Traveling back to ancient times to determine the zodiac

As soon as Emperor Nian finished speaking, the Tiger King said, "Humans are indeed hateful and despicable. Not only do they steal the mice's food, they also often go up the mountain to hunt, killing deer, rabbits, and deer, competing with us tigers for food. If humans cannot surrender, they must be eliminated to prevent them from becoming a nuisance."

"Humans are fellow creatures of heaven and earth. Naturally, they need food to eat and caves to live in. As long as they don't invade us, there's no need to destroy them." The Dragon King objected.

"The Dragon King's words are absurd!" said the Dog-Headed Military Advisor. "Humanity is weak and powerless at the moment and poses no threat. Once it becomes powerful, it will be impossible to destroy it. By then, the world will be controlled by humans, and we will become meat in their hands and food in their mouths. Therefore, we must conquer humans by force now."

"What the military advisor said is very true." Emperor Nian raised his hands in agreement, "We should spare no effort to deal with humans. Beast kings, who dares to go to war with humans?"

"Report to Emperor Nian, I dare to fight against humans." The Bull King responded, "I'm not bragging, there's nothing to be afraid of with those monkey-like humans. I can knock them over with just one horn, and kick them into the sky with one hoof."

The rooster shouted, "Brother Bull, you are brave enough, but aren't you afraid of human bows and arrows?"

"I don't believe that human bows and arrows are that powerful." The Bull King said proudly, "I'm not bragging. My cowhide is thicker than a tortoise shell and harder than stone. Even if an arrow hits me, it will not hurt me. Besides, I can run faster than an arrow. I can knock them down before they can shoot!"

The Nian Emperor was overjoyed when he heard this and immediately agreed, "The Bull King is indeed my number one general. He is not only brave and powerful, but also full of ambition. Let the Bull King go to fight against humans first! If the old bull succeeds in subduing humans, I will exempt you from all your duties and order other animals not to prey on your offspring and grandchildren."

"As you command!" The Bull King raised his head and agreed, "Emperor Nian, you just wait here for my good news."

After the discussion, Emperor Nian ordered the rooster to lead the way for the Bull King and set off immediately. The Bull King received the order and returned to the Glacier Plateau with the rooster first, then called up his bull soldiers and generals, including water buffaloes, yellow cattle, and dairy cows, a total of several thousand, and under the guidance of the rooster, they marched towards Hongmeng in a mighty manner.

Along the way, the Bull King said to the Rooster in a very arrogant manner: "Rooster, I am not bragging, but no matter how powerful humans are, they cannot be compared with cattle. As long as I meet humans, I will beat them to a pulp and make them surrender obediently in the end."

"Brother Niu, humans are not so vulnerable. They have weapons and bows and arrows. They even shot off my feathers with arrows. Although I was not shot to death at the time, I was almost scared to death. And I also heard that humans have even killed ferocious leopards while hunting." said the rooster.

"Rooster, I'm not bragging, but what kind of powerful character is a leopard? I can knock a leopard flying with just my horn. My bull soldiers are all strong and healthy, they can crush humans to the ground just by stepping on them." The Bull King said confidently.

"Brother Niu, if you really conquer mankind, then all the beast kings, including Emperor Nian, will look at you differently. If Emperor Nian dies in the future, you, Brother Niu, will be the emperor who rules the world!" said the rooster with admiration.

"Haha! I'm not exaggerating. If Emperor Nian is really dead, then I, King Bull, will definitely take over as the emperor of the world!" King Bull was excited again.

The Bull King and the Rooster blew the wind as they traveled. A few days later, one morning, they arrived at the Hongmeng territory. When they were approaching the Tianju Cave, the Rooster did not dare to move forward. It pointed to the Tianju Cave and said to the Bull King: "Brother Bull, look, humans live in that cave. You go and subdue them. I'll leave first."

After the rooster finished speaking, it spread its wings and flew to a nearby ancient pine hill. It chose the highest branch and stood there looking out.

When the Bull King saw the rooster running away so quickly, he turned to the Yellow Bull Demon beside him and said, "Look! The rooster is so cowardly that it ran away in fear before it even saw a human."

The Yellow Ox Demon laughed and said, "My lord, this is an animal that has no fighting ability and only knows how to run away."

"That's right. With me, the Bull King, here, would you still be afraid that humans will eat it?" The Bull King shook his head.

"My king, Hongmeng has arrived. What should we do now?" asked a cow spirit.

"Moo--" Upon hearing this, the Bull King loudly ordered the Cow Spirit and all the Bull Army: "Cow Spirit, my people, now is the time for us to show our skills. Follow me, subdue the humans in one fell swoop, and flatten the Tianju Cave."

