I Have a Golden Crow

"Eee~!" The Chi Bear’s whimper cut off the conversation between master and disciple.

Du Yu quickly calmed himself, looked up at that huge and adorably chubby bear face, and extended his Demon Soul from his hand: "Hello, Chi Bear, what’s your name?"

"Eee~" The Chi Bear put its two paws together, attitude friendly, and a gentle, soothing voice imprinted itself into Du Yu’s mind: "This General is Wuxin."

Wuxin?

Du Yu wasn’t entirely sure if those were actually the two words he had thought of.

If so, then that name seemed like it carried a story?

Little Fen Yang muttered softly: "This Xiongxiong..."

Du Yu: "What about it?"

Little Fen Yang looked thoroughly puzzled, and whispered: "I don’t know, it just feels kind of weird."

Du Yu tilted his head, sizing up the Chi Bear, and didn’t feel anything strange at all.

The only difference was that this Chi Bear’s cloak and conical hat were woven from emerald-green bamboo leaves.

Inside Great Xia’s Bamboo Grove, Du Yu had never seen a Green Leaf Chi Bear. He’d definitely have to ask about it later.

"You’re Human Race?" Wuxin was also curiously studying the two of them.

"Oh? You know about us?"

Wuxin spoke in a low voice: "I’ve heard rumors. It’s said the Human Race’s bodies are thin and small, yet contain infinitely powerful potential, and can cultivate in partnership with the Beast Race."

What the Chi Bear said was undoubtedly the key point: the greatest "Magical Treasure" of Human Demon Tamers really was the Acupoint Home.

Wuxin carefully sized up Du Yu: "It’s said that long, long ago, the Chi Bear Race, the Human Race, and the myriad Beast Race all lived on the same continent.

Later, due to various issues, the Chi Bear Race was forced to drift here."

Du Yu nodded: "You’re right. Is this information something your tribe has passed down from generation to generation?"

Wuxin likewise nodded: "Human, how did you appear here?"

Du Yu: "I received a revelation from the heavens. A particularly, particularly enormous Chi Bear guided me here to meet it."

Hearing that, Wuxin couldn’t help but look astonished: "A particularly enormous Chi Bear?"

"Yeah!" Du Yu nodded decisively. "Standing by its foot, I was like a tiny bamboo leaf."

Wuxin stared blankly at Du Yu, as if he had just heard something unbelievable.

"Eee?" Hu Xiaoyan tilted her head, staring curiously at Wuxin.

This bear looked kind of dopey. Truly worthy of being a clansman of Little Tai Sui~

Du Yu: "Looks like you know who I’m talking about."

"Yes, Human. That is the ancestor of my Chi Bear Race. We respectfully call it the Chi Ancestor."

Chi Ancestor?!

Setting aside everything else, just the name alone made Du Yu feel an aura of a primordial Great Demon rushing straight at him.

Du Yu spoke up with a request: "Since it was the Great Chi Ancestor who personally invited me here, could you take me to pay my respects?"

"Of course!" Wuxin put his paws together, bowed slightly in salute, "The journey is long. Please prepare yourself mentally, Human."

Yang Qingqing suddenly spoke: "I’ll summon the Sorrow Seabird."

As she spoke, the woman had already flown high into the sky, and summoned the Sorrow Seabird up above.

Wuxin’s bear eyes narrowed, looking up at the Sea of Sorrow Demon Saint’s pair of sky-covering wings, utterly shocked in his heart!

So it really was like the legends said: inside the tiny frame of a Human, there was infinite potential.

Such a terrifying Demon Saint could actually dwell within this woman’s body and yet remain undetected!

"Let’s go, Wuxin." Du Yu lowered the Fire Age Axe, indicating for Wuxin to grab on.

"Nai~" Bai Yujing, dragging along a huge oil bottle, soared up in spirals straight onto the Sorrow Seabird’s back.

A moment later, with Wuxin giving directions, the Sorrow Seabird let out a long cry and a violent gale suddenly rose.

"Screee~~~"

Only after quite a while did the living beings on the bird’s back finally adapt to the wind and currents.

Seizing the opportunity, Du Yu came to stand beside Wuxin the Chi Bear: "Wuxin, why is your hat green?"

"Eee?"

"What attribute are you?" Du Yu changed the way he asked.

Wuxin: "Wood Attribute."

Du Yu: "Single Wood Attribute?"

A faint gloom flickered through Wuxin’s eyes as he nodded gently.

"Ohhh?" Little Fen Yang let out a small exclamation, "I’ve got it! I know what’s wrong with Xiongxiong!"

Du Yu: "What?"

