Sacred lake in the dense forests of the Sicilian mainland

After getting up that morning to catch fish and feed the little tiger, Ao Yang swam to the shore of the lake as usual, ready to chat with Xitu.

Who knows, he has been waiting for a long time, but the little tiger cub has no intention of speaking.

Shetu was busy, he was busy counting stones.

In the past few days, he has been pressured by an evil dragon around him, and the instinct of the orc has kept him in the form of a beast, so that he can attack or protect himself at any time.

So, in the yellowish grass next to the shore of the lake, there was a little black tiger squatting and bending slightly, stretching out his right forelimb, and pulling the small stones piled up on his body one by one, his eyes were wide open, his beard swayed slightly in the morning breeze, and his expression looked very strict.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6......" Well, Xitu nodded: these are six, the small stones I have saved up every day since I was imprisoned by the evil dragon.

So, how many are there at home?

Xitu's tiger face was crumpled, extremely uncertain and annoyed—he had already saved up a few small stones at home before he forgot it.

Is it twelve, or thirteen? So how many Ji Mo and Ao Bai are about to come to me?

Xitu anxiously fiddled with the stones in front of him, and wanted to rush home at once to count them.

This is, Ao Yang, who has been watching quietly, spoke: "Why do you like stones?" He has been doing well these days, because the little black cub has kept his promise to stay on the shore of the lake to talk to him.

The little tiger cub waved his right foreleg in annoyance, and said weakly, "Don't talk to me yet, I'm counting stones." "If the time is up, Ji Mo and Ao Bai come to the coast on time to wait for me, and I don't show up, they will be very disappointed and sad, and they will think I'm a liar! Beast God, why don't you punish this evil dragon?

Ao Yang thought about it, dived to the bottom of the lake, and when he came up again soon after, he had several large and round stones in the center of his claws, and all of them were piled up in front of Xitu.

"Let's play with these, these are bigger." Ao Yang kindly built yì because he felt that the existing stones of the little tiger cub were too small to play with it enough.

Xitu looked at the few stones in front of him that were wet and still sticking to the mud, and only felt more troubled, he lay down, did not look at the stones, and began to close his eyes and think slowly.

The cold season has slowly begun, and the grass around the shore of the lake is gradually turning yellow, almost noticeably getting colder day by day, and Xitu sleeps in the grass nest in the open air, and feels it very clearly.

"Ao Yang, I want to go home to see my mother and father, is that okay? I swear, I'll come back to talk to you when I'm done! I have family and friends, I can't just disappear all of a sudden, they must be very worried about me. Citto softened his voice as much as he could, pleading pitifully.

The brown-eyed white dragon was silent and did not answer for a long time.

Yes, he's not like me, he has no family, no friends; He has family and friends, so he doesn't want to stay with me all the time. Still, I don't believe he'll remember to come back to see me when he gets home, and the land orcs are all despicables who don't believe in their words.

Xitu looked at Ao Yang with pleading eyes, hoping that the other party could be accommodating. However, he looked at the other party without saying a word, looking indifferent, so he could only slowly lower his head and close his eyes sadly.

"Are you angry?" After a long time, Ao Yang asked a little confused, he just didn't want to lose this little orc who could chat with him.

The little tiger cub continued to close his eyes, and finally even curled up with his back to Ao Yang, no longer paying attention to him, thinking to himself: If you can't get used to it, drown me, anyway, you are an evil dragon.

In fact, Ao Yang only threatened to hurt him when they met him for the first time, and he didn't do anything to him in the past few days, and he always remembered him for catching fish - and even insisted on helping him remove fish bones until Xitu was embarrassed to pretend to be any longer, saying that he had learned to eat fish.

"Hutu?" Ao Yang shouted, he was very conflicted at this time.

He was not unaware that for several nights the little tiger cub had risen in the middle of the night and circled around the bushes around the shore of the lake, looking like he was eager to try, although at last he had taken heavy steps back to his resting grass nest.

"You've gone too far, Ao Yang, I'm sad right now." Chitu said sullenly, still not turning around. In the past few days, he had indeed planned to sneak away, but he had been worried about Ao Yang's threat, worried that after he escaped, the evil dragon would vent his anger on innocent orcs, drown or kill a few or something, how guilty he was.

Alas~ That's why he reluctantly stayed for so many days.

Ao Yang flicked his tail and explained sneeringly: "I'm just afraid that you won't come back after you go back, you land orcs like to lie." ”

Xitu immediately turned around and retorted sternly: "Ao Yang, how many land orcs do you know?" Why do we land orcs like to lie! Could it be that after I know you, a domineering and unreasonable dragon, all the dragons in your ocean are like this? ”

This evil dragon is really unreasonable at all, no wonder no dragon wants to be his friend, so he can only live alone in this lake......

