Capítulo 9: Calculation
Editor: Hitesh_
At a clearing in the dense jungle, a natural hot spring was bubbling.
The spring water was so clear that one could see down to the bottom. There was a layer of white sand on the bottom of the pool. Near the mouth of the spring[1], a black flagstone had been set at the side of the pool. The spring water was constantly gushing out of the pool, flowing through few cracks on the stone surface and seeping into the ground.
Ji Wu was comfortably sitting in the warm water with his eyes closed and a smile on his face. His skin occasionally emitted a faint fiery light.
Jiang Yao, held a three-meter-long red serpent and circled around the pool while muttering a bizarre ancient spell. Her voice gradually grew louder. Suddenly, she sliced the serpent's neck with a black jade knife in her hand. Hot blood poured onto the stone and formed a dozen strange spell symbols on the stone surface.
Seven huge muscular women were standing around the pool, throwing medicinal packages made of all kinds of herbs into the water. In addition to the medicinal packages, they sometimes threw in odd things such as, an arm-long beast fangs, poison sacs from unknown creatures, and a variety of insects' bodies or carapaces[2] into the pool.
Following Jiang Yao's voice, the clear springwater gradually changed colour, turning into a pool of blood-red, thick liquid. Wisps of red smoke drilled into Ji Wu's skin. Ji Wu's body then began trembling. His tranquil expression also became twisted.
A few miles away, Ji Hao stood on a treetop and smiled as he watched Jiang Yao and Ji Wu.
The stoneman was sauntering under the tree. It felt annoyed that its body was too heavy for it to climb trees. Yet it was very curious about what they were seeing from up there. The only thing it could do was frequently look up at Ji Hao and hope that he would speak a few words.
Next to Stone was an old tree. This tree had human-limb-like branches and a mouth-like, large tree hole, from which it sipped fruit wine from a vat that it had wrapped with its branches.
Whenever Stone walked near the old tree, the tree would lash its butt with branches. However, Stone could not sense any pain as its body were made up of stones.
Sitting next to Ji Hao on the treetop was a breathtakingly beautiful girl. Leaves and vines decorated her body which made her look like a woodland fairy. She held a longbow with a charming smile on her delicate face. Her facial expression kept changing at every moment. Sometimes she frowned and pondered seriously, and in the next moment, she would suddenly raise her eyebrows and giggle.
The girl was riding a leopard which had fire-red fur with silver spots on it. This thirty-foot-long leopard was standing on a kid's-fist-thick branch, but the branch didn't even shake a bit. The beast seemed as light as a phantom and as graceful as a prince.
The stoneman was a 'Stonemlin'. The 'Stonemlin' once was an ancient stone down in the valley. Somehow, the stone had learned to absorb the life force energy from nature. Year by year, it started to grow a human-like spirit and eventually learned how to turn itself into a human shape.
The old tree was a 'Treeman'. Slightly different from Stone, this old tree was born from seeds and had grown into a mundane tree. However, this ordinary yet special tree was born with a strong spiritual power and one day, it had unexpectedly gained sentience. Since then, it had always known how to strengthen itself with the natural life force energy. After years of practicing, the old tree became a mobile Treeman with human-like limbs.
The girl named Heng Luo at Ji Hao's side was a little girl and a deity from nature. She was a 'Nymph', which was a magical creature. Heng Luo was born from the accumulation of natural life force energy and spiritual power, making her have the talent to control beasts, identify all kinds of plants, and communicate with all living creatures. She was the guardian of the jungle; the vitality of the jungle and that of her were tightly connected to each other.
Ji Hao never liked to hang around with the kids in the village. Ever since he had learned to walk, he had spent nearly all his time in this jungle. In these years, Stone, the Treeman, Heng Luo, and few other special creatures became his true friends.
Mr Crow was also standing on the treetop beside Ji Hao and Heng Luo. He turned his head sideways and cawed at them.
Heng Luo nodded; she touched a branch near her with her slim finger. Suddenly, a green sprout on that branch started to grow rapidly, quickly turning into a big flower. An intense fragrance came, along with the voices of Ji Wu and Jiang Yao from the flower.
In the jungle, every plant could become the eyes and ears of Heng Luo.
Ji Hao squatted down next to Heng Luo, quietly listening to what Jiang Yao was saying to her son.
Jiang Yao walked rapidly around the hot spring pool and constantly threw things into the water. Meanwhile, she was harshly speaking to Ji Wu.
"Wu, you're a son of mine. Your grandfather is the Master Maguspriest and a powerful leader in the Bi Fang Clan. You have noble blood, which is far better than that of the people of this humble Fire Crow Clan. How could you lose your fight against a kid four years younger than you?"
