Chapter Extra Garuda (7400 Words - Free)

"My name is Jin Qiong, also known as Garuda. I am a Dapeng Golden-Winged Bird, sixteen years old, and a divine bird of creation from the Kunlun mystic realm."

"My gender is female, but it can also be male. Of course, it can also be masculine or feminine, and even turn into an egg. Divine beasts are just that willful. After all, it is difficult for the divine beast lineage to reproduce, and they always become the only offspring. If we couldn't change gender at will, or even reproduce asexually through transformation and gestation, we would have gone extinct long ago."

"I don't have any particular likes. My personality is cautious and careful, whether as a human or a bird. I never trust others easily."

"I have an excellent lifestyle. I am not picky about food, I don't smoke, and I don't drink. My favorite food is stir-fried shredded pork with green peppers, because I feel that the shredded pork is long and a bit like snakes."

"Why don't I really eat snakes? I don't dare to eat them anymore, I don't dare... Now is the era of harmony, there's no need to follow my instincts."

"From every angle, I am perfect, except that my hair can never be transformed to look like a human's. Even my human form is perfect. According to the others at school, I can basically be called a beautiful girl and enjoy the highest level of treatment. I even get a subsidy when I eat in the cafeteria, and the cafeteria chef gives me extra-large portions."

"Life in the human world is very comfortable. Those guys in the Beast God Realm really exaggerated. Although humans do eat everything and are greedy, fierce, and cruel, all intelligent creatures in the world are just as greedy, fierce, and cruel. Humans are already very civilized. What's more, humans have so many forms of entertainment, and life is more interesting than the memories in my bloodline inheritance. I am very happy here and don't miss the Kunlun mystic realm at all."

"Except for one thing. If I want to live in the human world, I have to pretend to be a little stupid and a little weak, acting like a timid weak woman."

"Especially when facing my direct superior, the Dragon Descendant named Su Zhou—theoretically, I do restrain Dragon Descendants, but obviously, theory does not represent reality. Although my bloodline inheritance does have this saying, I didn't understand the true meaning of this sentence until I experienced it myself."

"In short, when facing him, I must be cautious at all times, pretending to be a weak woman who is about to cry at any moment. He is currently presenting a male image, and although the human world seems to advocate equality between men and women, if I pretend to be weaker, his guard against me should be less."

"Of course, this disguise is half fake and half real. I don't mind admitting that I am indeed afraid of that guy—anyone who has been beaten hard with a hundred-ton punch will definitely be afraid of the other party, and may not even be able to feel fear anymore. I think this even proves that I am indeed very strong."

"I am indeed very strong, but he is even stronger than me, so as a true descendant of a divine beast, I will follow the nature of my bloodline and surrender without hesitation."

"This is indeed the nature of my bloodline, not some personal character—some people always think that divine beast bloodlines are proud and never give up, they really don't understand biological instincts at all. The first divine power I learned from childhood to adulthood was the Wind-Assisted Power used to run away. What pride and glory, those are things that are said when one feels certain of victory, and are essentially similar to trash talk said by humans."

"So it's normal for me to surrender to Su Zhou, it's not because I am timid and afraid of trouble. Of course, this guy's personality is really bad, I'm already acting so gentle and feminine, how can he still be so ruthless when training and beat me so hard? Saying things like, 'The only transcendent high-level opponent who can spar with me is you,' 'I probably need to spend 300 Zhou Buyi's worth of spiritual energy to break your defense, your defense is very strong!' What nonsense. Does that guy still need to spar? Isn't he the number one in the world?"

"Also, who is Zhou Buyi?"

"The topic is getting off track, let's continue writing the diary."

"Life in the human world is indeed quite interesting. Although I don't need to sleep, lying in bed every night with my eyes closed to cultivate, and getting up at a fixed time every morning, is indeed quite fun."

"The quilt is very soft, much more comfortable than the rocky mountain walls. Every morning there is milk and fruit, and there are even special human instructors to teach us transcendent knowledge."

"It's strange to say, humans don't have bloodline inheritance. They pass on knowledge through a profession called 'teacher', using methods with low information capacity such as language and writing, to gradually transmit various experiences in a way that students may not fully understand, and may even misunderstand."

"This is a bit like a tape recorder, but a low-quality tape recorder."

"Since coming to human society, I have been observing the human way of life every day—of course, I am also human now, and I don't mind being human, but it is precisely because I want to be human that I must observe humans."

