Divine Beast Creator-Chapter 1216 - 1217: Flower Lantern

"Hehe~ How about that~ Impressive, isn’t it?~"

Lying on the bed, Little Husky said proudly to Agunas, tails wagging. They were staying on the second floor of the small tea house, a space the owner preserved for family and friends, typically not open for business. However, thanks to Feng Yuan, not only did they get to see the town’s long-told tale of Yanlan, but he also negotiated to have the townspeople waive the rent and provide accommodations for his group.

The cozy little room on the second floor of the tea house, specially prepared by the owner for his relatives and friends, featured a simple yet warm decor with a distinctive charm that seemed to transport one back to the elegant dwellings of scholars and writers from the Dynasty Era. Just then, a knock on the door came, and Little Husky looked towards it and said,

"The door is unlocked; come on in."

As the door opened, Qi Chen, seeing Feng Yuan transformed into Little Husky on the bed, asked with some confusion,

"Didn’t you say you were going to release lanterns? Why aren’t you ready yet?"

"What’s there to prepare? Haven’t the lanterns been arranged by Chen Xin? As for changing clothes, I’ll do that after we get back."

Jumping off the bed, Little Husky reverted to its original form. Just then, Yanlan peeked in from the doorway, eying Feng Yuan sneakily. Noticing Yanlan, Feng Yuan said with a chuckle,

"What? You want to join us too? There’s no reason you can’t—after all, this is your turf~"

Thanks to Agunas’ interpretation, they finally understood why Yanlan had disappeared from the townspeople’s sight. During the Guard War, Yanlan was still an egg, and its parents had used up all their strength protecting the town. By the time it hatched naturally, the Guard War had just ended.

The departure of Yanlan’s parents was abrupt, and they didn’t manage to ask the townspeople to care for Yanlan beforehand. The townspeople didn’t even know if Yanlan still existed in the town, and following that, many troublemakers took advantage of the immediate post-war chaos.

The newly hatched Yanlan witnessed the confrontations between the troublemakers and townspeople. Fearing people, it dared not follow its instincts to approach the humans, while the townspeople, unaware of Yanlan’s existence and location, did not search for it. In this way, they lived in the same small town without any interaction.

If Yanlan wished to hide, it would be tough for ordinary people to detect its presence. Since the townspeople were unaware of it, they did not actively search, and this peculiar situation continued until Feng Yuan discovered it.

Unlike others, Yanlan felt an inexplicable sense of security with Feng Yuan, deeming him reliable. This was why Feng Yuan could easily build rapport with Spirit Beasts. He naturally possessed the ability to soothe Spirit Beasts, making it relatively easy to establish a relationship with them.

Seeing Yanlan nod, Feng Yuan laughed and said,

"Then let’s go together. Since she must have prepared plenty of lanterns, how about we each release one later?"

"While I fail to see the amusement in it, to refuse your invitation would be to disrespect you," Veronia landed and said in her human form. Agunas glanced at Veronia, then turned and muttered softly,

"Even though you really want to do it, you still speak in such a manner."

With an annoyed stare at Agunas, Veronia huffed and pretended not to hear anything. Feng Yuan chuckled and patted Xiao Ji on the head, saying,

"You’re going to release one yourself later~"

"Releasing so many lanterns with all these people, are you sure it’s okay?"

On the way to the agreed meeting place, Agunas asked doubtfully. A lantern or two might be fine, but so many—could that be all right? They shouldn’t end up being scolded by the reserve force the next day, or worse, end up cleaning up garbage on the river.

"No worries, I’ve made arrangements with it—it will help~"

With a slight smile, Feng Yuan said proudly, swishing his tail. Agunas looked at Feng Yuan skeptically for a moment. Then, the three of them arrived at the designated spot and saw Chen Xin, who had been waiting for a while, and she sighed in relief.

She had applied to release lanterns at Hongxi River, and the reserve force had agreed, charging her a special cleanup fee. However, Feng Yuan suddenly proposed to handle the aftermath of the lantern release himself. While she trusted Feng Yuan wouldn’t be reckless with important matters, she still harbored some concerns.

