Chapter 431: 48. Phoenix Race
The moment Fisher heard Tang Zeming Asuka’s scream, he immediately turned his head to look towards the river.
Thanks to the towering trees of the Tree Continent, which somewhat obstructed Fisher’s line of sight, he couldn’t directly see what was happening in the river. He only caught a glimpse of Tang Zeming Asuka’s white robe and the discarded “Little Bear Battle Suit” hanging from the branches by the riverbank. The overly prominent presence made Fisher’s breathing become rapid and uncontrollable.
He struggled to suppress the flames in his mind, then shook his head and quickly took out the Fluid Sword hidden in his arms. As the familiar weapon slid into his hand, the coolness caused his body temperature to drop slightly.
At the same time, he wondered what had happened to Tang Zeming Asuka.
During her bath, Fisher had been vigilantly watching his surroundings; logically, there shouldn’t be any creatures around. Or rather, that thing might have already been in the river, and Tang Zeming Asuka was just the latecomer?
Fisher dared not think any further, and swiftly leapt out from the trees towards the river, calling out, “Tang Zeming?!”
“Teacher Fisher, it’s so cold! A winged subhuman suddenly popped out of the water. Hey, wait, don’t come over yet…”
From the other side of the river, Tang Zeming Asuka’s slightly trembling voice came through. She wasn’t too panicked, and after hearing Fisher’s call, she frantically tried to signal him not to come over, but it was too late. Fisher had already crossed the only large tree that obscured his view on both banks, bringing the scene in the river fully into his sight.
In the wide river stood two figures, one was Tang Zeming Asuka’s back, and the other was a rather tall silhouette standing opposite her.
That figure was clearly a subhuman, roughly two meters tall, taller than Fisher, and had very pronounced female features. She had a pair of huge frost wings behind her, with feathers of a light blue color emitting a slight chill.
At the same time, she was thinly clad in a completely soaked semi-transparent white garment. The lower half of her body, hidden in the clear river water, seemed to be completely naked, highlighting her curvaceous figure.
The thin white garment was both flimsy and transparent; even if it hadn’t been wet, it wouldn’t resemble normal attire. Not to mention in the Tree Continent, where the clothes of the residents of Chuan Kingdom Fisher had seen before were mostly thick and heavy, making such garments impossible.
This garment should be some kind of bathrobe, which made it clear what her purpose of being here was.
Moreover, the river water passing by the strange subhuman seemed to be rapidly cooling down, soon forming bits of ice that floated by, illustrating just how cold the water was.
Her white hair was tangled with bits of the river’s clarity, sticking to her cheek and forehead. Her face was handsome, but her expression carried a hint of confusion, clearly unaware of what had happened. Thus, like Tang Zeming Asuka, she too was slightly taken aback by Fisher rushing out from the shore.
“Ahhh! She’s really coming over! No, Teacher Fisher! Don’t look!!”
Tang Zeming Asuka, with her back to Fisher, evidently heard the footsteps behind her. She didn’t dare to turn around and shouted while covering her body as she crouched down into the water, trying to block Fisher’s view. However, since the pristine water was so clear and uncontaminated by Nali’s industry, the effect was somewhat unsatisfactory.
Fisher glanced over and was slightly taken aback, then, despite the risk of completely losing control, dared to take another look to confirm his conclusion.
This girl… is she really that big?
She hadn’t looked anything like this while wearing the white robe and little bear underwear.
Could it be her underwear was too small?
Fisher’s expression quickly returned to normal, and the thoughts in his heart were to remain unspoken, but the biological instinct seemingly engraved in his male genes made it somewhat hard for him to look away.
However, compared to Tang Zeming Asuka, his gaze was seemingly drawn towards a stronger magnetic attraction; he glanced at Tang Zeming Asuka for a moment before moving his focus to the beautiful subhuman standing opposite her.
“Phoenix race?”
Looking at the female’s athletic figure, Fisher noticed numerous bluish feathers beneath her drenched thin white shirt. Having previously had skinship with Valentina, he was quite familiar with her and immediately recognized the similarity between those feathers and Valentina’s.
Feeling Fisher’s gaze, the Phoenix race woman’s brows slightly furrowed. She hardly moved to evade, her waist remaining straight. Suddenly, the massive wings behind her spread wide, covering her body and blocking Fisher’s view.
However, the frost brought by the spreading wings turned into extreme cold, continuously spreading through the water, nearly freezing Tang Zeming Asuka who was still submerged. But feeling Fisher’s scrutinizing gaze like daggers on her back, she didn’t dare to rise, and her little face turned red.
“Wuwuwu…”
“Who are you? You don’t seem like a slave; what are you doing here?”
The Phoenix race woman spoke. Her voice was pleasant, but chilly, as she was tightly wrapped in her heavy frost wings.
