“Where?!” Ye Yang tensed immediately, spreading his perception wide. Under the circumstances, it was hard not to think of what they had seen in the upper realm.
Shen Ming looked toward the village. Ye Yang was horrified. “It’s in the village? Are the villagers in danger?!”
“Don’t panic.” Shen Ming gave Ye Yang’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “The divine power is very weak.” It also felt somewhat familiar, though he couldn’t quite place it.
Dongzhou was now saturated with spiritual energy from heaven and earth, dulling Shen Ming’s sensitivity to divine power. He might need to see the source of that power to recognize who it was.
·
They now stood in the ordinary backyard of an ordinary house in the village, next to an ordinary chicken coop.
Following the familiar divine power, Shen Ming found a stretch of wall that was somewhat scorched black. Beyond the wall, among a flock of ordinary hens, stood a single large rooster with its back to them. It looked a bit strange—slightly larger than usual, its neck craned too far forward, a few striking green feathers mixed in among the others, and its two legs seemed to be attached at odd angles. No matter how you looked at it, it was awkward.
Shen Ming stared fixedly at the rooster and clearly spoke two words: “Bi Fang.”
Ye Yang saw the rooster’s back stiffen. Then, very theatrically, it pretended it hadn’t heard anything—but its two chicken feet began quietly shuffling sideways. It was trying to sneak away!
Bi Fang, the divine bird, was said to be an omen of fire. Was the scorched wall the result of that?
No, that didn’t seem right. Ye Yang recalled that Bi Fang was supposed to look like a crane, with entirely cyan feathers marked with red patterns, and a call that sounded like its own name, “Bi Fang.” Its most distinctive feature was that it had only one leg.
Shen Ming was also beginning to doubt himself. Could he have been mistaken? But this chicken carried divine power—that much was certain. He considered his words and asked, “Can you… still speak?”
The rooster’s feathers exploded. It whipped around and charged at him on a single leg, doubling in height halfway there. “!!! Who are you calling a turtle?!!”
Shen Ming nodded. No doubt about it—this was Bi Fang.
“So it really is Bi Fang…” Ye Yang muttered unconsciously. He grabbed Shen Ming’s sleeve and subtly took half a step back. Not out of fear, just… he had no experience dealing with this kind of situation. An ancient divine beast, now in such a pathetic state…
Well, now that hiding was impossible and there was no point in continuing the act, Bi Fang froze for another moment before fully giving up. Its ruffled feathers smoothed down. Its hunched neck stretched out. It flung the fake leg aside, stood on its single foot, and craned its neck defiantly. “What do you want?!”
At first glance, it looked imposing. But even Ye Yang could see that its lone leg was trembling.
Shen Ming looked baffled. “What do I want? What are you doing here, and how did you end up… like this?” When he said the last two words, Shen Ming couldn’t help but give this ridiculous excuse for a rooster another once-over.
To Bi Fang, this sounded like pure mockery. It opened its beak to curse again, but given the situation—with its pitiful amount of divine power, it couldn’t do anything—it swallowed its anger. “Wasn’t it during the divine war? I came down from the upper realm. Just had a little accident. Tch.”
The story wasn’t all that complicated. During the chaos in the upper realm, Bi Fang’s status had been neither high nor low—an awkward position. It wasn’t high enough to know why the fighting had started, nor low enough to have its physical form instantly destroyed and its soul scattered like the minor immortals. It had been clever enough to seize the opportunity to descend before the upper realm was sealed.
The price of escaping the upper realm was steep. Bi Fang had been badly injured—even more severely than Shen Ming. After all this time, its divine power had dwindled to just this tiny remnant. It couldn’t even manage to transform into an ordinary rooster properly. The fake leg had been painstakingly handmade.
Hearing this, Shen Ming realized that Bi Fang might know some inside information. He pressed further, “You’ve been here the whole time since coming down from the upper realm?”
“How is that possible?” Bi Fang barely resisted the urge to roll its eyes. “I recovered in a remote mountain wilderness for who knows how long. It’s only recently, with the sudden surge of spiritual energy in heaven and earth, that I’ve been able to come out and move around.”
“Then why are you here, pretending to be a chicken?” Ye Yang’s curiosity finally got the better of him, and he asked. He genuinely wanted to know—was playing a chicken somehow helpful for Bi Fang’s recovery?
Bi Fang was furious. “You think I want to?!”
It didn’t know this demon, nor did it know his relationship with Shen Ming. But Ye Yang’s aura was powerful—he could crush the current Bi Fang with a single finger. Bi Fang knew how to bend when necessary. Even though the question touched on the most embarrassing thing it didn’t want to discuss, it held back and answered reluctantly in a low voice: “I was passing through and accidentally burned down their wall.”
Divine beings were bound by cause and effect. If you created a karmic debt, you had to repay it. With divine power as fragile as a puff of wind, Bi Fang wouldn’t last half a mile before dissolving completely.
Unfortunately, its power was so meager that it had exhausted every possible method just to get this family to lower their suspicions and reluctantly believe it was a chicken.
Ye Yang was eager to learn. “How does turning into a chicken help you repay the debt? Won’t eating the chicken feed they give you just make you owe them more?”
Bi Fang’s feathers exploded again. “I DON’T EAT CHICKEN FEED!!!!” It ate flames! Flames!
