Traveling back to ancient times to determine the zodiac

But despite the horse king's heart-wrenching cries, Emperor Nian still fled in a hurry without looking back, cursing as he fled: "You dead horse, you relied on your ability and didn't listen to me. You insisted on competing with cunning humans. Now you are caught and killed, you deserve it."

The dog-headed military advisor, pig-headed guards, as well as the sheep king, chicken king, and monkey king caught up with Emperor Nian breathlessly. The dog-headed one asked in surprise, "Emperor Nian, can't the horse king run as fast as flying? How did he get caught?"

"Didn't you idiots see it? Just when the Horse King and the human were preparing to race together, the human suddenly threw out a noose, which happened to be around the Horse King's neck. The Horse King couldn't break free, so he was caught." Emperor Nian replied.

"Emperor Nian, King Ma is too honest. They have no idea that people's hearts are sinister and cunning. Alas--" sighed Dog Head.

"Emperor Nian, it's all because the Horse King is too proud and arrogant. He deserves to be captured." The Sheep King had long been disgusted with the Horse King's conceit, so he showed no mercy and continued to ask, "Emperor Nian, since the Horse King has been captured, humans will soon catch up with him. What should we do now? Where can we escape?"

"King Sheep, didn't you say that your Upside-Down Mountain is absolutely safe? Take me to your place for shelter now!" Emperor Nian replied.

"Okay! The Upside-down Mountain where I live has steep cliffs and is a dangerous natural barrier. It will definitely be safe." The Sheep King agreed immediately.

The Emperor Nian was overjoyed when he heard this. However, because he had lost the Horse King, he had no mount, which made him very lazy. He looked at the remaining Dog Head, Pig Head, Sheep King, Monkey King, and Chicken King. He didn't care about anything else and got on the Sheep King's back, and ordered: "The Horse King has been captured, Sheep King, you carry me on your back!"

The Nian Emperor was so huge and heavy that the Sheep King's legs trembled. He hadn't taken two steps when he cried out in pain, "It's heavy, too heavy! Nian Emperor, you'd better get off and run on your own. You're so heavy that I can't carry you. If I carry you any more, you'll crush me to death or flatten me."

"You damn Sheep King, you want to be lazy? Are you itching to be beaten? You can't carry me on your back, do you want a dog-headed pig to carry me?" Emperor Nian cursed angrily.

"Emperor Nian! You'd better get down and run by yourself! Humans have caught up with us!" Dog Head shouted in panic.

Upon hearing this, Emperor Nian was so frightened that he immediately jumped off the sheep's back and said, "Okay, okay, let's run now!" After that, he hurriedly urged the Sheep King to step forward and lead everyone to flee in panic towards the Upside-down Mountain.

When Qiu led the others to catch up with the Horse King, Emperor Nian and his party had already fled. The Horse King was roaring and screaming madly, trying to break free. Xiaoxing and Dong, Chen, and Xi were still holding onto Xiaoshu, trying to prevent the Horse King from breaking free.

"Xing, Dong, are you okay?" Qiu asked them from afar.

"Cave Master, the Horse King has been controlled by us! We are fine." Xiaoxing answered loudly.

"Everyone, hurry up. Some of you help Xing and Dong to hold the Horse King. The rest of you should immediately surround the Horse King and capture him alive!" Qiu ordered.

"As you command! Cave Master!" Everyone agreed and rushed forward, some pulling the rope, some catching the Horse King. In a moment, the Horse King was surrounded.

With the help of everyone, Xiaoxing, Dong, Xi, and Chen finally untied the ropes and stood up. After being dragged for several miles, the four people's clothes were already tattered and their bodies were covered with wounds. Qiu asked with distressed eyes: "Xing, Dong, Xi, Chen, are you really okay? You have worked hard!"

"Cave Master, we are fine. To catch the Horse King, even if we die, it is worth it." Xiao Xing patted the dust off his body and continued, "Let's go and catch the Horse King."

