Chapter 86: Forbidden Zone, Spirit Level Beast
Jiang Chen stumbled and staggered, using all the remaining strength within his body to flee into the depths of the fourth level. At this moment, he no longer cared about the so-called forbidden zone, and no longer cared about the point of no return.
He could die, but definitely not in the hands of the Long siblings!
He could never accept the Long siblings displaying his head and going back to the capital to bluff and bl.u.s.ter in front of his father!
If he couldn’t control his birth, then he would at least control how his death came about!
Therefore, Jiang Chen didn’t tarry. His feet rushed forward with all their might. He didn’t know how long he’d walked either. He only knew that his body felt increasingly heavy, his mind increasingly dull, his pace increasingly scattered, and his consciousness increasingly foggy.
He fell down. He fell down with a body of blood and dirt.
After who knew how long, a vague trace of light seemed to shoot into the endless darkness of Jiang Chen’s consciousness.
He seemed to be awake, yet also seemed to be dreaming.
He dreamed that he seemed to have returned to his past life, returning to the glories of being the son of the Celestial Emperor, returning to the resignation of enduring millions of years of emptiness…
The dream landscape took another turn in the blink of an eye. He seemed to have returned to the capital and saw that large hordes of Soaring Dragon soldiers had rushed into the Jiang Han manor, hauling his father out all trussed up.
And then an executioner’s sword used for beheading people sentenced to death, swung high, chopping down towards his father’s head.
“No!” Jiang Chen felt a pain in his chest and abruptly opened his eyes.
“Awrk!”
A Goldwing Swordbird seemed to be startled and fluttered away with a flap of its wings, flying away from Jiang Chen’s side.
Jiang Chen lowered his head and discovered that his clothes had already been slit open by the sharp edge of the Goldwing Swordbird’s beak. It was a good thing that there was a layer of Skysilk Armor protecting his body.
Otherwise, that beak would have laid him open and disemboweled him just now.
“Goldwing Swordbird?” Jiang Chen was incredibly enfeebled. Whenever he circulated true qi through his meridians, he felt like his meridians would split open and that his body would completely fall apart into pieces..
Jiang Chen coughed lightly a few times, spitting out some trace liquids from his lungs. He felt that his breathing had become slightly easier.
Fis.h.i.+ng out a Heavenly Karma Pill, he was about to put it in his mouth when his hand suddenly halted.
His eyes almost goggled out of his head.
The hairs on his body all involuntarily stood up as he looked around.
A thick crowd of Swordbirds were standing on every surface possible in all directions!
On the walls, on the grotesque rocks, on the marsh, the shrubs, the dirt…
As long as there was a place to stand, it was packed with Swordbirds!
The saying of “tens of thousands” is used for describing something numerous, but how could the number of Swordbirds in front of his eyes be numbering in the tens of thousands?
Jiang Chen swept his gaze around and couldn’t see the end. He only saw a ma.s.s of Swordbirds with keenly honed and neat feathers, glowing spirit pearls on their foreheads, and sharp beaks comparable to blades and swords.
“Have... Have I arrived in the base camp of the Swordbirds?”
Originally, one or two Swordbirds would pose no threat whatsoever, but the scene at hand was basically an ocean of Swordbirds!
Even if he was unharmed and in good shape, and even if his strength were to increase tenfold, he would probably still only suffer the downfall of being ripped into meat sc.r.a.ps in this ocean of Swordbirds, not to mention how he was covered with serious wounds right now!
You could kill one or two.
You could also kill ten or a hundred.
You wouldn’t be able to kill thousands or tens of thousands, but you could run.
Except, Swordbirds met the eye in every direction. They were present no matter where one walked or escaped. How would he escape? There wasn’t even the room to escape!
Besides, some Silverwing Swordbirds were scattered amongst these Swordbirds, and there were even around ten Goldwing Swordbirds!
