Chapter 2: Qilinzi

  Jiang Fengshui finally caught up, but was thrown off balance by the black bay horse's sudden stop, and his head spun with dizziness. The black bay horse stopped naturally in front of Cha Qianzong, but its eyes seemed dissatisfied, and it let out a long, loud snort at Cha Qianzong.

  Zha Qianzong and Zhou Futong, who were by his side, couldn't help but smile, but the two horses didn't feel so comfortable anymore. After hearing the voice of the black brown horse, they actually took a step back.

  It wasn't until then that Jiang Fengshui seemed to come back to life, and he suddenly started retching violently on the horse's back, causing the black sorrel horse beneath him to circle around restlessly.

  Zha Qianzhong said to Jiang Yingshui, who was pale-faced: "Consider yourself caught up now, just follow us from now on."

  He nodded slightly on the black bay horse, patted it lightly, and the black bay horse let out a resentful cry, but didn't bother to stir up trouble again, slowly following the two horses in front.

  Zhou Futong waved his hand at the fifty riders sitting on horseback behind him, and the fifty people immediately turned their horses around and moved forward.

  Zha Qian followed the fifty people in front and went, Zhou Futong pulled the reins to wait for Jiang Yunshui to catch up from behind.

  Zhou Futong smiled and glanced at Jiang Yunshui before saying gently: "Do you know the origin of this horse under you?"

  Jiang Fengshui shook his head, and the black brown horse under him seemed to sense it, feeling very unhappy that the person riding on himself didn't know his origins, and let out a loud snort again.

  It seems that the black-brown horse reminded Zhou Futong of something, and his eyes were filled with nostalgia, as if he was talking to himself or Jiang Yunshui: "In the Xia Dynasty before the Shang Dynasty, a riding animal called 'Qilin' was raised. However, as time passed, this 'Qilin' became increasingly rare and was not seen again until the Ming Dynasty. This riding animal was too precious compared to the horses of the Han and Tang Dynasties, so only the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty rode it. Later, in order to improve the combat effectiveness of the cavalry during the Ming Dynasty, 'Qilin' was crossed with warhorses, hoping to improve the bloodline of the warhorses. Unfortunately, each attempt ended in failure until the Chengzu era, when a single warhorse that had been bred from 'Qilin' and a warhorse finally survived."

  Although Jiang Yunshui is still a bit dizzy, when he hears the person in front of him say this, could it be that the horse under him is actually the descendant of some "Qilin beast" and a warhorse? Zhou Futong's next words finally confirmed what Jiang Yunshui was thinking.

  Zhou Futong continued: "After that, the war horse called 'Qilin' also had offspring with other horses, but the survival rate was extremely low. By the time of the Qing dynasty's entry into the Central Plains, there were only a dozen or so descendants of 'Qilin' in the entire region. Moreover, the bloodline of these later descendants became increasingly diluted, until we followed Big Brother and discovered that village, saw the father of your 'Hei Lie', 'Hong Ri', and finally believed that the divine steed 'Qilin' had indeed existed."

  Jiang Feng knew at this time that the name of the black brown horse under him was called "Hei Sha", and it really was a descendant of that kind of horse!

  Looking at Jiang Yunshui's stunned expression, Zhou Futong continued: "At that time, the 'Red Day' was more violent than Hei Xiao, probably because it was in its prime. At that time, we thought this horse was a thousand-mile steed and planned to buy it back to tame it. However, when we caught the 'Red Day', dozens of us could barely subdue it. After buying it from the people in the village and bringing it back for a closer look, we found that under its mane, there was actually a layer of scales! This situation has only occurred on the body of the 'Qilin' before, and the 'Red Day' is clearly a sign of returning to its ancestors. Such a divine steed can only be ridden by our eldest brother."

  Jiang Yunshui looked at the black bay horse carrying him with some disbelief, and couldn't help but reach out to pull its mane, which resulted in the "Black Fiend" under him shaking its head non-stop.

  "Now don't go look, Hei Xi has some characteristics but they are not obvious. It is still growing now, when it reaches the same age as Hong Ri, it will truly return to its ancestors and become a 'Qilin'."

  Jiang Yunshui withdrew his hand and shifted his gaze from Hei Pi back to the front, where dozens of riders were waiting. With a hint of confusion, he asked, "Where are we going now?"

  Zhou Futong thought for a moment before saying: "We're going to 'Emperor's Crown Mountain'."

  The three words "Emperor's Crown Mountain" left Jiang Yunshui stunned, because he had never heard of such a mountain before.

  He told Zhou Futong not to continue, loosened the reins and patted the horse's neck, then trotted forward with him. Jiang Feng now temporarily stopped thinking about everything in his mind, also imitated Zhou Futong using the reins to hit Hei Xi, as a result Hei Xi rushed out directly, taking him to run wildly towards the front.

  Zha Qian waited until Zhou Futong arrived nearby and asked: "Is this okay? Telling him so early?"

  Zhou Futong didn't seem to worry that much, and instead said with a slightly relaxed tone: "Although this matter can't be accomplished overnight, it also can't be done by simmering in low heat. We need to let the child integrate quickly and understand some things."

