Misty Rain of the Old Times

Chapter 794 Because it is good

"Go on, I know you didn't do what happened in the past willingly. Don't bully passersby anymore. Not everyone is as easy to get along with as I am. Be careful in the future, and don't fall into the hands of bad people again," Chen Xuan gently patted the head of the pufferfish that was still crying and rubbing against him.

Half of its huge, endearing head peeked out of the water sphere, chirping softly as it reluctantly departed. This creature, inherently spiritual and a mythical beast, was the most capable of distinguishing between good and evil and understanding gratitude.

The journey home continued. Having encountered a chance encounter that helped it escape its predicament and gain its freedom, Chen Xuan did not intend to linger. He smiled, and as soon as he finished speaking, the large water sphere carrying it seemed to have its outer barrier pierced, causing the pufferfish to fall into the water with a splash, stirring up huge waves.

Chen Xuan waved at the turbulent water, then turned and gracefully flew towards the ship.

The pufferfish, now back in the water, swam happily and relaxed. Soon, it poked half its body out and called out to Chen Xuan's back, still not leaving.

It looked in several directions as if pondering, then plunged into the water, heading towards Chen Xuan and his ship. Unlike its previous reckless attack, it moved cautiously, without even stirring up any waves.

"Husband, how is it? It seems to be able to communicate. What did you say to it?"

When Chen Xuan returned to the ship, the women surrounded him, and the little princess asked in surprise and curiosity.

Signaling them to calm down, Chen Xuan smiled and said, "It's very intelligent and can indeed communicate, though it can't truly speak. But I also understand that for many years it cooperated with the pirates to stir up trouble here not voluntarily, but was forced to be controlled by the pirates using special methods. I've freed it, and now it's free. Given its naturally kind nature, it won't do anything to harm passing ships in the future."

Hearing his answer, the little princess exclaimed happily, "That's wonderful! How could such a lovable animal be bad? It's all those water bandits' fault; they're truly despicable!"

She was genuinely happy. She liked the pufferfish the moment she saw it and couldn't bear to see it being bullied. Now that it was free and wouldn't continue to help the river bandits, it was the result she most wanted to see.

"Brother Chen is truly amazing! I've heard about what happened here. For years, the government and countless heroes have been helpless, but you solved it so easily with just one step in," Guo Qingxue exclaimed, her eyes filled with admiration as she looked at Chen Xuan.

Yunlan asked curiously, "Master, what will happen to it after it gains its freedom?"

“Now that it’s free, it can go wherever it wants, unlike before when it was restricted to this area. The entire Qingping River and even the distant sea will be its free space,” Chen Xuan smiled, and seeing Yun Xin hesitate, he continued, “Don’t worry, although it’s no longer bound, it’s naturally kind and won’t actively endanger the waters. In fact, in the near future, we’ll hear stories of people in distress receiving its help.”

No one doubted Chen Xuan's words; otherwise, he wouldn't have so easily granted the pufferfish its freedom.

Xia Mei's eyes flickered as she pondered for a moment before asking for instructions: "Master, those river bandits have lost their reliance on the pufferfish, and they may resort to other extreme behaviors. I wonder if we should give them a warning or simply wipe them out?"

As a subordinate, one should naturally take the initiative to share the burden. As she spoke, Xia Mei had many options in mind. If she wanted to give them a warning, she could do so to intimidate them and make an example of them. Alternatively, she could contact the government to put pressure on them. There were many ways to do this, with the goal of making them more restrained. Cleaning them up would be even simpler; she could just send some people to do it. After all, there were no innate masters among the river bandits. People of that level would disdain doing such shameful things as robbing people on the road. If she didn't want to go through the trouble herself, she could just tell the local government. With Chen Xuan and his group's influence, they would arrange everything clearly.

Shaking his head, Chen Xuan said, "We don't need to pay attention to it. The pufferfish has been controlled by them for many years, often abused, and forced to do too many things it didn't want to do. Now that it's free, it won't let those people get away with it. With its strength, the river bandits can't cause any trouble. In fact, given its hatred for the river bandits, there probably won't be any room for them to survive along the Qingping River in the future."

This wasn't just Chen Xuan's assumption; it was a fact. The water was the pufferfish's domain, and even top-tier experts could hardly defeat it. If they were truly no match for it, couldn't they at least hide in the deep water? Daring to go into the water to chase it would most likely mean they wouldn't survive. Besides, what kind of experts could be among these lowlifes who were robbing people on the road?

