From Tan Xiao's perspective, the scene took on a few more layers of meaning.

The peacock descended at an angled backlight, its feathers gleaming golden at the edges. As its undulating tail feathers fell, they almost covered his entire field of vision.

Tan Xiao had once marveled at the elegance of the oriental white stork, with its minimalistic black and white hues exuding a refined grace.

But when the peacock soared through the sky, displaying its intricately gorgeous tail colors, Tan Xiao realized that beauty knows no hierarchy. There was indeed a kind of domineering color that, when showcased, would monopolize one's visual senses. Even with various migratory birds flying across the sky, Tan Xiao's attention was completely captivated by these magnificent feathers.

Instinctively, Tan Xiao reached out and caught the peacock. It nestled in the crook of his arm, its long, smooth tail feathers cascading down, trailing onto the boat and piling on the ground. Only then did Tan Xiao notice that among the peacock's tail feathers, five seemed exceptionally dazzling, their surfaces even emitting a faint golden glow. Those must be Kong Xuan's five-colored divine lights.

As for the large bird that had tried to attack Tan Xiao, it seemed to have been whisked away by the peacock's divine lights before it could even utter any battle declarations. Tan Xiao didn't even have a chance to trade a few harsh words with it, like "My bird has arrived too, let's see how they compare."

The faint coolness made Tan Xiao realize that this was still Kong Xuan's spirit body, just in its original bird form rather than its human Daoist form.

It was at this moment that Liu Qingquan, who had arrived a step later, let out a despairing cry, "Great God, the shore is full of people—"

There was no stopping it. It was said to be unnecessary, yet it insisted on flying over.

Kong Xuan ignored Liu Qingquan and preened its feathers, quite pleased with the amazement in Tan Xiao's eyes. What did it matter if there were people around? It only noticed that the area was full of birds.

Tan Xiao came back to his senses...

Right, why did Kong Xuan appear in its bird form instead of human form, and deliberately manifest itself again? This question surfaced in Tan Xiao's mind, and he could automatically arrive at the answer in less than three seconds.

What else could it be? Tan Xiao was quite self-aware. Of course it was deliberate, intentional, specifically showcased for him to see...

It was all because he had praised the oriental white stork in front of the peacock. At the time, Kong Xuan had only thrown a small tantrum, and Tan Xiao thought it had passed. Now it seemed there just hadn't been an opportunity.

Tan Xiao had no choice but to say weakly, "We're still quite far from the shore, maybe they didn't see it. Plus, with so many birds flying around, they might not have gotten a clear look?"

When he spoke, everyone noticed that he had a slight lisp. It was because he had bitten the tip of his tongue earlier in the heat of the moment. Now he was feeling the pain.

"Impossible," Qian Ping'an said, seemingly calm. "You should know what kind of equipment they have. Never mind seeing clearly, they can probably count how many tail feathers your great god has. Plus, those are all bird-watching experts. Even without looking at the feathers, they can identify the bird just by its call, let alone such a large peacock."

"Then let's hurry and escape!" Tan Xiao said nervously. "How do we explain this?"

Ah, no, they were stuck... and who knows how many photos had already been taken.

Tan Xiao looked at Liu Qingquan.

Liu Qingquan: "..."

Liu Qingquan slumped to the ground, whimpering, "With you two doing this, how can I rest in peace!!"

"...Teacher Liu, don't cry. Isn't this the specialty of your 404 department? You guys even decoded the Dragon King's QR code on TV for fishing. You explained it quite well," Tan Xiao consoled, feeling a bit guilty. After all, the peacock was his pet.

Kong Xuan's recent reveals, or rather, displays, were all unnecessary, yet it insisted...

Thank you for your encouragement... Liu Qingquan sadly started racking his brain.

"In any case, please have the Great God leave first for now. Otherwise, we'll have to take him ashore to face the onlookers and their questions. Let him fly away first, and we'll leave slowly and come up with an explanation. I still need to contact the local authorities. Ah, come to think of it, maybe before we even figure out a story, the onlookers will have already helped us make one up..."

Seeing Tan Xiao's strange look, Liu Qingquan nodded, "Yes, that's right. We often copy from online posts."

Tan Xiao: "..."

As expected of someone who does PR year-round. Indeed, people will see and make their own reasonable guesses, so just go with the public opinion.

"Great God, why don't you fly away first? We'll meet up with you on shore," Tan Xiao lowered his head and found that Kong Xuan's head was still pressed against his shirt. Noticing his gaze, its crest feathers quivered as it raised its head and calmly said, "Why must we leave separately? Can't we just sail the boat together?"

"Because we can't be discovered to have a private relationship," Tan Xiao said. Regardless of whether they had come up with a story or not, he couldn't continue interacting too much with Kong Xuan. Otherwise, it would seem like he had trained Kong Xuan, and they needed to leave some room for fabrication.

Kong Xuan stared intently and asked, "Why?"

Tan Xiao fell silent for a moment, then said with a lisp, "Because privately keeping a national first-class protected animal is punishable by more than ten years in prison..."

Kong Xuan: "..."

Alright. Kong Xuan understood.

"Try to fly as inconspicuously as possible," Tan Xiao reminded. It was better than nothing, just to console Liu Qingquan a bit.

Kong Xuan flapped its wings and took off from the spot. Its tail feathers fluttering upwards didn't seem very inconspicuous, but at least it flew away and cleverly disappeared into the reeds.

