Chapter 14 - The Day
Nothing worth mentioning happened in the next few days before the Ancestors Worship Ceremony. Ji Shu, Jiang Bo and their people had kept their mouth shut, and didn't let anyone know about the attacks.
People in Gold Black Mountain had started their busiest time of this decade, and prepared for the ceremony. Leaders of every branch clan had come to the Holy Land in the Gold Black Mountain with their people. The smell of grilled meat and strong liquor filled the entire valley every day and night.
The Fire Crow Clan used to be a powerful and thriving clan. There were legendary Magi such as the Magus King and the Divine Magus[1] among their ancestors. Even though none of the Fire Crow Clan Magi went beyond the senior level for a thousand years, the clan had still remained large. The Holy Land in the Gold Black Mountain was the center of the Fire Crow Clan, which was surrounded by nearly a thousand of branch clans.
The largest branch clan had a population of around a million, while the smallest one had a population of at least ten thousand. Each of these branch clans were controlling a batch of small clans, which were relatively weaker, and had to depend on other clans for protection. During these days, leaders of nearly a thousand branch clans had arrived in the Holy Land one after another, which had kept Ji Xia very busy.
However, although Ji Xia was extremely busy, he hadn't forgotten about Ji Hao. He had continued to hunt a lot of beasts to satiate Ji Hao’s appetite.
‘Four-Armed Bear-gorilla’, ‘Single-Horned Pixie’, ‘Gold-Head Baboon’, ‘Winged Black Tiger’, ‘Soul-Eater Leopard’...All kinds of beasts were hunted and had been continuously sent back home where it was being eaten up by Ji Hao. Qing Fu’s special drug, which could largely enhance both his internal and spiritual power, was being added to the meat.
It had only been half of a month. Ji Hao had absorbed an abundance of physical strength and life force energy from nearly fifty beasts’ bodies, with the special skill he had gained from the [Bu Tian Bu Lou Magic Spell]. A couple of those beasts were on the level of Junior Magi. The small multicoloured flame in his Dantian had grown into a blazing fire. His body had grown a foot taller and became much stronger.
The day had finally arrived.
Before the sun had risen, more than a thousand of gigantic Fire Crows had raised from those towering mulberry trees on top of the Gold Black Mountain.
Bright fiery light was being emitted from their feathers, making them look like a thousand of small suns which had even dissipated the clouds in the sky. A dozen of floating mountains which were drifting through the Gold Black Mountain, had suddenly been burned up by those fiery crows and turned into wisps of smoke.
Those Fire Crows started to caw. The thundering sounds had even shook the entire Gold Black Mountain. Down in the valley, countless black crows had raised from the mulberry woods, making it seem like a floating black river, hovering around the Gold Black Mountain.
Black and red feathers were falling from the sky along with earsplitting sounds.
Ji Hao was standing in the yard, and whispered the [Nine Secret Words]. His hands were locked together and constantly changed motions. He then started to walk in a particular pace. He had just eaten a ‘Double-Headed Serpent’, which was at the same level as a Junior Magus and had been about to transform into a flood dragon[2]. The multicoloured flame in Ji Hao’s Dantian quickly turned the serpent’s body into power and energy. Ji Hao triggered his internal power, and absorbed the strength from the flame.
His internal power had formed a mist-like purple light ball, and appeared in between his eyebrows. After he had absorbed so much of physical strength and spiritual power from the flame, the light ball had started to expand and contract. Meanwhile, it was becoming solid and gold coloured.
Ji Hao had been delighted with joy when he had noticed this change.
After he had been reborn in this world as Ji Hao, he had been learning and practicing the [Mantra Dan with Nine Secret Words], which he had created by himself in his previous life. With the [Bu Tian Bu Lou Magic Spell] and the strong life force energy that existed in this world, he had made the same achievements which had taken him thirty years in his previous life.
More astonishingly, although his internal power light ball hadn’t completely turned solid and gold yet, he could sense that his internal power was at least a hundred times stronger than it had been in his previous life, also it was a lot purer than before. After all, his internal power had mainly been gained from those powerful beasts living in the jungle.
Soon, the power and the strength of the serpent had fully been absorbed by Ji Hao’s body. He took a deep breath, slowly opened his mouth and breathed out a blast of hot air. His breath was like hot high-pressured steam, which had suddenly filled the air and raised the temperature in the yard. The fat bear, which had been snoring aside the wooden door, instantly jumped up and roared to Ji Hao.
Ji Hao laughed out loud. He had never felt better. Although it had been only half a month, what he gained through the [Bu Tian Bu Lou Magic Spell] had been far more than ten years of practise.
“Hey old man, thanks!” He had gotten into his spiritual space and shouted to the air.
‘Dong!’! ‘Dong’! ‘Dong'!
Ji Hao heard the Fire Crows were cawing and drums were beating. A thousand of war drums were beaten at the same time down in the valley, causing thundering echoes and the ground to shake.
‘Whuu, Whuu…’
The Dragon-Bone Horns were being blown. One of Fire Crow Clan’s ancestors had slaughtered a dragon. After that, they made a set of Dragon-Bone Horns from the dragon’s throat bones, which were considered as one of the most important treasures of the clan.
Today was the day of the worship ceremony. Ten of the most powerful Maguspriests were playing the Dragon-Bone Horns. Along with the sharp sounds, wisps of white smoke soared into the sky and formed a few mist-like gigantic dragons, which hovered around the mountain.
“Hao, let’s go to the Ancestral Temple in the Holy Land.” Qing Fu had walked out from the door and said to Ji Hao. She was wearing a long dress, which was made of self-woven linen. Her beautiful long hair was coiled into a bun and locked by nine wooden hair pins.
Ji Hao gazed at those wooden hair pins. These hair pins are in the shape of needles, but longer and bigger. These wooden hair pins are in three different colours, which are black, white and cyan. If one would look carefully, some smoke-like marks and tiny spell symbols were rolling over inside those wooden hair pins.
These hair pins were brought from the Qing Yi Clan by Qing Fu when she had married Ji Xia. They were famous and powerful Maguspriest tools named the ‘Thorns of Life and Death’. They had been passed from a few generations before Qing Fu. The ‘Thorns of Life and Death’ were capable of both saving and killing people. Ji Hao had once seen Qing Fu cure badly injured warriors with the white and cyan thorns, but this was the first time he saw Qing Fu taking the three black thorns with her.
“Amma, I heard that Jiang Yao was injured quite badly, she may not gonna show up today,” Said Ji Hao to Qing Fu, who had a real serious look on her face. A strange but pleasant smell of herbs came from her sleeves.
“Hao, you’re too young to know about women,” Qing Fu smiled and said. “Today is the day of the Ancestors Worship Ceremony. As long as Jiang Yao is alive, she will show up and will definitely challenge me.”
Ji Hao heard her words and stayed silent. He took over a leather armor from Qing Fu’s hand. The two of them then walked out with the fat bear.
Countless Fire Crow Clan’s people had gathered and lined up in the valley. Hundreds of Maguspriests and elder Magi were walking in front of the line and blowing on the horns, leading their people towards the Gold Black Mountain.
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[1]Magus king and Divine Magus: Both are Magi levels. Monarch Magus and Divine Magus are beyond the Senior Magus but not yet reach the Supreme Magus.
[2] Flood Dragon: Flood Dragon is a mysterious creature capable of many forms. Most often it was regarded as a kind of dragon. In Chinese old legend, serpent kind and fish kind are capable of transform into flood dragons by practising their own spiritual power and life force energy. Once they successfully transformed, they will gain a supernatural power and will be immortal.