Death Sutra

Editor: Hibi-Chan

Chapter 50 Rather Die

Gu Shenwei was like a lonely warrior swimming in the boundless ocean. Just when he felt most exhausted, he happened upon an island. Although he knew his destination was still out in the horizon and sooner or later he would have to continue swimming, he was still reluctant to give up this temporary refuge and looked for all kinds of excuses to postpone the time of action.

The golden rocs were his new small island. He loved these two fantastic creatures and was in awe of them.

In the past two months, he saw the golden rocs everyday, unless it was raining cats and dogs. He ate the flowers and fruits they brought, made small talk and even touched their shiny black feathers when they were in a good mood.

The golden rocs were like awe-inspiring elders. They loved this unique human and kept bringing gifts. But they maintained a condescending manner and only occasionally allow him to break the border and be naughty.

Before the advent of that sorrowful moment, Gu Shenwei had no presentiment. Although Xue Niang started becoming impatient and frequently urged him to speed up the progress, and although Shangguan Yushi couldn’t disguise her increasing hatred and often showed a cold face to him, the two months that pa.s.sed were peaceful overall. Shangguan Ru gradually treated him as her trusted follower and the Qi deviation also hadn’t happened again so this was his most relaxed period of time since he had first entered Golden Roc Castle.

It was so relaxed that it was unlike the life of a man with a deep resentment. If he could augur an omen, this could have perhaps been one.

On that morning, Gu Shenwei came to the Giant Boulder Cliff as usual. He practised kung fu for a while after cleaning up the items strewn about. The golden rocs arrived on time, this time they brought several big, black fruits. He still didn’t know what it is, but it tasted juicy and delicious so he quickly ate them up and threw the pits far away.

He nagged them about the trivial things happened recently: one of Ninth Gongzi Shangguan Ru’s wooden sabres had disappeared, and n.o.body knew if it had fallen to the bottom of the cliff or not. If they could find it and bring it up, that could help him a lot.

The golden rocs  didn’t understand the man’s words, as he was just talking randomly, and didn’t take it seriously.

The golden rocs usually didn’t stay too long, but today it was even shorter. They wanted to fly away after they dropped the fruits, but stayed because the human teenager showed an apparently disappointed expression.

But they were a little bit nervous, and uneasily tilted their heads to listen and look around. This tension became more and more apparent and eventually pa.s.sed onto Gu Shenwei. Although he hadn’t realized what had happened, he made the decision and waved his hands to drive the two giant birds away, “Go, go now, come back tomorrow.”

The golden rocs nodded. They were always silent and never chirped. The male bird turned away and spread his wings, the female bird was still staring at the human teenager and seemed to want to show more kindness to him before she left. .

Two large nets spread at this moment, and ended everything.

One net fell from the high wall on the west side, the other one was throwing from under the cliff on the east side. One flew up, one flew down, forming an inescapable snare moving towards the golden rocs and Gu Shenwei.

The male bird had spread his wings and flew off abruptly, using both his long beak and sharp talons to tear the rising net in a blink of time. .

The female bird hesitated a bit, and then stuck her legs to push the human teenager to the side. The large net fell from the tall wall and covered her entire body.

Gu Shenwei hit the giant boulder and fell. However, the female bird didn’t use much strength so he was not hurt. He happened to see the male bird returning back to the ground to help the female bird tear up the net.

Even in this emergency,  they didn’t chirp.

The large net became useless, but the giant birds had lost the most precious opportunity to escape. The second and third net came one after another. Then there were a total of five, so densely thrown that even the wind couldn"t pa.s.s through.

Gu Shenwei felt his blood flow in reverse,  as if he was witnessing his family being killed yet again. He shouted meaninglessly and rushed to pull those nets, but with his level of internal energy, the help he could offer was no different than a drop in a bucket.

Though the two rocs struggled, the huge strength and sharp beaks were still beyond the ambushers" imaginations. Soon the male bird tore a crack over his head but didn’t take off right away, and instead moved one step to expand the opening and let the female bird go first.

The ambushers took this moment to jump out from the wall and under the cliff. Everyone of them was totally covered in grey clothes which was almost the same color of the rocks. Even their faces were masked, only exposing cold, merciless eyes.

More than a dozen of people pulled the large net, and another six people lunged at the golden rocs.

Gu Shenwei leapt at the ambusher close to him. That person didn’t even glance at him. He kicked out with his right foot like lightning, and struck Gu Shenwei in the lower abdomen as if he had never practised kung fu. Gu Shenwei flew and fell heavily under the high wall.

Both the female and male birds’ heads were above the nets now, but their wings were still entangled. Six ambushers threw out a noose and tightened them around the two birds’ necks.

The more dangerous the situation, the more calm the golden rocs became. They suddenly spun on the spot, and all the ambushers were pulled so surprisingly they couldn"t stand and were all forced to run instead.

 Seeing that the enemies couldn’t keep their stance, those two giant birds attacked. They used their sharp beaks to peck in succession. Those pecks were so fast, so accurate that they were comparable to those of top level masters. The closest six ambushers became frantic immediately. One of them wasn’t able to dodge in time and was pecked in the eyeball.