With Kong Xuan's disappearance, the migratory birds finally resumed their normal behavior.

Seeing Kong Xuan leave, Qian Ping'an finally wailed, "That's your ancestral god? Your ancestral god made a move way too fast. I didn't even get a clear look at what it was!"

......

On shore, the photographers' fingers were almost numb from pressing the shutter. From the moment the peacock appeared to its departure, no one had stopped pressing the shutter—except for those recording video.

Although everyone had come with the purpose of photographing migratory birds, the previous scene was so stunningly beautiful that everyone marveled at their luck. Sometimes, photographing birds was a matter of luck, not just persistence.

Such a magnificent scene of all birds paying homage to a phoenix-like creature—even if you attended three or five bird-watching festivals or persisted for decades with determination, equipment, and skill... it would still be difficult to capture!

Even if you wanted to artificially recreate it, numerous stringent conditions would have to be met. First, it would be very difficult to find such a perfect and beautiful peacock, and the migratory birds would have to cooperate to this extent, which was beyond human control.

Those with quick hands had even started importing photos to their phones, editing, and uploading.

—With so many people capturing it on-site, whoever uploaded the photos first would be the winner!

The sponsor's staff also confirmed with the company: "These performers were truly not invited by us, but we don't know if they were arranged by the government."

"That's not possible either. If they had arranged it, wouldn't they have informed everyone there would be a performance today? Moreover, that was a green peafowl, a national first-class protected animal. Most zoos don't even have them, let alone bringing one here. The green peafowl isn't even a migratory bird."

Most of those present were bird-watching enthusiasts, so who wouldn't recognize a green peafowl?

The peafowl people commonly see is the blue peafowl, which is not rare. But the green peafowl they saw and were discussing is a national first-class protected animal, endangered even. It's not ordinary at all. It's also the only native peafowl species in China; blue peafowls are all foreign.

"Historically speaking, the Chu region did indeed have a distribution of green peafowls..."

"So how exactly did this green peafowl get here, and it flew away. Shouldn't those people chase after it in a speedboat?"

"So it really wasn't invited to perform? They were all wearing performance costumes. Maybe it wasn't a live performance, but filming a promotional video or commercial? Hmm, a green peafowl can't represent Yunmeng, so it must be a commercial after all."

This made sense too. It's normal not to see the photographer when filming. Maybe their photographer was hidden right among this group of people.

"If it's not this kind of plot they're filming, it would be too unbelievable. Did you see just now, all the migratory birds took off, startled by that green peafowl, as if cooperating with it. How do you think they got the green peafowl to cooperate too? Do they dare to tame a national first-class protected animal?"

It's not a circus after all. In any case, green peafowls definitely can't be privately bred. Peafowls do like riverbanks, but green peafowls have never been found in Yunmeng Marsh.

"But speaking of green peafowls, don't you think it might not be a pure green peafowl?"

Someone raised an objection.

"First of all, its size is very large. Based on the reference objects next to it, it far exceeds an ordinary green peafowl. And look at its feathers, aren't they also slightly different?"

Just as Qian Ping'an said, these people were all using professional equipment. Despite the long distance, they captured the peafowl very clearly.

As he pointed this out, everyone carefully distinguished and indeed found slight differences. Compared to ordinary green peafowls, it was even more splendid, and its eye shape and crest feathers seemed to be a little different.

"Could it be mixed with some other bloodline? Or a newly bred variety?" If it wasn't a pure green peafowl, that could explain why it appeared outside its habitat and zoos.

—This difference was not something the peafowl intentionally did for the convenience of explaining the 404 case. It was the first peafowl born between heaven and earth, separated by who knows how many years from the present. The environment and spiritual energy had all changed.

Not to mention the chaos on the shore, Qian Ping'an directly brought over his pre-prepared boat parked nearby to take Tan Xiao away from the scene. Compared to public relations, the case at hand had to be solved first.

Tan Xiao also took off his robe on the boat. The bright red color was too eye-catching.

Reaching the other side of the shore, Tan Xiao got off the boat and jumped onto the embankment. There were fewer people here, and they hadn't seen their earlier "performance".

The peafowl had already arrived in advance and transformed back into its spirit body.

Qian Ping'an parked the boat and took them to his home.

Kong Xuan raised his hand and released the bird he had caught. This bird actually looked quite good too, with copper-red feathers and some horizontal stripes.

Tan Xiao observed it. So this was a Yunmeng bird? "What species is this?"

"Wild bird," Kong Xuan said coldly.

It's not good to call it names, right? Tan Xiao looked at him disapprovingly.

"Yes, yes, I am a wild bird," the bird said, raising its head.

Tan Xiao: "...Oh." He paused for a moment, then suddenly realized, "A ring-necked pheasant."

Although the bird was lying on the ground, it still politely cupped its hands and said, "Correct. I am Fang Zhu."

In the non-human world, there is a saying about clams transforming. When a clam cultivates to a certain level, it can transform into a yellow bird in spring and back into a clam in winter. After living like this for 500 years, it can transform into a giant clam. It is also said that pheasants entering the sea become giant cockles, which are actually just large clams.

If a giant clam continues to cultivate and activate its bloodline, it can enter the flood dragon category and become a clam dragon. The legendary "mirage" refers to the giant clam in the sea spitting out clam qi to create illusions.

No wonder Tan Xiao was able to fish it out so smoothly. The swiftlet grass must have been quite appetizing.