  "It seems I can only continue playing the villain."

  Zhou Futong smiled and replied: "Then I'll continue playing the red face."

  Just as Zhou Futong finished speaking, the sound of horseshoes echoed from behind, and then a black figure rushed past like a black whirlwind.

  Zha Qian and Zhou Futong exchanged a bitter smile, knowing that Jiang Yunshui still had to suffer some hardships, but this was also an opportunity for him to slowly come into contact with Hei Sha.

  The Emperor's Crown Mountain, which Zhou Futong had previously told Jiang Yingshui about, was actually a mountain peak over 100 miles away from this place. The mountain is located in the northwest of Taihang Mountains, and because its shape resembles the emperor's crown on the heads of ancient emperors, it was called "Emperor's Crown Mountain" by Zha Qian and others.

  However, this method of appreciating mountains is also impossible for an individual to see through, so Jiang Yunshui didn't know that the name "Emperor's Crown Mountain" was also reasonable.

  Then Zhang Qianzhong and Zhou Futong also spurred their horses to speed up, gradually surpassing the original fifty riders. In front of them was Jiang Yunshui riding alone in the dust. It seemed as if Jiang Yunshui was leading them towards Mount Dianguan.

  Behind Jiang Yunshui, Zha Qianzong and Zhou Futong looked at the figure in front of them, gradually merging with the appearance of that person from back then. The same was true for being one horse ahead, and the same was true for leading the brothers behind him forward.

  But now Jiang Yunshui doesn't look as carefree as he seems, on the contrary, because of Hei Pi's frantic running, Jiang Yunshui's internal organs are all churning and turning over, at this moment Jiang Yunshui would rather empty everything in his stomach to avoid suffering such a fate.

  Hei Xi's endurance and muscular strength were far superior to those of ordinary horses, even Jiang Yunshui, a first-time horse rider, could feel Hei Xi's power and speed. Every time Hei Xi lifted his legs, every time he landed his hooves, it was like the seemingly random splashes on an ink painting, yet contained a beauty with a hidden rhythm.

  If it weren't for the fact that the horses of Zhang Qian and Zhou Futong were also good horses, I'm afraid Hei Xi would have shaken off everything behind him long ago.

  Behind him, Cha Qianzong also couldn't help but feel a sense of emotion. Indeed, Hei Sha was the descendant of the "Qilin" who had returned to his ancestors, not only because of his dark and powerful strength and speed, but also because of his correct judgment and memory, even his sense of smell was extremely sharp. Now, the direction Hei Sha was running in was completely consistent with the direction Cha Qianzong and the others were heading towards Emperor Crown Mountain.

  Zhou Futong squeezed his legs to urge the horse under him, catching up with Cha Qianzong who was a foot faster than himself. He shouted somewhat urgently: "We must stop Hei Xia from running amok like this!"

  Cha Qian also came to his senses, after all, Hei Xiao was still young. At this speed, continuing to run would be very harmful to Hei Xiao's body, even if he was a descendant of the "Qilin Child".

  Zha Qian's whip cracked down on the horse's rump with just the right amount of force, and the horse, familiar with Zha Qian's commands, suddenly accelerated, closing in on Hei Pi's lead.

  About a dozen meters away, Cha Qian shouted at Jiang Yunshui in front of him: "Relax your hands a bit, don't pull the reins so tight! Don't clamp the horse's belly to death with your legs either, let Hei Pi's speed slow down!"

  Jiang Fengshui heard what Cha Qianzong said behind him, and hurriedly followed the instructions to do it. However, due to his anxiety and fluster, the whole process was chaotic. Fortunately, Hei Pi finally stopped after rushing out for hundreds of meters. Cha Qianzong's face also turned pale as he caught up from behind, his horse was panting heavily, constantly snorting, and its four legs were slightly trembling.

  Looking at the black horse under Jiang Yunshui, it had a calm and composed appearance, slowly and leisurely circling around Cha Qianzong's horse for a while, before carrying Jiang Yunshui to a nearby clump of weeds where it began to graze.

  Zha Qian stroked the horse under him slowly with his hand, waiting for Zhou Futong and the fifty riders to catch up from behind.

  I don't know why Zhang Qian is now somewhat angry, he glanced at Hei Pi and knew that getting angry with this guy would not work, so he scolded Jiang Yunshui: "You idiot! Riding a horse like you, even if you were given the 'Qilin', it would be exhausted to death by you! You should adapt to it, instead of making it adapt to you!"

  Jiang Yunshui felt bitter in his heart and couldn't speak out, he himself couldn't possibly argue with someone as fierce as Hei Pi, so he could only stretch out his hand to stroke the black horse's mane a few times.

  Just as Zhang Qianzhong was about to say something, Zhou Futong walked over from behind and shook his head at Zhang Qianzhong, who understood the hint and remained silent.

  Zhou Futong took out a "magnetic needle" to take a look, then pulled out a waterproof oil-coated map about the length of a ruler to take another look, and casually raised his head to survey his surroundings to determine his position.