Chapter 135 – Taming General Mammoth, Advancing to The Sixth Rank - Part 1
After the rain in Autumnlake, the pale moonlight rippled across every water-filled pothole.
Because of the threat of roving soldiers, every household shut its doors early, making the streets particularly quiet. In that silence, there was a subtle chill in the air—one that made Li Yuan long for the warm blankets at home, for Yan Yu, Xue Ning, Sheng’er, Ping’an, and his goddaughter Nian Nian.
During this outing, Li Yuan had only brought the two white finches; the small sparrow with a beaded neck remained behind to watch over the household.
At that moment, his gaze shifted to that of the sparrow; then he couldn’t help but smile. Standing right beside it was a big crow.
The small sparrow clutched the roof ridge with its claws, and the crow had assumed the exact same pose. The two were lined up perfectly, looking unexpectedly harmonious.
“When Sheng’er grows up, I really need to ask her what’s going on here,” Li Yuan muttered to himself as he watched.
Off in the distance, a gentle light glimmered from one of the inner rooms, where his two wives had taken the children to bed.
Meanwhile, a clanging noise came from elsewhere in the compound. Tang Nian was crouched beneath a large puppet, tinkering with ssomething. Stacks of paper sat under the eaves next to her, covered in drawings, diagrams, and complicated equations.
Suddenly, the puppet let out a series of toot-toot-toot sounds and began spewing white smoke. The next instant, it exploded, sending an arm hurtling through the air like a rocket and blasting a gaping hole in the nearby wall.
Tang Nian quickly rolled aside to avoid the flying metal limb. She stayed away from the wreckage, since the shattered joint was still sizzling ominously.
Sure enough, a moment later there was a cacophony of crashing noises as more hidden components shot out, like a burst of concealed weapons.
Only once everything settled did she walk over to gather up the remains of the arm and the scattered parts. In the moonlight, her figure looked lonely and somewhat forlorn.