Chapter 40 – Cluck

“Give it back!” Seeing the dragon bone taken away, Yun Boquan hugged the Azure Dragon’s tail with a twisted expression.

The Azure Dragon swallowed the dragon bone in one gulp, and soon the depression on its spine returned to normal.

The hundred-meter-long Azure Dragon bent down, using its massive head to look at Yun Boquan. Opening its mouth, it spoke in human language, “You resemble Guanyue somewhat, but your soul is far inferior.”

With a gentle flick of its tail, the Azure Dragon ruthlessly cast Yun Boquan aside and swam toward Yun Xiguang.

It gazed at Yun Xiguang, its enormous eyes filled with nostalgia, and its deep voice softened. “You’re very much like Guanyue.”

Yun Xiguang placed three fingers of his left hand against his forehead, paying the highest courtesy in the Spirit Bond World to the Azure Dragon.

With my spirit platform, I honor your soul; with my spirit root bond, I honor your commitment.

The Azure Dragon’s eyes curved slightly, as if smiling, and it said regretfully, “Unfortunately, you were born too late. If you had been the one to form the contract back then, I might have stayed another generation, guarding another generation for Guanyue’s sake.”

If Yun Xiguang had been the one to form the contract with the Azure Dragon back when the Yun family did, the Azure Dragon would have agreed long ago, and no one would have dared to remove its dragon bone.

Yun Xiguang smiled without speaking.

Indeed, he had once yearned to meet the Azure Dragon, but fate played tricks on him, and ultimately, he was not destined to have a connection with it.

Now that he had the little spirit bird, even if the little spirit bird someday recovered all nine phoenix feathers and no longer needed him, he wouldn’t form a pact with another spirit beast.

Unlike the owner of the Spirit Beast Codex, who was so greedy, or like Yun Boquan, who wanted to surpass spirit beasts, Yun Xiguang felt that having one spirit beast and one pact in his life was enough.

Yun Xiguang said, “Azure Dragon, you’ve given too much to this world, to humanity, and to the Yun family. You’ve already conformed to the current Heavenly Laws, and Heavenly Fire can no longer harm you. You don’t need to form a contract with anyone anymore; you’re free.”

“Free?” The Azure Dragon raised its head and let out a distant dragon roar. With just a slight tilt of its head, it touched the clouds at the mountain peak; with just a slight flick of its tail, it brushed the ground at the mountain’s base. It could coil around the mountain peak with a gentle bend.

“I have never lost my freedom,” the Azure Dragon said. “Meeting Guanyue was forced by the Heavenly Fire, but also because I was willing to assist that young man with light in his eyes to transform into a dragon. If Guanyue hadn’t been worth protecting, it wouldn’t have mattered even if I turned to ashes in the Heavenly Fire.”

“So… how did you end up being threatened by Yun Boquan to this extent?” Yun Xiguang glanced at Yun Boquan, who couldn’t rise due to losing a section of his spine, swallowing the words he was about to say.

“I merely wanted to see the Yun family through its final journey myself,” the Azure Dragon roared toward the sky, emitting a joyful cry.

Yun Xiguang understood.

The Azure Dragon had been lying in wait, ready to strike the Yun family a heavy blow at the right moment.

Even if they hadn’t uncovered the Yun family’s plot today, the Azure Dragon wouldn’t have allowed Yun Boquan to succeed.

The reason the Azure Dragon lamented wasn’t because it was reclaiming its dragon bone, but because there was still someone carrying on Guanyue’s legacy.

The Yun family’s spirit hadn’t dissipated.

While the Azure Dragon caught up with Yun Xiguang, Li Zheng didn’t remain idle.

He had never been so powerful.

He spread his wings, each spanning a hundred meters, and with just a sweep, he created a sea of fire.

Li Zheng unleashed countless flaming feathers onto the array formation below. The flames enveloped steel-like feathers that shattered all the jade beneath the formation.

He then released flaming feathers at the six remaining elders of the Yun family, instantly striking them. They had no strength to resist, suppressed by the flames, their entire power devoted to combating the fire.

Li Zheng was ecstatic!

He stood in midair, addressing those below loudly. “The Yun family has been plotting against humanity, and the Special Affairs Bureau has obtained decisive evidence. Superiors have already dispatched personnel to surround the Yun family; you cannot escape legal punishment! I advise you to abandon resistance, cooperate with the police investigation, reveal everything you know to the police, and you may receive lenient treatment. Any resisters will be severely punished!”

Li Zheng’s eyes turned golden, his gaze like that of an eagle, surveying the Yun family’s mountain from above.

Divine Eye!

With just one glance, Li Zheng saw everything belonging to the Yun family. Those young people, looking frightened and uneasy, seemed unaware of the Yun family’s sins; these individuals were innocent. Some tried to flee with gold and silver treasures, while others actually grabbed a visiting spirit bond master from their guest rooms, attempting to use hostages to threaten the Special Affairs Bureau.

“According to the regulations of the Special Affairs Bureau, after warning suspects, if they still refuse to surrender, compulsory measures may be taken,” Li Zheng said.

He announced the Special Affairs Bureau’ rules loudly, completing the process of following procedures. Then, he unfolded his wings and spun into the high sky, raining down countless feather arrows.

The feathers landed precisely beside every Yun family member trying to escape or commit evil deeds, pinning their feet and immobilizing them.