"How should I put it, humans are indeed a very interesting species. In addition to teachers, they also have a very unique cooperation system."

"Divine beasts are all solitary, because the spiritual energy, resources, hunting range, and territory required by divine beasts are very vast. Theoretically, the living range of an adult Garuda should be about half the earth, and the core territory should even be about half of Zheng Country."

"Moreover, divine beasts can become a system by themselves. Just like I can even forcibly produce offspring asexually by consuming my own spiritual power when needed. In other aspects, divine beasts are also one entity is one race—bloodline inheritance endows us with complete knowledge. We can complete any task independently without the help of other members of the same species. In fact, many divine beasts do not consider members of the same species with similar bloodlines as their own kind, only their offspring are their own kind."

"But unlike the constantly differentiating and emerging independent divine beasts, humans are a species that is very good at cooperation—even the small team I am in now has different divisions of labor when fighting."

"Shao Qiming, Su Zhou's friend, seems to have a bit of wood-type bloodline. A gentle and very intelligent human, completely unlike Su Zhou. He is responsible for observing the enemy's weaknesses, using various props to control and harass the enemy, and telling his teammates the enemy's weaknesses while ensuring his own safety. In times of crisis, he can also use wood energy for healing."

"Li Hanshan, also a descendant of a divine bird, but this guy's bloodline is incomplete and there is something wrong with it. He is taciturn, but has very sharp attack methods, and can detect and attack enemies from a very long distance. After detecting the enemy's weaknesses, he will use the fastest and most accurate attack to explode."

"Li Yeyu, a good person, will treat me to milk tea, take me shopping, and even teach me how to use a computer, help me choose clothes and quilts, and help me shower... She has certain spirit-type talents, can use Youbu Shadow Step, and is good at flanking attacks, performing surprise attacks, and scouting."

"Guan Wanjing is the only pure-blooded human in this team, but his strength is surprisingly great, and his personality is also very normal. He is also the only one in the team besides Shao Qiming who can speak normally. However, I usually have to pretend to be a taciturn weak woman, so I can't chat with him, and I occasionally look very depressed."

"He is responsible for blocking the enemy's attacks, facing the enemy's offensive head-on, and can also unleash considerable physical attack power. Although not as good as Su Zhou, he already poses a certain threat to me. If we were both at the Transcendent level, I'm afraid I would have to transform back into my true form to barely suppress him."

"Divine beast combat is when one person is responsible for everything, but humans are best at relying on numbers and dividing labor. Just like the team I am in now, I spar with them every day. Although most of the team members are at the Awakening level, I can easily be defeated if I don't use strength above the early Transcendent stage."

"Not only that, but even in terms of food production, humans have various divisions of labor, with people responsible for cutting vegetables, stir-frying dishes, and selling... This detailed division of labor and cooperation may be why they can create such exquisite creations."

"In fact, sometimes, I wonder if humans are not just one giant 'divine beast'?"

"The entire teacher system is the bloodline inheritance of this human divine beast. The entire chef system is the human's food processing and nutrition supply organ. And the various transcendents responsible for combat are the divine beast's transcendent organs, the body parts used for combat."

"If you look at it this way, the human divine beast is far more advanced and powerful than divine beasts like us in every way. And this divine beast operates in units of 'country' or 'civilization'."

"Moreover, just as divine beasts occasionally unite and live together due to circumstances, if individual human countries encounter an irresistible and powerful foreign enemy, they will also temporarily band together to form a larger 'human civilization'-level divine beast. Just like in my bloodline inheritance, there were once several Golden-Winged Rocs who lived together as a Golden-Winged Roc tribe."

"Of course, this divine beast also has various shortcomings, but this is not something that a mere Transcendent-level divine bird like me can comment on. After all, I can't even beat Su Zhou now, so thinking about this is meaningless."

"Speaking of which, why is he so strong? He doesn't even have a true form!"

"Of course, it's not because he is strong that I usually avoid him, it's mainly because Su Zhou likes to ask me to spar with him when he has nothing to do, and the result is that I get beaten up. Of course, it's very stupid of me to always agree, although I can indeed gain valuable combat experience and learn more about Su Zhou's fighting methods, accumulating strength for future revenge, but every time I get beaten, I feel that his speed of progress is faster than mine."

"Even with my resilient mind and ability to endure humiliation, it is difficult to maintain my composure in the face of this feeling of being hit hard. If I ruin my weak woman persona, I don't know what awaits me."