Ao Yang said expressionlessly: "I've seen a lot." There are four-legged people like you, and there are winged ones, and they all say that they are warriors of the tribe, and they have teamed up to attack me several times, but they are not warriors, and I was almost killed by them. ”

Later, they went through a lot of hardships to find the poisonous dragon fruit and tricked themselves into eating it, although it was extremely painful at the time, but they also achieved the powerful Ao Yang now.

Xitu said suspiciously, "Winged? That's the orcs of the Western Continent of Sicily. The Eastern Continent and the Western Continent have not interacted with each other for a long time because of the competition for the dense forest, and my mother and father only saw the winged orcs when they were young. Besides, I've grown up so old that I've never heard of a dragon on the Sicilian continent...... "You're not lying to me, are you?" The little tiger cub looked at the dragon in front of him suspiciously.

Ao Yang explained mockingly: "That is the decision of your patriarchs and warriors, I am afraid that you will know that you are afraid, so I didn't tell you." In fact, some time ago, the winged orcs had just come and attacked me from high altitudes with stones and bone spurs while I had come ashore to clear the surrounding beasts. Behold, the wound on my head was stoned by them. The brown-eyed white dragon tilted his head slightly, motioning for the little tiger cub to look at his scar.

How so? No one in the tribe had ever mentioned this, could it be that this lake was a sacred lake? Ao Yang is the legendary powerful and tyrannical beast?

"Is it because you hurt their people? That's why they expel and slaughter you. Xitu asked bluntly.

Ao Yang shook his head slowly: "At the beginning, there were fierce beasts around this lake, and I drowned a lot, but later your people found me, and I didn't embarrass him at that time, and let him go back to the tribe." However, when he returned, he came with a large group of orcs to expel me, and even wanted my life. "Since you took the initiative to provoke the battle, the dead and wounded can't complain about me.

Xitu still couldn't understand, "My people are not wrong, this is the lake of the Sicilian continent, and your territory is in the sea; If our land orcs invade your territory in the sea, you will also be angry and banish us. ”

It's a matter of strength, cub.

"If you can drive me away, then I will go; But if you can't get rid of me, you can only accept that this lake is my territory. Ao Yang said confidently, this is his survival logic: it is my ability to stay, and it is useless if you don't agree.

Although the little tiger cub is aggrieved, he also knows the truth that the strong are respected, who let the land orcs not be able to defeat this evil dragon that invaded their territory?

After the day was unhappy, Ao Yang watched the little tiger cub become more and more silent and depressed, and he couldn't even lift his spirits when eating fish, and he played with those few small stones all day long, Ao Yang's expression became a little looser:

Perhaps, this little orc is different from the previous ones; Perhaps, after letting him go back to see his mother and father, he will really come back.

So, after Ao Yang, who had rarely relented, woke up that morning and swam to the shore of the lake, he took the initiative to say to Xitu for the first time:

"I can let you go home, but you must keep your promise and come back with me."

After a "rub", Xitu immediately jumped up excitedly and said ecstatically: "Really? Can I really go back? So, can I stay at home for a few more days? I want to spend some time with my mother. ”

After thinking about it for a long time, the brown-eyed white dragon finally compromised again, because he didn't want to make the little orc reluctant to speak because of this matter, so what was the point of leaving him behind?

Ao Yang pushed the big stone he had brought up from the bottom of the lake for Xitu to play with with his claws, pushed the three stones aside in one breath, and knocked the stones with his hard paws and said:

"That's all, I'm going to be mad any more, you know." He was born very smart, otherwise he would not have been able to grow up alone, and watching Xitu play with stones these days, Ao Yang already understood what it meant.

Xitu nodded frantically: "Three, yes?" I remembered that in three days, I would definitely be back. "Three days is enough for me to get everything done.

The next moment, in Xitu's surprised gaze, Ao Yang turned into a tall and sturdy brown-haired and brown-eyed person, but his body was scarred.

Now that the decision has been made, there is nothing to hesitate about. The humanoid Ao Yang was very resolute, and he took the lead in the direction of the dense forest, "Keep up, I'll send you out." "Hmph~ With your strength, you didn't get eaten by the beast when you came, and your beast god blessed you.

No matter what the other party suddenly changed his mind for, Xitu had to seize this opportunity, and the little tiger cub immediately followed.

Soon after, he was even more surprised: because Ao Yang was so familiar with the dense forest, and the road from the sacred lake to the edge of the dense forest was something he had never walked before, and the other party had killed many fierce beasts along the way, until he sent Xitu to the small river at the entrance of the dense forest.

