"Gesang, are you out of your mind? This is a leopard, a leopard that harms our cattle and sheep, and you... you say it's the guardian of the snow mountain?"
As the only person from the village who ventured out into the world, Gesang was usually highly respected. The mountaineering teams he brought along could also earn some money for the village. However, what he said at this moment was completely unacceptable to Bazhu, the herder.
“Bazhu, I’m telling the truth. Look, that snow leopard didn’t attack our cattle and sheep, did it? And look again, isn’t that the legendary guardian of the sacred mountain…”
Facts speak louder than words. Under Zhuang Rui's reassurance, the snow leopard did not chase after the scattered cattle and sheep. It was only somewhat wary of the two Tibetan mastiffs in front of it, but did not take them seriously.
After all, there is probably only one Tibetan Mastiff in the world with the fighting power of a white lion. Even the snow mastiff, which is regarded by Tibetans as the guardian of the snow mountain, is far inferior to the white lion.
"Snow Leopard, go and drive all those cattle and sheep back. Remember, don't hurt them..."
To enhance the Snow Leopard's prestige, Zhuang Rui issued an order that sounded unbelievable to others, since this kind of work is usually done by Tibetan mastiffs.
Upon hearing Zhuang Rui's command, the snow leopard let out a deep roar and darted out like a sword, instantly reaching the cattle and sheep. With its claws and roar, it frightened the flock, causing them to turn around and run back to the herders.
Even the cattle and sheep that had run far away were not as fast as Xiaoxue. In just seven or eight minutes, all the scattered cattle and sheep were driven back, but they were trembling and did not run anymore because they had resigned themselves to their fate.
Not only was Bazhu stunned, but Zhuang Rui also didn't expect that the snow leopard really had some of the potential of a Tibetan mastiff. Although it couldn't subdue the sheep with virtue like a Tibetan mastiff, it did overpower the sheep with force to the fullest extent.
"This...this...is it real?"
Bazhu was also somewhat confused. In his memory, the snow leopard was a very cruel beast, but the scene before him made him believe that this adult snow leopard had indeed fulfilled the duties of a Tibetan mastiff.
Bazhu did a quick count and found that all the cattle and sheep that had run away had been herded back. Even Tibetan mastiffs couldn't do that so quickly.
Gesang and Bazhu had been speaking Tibetan the whole time, until these few broken sentences were in a language Zhuang Rui could understand. Zhuang Rui patted the snow leopard and said, "Little Snow, go smell its scent. Don't bite it again..."
The snow leopard swaggered over to Bazhu, who had become somewhat dazed, sniffed him, then turned back to Zhuang Rui and obediently lay down on the ground.
The two Tibetan mastiffs from the village, under the white lion's discipline, were much more obedient now. Although their gazes toward the snow leopard were still full of hostility, they showed no intention of fighting back.
“Brother Bazhu, this was given to me in a dream by the Living Buddha. From now on, it will be the guardian deity of the Great Snow Mountain, and it is also my friend. In winter, I hope the village can offer it cattle and sheep. As for the expenses, I will cover them…”
Zhuang Rui, looking like a charlatan, repeated what he and Gesang had said to Bazhu. Unfortunately, Bazhu's Chinese was very limited, so Gesang had to translate for him in the end.
Then Bazhu saw the Tibetan Mastiff again, which was a legendary guardian deity and deeply believed in by the Tibetans. Bazhu quickly went up and knelt down to pay his respects. In the hearts of these Tibetans, they were not worshipping the physical body of the Tibetan Mastiff, but the Buddha in their hearts.
Zhuang Rui saw that Bazhu still didn't quite believe the snow leopard's appointment as guardian, but instead bowed deeply to the snow mastiff, which hadn't done anything. After thinking for a moment, he lowered his head and said to the snow leopard, "Little Xue, go and get close to Xue'er..."
Both Xiaoxue and Daxue are female. After the hostility between them was eliminated in the past two days, they often had some physical contact. The snow mastiff also affectionately returned Xiaoxue's gestures with its tongue. However, this angered the white lion, who roared at Xiaoxue and chased her back to Zhuang Rui's side.
Seeing this, Bazhu had no choice but to believe it. With Gesang and Suonan's strong testimony, Bazhu finally knelt down and bowed to the snow leopard.
Zhuang Rui watched from the sidelines, secretly amused. He figured that in Tibet, Xiao Xue was definitely the first leopard to be worshipped and become a totem-like figure.