"How do you plan to deal with those lanterns? If there’s no good plan, perhaps we should follow the reserve force’s arrangement?"

Approaching Feng Yuan, Chen Xin asked, flashing a slight smile Feng Yuan said

"No need, don’t you think it’s quite unfortunate for the lanterns to be released upstream only to be fished out unseen downstream?"

"So, what do you want to do? The downstream of Hongxi River leads into Mao Mu River. If you mess around, be careful the Special Duty Team will come after you."

Staring at Feng Yuan, Agunas said with a face full of vigilance. Normally, this kind of thing would never involve the Special Duty Team; after all, lanterns being carried into the Mao Mu River wasn’t a big enough issue to warrant their attention – they simply had too much on their plate to deal with it. However, Feng Yuan was involved in this.

Other departments might not be able to handle this guy, or in other words, even if he admitted his mistake willingly, there would be no way to punish him, given his status; the Special Duty Team intervening would merely result in a warning not to cause more trouble.

"How could that be? I wouldn’t let them enter the Mao Mu River. Look, here it comes~"

As Feng Yuan spoke, he waved his hand cheerily and called out loudly to the approaching dark figure. Long Boduo stopped in front of Feng Yuan and curiously examined the lanterns on the ground, saying

"This is a lantern?"

"You’ve never seen one?"

Looking at Long Boduo oddly, Feng Yuan asked. Snorting, Long Boduo shook his head and said,

"I’ve seen them, but I’ve never tried releasing them."

"Right, if we want to release them for the Spirit Beast, do we have enough lanterns? If not, I’ll go buy some more."

Remembering something, Feng Yuan looked at Chen Xin and asked. After recalling, Chen Xin said,

"We should have enough, but... what are you planning?"

"The River of Fate? You want to guide these lanterns into the River of Fate?"

Upon seeing Long Boduo, Agunas instantly understood Feng Yuan’s plan. Seeing Qi Chen and the others with puzzled faces, Veronia explained,

"The River of Fate winds around the Netherworld and eventually flows into the river of time. Regardless of the material of the lanterns, they would essentially turn into flames and scatter in the Netherworld section of the River of Fate."

This was why Long Boduo said that he had seen them before, as the River of Fate flows through the Netherworld, and occasionally, human-released lanterns could end up in the River of Fate. Hence, Long Boduo and the others would see lanterns from time to time in the Netherworld’s River of Fate.

"Why does the River of Fate flow through the Netherworld?"

Dou Yanlan asked curiously; isn’t the Netherworld the realm of the deceased? Why would something from the Fate Series exist there? Feng Yuan said with a slight smile,

"Because the Netherworld is closely related to destiny, isn’t it perfectly normal for the River of Fate to flow through it? As the final abode of life, the Netherworld naturally has a great accumulation of the Force of Fate."

"My idea is to have Long Boduo temporarily connect the downstream of Hongxi River with the River of Fate, guiding those lanterns into the River of Fate. Isn’t that much better than being caught and treated as garbage?"

Feng Yuan explained with a smile to the classmates who had gathered around. Upon hearing Feng Yuan’s explanation, everyone felt a bit surprised. After all, some of them weren’t releasing lanterns for the first time; as long as they couldn’t see the lanterns, that was all that mattered. They wouldn’t bother themselves by researching the final fate of the lanterns.

"It won’t impact the River of Fate, will it?"

Qi Chen asked somewhat worriedly. The River of Fate sounded like no simple matter, and if those lanterns caused trouble after entering it, that would be quite the issue. Of course, if there were no problems, it seemed like a better way to deal with them. After all, the lanterns bore people’s wishes and just being caught and disposed of as trash didn’t feel right.

This was also why they never delved into the ultimate fate of the lanterns, as the more they thought about it, the more uncomfortable they felt. Veronia chuckled lightly and glanced at Qi Chen before saying,

"Of course not, the River of Fate can easily cleanse such things. Every year, a lot of lanterns end up in the River of Fate due to various accidents. Have you ever seen any problems arise because of that?"