Other Tales 3: The Parrot and the Meat Jelly (1/2)

Other Tales 3: The Parrot and the Meat Jelly

The Universe was both pitch black, and also filled with scintillating light.

It was a bit of a contradiction. The dazzling light came from the innumerable worlds that existed, scattered about like seeds. They were like countless glowing pearls, sending their light shining out in all directions.

The darkness came from the fact that the Universe was immensely large. In fact, the distance that existed between even two of those seed-worlds was almost impossible to describe. Within that space, there was no bright light, only deathly stillness and pitch black.

The passage of time wasn’t very obvious in the Universe. Perhaps that was because the power of the Universe was something difficult for even those in the Ancestor Realm to comprehend.

Time passed. One day, a bright beam of light appeared, moving along through the Universe at shocking speed.

Closer examination would reveal that the beam of light contained a person. He was a middle-aged man whose soul appeared to be very weak.

He wore a green robe, and his face was ashen. Apparently, he was being chased. Although his expression was grim, there was something crafty flickering deep within his eyes.

As the man sped along, a second beam of light appeared within the darkness. A woman could be seen, her face also a bit ashen as she flew along at top speed. Apparently, both of them were being chased by something.

These two people knew each other, although they obviously didn’t have a very good relationship, and were even enemies. As they fled, they occasionally attacked each other in an attempt to slow the other down. The man frequently managed to get the upper hand, and yet could never do anything to permanently reduce the woman’s speed.

As they pierced through the silence of the Universe, a third beam of light appeared behind them, a radiant and majestic light, within which was...

A parrot!

Its feathers were glistening and colorful, and it sped along like a shooting star, majestic and beautiful. It seemed like some sort of consummate Battle Weapon as it pursued the man and the woman.

Suddenly, the parrot unleashed a burst of speed that rapidly closed the distance between itself and the man and woman. In the blink of an eye, he slammed into them, causing blood to spray out of the woman’s mouth. At the same time, blood oozed down the man’s chin.

“Daoist Fifth, don’t push things too far! That emperor of yours won’t necessarily be able to defeat my true form. I'm the Immortal! The Immortal of the Universe!” Although the man seemed to be raving hysterically, a clever flicker existed deep within his eyes, almost completely imperceptible.

The woman’s face was now thoroughly ashen. Gritting her teeth, she shot off at top speed.

The pursuit continued until one of the seed-worlds appeared up ahead. It was like many of the countless worlds that existed in the Universe, except that this one had not yet become fully ripe. The will of its starry sky was still growing, and the living beings there had not yet become civilized.

As the group closed in, the parrot’s voice rang out, cold and detached. “My master is definitely going to slaughter your true self! And I was given a mission by my lord to kill you, clone! You are your true self’s attempt to give himself a chance to rise again! And I am definitely going to succeed, just like my master! And then there’s you, Ancient-Immortal spirit! The two of you will never escape me!”

The parrot’s expression was icy, and the words it spoke were even colder. As they echoed out into the Universe, they seemed to cause everything to freeze over.

Suddenly, a spell formation appeared around the parrot, spreading out in all directions, covering over even the man and the woman. Before either of them could react, colorful light sprang up, transforming into countless magical symbols. Mysterious chanting sounds could be heard as the spell formation began to spin. A murderous aura rose up as the magical symbols began to explode, transforming into destructive attack power that bore down on the man and the woman.

In that critical moment of crisis, the man roared, unleashing a divine ability that caused his body to expand rapidly. In the blink of an eye, he was a giant, with an enormous battle-axe in his hand. Without a moment’s pause, he swung the battle-axe at the magical symbols, unleashing all of the power he could muster, power that could topple mountains and drain seas.

Massive booms rang out, and the enormous giant coughed up a mouthful of blood. His body was already on the verge of collapsing. A vicious expression on his face, he howled, “Daoist Fifth! You’re pushing things too far!!”

Even as the words left his mouth, ten drops of golden blood emerged from his battered body. The blood drops immediately merged together, becoming a gigantic, blood-colored hand.

The hand radiated a terrifying aura, something that caused the parrot’s eyes to widen. It immediately recognized that aura. Those ten drops of golden blood were the very reason why the parrot's lord was attempting to slaughter Allheaven’s true self! It was... Universe Blood!

Suddenly, Allheaven’s eyes glittered with bright light, and he began to laugh uproariously.

“Ancient-Immortal spirit, it’s time to execute our plan. After that, you’ll be free!”

The woman only hesitated for a moment before gritting her teeth decisively. Instantly, countless scales spread out over her skin. Her legs merged together, and a moment later, she had the body of a snake. She spun in place, and instead of fleeing, shoved her hands out violently. Her body withered rapidly as she drew upon her life force to unleash some sort of Daoist magic.

As soon as the magic was unleashed, a powerful aura exploded out.

It was a strange aura, ancient and filled with the sensation of countless years. That power instantly shot toward the parrot and the spell formation.

In the blink of an eye, the spell formation began to wither up, and the parrot lurched to a halt, a cold light gleaming in its eyes.

Then its energy began to rise up as it prepared to break through by force. The middle-aged man's hands flashed in a double-handed incantation gesture, causing the hand formed from the ten drops of blood to grow larger and larger. Soon, it was a huge sea of blood that rocketed toward the parrot.

The woman was now severely weakened from using her Time aura, and began to back up.

“Daoist Fifth, did you really think that the Immortal would be unprepared? How naive are you? You chasing me here was all part of my true self’s plan! Wiping you out would be like cutting the arm off of that emperor of yours!” Allheaven threw his head back and laughed uproariously. Apparently, all of his weakness from before had been a sham, a trick to get the parrot to follow him to a remote part of the Universe, and then join forces with the woman to kill it.

As the sea of blood reached its pinnacle, and was bursting with power, it transformed into a sealing mark that spread out over the parrot. Not a bit of panic could be seen in the parrot's eyes, however, only icy calm.

“You tricked me into coming here, but you don’t know the price I'm willing to pay to help my master slaughter your true self! Have I fallen into your scheme, or have you fallen into mine?!” The parrot sighed, as if it didn’t wish to part with the world. But then, its eyes flashed with determination. As the sea of blood closed in, the parrot suddenly began to emanate terrifying fluctuations. They were the fluctuations... of self-detonation!

Shockingly, it was choosing to self-detonate in order to kill its opponents.

Perhaps an ordinary self-detonation wouldn’t do anything to the terrifying aura it was facing, but the parrot had clearly prepared ahead of time. It was using some domineering technique to augment the power of its self-detonation to surpass the force it could ordinarily unleash.

Allheaven’s eyes widened, but then he let out a cold laugh.