“Brother Bazhu, why don’t you come back to the village with us…”
Before leaving, Zhuang Rui took Bazhu with him again, believing that the words of two villagers would be much better than Gesang explaining alone.
More than half an hour later, Zhuang Rui had Bazhu drive the cattle and sheep into the village first. He wanted Bazhu to drive the cattle and sheep back to the sheepfold so that the snow leopard wouldn't cause a huge commotion when it entered the village.
Even so, the commotion was considerable, because the Tibetan mastiffs in the village smelled the snow leopard and began to growl as they ran desperately toward the village entrance, which even their owners could not stop.
In a sense, snow leopards protect humans' cattle and sheep, while Tibetan mastiffs prey on them. These two are natural enemies and cannot coexist, which is why snow mastiffs and snow leopards fight on the snowy mountains.
More than a dozen Tibetan mastiffs ran wildly, roaring in unison, creating quite a scene. Even with Zhuang Rui's attempts to calm them down, the snow leopard began to feel uneasy, constantly growling in its throat. If Zhuang Rui hadn't held its neck, Xiao Xue would have definitely turned around and run towards the snow mountain.
"White Lion, go and do something about this..."
Looking at the menacing pack of Tibetan mastiffs, Zhuang Rui felt a chill run down his spine. If these guys charged over, they would definitely tear him to pieces. He had been covered in the scent of leopards these past few days.
"Woo woo... Awooo!" Upon hearing Zhuang Rui's words, the white lion jumped out without hesitation, blocking the group of Tibetan mastiffs. The hair on its neck stood up, and it let out a deafening roar.
The Tibetan mastiffs were stunned by the white lion's roar, but when they looked at the snow leopard, they became agitated again.
A Tibetan mastiff, seemingly the leader, also roared, but clearly it dared not provoke the white lion. Instead, it circled around the white lion, trying to bypass it to attack the snow leopard.
"Awooo!" There was actually another Tibetan mastiff that didn't obey him, which made the white lion feel that he had lost face in front of Zhuang Rui. After letting out an angry roar, the white lion's huge body pounced over, slapped the Tibetan mastiff on the head with one paw, and then used its big mouth to bite the Tibetan mastiff's throat with lightning speed.
"White Lion, don't kill it..."
Zhuang Rui was startled. "My buddy asked you to mediate, how did things escalate to a fight? And it was even an internal conflict?"
Actually, Zhuang Rui's idea stemmed from his lack of knowledge about the habits of Tibetan Mastiffs.
Every Tibetan Mastiff pack has a alpha male. Within the pack, all Tibetan Mastiffs must obey the alpha male's commands. Who becomes the alpha male depends on who is the fiercest. Each Tibetan Mastiff in the pack can challenge the current alpha male if it feels it is worthy of being the alpha male.
If the challenge is successful, the challenger will become the new Mastiff King, and the old Mastiff King will leave in disgrace. If the challenge is unsuccessful, the challenger will either die or leave the Mastiff pack.
In a Tibetan Mastiff pack, the command of the alpha male is the supreme order, and every Tibetan Mastiff must obey unconditionally, otherwise it will be regarded as a provocation against the alpha male.
Although the white lion was extremely fierce, it never challenged the alpha male of the Tibetan mastiff pack after arriving in the village. In other words, although the Tibetan mastiffs feared it, they would not obey it. To gain the right to speak within the pack, they would first have to defeat the current alpha male.
This was an exceptionally easy task for the white lion. In just a minute, before anyone could react, the Tibetan mastiff with its black fur was already howling in pain under the white lion's mouth.
"Awoo!" Upon hearing Zhuang Rui's words, the white lion released its mouth and roared to the sky. All the dozen or so Tibetan mastiffs present, except for the snow mastiff, lay down to show their submission to the white lion. The scene was quite exciting to watch.
At this moment, the villagers saw the Tibetan mastiffs running away and sensed something was wrong. In addition, Bazhu shouted loudly after entering the village, and many people crowded to the village entrance and witnessed the white lion displaying its power.
Of course, the snow mastiff, which is considered to be the guardian of the snow mountain, and the snow leopard behind Zhuang Rui were also discovered by the villagers, which caused a commotion. They didn't know whether they should worship the snow mastiff first or go home to get a gun to shoot the snow leopard.
As for why the snow leopard was so docile, no one thought about it at the moment. Leopards and jackals have always been the natural enemies of herders on the grasslands.
