Fields of Gold

The little divine stone had found another black pearl and delivered it up to its master using a small kitten’s paw. When it saw that her attention was taken up by the barrier and was full of curiosity, it reminded her, “It looks like we’ve arrived at the barrier of the Dragon King’s Palace.”

“Barrier? Isn’t that a term that only appears in the stories about gods and heroes?” Yu Xiaocao took the black pearl in passing and stuffed it into her bulging pouch as she asked in an astonished manner.

“Then do you think that I, this divine stone, should only appear in the stories about legends and not appear before you ah?” The little divine stone rolled its eyes at her so hard that its eyes almost rolled out of its head.

Yu Xiaocao scratched the back of her head and chuckled sheepishly, “What you say makes sense! Also, me transmigrating over to here is also something that science cannot explain.”

“Science? Pffftt——” The little divine stone snorted disdainfully. Science was only something that those bored human mortals came up with in order to describe the world around them in a flawed manner. What atheism, it was all such bull...fart, ahem ahem! Alright, it didn’t really matter what the humans believed. None of it had any impact on it. It needed to keep its mouth shut in order to avoid getting censored. Hold one’s tongue, hold one’s tongue!

In the little divine stone’s eyes, every independent realm, that is, what the novels described as separate dimensions, had three layers to it that housed different beings. This particular realm was truly too lowly and it must have been created by the Goddess of Spirits on a whim in her early days. The human world had very little spiritual energy so there were very few people who could cultivate here. From the last time it visited the God of Thunder and Goddess of Lightning here, the so-called upper layer here, if compared to the realm that it originally lived in, could only be considered a small place full of small fry.  

The little divine stone used its tiny claw to gently push at the barrier and discovered that with its current level of spiritual energy, it was very easy for it to open. This barrier was truly quite trash!

“I, this divine stone, am able to send you through the barrier. Do you have any interest in exploring around the palace of the Dragon King?” The little divine stone’s golden eyes glanced at Xiaocao as it asked arrogantly.

Explore around the palace of the Dragon King? Yu Xiaocao shrunk back and refused without even thinking about it. One must forgive her for being gutless. After all, she was currently on her second chance of life and didn’t want to lose it for a moment of curiosity. She was quite satisfied with her current state of life now!

The only thing she knew about the Dragon King came from stories like ‘Nezha Conquers the Dragon King’ and ‘Journey to the West’. Who knew what kind of tempers the dragon king, his daughters, sons, and grandchildren had? In fact, when she first arrived at the capital, she had been rejected and isolated by all of the noble young maidens. How could the realm of the dragon king be any different? It was possible she might even die without knowing what had happened to her!

The little divine stone snorted disdainfully when it saw how cowardly and cautious she was. However, it did have to admit that with its current powers, it was able to do whatever it wanted in the mortal realm but it may not be able to protect Xiaocao completely in a more godly realm. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing that it had a cowardly master to follow. 

“Eh? Who are you guys? How come I’ve never seen you guys before?” Suddenly, before Xiaocao’s eyes, an adorable little face appeared in the ocean waters. The creature had large, doe-like eyes, a pointy chin, long violet hair, and two little horns at the top of its head——the horns resembled a young deer’s antlers that had just sprouted.  

Yu Xiaocao looked at this young maiden with horns on her head and saw that her large eyes were filled with curiosity and good will. Xiaocao revealed a brilliant smile and replied, “I am...a pearl diving girl and I’m swimming in the ocean to gather pearls!” As she talked, she showed the other girl her pouch full of pearls.

“Pearl diving girl? Ah! Then aren’t you a mortal from the human world?” The young maiden looked quite excited and went forward to get closer but ended up getting repelled by the barrier. 

“Just what is going on here?” The smile on Yu Xiaocao’s face didn’t waver one iota but she was inwardly quite furious at the little divine stone. This girl’s sudden appearance absolutely had to do something with the stone.

The little divine stone laughed sheepishly, [Earlier, when this divine stone opened up the barrier, you didn’t want to go in so I had to seal it again. Perhaps the method I used to seal it is different from the methods used in that world, so...this is why something like this has happened.]

Yu Xiaocao frowned and silently asked the stone, “Are you sure the barrier you put up works ah? What if the fish and shrimp that have reached a higher state in the Dragon King’s world secretly come over and cause problems for humans here? Wouldn’t I become the criminal who has harmed all of the people here?”

The little divine stone’s voice was filled with displeasure as it replied, [You actually dare to doubt this divine stone’s abilities! Let me tell you ah, even if the old barrier between the worlds gets broken, this divine stone’s barrier won’t!]

“Eh? Is this the legendary kitten? Kittens can swim in the water ah? Its fur is golden and shining and it’s so small. How adorable ah!” The young maiden with horns saw a tiny golden kitten using its paw to knock on the barrier between their worlds in a quite furious manner. The glowing excitement in her eyes deepened perceptibly. 

“Pearl diver girl, can you tell me some stories from the human world ah? Ever since my third older brother secretly came out and was murdered by a human named Nezha, my royal father reinforced the barrier between our worlds. Us siblings, who were born later, are all not allowed to secretly go into the human world to play like our older brothers and sisters did. I really want to know what the human world is like.” The young maiden’s eyes were filled with longing and it was hard for anyone to refuse her request.

