Chapter 273 - 280: Ziwei Heavenly Lord! (Second update)
Watching a man and a cat leaping around on the stone stairs filled with prohibitions, chasing the rooster until feathers flew, everyone wore an expression of disbelief. Some skeptics even tried to climb the stairs, but they stumbled as soon as they embarked, nearly sprawling face-forward on the stone steps.
“The prohibitions didn’t disappear, so how did Yang Zhen and the wretched cat manage it?”
“Did you notice that there seems to be a pattern to the way Yang Zhen and the cat, and even the rooster, are zigzagging about? Maybe there is some sort of numerical change on these stairs, and some of the staircases are not prohibited.”
“Brother, you have keen observation skills. Have you figured out the pattern?”
“I… I’m still analyzing. The numerical changes are complex. I might… need some more time.”
“Dammit, why do I feel like they are just running around blindly?”
A group of people looked at each other with uncertainty in their eyes, their expressions more and more horrified by the minute.
A man and a cat chased the rooster hither and yon, almost hopping over every area of the stairs. Clearly, there was no such thing as numerical change, otherwise, they couldn’t have managed to hop over all those places, right?
When Hua Youyue arrived at the bottom of the stairs, she too shared a surprised look, watching as Yang Zhen and the wretched cat haphazardly chased the rooster. Not only were they in a mess, but they also kept squawking. A smile tucked at the corner of her mouth. Simultaneously, a hint of melancholy passed through her eyes.
“Not tasty!”
After being chased for a while, all the rooster could squawk was repeatedly these three words. He was far from his usually cocksure self. His feathers were all ruffled, and the usually brilliant red comb was all twisted, making him look utterly pitiful.
“You say it’s not tasty, so it’s not? I’m telling you, if even a piece of shit could turn into a delicacy in the child’s hands!”
“Disgusting!” The rooster glared at the cat with an enraged expression. “Bastard!”
“Oh, you dare scold me? Better not let me catch you, or I’ll start with boiling water when I pluck your feathers.”
Yang Zhen lunged at the rooster, which dodged by awkwardly flapping its wings: “Cut the crap, and let’s catch this scoundrel. It runs quite fast.”
At these words, the rooster’s feathers stand on end. It started running even faster, screeching, “Not tasty, Spirit Peak, method, tell you!”
“Hmm?”
Startled, Yang Zhen quickly grabbed the cat’s tail and dragged it back to him. He stared at the rooster and asked, “You know how to climb to the Spirit Peak?”
The rooster, seeing that Yang Zhen, and the cat had finally stopped chasing, paused to preen its feathers with unabashed pride, “Yes!”
“God dammit, so arrogant! Let’s beat it up first!” said Yang Zhen as he flung the cat at the rooster. The rooster was startled and began to scratch and peck at the cat. The cat howled in pain, cursing, “You bastard, that was a dirty trick!”
Enraged, Yang Zhen pointed at the cat, “It was the naughty rooster that scratched you. It has nothing to do with me!”
At this moment, Hua Youyue said softly, “Yang Zhen, wait!”
Startled, Yang Zhen turned his head towards Hua Youyue and asked, “What’s wrong?”
No sooner had he spoken than Yang Zhen exploded into action, leaving a series of afterimages, darting forward like a lightning bolt toward the rooster.
The rooster, terrified, screeched loudly, tongue lolling out, and tried to leap away, but it was too late. Yang Zhen grabbed it by the tail and lifted it upside down.
The cat laughed aloud, and then gave a swift kick to the rooster’s rear: “Run, have the skills to run again, let’s see how I pluck all your feathers.”
Flapping its wings frantically, the rooster kicked and punched the cat. Yang Zhen watched, dumbfounded.
When the rooster went berserk, it was terrifying to the extreme. It had ruffled the cat’s fur to the point of chaos.
The most frustrating thing for Yang Zhen was that the damned cat seemed to be unable to beat this annoying rooster.
“Hmph, I didn’t stoop to your level, you rooster.” The defeated cat walked off with a disdainful face, akin to a victorious general, and stood condescendingly to one side, drooling at the sight of the rooster.