One Goldwing Swordbird had the fighting strength of a true qi master!
Jiang Chen laughed wryly, it looked like even if he didn’t meet violent beasts within this fourth level, this incalculable ocean of Swordbirds would be able to drown him.
“What a pity, why didn’t the Long siblings take the risk and chase after me in here?” Jiang Chen didn’t even have any thoughts of escaping now. He only rued the fact that he couldn’t perish together with the Long siblings.
He threw the Heavenly Karma Pill into his mouth, simply deciding not to think so much.
However, he felt that it was a bit odd. These Swordbirds were all eyeing him like prey, but why had none of them taken any action yet?
With his current battle strength, a normal Greenwing Sword would be able to slice and dice him inch by inch into meat sc.r.a.ps.
A Goldwing Swordbird circled past the top of Jiang Chen’s head.
Another Goldwing Swordbird from the opposite direction left behind a golden colored shadow.
The golden-feathered Goldwing Swordbirds were comparable to the existence of true qi masters alright. Those perfect wings and perfect lines emanated a frightening aura. They were indeed in no way inferior to the human true qi masters.
Their degree of wildness and fierceness even slightly surpa.s.sed true qi masters.
Numerous Goldwing Swords flew over Jiang Chen’s head, circling.
Jiang Chen only felt baffled. These Goldwing Swordbirds continuously spiraled overhead, as if dancing in the sky. Although Jiang Chen could feel their hostility, he could also clearly feel that they were suppressing their intent to kill.
“What are these Goldwing Swordbirds hesitating for?” Jiang Chen was perplexed. This kind of situation was the most unbearable. It was like feeling the emotions of someone sentenced to death and tied up on the execution ground, waiting for the executioner’s blade.
Except, this blade continuously failed to materialize. It was enough to cause someone to mentally break down.
“You demons in bird form, hurry up if you’re going to do something. What do you intend by continuously flying over this young lord’s head?”
“Hey, can you be more hygienic when you go potty? You almost splashed this young lord’s pants.”
Jiang Chen was seriously at a loss. He cursed for a while and saw that although the Goldwing Swordbirds couldn’t resist putting on a show of force or provoking him, they had no intention of doing anything to him. He became too lazy to pay attention to them.
At this moment, the medicinal effects of the Heavenly Karma Pill had slowly seeped into the meridians and started repairing his injuries.
“Whatever. Since they’re not making a move, I have a chance to heal from my injuries.”
One had to say, the Heavenly Karma Pill truly deserved its name, as it was divine in its effects. As long as the pract.i.tioner hadn’t died, any internal injuries could be healed completely from any time within a day to three days.
Of course, with Jiang Chen’s body const.i.tution and the tenacity of his meridians, as soon as the Heavenly Karma Pill started taking effect, his rate of recovery would be faster than ordinary pract.i.tioners.
After all, the tenacity and strength of his meridians had been tempered by unique methods. It could be said that they had been tempered hundreds, no, thousands of times, and there were no others like them.
“Awrk!”
A Goldwing Swordbird circling over Jiang Chen’s head suddenly let out a long call. All the other Goldwing Swordbirds started calling out in unison as well.
The Silverwing Swordbirds followed the call afterwards, with the countless Greenwing Swordbirds also joining in as well. In that moment, the calls of birds screaming concentrated into a sharp ocean of sound. It was as if a tidal wave was was.h.i.+ng over the scene as the rock walls and grotesque rocks on all sides fell over, breaking and collapsing here and there.
“This…” Jiang Chen’s face changed, knowing that something had happened. Even with his training of “Boulder’s Heart”, he too felt a bafflingly sense of palpitation in that moment.
It wasn’t because of this ocean of sound, nor was it because of the deep impact from all the presences.
It was because a vague, indistinct aura was becoming clearer in the darkness, radiating from a distance to where they were.
