Chapter 141 – The Taste of the Mountain God
The old turtle felt somewhat embarrassed and cleared his throat twice, saying, “Well, you’ll need to keep this secret for me.”
Tu Ran gave a teasing smile and, with Pangpang, turned and left the cave.
Tu Ran found the fruit grove she had encountered earlier.
This grove had many types of fruits—those hanging from trees, those dangling from vines, those rolling on the ground, and those that needed to be dug up from the soil. Some of them she had seen before, but the majority were new to her.
As soon as Pangpang saw the diverse fruits before it, the tuft of orange feathers on its head perked up, and its mouth fell open in surprise.
“Wow, so many of these are Pangpang’s favorites.”
“How bad must a fruit be for you not to like it?” Tu Ran asked.
Pangpang smiled sheepishly, “Seems like eh.”
“Boss, boss, let’s pick a bit of each kind. We’ll take them back for Grandpa Turtle to try.”
“Do as you like.”
“Yay, yay, the boss agreed!” Pangpang immediately scampered towards the fruit trees it could reach.
Watching its joyful figure, Tu Ran reminded it, “You won’t be able to carry everything in one go, so you might have to make several trips.”
“That’s okay, Pangpang is a diligent Pangpang.”
The grove was not far from the old turtle’s cave, and Tu Ran sat atop the tallest fruit tree, able to see Pangpang carrying the fruits back and forth the entire time.
She picked three red-skinned melons from the trees as Pangpang requested, throwing them down. She then sat on a branch, eating a bunch of greenish fruits she had picked from the vines.
She didn’t know the actual taste, but she imagined them as green grapes, and they tasted like green grapes to her.
Pangpang made five trips back and forth, and on the final trip, Tu Ran helped it carry the remaining fruits back.
The old turtle looked at the array of colorful fruits and sighed, “This mountaintop of mine truly is a treasure land!”
“Yes, yes, this place is like Pangpang’s dream land,” Pangpang agreed, flapping its wings.
“Grandpa Turtle, try this fruit; this melon is very sweet and delicious, and it’s the most common fruit on your mountain.”
Pangpang smashed a red-skinned melon on the ground, splitting it in half, and walked to the shadowy spot to give half to the old turtle.
The old turtle took a bite of the melon and then… spat it all out.
“Bitter, bitter, bitter! So bitter!”
The bitterness made him tear up, and he couldn’t alleviate the taste even after spitting it out.
“What? How could it be bitter?” Pangpang was confused and helpless. It pecked at a piece, “It’s clearly sweet, so sweet, how could it be bitter?”
Pangpang picked up a small yellow melon about the size of its paw. “Grandpa Turtle, try this one to counteract the bitterness. This one isn’t very sweet or bitter, and it has a lot of juice.”
The old turtle immediately took it and took a bite.
“Ah, sour, sour, sour! Why is it so sour? Ugh, ugh, ugh,” he continued to vomit, turning pale.
Pangpang was even more confused and tried a piece of the leftover melon. “It’s clearly not sour, it tastes really good.”
He looked to Tu Ran for help. “Boss, the taste is exactly the same as when we ate it. Why does Grandpa Turtle find it inedible?”
Its little brain couldn’t make sense of it.
Tu Ran sighed. Because of her [Immunity to All Poisons] superpower from the Gu Diao, she could eat anything without issue.
But for the human palate, most of these fruits were unpalatable.
The old turtle likely had a taste similar to humans, which is why he found the fruits either bitter or sour.
Tu Ran took a glucose tablet out of her bag and walked over to hand it to him.
“This is sweet. Just break it open and drink.”
The old turtle was hesitant; he was already wary.
For centuries, having not eaten anything, the old turtle had endured bitter and sour tastes from the fruits. It felt like its old life was about to end here.
Trembling, he took the glucose tablet and, following Tu Ran’s instructions, carefully broke it open, hesitating.
“Drink,” Tu Ran raised her voice.
If he dared to waste her kindness, she would make sure he consumed it.
The old turtle, startled by her shout, complied and drank the glucose.
It was sweet.
Indeed, it was sweet.
His brows relaxed as the sourness was overshadowed by the sweetness. He smacked his lips, savoring this long-lost taste.
“Boss, what did you give Grandpa Turtle to drink?” Pangpang asked curiously, watching Tu Ran with longing.
It also wanted to try it.
“It’s a sugar solution made by humans. It’s not as good as fruit, so just stick to the fruit,” Tu Ran said, avoiding its gaze and stepping back to the cave entrance.
“Oh, okay.” Pangpang seemed skeptical but didn’t dare to press further.
“Grandpa Turtle, do you feel better? If not, you could try some of these small fruits. Pangpang has found them sweet.”
“No, no, no,” the old turtle shook his head faster than a rattle drum, “Pangpang can eat them. Just watching Pangpang eat is enough for me.”
“Ah? Really not going to eat?” Pangpang lamented, “Pangpang picked so many fruits.”
The old turtle was genuinely frightened. “Really not eating. Pangpang can keep them. It’s fine if you can’t finish them; you can eat them tomorrow.”
“Alright then.”
Pangpang sat among the pile of fruits. “Actually, Pangpang can finish them all.”
The old turtle replied, “Well… being able to eat is a blessing.”
Tu Ran sat on the ground, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest, closing her eyes to rest.
The sky outside gradually darkened as nightfall approached.
Pangpang continued eating, consuming one fruit after another, with the sound of chewing never ceasing. Occasionally, Pangpang would chat with the old turtle about interesting things happening outside.
Pangpang had traveled to many places and seen many new things, vividly describing them and stirring the old turtle’s longing to see the world for itself.
The old turtle sighed, “If I hadn’t coveted this long lifespan and fought so hard to become the mountain god, I would have seen much more of the world.”
Tu Ran, who had been resting with her eyes closed, opened them and asked, “How many mountain gods are there here?”
The old turtle tried counting on his fingers but soon gave up. “I can’t count them. There are too many—every large mountain has its own mountain god. There are at least a thousand or eighteen hundred great mountains in this world. Some smaller mountains also have their own gods, and there are likely tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of smaller mountains. Mountain gods are practically everywhere.”
Despite the countless mountain gods, none had ever been seen by pioneers.
“Do you all just sleep most of the time?”
“Besides sleeping, there’s not much else to do,” the old turtle replied with a hint of bitterness.
“Can you die? What happens to the mountain if you die?” Tu Ran asked further.
The old turtle stiffened for a moment and looked at her warily.
“Why do you ask that?”
“I’m curious. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t kill you for no reason,” Tu Ran said dismissively.
She was just planning for the future. If she encountered mountain gods or similar entities again, she didn’t want to be caught off guard as she had been today.
“Of course, we die. But it doesn’t have much impact. The mountain remains a mountain, the water remains water. The worst that might happen is that trees grow slower, fruits become fewer, and flowers lose their color.”
