Chapter 470: Jier's Plan, Crow? Shadow Bird!

Jier hurriedly tucked the Sacred Artifact into the leather bag at his waist, while his feet continued to kick away the mushrooms that kept approaching him one by one.

But there were too many mushrooms here; hundreds of them surrounded Jier in layer after layer, constantly closing in on him and slamming their caps against his shins.

Even though they couldn't hurt Jier, their relentless attacks made him quite annoyed.

So he got ruthless, stopped messing around with the mushrooms, grabbed two in his hands, and turned to throw them into the Memory Water Pond behind him.

Splash! Splash!

As soon as the two medium-sized Mushroom Boys entered the pond, they made only two splashing sounds before they merged into the pond's seemingly shallow water without a struggle, disappearing completely.

With just this, the mushrooms around Jier that had been eager to try their luck froze, and Jier immediately shouted, "See that? Get lost! Any mushroom that dares to attack me again, I'll throw it into the pond and make it disappear for good!"

Jier put on a grim and terrifying expression: "I think you all know the consequences of falling into the pond, right? If you don't know, I can kindly give you a reminder!"

"Hehehehe, if you fall into the Memory Water in the pond, you will completely disappear from this world! Isn't that terrifying?"

Intimidated by Jier's threat, many of the timid mushrooms around him trembled with fear; if Jier had only kicked them away or grabbed and thrown them far off, they wouldn't have been afraid, because mushrooms aren't easily killed by falls.

But they all knew, having been warned by their elders since they first gained intelligence, that falling into the pond meant total disappearance and death, so when Jier used this to threaten them, they finally felt fear.

Once the emotion of fear appeared, it spread like a virus, causing even those Mushroom Boys who had originally wanted to be great generals to become fearful and calm down.

Seeing that the intimidation was effective, Jier snorted coldly, pushed aside the mushrooms blocking his path with his feet, and swaggered up to the old fairy's small metal house.

Here, there were still a few die-hard Mushroom Boys guarding the old fairy's house, and they did not retreat in the face of the encroaching Jier.

Jier pointed to the silver shallow basin next to the small metal house that the old fairy used as a swimming pool and specifically said: "This thing is mine!"

"Don't block the way! Move aside!"

But these few Mushroom Boys did not give way; even though they knew the item belonged to Jier, they still didn't move, instead nimbly standing in a row before Jier, refusing to let him get any closer.

"Hmph! You keep thinking I'm made of mud, don't you? How long has it been, and you've already forgotten how I used to hunt you mushrooms as rations? Hmm?"

As soon as Jier mentioned this, several of the Mushroom Boys blocking the path were frightened; they still remembered what had happened a while ago, which was truly a difficult time for the mushrooms—every mushroom had spent its days trembling in fear that the mushroom-eater Jier would find them.

Only after Jier left this place did they finally heave a sigh of relief, breeding partners in large numbers and growing their tribe.

To intimidate these mushrooms, Jier opened his mouth, clicked his teeth together forcefully, and made a biting gesture; this terrifying display completely crushed the Mushroom Boys' psychological defenses, and as Jier took a step toward them, they turned and ran away in a panic.

Some Mushroom Boys born not long ago hadn't experienced those days, but since their companions had all run away, they followed the crowd and turned to flee; no one wanted to die, and mushrooms were the same.

"Hahahaha, a bunch of cowardly mushrooms!" Jier laughed happily.

He grabbed the silver shallow basin he used for washing his face, poured the half-full ale inside directly onto the old fairy's small metal house, soaking it thoroughly, and then returned to the camp on the north side of the pond, feeling satisfied with his washbasin in hand.

Along the way, not a single mushroom dared to approach him; if any mushroom couldn't dodge in time, it would be kicked away by Jier.

Once Jier had walked far away, the old fairy emerged from the ground wearing its little clothes.

Seeing that the fun Sacred Artifact of the God of Agriculture had been taken away by Jier, it was quite annoyed, feeling that it had been too flashy and should have secretly built a secret mushroom camp around the camp instead of using that Sacred Artifact that could continuously pour out ale in public like that.

If it had done that, it could have used this Human God of Agriculture's Sacred Artifact to host a grand 'Drunken Celebration' for its Mushroom Kingdom.

Letting the mushrooms spend their days drunk, living a wonderful, muddled life where they couldn't remember who they were or what they were doing.

Until it had new ideas and interesting plans.

And when the old fairy turned its head and saw that its metal house had been soaked through with ale, it jumped up in anger! It had to know that when it built this house, it hadn't considered waterproofing or rainproofing at all!

After all, the Lady's dream didn't have rain, and Jier's camp was built in the open, so its fairy house naturally never had to consider waterproofing measures.

It hurriedly ran into the house to check, but as soon as it opened the door, it was washed away by the ale gushing out from inside the house.

"Waaaaah..."

The old fairy was so angry it wailed, vowing to give Jier a taste of its wrath later!

It was going to prepare a mushroom army that would obey its orders, and the army's target would be none other than Jier, with everything aimed at the final victory of defeating Jier.