Little Fen Yang: "This Xiongxiong isn’t a normal Xiongxiong. It feels like a Demon Skill, you know?"

Du Yu: ???

He ran his gaze up and down over the Chi Bear, while conversing in his mind: "Like Demon Skill·Twin Desolate Lynx?"

Little Fen Yang: "Not sure, but Xiongxiong’s state of existence is weird; it’s like it’s missing something."

Du Yu: "Missing a heart?"

The Chi Bear’s name was Wuxin—Heartless—surely that implied something?

"His heart’s beating just fine~" Little Fen Yang whispered. "This really is a powerful Demon Skill. Must’ve been personally cast by that Chi Ancestor or whatever, right?"

"Mm..." As Du Yu pondered quietly, Yang Qingqing beside him also spoke up to ask.

They heard the woman say: "In our world, Chi Bears are divided into five main attributes: Wind, Fire, Thunder, Water, and Earth.

The Wood Attribute is something every single Chi Bear possesses.

But I’ve never seen a Chi Bear like Wuxin, with only the Wood Attribute."

Wuxin turned his head to look at the woman, his Demon Soul expanding: "In your world, there are people of my Chi Bear Race?"

"Yes." Yang Qingqing glanced at Du Yu.

Du Yu knew perfectly well what Master Qing’s little gesture meant; their tacit understanding hadn’t been cultivated in a day or two.

It was just that the Sorrow Seabird’s speed was too fast, so Du Yu couldn’t casually summon Little Tai Sui.

Simply, he cast Demon Skill· Bamboo Leaf Armor; a red conical hat appeared above his head, and a Red Bamboo Leaf Cloak draped over his body.

Wuxin stared blankly at Du Yu, of course recognizing that this Demon Skill came from the Chi Bear Race’s Bamboo Leaf Armor.

"Eee~" Hu Xiaoyan nestled in Du Yu’s arms, looking at Wuxin with great interest, feeling that this big Chi Bear had gone back to being dopey again.

Yang Qingqing: "Why are you a single Wood Attribute? In your Home, are the other Chi Bears like that too?"

"No, there are two-attribute Chi Bears in the Home." Wuxin came back to his senses and replied softly, "Wuxin is somewhat special. Wuxin is still cultivating."

"Cultivating?" Du Yu was even more confused, and pressed, "You can still cultivate your second attribute out?"

But this time, Wuxin the Chi Bear didn’t respond again.

The master and disciple looked each other in the eye, and through the Demon Soul attached to Wuxin, they sensed his dejected mood.

After quite a while, Yang Qingqing finally broke the silence: "Tell us about the Bamboo Snake Race."

Wuxin’s pair of bear eyes gradually brightened: "The Bamboo Snakes are the natural enemies of the Chi Bear Race, and they are also the targets I must eradicate on my path of cultivation."

Du Yu followed up: "What is the highest level among the Bamboo Snake Race?"

Wuxin looked at the bluish-grey feathers below: "Same as this powerful Demon Beast here, they have a Demon Saint."

Hearing this, Yang Qingqing felt a bit relieved, while Du Yu was instead somewhat disappointed.

It’s only a Demon Saint?

He had thought the other side was a Supreme.

"Seems I misjudged." Yang Qingqing said softly.

Thinking about it, how could there possibly be two Supremes in a single Spiritual Artifact World?

The laws of a given heaven and earth can, of course, only have one representative.

Unless the two Supremes follow different cultivation routes; for example, Empress Huangtu—her Supreme Domain has little to do with "territory."

Which brings up a question.

Since the other side is only a Demon Saint, Chi Ancestor should be able to easily wipe out the Bamboo Snake Race and keep his people from suffering casualties in this realm.

Why did Chi Ancestor not act?

Could it be that...

Yang Qingqing turned to look at Wuxin, recalling the "cultivation" he had just mentioned.

Could it be that Chi Ancestor deliberately left a natural enemy behind, specifically to hunt the Chi Bear Race?

So that his people could temper themselves and grow, harboring a constant sense of crisis, instead of sinking completely into a life of comfort?

The more she thought about it, the more Yang Qingqing felt it might be true.

One must know, the grand backdrop of the Ashen World is that the entire continent suffered an invasion from the Youhan Realm, and then the entire world fell.

Under such circumstances, the Chi Bear leader who hid inside the General’s Seal would surely have an extremely strong sense of peril; it is entirely possible he would do something like this!

The bird’s back fell into silence; everyone was quietly lost in thought.

No one knew how much time had passed when Wuxin reached out with his bear paws: "Please slow down and land in the bamboo forest below."