This man was tough, he just grunted and still pulled tightly the rope end regardless of the blood spewing out his eye.

While they used their sharp beaks to peck, at the same time, the golden rocs used their talons to scratch. Each scratch tore off a large piece from the nets.  Those firm net strings were as fragile as weeds under their talons.

Falling to the ground frightened, Gu Shenwei could only watch the fight between the humans and birds. He couldn’t help, so he prayed in silence.  For the freedom of the two golden rocs, he was willing to sacrifice everything, even willing to give up his revenge.

But his prayer had never worked since he lost his family one year ago. The heavens were always teasing him, giving him only a thread of hope before mercilessly taking it away.

The golden rocs’ strength was matchless, even the combined forces of more than a dozen ambushers could not subdue them. The net holes became larger and larger and it was looking as though those two birds would be able to fly off in a moment. By that time, the six ambushers with ropes would either let go or be dragged into the air.

Those net could not bear the destruction caused by the giant birds and finally broke into pieces. The male bird immediately used his beak and claw to force the six rope holders to back, the female bird spread her wings in an attempt to fly.

Gu Shenwei’s heart almost jumped out. He looked up at the mountain-like body, wind-like wings, G.o.d-like golden crest and shouted loudly: “Go! Go!”

When the female bird left the ground, her beak pointed towards the free sky, then, all of a sudden her unrivalled pretty head fell.  The headless body was still in the flight posture as red blood rose into the air like rosy clouds that dyed the whole sky.

A black shadow appeared behind the female bird. He was like an invisible devil, appearing out of thin air.  His hand gripped a narrow, matte grey sabre, his heart so cold as if it could freeze the steel into powder. Even though he had killed such a pretty, n.o.ble creature, he seemed completely indifferent.

“No!” Gu Shenwei screamed. The scene had transported him back to the night one year ago when he was forced to watch his family being executed, their heads cut off one by one.

“No!” Another voice filled with rage rang out almost at the same time. A figure flew off the top of the giant boulder on the north side. He was a human, but he was as agile, as elegant as a bird, as though he had wings on his back.

The moment this person flew over, the headless female bird’s corpse fell and the killer was still landing. Although he took off late, he arrived before the killer landed and hit the killer’s chest with his palm.

The masked killer had just killed the golden roc and made the biggest and last mistake in his life. His sabre was useless in front of this man; he spouted a mouth of blood, his body flying off the cliff and falling into the unfathomable abyss.

The killer didn’t let out a scream as his life had already ended with that palm strike.

The female bird fell, the head with golden feathers turned over and stopped at several steps away from Gu Shenwei. Her yellow eyes were still wide open but had lost all color.

The male bird’s eyes were like burning flames, emitting scorching lights. He turned his body drastically, his wings caused a violent whirlwind. Every attack of his long beak would peck off a person’s eye. Every scratch of his claw would rip off a large chunk of flesh.

In front of the mad golden roc, these formidable Golden Roc killers were as weak as children.

In a moment of time, the closest six people had lost their lives. But the man who jumped off from the giant boulder had already retreated quickly and ordered sternly: “I want it to be alive, do not hurt it!”

More ambushers streamed in from the high wall, from outside the giant boulder, until there were about 40 to 50 of them in total.

Unafraid and upright, the male bird stood there. The long feathers on the wing tip vibrated like sharp swords, at this moment no one even dared to challenge him.

The male bird lowered his head and glanced at his dead companion, then he suddenly raised his head, his chest was like filled with air and expanded which almost doubled his size because of this.

All the ambushers here had killed countlessly but now they were all scared s.h.i.tless. No matter how the lord scolded them, they only dared approach slowly and with caution. No one wanted to be the next sacrifice.

The male bird disdained these trivial human beings. He acc.u.mulated all his energy and strength and let out the first chirp since his born, which was also the last chirp.

The high-pitched sound was like thunder echoing through the clouds. The sound spread across Golden Roc Castle, and then spread even further to Jade City at the mountain foot. All the people in the city were startled.

The sound still lingered long after the male bird fell.

The male bird chose to end his own life and died just like this.

All wore stunned expressions of disbelief.  After a long while, a voice sighed, “No chirp for a lifetime, die after one chirp, this was the real golden rocs, it’s a pity one was damaged.”

It was still the man that cried No with Gu Shenwei. Covered with grey clothes, he was of medium height with slightly dark, slender face and sunken eyes. There was no peculiarity about his appearance but his whole body emitted a murderous aura and a king’s aura that could not be disguised. All the surrounding killers uncontrollably lowered their heads, even the stone-made Golden Roc Castle seemed to be shorter.

Gu Shenwei had once felt strong murderous aura from Marshal Yang, but compared with this man, it was like a river meeting the sea.

The grief and anger in Gu Shenwei’s heart was suddenly replaced by a deep fear, and his body softened into a ball. He could only continue to lie on the ground and barely had the will to force himself to raise his head. Looking at the grey-gowned man about ten steps away, he finally figured out his ident.i.ty.

One masked killer walked to Gu Shenwei. He kneeled down on one knee and used one hand to hold the teenager’s neck, and the other to grip the narrow sabre by his waist. As he did, he humbly asked the grey-gowned man: “King Lord, how do we deal with this servant.”