Chapter 12: Spying
Editor: Hitesh_
During a star-filled night, a floating island was drifting through the sky above the Gold Blaco Mountain.
Three gigantic Fire Crows were lazily suspended over the mountaintop and were occasionally yawning. Their feathers were emitting a faint fiery light, lightening the entire mountain. Within this faint fiery light, it wouldn't be possible for enemies to launch a sneak attack during the night.
In Ji Hao's home, Qing Fu and Ji Hao were sitting around the fireplace. The bonfire was blazing; a half-peeled and already cleaned 'Four-Armed Bear-Gorilla' was being grilled. The fat of the meat constantly dropped into the fire. The aroma of the meat made the fat bear, which was lying on its own stomach outside the door and in a deep slumber, salivate.
During daytime, Ji Hao had brought a large amount of honey from the Golden-Winged Bees' nest. He had spread the sparkling honey on the grilled meat. The rich sweet aroma of the honey was very pleasant. Ji Hao took a bite of the meat after which he had happily closed his eyes.
"Hmm, this is so good!" Ji Hao handed the meat to Qing Fu.
"Amma, the Golden-Winged Bees' honey is really helpful to you," said Ji Hao with a cheery smile on his face.
The 'Golden-Winged Bees' were no weaker than any of the beasts in the jungle. They attacked huge beasts, collected the essences of their bones and made honey out of it. Therefore, the Golden-Winged Bees' honey contained a lot of internal power from those beasts. For Maguspriests like Qing Fu, the Golden-Winged Bee's honey could largely enhance their spiritual power.
Qing Fu took a small bite of the meat. She narrowed her eyes, puzzlingly glanced at Ji Hao.
"Hao, did you really go for the honey today? I thought..."
"What?" Ji Hao calmly chopped a piece of meat off and started to gobble. The meat had quickly been absorbed by the flame in his Dantian and transformed into his own power.
"Haha" Ji Hao laughed, took a sip of the self-made cassava wine and said, "I heard that Jiang Yao and Ji Wu have been attacked. Amma, you don't think it was me who attacked them, do you? I'm not capable of that...Ji Wu maybe...But Jiang Yao, no, she's too powerful and I definitely wouldn't want to challenge her."
Qing Fu showed a cunning smile and took also a sip of wine from the little jar carved out of stone. She said, "Hao, indeed, you couldn't possibly beat Jiang Yao. But, who knows...You never hung around with the kids in the village, you must have many friends out there in the jungle..."
"Ah...Haha..." Ji Hao paused for a second then intentionally laughed out loud. After that, he did not say another word. Half of the Four-Armed Bear-Gorilla was eaten up by Ji Hao within an hour.
Ji Hao patted his belly and wiped his mouth satisfyingly, then went back to his room upstairs.
"Amma! I'm going to bed. Abba didn't say when he would come home. You don't have to wait for him tonight."
Qing Fu smiled, slowly stood up and massaged her own waist. She picked up those Four-Armed Bear-Gorilla's bones which had been thrown all over the floor by Ji Hao and carefully put them into a corner. The Four-Armed Bear-Gorilla was the same level as a Junior Magus. Its bones were one of the perfect materials for making all kinds of Maguspriest tools.
While picking those bones, Qing Fu muttered, "It can't be Hao...Hmm, can't be...But, it would be even better if it really was him."
In the attic, Ji Hao laid on the ground and gazed at the faint fiery light which wrapped the entire Gold Black Mountain through the window. After a quarter of an hour, he heard Qing Fu put the fire out and shut the light, after which she had gone into her bedroom.
Ji Xia wouldn't be at home tonight. He was together with a group of warriors from the clan who were close to him, visiting a few Master Maguspriests and elder Magi who had always taken a neutral attitude towards the affairs of the clan.
Ji Hao had waited until he heard Qing Fu breathing peacefully in her room and made sure she had fallen asleep. Ji Hao then stood up carefully, and quietly took out a red crow feather from a dark corner of the attic.
Ji Hao bit his own finger and drew three ancient spell symbols on the feather with his blood, then started to mutter a spell. The feather quietly blazed up and soon turned into a palm-sized black crow. The crow flapped its wings and flew out of the window.
Ji Hao sat down on the ground with his leg crossed. His eyes were glowing bright red. The feather came from Mr Crow's wings. With Ji Hao's magic spell he could see everything the small black crow would see. Ji Hao controlled the black crow to fly towards Ji Shu's campsite with his spiritual power.
On another side of the valley, Ji Shu and his people had built a campsite near the entrance. Nearly a hundred of tents were built with logs and animal skins. The little black crow perfectly blended in the dark sky, and silently landed on top of the biggest tent.
This campsite was only for temporary rest, the tents were roughly covered by animal skins. The black crow peeped down through the gap between two pieces of sewed skins.
Two huge clay vats were placed on the ground. One of the vats contained a bubbling red liquid surrounded by a blazing flame. Ji Wu was sitting in the vat that was boiling in the hot liquid.
His face contorted in pain. His mouth had been widely opened trying to utter something but couldn't make any sound.
Another vat contained a green liquid. Countless poisonous insects were squirming within the liquid. Jiang Yao was sitting in that vat and gnashing her teeth. Wisps of black smoke came out of her ears and nose.
In the attic, Ji Hao sneered. This green drug-liquid was pretty effective; it turned the extravasated blood inside Jiang Yao's body into smoke and excreted it.
Unlike Ji Wu, who was nearly fainted and couldn't make any sound, Jiang Yao cursed with a hint of venom in her voice, "They were Ji Xia's people! Ji Xia and the Black Water Serpent Clan! They were working together! This is the Gold Black Mountain, how could those stinky snakes get here?"
"Ji Shu! If you're a man, you should kill Ji Xia at the worship ceremony! And I, I will kill Ji Hao and Qing Fu by myself!" She ferociously growled. "Ji Xia has ganged up with your enemies, sneaked into your Holy Land and tried to kill me!"
Ji Shu was standing at the side without saying a single word. His arms were crossed in front of his chest. His face remained expressionless.
There were two other men, who were also standing with him. One of them was tall and strong, and had a face similar to Ji Shu's face. The other man was also tall, he had a delicate face with a long beard which nearly reached the ground. He had the exact same eyes as Jiang Yao.
The bearded man heard Jiang Yao's curse, after which he violently slapped her face. Jiang Yao then spat out some blood. The blood mixed with the green drug-liquid, and looked absolutely horrendous.
"Stupid!" The man said coldly, "How could I have such a stupid daughter?"
"Ji Shu, It seems that among those Master Maguspriests and elder Magi, there are some people who do not want us to take Ji Xia's position," said the man who looked like Ji Shu.
The man sighed and continued, "In the ceremony, you should just seize the scepter, but do not kill him."
He hesitated a bit, then spoke in a gruesome tone, "After the ceremony, we will find a way to kill them all."
Chapter 13: Frightened
Editor: Hitesh_
"Abba!" Jiang Yao looked at the bearded man timidly.
Jiang Yao's father? The Master Maguspriest of the Bi Fang Clan, Jiang Bo? Ji Hao had been concentrating on their talk.
"You're just too stupid. That's why you could only marry Ji Shu. Your sister was much wiser than you so she deserved to marry that lord!" Jiang Bo yelled at his daughter in front of Ji Shu and the other man.
The corners of Ji Shu's mouth suddenly twitched downward after he heard what Jiang Bo had said. Although Ji Bo was talking to Jiang Yao, from his words, it was easy to tell that Ji Shu wasn't a big deal to Jiang Bo. His stupid daughter, Jiang Yao, married him but Jiang Yao's sister who was a lot smarter than her, had been engaged to a man who was much more influential than Ji Shu.
Ji Shu had been hurt by Jiang Bo's words, but he didn't say anything. After all, the Bi Fang Clan which had dominated the Southern Wasteland was incredibly powerful. Since Jiang Bo was their Master Maguspriest, Ji Shu wouldn't even dare to offend him.
The other man glanced at Jiang Yao with a look of dissatisfaction on his face. He slightly stretched his body, then a loud noise came from inside his body. His bones were as hard as iron, able to mimic the sound of a hammer hitting on an iron whenever his joints clicked.
"My people checked the place where they had been attacked. We used seven kinds of sharp-nosed and well-trained animals, but couldn't find any trace of the attackers," said the man in a low voice. "In the Black Gold Mountain, only those few old bastards could do this."
Jiang Bo spoke coldly, "So, those old men from your clan still want Ji Xia to be the leader. Which means even if you can beat Ji Xia at the ceremony, you can't kill him. Or it'll be hard to earn loyalty from your people."
The strong man sighed, shook his head and said, "Not only that, we can't let people know that Jiang Yao and Ji Wu have been attacked either. Even though we know it wasn't the Black Water Serpent Clan, we can't do anything about it."
