Traveling back to ancient times to determine the zodiac

The two were arguing when suddenly a sharp voice came: "You humans, quarreling in this sacred place, are committing the great sin of blasphemy."

Xiaoxing looked in the direction of the sound and saw a red fox with fiery fur coming out from under two huge rocks. It then jumped onto the rocks, glaring and roaring at everyone.

Xiao Xing was overjoyed, and quickly knelt down before the Fire Fox, begging, "Ice God, you finally showed up! Considering our sincerity, please help us!"

"Human, I am not the Ice God. I am the thousand-year-old Fire Fox that lives here." The Fire Fox hastily shook his head and waved his hands to introduce himself, and then said: "You want to ask the Ice God, but you can't just pray like this, you must offer sacrifices."

"Fire Fox, then tell me what offerings you want?" Xiaoxing felt surprised and curious.

"This is a secret of heaven, I cannot reveal it." The Fire Fox hesitated to speak.

"Please, Fire Fox, if we don't find the Ice God, we won't be able to defeat the evil pig, we won't be able to eliminate the Nian beast, and naturally we won't be able to return to our homeland, Hongmeng." Xiaoxing bowed and kowtowed repeatedly, begging sincerely.

"Since you are so persistent, I will give you some hints. Whether you can guess it or not, this is the only way I can do!" Fire Fox agreed reluctantly.

"We will definitely be able to guess it, just tell us now!" Xiaoxing was very excited when he heard it.

"Listen carefully, humans. There are five offerings in total.

The first thing: It can’t be cut with a knife, and it can’t be caught with hands. It tastes tasteless when you drink it, but no one can live without it.

The second thing: If you touch it, the fur will burn, if you touch it again, it will turn into ash. If it meets the wind, it can swallow the mountain, but if it meets the water, it will disappear in an instant.

The third thing: It is not seen on land, but in rivers. It has wings but no legs, and everyone praises it for its swimming ability.

The fourth type: It is round in appearance, and contains flesh and bones. Once it breaks out of the shell, it can cry and walk.

The fifth kind: some are hidden in the fruit, some are hanging on the branches. They can be used as offspring and as food and oil.

"If you have all these five offerings, the Ice God will naturally favor you. Now that I have revealed the secret, we can no longer stay here. I am leaving, and I wish you good luck!" The fire fox said, jumped off the boulder, and then ran down the mountain, disappearing without a trace.

Xiaoxing and everyone else were stunned after hearing this. They wanted to take a closer look, but they watched it disappear below the peak.

"Xing, the five offerings mentioned by the Fire Fox are actually five riddles. How can you guess them?" Chen scratched his head and asked in confusion.

"Chen, don't be anxious. Since the Fire Fox has given us a clue, we can definitely guess it as long as we think about it patiently." Xiaoxing answered confidently.

"Many hands make light work. Come on, come on, everyone come over and help think about it." Chen shouted to everyone.

Dong no longer insisted on going back at this time. He and the others surrounded Xiaoxing and Chen, and started talking about them.

"Everyone guess the first one first: It can't be cut with a knife, and it can't be caught with hands. It has no taste when you drink it, but no one can live without it. What can this be?" Xiaoxing looked at everyone with a questioning look.

"Brother Xing, I guess it's milk." Lan Er answered quickly, "Because everyone needs to drink milk when they are young, so no one can be separated from it."

"No, no, milk is sweet and has flavor." Xiaoxing shook his head in denial.

"Brother Xing, I guess it should be water. Water has no taste." Hong'er said loudly.

"Yes, Hong'er guessed right. The first answer should be water." Xiaoxing nodded repeatedly and said, "Although water has no taste, everyone wants to drink it. Hong'er, you are really smart."

"Brother Xing, I learned all this cleverness from you." Hong'er said with a happy smile.

Xiao Xing gave Hong Er an admiring look and continued, "Now let's start guessing the second riddle: If you touch it, the fur will burn, if you touch it again, it will turn into ash. If it encounters wind, it can swallow mountains, but if it encounters water, it will disappear in an instant. What should this be?"

