Chapter 479: The Fierce Bird, the Great Crane

A fierce general of Dayin Mountain beheaded the notorious twin brothers among the Wu people.

This news, like a great stone dropped into water, stirred up ripples in all directions across the chaotic battlefield and spread rapidly to all sides.

The warriors were elated and their morale soared, while the Wu people felt somewhat dejected.

The fierce general and the Xiao Mo and Mo brothers were all top-tier combatants for their respective sides; they were the high-end of the high-end, and the outcome of their clash affected everything in every direction.

Many details, such as the proficiency with clubs and the mutation of the Chang Face, drew the attention of certain people.

"Hahaha, the Chang Face can fly out of the body; I can finally get rid of you, you monster."

In the wilderness, a blade the size of a door panel was stuck in the grass, and the burly fierce general sat on the ground.

His collar was loose, vaguely revealing the outline of facial features on his chest, which appeared purplish-black.

The Tiger Head Blade and the Human Face Sore, with several features combined, revealed the identity of the burly man: he was none other than the top powerhouse among the fierce generals of Dayin Mountain, the number one person under the Strong Martial realm, Yan Baihu.

His Tiger Head Blade was ranked ninth on the Weapon Ranking, even above the Overlord Sculpture.

As for the Human Face Sore, it was because he had defeated countless enemies in his life, absorbing their Essence Energy and blood, and had cultivated the Tiger Chang Substitution Technique to an extremely profound level, to the point where a malignant sore in the shape of a human face remained permanently on his chest and could not fade away.

"But brother, can you bear to leave me?"

The Human Face Sore on his chest spoke in a delicate voice; judging by the outline of the brows and eyes, it was actually the appearance of a charming young girl.

Yan Baihu closed his eyes and ignored it, calculating in his mouth, "Once I find that fierce general and pull you, this monster, out of my body, I will finally have peace."

The origin of this Human Face Sore stemmed from an incident in his childhood.

Yan Baihu came from a moderately wealthy family and had a twin sister of the same age; the two were extremely mischievous and often snuck out of the house to play.

Once, the two secretly avoided their parents, climbed over the wall to go out, and after dark, they walked into the deep mountains and were captured by bandits.

The bandits sent a letter to demand a ransom, forcing Yan Baihu's family to sell their house and land and borrow money everywhere, ending up in a state of total bankruptcy.

Even more miserable was what followed: Yan Baihu took advantage of the bandits' laxity to escape with his sister, but during the escape, his sister was hit by a hunter's bow, and the little one bled to death on the way down the mountain.

When he carried his sister's corpse home, what he saw were his family members who had been forced onto the streets because of his willfulness.

Later, he joined Dayin Mountain, discovered his extraordinary talent for martial arts, and challenged his way up to become a fierce general.

The experience of his childhood became an inner demon that he could not shake off; after he mastered the Tiger Chang Substitution Technique, he was horrified to discover that the appearance of the Chang Face was actually his sister.

Day and night, the Human Face Sore whispered in his ear, torturing Yan Baihu's soul.

Now, there was finally hope for liberation.

"You are not my sister; you are an evil spirit, a fierce soul, a phantom causing trouble."

Yan Baihu said firmly, "I will drive you out of my body and use this Tiger Head Blade to kill you until you are reduced to dust."

"Sigh, silly brother, as long as you hold the Tiger Head Blade in your hand and do not put it down for a day, you must continue to kill; as long as you continue to kill, I will be able to return."

The Human Face Sore sighed and said, "When will your nightmare end, my poor brother?"

Hearing this, two lines of bloody tears flowed down from Yan Baihu's eyes, and he became even more frantic.

And where was the 'fierce general' in whom Yan Baihu placed his hope at this moment?

"Sigh, I'm not good at needlework; if I had known, I should have brought Qi Fengzi along."

Zhou You sat by a pool, with the Iron Feather battle robe spread across his knees; there was a shocking, gaping hole in the robe.