"Here I would also like to thank Sister Li Yeyu for telling me those human words, what persona, mask, they are really too useful. Divine beast bloodlines don't have these inheritances, they are completely new knowledge. When I reach the Dominator level and can leave behind bloodline knowledge, I will also leave this knowledge to my descendants."

"Recently, humans seem to want to counterattack the Beast God Realm. To be honest, I really thought this behavior was meaningless at first."

"According to what the Peacock told me when he was still alive, the Beast God Realm is really a very barren and backward place."

"The five major races each occupy a corner of the world, fighting and chaos with each other. Spiritual energy has also only recently recovered there. Of course, it may be a few years earlier than on Earth, but there are indeed not many spiritual objects."

"In addition, the spirit beasts in that place are fierce and aggressive. Although I don't think they can withstand human attacks, the gains are really less than the losses."

"But later, I heard them say that they must confirm the condition of the 'Life-Giving Great Tree'. After all, that is a Celestial Venerable-level individual, of the same level as the strongest progenitor Golden-Winged Bird in my memory inheritance. If that Life-Giving Great Tree, which was once defeated by the Western Mother Great Celestial Venerable, revives due to the recovery of spiritual energy, then Earth will be waiting to be destroyed."

"Therefore, it is necessary to take advantage of the fact that the Beast God Realm is still unaware of the situation on Earth, and launch a sudden attack to the central area of the Beast God Realm to observe the condition of the Life-Giving Great Tree—if it is completely dead, then naturally everything will be fine. If there are still signs of revival, then all of humanity will join forces, and the coalition forces of hundreds of countries will directly rush into the Beast God Realm with most of the thermonuclear weapons and turn that place into a wasteland."

"Thermonuclear weapons are very powerful. Even low-yield nuclear weapons can be compared to the peak of the Dominator level, and the highest-yield nuclear weapons are comparable to the attacks of Earth Immortals or even early-stage Heavenly Immortals. But Celestial Venerables are also very powerful. The power of Celestial Venerables can destroy continents and worlds, far more powerful than thermonuclear weapons."

"But even a Celestial Venerable-level individual, after being bombarded into annihilation by someone of the same level, and then experiencing thousands of years of spiritual energy depletion, will be killed if attacked by thousands of thermonuclear weapons in this weakest state."

"This is a very decisive plan, and I have also been selected into the team to act together with Su Zhou."

"To be honest, I really want to refuse, but I can't. To repeat, I am not afraid of Su Zhou, I just can't stand the fact that I am clearly a Golden-Winged Roc, but I can never beat a dragon."

"Oh, that's all for today's diary. Speaking of which, the way of keeping a diary was also told to me by Sister Li Yeyu, she is really a good person."

In the library, Jin Qiong Garuda closed her diary.

Her fair and beautiful face can be described as a perfect countenance, her flawless skin, and the fingers holding the pen are delicate and slender, like scallions.

Her human form is designed according to the perfect appearance determined by the Taoist cultivators of past generations in her bloodline inheritance. If she were to be scored, she would have at least a nine, starting at App16.

If one were to ignore the huge spiritual power fluctuations, anyone who sees this blonde beauty would think that she is a delicate woman, and would never imagine that her heart contains such complex psychological activities.

After closing her diary, Jin Qiong opened her laptop—through cooperative testing and experiments, as well as collecting data on the Golden-Winged Roc, she has a high scholarship subsidy. Whether it's her laptop or other daily necessities, they were all bought with this subsidy.

According to the law, Garuda is a purely free human, and the Zheng Country government has no reason to restrict her from doing anything, but Jin Qiong is not stupid and will naturally cooperate fully.

Now, having a human name, Jin Qiong has gradually adapted and has begun to accept her identity and life as a human—she is just a more special Taoist cultivator, this is the positioning set for her by the official and herself.

In fact, based on her appearance, strength, and identity, Jin Qiong has appeared on programs several times, promoting it to the world as a representative of Taoism.

After all, although Su Zhou is strong, and his appearance is beautiful enough to be called a handsome young man, not inferior to Jin Qiong... But he is a man after all.

Moreover, his personality is notoriously bad. Angrily rebutting fans on Weibo, swearing on live broadcasts, instinctively arguing during programs, and frequently engaging in quick-acting toxic predictions—this guy is full of memes, and the number of twisted haters is simply staggering.

