Chapter 196 - Shadow Thorn
While Ji Hao was focusing on breaking through to the level of Senior Magus, Man Man was lying on her stomach on top of Mr Crow’s head, fiddling with Mr Crow’s feathers while murmuring.
“Mr Crow, Shaosi is so pretty, as pretty as my Amma, she is only so cold. Eh…maybe she had been hiding in an ice mountain when she was a kid, therefore, she has become a piece of cold ice from the inside to the outside, don’t you think so?”
“Taisi is such a loser, a nuisance. Yesterday, a Steel-Tooth Boar nearly rushed him over and killed him. If Man Man hadn’t smashed that boar dead with my hammer…hm, if so, Shaosi would have become sad.”
“And Taisi is the one who causes the most trouble, he is even worse than Man Man! He couldn’t even tell if the rice cakes were well-cooked or not, before he had eaten it. And grilled meat, he will even grab a piece of bloody raw meat and put it into his mouth! So dumb!”
“That guy, Feng Xing, why does he act like a Southern Wasteland mouse? He is always vigilantly looking around, as though he is being chased by some horrible people. Hm, Mr Crow, do you think it is because he has done something awful, and is worried that someone will find out what he has done?”
“Well, that fatso, Yu Mu, is the most interesting one. Food cooked by him are so, so delicious! Ah, way too delicious, hm, nice. No wonder he’s so fat. What do you think about this, we knock Yu Mu out before we go back to the Southern Wasteland. We will take him back to our home with us, after which we will make him our special cook. He will only cook for me, Ji Hao, and you, Mr Crow, every day! What do you think?”
Mr Crow narrowed its beady shining eyes, and hurriedly nodded while a stream of saliva flowed down from the corners of its beak, then happily let out a caw.
Man Man then took out a jade slip and an engraver from out of her storage bag, which was tied around her waist, and seriously began carving a line of characters on that jade slip while murmuring.
“My Abba said that in order to not forget the important things, I have to write them all down. This way, nothing will be delayed because of my bad memory…hm, knock-fatso-Yu-Mu-out, take-him-back-to-the-Southern-Wasteland-with-us, done, I have written it down!”
The dark sky was thickly dotted with bright shining stars. The dense, visible star power descended from the sky in streams, while rotating. There were countless animals living around the small. They stayed quietly in their nests and were silently enjoying the pleasant sense that was brought by the star power when the star power purified and strengthened their bodies. Some older animal that had already grown some human-like wisdom, were standing on the top of the small hill on two legs like humans did. They opened their mouths and wolfed down the power of the stars. Now and then, they would turn their heads and take a glance at Man Man and Mr Crow, but they would quickly turn their heads again, because they didn’t sensed any bad intentions from Man Man and Mr Crow, and continue swallowing the star power, cultivating themselves in the most primitive way.
The plants growing on the small hill had started swinging. Some magic plants were glowing dimly. When the starlight shone on these plants, it would immediately merge with the dim glow of these plants. In the meanwhile, popping sounds were coming continuously out of these plants. Occasionally, one magic plant would suddenly grow higher or thicker when it had gathered enough star power.
A gust of breeze blew across, along with which, the bodies of a few animals that were close to Man Man and Mr Crow, quivered abruptly. They looked around in panic and rapidly darted back into their nests. Wild animals had far more survival instinct than humans, therefore, when the wild animals suddenly sensed an unknown danger approaching, they instantly rushed back into their nests without hesitating even for a bit.
The plants around Man Man and Mr Crow were ruffled by the breeze and Mr Crow suddenly raised its head. It was way more smart and sensitive than those wild animals, therefore, any danger and abnormal atmosphere that could be sensed by those animals, could also be sensed by Mr Crow. What it had sensed just now, was not power, nor any vicious intent from any enemy. Instead, it was some sort of pure sense of danger that came deeply from its Gold Crow Bloodline.
“Caw, caw, caw~”
Mr Crow raised its body, slowly stretched its wings while its large butt still firmly blocked the entrance of the small cave that had been dug by Ji Hao. A stream of golden light appeared on its black feathers, along with which, large amounts of its feathers turned golden-red, shining with a bright fiery light, in preparation for what was coming. Mr Crows’s blood-red pupils then let out beams of glares - he had activated his Gold Crow Pupils , carefully observing the surrounding area.