"Brother Gesang, it's your turn to step in..."
Zhuang Rui bent down and hugged the snow leopard's neck, then looked up and greeted Gesang.
Gesang gave a wry smile upon hearing this. This was really too damn hard to explain. He was afraid that at the very beginning, these villagers would think he was crazy.
Sure enough, after Gesang spoke with the villagers, they all showed expressions of astonishment and disdain. No one believed what Gesang said and they started shouting loudly.
Zhuang Rui knew they didn't believe him and wanted to go up and explain, but he couldn't understand the language and didn't know what they were saying, so he couldn't help but feel a little frustrated.
After a while, the elderly village chief also came over. After hearing Gesang's words, he reacted particularly strongly, even grabbing his cane to hit Gesang. Gesang was so frightened that he quickly ran to Zhuang Rui's side and said, "Little...Little Zhuang, I can't do this. They don't believe anyone..."
Just then, Bazhu drove the cattle and sheep back to the pen and arrived at the village entrance. Zhuang Rui quickly called out, "Bazhu, Brother Bazhu, come and explain this to us..."
Bazhu had personally witnessed the snow leopard helping to find the cattle and sheep, and he also saw the snow leopard's affectionate relationship with the snow mastiff. He believed Zhuang Rui's story about the Living Buddha appearing in his dream to him to the point of being 80 or 90 percent convinced. After hearing Zhuang Rui's words, he began to communicate with the people in his village in Tibetan.
This time, the villagers didn't show any anger. They could disbelieve what one person said, but the fact that even the honest and upright Bazhu said it made them suspicious.
Furthermore, the white lion's intervention in stopping the mastiffs from fighting the snow leopard puzzled everyone. In their view, the white lion was also a divine beast, like the Buddha's mount, and should have been a natural enemy of the snow leopard. Its current protection of the snow leopard left them bewildered.
"Did that snow leopard really help you find your cattle and sheep?"
The old village chief pressed Bazhu for an answer, saying that the matter was too bizarre, but perhaps it really was a Buddhist prophecy. Only the Buddha could make a snow leopard stop eating cattle and sheep.
If Zhuang Rui knew what the old village chief was thinking, he would be overjoyed. This big charade had given him such a high status, even more impressive than a living Buddha.
Bazhu was an honest man who wouldn't lie. After hearing the old village chief's words, he replied honestly, "Uncle, it's true. I saw it with my own eyes. Bazhu can swear to the Living Buddha..."
Upon hearing this, the old village chief shook his head. He still couldn't believe such an outrageous thing. After thinking for a moment, he waved to Gesang, who had run to Zhuang Rui's side, and said, "Gesang, the guardian spirit of the snow mountain will protect us... If this leopard can walk around us without harming us, then I will believe it, and we will take care of it from now on..."
The old village chief had just heard Gesang's words and knew that if the village provided some cattle and sheep to the snow leopards when the mountains were blocked by heavy snow in winter, they would receive a considerable sum of money. That's why he made that statement.
Upon hearing this, Gesang immediately began translating for Zhuang Rui. He had truly broadened his horizons today. From the snow leopard to the golden eagle, they all behaved obediently and submissively to Zhuang Rui. This made Gesang almost believe deep down that Zhuang Rui was a reincarnated Living Buddha.
"Gesang, ask them if they're not afraid?"
Zhuang Rui was worried that someone might attack the snow leopard first, in which case he wouldn't be able to stop the snow leopard from acting in self-defense.
"Don't be afraid, we Tibetans are not afraid of it..."
After talking with the old village chief, Gesang gave Zhuang Rui's answer, but the old village chief still allowed some children under the age of ten to return to the village.
Those present were all skilled hunters; even if attacked by a snow leopard, it wouldn't be fatal in a few hits, and the people nearby could easily shoot the snow leopard dead.
"Hey, that makes things easy. The guardian deity designated by the Living Buddha certainly won't harm the people it protects..."
Zhuang Rui was overjoyed upon hearing this, and immediately began to act as a charlatan again. He reached out and patted the snow leopard's head, pointed at the villagers, and said, "Little Snow, go and smell their scent. If you see them on the snow mountain in the future, don't attack them..."
The snow leopard had never seen so many people before, and it was actually scared. It hesitated and refused to go forward, but finally, under Zhuang Rui's spiritual enticement and verbal command, it squeezed into the crowd, sniffed everyone, and when it got to the old village chief, it even stuck out its tongue and licked the old village chief's hand.
