章 13: Frightened
編集者: 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.
章 14: The Day
編集者: Hitesh_
Nothing worth mentioning happened in the next few days before the Ancestral Worship Ceremony. Ji Shu, Jiang Bo, and their people had kept their mouth shut and didn't let anyone know about the attacks.
People in Gold Black Mountain had started their busiest time of the decade preparing for the ceremony. Leaders of every branch clan had come to the Holy Land in the Gold Black Mountain with their people. The smell of grilled meat and strong liquor filled the entire valley every day and night.
The Fire Crow Clan used to be a powerful and thriving clan. There were legendary Magi such as the Magus King and the Divine Magus[1] among their ancestors. Even though none of the Fire Crow Clan Magi went beyond the senior level for a thousand years, the clan had still remained large. The Holy Land in the Gold Black Mountain was the center of the Fire Crow Clan, which was surrounded by nearly a thousand of branch clans.
The largest branch clan had a population of around a million, while the smallest one had a population of at least ten thousand. Each of these branch clans controlled a batch of small clans which were relatively weaker and had to depend on other clans for protection. During these days, leaders of nearly a thousand branch clans had arrived in the Holy Land one after another, which had kept Ji Xia very busy.
However, although Ji Xia was extremely busy, he hadn't forgotten about Ji Hao. He continued to hunt a lot of beasts to satiate Ji Hao's appetite.
'Four-Armed Bear-Gorilla', 'Single-Horned Pixie', 'Golden-Head Baboon', 'Winged Black Tiger', 'Soul-Eater Leopard' ... All kinds of beasts were being hunted and had been continuously sent back home where it was eaten by Ji Hao. Qing Fu's special drug, which could largely enhance both his internal and spiritual power, was being added to the meat.
It had only been half a month. Yet Ji Hao had already absorbed an abundance of physical strength and life force energy from nearly fifty beasts' bodies with the special skill he had gained from the [Bu Tian Bu Lou Magic Spell]. A couple of those beasts were on the level of Junior Magi. The small multicoloured flame in his Dantian had grown into a blazing fire. His body had also grown a foot taller and became much stronger.
The day had finally arrived.
Before the sun had risen, more than a thousand of gigantic Fire Crows had flown from those towering mulberry trees onto the top of the Gold Black Mountain.
Bright fiery light was being emitted from their feathers, making them look like a thousand of small suns which even caused the clouds in the sky to dissipate. A dozen of floating mountains which were drifting through the Gold Black Mountain had suddenly been burnt by those fiery crows and turned into wisps of smoke.
Those Fire Crows started to caw. The thundering sounds had even shook the entire Gold Black Mountain. Down in the valley, countless black crows had raised from the mulberry forest, making it seem like a floating black river, hovering around the Gold Black Mountain.
Black and red feathers fell from the sky along with earsplitting sounds.
Ji Hao was standing in the yard while chanting the [Nine Secret Words] in a low voice. His hands were interlocked together and constantly changed motions. He then started to walk in a particular pace. He had just eaten a 'Double-Headed Serpent' which was at the same level as a Junior Magus and was about to transform into a flood dragon[2]. The multicoloured flame in Ji Hao's Dantian quickly turned the serpent's body into power and energy. Ji Hao triggered his internal power, and absorbed the strength from the flame.
His internal power had formed a mist-like, purple light ball which appeared between his eyebrows. The light ball had started to expand and contract after he had absorbed so much of physical strength and spiritual power from the flame. Meanwhile, it was becoming solid and golden.
Ji Hao had been delighted when he had noticed this change.
After he had been reborn in this world as Ji Hao, he had been learning and practicing the [Mantra Dan with Nine Secret Words] which he had created by himself in his previous life. With the [Bu Tian Bu Lou Magic Spell] and the strong life force energy that existed in this world, he had made the same achievements in his previous life which had taken him thirty years of time.
More astonishingly, although his internal power light ball hadn't completely turned solid and golden yet, he could already sense that his internal power was at least a hundred times stronger than it had been in his previous life; also, it was a lot purer than before. After all, his internal power had mainly been gained from those powerful beasts living in the jungle.
Soon, the power and the strength of the serpent had been fully absorbed by Ji Hao's body. He took a deep breath, slowly opened his mouth, and breathed out a blast of hot air. His breath was like a high-pressured hot steam, which suddenly filled the air and raised the temperature in the yard. The fat bear, which had been snoring aside the wooden door, was instantly jumped awake and roared at Ji Hao.
Ji Hao laughed out loud. He had never felt better. Although it had only been half a month, what he gained through the [Bu Tian Bu Lou Magic Spell] had been far more than ten years of practice.
"Hey old man, thanks!" He had gotten into his spiritual space and shouted to the air.
'Dong!'! 'Dong'! 'Dong'!
Ji Hao heard the Fire Crows cawing and drums beating. A thousand war drums were beaten at the same time down in the valley, causing thundering echoes and the ground to shake.
'Whuu, Whuu...'
The Dragon Bone Horns were blown. Long ago, one of the Fire Crow Clan ancestors had slaughtered a dragon. After that, they made a set of Dragon-Bone Horns from the dragon's throat bones which were considered as one of the most important treasures of the clan.
Today was the day of the worship ceremony. Ten of the most powerful Maguspriests were blowing the Dragon Bone Horns. Along with the sharp sounds, wisps of white smoke soared into the sky and formed a few mist-like gigantic dragons which hovered around the mountain.
"Hao, let's go to the Ancestral Temple in the Holy Land." Qing Fu walked out from the door and said to Ji Hao. She was wearing a long dress made of self-woven linen. Her beautiful long hairpin was coiled into a bun and locked by nine wooden hairpins.
Ji Hao gazed at those wooden hairpins. These hairpins were in the shape of needles, but were longer and bigger. These wooden hairpins were in three different colours which are black, white, and cyan. If one looked carefully, some smoke-like marks and tiny spell symbols were rolling over inside those wooden hairpins.
These hairpins were brought from the Qing Yi Clan by Qing Fu when she had married Ji Xia. They were famous and powerful Maguspriest tools called 'Thorns of Life and Death'. They had been passed down to a few generations before Qing Fu. The 'Thorns of Life and Death' were capable of both saving and killing people. Ji Hao had once seen Qing Fu cure badly injured warriors with the white and cyan thorns, but this was the first time he saw Qing Fu taking the three black thorns with her.
"Amma, I heard that Jiang Yao was injured quite badly, she may not show up today," Said Ji Hao to Qing Fu, who had a real serious look on her face. A strange but pleasant smell of herbs came from her sleeves.
"Hao, you're too young to know about women," Qing Fu smiled and said. "Today is the day of the Ancestral Worship Ceremony. As long as Jiang Yao is alive, she will show up and will definitely challenge me."
Ji Hao heard her words and stayed silent. He took a leather armor from Qing Fu's hand. The two of them then walked out with the fat bear.
Countless Fire Crow Clan people had gathered and had lined up in the valley. Hundreds of Maguspriests and elder Magi were walking at front of the line and were blowing the horns, leading their people towards the Gold Black Mountain.
______________________
[1]Magus king and Divine Magus: Both are Magi levels. Magus king and Divine Magus are beyond the Senior Magus.
[2] Flood Dragon: Flood Dragon is a mysterious creature capable of many forms. Most often it was regarded as a kind of dragon. In Chinese old legend, serpent kind and fish kind are capable of transform into flood dragons by practising their own spiritual power and life force energy. Once they successfully transformed, they will gain a supernatural power and will be immortal.
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