Chapter 12 (2/2)

How was this happening? Chu Feng and Zhou Quan stared blankly at each other.

Just then, it was full of imposing vigor. As it fluttered it wings, the bird was poised for the height of the sky. They thought that those beams of radiance was a show of its power and capability, but who would have guessed that it was a mere self-ignition for a suicidal purpose.

Puff!

It was a sound of explosion coming from mid-air. That purple bird of prey had disintegrated into millions of pieces before its body touched the ground. After a blinding blaze, the pieces became ashes, drifting profusely and disorderly.

Did it just die like this? Chu Feng and Zhou Quan kept to their muteness for a long while.

”Bless us, the Holy Mountain of Taihang!”

At last, Zhou Quan broke the silence. He clenched a fist in the other hand and moved them about at his chest as a form of wors.h.i.+pping. He also made a bow with hands folded in front as a way to send his prayers. Zhou Quan had become increasingly superst.i.tious thanks to all kinds of strange occurrences that had happened lately.

Suddenly, the Taihang Mountains became astir again. A monstrous looking beast came in sight with a body radiating an eerie red luminescence. Its body resembled a standing crocodile, but it had wings that could flutter. It flew right in their direction.

Boom!

As it approached near the outer bound of the mountains, it blasted into a globe of blazing flames. It gave out screeches of shrill cries that indicated its profound agony. It fell from the sky, degrading into ashes.

”Down goes another one!”

Chu Feng and Zhou Quan started to realize a certain pattern. ”So it was not an act of suicide. It's that no matter what, they cannot pa.s.s the outer boundary of the mountains.”

The two stared at each other in uncertainty.

”Should we go take a look?”

Drastic changes had brought the world a plethora of the unexpected. They knew that the world from now on would perhaps become drastically different from what they had been familiarized with. If they had the courage and nerves to take the initiative, they might perhaps run into some ineffable opportunities at the start of this episode of major mishaps and acquire abilities beyond mankind's capability.

Of course, as the old saying went, ”no pain, no gain”. There were great risks that a.s.sociated with their intent to exploit this opportunity; the risk of losing a limb or two or even death.

It was not to say that they didn't have the courage to step into the unknown, but they were certainly concerned. However, though they would not enter the mountains just yet, nothing at this point could hold back their urge to walk a few miles towards the mountains. They wanted to be sure what caused the incineration of those beasts.

It did not seem far at all, but it took them 6 li to reach the outer boundary of these mountains. The ground was plentifully bestrewn with ashes, broken bones and marks of scorch on the animal's fragmented tissues and feathers. Those were the parts that had partly survived the inferno blaze.

Clueless as to why, Zhou Quan could not stop his legs from s.h.i.+vering. His calf muscle cramped and felt enfeebled. Zhou Quan could barely stand still.

Chu Feng also felt uneasy. He felt like being watched by some beasts creeping behind his back. His body stiffened, his hair stood on end, and his eyelids twitched involuntarily.

The two took a deep breath and continuously retreated from the site. They now felt how simple and stupid their initial idea was. They started to come to realize that these mountains were no longer the ones that they were once familiar with. These were the mountains that no one should ever come close to.

Only moments later, after they had hidden themselves in the dense forest, they suddenly spotted many globes of lights, the size of lanterns, emerging one after another at where they just stood. Some appeared bloodily red, some were in an ominous blue, some were golden with a piercing s.h.i.+ne, but all share the same bitingly cold look.

Their numbers were overwhelming, thickly dotting the place.

”Eyes! Those are eyes! Whoever belonged to them want to come out!” Zhou Quan made an unearthly cry under his breath. He was blind with terror.

Oddly, that particular place was extremely dark. While some of the deeper sections of the mountain range were l.u.s.trous with reflection of the starry sky, for that one specific site, it seemed as if all lights had been absorbed and none could be reflected. Only those hollow and terrifying eyes were visible.

”Pong!”

Suddenly, something bustled out of the darkness into the opening. It trembled the ground and s.h.i.+vered the forests. Leaves were rustling down. It was a rather horrific scene to behold.

However, just like that of the previous few times, as soon as it stepped out of the outer boundary, its body ruptured and disintegrated, then it burst into flames, degrading into nothing but ashes.

”Are they purposely doing this to kill themselves? How stupid!” Zhou Quan mumbled. He sounded like he was at ease, but in fact, both of his legs were still s.h.i.+vering in fear.

Soon afterwards, a streak of deafening roar sounded before another string of animals beastly charged towards the outer boundary of the mountains. There were even silver spiders in the size of a house crawling in towards Chu Feng and Zhou Quan. But all died the same death; all degraded into the same pile of despicable ashes.

Nothing could come out alive.

”Oh, the Holy Taihang Mountain!” Zhou Quan almost kneeled down to express his grat.i.tude. He felt ever so blessed.

At long last, a hush fell on the pitch-black opening that every one of those celestial beings had taken as an exit to freedom to the outside world. Little had they known, it was an entry to h.e.l.l.

Although it was quiet and serene with the prevailing perfect silence, those eyes of evil spirits still persisted by the exit point.

Tranquility lingered until rays of golden glow suffused the vault of the heaven. A golden aura emerged to suggest the incoming of something divine and sacred.

It was a calf with a golden body. Its l.u.s.trous hair glowed in the darkness. The calf seemed as if it had been cast in gold. Even its pupils and pair of tiny horns were gleaming with gold.

It did not have the clumsiness typical of a bovine animal. It exuded an atmosphere of intelligence and spiritualism. One would have already known that this was indeed an otherworldly and extraordinary animal even at first glance.

At the very least, no one would have ever seen a golden calf born in nature.

It was dreadfully quiet at the exit. Many pairs of biting cold eyes fixated themselves onto the golden calf. They wanted to see the calf leaving unscathed.

One step, two steps... ten steps... one hundred steps!

That calf was intact throughout the process. It was unharmed, uninjured, and most importantly, it survived through its daunting attempt to escape.

The calf was very much excited. To their surprise, it had the ability to express its mood and sentiments, just like a normal human being. Its courage greatened. It started picking up speed, becoming bolder and bolder.

Zhou Quan cursed under his breath. He was a bit worried, but he was also tempted. ”This must be a bull G.o.d. Just look at its pure golden body. It must have its own subtlety that can help us. Look how small it is. Can we capture it?”

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