"Amma!" Ji Wu grimaced in pain then said. "He attacked me from behind! That little bastard...I won't let him have another chance at the ceremony. I will split him!" While speaking, Ji Wu waved his arms in the air excitedly.
"That's right. My son, you belong to our Bi Fang Clan, you should be way better than those Crow's people. You should kill the little bastard at the ceremony...You're my son, you can never lose to a boy of that lowly Qing Yi Clan woman!" Jiang Yao said in a cold voice.
"Qing Yi Clan woman?" Heng Luo curiously looked at Ji Hao and asked, "Is that your Amma? Hao, I like your Amma, I like her smell."
Ji Hao listened to the sounds coming from the flower and slowly answered, "I like Amma too, but it seems some people don't..."
"But Wu... No, do not kill him. You will make the blood oath[3] with Ji Hao at the worship ceremony. If one of you loses the fight, he will become the slave of the other."
"You will enslave that little bastard! You understand?" Jiang Yao paused then continued.
"I have enough slaves! Abba eliminated dozens of small clans these years, I have hundreds of slaves! I don't want him to be my slave. I want to kill him, Amma!" Ji Wu yelled when he heard what Jiang Yao said.
"You silly boy, you will enslave him." Jiang Yao narrowed her eyes and her voice turned vicious. "Enslave him... If I can't kill Qing Fu at the ceremony, we will trade Ji Hao's life for two of her treasures!"
Ji Hao heard what she said through the flower. He raised his eyebrows and applauded to this 'perfect' plan.
"Wonderful...Her husband wants to replace Abba and become the leader; she wants Amma's treasures; her son wants to kill me! What a nice family!"
While laughing, Ji Hao pointed towards the spring pool.
The Treeman opened its tree-hole mouth wide, swallowed the vat, moved its gigantic body, and slowly walked towards the pool.
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[1] The mouth of the spring: A hole where the spring water comes out from underground.
[2] Carapaces: Hard outer covering or case of certain organisms such as arthropods and turtles.
[3] Blood oath: A blood oath is when one would shed their own blood and offer it onto an altar or whatever they believed right and swore to uphold a certain task, no matter what. Also it was when a person would shed blood, usually, they'd cut their hand and then shake hands in agreement with a task they swear to uphold.
Capítulo 10: Kill
Editor: Hitesh_
Inside the hot spring pool, the blood-red water suddenly turned viscous. A dozen of twisted spell symbols emerged from the water.
The strong efficacy of Jiang Yao's magic spell and drugs caused great pain to Ji Wu. Ji Wu felt as if countless sharp knives had been stabbed into his body. He couldn't stop trembling and crying in pain. He had almost jumped out many times but he had always been pushed back by Jiang Yao.
Jiang Yao's hands were slim and slender, yet strangely powerful. She pressed her hand against Ji Wu's shoulder making Ji Wu unable to move even an inch no matter how hard he struggled.
"Amma! Amma! It hurts! It really hurts! Burning! It's Burning! Amma!" Ji Wu let out a sharp cry followed by waves of wailing. His nose was running, his upper lip hot with a rivulet of mucus, tears around his ears and neck.
"Hang on! Wu! Hang on!" Jiang Yao said with an ice-cold expression on her beautiful face. She gnashed her teeth and continued, "You must let everyone know that my boy is better than Qing Fu's son! You must beat him at the ceremony!"
"I'm helping you channel your internal power and advance to Level 11 Novice Magus. This is the only way to make sure you will win!" Jiang Yao growled, "That little bastard, Ji Hao. I heard that he has been learning Novice Maguspriest witchcraft, he can't be that easy to beat. You have to advance!"
The sound of flames came from inside Ji Wu's body. Soon, a small flame spurted out from between his eyebrows. Fiery light beams appeared from within it and slowly spread to the rest of his body, eventually wrapping Ji Wu's whole body.
Jiang Yao proudly raised her eyebrows, laughing in great delight. Those muscular women that were standing from the side also laughed out loud and started to talk about how talented Ji Wu was. They said that Ji Wu was a genius, who could advance to level 11 at such a young age. This was truly rare even in the Bi Fang Clan.
Jiang Yao held her head high when she heard their words.
Ji Wu was still trembling. His muscles began to swell and his bones started to creak. His body was slowly growing bigger. After a few seconds, Ji Wu lost his consciousness under great pain.
Forcibly breaking through a level by using drugs and magic spells instead of persistent training can be extremely painful because the body would not be strong enough yet to handle such tremendous power.
