Chapter 1178: The Childish Old Taoist and Black Bull

When Ye Qing reached Yi Pin, he discovered that the old Taoist and the black bull were staring at each other.

Yi Pin’s eyes were opened so wide that his eyeballs threatened to fall out of their eye sockets. It was pointless though. No matter how wide he opened his eyes, they could never be bigger than the black bull’s nostril.

Scratch that, it wasn’t even bigger than a single nose hair.

On top of that, the black bull was so massive that its eyes resembled a pair of millstones. Therefore, it looking down on Yi Pin was like a giant looking down on an ant. The sheer amount of scorn and ridicule it was exuding rivaled that of an elephant in the room.

“What is that look? You ate my treasure, and you dare to look at me like that? Who do you think you are?”

The old Taoist could tell exactly what the black bull was thinking and flew into an impotent rage. “Stop staring at me already!”

The black bull snorted and continued to stare at the old Taoist. It was almost as if it was saying, “So what if I stare at you? Whatcha gonna do about it, huh?”

“You! You think you’re in the right, huh? Okay then! It’s a staring contest! Whoever blinks first is a grandson!” Yi Pin raged.

And so the man and the bull stared unblinkingly at each other once more. No one was willing to give an inch.

“The hell’s going on here?” Ye Qing appeared beside Old Man of Snowy Mountain and asked curiously.

“Se—Senior!”

It was only after Ye Qing spoke up that Xu Kailu realized that the young man had returned to their side. He cried out, “You’re back!”

“Young master.” Old Man of Snowy Mountain gave him a bow as well.

“At ease. Anyway, what is going on here? Why is the old man butting heads with a bull?” Ye Qing asked.

Old Man of Snowy Mountain cracked a wry smile. “A battle took place at the Myriad Buddha Plains just now, and we were unfortunately caught by the residual force and spirit. So, we got on top of the black bull and allowed it to take us to safety. On the way, Reverend Yi Pin used a Strange Artifact and protected us from the shockwaves. However, after we had reached safety, the bull...”

Old Man of Snowy Mountain shot the black bull an indescribable look before continuing, “The bull ate the Reverend’s Strange Artifact. It even spat at the Reverend when he tried to pry it out of the bull’s mouth. You know the rest.”

“I see!”

Ye Qing chuckled. He was certain that the black bull was a Disaster-class Stranger, a fairly powerful and exceedingly sapient one too. If it really wanted to leave, even the entire group would have been hardpressed to stop it, much less Yi Pin.

But for whatever reason, the black bull chose to stay. It even toyed with Yi Pin and engaged the old Taoist in his stupid staring contest. How curious was that?

Still, he didn’t sense any malice from the black bull, so it probably wasn’t a threat. Ye Qing decided to wait and see what happens next.

“Fine! You win! You’re the victor! Are you satisfied now?”

A moment later, the old Taoist finally threw in the towel and rubbed his sore, dry eyes. Despite the clear defeat, he said stubbornly, “My brother just came back, so I’ve got no time to waste on you.”

“I’ll let this slide on account that you helped us, but only this once! Hmph!”

And so the staring contest came to an end, and it was ultimately proven that those with small eyes couldn’t outstare another with big eyes.

“Moo!”

The black bull mooed after Yi Pin threw in the towel. A hint of human delight clearly flashed in its millstone-sized eyes.

“You’re back, brother.”

Yi Pin walked up to Ye Qing and asked, “How did it go?”

“I walked away with something.” Ye Qing smiled.

“It was a fruitful venture then. Very good!”

Yi Pin wrapped an arm around Ye Qing’s shoulders and let out a devious chuckle. “We’re in this together, right? Did you get a souvenir for me?”

It was at this moment the black bull moved closer and tilted its head at Ye Qing. It was wearing the exact same grin and stare as Yi Pin, smug and annoying.

“What, you want a souvenir too?” Ye Qing raised his eyebrows in surprise.

The black bull responded with a nod of unconcealed desire.

“What the heck? You’ve got nothing to do with this! What makes you think that you deserve anything?!” Yi Pin ranted as he blocked in front of the black bull. “Screw off, you shameless bull!”

