Chapter 48: Punishment
Late at night, bonfires were blazing in the Cold Stream Valley.
Qing Fu, holding a flagpole made of white bones, with long, white streamers tied onto it, lithely walked around Cold Stream Valley like a fairy who only appeared during the night. She was waving the flagpole and whispering an ancient, mysterious spell, sending those mysterious beings of the jungle back to where they came from.
The skinny black monster and white skeleton monster, both the strongest amongst the mysterious beings, were mumbling something. They had consumed the blood of two gigantic beasts; they walked with satisfaction into the fog and disappeared slowly.
Gusts of whirlwinds blew in every direction. Murmurs resounded through the air. The mad slaughter that occurred in Cold Stream Valley tonight, stimulated the nearby mysterious beings who had yet to calm down from the commotion.
Upon a blazing bonfire, three, near hundred-foot-long, skinned horned serpents were being grilled. The pure white serpent meat sizzled; large drops of fat fell continuously into the flames, emitting an extremely attractive scent.
Ji Hao happily sat beside the bonfire, gobbling a huge piece of serpent meat in his hands.
Stone was sitting quietly next to Ji Hao. Every time Ji Hao finished a piece of snake meat, he crushed the bone for Ji Hao. Once the bone was crushed, glittering, translucent marrow seeped out, along with a thick scent. Ji Hao then opened his mouth, caught the falling marrow, which contained great life force energy and internal power, and swallowed it.
In Ji Hao’s lower abdomen, the multicoloured flame temporarily stopped transforming the Senior Magi blood; instead, it was working hard to transform the power and energy contained within the serpents’ bodies. All three of the horned serpents were as powerful as an ordinary Senior Magus; their muscles and blood contained large amounts of power, which was highly beneficial to Ji Hao.
After finishing another portion of serpent meat, Ji Hao stood up, stretched his body and slowly performed a martial arts routine, as if no one else was present there.
Multicoloured light beams were circulating through his body simultaneously with a great heat. Ji Hao felt extremely hot, and sweat continuously poured down his body. After absorbing part of the power contained within the serpent’s body, his physical strength was further improved. His joints cracked while he moved and made a subtle metal-clattering-like sound.
“Stone, keep an eye on this serpent meat for me. This is an award from Granddaddy, and I won’t waste even a little bit of it!” said Ji Hao while delightfully looking at the serpents meat. He only needed two days to swallow all of the meat and absorb the power contained within them. By that time, his power will have definitely improved to another degree.
Stone responded with a muffled voice, turning his huge stone head to survey the area. It seemed as though, no matter who came near this meat, he would send that person flying.
Near another bonfire, Ji Zhuo sat on the ground and leaned against a giant stone, one of his legs was covered in a thick layer of ice. He narrowed his eyes, staring at Ji Xiao who kneeled in front of him and looked as if he wouldn’t dare to move even a little bit. Ji Zhuo was fiddling with a piece of gold, which was found in the stream. In Ji Zhuo’s hands, the hard piece of gold quickly changed forms, as though it was piece of clay.
“Xiao, regarding bloodline, the ancestor of your cousin was my fifth brother.” After a period of silence, Ji Zhuo said in a low voice, “Considering this, we are close relatives.”
Ji Xiao knelt on the ground, trembling, and was dripping with perspiration.
“That little brother of mine, Xiao Wu, do you know how he died?” Ji Zhuo looked up to the starry sky and continued, “It was six-hundred years ago, to save a mine that was producing fire copper, my brother fought against five thousand Black Water Serpent Clan warriors together with three hundred of our clansmen. He killed eight hundred and fifty of the enemies, exhausted himself and was killed in the end.”
While speaking, Ji Zhuo suddenly threw the piece of gold towards Ji Xiao’s head. The head of a Senior Magus was very hard. The gold lump was smashed flat onto his head, almost enveloping Ji Xiao’s entire head.
“Those Black Water Serpent Clansmen chopped Xiao Wu’s head off, turned it into a mug and even now, it is still placed on the altar of their ancestral temple!” Ji Zhuo angrily growled in a low voice, flames flashing across his pupils. “Xiao Wu is one of your direct ancestors, his head is still placed on the altar of the Black Water Serpent Clan’s ancestral temple, and you, you colluded with those vile snakes and attacked your own clansmen!”
