Chapter 38: The Stirring of the White Stone

Mount Borsang was the tallest peak in the vicinity, and the nearby town of Borsang took its name from this mountain.

Xiao Hei carried Rollin at breakneck speed toward the mountain. As they drew near, Rollin saw, from a distance, about twenty or thirty wild donkeys leisurely grazing on the grass ahead.

“So this is your home, isn’t it? And those must be your companions?” Rollin, lying against Xiao Hei’s back, sent his thoughts out in a whisper of soul communication.

But the donkey merely snorted, darting past the herd like a gust of wind, disdainfully replying, “How could those foolish donkeys be my companions?”

“So Xiao Hei is an outcast among donkeys,” Rollin thought to himself.

At the foot of the mountain, the donkey did not pause. Instead, it bounded directly up the slopes, its body nimble and agile as it darted up the rocky terrain. Rollin, seated on its back, felt only the slightest jostling.

Xiao Hei maintained this swift climb for a good quarter of an hour without any sign of stopping.

“Heavens, Xiao Hei, don’t tell me your home is all the way at the summit!” Rollin exclaimed in surprise.

“Heh heh, we’re almost there. You’ll see soon enough,” Xiao Hei replied, keeping him in suspense.

After another five or six minutes, the donkey finally reached the mountaintop, which was surprisingly flat. Xiao Hei picked a direction and dashed off at full speed.

Rollin took in the broad, level summit, but saw nothing remarkable. He had no idea where Xiao Hei’s so-called “home” might be.

The donkey ran for a while, then came to the edge of the peak, which rose nearly two thousand meters above the ground below. From here, Rollin could even see the swirling clouds beneath them.

“Hey, Xiao Hei, we’re getting close to the cliff edge—slow down, it’s dangerous!” Rollin warned, seeing that the donkey hadn’t reduced its speed in the slightest.

But Xiao Hei seemed not to hear, still charging straight ahead.

“Damn!” was all Rollin had time to shout before he and the donkey plunged off the edge of the mountain.

The wind howled past his ears. Rollin clung desperately to Xiao Hei’s neck as mist and cloud swirled around them, lamenting bitterly, “Xiao Hei, you’re going to be the death of me!”

Yet after falling barely ten meters, Rollin suddenly felt a jolt beneath him—the donkey’s four hooves had touched solid ground. Xiao Hei’s legs bent slightly, absorbing the force of the fall.

Rollin wiped the sweat from his brow and sent a soul message: “You nearly scared me to death. No roast meat for you tonight.”

Xiao Hei turned and bared his teeth at Rollin, replying in kind, “Then I won’t take you back up.”

Rollin was speechless.

“Heh heh, now let me show you my home!” the donkey said proudly.

At last, Rollin’s heart calmed, and he began to observe his surroundings. They stood on a huge, relatively flat outcropping of rock that jutted from the mountain, its edges shrouded in thick, white mist. Looking up, the summit was invisible in the fog—without Xiao Hei leading the way, no one would ever find this place.

Set into the mountainside was a cave, nearly two meters high and a meter wide. Xiao Hei had already trotted up to its entrance.

Examining it closely, Rollin was astonished to see a thin, gray membrane stretched across the entrance. He reached out and touched it; it felt soft and elastic, yet his finger could not pierce it. The membrane acted as a barrier, preventing debris from entering the cave; even if someone accidentally fell from above, they would not be able to break through.

“Heh heh, watch this!” Xiao Hei’s body was suddenly enveloped in a shimmering, multicolored light that also wrapped Rollin within. The donkey stepped forward, passing through the membrane without any resistance at all—leaving Rollin clicking his tongue in wonder.

Inside, the cave was illuminated by a layer of naturally glowing white stone embedded in the walls, casting a soft, radiant light over everything.

“Wow, Xiao Hei, your place isn’t bad at all,” Rollin said, admiring the curious stones as he walked.