Jier threw the washbasin in his hand onto the ground, sat down on the cold silver plate floor, and let out a breath; Jier took the Sacred Artifact out of the small leather bag at his waist, pondering how to return it without exposing his own involvement.

He thought of several methods, but none could solve the mystery of how the item disappeared and how it reappeared.

After all, he couldn't just throw the Sacred Artifact into some bushes in the Church and then pretend to pass by and "discover" it, right?

That way, everyone would suspect Jier was behind it, which would really damage his prestige and the friendly trust of his companions.

"How about I call a Mushroom Boy over, let it hold the Sacred Artifact and wander around the Church, then I discover it, call my companions to catch the mushroom together, and finally I punch the mushroom used as a scapegoat to flatten it and reclaim the Sacred Artifact? Uh, that doesn't seem impossible."

Jier muttered to himself, but he looked left and right; because of his intimidation and attacks, at this moment, apart from some mushrooms that were drunk and dizzy, no clear-headed mushroom dared to approach him or his camp.

As soon as Jier stood up, the mushrooms hiding behind the big trees peeking at him all hid away with a 'whoosh'. As for the Mushroom Boys still in his line of sight, they were all drunk on ale, either brawling with each other or swaying back and forth, not looking like they could understand human speech.

Jier shook his head, abandoning the plan to let the Mushroom Boys take the blame.

But besides these Mushroom Boys, who else could he let take the blame for taking the Sacred Artifact?

Jier suddenly thought of the prayer that Priest Bata'er intended to conduct before he left using the "urine escape" excuse.

Is there a possibility that he could follow Priest Bata'er's actions and return the Sacred Artifact?

If the appearance of the Sacred Artifact was caused by Priest Bata'er's actions, then its loss would naturally be related to Priest Bata'er, and not to him, Jier?

But wouldn't that be a bit too unfair to Priest Bata'er? Jier thought.

Although this could completely clear him from the matter of the lost Sacred Artifact, it would turn the Priest himself, who originally had nothing to do with it, into the cause of this incident due to his own mistake.

Such a loss and recovery of an important item would surely change Priest Bata'er's life, right?

"Sigh, forget it, if it really comes to it, I'll just go out and admit my mistake, and take the fall myself?" Jier talked to himself like this, but looking at the mushrooms brawling and messing around not far away, he couldn't swallow this anger.

"No, why should I have to come out and admit to the mistake that old fairy made! It wasn't me who stole the Sacred Artifact!"

But even saying that, Jier couldn't possibly let the old fairy appear in front of everyone, because the old fairy, as well as the Lady's dream he was currently in, the camp in the dream, and even the numerous silver plates under his feet, were all secrets that could not be exposed.

The reason a secret is called a secret is that very few people know it, or perhaps only one person knows it.

Once many people know a secret, it is no longer a secret, and the benefits brought by keeping the secret naturally disappear.

Jier paced back and forth in annoyance, shouting loudly, which scared the surrounding mushrooms into hiding even more carefully, guarding against Jier catching and eating them.

He couldn't think of any good solution, so he had to take a nap in the camp; after waking up, he took a small iron hammer and, using cold forging, hammered away to repair the armor that had been damaged when he fought the Great Bird deity.

He couldn't repair some metal parts like buckles, so there was no choice; Jier had to use his immense strength, enhanced by Life Energy and blessed by the Dwarf God of Strength, to forcefully 'repair' the damaged armor plates with a clanging sound.

Under his immense strength, the originally hard metal was no longer so sturdy; although it wasn't as soft as mud, Jier, with the help of the small iron hammer and his own hands, could still forcefully press the broken parts together bit by bit, squeezing the gaps shut where there were openings.

"I still need to have a set of forging tools, and I also need to learn how to use flames to forge things myself."

After barely repairing his damaged Metal Armor, Jier leaned against a crate in the Yingdi and released the Shadow Bird to drive away the mushrooms that still hadn't woken up around him.

The Shadow Bird was very well-adapted to the dark and quiet environment of the Lady's Dream; unlike in the outside world during the day when it could only turn into a black ball of light, here, it could move freely in the shape of a bird.

Not only was there almost no consumption, but it even seemed to be growing in strength.

Those Mushroom Boy creatures were originally not afraid of the Shadow Bird in Jier's hand, but when Jier made the Shadow Bird pretend to peck at their caps, these mushrooms would run away as soon as they saw the Shadow Bird.

But because of the caps on their heads, it was difficult for them to observe the sky, and they would always have the Shadow Bird land on their heads, then be scared into wailing and running about in a panic.

Every time this happened, Jier would laugh heartily with joy.

As he laughed, Jier looked at the Shadow Bird that could fly and peck people, and an idea formed in his mind.

"How about, let the crow, which likes to play pranks and steal various small items from Humans, take the blame?"

Jier called the Shadow Bird back and let it land on his extended finger.

Then, relying on his intent, he made the Shadow Bird under his control actively change its form.

The Shadow Bird quickly turned into the original black ball of light, and then when it turned into a bird shape again, this time it had some changes.

It turned into a single-legged black bird with only one foot.

