Lacking in strength, few would wander around with a Small Fortress Rock, let alone these high school students who are clearly on a group trip right after graduation. Even the big families wouldn’t match their youths with one.
Given the legend of the Small Fortress Rock that circulates in town and the way the landlady looked at them, she felt quite certain that this was the town’s very own Small Fortress Rock.
In fact, everyone in Qiaoshui Town has always heard rumors about the Small Fortress Rock, but very few have actually seen it. Although the Small Fortress Rock is quite friendly to humans, it doesn’t often appear in front of them. Unexpectedly, these guests who came just to travel were able to draw out the town’s Small Fortress Rock.
Recalling something, the landlady asked Feng Yuan and the others to wait and quickly turned to leave. Glancing back at the Small Fortress Rock, the Little Husky shook its ears and said
"Didn’t expect to freeload some grub today through a wild Spirit Beast I just met~"
"Is she off to prepare food?"
Qi Chen looked at the Little Husky with some skepticism. Was this creature’s reputation really that significant? To just stroll into a small teahouse and have food brought to it? Noticing Qi Chen’s gaze, the Little Husky flicked its tail and said
"It’s not for me, it’s for that one."
As it said this, its tail pointed towards the Small Fortress Rock, who looked puzzled at the Little Husky. Although the Small Fortress Rock lived among humans, it hadn’t had much interaction with them, which meant there wasn’t much of a difference between it and the wild Spirit Beasts in the wild. It knew human terms and could understand human speech, yet it found it hard to express itself.
Moreover, it didn’t fully grasp the various behaviors of humans as no one had explained what human actions really meant to it. It simply stood silently in the shadows, observing the humans, watching their lives.
"Speaking of which, it doesn’t seem to have much contact with humans."
The Little Husky shook its ears, looking somewhat puzzled at the Small Fortress Rock. It was clear that the latter hadn’t had much interaction with humans; otherwise, even without a Beastmaster, with its age, it should be able to clearly express itself. Not to mention even back in the Dynasty Era, the Spirit Beasts they encountered could talk with humans just like a human could.
As for the age of the Small Fortress Rock, although it wasn’t very clear, Feng Yuan recognized that it must be a descendant from the line of Small Fortress Rocks surviving since the end of the Guardian War since it was impossible for Small Fortress Rocks not to have existed in Qiaoshui Town before the Guardian War.
It could only be that they fell during the Guardian War, which wasn’t surprising. If it weren’t for the fact that fighting on their homeland would cause tremendous losses, the Divine Beasts wouldn’t have tried so hard to keep those enemies out of this world.
Agunas seemed to understand something, floating next to the Small Fortress Rock, extending a paw to gently touch it. The Small Fortress Rock turned around, looking at Agunas strangely, not quite understanding what it was doing or the words it murmured, when a sky-blue light enveloped the Small Fortress Rock.
Startled by the phenomenon, the Small Fortress Rock quickly checked its own body, but after the flash of sky-blue light, there was no trace left behind. If it wasn’t sure it hadn’t misremembered, it would almost doubt it had just experienced an illusion.
"A Divine Beast’s blessing? I didn’t expect you, Little Crocodile, to be so free."
Scanning Agunas, Veronia said irritably, a Divine Beast’s blessing can bring beneficial changes to a Spirit Beast, especially one from Agunas, as it comes from a Time Series Divine Beast, and the benefits would be inclined towards Time Series attributes. No one knows what exactly the Small Fortress Rock might have gained.
Glancing at Veronia, Agunas shook its tail and said
"Its current situation, I’m afraid, can’t be unlinked from the Guardian War. Although that incident doesn’t have much to do with me, but..."
It was resurrected recently and had nothing to do with that guarding war, but seeing the victim of that war appear before it, it couldn’t help wanting to do something for them.
That war back then had far too broad an impact. Although insufficient strength was a major reason, the gap between the two sides wasn’t so vast as to induce despair. The enemy just took advantage of a Divine Beast’s blunder at the start to tear open a gap in the defense and rush into the world’s interior.
