Chapter 111: The Bluff of the Reckless Chicken Lord

Tang Long told the Black-Scaled Flood Dragon to return to its lair and hide there until he called for it.

Only after watching Big Black disappear did Jiang Xue gradually recover from her stunned disbelief.

She stared at Tang Long with an expression that combined astonishment, incredulity, shock, and bewilderment.

“P-protector beast of the village?”

When Jiang Xue uttered those words, the thought that sprang into her mind was: Is this bastard seriously making this up? And yet, somehow, the story he was telling was perfectly round and convincing.

Tang Long said with a smile, “That’s right. From now on, Big Black will be our village’s guardian beast. I’ve already reached an agreement with it. It won’t harm humans indiscriminately anymore. Of course, we’ll have to provide it with food and drink. We each get what we need from the arrangement.”

“Where did it come from?” Jiang Xue’s mind was gradually beginning to function again.

Tang Long did not hide the truth from her. Smiling, he said, “Ghost King Cave. It used to be its lair.”

“It—it isn’t a snake, is it?” Jiang Xue asked, trembling. With a body that enormous, how could it possibly be a snake? It had to be something else… perhaps a dragon?

“That’s right!” Tang Long nodded and explained with a smile, “Big Black isn’t a snake. Or rather, its original form may have been a snake, but it has now evolved into a flood dragon. It’s a Black-Scaled Flood Dragon!”

A flood dragon? A Black-Scaled Flood Dragon?

Whether it was a dragon or a flood dragon, Jiang Xue was certain that it was a monster. It was even more terrifyingly real than the monsters in science-fiction movies.

In truth, Big Black did not have a particularly appealing appearance. It was genuinely frightening. There was no way it could follow some cute and lovable route to attract tourists in the future.

“Come on. We need to go back.”

Tang Long crouched down and smiled. “Climb on. I’ll carry you back.”

It was hardly realistic to expect her to walk back by herself in her current state.

Her legs had gone completely limp from fright. How could she possibly walk?

Jiang Xue’s face burned. After the mountain wind blew against her, she felt a chilly sensation between her legs. She secretly glanced at Tang Long, wondering whether he had noticed.

As Tang Long carried her back, Jiang Xue asked, “Are you sure that Big Black really won’t eat people?”

She was still deeply shaken by the Black-Scaled Flood Dragon.

Tang Long shook his head with a smile. “Of course it won’t. If it wanted to eat people, you would already have been completely digested.”

That, indirectly, proved that the Black-Scaled Flood Dragon truly did not eat humans.

“Are you planning to let Big Black appear in public later?” Jiang Xue’s clever mind had recovered, and she quickly thought of the commercial possibilities.

For Fish Head Village, having Big Black as its guardian beast was practically the same as having a cheat code.

If the village’s current popularity was nothing more than empty strength and superficial prosperity, then with Big Black’s assistance, Fish Head Village would become so spectacular that it might as well soar into the heavens.

Tang Long smiled. “Yes, I am. Fish Head Village currently lacks something that can keep attracting tourists over the long term. Now we have Big Black as our mascot, so there’s nothing to worry about anymore.”

Jiang Xue wrapped her arms around Tang Long’s neck. After hesitating for a moment, she said softly, “But have you ever considered what will happen if the government steps in and tries to take Big Black away? You saw it yourself—Big Black is simply far too huge. It’s terrifying.”

Tang Long knew that this possibility could not be ruled out. In fact, it was highly likely.

Once word of Big Black spread, it would not only attract the attention of the government. Research institutions and biological laboratories both at home and abroad would probably take an intense interest in it.

This was indeed a matter worth serious consideration.

“Big Black is already ‘living’ in Ghost King Cave. When Zhang Guang was beating people up, he claimed that the cave was the territory of his own ancestors. If things come to that, we can just have Big Black pretend to be Fish Head Village’s ‘ancestor.’”

Tang Long said this with a smile. There was admittedly some suspicion that Big Black was taking advantage of the title, but given the flood dragon’s age, calling it an ancestor was not entirely unreasonable.

They would deal with soldiers if they came, and block water with earth if it rose. In any case, no one was going to take Big Black away from Fish Head Village.

Their mascot was there to make money.

“How are you going to explain Big Black to the villagers?” Jiang Xue asked.

“I’ll tell them the truth,” Tang Long replied.

Tang Long had never intended to conceal anything. He would simply tell them what had happened. They were all members of the same village, so there did not seem to be anything he could not say.

Jiang Xue gave a bitter smile. “Will they believe you?”

Tang Long laughed and said indifferently, “When the time comes, I’ll call Big Black out. They won’t have any choice but to believe.”