"Hoo~" The Sorrow Seabird lightly flapped its wings and slowly descended toward the bamboo forest below.

"Sorry to trouble you, Sea of Sorrow." Yang Qingqing spoke in her mind, and at the instant before the Sorrow Seabird touched the bamboo forest, she withdrew the Great Demon Saint.

Sorrow Seabird: "If there is danger, call me at once."

"Mm, okay." A faint smile appeared on Yang Qingqing’s face; long companionship naturally comes with its rewards.

All the more so since the Sorrow Seabird cared deeply about her disciple—it just never said so out loud.

As to whose Demon Pet the Sorrow Seabird really was, Yang Qingqing didn’t care.

Because when it came to protecting Du Yu, the girl and the bird had exactly the same belief.

"Come with me." Wuxin looked around, then led the group through the bamboo forest, heading straight into the depths of the Bamboo Sea.

A few minutes later, Wuxin finally stopped, looking up at a clump of towering bamboo directly ahead.

"Here?" Du Yu looked around; he didn’t feel there was anything special about this patch of bamboo.

"Wait a moment." Wuxin’s bear paw closed lightly, and a verdant piece of bamboo appeared in his palm.

"Dong~" Wuxin gently tapped the ground with the bamboo staff. With a strange sound, Du Yu immediately saw stars before his eyes.

"Wao!" Du Yu’s mouth opened slightly as he saw the scene before him constantly changing. Groves of bamboo were continually disappearing and reappearing; it was quite magical.

Finally, as the scene stabilized, a deep, narrow path suddenly revealed itself before their eyes.

The path wound and twisted, leading straight into the depths of the bamboo forest; you couldn’t see the end at a glance.

So it really is a Blinding Technique?

This is way too cool!

He wondered whether Master Qing’s Sorrow Seabird Eye could see through such a bizarre technique.

"Please follow me." Wuxin looked every bit the ascetic monk, wearing a conical hat and leaning on a bamboo staff, stepping onto the forest path one step at a time.

"Nai~" Bai Yujing called softly, slowing her pace.

On both sides of the deep path, two massive Chi Bears suddenly stepped out from the forest.

They too wore green Bamboo Leaf Conical Hats on their heads, but their bodies were much smaller, only about two meters tall—apparently Spirit Level Chi Bears.

"Ying!"

"Ying!" The two Chi Bears spoke at the same time; their tone was clearly unfriendly.

Du Yu: "Little Fen Yang, lend a hand, would you?"

"Okay~." Little Fen Yang answered softly, then suddenly raised his voice and demanded loudly, "What are you doing back here? Have you finished your cultivation?"

Du Yu: "..."

So blunt and cold, huh?

Wuxin pressed his palms together and bowed slightly, his face full of guilt: "Wuxin has yet to achieve true fruition in cultivation."

The Chi Bear guards lifted their eyes toward Du Yu and continued questioning Wuxin: "For what reason have you returned home?"

Wuxin replied with utmost respect: "These two are of the Human Race. They have come from another world, from far away. They say they received an invitation from Chi Ancestor and have come specifically to pay a visit."

The two Chi Bears looked very serious as they sized up Master Lu and his disciples.

With Little Fen Yang interpreting, Du Yu also understood roughly what was happening, and he immediately dismounted from the deer.

But before he could act further, a bear’s call came from deep within the bamboo forest: "Woooo~~~"

The two guards, having received their orders, shifted slightly to the side and gestured to Du Yu to proceed.

"Alright, thank you." Du Yu held onto the deer’s leg and led Bai Yujing and the Immortal Master on the deer’s back toward the bamboo path.

Only when he passed by the guards did he realize Wuxin hadn’t followed them. He was still standing a short distance outside the forest.

"Wuxin, you’re not coming with us? Not going home to take a look?" Du Yu asked, giving the deer’s leg a pat as he spoke.

Bai Yujing translated: "Nai~~"

In Wuxin’s gaze toward the bamboo forest, there was a hint of longing, a trace of homesickness.

The Chi Bear guards remained firm in their attitude: "Leave!"

Wuxin’s expression dimmed, his smile turning somewhat bitter. He pressed his palms together toward Du Yu: "It has been an honor to meet you. I hope we may see each other again in this life."

As Bai Yujing kept translating, Du Yu’s brow furrowed. What was that supposed to mean?

They were at his doorstep already, and they still wouldn’t let him in?

"Ahem." Following the sound of a woman’s light cough, Du Yu looked up and saw Master Qing’s warning glance to stop.

Indeed, this was an internal matter of the Chi Bear Race.

Not far away, Wuxin summoned another bamboo staff, then silently turned and left.