Rabbit Must Die
Chapter 281 - 278 The Mute is Very Pitiable [Subscribe Please]_1

Chapter 281: Chapter 278 The Mute is Very Pitiable [Subscribe Please]_1

How vast is the Iron Bamboo Forest? Qin Shou didn’t know. It was said to be but a single expanse, yet this expanse seemed endless.

Although Fangcun Mountain was only a single mountain, it was a mountain of the Earthly Immortal Realm. Comparing it to an entire Earth might have been an exaggeration, but it was not small by any means.

Qin Shou did not wander around the periphery but instead plunged directly into the depths of the forest. After making sure no one was around, he bit into the iron bamboo, only to hear a crisp snap!

The iron bamboo, impervious even to an axe, broke cleanly in response!

Qin Shou, pleased, raised his eyebrows and chewed the bamboo a couple of times before swallowing, muttering to himself, "My teeth have never let me down, not bad, not bad at all... This iron bamboo, worthy of being yellow level vegetation, doesn’t have a particularly large amount of Yuan Qi but is still much faster than sitting and meditating. Since they want to play, I must play with them to the end... Okay, time to get to work!"

Then, a sound resembling a rat gnawing on wood echoed incessantly through the Iron Bamboo Forest, followed by the snapping of one Cold Bamboo plant after another falling to the ground, then being stuffed into the Black Demon Box by the Rabbit, who methodically swept through the area. Everywhere Qin Shou went, he didn’t spare even the root systems of the Cold Bamboo, pulling them out if they would come, and if not, digging three feet into the ground to get them out!

...

Songguo went back home, read books all day, ate his fill, had a good sleep and with night approaching, figured it was time to check on the rabbit’s progress.

However, Songguo was skeptical about the rabbit’s abilities, mumbling to himself as he walked, "Three hundred iron bamboo in one day, how could the eldest senior brother seriously propose such an ordeal? Even if that rabbit is highly gifted, it’s unlikely to complete the task."

Lost in thought, Songguo soon arrived at the outskirts of the Iron Bamboo Forest. The forest was lush and vibrant, the bamboo rustling in the breeze like emerald waves.

At the very edge of the Iron Bamboo Forest, there were several freshly severed stubs of iron bamboo roots, and lying next to them were ten bamboo stalks... and one sleeping rabbit, snoring with snot bubbles forming and bursting.

Upon seeing this, Songguo burst out laughing and cheerfully approached, saying, "Rabbit, have you finished chopping a hundred iron bamboo stalks?"

Qin Shou flipped over, and with bleary eyes, licked his lips and replied, "Not yet, this bamboo is as tough as cirrhosis of the liver, I can’t chop through it! Songguo, did you use to chop this kind yourselves?"

Songguo nodded, "Of course."

Songguo wasn’t lying, except back when they went up the mountain, they chopped king-level iron bamboo, the lowest of the Venerable, Sage, Yuan, King levels!

The levels of plant strength are divided into heavenly, earthly, profound, and yellow. The heavenly and earthly are at the immortal level, Venerable, Sage, Yuan, King are mortal realms.

However, even so, Songguo and his peers only managed to cut one iron bamboo per month, not three hundred in one day!

But the Rabbit was asking if they also chopped iron bamboo.

Songguo nodded; of course, it wasn’t a lie, right? But Songguo was still too naive. Others hadn’t asked the crucial point, yet he already thought of it himself, so his eyes were a bit panicked, and his little face blushed.

The crafty Qin Shou instantly understood everything and thought, "As expected! I’ve been tricked by these guys. Just when I was sincerely trying to learn something and attend school properly, you conspired against me! Fine! Since you don’t play by the rules, why should I stick to your norms?"

With that thought, Qin Shou didn’t say much, but continued to feign exhaustion, sighing, "It must have been hard on you guys... I can’t go on, I need to rest, to sleep a bit more."

"Rabbit, aren’t you going to eat?" Songguo felt a bit sorry for the rabbit now.

Qin Shou waved his hand, "No need."

Songguo said, "Then you should at least go back to sleep, right?"

Just then, a voice rang out, "Sleep? Eat? The rules of Fangcun Mountain decree that those who fail to complete their task will not get any of these luxuries."

Qin Shou and Songguo looked up to see Guang Shan approaching with a stern face, hands behind his back and a stride full of self-assurance, playing every bit the part of the second senior brother.

"Second Senior Brother..." Songguo began to say something.

But before he could finish, Guang Shan silenced him with a look and said, "Rabbit, don’t resent your brothers for making things hard for you. See for yourself, you can only chop ten iron bamboos in a day, such little strength. Honestly, living is the path, and the path is living. The world and all within it revolves around the path. Chopping iron bamboo is also part of cultivation; the more you chop, the more it enhances your strength. So don’t complain and just keep trying hard."

After speaking, Guang Shan patted Songguo’s head and, regardless of whether he agreed, forcibly dragged him away...

Qin Shou watched their retreating figures and then with a face full of reverence said, "I will heed the lesson of the second senior brother and strive to finish cutting all these iron bamboos!"

Upon hearing that, Guang Shan burst into laughter and turned around, smiling, "Hey! You think you’ll finish cutting all these iron bamboos?"

Qin Shou nodded, "What’s the matter? Can’t I?"

Guang Shan clapped his hands, laughing heartily, "Of course, you can! Ha ha... Work hard, and if you do manage to finish cutting all these iron bamboos, I won’t promise anything else, but I will plead with our master to teach you magic. If he won’t teach you, you can pick any skill you want from my repertoire, how’s that?"