"I guess it's a tiger." Dong thought he was smart and said loudly, "The tiger is the king of the mountain, so it can swallow the mountain."

"No, that's not right. A tiger won't die even if it comes into contact with water." Xiaoxing shook his head vigorously in denial.

"What could that be? Could it be a rat?" Heizi asked.

"Heizi, you are just as stupid. Will a mouse disappear if it comes into contact with water?" Dong slapped Heizi.

Everyone made a few random guesses, but Xiaoxing denied them one by one. At this time, the sky was gradually getting dark, and Xiaoxing stopped everyone and said, "Everyone, stop for a moment. It's getting dark now. Let's light the fire first."

Everyone brought firewood with them, so they lit a fire and made a bonfire. The mountain wind blew the flames straight up. Xiaoxing saw this and had an idea. He shouted, "Brother Dong, brothers, I guessed the second answer. It's fire."

"Right, right, right. Fire can burn down a mountain, but it will be extinguished when it encounters water!" Hong'er clapped her hands and praised, "Brother Xing, you are so smart!"

"Actually, I just thought of it when I saw the fire." Xiao Xing smiled and said, "Now let's guess the third thing: it is not seen on land, but in rivers. It has wings but no legs, and everyone praises it for swimming."

"It has wings but no legs, and everyone praises it for swimming." Chen repeated it silently, and then shouted loudly: "I guessed it, it's a fish."

"Yes, it's a fish. This riddle is relatively simple!" Xiao Xing nodded and said, "The next riddle is the fourth one: It is round in appearance, with flesh and bones inside. Once it breaks out of the shell, it can cry and walk. What is this?"

"Xing, it can walk as soon as it breaks out of the shell. I guess it's a duckling." Xi gave the answer casually.

"Brother Xi, how could it be a duckling? Ducks are not round. It's more like a duck egg." Feng laughed.

"Feng, you guessed right. The answer should be eggs." Xiaoxing nodded affirmatively, and then said, "Now let's guess the last one: some are hidden in fruits, and some are hanging on branches. They can be used as offspring, and can be used as food and oil. What could this be?"

"Some of the hidden fruits may be peanuts?" Hong'er answered quickly.

"Some are hanging on the branches. I guess they are apples!" Lan'er shouted.

"Hong'er, Lan'er, both of you guessed correctly. I think the answer to this riddle should be seeds." Xiaoxing frowned, thought for a while, and concluded.

"Xing, among the five offerings, water and fire are already available. What's missing are fish, eggs and seeds. Let's get them now for the worship!" Dong said impatiently.

Xiao Xing shook her head and said, "Brother Dong, it's completely dark now. Why don't we have a good rest for the night and go tomorrow."

Dong looked around and saw that it was indeed pitch black, so he had no choice but to agree: "Okay, let's go tomorrow."

After the discussion, everyone spent the night together around the campfire at the foot of the peak.

At dawn the next day, Dong woke everyone up and said, "Brothers, let's go down the mountain and get the three offerings now!"

"Yes, Brother Dong." Everyone agreed and walked down the mountain one by one.

It took a while to reach the foot of the mountain. Xiaoxing called Dong and the others and said, "Brother Dong, brothers, how about we divide into three groups to carry out these three tasks separately?"

"Xing, your suggestion is good. Let's split up and do more things in the same amount of time. This way we can complete the task earlier." Dong applauded when he heard it.

The others nodded in agreement. Xiao Xing then assigned tasks: "Let's distribute the tasks now. Group 1: Chen and I will take Hong'er, Lan'er and some of the brothers to catch fish. Group 2..."

"The second group will be led by me, Brother Dong, along with Xi, Shugen, Heizi and some other brothers to pick up eggs." Dong took over the conversation and said hurriedly.

"Brother Dong, Xing, I will lead the third group including Yun, Lei Dian and other brothers to collect seeds!" Feng volunteered to step forward.

"Okay." Xiaoxing patted Feng's shoulder and agreed with great appreciation, then said: "Brother Dong, Feng, brothers, let's get started! Whoever completes the task first will come back here and gather together."

