The sun had set; day turned into night as darkness shrouded the Southern Wasteland.
It was a starry night with fist-sized stars shining in the night sky. Mist slowly descended from the colourful stars, nourishing all living creatures.
At the top of the Gold Black Mountain, hundreds of gigantic Fire Crows were standing in a line at the edge of the cliff with their beaks open, silently absorbing energy from the starlight.
Red starlight shrouded the Gold Black Mountain. A huge whirlpool had formed above the mulberry trees of the mountaintop. Streams of starlight energy poured into these trees through the whirlpool.
Ji Hao was sitting on the roof, quietly gazing at this magical night view. His hands were placed on his stomach while his fingers interlocked together, constantly changing motions to absorb the starlight energy. His slim body radiated a faint glow and seemed to have merged with the starlight.
[Mantra Dan with Nine Secret Words] was a mysterious magic spell, capable of unlocking the deepest potential of the human body, ultimately leading to the unity of heaven and human[1].
Since birth, Ji Hao had focused on learning the [Mantra Dan with Nine Secret Words]. With over a decade of practice, he had already made a few achievements.
His internal power formed a mist-like spot of light, slowly rotating at the space between his eyebrows.
"Hao, get back to bed! Gazing at the sky every night, you can't fly to the sky anyway, can you?"
Ji Xia's good-natured voice resounded in the yard, "But flying isn't too difficult; you will be able to fly when you become a Supreme Magus!" said Ji Xia as he laughed.
It was a well-known fact that not a single Supreme Magus had appeared in the Fire Crow Clan for the past thousands of years. The Fire Crow Clan could have been equal to the Bi Fang Clan and the Rosefinch Clan[2], but without the guidance of a Supreme Magus, they could only come under the authority of the Bi Fang Clan.
Although Ji Xia was convinced that his son, Ji Hao, was an unparalleled genius, he still had his doubts about the possibility of Ji Hao becoming a Supreme Magus. Even with his good talent, Ji Hao was merely a Level 3 Novice Magus who had yet to reach the ranks of Junior Magus. After Junior Magus, it would be very difficult to become a Senior Magus and the highest rank of Supreme Magus was unimaginably harder to reach.
"Okay..." Ji Hao lazily said, stopping the movement of his fingers and jumping down from the roof.
A fifty-foot-tall bear covered with red and bronze-like shining fur was lying in front of the wooden gate. The snoring bear opened one of its eyes and gently rubbed Ji Hao with its gigantic paws right after the latter fell right onto its belly.
Ji Hao put an unknown fruit into the bear's mouth which swallowed the fruit without chewing or waking up.
"Fatty, sooner or later you'll be too fat to walk, and you will lose the right to be Abba's mount."
Ji Hao kicked the bear's head but it had already hidden its face with its paws. No matter how hard Ji Hao kicked, it seemed that the bear refused to wake up. Ji Hao shook his head and went inside the house.
Qing Fu was wearing a blue linen dress and was sitting in the corner. She was holding a jade pestle, carefully grinding a herbal paste in a stone bowl. A wisp of cyan smoke spiraled down from Qing Fu's fingers through the pestle and blended into the herbal paste.
As the residual material from the herb gradually started to melt, the herbal paste became clearer and more viscous, before it ultimately turned into a chunk of jade-like ointment.
"Amma!"
Ji Hao sat in front of his mother, quietly looking at her.
Qing Fu came from the Qing Yi Clan, a small Eastern clan which relied on the Fire Crow Clan for protection. Women from this clan were born as Maguspriests[3]; they were especially good at identifying and refining all kinds of drugs and medicines.
Women from the Fire Crow Clan were equally strong as the men. They're able to carry heavy weapons and hunt wild beasts in the jungle. Women from the Qing Yi Clan were completely different in comparison; with their slim and tender features, and their soft, white skin.
Qing Fu, who is Ji Hao's mother, had been the most talented Maguspriest in the Qing Yi Clan, for the past hundreds years and also the most beautiful woman seen in a century.
However, Qing Fu's beautiful face seemed a little pale today. She was less than thirty years of age, but her hair had already turned gray and her lips were pale.
Similar to the skin-and-bones-looking Ji Xia, Qing Fu also was abnormally thin.
While carefully grinding the ointment, Qing Fu smiled and said: "Hao, I heard that you beat Ji Shu's son today?"