"Speaking of which, what was the situation with that war exactly? Why were those enemies so easily repelled? I refuse to believe that they were that weak."
Looking at Feng Yuan, Veronia asked curiously. If the enemies weren’t strong, penetrating into the interior of the world and preventing them from being promptly expelled wouldn’t have been a simple matter. But if they were strong, why were they ultimately driven out by a successful counterattack?
"They simply couldn’t withstand the war against multiple worlds at the same time."
Little Husky yawned and wagged its tail, explaining that if the opposing worlds had not been under attack from multiple worlds as strong or stronger than their own, the victory in the guarding war wouldn’t have come so swiftly. Or rather, even if victory had been achieved, it wouldn’t have been so easy, and there would definitely have been many regions that suffered heavily.
"If they knew that I did not offer food to the Town God, I wouldn’t know what they’d say about me."
At this moment, the landlady prattled on as she came over with a plate of snacks. Seeing Yanlan’s eyes light up yet looking somewhat conflicted, Little Husky wagged its tail and persuaded Yanlan to try the landlady’s cooking. Of course, whether it was just trying to take the opportunity to eat something wasn’t clear.
Meanwhile, Agunas was also persuading Yanlan. It couldn’t be helped; to Agunas, for a Spirit Beast like Yanlan, which had close relations with humans and whose evolution could be influenced by them, increasing contact with humans wasn’t a bad thing. It was just unclear why Yanlan previously hadn’t interacted much with humans.
Agunas could sense that the landlady bore no malice towards Yanlan. Although she incessantly talked as if she would not have done so if it wouldn’t have affected the town’s opinion of her, Agunas could actually feel that the landlady genuinely liked Yanlan.
At this moment, the teahouse owner came over carrying a tea tray, on which sat an exquisite set of teawares. Little Husky immediately stepped aside, knowing without asking that he too came because of Yanlan. Especially the teaware in his hands, which was clearly much finer than the ones with pictures on the menu used for serving beverages.
This was also normal; the owner must be someone who appreciated tea and naturally owned a personal set of teaware. As for the guests? They were mostly tourists who came not for the tea, but for the environment and to take pictures, so they naturally wouldn’t pay too much attention to the quality of the tea leaves, let alone the teaware.
Jumping down from the table, Little Husky transformed back into its original form, anticipating more people squeezing over soon, but that was not unusual. After all, it was a local Spirit Beast considered a Guardian God, and it hadn’t shown itself to humans before. Now that it had suddenly appeared, it was normal for people to be curious or to offer gifts.
The tradition of Guardian Gods in this world has a long history. From what Feng Yuan observed during the Dynasty Era, Spirit Beasts serving as human Guardian Gods have existed since the end of the Great Li Dynasty. Back then, Spirit Beasts weren’t numerous, but they provided shelter to humanity from many natural disasters, hence during that era, many Spirit Beasts with good relationships with humans protected them within villages or residential areas.
Perhaps their strength was not particularly formidable, but each and every one of them received the upmost respect from humans. Indeed, in certain periods, wars wouldn’t even disturb those Spirit Beasts guarding the villages.
Despite the near obsolescence of modern humans’ need for these Guardian Gods, the tradition has been handed down. Those Spirit Beasts also strive to protect humans to the best of their abilities.
Clearly, Qiaoshui Town still follows these ancient traditions. At least Agunas could sense that most people held great respect for Yanlan, even though they had never seen it before.
"Such a scene cannot be seen in the cities anymore~"
Watching people chattering with Yanlan, Feng Yuan smiled slightly. Due to the impacts of wars, cities no longer have Spirit Beasts acting as city Guardian Gods. Therefore, this tradition has long since disappeared in urban areas, and Dou Yanlan nodded in agreement.
"This is indeed a very interesting affair; it’s a pity that it no longer exists in the cities."

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