novelraw Chapter 78 : Plucking Feathers
Chapter 78 : Plucking Feathers
Isn't that young girl the Little Junior Sister from the Beast Taming Sect?
"Waaah, I only stole one of your eggs, did you have to chase me all this way?" Ge Xiang was on the verge of tears. There were so many eggs, and she had only taken the smallest one, intending to return to the sect to hatch, cultivate, and study it. Yet this big bird had chased her relentlessly.
She couldn't run anymore.
Her legs gave way, and she was about to fall to the ground.
Chu Sang couldn't bear to watch and swept out a sword energy, forcing the big bird back, taking the opportunity to pull her in.
"Where are your senior brothers and sisters? Are you alone?"
Ge Xiang didn't forget to tightly hug the egg in her arms as she plopped down on the ground, sighing in relief, inwardly thanking her great fortune, "Waaah, I got separated from my senior brothers and sisters!"
Wen Renyue, who had a fondness for beast taming disciples, said, "Then come with us for now. Who knows, we might run into your sect's disciples along the way."
"This is a Fire Feather Bird, a fire-attribute demonic beast. Its feathers are excellent sword-forging materials, perfectly matching your spirit root," Su Chen'an looked at Chu Sang nearby, seeing her great interest, and said, "I had previously thought of finding some Fire Feather Bird feathers as a source material for refining your natal spirit tool, but these bird beasts are now very rare in the cultivation world. They can only be found in traces in ancient secret realms."
"For tool refining, just taking some feathers should be enough. It's best not to kill it."
Chu Sang was eager to try, "Alright, watch me."
The Fire Feather Bird soon realized that these despicable human cultivators were eyeing it strangely, and a sense of unease arose in its heart. It turned to run away on its claws, but found it couldn't escape at all.
When it ran east, Chu Sang blocked its path.
When it ran west, Tantai Ming stood in its way.
All four directions—east, south, west, and north—were tightly sealed off.
Enraged, it spat out a ball of fire. Chu Sang countered by pulling out a Golden Armor Talisman to resist the flames, then leaped up with her sword, playing a game of ring-around-the-rosy with the fire bird.
She didn't harm it, just cutting off a few feathers each time she brushed past, snatching a feather with one hand, then another with the other. After a few rounds, the bird was nearly bald.
The Fire Feather Bird was furious. These damn cultivators were insulting it!
It was those gorgeous feathers that had helped it win over its favorite little female bird back in the day. Aaaah, how dare this damn cultivator pluck its feathers! Unforgivable!
The Fire Feather Bird went berserk, flapping its nearly featherless wings, pecking at her wildly.
The Fire Feather Bird was a Golden Core stage demonic beast with considerable strength. Besides spitting fire, its sharp beak was especially painful when pecking, even able to peck a hole in a hard iron sword.
The super invincible lightning-fast legs technique activated gracefully. Chu Sang easily dodged the attack, casually plucking the longest feather from its head.
Having successfully maxed out the Fire Feather Bird's anger meter, it ignored everyone else on the field, focusing solely on pecking at her furiously.
Several demonic vines burst from the ground. The poor Fire Feather Bird hadn't even managed a successful sneak attack before it was bound.
Chu Sang plucked the last gorgeous tail feather from its bottom.
"Gak gak gak gak!"
It was about to cry from anger.
Wen Renyue turned and fed it a beast core, "Stop squawking. Consider this payment for plucking your feathers. Next year, it'll make your feathers even more vibrant and beautiful, making you the most beautiful bird in your flock."
The Fire Feather Bird immediately stopped crying, even trying to coax more beast cores from her.
The bird's cries attracted other nearby Fire Feather Birds. Seeing a group of cultivators intruding, they immediately united against the common enemy and activated their pecking skills.
However, they quickly went from being the pursuers to the pursued. Had cultivators in the cultivation world all become so abnormal? Why were they all plucking feathers now??
After a chaotic scene, many Fire Feather Birds fell victim. Wen Renyue kindly gave each bird several high-grade beast cores, comforting their bird hearts that had suffered bullying.
Qin Xixue, following behind, saw them collecting Fire Feather Bird feathers and felt eager to join in.
She also had a Celestial Fire Spirit Root but still hadn't obtained a suitable natal spirit sword. If she could collect some live fire feathers to refine a spirit sword, it would surely be like a tiger gaining wings...
Her strength was too weak to defeat those fierce fire birds, so she started targeting some young birds.
The young birds also resisted fiercely.
Having no other choice, Qin Xixue had to kill them before taking their feathers.
Ge Xiang saw her actions and couldn't help but widen her eyes, "You killed the young birds?!"
It was understandable for cultivators and demonic beasts to compete for resources, territory, food, or even use each other as resources for cultivation. Ge Xiang wasn't a saint and wouldn't consider it cruel for someone to kill demonic beasts, as many demonic beasts also killed and ate humans to improve their cultivation.
But the cultivation world did have some unwritten rules. Most cultivators tried to avoid harming defenseless young beasts if possible.
This was both for the propagation of demonic beast species and for cultivators to better seek resources in the future.
Seeing Qin Xixue kill five or six young birds, Ge Xiang felt quite disapproving, "Young birds are highly protected in demonic beast groups. If you slaughter young birds like this, it would be bad if you attract their parents."
She had taken one egg, the most difficult to hatch, from dozens of eggs, and was chased all this way. Not to mention Qin Xixue directly killing their already hatched offspring. Just imagining what would happen if the beast parents saw this was terrifying!
Qin Xixue's face darkened, "...It's their fault for not being obedient and letting me take what I want."
Although Ge Xiang was also on the feather-plucking side of abnormality, she was still shocked by this shameless statement, "No, we're the ones trying to pluck their feathers. How can you expect them not to resist at all? How could they possibly let you pluck their feathers willingly?"
"If someone tried to pluck your spirit root, would you not resist at all?"
Qin Xixue's eyes flickered, but she said nothing, continuing her actions and disposing of another young bird.
Ge Xiang turned her head away, not wanting to look, but heard the young bird let out a mournful cry before dying.
As this feeble cry fell, the earth shook violently.
Rocks and soil flew everywhere, dark clouds obscured the sun.
"What's happening?"
A fire bird much larger than any they had seen before appeared in the sky.
The strong, profound pressure made everyone's hearts tremble—
It was actually an Late Nascent Soul stage demonic beast!
Clearly, this was the bird king of this group of Fire Feather Birds.
It looked at everyone present with fury, letting out a sharp, piercing screech. Fireballs rained down on them like falling meteors.
Chu Sang was dumbfounded. They had only plucked a few feathers, why such a big reaction?
"We're done for! We're going to be roasted into human jerky!" If only they had known when to stop. The flames of a Late Nascent Soul stage demonic beast were worlds apart from those of ordinary Golden Core stage beasts. Talismans couldn't even hold for a few breaths before being instantly shattered.
The group jumped up and down, in a terribly sorry state.
The senior sister had snuck away in the middle of the night before they entered the secret realm. Now in their group, there was only one Early Nascent Soul stage blade cultivator, Ling Yu, along with Tantai Ming at mid Golden Core and Chu Sang at early Golden Core. They were far from enough to fight.
The commotion here attracted other nearby teams. The Beast Taming Sect and Tianyan Sect from not far away also rushed over. After successfully finding their two lost junior sisters, they joined the battle.
With the combined efforts of three sects, they barely managed to suppress the bird king. But before they could catch their breath, the bird king suddenly began to self-immolate, its enormous body completely engulfed in flames.
"Despicable cultivators, how dare you slaughter my offspring! None of you will leave here today!"
"Not good, it's trying to self-destruct!" Everyone present was on high alert, their faces pale.
Only Changsheng walked towards the group of young bird corpses. Her face rarely showed sadness as she crouched down, a faint green light appearing in her palm.
As the green light passed over the young bird corpses, their wounds and bloodstains miraculously disappeared. Their feathers trembled, and they slowly awakened, opening their small eyes like black holes, looking around in confusion.
One young bird shakily flew towards the bird king, stumbling through the air.
But the bird king was now furious to the extreme, completely unaware of what was happening below.
Chu Sang reacted quickly, cradling the young bird in one arm while throwing out a flying sword, riding it upwards.
Under everyone's gaze, she opened her spirit sense to its maximum, barely dodging hundreds of magma fireballs while resisting the scorching high temperature that could melt a person.
Her ears bled from the overuse of spirit sense, but she paid no heed, wiping away the undried blood at her ears. Finally, she flew before the demonic king, holding up the trembling red ball in her arms, and shouted, "If you really self-destruct, your offspring will truly die!"
"My child!"
The bird king's frenzied eyes instantly cleared, the flames covering its body vanishing.
The next second, it transformed into a burly middle-aged man, taking the red ball into his arms, weeping with joy, "You're alive, thank goodness. I thought you had been killed by these vicious cultivators..."
The group of "vicious cultivators" felt somewhat awkward and at a loss. The situation had temporarily stabilized. Chu Sang stepped forward and said, "We are cultivators who came to the secret realm for training. We came here to find sword-forging materials and had no intention of harming your child."
The bird king was naturally half-skeptical of the cultivators' words, but since his child was unharmed, he couldn't be bothered to perish together with them.
However, what puzzled him was that he had clearly sensed his offspring's mournful cry before its death earlier. Why was it alive now?
Not only alive but with a more robust life force than before, as if blessed by some kind of power.
"It was I who saved him," Changsheng said with a smile, hands behind her back.
The moment the bird king saw Changsheng, his pupils trembled slightly. The unusual aura emanating from her quickly led him to guess her identity.
The hostility in the bird king's eyes dissipated, replaced by an indescribable gratitude. "You mentioned earlier that you came to the secret realm to find some sword-forging materials?"
Chu Sang silently pulled out a stack of bright red bird feathers.
"......" The bird king fell silent for a moment.
Half an incense stick's time later, the now balding bird king flew away with his child.
Chu Sang put a dozen or so of the bird king's crest feathers into her storage bag.
The bird king's crest feathers contained even more abundant and powerful fire energy, truly the cream of the crop. This could be considered a blessing in disguise.
"You dared to kill the bird king's offspring, truly asking for trouble. If you had been burned to death today, you would have deserved it!" Qiu Xiude taunted coldly, seemingly wanting to settle accounts after the fact.
"Hey hey hey, what are you saying? The one who killed the young birds was your sect's Little Junior Sister. What does that have to do with us?" Ge Xiang took out a piece of osmanthus cake and threw it at his face.
"You did this?" Mo Qingchen turned to look at Qin Xixue upon hearing this, his tone heavy.
"I, I didn't mean to..." With so many people present who had witnessed it, she had no way to deny it. She bit her lip, on the verge of tears.
Mo Qingchen's expression was very unpleasant. He hadn't realized before that she could be so reckless.
"From now on, stay at the back of the group and follow closely. Don't wander off on your own again."
Qiu Xiude hadn't expected to be slapped in the face so quickly and felt he couldn't save face. "Little Junior Sister didn't mean it. She didn't expect this to happen. I'm sure she won't do it again next time!"
Chu Sang turned to look at him, her pitying gaze inexplicably making people's hearts uncomfortable. "Brother, let me offer you a ten-character truth."
"What is it?"
"A bootlicker ends up with nothing in the end."
Tantai Ming added, "Also, if your brain doesn't work well, I suggest visiting a medical hall to check it out."
Mu Chihuai smiled, "I have medicine here to treat brain issues. Would you like some?"
Wen Renyue quipped, "Looking at this situation, it seems too severe. Probably no amount of medicine can cure it."
Qiu Xiude was thoroughly humiliated by their back-and-forth comments, his face turning red with anger, his fingers trembling slightly. "You, you all just wait!"
Chu Sang, "Look, look, he's getting angry!"
It must be said that this group of people were quite skilled at infuriating others.
"Shut up." Finally, Mo Qingchen's stern rebuke of Qiu Xiude brought an end to it.
Qiu Xiude's eyes were full of resentment, his face so black it could be used for writing and drawing.
The secret realm was far from as peaceful as the elders had described, more dangerous and treacherous than they had imagined. Although there were occasional frictions between the major sects, it was best to travel together in the secret realm.
Chu Sang also encountered other teams along the way, some from other sects and families, as well as some nearby rogue cultivators.
When they set up camp at night, several cultivators mysteriously disappeared one after another.
Others searched during the day and found the bodies of those cultivators nearby.
Their deaths were extremely tragic, their limbs seemingly torn to shreds by some beast's claws. Even more horrifying was that—their brain matter and dantians had been dug out!
Everyone immediately felt in danger.
They took turns keeping watch at night.
On the fifth day, it was Chu Sang and Tantai Ming's turn to keep watch. After yawning for half a day, they were exhausted.
Tantai Ming struggled to prop open his eyelids, not letting himself fall asleep. But he couldn't resist the demonic whisper of his Little Junior Sister beside him, "Seventh Senior Brother, if you're tired, just sleep. Don't force yourself."
"No, no! What if I fall asleep and that demonic beast comes again?"
"It hasn't come for five days. It must have run far away in fear. I'm sure nothing will happen today. If you ask me, they're just making a big fuss over nothing," the young woman continued, "If Seventh Senior Brother is worried, we can take turns keeping watch. You sleep for a while first, I'll keep watch, and then you can come relieve me later?"
This seemed like a good idea. Tantai Ming was successfully persuaded. He lay down on the ground, closed his eyes, and was soon peacefully asleep.
The young woman yawned, leaned against a tree, and after a while, also dozed off.
Seeing that both had fallen asleep, a part of the forest in the night stirred without wind, as if a dark shadow quickly flashed towards them.
In an instant, a pre-set formation activated.
"It's here."
The young woman, who had seemed drowsy and unclear just moments ago, suddenly opened her eyes, her gaze extremely clear. She swung back a powerful sword intent.
The formation she had set up earlier activated.
"It's here."
The young woman who had seemed drowsy and unclear just moments ago suddenly opened her eyes, her gaze extremely clear. She swung back a powerful sword intent.