Chapter 83: Baby... Can't bear to leave He Cong?

Shang You dozed off on a snowy night, shrouded in howling wind.

When she awoke, she found herself transformed back into a tiny phoenix chick, curled up in a small circle on her mother's back, where the luster of her magnificent, delicate feathers shone.

To prevent the chick from falling, Shang Youqing had even used one of her extremely long tail feathers to hold the ball of fur on the phoenix's back.

Shang You's tiny claws clung tightly to her mother's tail feathers, and in the biting cold wind, she lifted her fur-like head, peering through the gaps between her mother's golden feathers at the snow-capped mountains looming beneath the clouds.

Shang You had no idea where her mother was taking her; she simply lay obediently on her back, as always.

Her breath condensed into fine, translucent blue ice shards that clung to her soft, slightly curly neck mane. Shang You shook her head and tail, and the ice crystals clinging to her feathers evaporated into mist in the thin air above.

This was the first time since she first molted her tail that Shang You realized she and her mother possessed different phoenix fire attributes.

Her mother's feathers shone faintly with the luster of phoenix flame, her proud and magnificent wings igniting the clouds as they passed through, ablaze with dazzling hues.

Meanwhile, her own tiny tail, which had molted six months earlier, gradually condensed into icy blue crystals high in the sky, its once-white, soft wings now shimmering a subtle shade of blue.

Bewildered, Shang You licked her blue tail and couldn't help but cry, "Mom, why are my feathers blue?"

Shang Youqing glanced back at the chick, gently flapping her wings once or twice before descending from the sky to perch on a corner of the mountain range.

It was sunrise, and a vast expanse of golden light streamed down from the uninhabited mountain range, transforming the ground beneath them into a seemingly endless expanse of sacred golden mountains.

Shang You followed her mother, folding her true form one after the other. She held Shang Youqing's hand and recounted the entire process of her wing color change while soaring above the clouds.

After saying that, she still felt very confused and murmured, "Obviously, mommy's feathers are golden, why aren't Youyou's golden..."

Shang Youqing looked around at the steep and rugged mountains around her and told the cub the reason, "Baby, not all phoenixes are golden. Phoenixes will shed their tails into related attributes according to the different spiritual energy they absorb from heaven and earth from birth, just like mommy's priest, he is the Snow Phoenix."

As she spoke, she lowered her head to glance at the little guy's hair still stained with some young blue ice crystals, and the corners of her lips curved slightly, "Baby should also be an Ice Phoenix with ice and snow attributes."

Shang You nodded as if she understood, and then asked, "Mom, why are we here?"

Shang Youqing paused slightly and said softly She said, "Mom has something very important to do, but the prerequisite for completing this task is to find the place where Mom's priest is sleeping. Mom can sense that the priest's spirit is probably in this mountain range, but she is still trying to determine the exact location."

Shang You was still too young to have a clear understanding of this. She just quickly thought of something else, "What about Uncle He? Mom, isn't Uncle He coming with us?"

Shang Youqing lowered her eyes and was silent for a long time this time. Then she picked Shang You up again, stepped over the rocks in front of them, and said slowly, "He can't come."

Shang You lay on Shang Youqing's shoulder, her eyes slightly wet and red. At this moment, the little guy didn't realize that this was due to the sadness that was welling up. She

subconsciously raised her little hand to rub her eye sockets and told her mother, "But Uncle He told me that he wanted to tell me something very happy today."

The raging wind and snow were in her ears. Shang Youqing's breathing was obviously slightly stagnant when she heard this. She lowered her head and pressed it against the cub's head, as if to comfort Shang You, or as if to comfort herself, she said.

"Because this is a human-restricted area, and He Cong is human, he can't come with us."

Of course, this wasn't the primary reason.

If she forcibly used her spiritual power to build a human-like protective barrier for He Cong, it wouldn't be impossible for him to accompany her safely.

But the fact was, He Cong couldn't go into the mountains with her no matter what.

It was because she had violated the laws of nature by swallowing two killing barriers in a row.

She had come to the Kunlun Mountains with the sincere intention of surrendering herself

and surviving the thunder tribulation. As the Blue Bird Messenger had said, if she brought He Cong, who was directly linked to the swallowing of the killing barriers, with her at this time, she feared that the situation would be more than just a thunder tribulation.

As Shang Youqing thought about this, he suddenly felt the little cub lying on his neck quiet down. For some reason, the little creature buried its little head in the crook of Shang Youqing's neck, silent.

A moment later, Shang Youqing felt a wet spot on his collar.

Shang Youqing realized belatedly that Shang You was crying.

Maybe he didn't want her to hear him, so he just buried his little face in her neck and cried quietly.

Shang Youqing suddenly felt a tightness in her chest.

In the past two years, Shang You had always been very well-behaved and sensible, and the number of times he cried was even fewer.

She still remembered that the last time Shang You shed tears was when he first shed his tail half a year ago. During those days, Shang You was really in unbearable pain from the burning tail, so he cried and yelled in pain to her.

But this time...

Shang Youqing didn't dare to move her hand covering the little guy's head, "Baby... can't bear to leave He Cong?"

"I... don't know..."

Shang You's little hands softly hugged her neck, and her tender voice was obviously choked with sobs, "You You don't know why I can't bear to leave Uncle He... You You don't know why I feel so sad after separating from Uncle He..."

Shang You cleared his throat and swallowed several times, but he was never able to say "Because He Cong is the baby's father."

She hadn't gotten through the thunder tribulation safely yet, and she couldn't be sure that Shang You, who was also a descendant of her bloodline, would be implicated by her. Naturally, she didn't dare let Shang You get too close to He Cong, who was associated with the killing barrier, during this critical period.

Before everything was settled, she didn't dare to gamble, nor did she want to let Shang You down for nothing.

Shang Youqing could only lift Shang You's head, gently wiped the tears from her face with her fingertips, and said,

"I'm sorry, baby."

"But mommy promises you that when you have successfully completed this, you will definitely be able to meet He Cong, okay?"

Shang You had just cried for a while, and although her tears were wiped away, her eyes were still red. After listening, she keenly grasped the key information, "What about mommy? Won't you go to see Uncle He with me then?"

Shang Youqing told her uncertainly, "Mommy... may not be able to go back so soon then."