Traveling back to ancient times to determine the zodiac

"I am already sitting very steadily, so just run quickly. The faster the better!" Emperor Nian kept urging.

"Neigh—" the horse king neighed, "Grassland, I'm back!"

After shouting, he spread his four hooves and galloped forward like an arrow. Emperor Nian had never ridden at such a fast speed before, and was almost thrown off at the beginning. He was so scared that he kept shouting: "Too fast, too fast, I'm going to fall off!"

All the horses protected the horse king and followed him in the wilderness. The rooster was still flying in the sky. The pig head, dog head, and sheep king ran as fast as they could to barely keep up. But the monkey king was the last one left. Looking at the humans chasing him aggressively and shouting, the monkey king was so desperate that he almost wanted to cry. He ran forward with all his limbs and howled, "Emperor Nian, wait for me, don't leave me behind!"

But the horse king ran so fast, how could he hear it? When the humans were getting closer and closer and were about to catch up with the monkey king, the horse spirit turned around, rushed to the monkey king, and said, "Monkey king, quickly climb on my back, I will carry you and run."

It turned out that Emperor Nian looked back on his horse and found the Monkey King lagging behind, so he urgently ordered the Horse King to rescue him. The Horse King then ordered the Hualiu horse spirit to carry the Monkey King.

The Monkey King then quickly climbed onto the horse's back and rode after him at full speed.

Qiu led the others in pursuit for a distance of about five or six miles, and they were all exhausted and sweating. The horses had gradually turned into small black dots and soon disappeared. It was really impossible to catch up.

It was July, the sun was blazing, and Qiu was old after all, so he looked even more exhausted than the young men. He ran and ran until he couldn't hold on any longer, and sat down on the grass out of breath.

Dong, Xiaoxing and others who were following closely were startled and stopped chasing. They surrounded the hill to check the situation. Dong hurriedly asked, "Master, what happened to you? Are you okay?"

"Huff, huff..." Qiu panted and waved to everyone. After a while, he replied, "I'm fine. I'm just exhausted!"

Everyone felt relieved and sat down to rest. The others followed one after another, all shouting with exhaustion. Hong'er and Lan'er were even worse, their faces flushed and they were panting. Hong'er leaned on the hill's back and cried with a bitter face, "Oh, Daddy, I'm so tired after running so far in one breath!"

Lan'er bent down and touched her feet, crying out, "Oh my god, my feet hurt so much from running!"

"Humph!" Qiu glanced at the two of them and said, "You two girls, I told you not to follow me, but you insisted on following me. Now you know what suffering is! This is what it means: If you don't listen to adults, you will suffer the consequences."

"Humph! I'm not afraid of hardship." Hong'er straightened her back stubbornly, looking at the vast grassland and said, "If I don't come out with you, how can I see such an endless green grassland?"

"Yes!" Lan Er looked up and said, "This grassland is so big and beautiful, like a big green carpet. It's so exciting."

"Hong'er, Lan'er, we come here to eliminate the Nian beast. You come here just for sightseeing, right?" Xiaoxing said with a smile.

This sentence made everyone laugh. Xiao Xing looked around and turned to Qiu and said, "Master, this grassland is indeed vast and is the best place for wild horses to run wildly."

Zhi panted and said, "Horses are good at running, and monkeys are good at climbing trees. With more than fifty years of hunting experience, this is the first time I've chased a horse."

Dong cursed in the direction of the horses: "These damn horses are running too fast, they disappeared in the blink of an eye!"

"Brother Dong, chasing a horse is like chasing the wind. I think unless we can fly, we will never be able to catch up with the horse king and the others." Xi wiped the sweat from his forehead and said.

"Xi is right. This place is endless and the wild horses are so fast. It's impossible for us to catch up with them!" Bei agreed.

Others followed suit and said, "Yes, horses are the long-distance running champions in the animal world. We can't win if we compete with horses."