Whether they believed him or not was beside the point. He was not making an empty claim without evidence.

As for Fish Head Village’s mascot, a figure on the level of an ancestor, once Tang Long acknowledged it, anyone who wanted to disagree would simply have to accept the decision.

Besides, he had already sworn a blood oath with the Black-Scaled Flood Dragon. He could hardly go back on his word.

“Look! Is that the village chief coming back?”

There were flashlight beams up ahead. Following Tang Long’s instructions before he left, Lian Sheng and Li Ergou had organized a large number of people to stand guard after returning. They had also informed the tourists at the campsite that something strange had happened in the rear mountains. Anyone who was frightened could take a vehicle to the town, with villagers from Fish Head Village driving ahead and escorting them.

A group of timid tourists had already been sent away, but half of the visitors remained. They felt that nothing serious had happened and had ignored Fish Head Village’s advice.

“It’s fine now. Tell everyone to disperse. We’ll talk about anything else tomorrow,” Tang Long said with a smile after carrying Jiang Xue back.

When Zhang Xiu’e saw Tang Long, her eyes reddened, and tears nearly spilled out. She forced them back.

“As long as you’re all right,” she muttered, finally allowing the worry in her heart to settle.

Tang Long looked toward Jiang Xiuzhi. The girl Yajing was standing behind her. He had not expected the two of them to come running over in the middle of the night.

“What exactly happened?”

After the irrelevant people had left, the remaining village leaders, Jiang Xiuzhi, and the others could not help asking Tang Long what had happened.

Little Leopard had said that Jiang Xue had been carried away by a gigantic creature six or seven meters tall. Yet now she had been brought back safely on Tang Long’s back.

Jiang Xue had already been helped indoors by Zhang Xiu’e and Zhao Xiaoyue.

Tang Long looked at Jiang Xiuzhi, his eyes flickering. Lian Sheng, Li Ergou, and Liu Yishou were all there as well.

Lowering his voice, he said mysteriously, “Well… our ancestor from Fish Head Village has emerged from Ghost King Cave.”

What?

Their ancestor?

Lian Sheng, Li Ergou, Liu Yishou, and the others stared blankly at Tang Long. When had Fish Head Village ever had an ancestor living in Ghost King Cave?

Wasn’t this just complete nonsense?

When had Ghost King Cave been formed by lightning? Only last month!

As far back as three generations, the villagers of Fish Head Village had never even known that Ghost King Cave existed.

Tang Long paid no attention to whether Lian Sheng, Li Ergou, and the other villagers believed him. He was mainly saying this for Jiang Xiuzhi and the outsiders to hear. The villagers could choose not to believe him.

News of their mascot, Big Black, would inevitably spread. Besides, once Fish Head Village had Big Black as its mascot, it would surely become famous far and wide. And then would houses build themselves for free? Would scenic attractions appear without costing anything?

The village might have plenty of tourists now, but in truth, they had very little money in their hands.

The funds they could openly use had either come from that woman Liu Meijia, from the wealthy young woman Shan Xiu, or from the ten million contributed by Gao Peng. Fish Head Village was poor.

“Our ancestor is… a dragon,” Tang Long declared. “It has cultivated in Ghost King Cave for a thousand years. Recently, it safely endured a heavenly tribulation, shedding its mortal form and undergoing a complete transformation. In another few hundred years, it will probably ascend to the heavens in broad daylight.

“The old ancestor had grown tired of staying in Ghost King Cave, so it wanted to come out and get some fresh air. It may occasionally show itself in the future, so everyone should not panic when you see it.

“Set your minds at ease. The old ancestor has already said that it has cultivated for hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of years, and has always been a vegetarian. It has never eaten a human before. It did not eat people in the past, it does not eat them now, and it will never eat them in the future!”

Even Jiang Xiuzhi was completely bewildered by Tang Long’s performance. A thought kept surfacing in her mind: Are you seriously trying to fool us?

The more he spoke, the more absurd it became. One moment it was an ancestor, the next a dragon, and then it had cultivated for tens of thousands of years. Did anyone present actually believe a word he was saying?

“What are you all looking at me like that for?” Tang Long frowned and pretended to be displeased. He rolled his eyes at Li Ergou, Lian Sheng, Liu Yishou, and the other villagers, then scolded them irritably. “It’s one thing for the outsiders not to believe me, but what? You don’t believe me either?”

Lian Sheng gave an awkward chuckle and hurriedly nodded. “How could we not? We believe you. If you say our ancestor is a dragon, then our ancestor is a dragon. Anyone with legs is absolutely out of the question! If it has legs, those legs must be chopped off.”