Upon hearing this, Qin Shou was overjoyed inside, but his face showed difficulty, as though a braggart had been caught in a lie, yet still stubbornly shouted, "Is that really true?"

Guang Shan laughed heartily, "Of course, it’s true!"

"These iron bamboos look pretty valuable. If I do chop them all, you guys won’t blame me? Won’t make me pay for them?" Qin Shou asked.

Guang Shan shook his head, "We won’t make you pay! If anyone asks you to, I’ll take care of it. Little rabbit, wasn’t I generous enough?"

Qin Shou bowed his hands in mock grief, "Generous indeed, very generous..."

That expression was as if he was saying, can’t you give me a way out?

Guang Shan proudly cried out, "Little bunny, you still want a way out? You’ll be chopping iron bamboo here for the rest of your life! Ha ha..."

Feeling immensely pleased with himself, Guang Shan left with a sympathetic-looking Songguo.

Once the two had gone, the rabbit who had appeared as worn out as a dead dog suddenly sprang up, lively and energetic, and gathered all the iron bamboo laid out on the ground into the Black Demon Box.

Then, climbing to the top of the iron bamboo, he made sure Guang Shan and Songguo had left far behind before flicking his large ears and heading deeper into the Iron Bamboo Forest.

That night, the sounds of snapping filled the depths of the Iron Bamboo Forest endlessly...

Many birds were forced to move...

The beasts were also frantically fleeing.

But the Iron Bamboo Forest was so vast that such disturbances, once whisked away by the mountain breeze, dissipated.

That night, Qin Shou was happily gnawing on some iron bamboo when suddenly a dark shadow flashed past his eyes!

On seeing this, Qin Shou shouted, "Stop right there!"

The dark figure immediately stopped and turned around, looking at Qin Shou with a puzzled gaze.

Upon closer inspection, Qin Shou burst into laughter, saying with a grin, "Hey kiddo, you look very familiar. You and I are quite fated."

The creature couldn’t understand Qin Shou’s words, its gaze remained blank, revealing itself to be a bamboo rat without any spiritual intelligence!

Qin Shou was all too familiar with this creature; he had seen many in his previous life, but alas, only ever saw others eating them. Today, he finally encountered a live one!

Qin Shou rubbed his hands together, saliva dripping from his mouth as he approached, eyeing the bamboo rat and assessing it, "Not bad, not bad, quite plump, the fur is shiny too... Ah, such a nice bamboo rat, what excuse can I find to eat it?"

The bamboo rat was incredibly slow to react. By now, it probably realized this rabbit was up to no good!

So, the bamboo rat turned and ran!

Seeing this, Qin Shou’s eyebrows rose, and he sprang after it, catching the bamboo rat’s little tail in one grab!

However, Qin Shou was not much bigger than the large bamboo rat and couldn’t lift it outright, so he dragged it by the tail. No matter how hard it struggled, it couldn’t escape, while he yelled, "I’m talking to you, rabbit lord here! Say something!"

The bamboo rat, not understanding a word, continued to struggle on.

Qin Shou went on, "I told you to speak, won’t you say something?"

The bamboo rat kept crawling.

With a long sigh, Qin Shou said, "Done for, this bamboo rat’s a mute, lost the ability to communicate. Such a creature probably won’t survive three days in the wild. Well then... well then... I’ll do the kind thing and... eat it. Better a quick death to be reborn, than suffering!"

Before long, a raucous voice like a cracked gong rang out from the bamboo forest: "Finally, you let me out, damn rabbit! Do you know? I’ve been suffocating these past days! Don’t say anything else, just hurry up and stew something delightful for me to enjoy!"

"Shut up, don’t make a sound, start the fire!" Qin Shou’s voice came through.

After that, Qin Shou could be heard mumbling to himself, "Add some tender iron bamboo, boil in high heat water, and then stew for a while."

"Great, take it out! Now for the stir-fry!"

"Chili, Sichuan pepper, black pepper, add a bit of oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar...Hey, don’t waste the soup, add some seasoning later for a nice broth."

"Damn rabbit, why do you talk so much?" called the Eight Trigrams Furnace.

"Shut up! You better be as good as a pot’s worth! Less talk, more work," scolded Qin Shou.

Before long, the mountain forest was filled with an alluring aroma that wafted tantalizingly through the air...

But a gust of wind came, and the scent dispersed.

Normally, nobody would notice this, but some creatures are born with extraordinarily sharp senses, like a certain monkey snoozing under the covers...

Looking at the plateful of food and a pot of soup in front of him, Qin Shou licked his lips and said, "Ah, after a day’s work, I should reward myself."

Just then, a call came out: "Rabbit, what delicious thing did you make? That smell is way too good! It’s so much tastier than the temple food on the mountain!"

In the midst of speaking, a monkey landed from the sky and rolled right in front of Qin Shou—Sun Wukong himself.

Qin Shou, surprised, exclaimed, "Damn, Monkey, were you born in the year of the dog? There’s at least a few thousand miles, if not ten thousand miles, from our home to here, yet you found your way?"

The Monkey chuckled and said, "That aroma of yours wafted for tens of thousands of miles. If I can smell it, what’s the big deal? Enough talk, let me taste it first..."

As he spoke, Sun Wukong reached out to grab some.

Qin Shou raised his hand and smacked him, saying, "Have you washed your hands? You just grab things from the pot! You might not mind the dirt, but rabbit lord here does! Go wash your hands!"

PS: I’ll try my best to break out the day after tomorrow...