Seeing everyone shaking their heads and sighing, Qiu consoled them, "My fellow warriors, although we didn't catch up with the Horse King, we finally found the Nian Beast. Now that we are here, we should make the best of it. We can't give up just because we suffer a little setback. Although the Horse King is good at running, we can slowly find a way. As the old saying goes: Perseverance can carve a stone. I don't believe that we can't catch up with the Horse King."

"The cave master is absolutely right. We have come here from thousands of miles away, how can we give up so easily? We must catch up with the Horse King and eliminate the Nian Beast no matter what, otherwise all our efforts will be wasted." Xiaoxing nodded repeatedly in agreement.

When the people of Xi, Bei, Zhong and others heard this, their worries turned into joy.

As everyone was talking, Feng suddenly pointed ahead and shouted, "Cave Master, look! The Horse King and his herd have returned!"

Everyone looked up and saw that, sure enough, the horses were galloping towards them, as fast as a whirlwind.

"Why are the horses turning around again? Do they want to die or surrender?" Donghe and the others asked in confusion.

"Everyone, get up quickly and get ready for battle!" Qiu was afraid that the herd of horses would rush towards his people, so he immediately stood up and gave the order.

Although wild horses are not very aggressive, they can be very dangerous if they run rampant. Therefore, the soldiers did not dare to be careless and immediately stood up, drew their bows and arrows, raised their swords and spears, and prepared for battle. Soon, the horse king carrying Emperor Nian and the horses were getting closer and closer, but they did not rush straight over, but suddenly stopped about half a mile away.

It turns out that horses look back nine out of ten steps they run. The Horse King ran wildly with Emperor Nian for a while, turned his head to look at the humans, but they had already been left far behind and disappeared. The Horse King then slowly stopped and said proudly to Emperor Nian, the Monkey King, the Rooster, the Dog King, the Sheep King, and the Pig King who followed behind him: "Emperor Nian, Military Advisor, and all the kings, I am not bragging, am I? You see, humans are so far behind us that they can never catch up with us even if they borrow two more legs from humans. When it comes to running, we horses are undoubtedly the best in the world. Now, are you all safe?"

"Yes, yes! The Horse King is the best in the world, the Horse King is the best in the world!" The Monkey King flattered the horse and shouted: "Just now I rode the horse, it was as fast as flying."

"Nonsense!" Emperor Nian angrily glared at the Monkey King and said, "No matter how fast the Horse King is, can he be faster than my tail?"

The Monkey King shuddered and changed his words: "No, no! The Year Emperor is first, and the Horse King is second."

"That's almost right." Emperor Nian retracted his fierce look, stroked the horse's mane and praised the horse king, saying, "The horse king performed very well this time! Now we don't have to worry about being chased by humans anymore."

"Emperor Nian, you can rest assured. As long as I, the Horse King, am here, you will never be wiped out by humans." The Horse King shook his tail and said proudly.

"Yes, yes! Emperor Nian, what the Horse King said is absolutely right. You don't have to worry about human conquests anymore. Just rest assured!" The Sheep King followed.

Suddenly, Emperor Nian and all the beast kings were delighted and praised the horse king. The horse king was very proud and said, "We have waited for so long, why haven't humans caught up with us yet? Did they give up and return to the primordial world because they couldn't catch us?"

"Well, this is also very possible." The dog-headed military advisor shook his head and analyzed: "With the speed of humans, they can never catch up with us even if they chase us to death, let alone eliminate Emperor Nian. In disappointment, they went back home."

"Then let's go back and take a look, then we'll know, right?" The Horse King didn't have the patience to guess.

"You're not going back? No!" The pig head cried out in pain, "I've run so far, old pig, I'm so tired! What if the humans don't retreat? Won't they chase us again? Well, I won't go."

"Pig King, don't be afraid, just rest assured," the Horse King said nonchalantly, "Even if the humans don't retreat, I am here to ensure that you will be safe and sound."

