Chapter 1019: Chapter 1019: Xiao Xue’s First Lesson?
This is a remarkable event, Dingdang has come of age—but the statement itself is problematic because she has come of age twice already. The first time was eons ago on her unknown-many-thousandth birthday, marking her first coming of age. The second time was when she learned how to switch to her Divine Form, recognized by the Divine Race as a standard of adulthood. This is her third coming of age, with the shedding of two leaves.
It is said that each time Dingdang eagerly celebrates. Life Goddesses coming of age three times in their lifetime is among the most distinct traits in the Star Domain’s Divine Race. As Father God puts it: these little ones live all over the place, if you take it too seriously, you’ve already lost.
Now that Dingdang’s two leaves have fallen, she gave one to Lilina, who plans to transplant it into the dead vine of the Mother Tree in a couple of days, then graft the Mother Tree with the Heavenly Garden. The other leaf she plans to plant.
If a Little Dingdang grows, then it can play with them: that’s her original statement.
When Little One talked about planting a Little Dingdang, Qianqian immediately got busy. From her perspective, anything novel seen for the first time must be interesting, and she wants to get involved in everything. Before we even reacted, she’s already come running in holding a flower pot filled with soil she dug from the yard: “Plant it here, plant it here!”
Dingdang solemnly leaned over the flower pot, dug a little pit inside, placed her leaf into it, and while covering it back with soil, she muttered to herself: “Dig a pit, cover with soil, count one, two, three, four, five… Father God, when will it sprout?”
Father God, dumbfounded, looked at Dingdang, then suddenly turned his head: “Have you been feeding her weird stuff? Why does this child look even sillier than when she was younger!”
As for King Huron and Hila, who’ve been watching the fun since earlier, they’ve long been laughing uncontrollably, sprawled out on the sofa in fits of joy. Next to them, in a fit of laughter, were Bingdisi and Monina, the insensible bunch. Lin, somewhat at a loss seeing her captain acting so adorably, cautiously reminded, “Captain, you’re planting it the wrong way for it to sprout…”
“Won’t sprout?” Dingdang tilted her head, thought a bit, then suddenly clapped her hands in realization, “Oh, Lin is right, I need to water it too! Let me just leave the flower pot here, Dingdang will be right back…”
Then, the Little One dashed off in a flurry and disappeared. After a while, she emerged from the kitchen, staggering while clutching a small plastic kettle almost twice her size, filled to the brim with water. Although she managed to fly all the way without dropping it, one might wonder why she didn’t just summon a Tree-man when she needed some hard labor?
“Water it, water it…”
Dingdang leaned over the side of the flower pot, placed the kettle next to her, and under her little direction, crystal-clear water droplets floated up one by one from the kettle into the soil. The water seemed alive as it weaved through the soil, filling in the gaps, and appeared more efficient than drip irrigation. Watching her perched on the edge of the pot and giggling, I wondered why she bothered going to the kitchen for water when she could do this…
“Father God, now will it sprout?”
Dingdang asked, excitedly.
Father God’s lips twitched: “…I haven’t even had a chance to say a word, but don’t you think the pot is a bit small?”
Dingdang looked at the flower pot: “It doesn’t seem small, it’s taller than Dingdang!”
There aren’t many things in this world shorter than you!
“Think about the temple of Jiajia, and how big the flower vines are.” Father God pointed helplessly at the flower pot, which looked scarcely adequate for growing garlic sprouts. “Look at the pot you picked. If a Little Dingdang actually grows in there, it would probably end up stunted.”
Dingdang suddenly realized: “Oh, that’s true!” and hastily dug out the small leaf covered in soil, then flew out the window. Everyone, having nothing better to do, followed after the Little One to see what sort of antics she would get into. Dingdang searched around the yard for a while and finally found a feng shui treasure spot—next to the tree where Anwina usually tried laying eggs. She dug a hole there, planted the leaf, patted the soil with a small stone, and contentedly flew back: “This time, the spot is big enough.”
Something still seems off to me…
“Oh right, needs watering too!” Dingdang suddenly remembered, raising her finger to the sky, “Rain! Dingdang needs to water!”
Within seconds, the clear sky was suddenly filled with thick clouds, and the weather, which should have been snowing, actually began to rain!
A crowd of people rushed back under the eaves to escape the rain, and I angrily jabbed Little One on the shoulder: “Are you trying to kill the meteorological station and those meteorology experts?” I wondered how CCTV-10 was going to explain this winter rain and the sudden appearance of tens of square kilometers of rain clouds in the sky!
Dingdang thought about it and concluded it was true. She pointed to the sky again: “Just rain a little, don’t let others see it.”
Immediately, the rain clouds shrunk visibly, leaving clear skies outside my house, but pouring rain over just the yard…
“I have a feeling Dingdang’s exuberance might last a while,” my sister said helplessly, glancing at Dingdang who was manipulating the weather and watering her leaf in the yard, “Usually, she doesn’t have the patience for anything. This time, she finally found something she can stick to.”