"Wu! You're my son, you have to win!" Jiang Yao showed a brutal expression. "This is not only about your Abba but also about my reputation!"
While she was speaking, the sound of heavy footsteps came from the jungle. The seven strong women picked up swords and axes, lining up in front of Jiang Yao to protect her.
Near Jiang Yao and her people, a towering tree swayed and creaked as Treeman walked out from behind that tree.
Treeman opened its mouth, sprayed a cold mist in the direction of Jiang Yao and her people, then started to roar. Treeman's roar created a great gust of wind, which caused the fallen leaves to blown to the sky. A dozen of green spell symbols appeared on his trunk. Once those symbols appeared, the gale started to blow even harder.
Jiang Yao looked at Treeman and made an odd gesture to him. It seemed as if she had used a certain magic spell against Treeman.
"Treeman, guardian of the jungle, I am Jiang Yao, daughter of the Master Maguspriest of the Bi Fang Clan. Let us obey the agreement between my ancestor and the god of nature. You should just leave. Do not enrage me!" Jiang Yao said. Her spell seemed not to have worked at all.
Treeman took a big step forward and spoke in a shrill voice, "The Bi Fang...Clan? This jungle belongs to...The Fire...Crow! This is my...jungle!"
"My jungle!" It pointed at the hotspring pool with its long branch to emphasize.
Jiang Yao glanced at the bubbling red water in the pool while frowning. Ji Wu was lying unconsciously in the water and his body was wrapped around by a faint fiery light. In maybe a few hours, Ji Wu's body would have absorbed enough power from the water and make a breakthrough to the next level, at which point his internal power could be channeled. At that time he would definitely win against Ji Hao.
But if Ji Wu got out of the pool now, he might not be able to advance by himself. Additionally, the magic spell and the drugs she had used were strongly effective which meant that they could not be used to strengthen Ji Wu again, not until a year later.
Furthermore, Ji Wu was injured by Ji Hao yesterday which could make Ji Wu lose again. If so, all her efforts would be in vain.
"Is this your jungle? I am Jiang Yao. Now I need this place." She pointed to the pool and said coldly, "Name your price."
Treeman stayed silent for a while, then slowly walked to the seven women in front of Jiang Yao. More green spell symbols emerged from his tree trunk, two green flames blazed up above his mouth-like tree hole. It had opened its 'eyes'.
Treeman let a roar out. Cold mist sprayed out from its mouth towards a wide area. The seven women had suddenly been frozen by the mist. After that, the Treeman waved its arm-like branches and struck those frozen women away.
Treeman was at least one thousand years old. Its body was as solid as steel and extremely powerful. Those strong women had been struck and smashed onto the ground. Their bones had even gotten exposed and blood had been sprayed everywhere.
"You bastard! I will chop you and burn you as firewood!" Jiang Yao shouted and stepped back as she quivered.
Jiang Yao was a powerful Senior Maguspriest. However, although she was proficient at all kinds of witchcraft, as far as close combat was concerned, she was no better than even her son, Ji Wu.
Treeman roared and walked towards Jiang Yao with big steps.
Jiang Yao staggered backwards. Her lips turned white in fear. She even forgot to use her Maguspriest witchcraft, only crazily waving her arms. A large multicoloured smoke was released from her sleeves and quickly wrapped around Treeman's trunk.
The multicoloured smoke was made of a variety of highly poisonous herbs; a single breath of it could poison a hundred people to death. However, all the different types of poison from the jungle were ineffective against Treeman.
Treeman quickly walked through the poison mist up to Jiang Yao, jerked out a branch and pierced her chest.
Jiang Yao screamed and twisted her body oddly. Her body suddenly changed into a doll hanging on the branch which was carved out of wood and looked exactly like Jiang Yao.
Treeman stared at the doll; the doll suddenly started to burn. Within the flame, a slender bird eye quickly appeared and disappeared.
Along with a loud noise, the doll exploded. The explosion stirred the atmosphere tempestuously and blew Treeman a mile away. It let out a roar, its bark was shattered and the green wood inside was exposed to the air. A large amount of sap poured out as if it was bleeding.
Treeman howled in pain, raising an 'arm' in rage as it growled. "Ouch! It Hurts!...Ten...!Booze...!Ten!"
Jiang Yao stood up from behind a plant near the hot spring pool. She constantly coughed up blood. She grabbed Ji Wu and intended to flee.
From within the jungle, Ji Hao blinked his eyes and silently rushed out as swiftly as a leopard while leaving a series of afterimages behind him, approaching Jiang Yao.
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