"Destroy the Tianju Cave and subdue the humans!" More than a thousand bull spirits shouted.

"Launch an attack, charge!" the Bull King roared and rushed forward first.

The cows heard the order, raised their heads, pouted their tails, spread their hooves, and ran towards Tianju Cave with all their might. In an instant, the sound of hooves rolled and dust flew up.

As for the people of the Tianju Cave tribe, ever since they defeated Emperor Nian that day, they were worried that the Nian beast would come back for revenge. Therefore, Qiu ordered everyone to guard the cave carefully and not go out unless necessary.

On this morning, Qiu Heping, Ling, Zhi, Dong, Xi and other hunters were making bamboo arrows, sticks, stone knives, stone axes and other hunting tools at the entrance of the cave. Xiaoxing and Xia, Chen, Yue, Ri, Feng and others were reclaiming wasteland on the plain to prepare for farming. Li Hetao, Xing, Mei, Kuihua, Mianhua and other women were washing clothes and utensils by the Hongmeng River. Hong'er, Lan'er and three sisters named Lianhua, Juhua and Qing'er were invited to pick mountain flowers.

It was February, the month of spring when flowers were in full bloom. On the Hongmeng Plain, grass sprouted and trees turned green. It was just like the line in a poem: the grass looks green from a distance but not near. Everywhere was full of vitality and spring.

A mile to the left of Tianju Cave, there is a small mountain range named Huanghuagang because of the small yellow flowers that grow there all year round. The top of the mountain is covered with dense trees and is lush and green. At the foot of the mountain, various mountain flowers are blooming in competition, competing for splendor. There are deep red camellias, blue azaleas, white gardenias, etc., all over the mountain, beautiful beyond words.

Several girls picked a lot of colorful mountain flowers on this mountain. Hong'er pulled off a willow branch and made a willow wreath. Then she inserted the mountain flowers into the wreath to make a garland. She put on the garland and asked her sisters proudly: "Lan'er, Qing'er, do you think I look beautiful in the garland?"

"Beautiful! It's so beautiful!" several sisters exclaimed in admiration.

"Sister Hong'er, you are already beautiful, and with this wreath against you, you look like an angel." Qing'er, who is a few years older than Hong'er, praised.

"Hong'er, do you think I'm so beautiful?" Lan'er asked, inserting a large red camellia flower diagonally into her black hair.

"Well, Lan'er, you are also very beautiful." Hong'er praised, then smiled and took her hand and said, "Go and show it to your brother Chen."

"Okay, okay!" Lan'er turned around and was about to leave with great joy, but suddenly she remembered something and hit Hong'er, saying, "Hong'er, how can you say that Brother Chen is mine? That's annoying."

"Lan'er, haven't you always liked him? Then isn't he yours?" Hong'er couldn't help but bent over with laughter.

"I like him, but he may not like me!" Lan'er took the camellia and played with it in her hands.

"Then why don't you go and ask?" Lianhua on the side encouraged her.

"Tsk, I won't ask. It's so embarrassing." Lan'er said, giggling.

"Hehe..." Hong'er, Lianhua and Juhua also started laughing.

After picking wild flowers, several girls walked back, chatting and laughing. At this moment, suddenly, there was a deafening sound of running from the southwest. Everyone was startled by the sound and looked up in that direction. At the end of the plain, a large group of beasts rushed towards them, stirring up dust all over the sky. The momentum was very shocking. Several girls were immediately pale and stood there, at a loss.

Qiu and others who were working at the entrance of the cave also heard the loud noise of the beast rushing towards them. Out of hunter instinct, Qiu immediately became alert and blew the horn urgently to notify everyone to return to the cave.

When Xiaoxing heard the horn, he knew something had happened, and hurriedly called for Hechen, Yue, Ri and others to put down their farm work and run back to the cave.

Qiu stroked his white beard with his right hand, held a spear in his left hand, stood at the entrance of the cave and shouted to everyone: "My fellow citizens and warriors, we heard the roar of animals in the distance. I guess it must be the beast army sent by the Nian beast to avenge us. The old, weak, women and children should quickly hide in the cave. Other warriors, follow me and pick up your weapons and prepare for battle."

"Yes, sir!" everyone responded loudly.

"Last time, the Nian beast sent us a lot of mice as snacks. I wonder what it will send us to eat this time?" Dong said with a smile.

"Dong, looking at this situation, they must be a group of ruthless guys. Everyone must be careful." Qiu warned Dong and everyone seriously.