Mr Crow possessed the real Gold Crow bloodline that had bee passed down from ancient Gold Crows. Therefore, his Gold Crow Pupils were way more powerful than Ji Hao’s Gold Crow Pupils . In Mr Crow’s eyesight, all plants and rocks around him within a hundred miles of radius, had turned translucent. All animals and insects had turned into light spots with different sizes and luminance.
Suddenly, Mr Crow flapped its wings, along with which, a black feather darted rapidly out, leaving a beam of fiery light trail behind it, just like a sharp arrow that had been shot out by a long and powerful bow, towards a tree, three miles away from Man Man and Mr Crow, followed by an, especially high-pitched, swishing sound.
A faint silhouette quickly flashed across the trunk of the tree then merged with the shadows of the plants under the tree. Countless shadows of plants began twisting and expanding like the claws of a devil, rapidly approaching Man Man and Mr Crow. The shadows of the plants around them all began changing weirdly, and a cold, vicious sense of power instantly came from all directions. Suddenly, Mr Crow’s own shadow was twisting on the ground as well - a sharp shadow-formed dagger pierced into Mr Crow’s shadow.
Along with a loud and shrill noise, which sounded as if Mr Crow’s feathers had clashed against some kind of sharp metallic weapon, a long and deep wound abruptly emerged from Mr Crow’s body, and large amounts of blood spurted out from it, with great heat. All the feathers of Mr Crow were immediately standing straight up, but its beak remained closed. It was afraid that if it cawed out, Ji Hao would be disturbed. Therefore, it choked back its pain and didn’t make any sound.
Mr Crow opened its beaks, and silently let out at great stream of golden-red flames, which then struck hard onto the sharp shadow-formed dagger. Hit by the flames, the shadow-formed dagger immediately dissipated, transforming into wisps of shadows and dispersed towards all directions. Mr Crow’s flames had left a zhang deep large pit on the ground, within which, glowing red lava was bubbling. However, these weird enemies, who had launched an attack by using shadows, seemed not be harmed at all.
Man Man jerked herself up from Mr Crow’s back. Similar to Mr Crow, she gritted her teeth but didn’t even let out the slightest bit of sound. She leapt down from Mr Crow’s head and grabbed her pair of gigantic hammers from the ground. She twisted her wrists slightly, followed by which, the two large hammers began spinning simultaneously, while letting out large streams of flames. The shreds of shadows of the plants that had approached Mr Crow and Man Man, disappeared completely, once the light of Man Man’s flame had shone upon them.
A hoarse voice came from hundreds of zhang away.
“An animal with flat feathers, and a little girl…hehe…kill that animal…as for this little girl, she has a cute face…many respectful lords fancy young women at this age. Bring her back, we can get a nice price for her.”
Mr Crow was enraged. He opened its beaks once more, and let out an even greater stream of flames. The stream of flame split the dark sky silently open and swooshed towards the location from where the voice had come from.
However, the hoarse and creepy voice suddenly moved to another place, while continuing, “Hehe, move, quickly and cleanly. Do not let that lord, who paid for our lives, be disappointed or be humiliated by the name of our Shadow Devil!”
Accompanied by that voice, tens of shadows darted out from different directions. All of those shadows avoided Man Man, and aimed directly at Mr Crow.
A human-like, vicious smile emerged on Mr Crow’s face. Although it had been a nice and adorable elder in front of Ji Hao and Man Man, deep inside, it was still a powerful fighting beast from the Southern Wasteland jungle, which had slaughtered countless enemies. His kind had been supporting the Gold Crow Clan since the ancient time, conquering all difficulties and building a powerful and large clan!
Mr Crow opened its beak wide and spat out a three-foot-long, golden, translucent bone.
Once the piece of bone was spat out, a sunlight-like glare instantly shrouded the entire area within a radius of ten miles. Under the bright glare, not even a slight shred of shadow could be found.
Continuously growing howls were rising from a distance. The few shadows that were approaching Mr Crow, were scorched by the bright light, which had been released by the piece of golden bone. The shadows turned into wisps of black smoke, dissipating in the air, one after another. A few muscular silhouettes, wearing tight black armours, emerged from the air and fell onto the ground, while wisps of black smoke were rising from their bodies.