Editors: Aiiee, Hibi-Chan (DW)
Chapter 47 Bird’s Nest
Gu Shenwei plummeted but didn’t lose his will to survive and continued waving his arms around to look for purchase. Although he couldn"t see anything, he could feel his body crashing into obstacles like trees and semi-decayed stones.
Perhaps it was only a few breaths or a lifetime, Gu Shenwei finally hit the ground. His bones felt as though they had shattered into pieces; fortunately, he immediately lost consciousness and didn’t feel the pain that penetrated deep into his marrow.
He was still alive. The obstacles along the way had broken his fall, and the final spot he fell onto was luckily a pile of fine branches and soft gra.s.s.
Not long afterwards he woke up and felt overwhelming pain like he was drowning in the sea. For a while, he could neither hear, see, nor think.
When he finally regained control over his body he tried to sit up and observe his surrounding. The first thing he saw was the mist, which meant he hadn"t fallen directly to the bottom of the cliff but was instead still on the side of the mountain.
Then, he saw something that he could neither believe nor accept. He didn’t notice this scene before because it was so incredible that his brain simply refused to process reality.
Several steps in front of him lay a huge python, which was as thick as an adult"s thigh. It didn’t attack the intruder that fell from the sky because its mouth was stuffed with a humongous egg. The egg was like a smooth gray stone the size of which was comparable to Big Head G.o.d’s head.
The python’s upper and lower jaws were propped open so that its two yellow eyes could only look up at the sky, which focused its view elsewhere. This was one of the reasons why Gu Shenwei was still alive.
This scene was so bizarre and out of touch with reality that Gu Shenwei thought he must be at the entrance to the underworld. He felt as though he had drunk Grandma Meng"s soup and forgot his previous life, his blood feud, and forgot the girl who killed him. He just stared motionless at the python, stunned.
In the end, his strong will for survival reinvigorated his fighting spirit. Gu Shenwei ignored the ubiquitous pain, stood up, and pulled out the the dagger still stuck in his left shoulder. This murder weapon had followed him in his fall, even after being struck by stones and tree branches..
He wanted to keep a safe distance by retreating several steps, but after only a half-step, he had no more s.p.a.ce to move.
The place he landed on was a large nest, which was like a giant bowl made of branches and hay and about the size of a small human house if it was inverted. He was standing on the edge of the nest and the branches under his feet were shaky.
The python’s muscle contracted as it tried to swallow the egg, pushing it a bit more inside and leaving almost no part of it exposed.
Gu Shenwei just stared in fascination until the python had almost completely swallowed the egg. Then, he suddenly came to his senses and realized that this was the best chance to kill the python. If he waited any longer, the python would push the egg deeper into its stomach and distort its body to squeeze and break the egg . Afterwards, it might also be willing to swallow a human teenager.
Half of the python’s body was outside the bird’s nest. In order to swallow the egg, it wriggled and twisted its body moved about a third of a meter closer to Gu Shenwei.
Gu Shenwei walked a few steps towards the python’s head. He stabbed the dagger between its yellow eyes, leaned on it, and then carefully moved forward, slicing along the python’s body with the tip of the dagger moving in zigzag. Because of the bones interference, his cut was sometimes shallow, sometimes deep.
Once Gu Shenwei reached its tail end, he turned around and pressed his body flat against the cliff. The feeling of the rock behind him gave him enormous power and confidence.
The back of the python had been cut from head to tail yet it seemed unaware, neither feeling pain nor struggling intensely. As it continued writhing to swallow the egg, its body swayed to and fro gushing blood.
Over a long while, the python gradually stopped moving and the egg was once again exposed. Almost all of its blood had flowed out, revealing its white flesh. Underneath the skin, hundreds of milky white nematodes were squeezed out. Each one was about half a meter long, and its eyeless head wriggled in all directions, seemingly wanting to find a new home.
As fear turned into disgust, Gu Shenwei pressed himself more firmly against the cliff, wishing to turn he could turn to stone and meld into the cliff. He originally planned to kick the python out of the nest when it died, but now, he didn’t even want to take half a step forward.
The egg by the python’s head suddenly issued a rattling sound. Since Gu Shenwei didn’t consider the safety of the egg when he was slitting the python’s back, the tip of the dagger left a scratch on it. This could have caused the sh.e.l.l to crack.
Gu Shenwei would not be surprised even if at this moment, immortals and ghosts popped out, so he stared straight at the egg, which emitted a little rattling at first but now shook violently. Finally, a chick broke the egg and trembled out.
Even if ghosts had really come, they would probably not have been as ugly as this nestling.
It was about a third of a meter tall and was born a lot larger than ordinary birds. Its whole body was not covered with even a single feather. And it was lean and skinny, as if there was only a layer of pink skin wrapping the skeleton. The pair of fine yellow eyes was simply the replica of the python"s.
The young bird had a long beak, but didn"t chirp or run randomly. Instead, it held its head high as if unaware that it was almost a meal for the python just moments before.
It seemed to have been starving from before hatching, for after glancing at its new world, the first thing it did was bend down and eat the mucus left inside the egg. After several bites, it took notice of the python and with a step forward, pecked out its soft yellow eyeb.a.l.l.s. After two bites, it then went after the squirming nematodes. From the python"s head to tail, it ate them all, one by one.