Just as she said, Dingdang flew over, rolling on top of my head, chuckling joyfully: “Father God, Father God, how long until it grows?”
“Just wait,” Father God helplessly spread his hands, “These things don’t happen so quickly. Back when Jiajia planted you, it took several thousand years. Even if your leaf grows fast, reaching maturity could take a thousand years.”
“Wow! That sounds pretty long.” Dingdang blinked, began counting on her fingers but didn’t understand what a thousand years meant after calculating for a while. She clapped her hands, “Though I don’t know how long it is, I’ll just wait then, right? Lilina, remember to help Dingdang water!—Oh, and do I need to fertilize?”
Qianqian jumped out waving her hand: “Leave it to me, leave it to me! Tomorrow I’ll buy two bags of Gold Kela to sprinkle…”
I frantically pressed down on Qianqian’s head: “Have some mercy on the local Earth industry!” Oh boy, she always acts on every whim she has. But given her sudden idea, is stopping her even possible?
“A thousand years, this truly is… the Divine Race’s style of chronology,” Lin Xue took a deep breath, looking at the courtyard still under the downpour, her tone leisurely, “Wood, it looks like K City can stand firm for at least a thousand years, meeting what will be the most unyielding tenants in history.”
I thought for a moment, looked at Father God, and asked, “How big will this thing grow? Can my yard accommodate it?”
I remembered the gigantic plant halls and buildings in the temple of the Supreme Life Goddess. This is something the Life Goddess planted herself – to what scale does it grow?
“No problem fitting it in the yard. Even if the vines extend a bit, you can warp and expand the space. The issue is that when it ripens, it will release divinity,” Father God glanced at Dingdang, “Enough to keep the vegetation in the Northern Hemisphere from withering for two hundred years. You can’t shield against that.”
“Why not transplant it to Avalon when it grows up? After all, that’s Dingdang’s own Divine Realm,” I thought. It was too early to think about that, considering it would be nearly a thousand years before it matures. It was raining heavily in the yard, and the rain scene was spectacular. As I swept my gaze, I saw, coincidentally, Little Baobao sitting on a children’s toy boat with a plastic duck head slowly floating past, followed by Little Qijing…
“Hey, stop, Dingdang! It’s raining too heavily!”
Well, with God Himself ordering it, the entire atmosphere of the Northern Hemisphere seemed all riled up. In a short time, water was flooding up to the last step of our doorstep — thankfully, there are invisible energy barriers set around the yard. Otherwise, explaining a sudden inundation of a street in K city on a clear day would be challenging, and there’d probably be a post online, “Water main burst at XX area, water springs from the ground, ‘flood’ destroys shops along the road,” followed by debate about whose responsibility it was…
“The basement won’t flood, will it?” my sister suddenly asked with some concern, and I instantly remembered: The basement has two skylights leading to the ground, situated inside the yard without any energy barriers!
As expected, the basement was completely flooded. Although the skylights were closed, they weren’t sealed, and when my sister and I frantically rushed down, we found nearly thirty centimeters of water accumulated. A porcelain doll led a few creaking puppets, sitting in a ceramic basin, floating back and forth. These supernatural items used a rib taken from some teaching model as a pole, navigating through the basement’s water on their boat tour. A semi-transparent ghost measuring thirteen centimeters in height sat dazedly on a dressing chest, which was almost floating, humming an out-of-tune melody. Two dolls with eyes constantly oozing mud huddled in front of an old dressing mirror, trembling as they clung to each other. Blood continuously flowed from the mirror behind them, with scrolling text: “Flood! Flood!”
The scene resembled a bizarre, eerie horror film, except these ghostly toys, meant to frighten, were now in a panicked state, seemingly cornered by the sudden surge. I even saw a group of Little Tin Soldiers forming ranks on a table, pledging an oath, with the “Noah” warship behind them ready to set sail.
The warship was made of stiff cardboard.
… The basement was full of Anwina’s Dead Soul toys!
“Wow! Filming a horror movie here without special effects could beat Elm Street by four miles!” Bingdisi remarked upon visiting our basement for the first time—though she’d been staying at our place for some days, she’d never imagined this place had such feng shui treasures below. “What’s going on? Do you usually collect cursed items?”
“Don’t you remember? That Lost World called Mobra was Sandora’s former territory. We discovered Mobra initially because a summoner named Milia accidentally traveled to Earth. At that time, her abilities went out of control, materializing numerous cursed items from horror legends on Earth. When it ended, I planned to have Alaya purify everything with Holy Light, but we found many cursed items had come to life. Anwina felt sorry for them and took them in, usually piling them up in the basement—this is Anwina’s toy room.”
“You’ve really got hidden talents at home,” Bingdisi sincerely praised while carefully stepping over a pair of red rain boots trudging through the water, “even a Ghost Maid has her own toy room.”