Immediately they separated the crowd and entered the encirclement. They saw the horse king still struggling, shaking his head and kicking his legs, with fear in his eyes.

"You stupid horse, didn't I say that I could never catch up with you and never catch you? Today, let's see how you can run?" Qiu looked at the Horse King and sneered.

"Hmph! Cunning human, we clearly agreed to compete side by side, why did you suddenly use a lasso to trap me?" The Horse King asked angrily.

"You stupid horse, how can we catch you without any tricks? Haha..." Qiu couldn't help but laugh.

"You cunning human being are so dishonest. What kind of ability do you have?" The Horse King held his head high, very dissatisfied.

Dong pointed at the horse king and angrily said, "You stupid horse, you helped Nian to do evil and refused to listen to our good advice. You are our enemy. Do we still need to be honest with our enemies?"

Qiu then said frankly: "You stupid horse, to tell you the truth, this is called wisdom. This is the difference between us humans and you beasts. Therefore, you are destined to fail and be captured."

Although the horse king didn't quite understand, the outcome was irrefutable, and he lowered his head in silence.

"Cave Master, although the Horse King was captured, the Nian Beast escaped!" Xiaoxing lamented.

"Xing, they can't escape. Now let's deal with the Horse King first, and then continue chasing them." Qiu said to everyone with relief.

"Cave Master, how should we deal with the Horse King?" Dong raised the stone axe, pointed at the Horse King and asked Qiu Dao.

"Brother Dong, are you still asking why? It carried Emperor Nian around and made us so tired! Now let's kill it on the spot and eat its horse meat!" Xi said hatefully.

"Xi, this thousand-year-old horse has thick skin and meat, and we don't have a stove to cook it outside. If we roast it and eat it, we will definitely not be able to bite it." Speaking of eating, Shuye immediately interrupted.

When the horse king heard this, he nodded repeatedly: "You are right, my skin is rough and my meat is not tasty, let me go!"

"Let you go?" The tree root waved his hand and said, "Horse King, you are dreaming. Since your meat is not tasty, I will skin you and remove your tendons. I will use your skin to make clothes and your tendons to make ropes. They must be very strong and durable."

"Yes, yes, skin it and take out its tendons to make things for use in the future." Xi, Bei and others shouted along.

When the horse king heard this, he was so frightened that he almost collapsed. He begged for mercy tremblingly: "Cunning human, oh, no, no, it's the powerful human..."

"Damn horse king, even when death is imminent, he still dares to say that humans are not powerful." Dong said angrily.

"No, that's not what I meant." The Horse King became even more anxious, and stammered in his defense: "Powerful, powerful human, this Horse King was forced by Emperor Nian and had to obey him. Now that I'm captured, I beg you to spare my life. I am willing to rebel against Emperor Nian, surrender to you humans, and obey you humans forever."

"You stupid horse, you are an accomplice of the Nian beast. You dragged us all over the ground and left us covered in wounds. Now you want to spare our lives. That's ridiculous." Dong Gao raised his stone axe and shouted, "Stupid horse, prepare to die!"

"Powerful humans, great humans, please don't kill me. I am willing to obey you forever, let you ride me, and help you destroy Emperor Nian." The Horse King trembled like a sieve and kept begging for mercy.

"Dong, stop for now!" Qiu stopped Dong's stone axe and said, "Since the Horse King is truly surrendering, we should accept his surrender like the other beast kings and spare his life for now."

"Cave Master, we spent so much effort, Uncle Ge even lost his life for it, and we finally caught it. I want to cut it into pieces, how can I let it go?" Dong put down the stone axe angrily and asked Qiu Dao.

"Dong, I still say the same old thing: if human beings want to develop, they cannot do without the help of animals. Therefore, I decided to let it go." Qiu explained, stroking his white beard.

"The cave master is right." Xiao Xing walked over and said, "Horses are good at running. Once they are tamed, they can be ridden and traveled. It is very convenient. In the future, they will be good companions of humans!"