Fisher closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The flames of desire within him had already shown signs of losing control, and the icy Fluid Sword in his hand had been heated up by his scorching body temperature. He didn’t immediately answer her question but instead asked, “We mean no harm. Duke Chuan sent us to seek the help of the Phoenix race. She is my companion and simply wants to clean herself up here. But are you sure you want to have a conversation in such a situation?”
The Phoenix race glanced at Fisher, surprised to see his eyes closed. She then looked down at the shivering Tang Zeming Asuka and, without a word, flapped her wings and slowly submerged into the water, swimming quickly downstream.
“My clothes are downstream. Once you’ve finished up, follow the river to find me, and I’ll take you to see my father.”
Fisher didn’t respond, nor did he open his eyes. He just turned around, bent down, and walked back to where he had been standing, not forgetting to call out to Tang Zeming Asuka, “Hurry up and get back after washing.”
“Okay!”
As the Phoenix slowly left, the temperature of the river began to rise. What had previously felt chilling suddenly felt warm to Tang Zeming Asuka.
She didn’t dare to get up and secretly watched Fisher disappear into the trees by the riverbank, her little face flushed red. Just a moment ago, she had felt so cold.
Forget it, let’s quickly finish washing up and get on shore, it’s really embarrassing!
She despairingly splashed her face and quickly started washing her body.
But she didn’t know that Fisher, who was breathing heavily behind her, bent down against a tree and paused for a moment. As the process of controlling the flames of desire in his mind deepened, the trees beside him were also crushed into several large holes by the strength of his fingers.
He slowly exhaled a hot breath, finally locking away the beast within his heart back into its cage.
However, clearly, the beast that had been strengthened countless times by the Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans had grown unimaginably strong, making the chains confining it somewhat too fragile.
Perhaps if frequently used, the reproductive bonus of the Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans wouldn’t have such severe side effects; but unfortunately, Fisher had little opportunity to meet with other ladies, leading to his frustration.
However, compared to other handbooks’ side effects, this was something he could accept.
Tang Zeming Asuka was a trustworthy good child. If not for the recent incident, her bath time hadn’t lasted more than ten minutes. When she returned, her face flushed, Fisher had already calmly leaned against a sturdy branch.
“Teacher Fisher, I’m done washing. I was really scared earlier, you have no idea. While I was washing, a head suddenly popped up in the river across from me, and I thought I had encountered a water ghost! I almost beat her up! Thankfully, I didn’t act; she looks fierce.”
Tang Zeming Asuka playfully waved her small fists, and then remembered the moment Fisher appeared behind her. Uncertain whether he had seen anything, she felt shy and abruptly ran out of words.
Fisher looked at Tang Zeming Asuka, who had just bathed. Her black long hair was wet and clung to her back. In fact, before, her appearance hadn’t been considered stunning, but now, after bathing, she surprisingly appeared quite cute and alluring in Fisher’s eyes.
However, due to changing into a clean long robe, her originally proud figure couldn’t be revealed.
Her underwear was ill-fitting.
But Fisher didn’t bring it up, and Tang Zeming Asuka, biting her lip, also didn’t mention anything about whether he had seen something, both tacitly skipping the topic. The scenes and emotions left in their hearts showed no signs of dissipating but instead added a hint of haziness to their current conversation.
“It’s alright. I was just worried you got into some trouble. That subhuman you saw earlier should be the Phoenix race we are looking for. Her appearing here unguarded means we are very close to the Phoenix’s dwelling. Let’s set off to find that subhuman.”
“Mmhm.”
Fisher calmly turned and walked away, while Tang Zeming Asuka pressed her lips together, taking a second to respond.
As expected, Teacher Fisher was a mature and reliable adult; even after seeing that, he wouldn’t have any obvious reaction. Or rather, even if he did have a reaction, it would be nothing towards an ordinary high school student like her.
She felt a mix of relief and disappointment, but the rapid heartbeat she had hidden began to slow down. She promptly patted her face and hurried to catch up with Fisher, soon discarding those small emotions. Perhaps due to her bath, Fisher felt that her mood had improved quite a bit.
“Teacher Fisher, the Phoenix! Up ahead!”
This river was very long, and it was unclear how the Phoenix race had swum so far to the place where Tang Zeming Asuka had bathed. With the pace of Fisher and Tang Zeming Asuka, they walked for about a quarter of an hour before finally spotting the Phoenix they had seen earlier by the waterfall formed at the widening end of the river.
At this moment, she had changed into a pure black outfit made of cotton, not the bulky long skirt, which made her figure appear very competent. The back of her clothing was designed with an opening, revealing a large area of bluish feathers and the roots for her wings, exposing only a little of her originally fair skin.