The basement flooding was truly absurd, and it was definitely unrelated to architectural design. Who would expect a sudden flood in their yard? Little Dingdang really caused trouble this time. I glanced down; the little one was lying in the pocket on my chest, curiously looking around: completely unaware that the scene of rivers, lakes, and seas in the basement was her responsibility. Just then, Anwina hurriedly appeared, coming directly through the basement ceiling. Seeing her cursed toy army in chaos amidst the water, the Little Ghost was startled: “Ah, Master, what’s happening here…”
“Flooding in the yard; you’re doing pretty well. There’s over a meter of accumulated water on the ground…” I shrugged, feeling amused and helpless, “Little Baobao is rowing on the water above, and when I wanted to drain it, she wouldn’t let me.” Can’t understand what kids are thinking. If they really want to play in water, Ji Shanshan can take her to Fairy Lake. Why insist on staying in the yard?
Just as we were about to clear the water from the basement, an oil painting depicting a medieval knight suddenly floated in front of Anwina. The knight inside tipped his hat off to Anwina, “Respected Undead Princess, our kingdom has been struck by a sudden flood; much of the towns and lands have been destroyed, but the Bloody Dressing Mirror Highlands and Black Smoke Wardrobe Mountain remain safe! The Curse Poker Knights have already led the civilians to the Highland refuge, and the Red Rain Boots have set out to find the drain plug. Sworn by the spirit of the knight, we will certainly defend the Kingdom of the Basement! This world shall surely turn from danger to safety!”
Qianqian suddenly poked at the supernatural oil painting, “Hey, hey, you got wet; the lower half of you is already losing color…”
The knight in the supernatural painting looked down at his legs and found that the color below his calves had already faded from the water. He cried out in surprise and galloped away on his warhorse towards a distant castle: the background of the painting features an ancient castle shrouded in dark clouds. I really didn’t expect such a small detail from a trivial supernatural painting!
“I swear by the spirit of the knight, Undead Princess, I shall return!”
“Undead… Princess…” The expression on my face must be quite something. “Anwina, what are you playing at?”
“…Playing house… it’s really boring when the owner is not home, so…” The little ghost lowered her head, her voice going off-key. Even more remarkably, the tips of her ears were faintly red, completely looking like someone embarrassed after being caught.
The whole family was dumbfounded at this moment. Had things in the basement already gotten this bizarre?
This was truly the first time we knew about this. How should I put it? Ever since those supernatural items (or should I say terrifying cursed items?) officially took residence in our home, the basement became Anwina’s private domain. No one has ever gone in, firstly because no one in the family placed any personal items in the basement—our personal space is ample, secondly, because all the nooks and crannies in the house were Anwina’s responsibility to clean, so we had no need to go down, and most importantly, it’s filled with eerie supernatural items. Who would idle down here to wander around? If we wanted to experience a horror movie, we could just go to Sylvanas’s house to play. So, what happens in the basement was truly a mystery to us. I never expected that Anwina would tinker with something like this when bored—uh, the Undead Empire of the Basement…
A group of little tin soldiers were already sailing their paper-mache boat models; the outer side had been waxed, turning them into genuinely usable lifeboats. It seems their goal was to rescue the Mini Zhenzi trapped on a dressing box. Puppets and Ghost Porcelain Dolls were fishing a wig out of the water, and beneath the wig was a mask without facial features—clearly, yet another classic horror movie image. The cursed Bloody Dressing Mirror opened its drawer, dangling a rope from inside. Climbing desperately on the rope was, surprisingly, a set of dentures: what is this? Cursed dentures? Is their purpose to give people a toothache when they drink cold water?
The “flood” suddenly rushing in from the skylight turned the world of these supernatural items upside down. They already see this as a doomsday-like disaster. Anwina may have started by playing house with a bunch of toys, but now I vaguely feel that these cursed items never saw it as a game from the start.
Yes, this huge basement, barely over three meters high and occupying forty to fifty square meters, filled with clutter, furniture, and dolls, was, to them, the entire world—already broad enough, rich enough, and bustling enough. They had their plains and mountains, their king and army, and even an Undead Princess who could float down from the ceiling (their version of the sky): she was the true ruler of this world. All the cursed items followed this princess’s orders, just like now. To save the princess’s domain from the flood, the little tin soldiers unhesitatingly challenged a calamity much larger than themselves.
“My first lesson was held here.”
As I reminisced that, a girl’s voice suddenly came from beside me. Unknown to me when, Xiao Xue had also come down, leaning absentmindedly on Lin Xue’s shoulder and watching a troop of straw-man little soldiers shouting slogans.
“When I was six, you and Mom brought Xiao Qian and me down to the basement to view this forty-six square meter small world. You told us that this tiny piece of heaven is the whole world to these toy soldiers. From that moment, we were taught that no matter how small or fragile the things of the world are, they are born with dignity. That was my first lesson, so the first royal rule we learned was: never abuse power, never belittle the weak.”
“Good family education.” Bingdisi nudged my arm, “My father taught me something similar back then.”
I was instantly horror-struck: So did Xiao Xue turn into a naughty kid like you afterward? (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to visit Qidian () to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)