The black bull did not hesitate to knock Yi Pin aside with its horns and threw him a look that said, “You’re the shameless one. Your whole family’s shameless!”

“The hell is that look? I’ll beat you up, I swear!” Yi Pin looked up at the black bull.

“Moo moo!”

The black bull let out a pair of thunderous moos. It sounded like, “Come at me, bitch.”

“You think I wouldn’t? Wanna know just how short of a fuse I have?” Yi Pin rolled up his sleeves and stepped forward, but when he realized that no one was trying to stop him, he subconsciously looked at Ye Qing and said, “Don’t stop me!”

“I’m not. Now go beat em up!” Ye Qing beamed at him. “Don’t worry, I’ll cheer for you!”

“Hmph! You think that’s enough to provoke me?”

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Yi Pin rolled down his sleeves and declared shamelessly, “I refuse to fall for your provocation!”

Perfectly timed, the black bull shot Yi Pin a disdainful look, and Ye Qing a boot-licking expression. It even blinked its eyes innocently and appealed to the young man’s consciousness.

“Bootlicker! No, hooflicker! Just how shameless can you get?!” Yi Pin yelled.

The black bull ignored him and focused on bumping Ye Qing’s elbow, playing the perfect image of an obedient bull.

“You want a reward? Fine.”

Ye Qing chuckled at the black bull’s appearance. Now he knew why the black bull had chosen to stay behind. It was all to swindle a reward out of him. How interesting.

“In exchange, you’ll need to carry us out of this place.”

To be honest, Ye Qing didn’t need to do this. Although Myriad Buddha Plains was still shrouded in darkness, the disappearance of the Buddha Emperor Mountain and the Mara Buddha Sovereign had drastically diminished its dangers. Now, even without the black bull’s help, they could have safely left the Myriad Buddha Plains, not to mention that Devi Ruyi’s Golden-winged Aquila would be a faster option.

However, this black bull was quite the interesting one, so Ye Qing wanted to stay with it for a while longer. Besides, he wasn’t planning to let anyone find out about his secret arrangement with Devi Ruyi. If we met up with her now, they would need to put on an act that might or might not be seen through by the remnants of the Mara Sect group.

No, it was better to not take that risk at all and go their own separate ways. Besides, assuming that the black bull was willing to act as their guide, following it would save them a lot of time and trouble.

“Moo moo!”

In any case, the black bull quickly nodded in agreement. Its eyes shone dazzlingly like a pair of suns.

“Relax. I promise you’ll like the reward.” Ye Qing gave it a head rub before leaping onto its back. Then, he sat down on its black fur.

Speaking of which, the black bull’s fur was thick and tall, but not messy. In fact, it was soft and silky like silk. It was such a comfortable sensation that Ye Qing could not help but run his hands through its fur for a bit.

“Come on up!”

Ye Qing waved at Yi Pin and the others.

“Thank you, senior.”

Xu Kailu thanked Ye Qing before leaping onto the black bull’s back as well.

Before Yi Pin leaped into the air, he did not forget to taunt the black bull, “Tsk tsk. So what if you’re strong? You’re still going to carry us like a mule in the end.”

In response, the black bull shot him a, “Are you stupid?” look. Yi Pin instantly and automatically interpreted its meaning even though not a single word was spoken:

“I let him ride me because he promised me a reward. But what about you? You got nothing!”

Yi Pin was livid as a matter of course. The second he sat down on the black bull’s back, he immediately rubbed his hands across its fur furiously.

He was just venting his frustration. The black bull’s fur looked incredibly shiny, black, and mysterious. He knew at first glance that it was no ordinary object.

Unfortunately, his efforts proved futile. As it turned out, the black bull’s fur was so tough that he could not remove even a single one from its skin!

After everyone was ready, the black bull took off to the distance. Although it was trotting forward at a leisurely pace, it was so big that it covered tens of meters in a single step. Not only that, its fur was thick, warm and comfortable, protecting them from both the icy wind and the shakes and bumps of the trek. No one, not even Xu Kailu, felt cold in the slightest even though the snow was still falling on top of their heads.

Slowly, the black bull trotted into the wind and snow, its bell ringing melodiously with every stpe.