“What’s going on? Is a huge and strong monster appearing?” Jiang Chen only felt that his heartbeat was uncontrollably speeding up. Even the suppression effect of “Boulder’s Heart” was unable to control this sense of shock and fear.
Thud thud!
Thud thud thud thud!
Sounds like drum beats vibrated Jiang Chen’s ear drums.
An incredible scene happened next. All the Swordbirds were as if a highly trained army, lining up neatly and facing the west as a whole, expanding their wings like two blades stuck sideways.
At this moment, one row, two rows, endless rows of Swordbirds all made the same movement, forming a square matrix!
This scene was awe inspiring and was a scene not to forget for the rest of Jiang Chen’s life!
Suddenly, Jiang Chen saw two lights like lanterns abruptly appear in the darkness to the west.
An extremely strong sense of presence threaded throughout the flocks of birds and rushed forward afterwards.
This was a strength that had never been felt before, an aura that even true qi masters paled far in comparison to. Even tens, hundreds of true qi masters combined together would be unable to create such an aura!
“Spirit level violent beast?” Jiang Chen suddenly remembered something!
He was immediately enlightened. How were those two lights lanterns? Those were the beast’s eyes!
It was the king of this territory, the dictator of this territory!
Jiang Chen suddenly understood everything, and now understood why these Goldwing Swordbirds had had aggressively fierce postures but still didn’t do anything to him.
It wasn’t that they didn’t want to, but that they were afraid to!
Because, even Goldwing Swordbirds would lower their arrogant heads and humble themselves like slaves in front of this immensely strong violent beast.
This was the posture of submitting their allegiance to this beast!
Continuously increasing his “Boulder’s Heart” until he had raised it to the maximum, Jiang Chen strived his best to restrain his nervousness and fear.
He wasn’t afraid of death, but didn’t want to die in too ugly of a manner and be looked down upon by these alien races.
He could finally see clearly that it was a huge beast that was long and thick in stature. Its head was exceedingly like a dragon, but its body lacked the scales of a dragon.
It had legs, but not dragon claws.
The ground would tremble correspondingly with every step it took.
Thud. Thud thud!
This rhythm, this presence, all vibrated so that Jiang Chen’s internal organs were in abnormal discomfort!
The aura of this beast made Jiang Chen’s breath quicken. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was the reincarnation of the son of the Celestial Emperor, he likely would have long ago been crushed by this aura.
“A human?!” This large beast had finally stopped and even imitated human language!
Jiang Chen was still someone who had seen great occasions after all, and he immediately resumed his normal countenance after holding up beneath this wave of aura. He was about to open his mouth when a thought struck him. He curled his tongue and actually started speaking in the ancient language of the beasts, “Big fella, are you the king of the Boundless Catacombs?”
“Mm?” The eyes that were like lanterns of the large beast couldn’t help but blink. It almost doubted itself, as if its ears had misheard. This human could speak the language of the beasts?
And, the highly n.o.ble ancient language of the beasts at that?
“I asked you, are you the king of the Boundless Catacombs?” Jiang Chen asked again in the language of the beasts.
“You know the language of the beasts?” The spirit level beast asked in surprise.
“I know a lot, but you still haven’t answered my question.” Jiang Chen continued in the ancient language of the beasts.
“Interesting, how interesting! To think that there are still humans who understand the ancient language of the beasts!” How would this spirit level beast know that in the millions of years in Jiang Chen’s past life, they had been long drawn out and boring. He was widely read on all matters, and there were none that he didn’t understand if it was interesting.
“King?” The spirit level beast shook its head. “I’m just the lord in charge of the most outer fringes of this fourth level. I’m not even one of the great lords of the fourth level. King? Heh heh. I don’t even have the right to know!”
“Not even the right to know?” Jiang Chen was shocked.
“Indeed! However, how come you, a human, know the ancient language of the beasts?” This spirit level beast also knew a bit of the ancient language, but it wasn’t proficient at it, so it was incredibly curious.