The first rays of morning light hitting the Eastern Wilderness carried a sulfurous, searing heat.
The black rocks of Burning Heaven Ridge shone with a dull red luster under the rising sun, as if fresh from a furnace. Tiny sparks floated in the air, leaving sesame-sized scorch marks wherever they touched fabric. Here, even the spiritual energy was scalding.
A Ruo pulled her wind-tousled hair together, her green skirt sweeping across the ground and startling a trail of golden-red sparks. As she twitched her fingers, three flame-resistant Red Lingzhi Grass plants broke through the soil, their white, frost-covered leaves instantly transformed into white mist.
Li Zhu’s back suddenly stiffened. The pair of gray feathered wings on his back unfurled slightly, shielding Língjūn and A Ruo. The young man’s Spirit-Seeing Eyes gleamed like amber in the sunlight, locked onto a mountain ridge three miles ahead: there were people.
Before the words faded, two black silhouettes slid down the ridge. The wind they kicked up as they landed swirled with vermilion feathers, tracing two arcs in the air. They were youths with builds similar to Li Zhu, born with wings on their backs, though their feathers were dark brown with ominous purple-black tips. The wooden arrows in their hands were stained with vermilion feathers, the arrowheads shimmering with a poisonous glint in the sun.
"Remnants of the Feathered People Nation, yet you dare to step into the Eastern Wilderness?" The brown-winged youth on the left barked, his wings flapping restlessly, carrying a faint scent of blood in the air currents.
Li Zhu’s pupils contracted sharply. His hand on the bow trembled—not from fear, but from rage. His grandfather’s feathers had been this very same dark brown, the color stained by the evil arts of the Qiongqi Guards.
"I am Li Zhu," the youth’s voice was like tempered ice, "here to collect a blood debt."
The brown-winged youth sneered, pointing an arrow at Li Zhu. "With just you? Your entire clan’s bones were ground into powder by Lord Taotie and scattered across the fields of Tang Valley as fertilizer."
His companion behind him suddenly nocked an arrow, aiming directly at the bulge beneath Língjūn’s robes. "The Qiongqi Guards have already laid a net, just waiting for the Illustrated Catalog of Mountains and Seas to deliver itself to death."
Língjūn suddenly pressed down on Li Zhu’s bowstring, his bone blade vibrating in his sleeve. He noticed distinct burn marks on the edges of the two youths’ wings, as if seared by fire. Moreover, the animal-hide bags at their waists were not embroidered with the totem of the Feathered People Nation, but with the simplified pattern of a Bifang Bird.
"They are intentionally trying to provoke us."
Língjūn’s voice was low, his gaze sweeping over the youths’ boots. The bottom of the right-hand youth’s boots was stained with silver-blue flecks that gleamed like mother-of-pearl in the sun. "Don't fall for it."
A Ruo suddenly took two steps forward, her green dress fluttering in the scorching heat. Her gaze fell on the boot soles of the youth on the right; the flecks there were finer than a needle’s tip, yet they couldn't escape eyes that had spent years in the company of plants and trees. "You have Merfolk Pearl scales stuck to your boots."
The young girl’s voice was as clear as a spring. "The Bifang Bird and the Merfolk are at war in Tang Valley, yet you are helping the Bifang Bird relay messages, aren't you?"
The expressions of the two brown-winged youths changed simultaneously. The one on the left instinctively took a half-step back, crushing a hot stone underfoot. "Nonsense!"
He spread his wings violently, revealing several charred holes among his dark brown feathers. "We are scouts of the Eastern Wilderness, personally appointed by Qiongqi, why would we associate with animals?"
"Is that so?" Língjūn suddenly smiled, his bone blade sliding from his sleeve, reflecting the panic in the two youths’ eyes. "The flames of the Bifang Bird can burn the wings of the Feathered People; the wounds on your bodies are the best evidence."
He stepped forward, the scrap of the Illustrated Catalog in his chest growing slightly warm. "What did the Qiongqi Guards promise you? To make you betray your own people and collude with fierce beasts?"
Li Zhu’s Spirit-Seeing Eyes suddenly flared with golden light. He saw the object inside the youth’s animal-hide bag—it was half a bronze token, the Taotie pattern carved upon it identical to the one kept among his parents’ belongings.
"It’s you!"
The youth’s bowstring went taut, three arrows pointed at the scouts simultaneously. "You are the traitors who lured Taotie to slaughter my tribe all those years ago!"
The scout on the left’s face distorted. He fired a shot, but not at Li Zhu—he shot it into the sky. The vermilion fletching exploded in mid-air, turning into crimson fireworks that were strikingly visible in the morning sky of the Eastern Wilderness.
"A signal flare!"
Baize bristled the down on his neck, his six paws kicking up sparks on the burning black rock. "They're calling for reinforcements!"
Língjūn held his bone blade horizontally, standing before Li Zhu. "Finish this quickly!"
The Qi Refining Art within him surged wildly. Fox Fire condensed into a three-inch flame at the tip of the blade, expanding into a tongue of fire a yard long as it touched the searing air of the Eastern Wilderness.
Seeing their conspiracy exposed, both scouts spread their wings to flee. Li Zhu’s arrows were faster, accurately piercing their wing joints. Following their cries of pain, both youths collapsed heavily onto the black rock, dark brown feathers scattering everywhere.
"Speak! Why does the Bifang Bird want to help the Qiongqi Guards?" Língjūn stomped on the chest of the scout on the left, his bone blade pressing against his throat. "What did you use to trade with them?"
The scout convulsed in agony but gritted his teeth, refusing to speak. A Ruo suddenly pointed to the animal-hide bag at his waist. "Inside are Merfolk Pearls, aren't they?"
Vines sprouted from the girl’s fingertips, snatched the bag of pearls, and gave them a gentle tug. Dozens of glowing white pearls rolled onto the ground. Each pearl had a tiny speck of scarlet inside, formed from the heart’s blood of a Merfolk priest; the Bifang Bird needed this to strengthen the power of its flames.
The scout on the right suddenly began to laugh shrilly. "Do you think you’ve won? The Bifang Bird has already broken through the Merfolk's Coral City. In less than three days, all of Tang Valley will belong to Lord Qiongqi!" His gaze became frantic. "And you, you will all become sacrifices to the Bifang divine fire!"
Li Zhu’s arrow suddenly pierced his shoulder. "I’ll ask one more time. Who else were the traitors that slaughtered the village back then?"
The scout’s scream cut short. Looking at the murderous intent in Li Zhu’s eyes, he finally revealed a look of terror. "There was... there was also clan uncle Xuanfeng. He is now the... priest for the Bifang Bird..."
Before he finished, a sound of dense wingbeats suddenly echoed from afar. A dark, black swarm of birds appeared on the ridge of Burning Heaven Ridge. Standing on the back of each bird was a winged Feathered Person. The arrows in their hands were all painted with the same vermilion feathers as the scouts.
"It’s Xuanfeng’s personal guard!"
Li Zhu’s bowstring pulled taut once more, the murderous intent in his eyes nearly overflowing. "Língjūn, A Ruo, you two go first, I’ll cover the retreat!"
Língjūn pressed down on his hand, the Fox Fire on his bone blade crackling in the wind. "We leave together."
He looked at the approaching swarm of birds and suddenly raised the Illustrated Catalog scrap above his head. The half-piece of jade slip radiated a brilliant cyan light under the sun. "Or, let them taste the power of the Illustrated Catalog."