Although everyone present was quite frightened, after this ordeal, they believed what Gesang had said and immediately cheered loudly. Under the leadership of the old village chief, they actually knelt down and bowed to the snow leopard.
Peng Fei, standing next to Zhuang Rui, couldn't help but laugh. He secretly gave Zhuang Rui a thumbs-up and whispered in his ear, "Brother Zhuang, you're really good at fooling people..."
"Get out of the way, your brother is doing serious business..."
Zhuang Rui suppressed a laugh and glared at Peng Fei.
At this moment, the old village chief actually called out all the children in the village. You know, being able to see the mythical beast on the snow mountain is a great blessing.
Nourished by Zhuang Rui's spiritual energy, the snow leopard was very cooperative, sniffing at each child. Some of the bolder children even reached out and touched the snow leopard's fur, but thankfully the big cat didn't get angry.
As a result, the entire village firmly believed the myth that the snow leopard was the guardian deity of the snow mountain, and Zhuang Rui, as the one who could communicate with the snow leopard, earned even more respect from the villagers.
It was almost noon. The doctors would have left yesterday if they hadn't been waiting for Zhuang Rui to return. They had all packed up and were ready to leave the mountain with the White Lion couple, after politely declining the old village chief's offer to stay.
Accompanying him were the two strongest villagers from the village. They were going to follow Zhuang Rui to the county town to collect the money Zhuang Rui had promised, which was also a crucial factor in the villagers' acceptance of the snow leopard's identity.
"Gah...gagga..."
Just as Zhuang Rui was being taken to the mountain pass by the villagers, the cry of a golden eagle suddenly came from the sky. Two strange golden eagles swooped down from the sky. One landed on the ground next to Zhuang Rui, while the other, smaller one, actually landed directly on Zhuang Rui's shoulder.
"Damn, you're really something..."
Zhuang Rui was dragged several steps forward by the swooping female eagle before he could regain his footing.
"Gah..."
The mother eagle looked at the backpack on Zhuang Rui's chest and cried out.
Zhuang Rui knew that the golden eagle wanted to see its child one last time, so he quickly released the little one. The mother eagle reluctantly rubbed her head against the little one's body, and the emotion in her eyes made Zhuang Rui almost regard the golden eagle as a person.
The sudden appearance of the two golden eagles caused another period of panic among the villagers. Because Bazhu had given an explanation about the Golden-Winged Roc King, a circle of people knelt on the ground again. Zhuang Rui simply addressed the matter at hand and included the golden eagles in the list of animals that were harmed by the village's cattle and sheep in winter.
For many years to come, this village had something that outsiders found very puzzling.
Every winter, during the coldest time, a snow leopard would swagger into the village to hunt cattle and sheep, and every now and then a large eagle would snatch away a lamb from the sky, yet the villagers remained indifferent to it all.
This story later spread throughout the grasslands, but only a very few people knew the real reason.
After cuddling with the eaglets for a while, the two golden eagles flapped their wings and flew into the sky, but they hovered above everyone's heads, refusing to leave no matter how much Zhuang Rui waved.
"Snow Leopard, I'm leaving. Remember, you're not allowed to hurt anyone in this village again..."
Compared to the two golden eagles, what Zhuang Rui was most reluctant to part with was the snow leopard that had always followed behind him. This little guy, who was obviously not very old, was quite to Zhuang Rui's liking.
However, the outside world is ultimately the human world. Zhuang Rui could imagine what would happen to the snow leopard if it went out—either it would be trapped in his courtyard house or put on display in a zoo. Therefore, Zhuang Rui decided to leave the snow leopard in the Great Snow Mountain and the Great Grassland, to be a true king of the snow mountain. "Awoo... Awoo..."
The snow leopard didn't quite understand what Zhuang Rui meant, but it still followed closely behind him. In its mind, Zhuang Rui was like a family member; wherever Zhuang Rui went, it would follow.
"Xiaoxue, go back. The outside world is not for you. Return to the Great Snow Mountain and be the King of the Snow Mountain!"
Zhuang Rui suddenly got angry, pointed at the snow mountain, and roared loudly. His outburst startled Xiao Xue, who took a few steps back, as if she understood something.
However, after a brief moment of astonishment, the snow leopard walked to Zhuang Rui's side, gently bit the hem of Zhuang Rui's clothes with its teeth, and pulled him back with all its might, its eyes revealing an expression of infinite longing.