Even if such a despicable force were to spend a fortune to hire experts to suppress them for their own profit, they could only manage to hire a few innate masters at most. How many could they possibly hire? It would be pointless if they hired too few. As for grandmasters, were they even qualified to come into contact with them? If they really had that kind of connection, they would probably slap the villain to death as soon as they found out it was to deal with such a spirit beast.

Her eyes lit up, and the little princess couldn't help but exclaim, "So, my husband has done a truly great deed! Now that the pufferfish can swim freely in the Qingping River, and there are no more water bandits to cause trouble, countless people will be protected. This is a blessing without bloodshed, far surpassing the deeds of those so-called chivalrous heroes who fight and kill."

"Uh, my wife is too kind. I didn't mean that much," Chen Xuan said, scratching his butt, feeling a little embarrassed.

He just saw that the pufferfish was pleasing to the eye and decided to lend a hand without thinking too much about it.

The women didn't think so. Guo Qingxue still looked at him with admiration and said, "Brother Chen is just too modest. He clearly did a great deed but doesn't take it to heart. It's laughable to think of those self-proclaimed heroes who can't wait to brag about catching a thief."

Xia Mei considered the issue more comprehensively and hesitated before saying, "But sir, if there are pufferfish in the Qingping River, the river bandits along the river will lose their living space. If they can't deal with the pufferfish and move elsewhere, wouldn't that transfer the disaster to other innocent people?"

Chen Xuan waved his hand and laughed, "Aunt Mei, you're overthinking it. What you said makes sense, but have you considered that the world of martial arts is only so big, and territory is finite? If river bandits can't survive on the coast, moving elsewhere will only squeeze out other people's living space. How can they coexist? Whether it's fighting to seize territory or absorbing others to grow stronger, in most cases it's just dogs fighting each other. Overall, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. Besides, there will never be a truly peaceful time in the world, and those who want to reap without sowing can never be completely eradicated; it's just a matter of changing the place and the method."

"I understand now. If the local bandits are unwilling to give up this piece of meat and continue to stay, they will be constantly retaliated against by the pufferfish and will hardly have a peaceful day. If they leave and go elsewhere, they will definitely clash with other forces, and the outcome will likely be even worse. After all, they are used to living on the water. In short, with the free pufferfish, the situation in this section of the river and even the entire Qingping River will definitely be much better than before," Xia Mei said with a sudden realization.

Chen Xuan neither agreed nor disagreed with this, nor did he intend to dwell on it. In this world, how good can things get? He had seen far worse situations along the way, and thinking too much was just asking for trouble.

As they were talking, the little maid suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "Master, Madam, have you noticed that our ship is much faster than before?"

"You don't even need to remind me," Chen Xuan laughed. "It's at least twice as fast as we were before, isn't it?"

"If it weren't for its unusually high speed, we wouldn't have noticed it before. How could this be... Master, look, look! It's that pufferfish!" The little girl looked puzzled, then climbed onto the gunwale to look around, and quickly pointed to the back of the boat and cheered.

Guo Qingxue, who was also still young and carefree, came to her side and saw that it was true. She took the little girl's hand and exclaimed in surprise, "It's that pufferfish helping us push the boat. It's right behind us. It's unbelievable! Brother Chen, Sister Qianning, do you want to go and take a look?"

"Go ahead, you might even get to play with it. Pufferfish are known for their playfulness, often called 'water street urchins'," Chen Xuan waved his hand, indicating he wasn't a child anymore. The little princess, pregnant, wouldn't be as boisterous as they were, and smiled, gesturing for them to do as they pleased.

Apart from Xia Mei, the women are not too far apart in age. However, the little princess, as the mother of the family, is much more composed, even though she was a playful girl before marriage.

Unable to contain their curiosity, the two little ones greeted each other and then went to the back hand in hand, soon followed by cheerful laughter.

The pufferfish was truly intelligent and clever. After gaining its freedom, it did not leave immediately, but instead dived into the water and secretly went to the back to help Chen Xuan and the others push the boat. At first, it did not exert any force, but gradually accelerated, being very careful. Those present whose cultivation was not at the Innate Realm did not immediately notice that the speed was gradually increasing.

In the pufferfish's simple mind, this is probably the best way to repay them.

Presumably because they had already been discovered, the pufferfish that had been quietly helping to push the boat soon stopped hiding and popped its head out from behind. While continuing to push the boat, it played with little Guo Qingxue. It was already endearing, making little noises, and even though they couldn't communicate directly, the two little ones were constantly laughing and joking.