Although these are also the source of his popularity, it is obvious that compared to such a special existence, wouldn't a beautiful girl be a better image ambassador? Who wouldn't like a friendly and cute beautiful girl?

This is indeed a brilliant move—when Jin Qiong began to show her face, many of the criticisms and smears against Taoism disappeared.

"I've been single-pushing Garuda since birth!"

"555, how can she be so cute!"

"Jin Qiong, little angel!"

Is there anything perfect in this world? Yes! It's Jin Qiong (specifically her face)!

All in all, not to mention those rainbow farts, Jin Qiong is living a very happy life now, she is respected, and she has friends who she can sincerely chat with other intelligent beings while smiling... Compared to the time she was alone in the Kunlun mystic realm, thinking wildly because of inheritance, it is a million times better.

But even so happy, Jin Qiong sometimes enters a sage-like state and her thoughts diverge.

"Why do humans have to separate humans from other spirit beasts and demon races so much?"

Although she no longer dwells on whether she is a human or a divine bird, this does not prevent Jin Qiong from continuing to think about this question: "What exactly is the special thing about humans?"

Is it that humans eat everything?

No, no, that's not it. Garuda actually eats everything too, whether it's fruits or meat, spiritual objects or ordinary objects. If necessary, she can even eat soil and metal. As long as it's a substance, she can eat it in her true form.

Is it that humans have teachers?

Although she mentioned this in her diary before, Jin Qiong doesn't think this is quite right either. Although spirit beasts and divine beasts have bloodline inheritance, bloodline inheritance is not necessarily the exclusive property of beasts—look at those Taoist cultivators, they are also humans, but they also have bloodline inheritance, don't they?

And even divine beasts with bloodline inheritance occasionally need teachers or parents to teach them something.

Is it entertainment and enjoyment?

Indeed, humans' food, games, milk tea, and various abilities to instill information and mobilize desires are stronger than those of spirit beasts, who are full of thoughts of cultivation and inheriting bloodlines... But in essence, it can't be said that only humans will do this. As long as intelligent beings have enough peaceful time to accumulate, they can always develop their own unique entertainment culture.

So, what is the difference?

What is the difference between the beasts of the Beast God Realm and humans?

"I actually don't have any repulsion towards what the human immortals and gods of the past did to the Beast God Realm—in this world with transcendence, it is normal for the strong to do anything, and it is the ultimate kindness if the weak are not killed after resisting."

"But that's what makes me wonder—why be kind?"

"The immortals and gods are clearly already so powerful, so powerful that the Life-Giving Great Tree was defeated and the entire world of the Beast God Realm was sealed... The immortals and gods in the heavens of the immortal realm back then could be said to be so powerful that it was impossible to be defeated, they had no natural enemies, they could reproduce their bloodlines however they wanted, they could be as willful as they wanted, they could completely do whatever they pleased."

"In that case, why did they still want to be 'kind', to 'enlighten', to become 'stronger'?"

Garuda is very clear that even divine beasts, in essence, do not have to pursue the strongest.

The bloodline of ordinary divine beasts matures when they grow to the high-level of Transcendent stage, and the bloodline will lose its meaning. If they want to become stronger, they need to cultivate themselves and advance to the Dominator level.

However, most divine beasts will not deliberately cultivate in the absence of external threats—this thing is like sharpening claws, it is a tool for dealing with bad situations, and not the norm for wild beasts.

Tigers in zoos instinctively have the ability to hunt, but compared to tigers in Siberia, who even need to fight brown bears, this ability is basically no different from playing.

Wild beasts will not exercise when food is plentiful enough.

But humans and immortals and gods are different. They are so powerful that it is impossible to be defeated, yet they still want to become stronger, and even cultivate descendants who can surpass themselves.

You know, male lions will drive male cubs away from the group in order to ensure their position.

Although divine beasts are not like that and will take care of young ones, Garuda knows that most divine beasts are loners, and everyone goes their separate ways when the young ones mature.

"Is this the special thing about humans? The desire to cultivate descendants who are more powerful than themselves?"

Sitting in a seat in the library, Jin Qiong looked around the entire library of Qinxing Academy. She could see that there was countless knowledge and inheritance about transcendence, spiritual arts, and martial techniques in this library.

These are all the classics left by the sages of mankind for all later users.

Are these books and inheritances for coping with more difficult and complex environments in the future? To cultivate a more powerful next generation to protect the stable existence of the entire race...