However, even after gorging, the chick was still not full. After swallowing several pieces of the the pythons fresh flesh, it stopped and raised its head to look around. It stared at the human standing against the cliff and seemed to be trying to distinguish if Gu Shenwei was food, enemy, or friend.
Gu Shenwei had been carefully looking at the chick when it was eating. He still held onto the dagger. Several times he had wanted to stab the monster chick to death, but he was blocked by the disgusting corpse of the python. He seemed to be rooted and couldn’t move even an inch.
The ugly bird stared at Gu Shenwei. Although it did not even reach his knees, its eyes were as vicious as those of an reincarnated devil. Gu Shenwei felt overwhelmed and didn"t have any confidence in defeating it.
The young bird suddenly spread its two naked wings and rushed at him. Before Gu Shenwei realized, the bird had already started pecking his shins with his sharp beak.
Hurt and in pain, Gu Shenwei kept twisting his body trying to avoid the rain-like pecks, but was stuck against the cliff. Luckily, the bird did not have any truly malicious intentions for it pecked but never bit him. If it had tried to seriously bite him with the force it had used while eating the python"s flesh, it could have easily bitten off a large chunk of his legs.
Even so, Gu Shenwei had enough. He held his dagger in front of him and tried to scare it off.
"Go away, go away now, I have a sabre," he called and swung his dagger while kicking out.
But the young bird didn"t stop. It thought Gu Shenwei was playing a game after its meal so it happily continued to peck. Its eyes were very sharp, and for each kick, the bird was able to hit the corresponding foot.
If this "game" continued, Gu Shenwei knew that his feet and legs would soon be crippled. He decided he could not act soft-hearted and held the dagger high. When he was about to swing down, he felt the sky suddenly darken.
The atmosphere surrounding the bird"s nest was full of clouds and mist, and the shadow was like a group of dark storm-clouds that blocked the heavens.
Gu Shenwei uncontrollably raised his head, and immediately felt lucky that he hadn’t attacked the young bird. He should have noticed earlier: if the egg was so big then the chick"s parents must be huge!
A giant bird, one head taller than an adult when standing, had spread its wings covering almost half the sky.
The giant bird quickly landed on the nest. Pure black feathers covered its whole body. Only a handful of gold feathers stood erect on its head like a small crown. The iron-gray long beak was like two sharp blades bound together. Like its chick, it had the same yellow eyes. However, they were filled with less evil intent, but more arrogance, perseverance, and intelligence.
When the giant bird landed, it loosened its claws and released a small living beast. The small beast curled up into a ball, whining quietly. Hopeless, it had no intentions to escape.
Gu Shenwei was stunned, he was 100%, 120% certain that he was not a match for this beast.
The giant bird first glanced at the young bird, and then looked at the man, its eyes narrowing on the dagger in the air.
Gu Shenwei hurriedly put down his hands. He subconsciously wanted to throw the dagger away, but felt it would be awkward to do so. He didn’t know why, but he believed that the bird in front of him could understand his speech and could see through all the schemes.
He put the dagger close to his chest, one finger pointing at the python corpse, the other pointing at the young bird, “I killed that, and saved it.”
The giant bird was hesitating, but the young bird showed no interest to the appearance of its kind, and continued enthusiastically pecking the mankind"s legs and feet. Gu Shenwei didn’t dare dodge anymore and could only bear the pain with a grimace.
The giant bird made one step toward the center of the nest and its eyes suddenly became fierce.
Gu Shenwei cried not good in his heart, when the sky suddenly became dark again and the second giant bird came back.
This bird was even bigger than the previous one, and the golden feathers on its head were more attractive. Gu Shenwei had to raise his head high to see it clearly. He speculated the latter one was male, and the previous one was female.
The male bird also carried a small beast. It didn’t immediately put away its wings after it dropped the small beast. Instead, it dived for the intruder directly.
The female bird also spread her wings, but did not attack. She blocked the male in front and with her beak pointed at the egg sh.e.l.l at the python corpse’s head. She turned out to have no ill intentions, and the ferocity in her eyes was just Gu Shenwei’s misunderstanding.
The two giant birds collided each other with their beaks, which was the way they communicated. It seemed that the giant birds here were all unable to chirp.
Gu Shenwei trembled with fear, waiting.
Soon, the birds reached a consensus. They put away their wings and nodded at the human.
Gu Shenwei let out a long breath. He felt safe for the first time since the moment Shangguan Yushi stabbed at him. His heart had sunk for too long and almost couldn’t return to its original position.
The young bird hadn’t gotten any response from Gu Shenwei, which made it finally notice the two giant birds behind it. It tilted its head, seemingly puzzled by the scene.
The female bird lowered its head and pecked at the head of the small beast it had caught. The small beast screamed and died shortly after. Indifferent, the female bird held the b.l.o.o.d.y eyeball, looking expectantly at its child.
This time, Gu Shenwei clearly saw that it was not a small beast at all but an adult grey wolf. The scream it had made before it died was similar to the weird sound he had heard at the edge of the Groaning Ghost Cliff.
The young bird innately understood who its real parents were. It rushed over, picked the beast"s eyeball from its mother’s mouth and raised its neck to swallow it, then happily pecked the giant bird’s claw.
The giant bird’s claw was wrapped in crusted skin and calluses, so not only could it bear the beak of the young bird, but also feel immense pleasure.
Falling from the cliff seemed to have made Gu Shenwei"s mind slow. After such a long time, he finally realized that what he was seeing were golden rocs, the namesake of Golden Roc Castle.