"You know the next step, right? If you don't know, just wait by the river, there will be land orcs who stop by this river every day. Ao Yang looked down at the little tiger lightly and admonished.

Xitu nodded stunned, and a cold sweat broke out on his back: why does this evil dragon even know this? Had he been hiding in the vicinity all along?

"Remember, be punctual, or I'll drown all the orcs who pass by my territory!" After Ao Yang put down the threat again, he turned over and jumped neatly into the river, and disappeared in a blink of an eye.

The little tiger cub hurriedly walked over to look at the river that was still slightly undulating and turbulent, and thought very frightenedly: Could it be that when Ya Father and they were resting by the river before, Ao Yang quietly hid in the water to watch? O beast god!

*****

"Everything is packed, right?" After Ji Mo hurriedly closed the door, he confirmed it again uneasily.

Ao Bai had already turned into a dragon and was waiting outside, today was the day they and Xitu made an appointment to meet, and it was still some distance from the east continent of Sicily, so they had to get up early and set off.

"Ji Mo, come up, I want to carry you on my back." Ao Bai earnestly demanded that males naturally like to carry their partners on their backs, which is their way of expressing affection and concern.

Ji Mo has turned into a mermaid, ready for a small long-distance swim, and he has found a way to deal with these intimate pampering requests of the white dragon so much that he doesn't want his partner to move a few more times.

At this time, he frowned a little distressedly, touched his stomach and said, "Alas~ Let me swim for a while first, Ao Bai, I ate too much in the morning, I need to swim a few laps." "It's certainly not right to refuse, and reasons like this are very good and legitimate.

Sure enough, Ao Bai could only agree: "Okay, you swim by yourself first, and I'll carry you on my back when you're tired." ”

"Okay."

A dragon and a fish hurriedly swam to the coast of the Sicilian mainland, with a lot of pearls in the bag behind the mermaid, and then prepared to catch some delicious sea fish and shrimp for the little tiger cub after arriving in the local area, coaxing the children to be happy.

According to Ji Mo's feelings, they should have swam at a high speed for about three and a half hours without stopping, and the continental shelf on the coast of the East Continent of Sicily had arrived. However, he and Ao Bai did not dare to swim to the shore to show their heads, but cautiously went around the distant reef pile to observe the situation in the dense forest.

"Haha~ Look at Xitu, I'm impatient!" Ji Mo flicked his tail happily and pointed to the little tiger cub in the distance who was boringly circling in circles on the beach on the coast.

Ao Bai also smiled, "This cub really came early. You see, there were his footprints on that large stretch of sand, and the nearby bush was bare on the side of the sea. ”

Uh~ I'm really sorry, I didn't pay attention to those, I only saw the anxious expression of the little tiger cub and the action of looking at the sea......

Crossing the fish once again looked at his dragon with admiration, and Ao Bai's careful and cautious attitude often made Ji Mo feel ashamed.

"So, let's go over now, shall we?" Ji Mo looked at it for a while and then discussed it with his partner in a whisper.

Ao Bai shook his head, "No, wait a little longer, pay attention to Xitu's eyes and the movement in the dense forest." ”

"Oh, okay." Ji Mo shut up again, and began to open his eyes wide, focusing on Xitu's eyes - this is a helpless move, who let the land orcs and the sea orcs be in the same place?

It wasn't until the two of them confirmed that there was no abnormality in front of them and that there were no land orcs following the little tiger cub, that Ji Mo and Ao Bai dived into the sea to catch several fish and shrimp and appeared in front of Xitu.

"Oops, you're finally here, I thought you forgot about it!" As soon as Xitu saw the white dragon and mermaid slowly appearing in the near sea, he was very happy, and ran over with a smile, he had been disappointed and sad just now: I worked so hard to get the evil dragon to agree to let me go home, did you actually forget me?

"Xitu, I'm sorry to keep you waiting so long." Ji Mo said apologetically.

Now that the person has appeared, the little tiger cub is not disappointed, he said understandingly: "It's okay Ji Mo, I know you live far away, and you must have gotten up early today to swim over." ”

Ao Bai's smile disappeared when this tiger cub just ran over, and he was extremely surprised and puzzled in his heart: The smell of dragons? Another dragon taste? Where did the other dragon come from?

After Xitu returned to the tribe this time, he was not able to get everyone's understanding and attention so easily, and what happened during this period is simply indescribable; He didn't even try to hide the smell of the dragon on his body, because according to his father's last appearance, combined with Ao Yang's story, he knew that the warriors of the tribe must have hidden something from their people.

Ao Bai deliberately leaned closer to the little tiger cub again, and smelled it a little more clearly: That's right! This cub does have the smell of a strange dragon on it, and it is very strong.

