144 Little Raven, Little Crow 1 (1/2)
For a brief moment, the entire forest became submerged into a deathly silence.
When An Fei strained her ears, she discovered that all signs of life had paused, and even the rustling of grass had ceased.
The spring breeze continued to nestle against her cheek, but the forest had frozen into a complete standstill.
Even the mangled white tiger who deeply sought to slaughter the young girl before its eyes, stood in a partial preparatory posture with its remaining hind leg tensed.
An Fei could even discern the corded muscles bulging as the creature's veins propelled an immense quantity of vitality throughout the body.
A pair of constricted, wrathful golden eyes stared at her visage, yearning the crimson splatter of consecrated life to bless the grass underneath.
However, they could only remain open and stare, unable to budge by a single centimeter.
”This…”
An Fei's mouth hung open at the sudden phenomenon that had overtaken the entire Wu Ji Forest. The young girl abruptly swept her gaze around, her mind reeling in confusion.
The sound in the forest had frozen, creating a silent dim that deafened the vicinity.
However, the appearance and color of the forest and the sky had not changed, comprising an unusual and terrifying sight.
Trees remained vibrant and robust with a myriad of colors, the tantalizing and succulent appearance of the herbs and fruits remained unchanged, and the sea of grass below her feet… froze as a sea of a dense green.
Caw!
The distorted shriek thundered in her ears, and An Fei clapped her hands to her temples to ease the numbing pain.
At the same time, the young girl noticed the forest return to its usual state, no longer frozen to a standstill by a mysterious force.
Nonetheless, the transformation was as though a jolt of electricity had arched through the entire forest; the trees, herbs, grasses, and animals all violently jerked into motion.
The once frozen pulse of vitality that had raced through the entire Wu Ji Forest jumped into motion, hurrying along its selected path with abject terror flooding its heart.
The animals within the young girl's vicinity revealed horror in their eyes as they fled towards their respective burrows and niches, daring not to continue their activities regardless of their physical need.
The white tiger was no different as it remained staring at An Fei, but the inflections behind its gaze had drastically altered.
From a mind-crippling insanity and drive for blood, the golden irises now revealed a dead expression as well as a deeply rooted fear. The righteous indignance and arrogance that served as a byproduct of its natural superiority was nowhere to be found.
”Ah…”
Before the young girl's nonplussed countenance, the previously arrogant ruler of the forest wrapped its tail around the only remaining hindleg, slinking away into the depths of the forest without a single defiant roar.
A trail of dense, scarlet blood followed its movements, feeding the grass with the overbearing vitality of a noble existence.
”It left just like that…” the young girl murmured to herself, her bottom lip drooping in a slight disappointment.
An Fei shook her head with a numbed sensation coursing through her body, sheathing the twin butterfly swords without hesitation.
The young girl adjusted the position of the leather bag slung over her shoulder, walking in the opposite direction of the white tiger.
The abrupt cry by the raven that sounded more akin to a crow… perhaps she would run into it later.
The handle-less sword trailed behind the young girl as she waded through the sea of grass, unaware that the tender strands parted and made way in acquiescence, their roots trembling in fear.
–
Just four hours after the conclusion of the incident regarding the insufferably arrogant white tiger, An Fei indeed made contact with a peculiar… crow.
The creature was the first aviation animal that she had discovered in the forest after several weeks of roaming around the Wu Ji Forest.
The young girl had first noticed its presence as it sat atop of the low branches of a short gingko tree, its beak viciously gouging into a gingko nut.
At her initial glance, An Fei didn't know whether to laugh or gawk at the bird's unusual movements.
Instead of taking flight and soaring in the overgrowth of the forest with its fellow flying creatures, the little black raven-crow anomaly decided to strut on top of the lower branches with an arrogant attitude.
It was truly a mystery, causing the young girl to pause and glance for an extended period of time. As if noticing her inquisitive stare, the raven tilted its head to gaze towards An Fei, the beady eyes concealing an indeterminate yet profound glint.
The young girl and raven stared at each other, two pairs of eyes interlocked in deep thought.
Caw!
The raven was the first to break the silence, releasing the cry that An Fei deeply remembered as the one responsible for terrorizing the Wu Ji Forest to its core.
However, the young girl realized that the cry lacked the mystical phenomenon that had frozen the life within the forest, and was merely a call of a little crow.