Yu Xiaocao would have never expected that her transmigration story, which led her to become a farming expert, would suddenly morph into a fantasy. If she wasn’t wrong about her guess, she was pretty sure that this young girl was the youngest daughter of the Dragon King. Was it also boring to spend one’s entire life in the ocean ah?

Thus, she kindly described a few defining features of what the world was like onshore and also told the other girl a few interesting stories. Although it was all ordinary things she talked about, the young maiden seemed absolutely fascinated and repeatedly sighed, “The ways humans live their lives are too interesting. If I could break the barrier between the worlds and visit the human world to look, that would be too good! Older Sister Xiaocao, I really want to give you some pearls and let you win the pearl diving competition. However, this stupid barrier…”

[Not a problem, give them to me!] As soon as she finished speaking, a golden cat paw stretched out in front of her. A beautiful pouch that was embroidered with orchids on it dangled from the paw.

The young dragon maiden’s eyes opened wide in shock and she asked in surprise, “How come it can go through? Older Sister Xiaocao, can you also go over? Come over and play with me ah. I’m the youngest in the family and they all have their own things to do and don’t play with me…”

“If someone like you who has magical powers can’t come through, how can I, a mere mortal, go through?” Yu Xiaocao stretched out her hand and let it bounce off the barrier. She shrugged and revealed a helpless expression on her face. 

The little dragon maiden was so unhappy that she started to pout and drooped her head down. Even the little horns on her head seemed to be less luminous and lively compared to before. Suddenly, she reached out a hand and held tightly onto the little divine stone’s claw and a rascally smile appeared on her face, “Older Sister Xiaocao, how about you leave your cat behind to accompany me? That should work, right?”

However, the smile on her face soon congealed. Apparently, other than that golden kitten’s paw, the rest of it couldn’t go through the barrier. She didn’t dare to use all of her strength as she was afraid she’d hurt the little cat, so she could only helplessly let the little paw go. 

The little dragon maiden used all of her strength to hit the barrier and then used all of her magic power to hit the barrier in the vicinity of the little divine stone’s paw. However, it was no use. The barrier stayed strong and continued to stay an impenetrable wall between the two of them.

In the end, the young dragon girl let her head hang down dispiritedly and took out a pouch made of an unknown material. She placed it near the barrier and said to Xiaocao, “This pouch probably has twenty to thirty pearls. I don’t know for sure since I never bothered to count them. Usually, when I’m bored, I use them like marbles to play. Go take them to your pearl competition, okay? I don't know whether I’ll be able to see you in the future…”

“In a few days, I’ll be going back to the capital, so...you need to cultivate hard. Once you’re strong enough to travel across worlds, I’ll gladly welcome you in the capital! It’s getting late now. If I don't go home now, my family will worry about me!” Yu Xiaocao saw that the little divine stone’s paw had already come back with that multicolored gorgeous pouch. Thus, she reluctantly said her farewells to the young dragon maiden.

When she turned around to glance at the little dragon maiden, who looked like a pathetic little dog who had been thrown away by its owner, Yu Xiaocao hardened her heart and waved a hand at her. They had only met each other for a short moment and had become friends, but she didn’t know if she would ever see her again. Then, she turned and lay on Xiaobu and swiftly swam back towards shore.

Xiaocao’s casual polite remark had become a promise in the naive and pure dragon maiden’s eyes. She originally had a cultivating talent that was only seen once every ten thousand years for the dragon race. However, she loved to play and was lackadaisical about training. She spent a lot of time fishing and sunning. Despite that, her cultivation speed still wasn’t slow.

Ever since she made a ‘date’ with Older Sister Xiaocao, the young dragon maiden suddenly became serious about practicing cultivation. She worked hard every day and spent time in closed-door cultivation to get more powerful. By the time she reached a state that other people envied and was able to travel between worlds, she impatiently left the ocean and arrived at the capital.

She excitedly asked after Yu Xiaocao’s whereabouts and had finally been led into the prince’s residence. There, she saw Older Sister Xiaocao, who was now over a hundred years old and had wrinkles all over her face. The young dragon maiden could still vaguely see that sweet and adorable little maiden in the wrinkled and aged face in front of her.

As for Yu Xiaocao, who was on her deathbed, she had never expected that one casual remark from her would cause this adorable and naive young dragon maiden to assiduously train for a hundred years. She also didn’t expect that right before she died, she would be able to be reunited with that friend who she had a brief encounter with but would never forget. The young dragon maiden took out the embroidered orchid pouch that had already faded with time and been roughened up. Yu Xiaocao also trembled as she took out the colored pouch that was made with an unknown material and placed it into the dragon maiden’s hand.

The young dragon maiden was still as cute and sweet-looking as she was when she first encountered her. However, Xiaocao had already reached the end of her life. Gods and humans truly had a difference in lifespans. However, she didn’t envy the immortals and didn’t regret transmigrating over because, in this life, she had parents and siblings who loved her and a husband who doted on her like a loyal dog. She also had filial and obedient descendents.

She was most grateful for that little divine stone, who had sent her over and also helped her for her entire life. Without it, she wouldn’t have been able to live her legendary life… 

After clasping her hand with the young dragon maiden, Xiaocao slowly closed her eyes and let go. Her descendents, who were all kneeling around her bed, began to weep. Suddenly, a golden light came out of her deceased body and shot out. Under the amazed looks of everyone there, it circled a few times in the room and then escaped into the sky, never to be seen.