Various sundries were scattered on the ground around him, some having fallen into the pond and others embedded in the mud.

In his hands, he held several giant feathers as wide as a palm, black and white like smudged ink, and they were actually half an arm's length long. The surface of the feathers shimmered with a metallic luster; they rang with a metallic sound when touched, and they felt heavy and substantial in his hand.

Such excellent material was of higher quality than what was used to make the Iron Feather battle robe originally, making it most suitable for repairing the hole.

It was just that...

"You thieving bird, I didn't provoke you, yet you poked me with your beak the moment we met; so fierce, so aggressive."

Thinking of what had happened earlier, Zhou You couldn't help but clench the feathers.

The owner of the feathers, and the culprit who poked a hole in the Iron Feather battle robe, was the thieving bird he spoke of.

At that time, he had won a complete victory, stepping on the heads of the Tiger Changs and walking away; he was at the peak of his life at that moment.

He didn't expect that he wouldn't be cool for even a moment before suffering a sudden attack.

He had intended to fly out of the sight of the Chang generals, find a flat area to land, release Xiao Mo and Mo to interrogate them for information, and then kill them to loot their wealth.

But he didn't expect that the wilderness was now full of dangers, and even the sky was not safe.

A behemoth flew toward him, cooing and grunting; it didn't slow down when it encountered him and crashed into him at full speed.

This mid-air accident made Zhou You realize just how big the gap was between innate talent and acquired skills.

Although Zhou You had the Tiger Chang heads and the Iron Feather battle robe, and coordinated with the Feather-Stepping Heaven-Ascending Step to maneuver, he was still no match for the big bird's wings; after a few rounds, his head-balloon was poked through.

Zhou You was pecked painfully by the bird's beak, and his club sparked when it hit the opponent, but it did absolutely nothing.

It was a great crane, standing 2 meters tall, with wings spanning 4 or 5 meters, and its claws were thicker than Zhou You's arms at their thinnest point—a true behemoth.

The great crane flew through the air, its long beak harder than refined steel and indestructible; combined with its agile movements, it poked Zhou You until he was in a sorry state.

In the end, Zhou You lost 2 Tiger Chang heads and had a hole poked in his Iron Feather battle robe before he managed to escape from under the great crane's claws.

It wasn't a total loss, though; at least he had managed to pluck a few feathers from the great crane.

"If the hole in the Iron Feather battle robe isn't patched well, today's loss will be huge."

Zhou You used his Essence Energy and blood to wash and refine the feathers; the black and white colors flowed like ink, and the internal structure of the feathers was combed and refined.

Piece by piece, the feathers were layered and interwoven over the hole, and the ink-like Qi flowed outward along the edges, strengthening and upgrading the defense level of the area around the hole.

While repairing the battle robe, he speculated about the origin of the great crane.

First, the great crane was not a phantom; although its combat power was comparable to a high-level martial master, it did not carry the slightest aura of a phantom.

Second, the great crane was not a Wu beast; he could not feel any signs of Totem control on it.

In other words, this great crane was a wild bird; apart from being a bit large and acting a bit fierce, there was nothing unusual about it.

Wild birds and beasts had begun to mutate with the frequent occurrence of war; perhaps it had eaten too many dead people and started to grow wildly.

In the grasslands, one could see wild dogs the size of calves everywhere; in the ruins of deserted villages, giant pythons the size of houses coiled; the black fish in the ponds could drag an adult into the water and devour them completely...

This was the rhythm of becoming spirits and Demons.

Misfortune never comes singly; after the Shaman people invaded, they brought along all sorts of strange and bizarre Shaman beasts.

After their masters died in battle, the Shaman beasts wandered into the wild, encountered herds with no reproductive isolation, and infused them with exotic bloodlines.

A large portion of the casualties on the battlefield were caused by attacks from wild beasts, and Zhou You was just unlucky; while others encountered beasts on the ground, he encountered a giant crane from the sky.

(End of this chapter)