Chapter 261 Divine Bird Secret Transmission (3.5k)
The silent atmosphere in the wooden building lasted for about a minute. Su Jiu put away the last White Snowball on the glass display case, glanced at the surroundings, then took Bai Zhi’s hand and said softly, “Let’s go! We need to find a guide.”
The surrounding crowd saw the two about to leave and quickly made way. They had seen the person who could deter the Lin Family Patriarch, and they dared not provoke them. Soon, a passage through which the two could pass was formed.
The little shop owner looked at Su Jiu’s retreating back. After a moment of silence, he stepped forward a few paces and called out, “Two young ladies, please wait a moment. If you are looking for a guide, I can introduce you to someone.”
“A guide?”
Su Jiu paused slightly, her gaze falling on the little shop owner. She thought he had mistaken them for tourists and then explained, “The two of us are not traveling. The guide we need must have at least some knowledge of Luoyun Mountain. You saw us buy so many White Snowballs, so you should understand our intentions, right?”
Hearing Su Jiu’s words, the little shop owner took out his phone and tapped something on it. He said with a slight smile, “Of course, I understand your needs. I have the most suitable person for this. If you don’t mind, you can come upstairs with me to wait for him. He is coming from the Dragon Hunters Alliance. This kid has been fooling around in Luoyun Mountain since he was young.”
After speaking, he walked towards the stairs. When he reached the staircase, he made a gesture of invitation and looked at Su Jiu and Bai Zhi with lowered eyebrows.
“Why would we mind? Please, Mr. Li, take us to the second floor.”
Su Jiu and Bai Zhi exchanged glances, a hint of joy in their eyes. In their excitement, they clasped their fingers and strode towards the stairs. They didn’t notice the inexplicable flush on the face of the little fairy beside them. Her eyes, with floating flowers, couldn’t help but glance at their hands, lost in thought—her head bowed low.
Stupid… Stupid, in ancient times, this kind of finger-linking meant marriage. How could I marry a woman…
Thinking this, Bai Zhi shook her head to herself, covered her face with her other hand, and felt the heat emanating from it… so hot.
No!
Bai Zhi, Bai Zhi, what are you thinking, you little slut! Why would you have such strange thoughts about a woman…
“Two young ladies, it’s a good thing you didn’t make a harsh move earlier. The Lin family is extremely overbearing, but they wouldn’t dare to be so arrogant normally. I received news from my godson that a mysterious force has intervened in Yunpu City. The Lin family is just a pawn controlled by this mysterious force to control Yunpu City. If anything happens to the Lin family, that mysterious force will surely take action…”
Soon they arrived in front of the wooden stairs. The little shop owner smiled and sighed slightly, walking up first. “I don’t know if that force is after the Scarlet Flame Divine Bird that flew south over thirty years ago, or after this Crimson Flame Sparrow…”
“Thank you for the reminder, Mr. Li…”
Su Jiu and Bai Zhi followed behind, their hard-soled shoes making clicking sounds on the wooden stairs. Hearing the little shop owner’s advice, Su Jiu’s steps paused slightly, and she looked ahead, squinting slightly, and said softly, “But this Scarlet Flame Divine Bird you mentioned… what exactly is going on?”
Scarlet Flame Divine Bird? Shouldn’t it be the Flame Phoenix Sparrow? Although the Initial Stage Battle God Level is terrifying, it shouldn’t be considered a divine bird, right?
“Scarlet Flame Divine Bird? That’s a bit distant for many people in Yunpu City. It shouldn’t be told to outsiders, but my old bones feel like I won’t live much longer, so I’ll tell you.” Arriving at the second-floor corridor, the little shop owner tapped the bulge at his waist with his hand and led the two towards the black door at the end. As he walked, he said,
“I was once a member of an S-class adventurer team. Along with other adventurers, we came to Yunpu City to track down a War God-level ice-attributed monster, mainly because an employer wanted its feathers as alchemical items.”
“Yunpu City was very backward back then. There were no means of transportation or electronic devices. All we had were maps made of parchment and alchemical communicators.”
“That day, we had found the tracks of the War God-level ice-attributed monster and rushed to the Lianyun Mountain Range overnight. Oh, it should be called Luoyun Mountain now… Following the ice crystals left by its flight on the ground, we chased it for a long distance. We ran and ran until we reached the end of the forest. The monster, which looked like an Ice Phoenix, actually landed on a tall pine tree and looked at us mockingly…”
“Crack!” The black door in front was opened by the little shop owner.
A smell of burnt dried tea wafted out, and a slight warmth emerged. Su Jiu snapped back from her thoughts and looked at the very ordinary and simple small room. The two followed the little shop owner and slowly walked in.
Beside the stove were some black tea leaves. Nearby were five small black sofas. In the center of the sofas was a tea table, on which were placed various kinds of parchment paper and scrolls with drawings of different monster patterns.
“These are some personal hobbies, collected over the years… They record how to obtain materials from monsters. Please sit freely. I’ll pour you some tea.” Seeing Su Jiu’s gaze drifting to the parchment on the tea table, the little shop owner chuckled and explained, then picked up two sets of tea leaves to make tea for Su Jiu and Bai Zhi.
