Bab 28: An Egg
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Wutian looked around in puzzlement. "Disappeared?"
Little Tian sniffed hard, then pointing at the river with his claw. Without needing an explanation, the two knew that the unscrupulous Taoist's scent had vanished.
"Go check it out on the other side." Han Tian lunged out and ran on water.
"Caw!" Little Tian followed suit by lunging forward, skipping over the water as if a dragonfly.
Wutian frowned. Picking up a few pieces of dead wood and throwing them to the river, he lunged out and crossed to the other side by stepping on the floating woods.
"Hey, little thing, did you smell the fat Taoist's scent?" asked Han Tian after everyone had crossed the river.
Little Tian sniffed around a bit, then its eyes lit up with delight. It pointed at the peak of the mountain, basically saying that the Taoist was there.
But Han Tian did not move. He looked up at the towering peak in the clouds and frowned.
This mountain was weird. Standing at thousands of feet high, it had a flat top. One side of the peak was narrow and curled up like a scorpion's tail.
"What is going on?" asked Wutian, feeling perplexed.
Han Tian sounded grave. "This is Mount Scorpius. Legend has it that an ancient divine scorpion died here. Its body did not decay but formed into a mountain peak over time. The terrain here is rugged and dangerous, with demonic beasts roaming around. People tried to explore the mountain, but none of them could come out alive. It is an inauspicious place!"
"Then what are we going to do? Are we giving up just like this?"
Han Tian let out an evil smile. "There is no giving up in my dictionary. I have long been wanting to explore this creepy, inauspicious place and see what it is up to. You dare to join me, Wutian?"
"I don't think so." Wutian was honest in his reply. He already had the God's Left Hand. He did not have to take such a risk.
Blue veins popped up on Han Tian's skin, smoke billowing from his head. Wutian should have turned around and left if he was afraid. Why did he still ask what they were going to do? He obviously was fooling around.
"Caw!"
Little Tian cawed and ignored the two of them as it lunged straight up the mountain.
"Stop!" Wutian got the shock of his life and quickly shouted. But Little Tian did not listen this time. It looked up at the peak of Mount Scorpius and saw a rare light of hope as if something up there was attracting it.
"Screw it!" Wutian gritted his teeth; he could not abandon Little Tian just like that.
"What makes the Gobbler so excited? I am curious to know." Han Tian let out an evil smile. He saw the craving eyes of Little Tian and decided to follow it.
Mount Scorpius was massive. It did not feel so when looking from afar. But once getting closer to it, they realized that this place was unimaginably vast, almost boundless.
Towering ancient trees, lush green forest leaves, rugged rocky terrain, and wetlands.
The challenging terrains limited how fast they could move. After going for four hours, they were still at the mountain's outskirts.
Wutian knew why Little Tian was so adamant about coming. It had told of mysterious energy that could greatly help in its growth. If Little Tian could take in this energy, it could very well kick-start its first stage of evolution.
But Wutian had a mixed feeling about this. He was happy if Little Tian could evolve because once succeeded, it would add one more powerful combat force to himself. But when he thought of the difficulty that a Gobbler had to experience in evolution, he could not help but be worried.
"Stop. Danger ahead." Han Tian warned, his eyes narrowing as he squinted at a mound not far ahead.
The mound was not very high, only about a hundred feet high, overgrown with vegetation. There was a ruffling sound coming from the mound as if many demonic beasts were roaming about.
"Be careful." Han Tian warned again as he crept forward.
Little Tian did not mess around this time. It just quietly rested on Wutian's shoulder.
"Demonic wolf?" Before they got close, a disgusting smell attacked their nostrils.
A few moments later, the three of them lay on the mound and looked ahead. A thousand feet away, a pair of mountains stood at ten thousand feet high, side-by-side. Between them was a valley where shadows were wandering around. Their eyes were red, looking very vicious.
"So many demonic wolves? Is that their lair?"
The expressions on their faces did not look too good. There were no less than a thousand demonic wolves in the valley. These creatures might not be powerful, but they were simply too many of them. It was going to waste them a lot of time if they were to kill all the wolves.
"Little thing, did you smell anything?" asked Han Tian in a low voice.
Little Tian sniffled around, then quickly covered its nose and pointed at the valley. The foul smell was too overpowering, covering up the other scents. But it had managed to smell something.
"There is no other way except for killing our way in." Han Tian sighed.
"How did he go in there?" Wutian was puzzled. The unscrupulous Taoist was just a mortal, yet he had not only come to this inauspicious place but also entered the wolf's lair. This was something Wutian could not understand.
"Who cares how he entered? Let's make this quick. We don't want to get bogged down by a long fight. Little Thing, keep track of the fat Taoist's scent, okay?"
Han Tian rose to his feet and performed his Power of Metal. A bright golden sun came out of him and illuminated the place while the Power of Wind was under his feet. He then shot out like an arrow in a split second.
Arh-woo!
The demonic wolves in the valley were alarmed, their howls ripping through the air. They charged forward and quickly surrounded Wutian and others, baring their fangs and staring menacingly at them with their red eyes.
