Bab 44: chapter 44 Bullying
He had been constantly thinking and investigating about the woman in black yet he had found no clue to her identity at all. Even demons did not know of such a person or if they did, they were too afraid to talk about her.
She was unfathomable and her background was impossible to uncover. Therefore, she was the perfect candidate to ask for the current situation of the Twilight Zone in Xiao Luo's eyes.
"I want to strike a deal with you. I have something that I can trade for some information on what has been going around in the Twilight; especially the bit about the demons that are planning on leaving the Twilight Zone for Earth. I can assure you that it will be worth your while."
"Hmm…let's see what is it?"
Xiao Luo knew that the chances of her telling him anything were close to zero yet it did not deter him from trying. He took out the painting given to him by Zhang Jian and showed it to her.
The majestic aura that was oozing out of the painting struck a chord inside her heart. There were the slight fluctuations of a fate that was way out of her league; something that she dared not calculate even if she could. The terrifying karma associated with it would have struck her dead at the spot if she had.
The woman in black nodded in what seemed to be appreciation and took the painting from Xiao Luo's hands. She caressed each brushstroke with her fingers while her face maintained the same indifferent expression.
Only the way she handled the painting with care showed how much she valued the painting.
After she was satisfied with caressing the painting, she moved towards Xiao Luo and once again he found himself stuck at the spot. She placed her hand at his chest where the Equinox flower had been branded and let out a burst of dark but warm qi from her hands.
As soon as the burst of qi faded, Xiao Luo felt as if a huge burden had been lifted from his shoulders. He felt extremely light and free. Before he could understand what change had occurred in him due to her fiddling, the woman spoke in his ears, "Now we are even."
After that she turned around and went back inside. Xiao Luo could feel that his paralyzed traitorous legs had come back in his control. He could finally move again.
He looked down at his chest and saw that the Equinox Flower tattoo that had haunted his chest for centuries had been removed from it. It was obviously the handiwork of the mysterious woman who had given him his lifde back in return for the painting.
It was such a pity that she had not paid in information. The information about the plans of the Demonic World, were more important than his own life given the circumstances.
His purpose in coming to the Twilight World had been achieved so Xiao Luo decided to return back with the little victory that he had managed to attain after all his hard work. Even though he had been unable to uncover the scheme of the Demons, he had managed to take back his own life and fate after centuries.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After the Black Phoenix had arrived at Mount Dabie, it was shocked to find that no one appreciated its divine origin at all. It was thrown into an outdoor pen to be reared for its eggs like some common chicken.
Its ego had been hurt. A bird that was as narcissistic as it had been in the past had been forced to lay eggs and breed as if its life depended on it, because it actually did depend on those activities.
It knew that Zhang Jian had only left her alive because Wu Ming had told him it was a layer. If it was found out that the Black Phoenix could not lay eggs anymore, there was bound to be a Phoenix stew for dinner. Being a phoenix, it couldn't just lay eggs on a daily basis like a chicken. It took the phoenixes centuries before they gathered enough energy to lay eggs.
For its survival, the Black Phoenix had been putting up with all kinds of mistreatment and had been living the life of a fowl. It was in the act of thinking about its escape plan when Zhang Jian came to its humble abode; probably to murder another of its subordinates or to steal some more of their eggs.
It was shocked to find that Zhang Jian was carrying a plate that contained the bird feed. It seemed like he had come to feed it and its subordinates like they were some ill bred orphans but once the thrown rice fell beside the Phoenix King it forgot all its complaints immediately.
The food that Zhang Jian had thrown over to the phoenixes was some leftover rice and rice husk from his own crop. The rice felt like the immortal heavenly elixirs from the Immortal World which were not only scarce but also almost impossible to obtain.
Cerberus had been with Zhang Jian the longest and had been the most loyal. Even the fierce Cerberus acted humbly and followed Zhang Jian's orders without a cinch. The Black Phoenix King was shocked to find that the fierce enemy that it had fought tooth and nail with and someone who had been unrelenting to the point of being stubborn and rigid had in fact accepted to be someone's subordinate.
As such the rice filled with qi to the very core and the status of Cerberus in front of Zhang Jian became the turning point that stopped it from feeling any enmity towards Zhang Jian. It found that it was inevitable because Zhang Jian was stronger than itself.
Those at the bottom of the food chain always look for someone even lower to bully in order to let out their frustrations, no matter the place or person or whatever creature it was.
The Black Phoenix King was the same. It had lost its freedom and was being bred like a chicken at Zhang Jian's outdoor pen willingly but the frustration that was born from the loss of its ego and pride after its fall from grace had to be let out somewhere. As such the Black Phoenix King started to work towards finding someone who was even worse-off than itself on Mount Dabie.
It started reviewing candidates one after the other but no matter who it compared itself to, its plight came out on top. For example the Black Phoenix King had thought that the little girl Wang Yan was very weak compared to the rest of the monsters in this home.
He was very fortunate that before it was able to carry out its plan, it had figured out the relation between the master Zhang Jian and the little girl. The little girl was obviously master's woman which elevated her status far beyond what it could compare to.
It found out that nobody that he had seen had a status that was either the same or even lower than it, which was insulting to the extreme in its mind.
Before it could start to wail from misery and helplessness, it found a Bluebird that had come out of the hut that Zhang Jian lived in. The Black Phoenix King after some conversation that there was another bird living in the hut that was living a life worse than death. It was a hostage who spent all its time cowering and shivering in fear. Finally the Phoenix King had found someone that had a status that was beneath even itself.
Abusing the newfound authority that the Black Phoenix King had over the Bluebird, it constantly mocked and humiliated Bluebird to make itself feel better. After taking its bitterness out on the Bluebird, the Black Phoenix King always felt better.
Even though the Bluebird was unwilling to accept such torture, it had no other option. It was already behind enemy lines and had no loyalty towards its new master at all which had led to its current plight. It did not dare to retort and could only bottle up all its anger and bitterness inside before cowering in a corner in response to the Black Phoenix King's bullying.
Hadiah
-- Hadiah diterima Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone