Traveling back to ancient times to determine the zodiac

"Dong, what did you find in the cave?" Qiu asked.

"Report to the cave master: the Nian beast is not in the cave, it is an empty hole inside." Dong replied.

"What? The Nian beast is not here? Did we find the wrong place?" Qiu asked suspiciously.

"Could it be that the Nian beast knew we were coming and escaped in advance?" Dong guessed.

"Cave Master, we just need to bring those beast kings here for interrogation, and we will understand." Xiaoxing said.

Qiu immediately had the beast kings brought to the front of the cave and asked them, "My fellow beast kings, I want to ask you, are you sure this is the old nest of Emperor Nian - Tianshan Cave?"

The beast kings answered in unison: "Of course we are sure. This is the Tianshan Cave, the lair of Emperor Nian."

"Then why isn't Nian in the cave?"

"We don't know about that." The beast kings were also very puzzled.

Everyone was very disappointed. They had come here with so much difficulty, but they returned empty-handed. Wasn't it a wasted trip? While everyone was discussing, Xiaoxing carefully looked around the cave entrance. Suddenly, he clapped his hands and shouted, "Cave Master, I know where the Nian Beast has gone!"

"Xing, what did you find? Tell me quickly!" Qiu asked hurriedly.

“Cave Master, please look at the ground with everyone else. There are many animal footprints, among which the horse hoof prints are the deepest and clearest. We know that the Nian beast always rides on horses, so we can be sure that the Nian beast must have ridden a horse to the north. And judging from the freshness of these footprints, they should not have been gone for long. As long as we follow these large horse hoof prints, we will be able to find the Nian beast.” Xiaoxing pointed to the large horse hoof prints on the ground and explained in one breath.

Everyone followed and looked at the footprints on the ground. As Xiaoxing said, they saw two rows of large horse hoof prints heading straight to the north. In addition to horse hoof prints, there were also pig tracks, sheep tracks, dog tracks, monkey tracks, etc.

Zhi looked at it for a while and said, "Horse hooves are round, pig hooves are pointed, and sheep hooves can reach the sky. This Nian beast has quite a lot of followers."

"Uncle Zhi, what does it mean that sheep's hooves can reach the sky?" Chen asked.

"Not only can the sheep walk on cliffs as if they were on flat ground, it can also maintain balance on extremely thin branches. It can be said that there is no place it cannot go." Zhi replied.

Qiu immediately gathered the people and said, "My fellow warriors, the old people always say: Once you set your mind, you will succeed. Don't be discouraged. Now that we are here, we will not return until we have eliminated the Nian beast. Although the Nian beast has escaped, we will use the horse hoof prints as a clue and chase it relentlessly. We will definitely be able to find the Nian beast and eliminate it."

"Yes, Cave Master! We will not return to the army until the Nian beast is eliminated!" everyone answered loudly.

So, everyone turned north along the horse hoof prints and continued to follow the trail. After five or six days of chasing, they still didn't see the shadow of the Nian beast. Many people lost confidence and became discouraged. Dong was suspicious and said, "Master, we have been chasing for so many days, but we still can't catch up. Could it be that we are on the wrong track?"

"Yeah! We've been chasing for at least a thousand miles. How long will it take?" Others also complained.

"My fellow warriors, please do not lose heart." Qiu looked at everyone sternly and encouraged them. "We have been chasing all the way here. These horse hoof prints are very fresh, which means that the Horse King has not been here for long. Even if we cannot catch up with the Nian Beast, we will definitely catch up with the Horse King, and then we can get the whereabouts of the Nian Beast from the Horse King. Therefore, we must continue to chase unswervingly and never give up halfway. Even if we have to chase to the ends of the earth, we must catch up with the Horse King."

"Yes, the cave master is right. We will never return until we catch up with the Horse King." Hearing this, everyone regained their spirits and continued to work hard to move forward.

On the seventh day, they reached a high mountain. Standing on the top of the mountain, they looked far into the distance and saw a vast grassland below the mountain. Suddenly, Dong pointed to a place not far below the mountain and shouted excitedly, "Look, the Nian beast is riding the horse king right there!"