But Han Tian was not intimidated. He stomped his foot on the ground and the earth shook. A ring of golden shock waves spread out in all directions.
The golden shock wave cut through everything in its path. A dozen demonic wolves were hit and mutilated, with limbs and body parts flying in all directions. The shock wave had cleared a path for Han Tian and others.
"Move!" Han Tian shouted as he led the way, running toward the valley. Wherever he went, hundreds of demonic wolves were killed as if wheat was being harvested.
Wutian was quietly stunned. That Power of Metal was living up to its reputation. He did not have to do anything but followed from behind.
Bang!
A few demonic wolves tried to attack him by surprise. Wutian flung his fist. Unlike Han Tian's striking move, every punch he unleashed could blow a demonic wolf into a cloud of blood mist, with blood dyeing the earth red.
The two moved forward at high speed as if nothing could stop them. Those demonic wolves were vicious and would not flinch. They were especially ferocious when blood was splashed.
The valley was deep and narrow, but there were many ins and outs. The terrain was as complex as a massive maze.
Not long after, they were in the valley after killing their way through. They could now vaguely see the peak of the mountain at the end and the bright moon overhead. At the end of the valley was the middle of Mount Scorpius.
Little Tian's eyes brightened up. It pointed at a path ahead and cawed.
"Found it?" Han Tian was delighted. Following the direction where Little Tian was pointing, he killed his way in like a god of war draped in golden armor. He was unstoppable.
"Caw, caw!"
Little Tian jumped down to the ground. It sniffled as it moved ahead before it finally came to a halt.
There was a cave up ahead. The cave opening was not large, just enough for a person to squeeze through. Inside, the cave was pitch-dark.
Han Tian held the golden sun in his hand and illuminated the entire cave as it entered.
Inside the cave, he saw a pup, black, about half a meter long, curling up in a ball and shivering. There was a pair of underpants tied to its tail and written on it was a line of text.
All of you still have a long way to go, kiddies. Don't mess with me. This underwear is my gift to you. And you are welcome.
The smile faded from Han Tian's face, and it was replaced with endless fury.
"You freaking fat dude. I am not going to let you off this!"
A vortex suddenly appeared in the river at the edge of the plain as a fat head emerged from within.
"Phew! I almost suffocated."
This man was none other than the unscrupulous Taoist. He clambered out of the river onto the riverbank, scanning around sheepishly. It was not until he was sure that no one was around he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Lucky for me. I was smart enough and well prepared. Otherwise, they would have caught me. I knew that none of the kids from the clans could be trusted. They are all hypocrites and deserve death." The fat Taoist stood on the riverbank, swearing as he looked at the tall mountain
"Don't expect me to return the Essence elixirs!"
He patted the black pouch on his waist, then rubbed his fat belly. "I am starving after hiding for hours. I have got to return and find something to eat, then some woman to have fun with. This is life!"
He hummed and happily butt-danced his way back to the down.
Han Tian could not hold back his anger. After going through all the troubles to come to this place, the only thing that he got was just goddamn underwear. He was the direct disciple of the clan master of the Yan Clan, yet a fat dude had managed to fool him. This was unforgivable.
The demonic wolves became the scapegoat. A vast number of them died and cried in horror.
Wutian's face twitched when he thought of how cunning the fat dude was. After chasing him for so long, all he could see was stinky underwear.
The only person who remained unaffected was Little Tian. It had lost interest in the God's Right Hand. All it wanted was to find out the source of the mysterious power.
After losing track of the unscrupulous Taoist, the three of them unleashed their skills. They were unstoppable as they pressed ahead with even faster speed. Especially Han Tian, who looked like a mad bull, killing everything in his path.
Having performed eight hours of bloody killing, the three finally reached the end of the valley.
In front of them was a piece of flat ground, about a thousand feet wide. It was barren except for two strange-shaped plants that gave out a faint refreshing scent.
"The Divine Herbs!" Han Tian exclaimed. The two plants crooked like two little snakes. It had only one leaf on its trunk. The leaf was translucent green and glowing.
Divine Herbs were scarce in the Redsun Mountains. It was rare to find even one within a thousand miles. It was no exaggeration when people said that it was something that may only appear once every ten years.
"Caw, caw!"
Little Tian looked in a direction, cawing non-stop as it jumped up and down excitedly.
"What is that?" Wutian and Han Tian followed Little Tian's eyes and saw something in the sky. Suspended about a thousand feet in the air above the Divine Herbs was a white spherical object that emitted a faint glow like that of the moon.
The white spherical object seemed to be a living thing as there was the heart-thumping sound coming from within. It floated in the air, emitting light from within. It had a unique spirituality to it.
"What is that? It looks like a bird's egg. That's what you have been looking for, Little Thing?" said Han Tian.
"I could sense the thing was harboring life within. There is a palpitation of fear coming from the soul. This thing could be a naturally born spiritual being, and these two Divine Herbs come with it," said Wutian in all seriousness.
"Caw!" Little Tian nodded excitedly, his body shivering as it could not wait to have it for itself and swallow the thing.
-- Hadiah diterima