Delighted by the praise, the donkey shook his big head happily.

After walking about twenty or thirty meters, the donkey finally stopped, and Rollin slid down from his back.

They stood in a chamber of about thirty square meters. In addition to the glowing stones, the walls were studded with colorful rocks that reflected the white light in a dazzling array of hues, making the cave seem like a fairyland.

Rollin was instantly captivated by the beauty. No matter how mature his mind, he was still only eleven; soon he was exploring every nook and cranny, completely absorbed in play.

He kept at it until beads of sweat formed on his forehead. Only then did he stop, noticing that Xiao Hei was standing motionless at the center of the cave, unusually quiet and subdued.

Surprised, Rollin hurried over and discovered several fragments of colored shell on the ground—remarkably similar to the multicolored aura that had enveloped Xiao Hei earlier. Looking closer, Rollin was stunned to find that they resembled the pieces of a shattered eggshell!

“Xiao Hei, could it be that you…” Rollin stared in disbelief at both the colored shell and the donkey.

The donkey gazed blankly at the fragments, his voice low. “Yes, I was born from this very egg.”

Good heavens, Rollin was nearly driven mad. Not only did this bizarre donkey have a home, and one hidden in a cave halfway up a sheer cliff, but now it claimed to have hatched from a colored egg as well? This was too much…

Do donkeys lay eggs? Even magical beasts aren’t born this way, are they? The thought of a donkey hatching from an egg conjured just one phrase in Rollin’s mind—“donkey egg”—and he shuddered involuntarily.

At that moment, the donkey spoke with a hint of sorrow: “When I first opened my eyes, these broken shells were my only company. I have no idea who my parents are. Every time I see you laughing and talking with your parents, I wonder—who are mine?”

“From the moment I was born, I was alone. No one talked to me, no one played with me. Only when I could walk and left this cave, discovering a path to the outside world, did I see what lay beyond. But the other donkeys refused to befriend me; whenever I approached, they scattered. The humans didn’t want to play either—often chasing me away, sometimes even throwing stones at me. So after wandering around, I was still alone.”

“Xiao Hei, you…” With their souls linked, Rollin could feel the deep loneliness that lay within the donkey’s heart.

Suddenly, the donkey turned his big head and nuzzled Rollin gently. “But I’m glad I met you. You shared your roast meat with me, didn’t drive me away like the others, and played with me. Over time, I found I couldn’t bear to be without you. I’d always wait for you to leave town, and I’d bring you wild rabbits for your barbecue. When I was with you, that inborn loneliness seemed to fade away.”

“When you told me you were leaving for the Academy and wouldn’t be back for a year, I felt terrible, truly. Even though this is my home and I don’t want to leave it, I didn’t want to be apart from you. That day, I came back here and stood for an entire night. The next morning, I went to find you, and together we formed a soul contract with the magic crystal core.”

Rollin had never imagined that this donkey—usually so boisterous, mischievous, and even a little scheming—had such a vulnerable side. He said nothing, simply reached out to gently stroke the donkey’s big head.

Suddenly the donkey grinned, showing his teeth. “Alright, Rollin, as long as I’m with you I get to eat meat and have a friend to play with. I’m happy—at least I made the right choice back then!”

Seeing that his playful, cheerful companion had returned, Rollin couldn’t help but laugh aloud.

“Oh right, Rollin, let me show you something fun!” With that, the donkey trotted to the corner of the cave, and Rollin hurried after him.

Xiao Hei stopped in a corner and jerked his head for Rollin to look. “Here it is—pretty interesting, right?”

When Rollin saw what lay in the corner, his jaw dropped. There, a never-ending stream of multicolored air was spouting, forming a mushroom-shaped cloud. What was astonishing was that the cloud did not disperse a single wisp of its colorful vapors.

All of a sudden, Rollin felt as if struck by lightning—for he realized that the mysterious “white stone” in his upper dantian was trembling violently!