Everyone looked in the direction of the finger and saw the flying rooster and the Nian beast riding the horse king. Behind it were the dog head, pig head, sheep king and monkey king. They ran towards the grassland in the distance like a lost dog.

"Great! We finally caught up with the Nian beast!" Qiu Ye couldn't help but shouting excitedly.

"Let's charge! Destroy the Nian beast and avenge our dead brothers!"

When everyone saw the Nian beast right in front of them, they immediately forgot their fatigue of the past few days and shouted with strength.

The loud shouting startled the Nian beasts. The dog-headed military advisor looked back and said to the Nian Emperor in fear, "Report to the Nian Emperor, humans are chasing us, let's run."

"Horse King, how far is it to reach your flat grassland?" Emperor Nian asked in fear.

"Emperor Nian, we are almost there. Ahead is my flat grassland." The horse king swung his long tail and increased his speed.

"Hurry, everyone hurry up and catch up." Emperor Nian urged.

So, the beast kings embraced Emperor Nian and ran desperately into the depths of the grassland. Behind them, Qiu led a large army and chased them desperately.

The Yimapingchuan grassland is flat, with lush wild grass and sparse trees. There are not only many wild horses on the grassland, but also many herbivorous animals such as cattle and sheep. After the horse king carried Emperor Nian into the grassland, he stopped, raised his head and neighed: "Neigh-neigh-neigh-"

As soon as the call fell, thousands of horses in the grassland rushed here. There were all kinds of horses in the herd, such as Hualiu, Qiian, Longmei, Ziyan, Chitu, Zhuifeng... Upon learning that the Horse King had returned, they rushed to see him like flying arrows. Among them, a red Hualiu horse spirit excitedly asked the Horse King: "My king, I haven't seen you for a long time. Why did you suddenly run back to the grassland today?"

The Horse King scanned the herd and replied, "My brothers and my subjects, do you see the Nian Emperor on my back? The Nian Emperor is the most powerful king of animals in the world, and all beasts are under his control. But now humans have appeared who refuse to pay tribute, so the Nian Emperor has repeatedly sent beast armies to conquer them, but they always fail. Unexpectedly, humans have come to conquer the Nian Emperor. Therefore, I took the Nian Emperor and the other beast kings, such as pigs, dogs, chickens, monkeys, and sheep, to escape to our Yima Pingchuan grassland for refuge. Now humans are chasing us from behind, so everyone must help me protect the Nian Emperor and we must not be caught up by humans, otherwise we will all die!"

"Yes, my king!" The horses nodded in response.

"Your Majesty, what kind of animals are humans that even Emperor Nian was scared and ran away?" the black horse spirit asked again.

"Humans are just like monkeys, but they can use weapons, such as bows and arrows, stone knives, spears, etc. Once shot, you will either die or be injured. Everyone must be careful." The Horse King warned.

"Don't worry, my king. We run faster than arrows. How can we be shot?" The horses snorted in disapproval.

"You horses, stop bragging and run for me to see!" Emperor Nian said suspiciously.

Hearing this, two red rabbit horses spread their four hooves and ran away. As expected, they ran as fast as lightning, and in the blink of an eye they ran thirty or forty feet away.

The Nian Emperor nodded his head and praised: "Fast, really fast, almost like flying."

"Emperor Nian, we are horses. How can we be compared with that boaster? I'm not bragging, but if humans can catch up with our dust, they will win." The horse king became even more proud when he saw the praise.

After that, he glanced at the horses again and said with a happy smile, "I didn't expect that our horses have increased a lot since I haven't been back to the grassland for a long time. Look at these foals, they are so strong!"

"Horse King, I haven't eaten meat for a long time. Please quickly select a horse to present to me as a tribute." Emperor Nian couldn't help drooling as he looked at the large number of horses.

The horse spirits and horses were so frightened that they took a few steps back. The horse king was reluctant to pay tribute, but he was afraid of the emperor's power and said in embarrassment: "Emperor Nian, you came here to seek refuge. How can you eat my people?"

"You have so many horses here. What's the big deal about eating one? If you don't agree, I will teach you a lesson!" Emperor Nian was furious and said viciously.