"Xing, this is what you saw in the future world, right?" Chen asked.

"Well, these are what I saw in my dreams." Xiaoxing replied.

"Xing, in my fifty-year-old hunting experience, I have never seen anyone riding a horse." Zhi pointed at the horse king with interest and asked, "Can this horse be ridden? What if it falls off?"

"Uncle Zhi, don't you believe that horses can be ridden? Then let me ride one and let you see!" Xiaoxing saw that everyone doubted him, so he wanted to ride the horse king.

The horse king had already stood up. Xiao Xing walked up to the horse king and said to him, "Horse king, since you are willing to surrender to humans, you must obey their orders. I will ride you around now. If you dare not obey my orders, I will never forgive you."

"Great human, no matter how you ride me, I promise to obey you." The horse king replied with his head lowered.

Xiao Xing nodded in satisfaction, and then tried to climb onto the horse's back, but found that he couldn't reach it. It turned out that the horse king was about ten feet tall, and Xiao Xing was not even as tall as its legs.

"Chen, come and help." Xiaoxing waved to Chen.

Chen followed his words and came to the side of the horse king. Xiaoxing stepped on Chen's shoulders and finally climbed onto the horse king's back. He held the reins, used the arrow as a whip, and whipped the horse, riding the horse king in a circle among the crowd. Seeing this, everyone said they were envious.

When Xiaoxing jumped off the horse, Qiu clapped his hands and praised, "Great, great! We have a horse king. It will be much more convenient to ride a horse in the future."

Dong, Xi and others saw that the cave master agreed to surrender the Horse King, so they naturally could not object and put away their swords and axes.

After the Horse King had surrendered, Qiu asked him about the whereabouts of Emperor Nian: "Horse King, the Nian beast has escaped again. Do you know where it will go?"

"Powerful human, just now Emperor Nian fell down with me, and then he ran away. I think he must have run away with the Sheep King, the Dog King, the Pig King, the Monkey King, and the Rooster, but I don't know where exactly he went!" The Horse King answered respectfully.

"Since you don't know, where are you going to chase her at the end of the world?" Qiu couldn't help but frown.

Xiao Xing looked at the Horse King and suddenly remembered the order of the twelve zodiac animals. After the Horse is the Sheep. He shouted, "Cave Master, I know. The Nian Beast must have escaped to the Sheep King."

Qiu asked in surprise: "Xing, you are so sure, how do you know?"

"Cave Master, I'm just guessing." Xiaoxing scratched his head and replied.

"Xing, even though you always say you are guessing, you are right every time." Qiu stroked his white beard and said to Xiao Xing, "Since the Nian Beast is nowhere to be found now, we will follow your guess and chase after the Sheep King."

"Cave Master, but we don't know where the Sheep King lives, what should we do?" Xiaoxing asked.

"Old people often say: The road is in your mouth. I think the horse king should know where the sheep king lives." Qiu turned to the horse king and asked, "Horse king, do you know where the sheep king lives?"

"Powerful human, the Sheep King lives on the Upside-Down Mountain about a thousand miles away in the southwest," replied the Horse King.

"Oh! Since you know the place, can you take us there?" Qiu asked.

"Of course. All you have to do is follow me." said the Horse King.

Qiu looked up at the sky and saw that it was almost evening, so he said to the horse king, "It is late today, let's wait until tomorrow to chase the Nian beast."

So Qiu ordered his men to take the horse king and lead everyone to the camp. This time the humans won a great victory. Along the way, the horses watched from afar and neighed, thinking that the horse king would be executed after being captured, so they were very sad.

When the horse king heard the horses wailing, he stopped and neighed loudly, then said to the horses: "My brothers and subjects: I have rebelled against the cruel Emperor Nian and surrendered to the powerful humans. The humans promised not to kill me and to forgive me. My subjects, from now on, we horses will regard humans as our emperors and obey their orders."

"Yes, my king!" After hearing the order, the horses dispersed with peace of mind.