With a cold expression, she quietly stood beside a long weapon deeply embedded in the ground, holding a damp package in her left hand, presumably containing the bathrobe she had just taken off.
When she finally noticed Fisher and Tang Zeming Asuka approaching from afar, she lifted her winged spear and flew over, landing beside Fisher. The moment she touched down, Fisher immediately felt the temperature around him drop several degrees, alongside her calm voice, asking, “How did you get to the back mountain? The back mountain borders the Wutong frontier, heavily guarded. You shouldn’t be able to come up from any direction.”
So that place was very close to the heavily guarded border. No wonder earlier, when Tang Zeming Asuka used her trace magic, she had seen next to no signs of intelligent creatures frequently traversing the area.
“We have an angel with us. She used some method to transport us from Chuan Kingdom directly to seek your help here. It might have gone a bit wrong and landed us right here.”
“Mm, follow me then. I’ll take you to see my father.”
She seemed to quickly believe Fisher’s words. Not to mention Fisher, even Tang Zeming Asuka felt a bit surprised. She had just barged in on two strangers and yet showed no signs of suspicion.
“Um… don’t you doubt we’re lying to you? What if we have no relationship with Duke Chuan?”
Tang Zeming Asuka asked foolishly, and the Phoenix with the spear turned to glance at her, shaking her head as she replied, “Aside from Duke Chuan and my family, no one on the Tree Continent knows that my father has a good relationship with Duke Chuan. They once made a vow not to leak out any information unless absolutely necessary. There’s no benefit for either party in it. The fact that you can mention Duke Chuan’s name already proves everything. As for other situations, you can discuss them in detail with my father; he will verify.”
“Sis! Sis! Don’t swim anymore, Father is calling you back! An angel has come to our tribe! Brother and the others have returned… Hey, who are these two?”
At that moment, a small white-haired Phoenix with underdeveloped wings came bounding down the path next to the waterfall. Her wings appeared not fully grown, with a few scattered feathers drooping like chicken wings, waving up and down unintentionally as the little girl jumped.
Yet even such a young Phoenix was about 1.2 to 1.3 meters tall, indicating that there was still a noticeable size difference between Phoenixes and humans.
“Nephiramui, slow down! Did your feathers fall again?”
Hearing the excited voice of the little girl behind her, the ice-cold Phoenix finally revealed a hint of warmth on her face. She inserted her spear into the ground beside her, reached out, lowered her head, and picked up the little Phoenix that was bouncing towards her, gently ruffling her sparse remaining feathers on her back.
“Hehe, Mom said I’m about to shed my feathers. I told her when my wings are fully feathered, she should give me a jade hairpin.”
“You want a hairpin at your age? Can you even wear it?”
“I won’t wear it; I’ll give it to my sister.”
The little Phoenix, referred to as “Nephiramui” by her cold-faced sister, snuggled her head into her sister’s embrace, playfully giggling. This made her sister slightly taken aback before smiling and patting her head, saying, “Mm, these two are also guests just like that angel. Let’s go back now.”
Watching the warm scene between the two sisters had Tang Zeming Asuka slightly entranced, then she too smiled, seemingly touched. Only Fisher seemed to suddenly remember something, frowning in disbelief.
Nephiramui?
Isn’t that the name of the Frost Phoenix revered in the Northern Region?
The mother of the Moon Princess and the name of the Phoenix King is Nephiramui, also the Phoenix leader who would lead the entire tribe to migrate to the Northern Region thousands of years later.
Then, who is this Phoenix that she calls “Sister”?
Fisher silently opened the virtual interface of the Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans, as the gold light surged, revealing a wealth of information,
[Phoenix Race]
[Binding Research Times Available: 0/2]
[Bindable Targets]
[Neceria, Mature Phoenix Race]
[Nephiramui, Young Phoenix Race]
Fisher opened his mouth, feeling as though the weight of history was silently pressing down on him, causing him to burst into silent laughter.
Who could have imagined that just a few months ago when he was exploring the Northern Region with Valentina, everything about the Phoenix race had already gone silent, all hidden in ice and snow, waiting for him to uncover. And now, the future legendary Phoenix leader was still huddled with chicken wing-like wings in her sister’s embrace, acting coy. It could only be described as “fate playing tricks.”
As Fisher regained his senses, Nechiria was looking at him, her young sister clutching her fingers, staring with big, watery eyes, seemingly quite curious about this human in front of her.
“Let’s go, your companions should have already arrived at the tribe.”
Though Fisher already knew her name was [Neceria] through the Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans, she showed no intention of introducing herself. She seemed quite strong, effortlessly carrying her little sister with one hand, while simultaneously tying up the damp package to her spear before glancing at Fisher and Tang Zeming Asuka, indicating for them to follow.
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(End of Chapter)