The horse king was so frightened that he trembled all over. At this moment, the rooster flying overhead shouted: "The humans have caught up, horse king, you'd better run!"

Emperor Nian looked back and saw that the human was less than three miles behind him. Emperor Nian had no choice but to put aside the idea of ​​eating the horse, swallowed his saliva, and urged the horse king, "Horse king, run, run!"

"Emperor Nian, don't be afraid. As long as you don't eat my horses, we can definitely guarantee that you will be fine." said the Horse King.

Seeing humans rushing towards him shouting, Emperor Nian became more and more panicked, and had no choice but to agree: "Horse King, I will not eat your horse anymore, run away!"

"Don't panic, Emperor Nian. I will definitely keep you safe in this place." The Horse King was confident and unmoved.

Seeing that the Horse King and the Nian Emperor were not running away, Qiu led the army to stop about ten feet away from the Horse King. Qiu rushed out in front of the battle, raised his spear and angrily questioned the Nian Beast: "Damn Nian Beast, we humans are self-sufficient and have never invaded you. But you are determined to subdue us humans. If you hadn't escaped quickly last time, we would have cut you into pieces and eaten you as barbecue. Damn Nian Beast, since you have escaped by chance, you should hide your head and neck. Why do you send the beast army to attack us again and again?"

"You monkey-like humans, there is no two suns in the sky. As the emperor of the world, of course I have to subdue you, otherwise how can I convince the people?" Emperor Nian answered while sitting on his horse.

"Hmph! Damn Nian beast, I'm not afraid to tell you, before there were no humans, you could be number one. Now that humans are here, the number one must be me." Qiu shouted sternly.

"Humans look like monkeys, with neither horns nor sharp teeth. How powerful are they? How dare they claim to be number one?" The Nian beast widened its one eye in disbelief.

"Damned Nian beast, to tell you the truth, not only did you fail in your attack on humans, but those evil beasts you sent were eventually defeated and captured one by one through the joint efforts of us humans. Isn't this considered number one?" Qiu asked back.

"Monkey-like humans, I was just careless for a moment, so I was blinded by your arrows. And those beast kings were defeated by fire. In the final analysis, it was you who were too cunning. How can you say that you humans are powerful?" Emperor Nian argued cunningly.

"Cave Master, stop talking nonsense to them." Dong waved his stone axe and shouted at the Nian Beast: "Damned Nian Beast, didn't you want to destroy us? Now we are here, come and destroy us! Come on, let's fight to the death."

"Monkey-like humans, my eyes have not recovered yet, and I don't want to bother with you for the time being. If you want a decisive battle, come back later." Emperor Nian replied, pointing to his injured eye.

"Listen up, damned Nian!" Qiu raised his spear again and shouted, "Today, on behalf of mankind, this cave master solemnly declares to you: In order to avenge those injured and dead warriors, we swear to destroy you, the monster. Even if you don't bother with us now, we will still challenge you!"

"Monkey-like humans, although my attack and those of the Bull King, Tiger King, Rabbit King, Dragon King, and Snake King have all failed, you want to have a decisive battle with me and destroy me. That will never be possible." Emperor Nian shouted unwillingly.

"Damned Nian beast, if that's what you said, then come over here quickly!" Dong shouted again.

"Jiji, monkey-like humans, I am not a fool. Even if I cannot defeat you, the world is so big, won't I escape?" Emperor Nian said, shaking his head.

"Damned Nian, you still want to escape?" Qiu replied sternly, "Even if you flee to the ends of the earth, we will definitely catch you and grind you to dust and destroy you completely."

Upon hearing this, Emperor Nian shuddered with fear and said in confusion: "You monkey-like humans, how can you be so stubborn? You are crazy, you are really a bunch of crazy people."

"Dear warriors, attack the Nian beast! Charge!" Qiu shouted, waving his spear.

"Yes, sir! Charge!" everyone shouted and rushed forward.

"Horse King, humans are attacking, run!" Emperor Nian was terrified and ordered the Horse King to run.

"Yes, Emperor Nian, hold on tight!" The Horse King glanced at the human who was rushing up and replied.