Ji Hao, having already filled his stomach with serpent meat, slowly walked over and stood beside Ji Zhuo with arms crossed around his chest, and coldly stared down at Ji Xiao.
Ji Xiao glanced at Ji Hao, plucked the flat gold piece from his head, and shouted hoarsely, “but Ji Hao killed Hu! My only son! Hu!”
“Hu wanted to kill me! I swear to the ancestors’ souls; Hu, Feng, and Shui, the three of them colluded with Jiang Xue and tried to kill me. Uncle Xiao, do I look like an idiot who just waits for others to chop my head off when someone tries to kill me?” Ji Hao looked at Ji Xiao, who was reddening, half in shame and half in rage.
Ji Xiao opened his mouth but didn’t say anything.
“You knew Hu was going to kill me, didn’t you?” Ji Hao continued with a calm face.
Ji Xiao stayed silent, however, his distorted face showed that Ji Hao was telling the truth.
“Grandaddy, Uncle Xiao knew about the fact that Hu colluded with outsiders and attempted to kill me, but he didn’t stop his own son. I killed Hu in self defense; he then colluded with the archenemy of our Fire Crow Clan and tried to kill me, Abba, and Amma. What did the Bi Fang Clan give him for this?” Ji Hao continued while staring at the pale, darkened face of Ji Xiao.
Ji Zhuo took a deep breath, grabbed a stone from the ground and hit Ji Xiao’s head, yelling, “what did the Bi Fang clan give you for this?”
The stone shattered into dust on Ji Xiao’s head. Ji Xiao then murmured, “Once we kill brother Xia, the Black Water Serpent Clan will release Jiang Xue. Ji Mu’s son will marry Jiang Xue instead of Ji Wu, and one of Jiang Yao’s sisters will become my wife and bear my children.”
“Ji Shu has already turned himself into a dog of the Bi Fang Clan, and you’re planning to get a Bi Fang Clan woman as your wife! Then from now on, should the Bi Fang clan rule the Holy Land of our Fire Crow Clan, or should it be our own clansmen?” Said Ji Hao while laughing mockingly.
Both Ji Zhuo and Ji Xiao didn’t say anything. Ji Hao looked at Ji Xiao and continued slowly, “You colluded with outsiders and betrayed our own clansman. Uncle Xiao, you shall die for your mistakes.”
Ji Xiao quivered intensely, then madly jumped up from the ground, pointing his finger at Ji Hao and yelled, “What did you say? Little bastard, what qualification do you have to decide whether I should die or not? Are you one of the elder magi? Are you one of the Maguspriests? How did Ji Xia educate you?”
All of Ji Xiao’s awakened magus acupoints were blocked by Qing Fu with the ‘thorns of life and death’ right after he was captured. Qing Fu also reduced his physical strength with a special drug, therefore, Ji Xiao was now not any different from ordinary clansmen.
Ji Hao threw a punch to Ji Xiao’s face, easily knocking him down, grabbed his neck, and walked towards the deep valley.
“Grandaddy, am I right? No matter why Uncle Xiao did all of this, he should die for his sins. So, he has to die. After all, we have to follow our ancestors’ rules!” said Ji Hao with a cold voice as he walked.
Ji Xia stood up quickly beside the bonfire, attempting to stop Ji Hao—he still thought about the friendship between Ji Xiao and himself, and he can not bear to kill Ji Xiao like this. After all, Ji Xiao was a powerful Senior Magus. In the Southern Wasteland, any Senior Magus was an extremely valuable force.
However, Qing Fu appeared in front of Ji Xia, opened her arms and stopped him.
Ji Xia was going to say something, but Ji Zhuo grabbed him, pulling him down to his seat.
“He did the wrong thing, so he has to bear the punishment. Xia, you’re a good brother and a good commander, however, you’ll never make a good clan leader!” said Ji Zhuo.
“This kid, Hao, is much better than you!”