Ji Hao scratched his head as he looked at Qing Fu, and laughed, "I used a sneak attack, but I didn't manage to actually hurt him. If it was a real fight, I would have no chance of winning. But if it happened in the jungle, he would have died thousands time over."
While speaking and laughing, Ji Hao subconsciously showed a cold and cruel expression for a brief period of time.
Qing Fu looked at Ji Hao, feeling overjoyed. She patted him and gently said: "Ah, if that's the case then I don't have to worry anymore."
"Just don't be like your father who is always trying to solve all the problems peacefully...Is it even possible to survive in the Southern Wasteland without being cruel and heartless?"
Qing Fu finished the ointment which started permeating with an exotic fragrance. She rubbed it slowly into twelve thumb-sized, round cyan pills, carefully putting them into a jade bottle.
"Hao, you must keep those stories I told you in mind. My Qing Yi Clan used to be a powerful and thriving clan in the East. However, one of our leaders, an old lady, was deceived and fooled by the enemy. The entire Clan was almost annihilated. To save ourselves, we had to escape to this Southern Wasteland and rely on the Fire Crow Clan for protection."
Qing Fu continued with a cold expression, "In half a month, if your father can survive at the worship ceremony, it will be fine. But, if he can't ......"
Ji Hao looked down, quietly listening to Qing Fu.
"If your father is killed by Ji Shu during the ceremony, I will accompany him to death. In that case, you should leave the clan and focus on becoming stronger; return and avenge us, your Abba and Amma, by killing Ji Shu and his whole family."
Ji Xia carried a large piece of meat and walked into the room. He looked at Qing Fu, then smiled and said, "Why say these things to Hao? I'm not going to lose the fight against Ji Shu in the worship ceremony. He wants to be the leader amongst our warriors, but, how easy does he thinks that is going to be?"
Ji Hao stayed silent. He hugged Qing Fu and walked upstairs to his bedroom.
In the decennial Ancestral Worship Ceremony, all leaders of the Fire Crow's branch clans will come to the Holy Land in Gold Black Mountain to worship their ancestors. This was the only opportunity to make changes in the higher authority of the clan.
Ten years ago, Ji Shu would not have any chance to win against Ji Xia.
However, the present Ji Xia had lost his Magus Acupoints, which resulted in a serious degradation of his strength. It was even possible that Ji Shu was speaking the truth when he said that Ji Xia's power had fallen back to the level of Junior Magus.
"Facing the aggressive Ji Shu and his people, will Father be alright? What about Mother? And without their protection, what will happen to me?"
"This is not a peaceful place...... In this land, people kill," said Ji Hao to himself. In recent years, he had seen enough of those miserable kids, whose clans had been annihilated by their enemies. For now, Ji Hao would not be able to survive in the outside world by himself.
Power, he had to obtain more power as soon as possible.
Even if he couldn't help his father, he had to enhance his strength as soon as possible and prepare for what might happen in the future.
He closed the door and opened the window, letting the stars lighten the room. Ji Hao lied down on a piece of lion's fur and closed his eyes. His internal power was way bigger in comparison to his peers, which allowed him to easily get into his spiritual space[4] through short meditation.
"Hey, old man! I'm coming! I accept your deal, trade your [Bu Tian Bu Lou Magic Spell] with my [Mantra Dan with Nine Secret Words], and don't forget what you promised me," said Ji Hao into the air, after getting into his spiritual space.
After Ji Hao had spoken, a white fog formed and turned into a white, round platform, which floated in front of Ji Hao.
A tall figure, who was sitting on the platform with his legs crossed, looked down at Ji Hao.
"Little guy, you will never lose anything or regret it by making this deal with me."
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[1] "The unity of heaven and the human": The highest achievement and the ultimate pursue of a Magus, which means to break the limitation of the human body and obtain the tremendous power from nature and heaven.
[2] Bi Fang and Rosefinch: They both are legendary birds in ancient Eastern culture.
[3] Maguspriests: A special group of people among Magi. Maguspriests are good at all kinds of sorceries and magic spells, as well as drug-making. Some of them may not be as physically strong as Magi warriors, however, they usually have great spiritual power.
[4] Spiritual space: The spiritual space is an unique space in the form of spirit, existing each Magus's mind. Magi are able to get themselves into their spiritual space by using their internal power. When a Magus gets into his spiritual space, his body will also be in spirit form. A powerful magus can even gets into spiritual spaces of others.