Upon hearing this, Su Jiu wanted to let go and find a place to sit, but Bai Zhi was still looking down, her fingers tightly clasped. Su Jiu had no choice but to follow suit and sit down, gently crossing her right leg over her left. She lifted the hem of her long skirt slightly to prevent it from getting dirty.
Then, she put her left arm around Bai Zhi’s waist, as if hugging a large doll, and rested her head on the other’s shoulder. She didn’t notice that the face covered by her black hair was as red as a monkey’s butt…
Feeling the warmth coming through their skirts, Su Jiu felt that Bai Zhi had inexplicably become more… tense, like a shy little animal.
Shaking her head, Su Jiu knew it was time for serious matters. She immediately looked at the little shop owner who was pouring tea with his back to them and asked with some confusion, “After you were discovered by that War God-level Ice Phoenix, you must have been attacked, right? I remember that S-class adventurer teams didn’t have anyone at the War God level…”
Su Jiu didn’t continue, but stared intently at the little shop owner’s back, as if waiting for a reasonable explanation.
Hearing this, the little shop owner turned around, looked at their posture with some surprise, and then looked at Bai Zhi, who was lowering her head like a young lady, fiddling with her sleeves.
He smiled, lamenting that he couldn’t keep up with the times, and said while pouring tea, “As the young lady said, we were attacked by that Ice Phoenix. It instantly charged at our strongest member, the captain. Skills clashed instantly. Because of my lower strength and earth-attribute bloodline, I was lucky enough not to be affected…”
“Without any War God-level fighters, we were naturally defeated quickly… After the main team members were all severely injured, the Ice Phoenix didn’t rush to kill us. It just kept playing with us in the sky like a cat playing with a mouse…”
At this point, a flicker of awe appeared in the little shop owner’s eyes, and his gaze became much more serious: “It kept turning people into ice sculptures. Just as we were in despair, a red sun rose in the sky. On that red sun was an incredibly divine giant bird, just like the phoenix in legends. But I knew… this was not a type of phoenix.”
“After the giant bird passed over us, a feather burning with flames, carrying a healing aura, flew towards us. A wave of warmth instantly filled our bodies, and the Ice Phoenix seemed to give up chasing us. With a long cry, it left—when we came back to our senses, that fiery red feather had turned into a stream of light and disappeared.”
“It was to find that feather that I opened this shop here.”
After listening to the story, Su Jiu pondered for a moment and understood that the giant red bird could absolutely not be the Flame Phoenix Sparrow, but some extremely high-level existence. Pushing these thoughts aside, she said softly, “Mr. Li, may I ask you a question?”
“If I know, I will not hide anything,” the little shop owner said, startled, and then smiled.
Su Jiu’s gaze sharpened slightly. After a moment of hesitation, she slowly said, “Have you heard of the Flame Phoenix Sparrow, Mr. Li?”
Although she had a map, Su Jiu still planned to ask, as the map’s scope was quite large—after all, it was a map of the Dragon Country, not a detailed small map. If she could get more information, the better.
“Flame Phoenix Sparrow?”
Hearing the name that came out of Su Jiu’s mouth, he also paused, put down the teapot, and fell into thought.
Looking at the thoughtful little shop owner, Su Jiu’s heart was filled with joy. She had only asked casually, but looking at the little shop owner’s expression, it seemed he was not completely unaware of this Flame Phoenix Sparrow.
She glanced at Bai Zhi beside her and found that the other party was not listening attentively at all. She was constantly tensing her body, lowering her head, trying her best not to spread her legs and sit on Su Jiu’s lap. Her appearance had a strangely cute feel to it.
“The Flame Phoenix Sparrow is like a happy couple with the Ice Phoenix I mentioned earlier. It is a War God-level monster that appeared twenty years ago. However, not long after its appearance, it provoked the only overlord monster on Luoyun Mountain—that Ice Phoenix-like creature. Fifteen years ago, they fought at the Yunbai Stream in Luoyun Mountain.” After a moment of thought, the little shop owner finally said slowly,
“Later, the two monsters disappeared. Some say they died, some say they left. While everyone was discussing, some went to explore the bottom of the stream but found nothing… Later, when others wanted to explore, they were attacked by countless ice-attribute bird monsters.”
Hearing this, a look of surprise surged from Su Jiu’s eyes. She never expected this shop owner to know so much. Then she took out the small map and examined it, finding that there was indeed a faint white line representing a small river passing through the red dot—
However, the location was downstream of the river.
“Grandpa Li, my dad got you some rare monster illustrations… But you said someone needs a guide, who is it? I’m going to Luoyun Mountain soon, but I have official business.”
As Su Jiu was thinking, a rather young male voice came from behind. However, judging by the footsteps, there was more than one person.
Hearing the seemingly familiar voice, Su Jiu turned her head slightly. It was a young man and woman, both in black scale armor combat robes, with silver medals hanging on their chests. The man was handsome, and the woman wore a blue butterfly hairpin and looked quite lovely.
As Su Jiu was observing them, the couple, who looked like they were dressed as a couple, also looked over. The girl glanced at the boy with some confusion, as if confirming something, while the boy’s eyes widened abruptly, and he asked in disbelief:
“Boss?”