They had never had this experience before.

Gradually, the pufferfish became bolder. It stopped carefully pushing the boat from behind and, presumably having tested the sturdiness of Chen Xuan's boat, began swimming around it, occasionally sticking its body out to greet Chen Xuan happily.

Although it stopped using its body to push the ship and instead swam around, the ship's speed not only did not decrease, but increased even more.

It was seen swimming around the ship, with waves surging around it. As it moved up and down, the river water surged up to several meters high, exceeding the ship's side, but not a drop of water entered the ship. The ship remained stable and did not rock. It was propelled downstream by the surging waves.

The ship appeared to be at risk of capsizing at any moment amidst the surging waves, a bizarre scene that left countless eyes in awe.

"This... Husband, did you secretly repel the waves around you?" Even the well-informed little princess couldn't help but ask in surprise.

Shaking his head, Chen Xuan said thoughtfully, "My wife, I haven't done anything."

The little princess was even more surprised, looking around in confusion, "But the waves around us are several meters high, they look quite dangerous, yet not a single drop of water has fallen on our clothes."

“My lady, there’s no need to be surprised. The reason for this is the pufferfish. If I’m not mistaken, as a mythical beast, its innate ability is not just about attacking with water jets. It can definitely control water within a certain range. That’s why we are completely unaffected by the raging waves around us,” Chen Xuan said confidently.

The little princess suddenly realized and frankly explained, "I see. But that doesn't make sense. If it has such an ability, why didn't it use it directly before? Instead, it stubbornly tried to swim over and attack our ship. If it had used its water control ability to create huge waves, it would have been much more effective than its direct attack. One wave would have capsized our ship. Of course, that's assuming you, my husband, don't intervene."

Chen Xuan smiled and remarked, "Because it's kind."

Upon hearing this, the little princess paused for a moment, then understood. Looking at the pufferfish swimming merrily around the ship, creating large waves and drawing cheers from the crowd, she nodded and said, "Yes, because it's kind. It clearly has the ability but doesn't use it. It's not that it can't think of it, but rather that it never intended to truly harm us from the beginning. It was more about intimidating us. Before, it was controlled by the pirates and had no choice but to attack. It's just putting on a show to fool us."

The little princess, her expression softening with emotion, said with a touch of heartache, "Actually, it knows it will be punished for not putting in its full effort, otherwise it wouldn't have so many injuries. But it still doesn't want to go all out and really hurt us. If only we had met it sooner, it would have suffered less."

Gently putting his arm around the little princess's shoulder, Chen Xuan comforted her, "Meeting is fate. Fate is something you can't force. Meeting too early or too late is not good. Meeting unexpectedly is just right."

As he spoke, Chen Xuan pointed to the merrily calling pufferfish and said, "My lady, look how happy it is now. This is truly letting its nature run wild. It has this ability, and now that it's free and no longer bound by shackles, it can let loose to its heart's content. Before, it would rather suffer itself than harm others, but now it uses it to make us happy. The past is the past; it will always be this happy from now on."

"Yes, that's good," the little princess nodded, wishing for less killing and more happiness in the world.

Actually, Chen Xuan didn't say something: if the pufferfish has such abilities, those river bandits who bullied it are going to be in big trouble, unless they run away immediately and never set foot on this river again.

The little girl Guo Qingxue and her companions returned to the bow of the boat, constantly interacting with the pufferfish. The little girl chattered, "Master, it's so smart! It understands everything we say. My sister Xue'er and I discussed it with it and named it Jiang Liuer, and it nodded in agreement and is very satisfied with the name."

“Jiang Liuer, that’s a pretty good name,” Chen Xuan nodded and smiled.

Seemingly hearing his name spoken, Jiang Liuer, who was on the side, controlled the river to form a huge arch bridge that passed over their ship, and leaned down to call out twice in greeting.

Chen Xuan waved in response, thinking to himself that this was for the best. With a name, he could say goodbye to the past and start anew.

Unbeknownst to them, their ship, escorted by Jiang Liuer, sailed away from the canyon. After saying goodbye several times, it reluctantly stopped, and only after it could no longer see Chen Xuan and the others did it plunge into the water and rush back to the canyon.

From that day on, no one sold 'peace charms' in Ape's Lost Hoof Gorge anymore, yet it was more peaceful than ever before... (End of Chapter)