Or is it that there are no other complex reasons, but just the instinct of this special human race?

"Moreover, according to the Dragon King of Tianchi, the immortals and gods will not return... Why? He said it was because of curiosity, because of curiosity, so the immortals and gods chose to go to the unknown and leave their homes."

Is it curiosity?

Jin Qiong Garuda's beautiful eyebrows furrowed slightly. Her beauty is also a pale gold, and the pupils of her eyes are also a very conspicuous light gold, which has a strange beauty.

And at this time, she thought of herself.

She recalled the Kunlun mystic realm where she was born, that broken pure green glazed bead. Jin Qiong didn't know why, but she suddenly remembered why she left the Kunlun mystic realm and came to the human world.

Why was she always tempted by the Peacock of the Beast God Realm and couldn't help but want to know the difference between humans and divine beasts.

"This... is probably curiosity?"

"I want to know what kind of race humans are, and what kind of world the human world is."

After experiencing so many things, Jin Qiong felt that she was gradually beginning to understand that feeling called 'curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge'.

Creatures that pursue truth and creatures that pursue existence... The former is based on the latter, and it is the evolution and derivation of the latter.

A kind of inheritance based on 'thought'.

The inheritance system called master and disciple, teacher and student, is essentially the inheritance of a kind of knowledge, a kind of consensus, a kind of emotion. It is a replication of a way of thinking, a kind of inheritance.

This is like bloodline, it is a continuation of life, a kind of surprise that is not in the bloodline, but a continuation of information in thought.

The difference between humans and beasts may lie in this, this most fundamental point.

The continuation of bloodline requires living.

And the continuation of thought requires curiosity and exploration.

"But is this humanity? But humans, after all, are also a kind of beast, right."

Jin Qiong thought: "So humans also seek survival, occasionally acting like beasts, but occasionally also showing uniqueness and nobility."

"It is still difficult for a bird like me to analyze and understand this contradictory aggregate."

Thinking like this, Jin Qiong felt her phone vibrate.

Swiping her finger across the screen, she couldn't help but smile, because Li Yeyu sent her a WeChat message, inviting her to go shopping together.

"Okay." Jin Qiong replied happily, then put the computer and diary back in her bag and left the library with light steps.

When passing by the training ground, she could see that Su Zhou was teaching Shao Qiming about the meaning of wind and thunder in the advancement of wood energy, and Shao Qiming was so intelligent that he could even draw inferences, causing Su Zhou to occasionally scratch his head, as if he had realized something and found a point he had missed before.

Even the powerful Su Zhou would communicate and learn with people normally.

February 14, 2016, Jin Qiong Garuda stood on one side of the street in West Capital, gazing at the human world while waiting for her friend to come and meet her.

The street was full of smooth steel vehicles, and there were various mechanized construction teams dismantling street lamps on the side of the road, replacing them with lamp posts engraved with runes, which seemed to be part of some kind of array.

Some pedestrians cast spells while walking, casting cleaning spells or purification spells, and some people wearing civilian exoskeletons, although not fast, flew ostentatiously across the road, causing most of the men on the side of the road to show envious eyes.

In the sky, there were official enforcers holding airworthiness certificates, flying in the sky with floating magic tools, monitoring abnormal spiritual energy reactions in the city, and higher in the sky, huge steel birds, airplanes, were cutting through the sky.

Jin Qiong could sense that a rumbling electromagnetic hum was filling the entire city. There were more and more self-driving vehicles, and with the assistance of spells, the self-driving system could judge more things, and there had been no mistakes for more than half a year around the world.

The hurried steps of pedestrians went from one end of the street to the other, just like humans hurriedly leaving the past and striding towards the future.

This was a scene that was very difficult to imagine in the inheritance of a divine bird.

So Jin Qiong couldn't help but sigh.

"Why are you sighing?"

Then, she could hear the gentle voice of her friend.

Dressed fashionably, completely different from when she was in the team, Li Yeyu, dressed in casual clothes, naturally walked forward, took Garuda's arm, and asked with a smile: "Did Professor Su pull you for sparring again?"

"No, it's nothing... I'm just a little emotional."

Jin Qiong smiled at her friend, her lips curled up slightly, and she shook her head gently.

——Dragon King of Tianchi, you left too quickly, you should really see this scene.

"This is really... a somewhat wonderful era."

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