"Wrong! Again." Jier was unsatisfied and drove it with his intent, making the Shadow Bird turn back into a ball of light.

Then the ball of light turned into a bird shape again; this time, the bird image manifested was a normal bird image, only compared to the previous small bird, it was larger, more similar to a crow, or perhaps a larger raven.

"Can it be bigger? It needs to be bigger to be able to grab a wooden bowl the size of the Sacred Artifact." Jier muttered to himself, letting the Shadow Bird turn into a ball of light; this time when it transformed, the bird image manifested was even more realistic.

Although its essence was still that same tiny Shadow Bird from before, now that it had become a crow as large as Jier's forearm, any person who saw a bird of this size would be careful with their purse and scold it: "Get lost, you bird thief."

There was no helping it; who told crows to like shiny things, and various Human coins just happened to be shiny.

So, a crow of this size jumping into Jier's tent in the middle of the night—because it wasn't big and was covered in black feathers—meant it was perfectly normal for the person on night watch not to see it enter Jier's tent.

And it using its massive beak to pluck the translucent Sacred Wooden Bowl of the Agriculture God from Jier's embrace was also possible, right?

And when it got tired of playing with this wooden bowl during the day and casually discarded it on the ground, that would also be normal, right?

Jier nodded; now there was only one problem, which was whether his Shadow Bird could maintain this crow image of this size for even just over ten seconds during the daytime in the outside world.

This was the key; as long as it flew twice, a total of just over ten seconds would be enough.

Jier stroked the crow that the Shadow Bird had turned into and said to it earnestly: "This time, it's all up to you! Even if you suffer damage from the sunlight, you must hold on for me!"

"Caw—"

The Shadow Bird made a sound similar to a crow, a sound that even made Jier think of the Great Bird Deity for a moment.

In the Church Toilet, Jier really did take a leak, then looked left and right, and seeing no one there, released the Shadow Bird that had turned into a crow from his right eye.

"Go, circle around everyone's heads, then grab the Sacred Artifact and drop it in any courtyard nearby, then follow the plan and hide in the shadows to wait for me."

Jier pointed outside, and the crow-shaped Shadow Bird flapped its wings and flew out, first hiding in the shadows of the Church building, then seizing the right moment to fly out of the shadows, passing straight over the courtyard where Dashu Bi'ao was, and letting out a cawing sound similar to a crow to attract attention.

Afterward, Jier pretended nothing had happened and returned to the courtyard where Dashu Bi'ao was.

Just as he entered the courtyard, he saw Xueya Site and Priest Feilina retracting their raised heads; clearly, they had just noticed that unusual crow.

"Did you notice? That crow just now had a copper coin in its beak. I wonder which unlucky fellow had a coin stolen by it," Jier said with a grin, as if he had also seen the thing.

Upon hearing this, Xueya Site immediately reached for his money pouch, and after confirming that the opening of the pouch was tied securely and that the pouch was not damaged, he breathed a sigh of relief: "Good thing it wasn't me, I wonder who the unlucky one is, haha."

Priest Feilina's perspective was different: "Crows are very intelligent birds. Crows often come to Dashu Bi'ao here to seek the wisdom of survival. However, they rarely cause trouble in the Cunzi, unless some Villager actively harms them."

She smiled: "But everyone knows that a crow is a bird with a strong sense of vengeance and a long lifespan, so when people see them, they will also actively avoid them. No one would really throw stones at them or use a slingshot to drive them away."

Jier asked as if unintentionally: "But what if a crow sees something shiny or fun and steals it?"

"If it's a common small item, everyone treats it as a loss. But if it's something more valuable, you can come to Dashu Bi'ao here and ask the big tree to tell the crows to return the item," Priest Feilina said with a complex expression.

As soon as Jier saw her expression, he knew where the difficulty lay: "Those crows aren't willing to return them directly, right?"

"That's right, it's usually a one-time trade. The crows specify an item, and we Humans exchange it for the lost valuable item. However, they only need small things, like a plate of meat worms, a fish, a Squirrel, or even a pretty stone from the river. In winter, they even want ice cubes that have been carved; they especially like the rainbow stripes after ice cubes decompose sunlight."

While they were talking, that crow came again, but this time, only Jier looked up and let out a cry of surprise: "Look! What that crow is grabbing! It is, it is..."

Priest Feilina and Xueya Site also looked up in the direction, and Xueya Site shouted: "It's a wooden bowl!"

And the female Priest exclaimed: "No, it's the Sacred Artifact!"

After saying that, she hurriedly patted Priest Bataer, who was still on the ground confessing to the Agriculture God: "Luosa, Luosa! Stop your useless Prayer, look up quickly!"

Priest Bataer opened his eyes in confusion, looked up following his companions' pointing, and happened to see a crow of considerable size grabbing the translucent Agriculture God Sacred Artifact and landing in a courtyard next door.

He was stunned; if the Sacred Artifact was stolen by a crow, then what about him just now confessing to the Agriculture God and telling the Agriculture God all the wrong things he had done in his life?

Dashu Bi'ao swayed its branches and leaves slightly, making a rustling sound, as if it found this scene very interesting.

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? (End of this chapter)