He thought Tang Long was merely joking around to ease the tense atmosphere. Lian Sheng had lived in Fish Head Village for more than thirty years. Other people might not know the truth, but how could he not? Fish Head Village had no ancestor whatsoever.

Tang Long shot him a withering look. “You certainly talk a lot of nonsense.”

He turned to Jiang Xiuzhi and the other outsiders and asked solemnly, “You don’t believe it either, do you?”

Jiang Xiuzhi smiled bitterly and answered with a question. “Boss Tang, if I were the one saying this, would you believe me?”

Tang Long nodded readily. “I wouldn’t believe it either.”

Jiang Xiuzhi shrugged. Even Tang Long himself admitted that he would not believe it, so what more was there to say?

Tang Long did not laugh, however. He said seriously, “But whether you believe it or not, facts are facts. Regardless of whether you believe them, they remain facts. Our ancestor really did emerge from Ghost King Cave.”

Everyone fell silent for a moment. It was the middle of the night, and Tang Long’s words carried an unmistakably eerie quality.

“If you don’t believe me, there’s nothing I can do.”

Tang Long shook his head. There was not the slightest hint that he was joking. By now, not only were Jiang Xiuzhi and the others from Flower Fish Head Resort confused, but Lian Sheng, Li Ergou, Liu Yishou, and the other villagers were also at a loss.

Had their ancestor really emerged from Ghost King Cave?

Yajing suddenly spoke from behind Jiang Xiuzhi, asking curiously, “You just said that Fish Head Village’s ancestor is a dragon, and you saw it yourself. Why don’t you describe it for us? What kind of dragon is your ancestor? What does it look like?”

Tang Long looked at her and silently praised her helpfulness. If no one asked, how could he continue the performance?

“The ancestor’s head is about four or five meters thick,” he began. “Yes, about the size of a locomotive. It’s more than a hundred meters long, and when coiled up, it’s as tall as a building of more than ten stories. It can swallow an entire cow in one bite, and its whole body is covered in black scales the size of a human palm.”

What utter nonsense!

Even the villagers of Fish Head Village could not help muttering that to themselves.

The lie was simply too outrageous to be convincing. But Tang Long did not care whether they believed him. It was enough that they knew about it. At least they would have some impression of Big Black by the time it finally appeared, and they would not be frightened into wetting themselves or fainting on the spot.

Inside the house, Zhang Xiu’e, Auntie Yang, Zhao Xiaoyue, and the others were also gathered around Jiang Xue, questioning her. As the person involved, she naturally had the greatest authority to speak.

“A black dragon?”

The expressions on Zhang Xiu’e’s faces were exactly the same as those of the people outside who had listened to Tang Long’s rambling story. They were filled with disbelief.

There was simply no way to explain it. How could a creature like a dragon exist in this world? Weren’t dragons merely the product of human imagination?

Yet Jiang Xue’s manner did not seem as though she was lying.

Had she really been carried away by a black dragon that night?

Zhang Xiu’e badly wanted to go outside and question Tang Long about what had actually happened.

“Whether you believe it or not, Fish Head Village has an ancestor now,” Tang Long said.

The others looked at one another, unable to guess what anyone else was thinking. One thing was certain: none of them believed Tang Long’s words in the slightest.

Tang Long waved his hand. “All right. Don’t spread this outside the village for now. We’ll discuss it again after we’ve communicated and reached an agreement with the ancestor.”

“It’s late. You should all go back and rest.”

Jiang Xiuzhi and Yajing led the others back toward Flower Fish Head Resort. Along the way, Yajing asked curiously, “Sis, do you believe what that Tang Long fellow said?”

“Do you?” Jiang Xiuzhi did not answer. Instead, she threw the question back at her.

Yajing blinked and said playfully, “Neither of us believes him. So why would he lie to us? He must have some purpose, right?”

That was true. Tang Long knew perfectly well that none of them would believe what he said, so why had he said it anyway?

What was his purpose in introducing a dragon as Fish Head Village’s ancestor?

Tang Long was not stupid enough to think that everyone else was an idiot. He must have some hidden motive.

Watching Jiang Xiuzhi sink into thought, Yajing continued, “That’s why I think Tang Long’s story is either true, or he’s preparing some secret plan that he doesn’t want anyone to know about.”

True?

Jiang Xiuzhi froze.

She had never imagined that Tang Long’s words could be true. But if they were…

Good Lord!

Those were the only words Jiang Xiuzhi could find to express how she felt.

Everyone disbelieved Tang Long. But what would happen if everything he had said turned out to be true?