Ming Yue and Yao Yao had only traveled for about 10 minutes when Ming Yue groaned. The panda refused to run no matter how she tried to encourage it and kept walking at a snail's pace.
Yao Yao tapped her shoulder and said, "It probably doesn't want to run. I don't think I've ever seen it running."
"How much time do you think it will take before we reach the village?" Ming Yue asked.
"Hmm... about 4 hours at this pace." Yao Yao said.
Ming Yue groaned once more as she threw herself onto the panda's back. She felt like an impatient child in the backseat of a car. This wasn't how she had imagined her new adventurous life would be like, sitting on a slow moving beast doing nothing for hours upon hours. She wanted action! "Is there no faster way of traveling?"
"There is! We could go by flying sword and we'd be there in 10 minutes." Yao Yao said.
Ming Yue's face paled as she thought about her first time traveling by flying sword with Jun Xi. "No way! I'm never getting on one of those things again!"
Yao Yao furrowed her brows as she thought Ming Yue was strange. Didn't everyone travel by flying sword? It was one of the first skills every disciple of the Righteous Sword Sect was taught once they could begin using spiritual energy. "Hmm... then I can't think of any other way."
Ming Yue rubbed her face against the panda's fur as she silently glowered. Why was this adorable fluffy beast so slow? Stupid panda!
Time slowly trickled by. Ming Yue sat while leaning over hugging the panda's back while facing the side and watched the distant mountains that continued all the way to the horizon. It was a beautiful and awe inspiring view, but she didn't feel zen at all, instead irritation and impatience was bubbling inside of her as she kept groaning.
Just then a light flicked on in her mind. "I know, let's play a game! Let's play rock paper scissors!"
"What's that?" Yao Yao asked.
"You've never played rock paper scissors before?" But then as she thought a little further that made sense, seeing how she wasn't on modern day earth anymore. "I'll teach you!"
The two girls began playing rock paper scissors as they continued their very, very slow journey down the mountain.
Lao Wu was an old mortal farmer who lived near the base of the mountain. He had been working on the village's fields for over 60 years. He wore a straw hat and carried a farming tool in his right hand as he was bendinh over and working on the field. Then he took a break to stretch his old aching back and wiped some sweat from his forehead when he suddenly saw an elephant-sized panda slowly walking beside the field, but as if this wasn't already strange enough, two girls were sitting on its back while they were happily giggling and shouting as they seemed to be playing some sort of game. Lao Wu shook his head and rubbed his old weary eyes thinking he was seeing things but he still saw them. He rubbed his old aching back and thought back to what his wife had told him the day before, "Dear husband, your getting old, it's time to retire and spend more time with your wife and your grandchildren. The fields already have enough workers." He sighed, then grabbed his tools and walked home.
As the two girls arrived at the village a crowd of villagers of various ages quickly gathered around them, but they didn't dare to get too close because of the big panda.
"Mom! Mom! I want to ride the big panda too!" A child suddenly shouted.
"Mom! I want to pet the panda, can I? Can I?" Another child shouted.
"Mom! I'm scared!" Another child, a little girl, began crying. Then two or three more children followed suit and also began crying.
A group of bare chested and muscled men came running carrying bows and swords, but once they saw how huge the panda was they suddenly stopped, their feet forming small ditches due to the abruptness, and they all crashed into each other and almost fell on their bottoms. Once they had collected themselves, one of them, who looked a little bigger and stronger than the rest, stepped forward and said, "Who goes there and what's your purpose?"
As the senior one and the more experienced one, Yao Yao took it upon herself as the leader position and said, "We're sorry for troubling you. This little one is Yao Yao and the girl beside me is Ming Yue. We're here on a mission from the Righteous Sword Sect."
"Ah!" The man exclaimed and suddenly fell to his knees as he kowtowed before them. "This lowly villager greets the great immortals!"
The other villagers also quickly followed suit and soon everyone was kowtowing before them. "This lowly villager greets the great immortals!" They all shouted in a choir.
Ming Yue's eyes turned wide as she gasped at the scene. It felt so surreal. They were treating her as if she was a goddess! She pulled at Yao Yao's sleeve and whispered, "What's going on?"
Before Yao Yao had a chance to explain, an old fat man in luxurious robes came running. His fat belly bouncing like gelly and his big round cheeks moved like that of a bloodhound's.
A young skinny boy was chasing after the fat man carrying a roll of fabric.
The fat man suddenly stopped and impatiently waited for the boy to catch up. And once the boy arrived, the old far man slapped the boy's head as he urged, "Quickly! Quickly! Roll out the mat!"
The boy hurriedly rolled out the mat he was carrying in front of the fat man, and once it was rolled out, the fat man threw himself on it and kowtowed toward the girls. "Humble village elder greets the great immortals!"
Ming Yue and Yao Yao looked at each other with a look that said they didn't know what to think.