Ye Yang looked left and right. He still had many questions, but seeing Bi Fang look like it was about to devour a sea hare, he swallowed them all.
Shen Ming steered the conversation back on track. He asked Bi Fang exactly how it had come to the lower realm and whether any other gods had similarly escaped the catastrophe.
Bi Fang told him that in addition to the methods mentioned on the stone tablets, powerful divine spirits had another way to leave the upper realm: voluntarily lower their status, disperse their spiritual power, and slip through a loophole to descend. That was exactly how Bi Fang had gotten down.
That was exactly why Bi Fang had ended up in its current state. The divine power it had dispersed could not be restored in the lower realm, where spiritual energy had been depleted.
“A few other divine beasts came down with me at the time—some of my subordinates. But after all these years, they’ve likely long since been unable to hold on.”
Strangely enough, every deity Bi Fang knew of that had escaped alongside it was either a divine beast or a demon god.
Shen Ming thought for a moment. “Perhaps it’s because divine beasts and demon gods generally have stronger physical forms, giving them a better chance to escape.”
“What about the White Tiger? Do you have any news of him?”
Bi Fang shook its head. It hadn’t seen the White Tiger since the divine war. After that, it was too busy struggling to survive to pay attention to anyone else.
…
After a long silence, Bi Fang suddenly let out a self-mocking laugh. “Never thought we’d have a day where we could actually talk properly.”
Ye Yang couldn’t quite describe how bizarre it was to see such a complex expression as self-mockery on the face of a rooster.
Shen Ming, completely unaware of Bi Fang’s complicated feelings, immediately shattered the delicate atmosphere with his next words: “Are you planning to keep playing chicken here?”
Shen Ming meant nothing by it—he was asking literally. He even felt he was being quite respectful toward Bi Fang. But Bi Fang’s feathers exploded anyway, and it launched into a string of curses.
Shen Ming turned and walked away.
Bi Fang immediately groveled, reluctantly but humbly begging Shen Ming to take it along. It was even willing to work for the humans it had always looked down on.
It hadn’t ended up in this situation by choice. If there was a chance to leave, it would seize it tightly.
Shen Ming didn’t hold a grudge. He simply conjured a stack of money and placed it in the chicken coop, then turned to pick up Bi Fang. “YCG doesn’t need you to work, but they might take you in.”
Ye Yang pursed his lips when he heard that. ‘Doesn’t need you to work’ was putting it politely. The truth was, YCG had no use for him—Bi Fang was far too weak to be of any help. And YCG didn’t just accept anything. Their standards were very strict, thank you very much. Bi Fang was so weak and yet so arrogant, and it even dared to curse Teacher Shen! Hmph! Teacher Shen was being far too nice to it!
·
Bi Fang’s appearance ignited a small spark of hope in everyone’s hearts.
After a brief but intense discussion, YCG decided to have Ye Yang and Shen Ming continue the investigation. Perhaps they could find other deities.
Though the various realms were separate, they had never been isolated from one another. The problems in the upper realm concerned the entire world.
But the human realm also needed manpower right now. This important task would have to be handled by Ye Yang and Shen Ming alone.
“The two of you are strong. This arrangement is efficient. But don’t overwork yourselves—remember to rest.” Elder Li patted Ye Yang on the shoulder and reminded him.
The human realm and humanity itself were both adapting to the high concentration of spiritual energy. Throughout this process, YCG had to remain constantly vigilant. One misstep could mean the loss of countless lives. Investigating the upper realm was also important, but not as urgent as what was happening in the human realm.
Ye Yang nodded firmly. “I understand. Everyone is working very hard. We’ll do our best too.”
Elder Li nodded and said no more. He turned and teleported back to Kunlun. In just a few days, he looked as if he had aged thousands of years. His eyes were heavy with exhaustion, his usually well-kept hair was a mess, black strands mixed with gray and white, thinner than before.
Though they hadn’t found the White Tiger yet, hope remained in Shen Ming’s heart. Since no corpse had been found, the White Tiger might be hiding somewhere, just like Bi Fang. If only they could find him. The Azure Dragon and Vermilion Bird were dead. The White Tiger was the last hope.
Soon, Ye Yang and Shen Ming settled Bi Fang at YCG. Just as they were about to leave, Bi Fang learned that they were going to search for other deities who had descended to the lower realm. Its expression suddenly turned serious, and it warned Shen Ming: “Those deities are dangerous.”
“Sigh, I didn’t really want to bring this up, but there is another way to escape a sealed upper realm.” Bi Fang didn’t know the specifics, but it knew this much: “That method is extremely perilous. Deities who succeed might end up mentally broken or unstable.”
Shen Ming didn’t need Bi Fang to tell him how terrifying a deranged deity could be. Wasn’t the Vermilion Bird a perfect example?
“Anyway, the two of you need to be careful.”
Shen Ming nodded. “Alright. Don’t worry.”
Bi Fang’s feathers exploded again. “Who’s worried about you?!” But no one was paying attention to it anymore.
Bi Fang’s appearance gave Shen Ming some new insights. He was now beginning to suspect that his being struck down by the Heavenly Emperor might not have been for any other reason—just as Ye Yang had once said—but rather to protect him.
Regardless, he was determined to get to the bottom of it.
As for where to start the investigation, Shen Ming and Ye Yang exchanged a glance and spoke at the same time: “The underworld.” “The underworld!”
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