable sovereign.
But as her son, Baili An knew a hidden side of his mother.
His mother liked spicy food and, when no one was aware, loved playing mahjong and snacking on seeds with robust village women who had no cultivation in the mortal world.
That’s why the high and mighty Empress was not actually ignorant of worldly affairs, having a deep understanding of some common folk customs.
She always managed to find some bizarre entertainment when bored.
Baili An discovered the existence of that green fathead fish when he was six.
That year, the Sect Master of Tiansheng Sect came to visit the mountain with his wife and eldest son.
That Young Master of Tiansheng was probably spoiled like his mother, accustomed to a privileged identity and status, and everything in life came to him too easily. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮
So much so that he thought everything in the world should rightfully be his.
At that time, when he raised a little white snake, that young master laid eyes on it. The young master was stocky and burly, three years older than Baili An, lacking any air of a noble scion, more like a sumo wrestler from Japan.
He was greedy for food and delicates, especially the wild game from the mountains, and upon seeing Baili An’s unique-looking, Spiritual Power-filled white snake, he had the notion of making snake soup, attempting to seize it by force.
At that young age, Baili An didn’t yet know how to hide and protect himself properly, and in his anger, he let Shou out to bite that fatty.
Delivering two bites full of Ghost Qi made that fatty suffer for a good few days.
By then, Baili An had already learned in the Tianxi Sword Sect how to protect himself, though he used Shou to retaliate and injure someone, he also knew how not to leave traces or potential problems for others to detect.