Yang Zhen ignored the disgraced feline and came to Hua Youyue with the rooster, saying with a grin, “Miss, we could roast this chicken for dinner.” “Not tasty!” The rooster roared in rage, side-eyeing Yang Zhen. Despite being held by Yang Zhen, it leisurely groomed its flamboyant plumage coolly, embodying the spirit of dignity over all else.
Hua Youyue looked at the rooster in amazement and said, “That person has awoken. We can’t climb Spirit Peak with him there.”
Yang Zhen asked curiously, “Who? Who’s woken up?”
At this moment, the Hongluan Spiritual Girl came over, glanced curiously at the rooster, and added, “On the road to Spirit Peak in Mount Sumeru, there’s a Ghost Crossing Gorge. There’s only one path through it. Usually, it’s not dangerous, but there’s a shack there with an ancient seal, claiming to be the Ziwei Heavenly Lord. Once he wakes up, no one can pass.”
“Ziwei Heavenly Lord?”
Hearing this name, Yang Zhen jumped in surprise. He then recalled that the only Ziwei he knew was either from a television drama ora legendary emperor.
The TV character wouldn’t be here, and the emperor wouldn’t degrade himself to claim to be a “heavenly lord”. With this in mind, Yang Zhen relaxed, assuming this Ziwei Heavenly Lord had the same name by mere coincidence.
Hua Youyue looked at the Hongluan Spiritual Girl, nodded, and explained softly, “On the way here, you must have heard that roar. Just that single roar made Lin Tianli retreat by a hundred feet and cough up blood incessantly.”
Yang Zhen gave a cry of surprise, glancing at Lin Tianli’s corpse sprawled on the steps, “No wonder the bastard didn’t go to Spirit Peak, instead choosing to fight with you over a chicken.”
“Golden Crow!”
The rooster, which Yang Zhen held, corrected him authoritatively, earning a smack from Yang Zhen. Angrily, it began to reorganize its plumage that Yang Zhen had tousled.
“Just yelling can make Lin Tianli spit out blood. This Ziwei Heavenly Lord seems quite impressive,” remarked Yang Zhen.
Hua Youyue and the Hongluan Spiritual Girl exchanged glances, with the latter smiling bitterly, “Impressive is an understatement. It’s said that the Ziwei Heavenly Lord is merely a seal imprisoned within the shack.”
“What?” Yang Zhen jumped in surprise, and his trembling hand caused the rooster’s carefully arranged plumage to be disorganized once again.
If even a seal was this powerful, what’s the point of ascending Spirit Peak? Everyone should go back home and call it a day.
Hua Youyue laughed and whispered to Yang Zhen, “That’s why I asked you to wait. To see if this Golden… rooster had any ideas.”
“Golden Crow!”
The rooster stared at Hua Youyue, astonishingly twisting its neck into a circle. Despite its body hanging, it strained its flamboyant head upright, its demeanor unmistakably proud.
Yang Zhen picked up the rooster, looking into its eyes and asked, “Hey, rooster, tell us, how do we deal with this so-called Heavenly Lord?”
The rooster rolled its eyes, “Dream on!”
“Damn you, boy! Let go of it. I’m going to kill it with one slap, it’s too arrogant.” The cat, which had just finished grooming, saw the rooster’s arrogance and flew into a rage, pointing at it threateningly.
Meanwhile, within the Spirit Road, a group of youthful individuals, their attire reflecting an ancient aura, arrived beside the Heavenly Destiny Spring. One of the young women in a foreign white costume asked dazedly, “Where’s the Heavenly Destiny Spring?”
A young man standing next to her in a similar costume frowned and said, “Spiritual girl, our main task is to decipher the array. The matter of the Heavenly Destiny Spring can be asked later.”
The foreign girl nodded and said, “Aranda, go ask a practitioner why the Heavenly Destiny Spring disappeared and who destroyed it.”
A slender young man in the crowd nodded, his figure slowly disappeared until he vanished without a trace.