Ji Mo, a crossing fish, was not keen at all about the ability to distinguish smells, so he didn't know anything about the already very faint dragon aura on Xitu's body.

"Xitu, is your mother and father getting better?" This was the first thing Ji Mo asked, after all, he had known each other once, and he knew that the other party's relatives were seriously ill, so how could he not care about asking a few words when they met.

The little tiger cub said happily: "Thank you for the pearls, my mother's and father's health has improved a lot, and he can now get up every day to dry dried fruits and give me barbecue and stew!" Although my mother and father have become sad again in the past two days, Xitu knows that Ao Bai and Ji Mo can't help, so there is no need to mention it.

Ji Mo said reassuringly: "That's good, you have to be obedient in the future." ”

Xitu's smile became reluctant, because he thought that he would have to go back to the sacred lake tomorrow to accompany the evil dragon, and his mother and father didn't know about it, and he didn't know how to speak.

"Well, I'll always care about him." Situ said firmly, saddened by the attitude of the tribe's chiefs and warriors, and although his father had been fighting for him to stay at home, he had not been able to convince the other warriors of the tribe.

-- Xitu, since it was your own trouble, then bear it yourself. Several of our warriors have already died at the hands of the dragon, and we can't slay the dragon for you.

These words were said by Xitu's beast father and current patriarch Hige, and they also represented the opinions of the vast majority of the warriors present.

"Xitu, come on、This is your favorite fish and shrimp last time." Ji Mo enthusiastically handed a bunch of seafood on the seaweed to the little tiger cub, after all, there is no snack and toy in this world, and sending food is the most real.

"Thank you, it would be nice if all the sea orcs were like you." Xitu said with emotion.

Ao Bai obviously heard the unfinished meaning, and he immediately guessed, could it be that something unpleasant had happened between Xitu and the dragon? But no matter how unpleasant it was, at least the dragon didn't hurt Xitu's life, which was a lot of kindness from the sea orcs.

"Huh? In fact, as long as your patriarch doesn't take action against us, we will definitely not hurt the land orcs for no reason. Originally, one party lives on land and the other side lives in the ocean, so they don't affect each other. Ji Mo patiently expressed his opinion.

Xitu almost blurted out: However, there is obviously a dragon of the sea, which has escaped to our continent, and has occupied our holy lake, imprisoning and threatening me......

"Come, Ji Mo, come and see, these are the herbs commonly used by adult females and orcs in our tribe." Xitu tried to ignore those troubles, and began to open a huge animal skin bag that he had carried, poured out all the neatly bundled herbs inside, and introduced them to Ji Mo one by one.

"Well, this one is hemostasis, and it should be ground into powder; This kind of stomach ache to drink, take such a little to stew broth and drink it together; This is used after the bone hurts, and it can be applied directly if it is broken......"

Ji Mo hurriedly paid attention to it, and while he listened, he took out the wide shell prepared in advance and made a simple record with a sharp stone, and then put the corresponding shell next to the herb.

Ao Bai has been vigilantly watching the dense forest not far away, ready to quickly jump into the sea with his partner at any time.

"Is that so? Am I right? Ji Mo solemnly picked up the shells that had been engraved before and went through the usage of the herbs one by one, no matter how he used it after taking it back, he remembered the usage first, how could anyone not get sick.

Xitu felt a little guilty, he couldn't find the herbs in the few days he was imprisoned by the evil dragon, so the ones he brought today were all secretly saved up by him before.

"Yes, you're right. I'm sorry Ji Mo, I, I only found this little ......," the little tiger cub said apologetically.

Ji Mo hurriedly comforted him: "Don't talk about Xitu like that, it's enough, such a big bag!" Much more than I could have imagined. After saying that, he took out the dozen or so pearls and said to Xitu:

"Come, Xitu, you hide these pearls according to the method last time, and go get a few more when you need them."

The little tiger cub kept shaking his head and retreated, "No, there were a few more you gave last time, and I can't just accept so many pearls anymore." At this time, he was so sad that he almost cried when he faced the friendly mermaid and the white dragon in front of him, because he couldn't help but compare the two with the evil dragon.

Ao Bai waited quietly, hoping that Xitu would take the initiative to tell them about the dragon.

Ji Mo forced the beads into his palm, "Keep it, I brought it to you!" Oh, by the way, didn't we say last time that we would exchange pearls for herbs? You agreed. ”

After pushing and pulling for a while, Xitu looked at Ji Mo's concerned expression and suddenly couldn't hold back the words in his heart, and he said desperately:

"Ji Mo, Ao Bai, the holy lake of our Sicilian continent has been occupied by an evil dragon!"