"What?" Jiang Yao screamed when she heard what the man said. She seemed to have forgotten that she just had been slapped by her own father.
"Abba! So, are you not gonna avenge me?" She paused for a second, then popped up her eyes and shouted in an astonished tone, "What? It wasn't the Black Water Serpents who attacked me? Did the Fire Crow Clan people attack me? I thought..."
Jiang Bo didn't even let her finish her words and slapped her again harder than the last time. Jiang Yao felt like her face was almost smashed. She coughed out some blood, then passed out.
"How could I, Jiang Bo, have such a stupid daughter?" Jiang Bo shook his head and said. "The worship ceremony is coming. Ji Shu is going to be the leader of your Fire Crow warriors. If people find out that his wife and son had been attacked and seriously injured under his protection, how can your people be convinced to follow him."
Ji Shu stomped the ground and nodded to Jiang Bo. "I will find out who did this after the ceremony," said Ji Shu.
Jiang Bo nodded and maintained his cold demeanor; he said, "For now, the most important thing is that you have to become the leader of your Fire Crow Clan warriors."
Back in the attic, Ji Hao chuckled. Ji Shu and Jiang Bo, how perfect their plan was.
Ji Hao interlocked his fingers together, while lightning flashed through his eyes. In the meantime, on the top of the tent, lightning appeared on the black crow's feathers. Its body quickly turned into a flame ball that had merged with the lightning. Soon, the small crow transformed into a palm-sized ball of flame and lightning.
Ji Hao gathered all of his internal power and somehow sent the power to the lightning-flame ball. The ball absorbed Ji Hao's power, swelled to the size of a head then quietly fell into the tent. The lightning-flame ball dropped into Jiang Yao's vat, splashing a lot of thick green drug-liquid out then quickly sinking to the bottom.
People in that tent were all shocked. Jiang Bo subconsciously transformed into a beam of fiery light, rushed out and growled, "Who was it?"
Ji Shu stepped back at first, pausing for a second. Then he dashed towards the vat and put his hand into the liquid, and tried to take the ball out of the vat. The strong man that had been standing beside him was a lot quicker than him, he had already grasped the lightning-flame ball in his hand when Ji Shu had moved.
"Wu Guan Pi Li, Tie Jia Fei Xiong, Ji Ji Ru Lu Ling." The man held the ball in his hand and casted a spell.
Ji Hao sneered with his eyes closed. He flicked his fingers and the lightning-flame ball which had the accumulation of all his internal power exploded in the man's hand, followed by a thundering noise.
The man hummed and staggered backwards. His entire body was wreathed in flames and lightning. He tightly held his hand in front of his chest to keep the lightning-flame ball from blasting out and hurting the rest of the people.
The man was quite strong. Ji Hao couldn't exactly tell how strong he was. Ji Hao had used all his power and created a lightning-flame bomb, but it only caused a few burns on his skin.
Jiang Yao and Ji Wu's vats exploded at the same time. The thick drug-liquid splashed everywhere. Both of them had already been badly injured, now they had once again been hurt by the vat's fragments, making them spit out even more blood. Especially Ji Wu, who had fallen on the ground with blood spurting out from those penetrated wounds on his belly and chest.
"Wu!" Ji Shu dashed to Ji Wu's side and pressed his hands on Ji Wu's wounds, and tried to stop the blood. He didn't even take a glance at Jiang Yao who was also lying on the ground and constantly coughing blood.
Jiang Bo came back inside the tent with a long face.
"Who did this? Who attacked us from the dark?" Jiang Bo roared in fury. Meanwhile, his delicate face showed a trace of fear. As the Master Maguspriest of the Bi Fang Clan, he had been attacked without any sign which was driving him crazy.
Ji Shu's people heard the explosion; they quietly came out of their tents and became vigilant to their surroundings.
Ji Hao's attack hadn't disturbed any of the Fire Crow Clan people, but Ji Shu and his people would definitely have an uneasy sleep tonight.
Ji Hao proudly laughed in the attic.
These Magi, indeed, had tremendous physical power. Nevertheless, without practicing their spiritual power, they couldn't understand those witchcraft such as the one Ji Hao had just casted. Even a Senior Magus like Ji Shu wasn't that hard to beat, Ji Hao thought.
He lied on the bed with a smile on his face, and silently absorbed the energy of the starlight to replenish his internal power.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
18 Power
stone 
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