"Pighead, if you don't want to go, just wait here and we'll go and take a look." Emperor Nian showed no fear at all.

So, Nian Emperor and several other beast kings followed the horse king and walked back for more than ten miles before they saw the humans who were still resting. When the horse king found that the humans did not retreat, he was not panicked, because he knew that as long as they ran, they would definitely win. In this way, the horse king carried Nian Emperor to the human, and the two sides lined up to confront each other.

The horse king looked at the humans, raised his head, and said contemptuously: "Monkey-like humans, didn't you come to hunt down Emperor Nian? Why don't you chase him? Huh——"

"Chase, of course we have to chase!" Qiu Haimao replied sternly, "We are just taking a break."

The Horse King raised his head and laughed for a while, then continued: "Monkey-like bipeds, with your speed, even if I give you two legs, you will never catch up with me, so you'd better go back to Hongmeng!"

After the Horse King finished speaking, Emperor Nian, the beast kings, the horse spirits, and others all laughed along, looking very proud.

Qiu was furious when he heard this. He glared at the Horse King and the Nian Emperor, pointed his spear and shouted again: "Horse King, don't be complacent. It's too early to be happy. Let me tell you, we will not only chase you, but we will not stop until we catch up with you! We will never retreat until we eliminate the Nian Beast and you, the accomplices who are doing evil for Nian!"

"You monkey-like humans, since you don't want to listen to my kind advice, then I will play with you to the end." The Horse King looked down on you.

"Horse King, the Nian beast is cruel and tyrannical. It's ridiculous that you fools are willing to be driven by it and work for it. If you turn back and hand over the Nian beast, we will spare your life. If you still insist on doing wrong, we will kill you without mercy when we catch you." Qiu advised the Horse King.

"Hmph! You are a defeated general, yet you still have the audacity to say that you want to capture this Horse King. How ridiculous." The Horse King sneered again.

"Since you idiots are so stupid, just wait and see." After saying that, Qiu shouted to the crowd, "Everyone, charge! Capture the Horse King alive and eliminate the Nian Beast!"

"Kill!" everyone shouted and shot thousands of arrows at the herd of horses.

When Emperor Nian saw the humans attacking, he quickly ordered the Horse King, "Horse King, run! Run! Arrows are coming!"

The horse king then led the horses to turn around and run, and in the blink of an eye, they ran several miles away. Their skin was thick and the arrows shot at them could not cause any harm to them.

The horse king ran for a while without caring, then looked back at the human, who was still several miles behind and had stopped chasing. The horse king also stopped and ate the grass.

Qiu led everyone in pursuit for a while, but soon they were several miles behind. Everyone was exhausted and shouted, "Master, we are too tired, let's take a rest!"

Qiu was even more tired, so he nodded in agreement. As soon as the soldiers rested, Dong shouted, "Look, the horses have stopped running."

"Are the wild horses tired too?" Xiaoxing asked in surprise.

"No matter whether it is true or not, let's chase him!" Qiu gritted his teeth and took the lead to continue chasing despite being tired.

Everyone had to keep chasing. When the horse king saw humans chasing him, he continued to run. In this way, they chased for a while and rested for a while. After chasing for several miles, they were still several miles away. Seeing the sun setting in the west, it was getting late, so everyone had to give up. Qiu discussed with Dong and Xiaoxing and others, "Zhi, Dong, Xing, it's getting late today, so let's stop fighting for now, find a place to camp first, and continue the attack tomorrow."

"Cave Master, we are all tired and thirsty. We should find a place with water to set up camp." Zhi wiped the sweat off his forehead and suggested.

"Yeah, that makes sense." Qiu nodded and said, "But where can we find water in this vast grassland?"

Everybody was at a loss as to what to do. Xiao Xing slapped his head and suddenly said, "I have a way!" Then he whistled and called the eagle over.

"Eagle, fly to the sky and help find where there is a river." Xiaoxing stroked the eagle's back and ordered.