Dong Hefeng nodded, and the three groups split into three groups and acted separately.

Xiao Xing looked around, and all he saw were tall grass and big trees, so he waved to Chen, Hong'er, Lan'er and the others and said, "Brothers, if we want to catch fish, we must first find a river. Let's go to the bottom of the valley."

After that, he led everyone to walk straight forward along the foot of the mountain. After searching for a long time, they finally found a small river.

The river water was gurgling and clear. A group of small fish were swimming around in the water. Xiaoxing jumped into the river and caught fish while calling out to everyone: "Brothers, there are fish in this river. Come down and catch them."

Except for Hong'er and Lan'er who were on the shore, Chen and the other brothers jumped into the river. Everyone rushed forward and backward, and in just half an hour, they caught dozens of two-finger-sized fish and threw them on the shore.

"Brothers, there are enough fish! Let's all go up." Xiaoxing looked at the fish and shouted happily.

"Xing, why don't we catch more? We can eat grilled fish afterwards, isn't that great?" Chen said with a smile.

"Forget it, Chen, now is not the time to eat grilled fish. You know, Uncle Zhi and the others are still waiting for us to invite the Ice God and return victoriously!" Xiaoxing advised seriously.

"Okay then, Xing, let's go back now." Chen looked at the fish reluctantly and climbed onto the shore with the others.

Hong'er and Lan'er on the shore had already packed the fish they caught into two large bamboo tubes filled with water. Xiaoxing and Chen each held a bamboo tube and happily returned home with everyone else with a full load.

At the foot of the mountain, Feng and Yun, Lei, and Dian, a group of brothers, had been waiting there for a long time. When they saw Xiaoxing and his group returning, Feng asked from afar, "Xing, Chen, you're back! Did you catch any fish?"

"Feng, we walked two or three miles before we found a small river, then we all went down to the river together and caught dozens of fish, successfully completing the mission." Xiaoxing answered as he presented the fish to Feng.

"Wow, Xing, you guys are amazing. You caught so many fish in such a short time." Feng looked at the fish and praised them non-stop.

"Feng, you came back so soon, did you collect the seeds?" Xiaoxing asked.

"Xing, of course we picked it, look!" Feng pointed at Yun, Lei and others and asked Xiaoxing to inspect.

Xiao Xing approached and saw that Yun and Lei had bulging leather bags at their feet. The bags were filled with longan fruit cores and a bunch of yellow papayas. Feng continued, "After we parted ways, we headed south to the woods. It turned out that the woods were full of longan trees. There were many dried longan fruits on the ground. We picked them up and ate them, and then collected the seeds in these bags. We collected two bags in total. On the way back, we found many papayas, so we picked them up as well. Do you think these are enough?"

"Enough, enough. Feng, congratulations on completing the task and making a contribution to inviting the Ice God." Xiaoxing congratulated.

"Xing, both of our groups have returned safely, why hasn't Dong Ge's group returned yet?" Feng asked curiously.

"Brother Dong and the others have gone to collect eggs, so it may be hard to find them for a while. Let's wait for a while." Xiaoxing replied.

Everyone sat and waited for about an hour before the East and West groups finally came. Xiaoxing, Feng and the others hurriedly stood up to greet them, only to see East, West, North and more than ten other people carrying a giant python in front.

Xiaoxing and the others asked in surprise: "Brother Dong, weren't you going to collect eggs? Why did you bring back a giant python?"

"Xing, brothers, don't mention it. Just because of picking eggs, brother Xiaosha was almost eaten by this giant python." Dong and the others came closer, put the dead python down, kicked it again, and then told what happened.

It turned out that the East, West and North groups were wandering in the southeast direction, hoping to find a nest of bird eggs or chicken eggs, but they didn't find any after searching for a long time. East was anxious and said to everyone, "Brothers, West, North, it's not good for us to stay together. Why don't we all disperse? Whoever finds and picks up the eggs first will get the credit."

"Yes, Brother Dong." Everyone agreed and went to look for him separately.