"Understood, Cave Master!" Dong nodded and replied.

Qiu then put on his bow and arrows, picked up his newly polished spear, and led the way to the front of the plain. Ping, Ling, Zhi, Lao Yang, Lao Liu, Xiao Xing, Dong, Xia, Chen, Feng, Yun, etc., thousands of hunters, each holding a weapon, quickly followed Qiu and rushed forward.

In just one meal's time, the herd of cattle had already rushed to within a mile of Tianju Cave. Qiu and the other warriors were shocked when they saw that it was a herd of wild cattle. They shouted, "Oh my God! It's wild cattle, thousands of them, so spectacular!"

The tree root laughed and said, "Nian must have felt that the mice sent last time were too small and not enough for us to eat, so it sent a large bison this time."

The leaf followed up and said, "Brother is right. The mouse is small and not tasty. But this beef is different. Once roasted over a fire, it becomes fragrant and much more delicious."

"Tree Roots and Leaves, you really don't know how to live or die. Although the beef is delicious, looking at the situation, it is still unknown whether you will survive or not! Both of you pay attention!" Dong glared at the Tree Root and Leaf brothers and scolded.

The two were scolded, one shrank his neck and the other stuck out his tongue, neither dared to speak nonsense anymore.

Zhi looked at the cattle herd coming at him and said worriedly, "The tigers have long teeth and the wild cattle have long horns. Cave Master, based on my hunting experience of more than fifty years, it takes six or seven warriors to successfully hunt a yellow cattle. Now there are hundreds of cattle, which will be extremely dangerous."

"Uncle Zhi is right. The bison is not only strong but also fast. Its horns are long and sharp. If you are hit by one, you will either die or be injured!" Dong followed.

"Brother Dong, according to what you said, with so many cattle attacking us, I'm afraid we can't escape." Xi kept shaking his head.

Qiu patted Xi on the shoulder and encouraged him, "Xi, the old saying goes: When two armies fight, the bravest one wins. When facing the enemy in battle, as a warrior, you must not be timid no matter what. Do you understand?" After that, he turned to all the warriors and ordered, "Warriors, listen up, the ones attacking this time are the Bull King's Bull Army, they are fast and fierce. Everyone must be vigilant and deal with them carefully."

"Yes! Cave Master." Everyone responded in unison.

As they were talking, the herd of cattle had already rushed in front of the crowd. When the humans and the cattle met, the bull king did not even say a word, but led the herd with his horns and rushed straight towards the humans.

Everyone looked at the bull king, which was gray and black in color. It was actually a super-large water buffalo. Its huge body was comparable to that of an elephant. It was at least ten feet tall, and one foot was taller than a human. From head to tail, it was about two feet long. The two horns on its head were thick and long. The more common horns were more than two feet long, and the tips of the horns were bent forward, like two sharp swords. When it ran, its strength was more than ten thousand pounds.

At this time, Qiu wanted to shoot an arrow, but it was too late, so he thrust his spear at the Bull King. The Bull King used his horns to push the spear away, and Qiu blocked it. Dong and Xia, who were standing by, roared and hit the Bull King with two thick sticks. The Bull King stopped attacking Qiu and turned his head to block Dong and Xia's sticks. The Bull King was indeed extremely strong. He shook his head vigorously, and Dong and Xia's arms were numb. The two sticks flew out of their hands. Xi, Xiaoxing, Chen, Shugen, Yezi and others caught up and surrounded the Bull King, hacking and chopping with knives and axes, but it was like hitting an iron plate, and his skin and fur were not damaged.

Dong shouted: "Damn it, this old bull king is so strong that he can fight more than a hundred people."

The subordinates followed and shouted: "The old bull king has thick skin and flesh, and is invulnerable to swords and spears. He is even more powerful than the Nian beast!"

"Everyone, come at me together. I don't believe we can't kill it." Qiu said sternly.

As soon as Qiu finished speaking, the herd of cattle behind him rushed over like the wind, and they would butt at anyone they saw. So everyone had to deal with them separately, and a melee between people and cattle began.

The wild bulls were not afraid of pain because of their thick skin and flesh, and they just rushed into the crowd and showed off their power. The people were attacked by the bulls and had no power to fight back. They were defeated step by step. In fact, the reason why humans were defeated was: first, the bulls had just arrived and were very motivated and powerful. Second, the wild bulls were really resistant to pain and strong. Third, the incident happened suddenly and people were not prepared enough. Qiu saw that the situation was not good and shouted: "Everyone, retreat quickly, retreat back to Tianju Cave!"