Chapter 39: chapter 39 Pheasants
"It's up to you whether you want to submit by yourself or would you like it if I forced you to submit?"
"Know your place human!! I have spent centuries here and no one has ever had the guts to say such blasphemous things to me. I wonder what gives you such a degree of confidence. From what I can see, you are only a weakling who doesn't even have enough power to crawl in front of me, let alone confront me and make me into a subordinate."
"It looks like we are at an impasse then. I would have liked it if you had willingly agreed but it seems that your arrogance has clouded your judgment and has made you doubt your survival instincts. If you had any then you would have known of the mortal danger that is right in front of you."
Wu Ming was only testing the waters to see what the limit of the Black Phoenix was, because he did not want to waste the spiritual energy of the soul sealed in the bamboo bucket if he could help it.
It was very difficult for the soul to save up all that energy so it would have been better if the Black Phoenix agreed to submit without confrontation but nothing good ever came easy.
The Black Phoenix was enraged out of its mind and its instincts were screaming caution in its mind. Black Phoenix knew that Wu Ming himself was very weak and it could crush him without any effort yet it had failed to do so while Wu Ming had traversed across the burning region to reach its nest relying on something that it had failed to find despite putting in its best efforts and focus.
Heeding the call of its instincts, the Black Phoenix decided to test Wu Ming once again in order to discover the power supporting him. Therefore it let out another blast of its eternal flame but this time this blast did not spread out across the whole burning lands but was focused in the twenty li radius around Wu Ming.
The compression in the small radius meant that the power of the blast was highly compressed. This blast was almost enough to take out a pinnacle level Ascension Stage expert yet Wu Ming was standing amidst the burning plain without a single scorch mark on him. The flames harmlessly split in front of him and passed harmlessly around him.
Some part of the eternal flame had even been absorbed into the bamboo bucket and had been taken as nourishment by the sealed soul in order to recover a part of his energy that had been used by him while protecting Wu Ming from the blast.
The temperature was enough to roast any low level cultivator instantly, yet seeing Wu Ming standing unharmed amidst the sea of fire, the Black Phoenix grew frightened but refused to submit.
Seeing the stubborn Black Phoenix unwilling to surrender, Wu Ming had no other option than to employ the help of the sealed soul to capture the Black Phoenix.
At the direction of the sealed soul, Wu Ming poured all his qi into the bamboo bucket and focused all of his spiritual energy to lock the Black Phoenix in order to hold it in place lest it ran away.
When all the qi had been sucked dry by the bamboo bucket, or rather the sealed soul, a majestic sucking force came out of the bamboo bucket that was adamant on devouring anything that was within the range of its suction. It was like a miniature black hole that would not let go of even the light passing by it.
The Black Phoenix felt a force grab hold of its body. The force increased in magnitude as the time continued to pass. Before the Black Phoenix could have put up its guard and determined the exact level of threat that it was facing, the force had already increased beyond what it could handle.
With a shriek that embodied all its helplessness and grievances the Black Phoenix was sucked into the bucket and was sealed by the soul, inside the bamboo bucket.
"Do you still think it's audacious for me to ask you to submit to me?"
Wu Ming sneered and asked the evil Black Phoenix pretentiously. He had never imagined that the soul that was sealed in the bucket could have been so powerful.
The Black Phoenix was frightened out of its wits. It did not even have a chance to retaliate before it had been sealed completely. There was no escape route in sight which could have taken it out of this situation. As such it decided to recognize its new master without any further protest.
"Fine, you win. I will become your subordinate but you have to get me out of here."
"I will get you out but how can I be sure that you won't attack me as soon as I release you?"
"You should know that I am a descendant of the noble Vermillion Bird. I cannot go back on my word even if I want to. I would suffer from bloodline reversal which would lead to a gruesome death for me."
The Black Phoenix said in resignation and its tone implied the lack of arrogance that it previously had.
Wu Ming was familiar with the value of a promise from the Phoenix race and chose to believe it.
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Wu Ming had subdued the Evil Black Phoenix and had decided to gather the other phoenixes under its command as well. He thought that it was better to take back a large haul, which for him was a group of phoenixes.
"Gather all the other phoenixes here. They will be leaving here with us."
As soon as those words left his tongue, they struck like a dagger in the evil Black Phoenix's feathery chest. It almost spewed out blood at the greed of Wu Ming.
The weak human not only wanted it but also all its subordinates but it couldn't do anything since it had already given a promise and it could never take it back.
As a result it gave a loud shriek that was music to the ears of humans but was like a binding and threatening order to the other Phoenixes living in the scorched region. Several cries of acknowledgement later, a few Black Phoenixes that looked not only weaker but less majestic than the one subdued by Wu Ming arrived at the center of the scorched region and landed in front of their leader. All of them lowered their heads as if bowing to their leader in subservience and respect.
Seeing that every one of the pheasants had arrived, Wu Ming led them out of the only place they had ever called home and took them back to Mount Dabie.
As soon as Wu Ming returned to Mount Dabie, he could see Zhang Jian and the others out in the field busy with their work. Zhang Jian had noticed Wu Ming's arrival and had come out of the tilled land to welcome Wu Ming back from his fishing trip.
Since Wu Ming had asked him for permission in order to take the bamboo bucket, Zhang Jian had assumed that Wu Ming had gone fishing instead of hunting. Zhang Jian was expecting to see some fish but reality proved otherwise. He came to the decision that Wu Ming was definitely an interesting person who used a fishing bucket to bring back pheasants.
Wu Ming had brought back not fish, but beautiful multi-colored pheasants with feathers that looked like they were on fire. Zhang Jian had never seen such beautiful birds ever before. He had an urge to grab one and cook it right at that moment but held himself back.
Zhang Jian felt that the birds that Wu Ming had brought back looked very delicious and was dying to taste them. As such he moved towards the leading bird that looked the most exceptional amongst them all with the intention of having a bird stew for lunch.
The Black Phoenix was terrified as soon as it saw Zhang Jian moving towards it. It felt a sense of mortal danger from the human that seemed to emit no aura at all. It had to be known that someone that could keep even the slightest of his aura from leaking was bound to be one of the top experts of the universe; therefore Black Phoenix didn't wait for its death and called out to Wu Ming for help in order to save its feathers.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone