Chapter 75: The Ugly Bird Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
There was no demon like that in Buddhist paintings of h.e.l.l, nor was there a monster like that in people’s nightmares.
It was a giant bird with a narrow neck and without any hair above its chest. Its crinkled skin was covered with countless black dots. The five long crimson feathers on its head were like the ta.s.sels that were hung on a general’s helmet. Its elongated iron-gray beak was like a steel scissor with rusty spots.
Its eyes were blood red like burning rubies.
The roc did not have many feathers. What few feathers it had were curled and spa.r.s.ely scattered across its body. The feathers stuck to the body in disorderly manner, which made it look like a spirited but drenched chicken. Only on its wings were there thick feathers, and saber-like quills stuck up from the tip of its wings.
The fledgling had grown up. But in contrast, except for the unbelievably giant body, it looked like a mad ugly old man in black rags with ferocious eyes. Its appearance was vastly different to that of its proud and upright parents.
It spread its wings on the edge of the cliff like a wall, casting a shadow that almost covered the three people.
It was hungry because no food had fallen from the sky for many days. Finally, it smelled something familiar. Then, it climbed up by clinging recklessly to the twigs and rocks on the cliff — it could not fly yet.
All three people were so scared that they couldn’t speak. Gu Shenwei did not expect that he would feed a monster like this with all the killer apprentices’ bodies.
The giant red-crowned roc ignored the three people. It paused on the cliffside for a while then it approached the rock. It first pecked out the eyeb.a.l.l.s of the corpse that Gu Shenwei carried here, which were its favorite, then it pierced through the chest and swallowed its heart. It did not take long for the giant red-crowned roc to eat less than half of the body.
The three living people next to it were still motionless, as if they were under a vicious spell.
Among them, Shangguan Yuxing was the nearest to the giant red-crowned roc. He was already trembling with fear and felt sick at the same time when it first pecked at the eyeb.a.l.l.s. At the moment he could not bear it anymore, knelt on the ground, and threw up. Then, he looked up with a s.h.i.+ver. “What the h.e.l.l is that? Kill it, Cloud Panther!”
“Don’t mess with it.”
Gu Shenwei warned in a whisper. He had seen the two giant rocs violently kill many aces of the Golden Roc Fort. Although the giant red-crowned roc was still a fledgling, it didn’t appear to be much weaker than its parents.
Gu Shenwei’s warning did not work. Cloud Panther seemed to be both ashamed and angry for his panic. To save face, he lifted up his saber, ran a few steps, leapt forward and chopped at its neck.
Gu Shenwei also jumped to ward off Cloud Panther’s saber. He wanted to both protect the ugly giant roc, and to prevent Cloud Panther from dying in vain.
Although the giant red-crowned roc was leisurely eating, it was still a natural killer. Just when the attack was behind it, it ferociously stood up and turned around to resist. Its wings stirred up blasts of wind which blew down Shangguan Yuxing to the ground, and then it pecked at the bold intruders with lightning fast speed.
As a result, Cloud Panther lost grip of his saber and fell from up high in the air. Just as he touched the ground, he immediately bounced back. He covered his eyes with his hands and twisted his body wildly. His mouth was open, letting out a terrified squeak as he had lost his sense of direction in the midst of his anguish. He did not make it far as he tripped over the chains on the cliff and fell into the abyss.
He was dumb.
Gu Shenwei promptly withdrew next to the wall since he was not sure if the fledgling recognized him or not.
Shangguan Yuxing was paralyzed with fear. He tremblingly crawled on all fours toward the exit and didn’t even take notice of what had happened to Cloud Panther.
Having sensed the eyes of the living as delicious as those of the corpse, the giant red-crowned roc had a voracious appet.i.te. It rose up about three meters high and landed accurately on the vulnerable human being, with claws penetrating into his flesh and its beak pecking at him twice. Shangguan Yuxing did not make a sound. It was not because he could bear it, but rather he had already been scared to death ever since when the roc first rose up to the sky.
The giant red-crowned roc turned to the only human left, and forced Gu Shenwei to the corner, with quills stuck up to induce terror.
Gu Shenwei could have shouted for help to attract the killers of East Castle to besiege the flightless bird. However, he said nothing and expected that it would recognize him. He tossed his saber and slowly walked towards it.
The giant red-crowned roc became a little puzzled at the human being’s face. It did not recognize his face, but it recognized his smell. It was the smell it remembered from the moment when it came out of its eggsh.e.l.l, and it was also the smell which lingered on each serving of food that had fallen from high above the cliff.
It stopped and slowly folded its wings. It tilted its head and observed the strange creature, just like when they had first met in the nest.
Gu Shenwei held out his hands to touch the scattered feathers on its chest, making the giant red-crowned roc flinch on guard and slightly spread its wings. However, the human’s touch brought back its memory, making it let down its guard and let out a satisfied hiccup-sounded noise in its throat.
Gu Shenwei could no longer hold back his tears, as if he found a long-lost family member. He reached his arms around the giant red-crowned roc, and held it tightly.
The giant red-crowned roc was not used to this way of expression. It first resisted it, then reluctantly accepted the human being. In the end, it even patted him with its wings, and pecked at him on his shoulder with its sharp beak.
Suffering from the pain in the shoulder, Gu Shenwei eventually let go of the roc and smiled, “You’re still as ugly as usual. When will you become powerful like your parents?”
The giant red-crowned roc shook his head, stirring the feathers on its head.
Yet, it suddenly occurred to Gu Shenwei that the giant red-crowned roc was greatly imperiled. Because once somebody raised the alarm, the Supreme King would be desperate to catch it, even if he needed to send people to go down under the cliff.
“Go, go!”
Pus.h.i.+ng away the giant red-crowned roc, Gu Shenwei urged in anxiety.
Whereas, apparently the roc could not understand the human’s action. It was still elated at this reunion after a long time, and it was also not quite full, so it was not willing to leave now.
“You have to learn to fly. Go down there to find food. Don’t come up again! Never!”
Gu Shenwei pushed the giant red-crowned roc to the edge of the cliff and helped it spread its wings. “Go there, once you go down, you’ll fly high above with winds under your wings. Fly, bear your parents in mind. Don’t peck at the dead, go peck at the fresh eyes of the wolves, because they’re your favorite. Fly away from human beings, and don’t you ever come back to Stone Castle. Spread your wings and fly!”
The giant red-crowned roc could not fully understand his words. It still wanted to bypa.s.s the human it knew to move toward its unfinished food.
Gu Shenwei pushed with all his strength. Ugly as the giant red-crowned roc was, but what was ugliest was Stone Castle behind him. He would never allow the only family he cared for in the world to get hurt anymore.
The giant red-crowned roc fell into the abyss as well, sc.r.a.ping blocks and blocks of rocks off the cliff.
Gu Shenwei knelt on the ground and listened tensely, praying to the nameless Will of the Divine to not let the giant roc fall, nor let the sound attract the killers in the castle.
After a seemingly endless wait, Gu Shenwei was greeted with a sudden gust of wind, causing his kneeling posture to become unstable. Then, a ma.s.s of black cloud tore through the sky and dissipating the mist. After whirling around the human, the black cloud faded out of sight.
Finally, Gu Shenwei collapsed onto the ground and let out a deep sigh, but then he discovered that he was also in danger. A skillful killer apprentice fell off the cliff, and a son of the Shuangguans lay dead at the cliffside. How was he supposed to explain that without exposing the roc?
On the other hand, what was the most important right now was to destroy the evidence. He grabbed Shangguan Yuxing in the feet, planning to throw him off the cliff.
“Do you need help?”
Gu Shenwei quickly raised his head, and saw a gra.s.sy-eyed Maid Lotus.
There were indeed two sabers nearby, but both were out of reach. At that moment, Gu Shenwei was petrified.
“Get rid of his clothes.”
“What?”
Gu Shenwei couldn’t understand her words. He wasn’t even sure if she was with or against him, because the reserved girl was always secretive.
“If you throw him off like that, you’ll be the prime suspect. We’re out of time. Take off his clothes.”
It seemed that Maid Lotus was really helping him, hence, Gu Shenwei put away his thoughts for now and quickly stripped down Shangguan Yuxing.
“Don’t touch the blood, and also strip the clothes from the other body.”
Maid Lotus turned around to give out more orders, just like a master giving orders to her servant.
At that moment Gu Shenwei started to understand her intentions, thus he quickly stripped down the body that he carried here. There was too much blood on the s.h.i.+rt so he could only take off the trousers.
Gu Shenwei quickly handled the cleaning-up. He first dumped the two naked bodies off the cliff, then folded the one and a half set of clothes and laid them under the rock. Next, he fetched the spare broom to sweep the floor to be as clean as possible. Bloodstains that could not be wiped clean were covered with dust, making it look like old bloodstains.
While the clothes of the apprentices were all the same, Shangguan Yuxing was wearing accessories that would have otherwise revealed his ident.i.ty.
After the setup, it looked like two men were caught up in illegal affairs and fell off the cliff accidentally. The credibility of the crime scene all depended on Shangguan Yuxing’s place in the Castle, because this trick wouldn’t stand up long under Golden Roc Fort’s meticulous investigation.
Even so, Gu Shenwei still appreciated Maid Lotus’s help very much, since it at least earned him precious time.
While Gu Shenwei was falsifying the scene, Maid Lotus stood with her back to him. Now she turned back and said, “Go back and ask for your Master to pull some strings. Pyrowork Academy wouldn’t care too much about these two people.”
Though Gu Shenwei wanted to say “thanks” to her, he soon sensed something wrong and said, “Did you follow me too?”
When Maid Lotus said “two people”, it certainly didn’t include the body that Slave Huan had carried here. Since she knew that Cloud Panther had fallen off the cliff, she must have watched long, and she might know about the giant red-crowned roc’s existence as well.
“I have tests today. Now everybody dumps the corpses at Reincarnation Cliff like you.”
Maid Lotus’s explanation seemed legitimate, for the fledging had made such loud noise at Reincarnation Cliff. It was natural that she would come from the nearby Giant Rock Cliff to check. Yet, Gu Shenwei did not know why he would be on guard against her. They had nothing against each other and both of them used to be Mama Xue’s p.a.w.ns. Nowadays they both faced the destiny of dying from qigong deviation within three years. They really should trust each other instead.
“Thank you,” at last Gu Shenwei said these two words.
Still, Maid Lotus did not show any reaction to it. She was as emotionless as ever. Gu Shenwei could not help but think about it again. “Maid Lotus looks more and more like the dead Mama Xue, and without the disguise, she would be a rare beauty.”
“There’s no need to thank me, but, when do you plan to tell me that you’ve found the cure to qigong deviation?”
Maid Lotus still sounded calm, but Gu Shenwei was greatly shocked to hear that.