Simultaneously, the feathers transformed into a fiery cage, trapping all these ill-intentioned people within, preventing them from committing any further evil.

At least a hundred members of the Yun family and related spirit bond masters residing on this mountain were subdued by Li Zheng in one fell swoop.

Li Zheng was already strong, but this time, he reached the pinnacle of his power!

Among the six elders of the Yun family, one was an Earth-grade spirit bond master, yet he too was subdued by Li Zheng in one move.

At this moment, his strength had reached the level of a Heaven Grade spirit bond master.

All of this was due to the tiny tuft of fluff in the Golden-Winged Great Peng’s mouth and the spiritual energy that seeped from the mountain.

Just by utilizing this tuft of fluff and tapping into a bit of that spiritual energy, he could wield such formidable power. If such strength fell into the hands of someone with malicious intentions, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Li Zheng sighed as he landed on the mountain peak.

Since the Azure Dragon was now free and signals were no longer being blocked, Li Zheng used his communicator to signal the team outside to come and arrest the Yun family members.

As soon as Li Zheng landed, Ji Xuan and the others who had managed to escape surrounded him.

Ji Xuan, showing a smile of relief after surviving the ordeal, said, “I was taken aback when Yun Xiguang suddenly turned into you inside the array formation. It turns out you had anticipated the Yun family’s trickery with the array and prepared in advance. You really made us worry for nothing.”

Two experts from the Special Affairs Bureau each gave Li Zheng a friendly punch, laughing. “Director, you scared us to death.”

Li Zheng: “…”

In fact, he had been terrified too.

The vice-principal of the Zhuzhao Academy said, “Good boy, when did your strength become so formidable? You’ve hidden it quite well! It seems the Spirit Bond World will gain another Heaven Grade spirit bond master!”

Li Zheng truthfully replied, “This time, I was influenced by the spiritual energy within the mountain and performed beyond my usual capabilities. I don’t count as a Heaven Grade spirit bond master.”

The vice-principal then looked at Yun Xiguang, who was conversing with the Azure Dragon, and said, “When did this kid become so strong?”

Ji Xuan also wondered, “Strange, I thought I saw phoenix wings behind him earlier. Could that little yellow chick really be a divine beast?”

The four people from Zhuzhao Academy exchanged glances, bursting into laughter together. The vice-principal said, “How could that little yellow chick possibly be a divine beast? Clearly, the Azure Dragon wanted to break free from the Yun family’s control and used Yun Xiguang’s hand to severely injure Yun Boquan.”

“Yeah, what phoenix wings? Although I saw them too, it must have been an illusion,” said another teacher from Zhuzhao Academy.

Seeing their reactions, Li Zheng felt they had lost their minds.

He asked incredulously, “You really think that’s just a little yellow chick?”

All of them had seen the phoenix wings behind Yun Xiguang, yet they still attributed the credit to the Azure Dragon. Were they all insane?

“Of course, look at it pecking at the ground for fun. It’s just a little yellow chick, how could it possibly be a divine beast,” said a spirit bond master from the Special Affairs Bureau.

Li Zheng looked at the “little yellow chick pecking at the ground” and saw its beak dig into the ground’s crevices. With a forceful pull, it extracted a phoenix feather shimmering with radiance.

No, make that two.

The other phoenix feather, hanging from the one Chi Qiong had pecked, flew up together.

These were clearly the physical forms of two streams of spiritual energy!

These terrifyingly powerful streams of spiritual energy were just two phoenix feathers, seemingly a part of the little yellow chick.

Could those nine streams of spiritual energy be the nine phoenix feathers of the little yellow chick?

A single phoenix feather had the power to destroy human civilization, and if the little yellow chick possessed nine phoenix feathers, what level of divine beast was he?

“You finally see it, cluck,” the Golden-Winged Great Peng sighed in his mind, speaking to him in a strong voice, adding “cluck” at the end.

“Can’t others see it?” Li Zheng asked.

“You can try asking them, cluck.”

Li Zheng said to his subordinates nearby, “He’s not pecking at the ground; he’s picking up two bleeps.”

Upon saying this, Li Zheng himself was stunned. He had clearly said phoenix feathers, so why did it turn into a censored word?

His subordinate laughed. “Director, we shouldn’t swear; we must maintain discipline!”

Only heaven knew what they mistook “bleep” for.

“Why can I see and hear it now?” Li Zheng asked the Golden-Winged Great Peng in his mind.

“It’s because I received temporary grace from the Phoenix Venerable, and you temporarily borrowed the power of the Phoenix Venerable. By relying on this power, you temporarily escaped the concealment of the laws, cluck,” the Golden-Winged Great Peng said.

“You call him the Phoenix Venerable? But during ancient times, the Buddhist divine beast, the Golden-Winged Great Peng, wasn’t necessarily of a lower rank than the phoenix, was it?” Li Zheng said.

The Golden-Winged Great Peng sighed. “It’s because the phoenix resembles its true form that it inherited the name phoenix. Its true form isn’t a phoenix, but… never mind. Before he remembers his true name, none of us can utter that name. Cluck.”

Li Zheng understood; he shouldn’t ask questions he shouldn’t.

But there was still something he didn’t understand, and he asked finally, “Why do you add ‘cluck’ to the end of every sentence? Are you a hen?”

“Tsk! It’s all because of you blind humans, who insist on calling the Phoenix Venerable a little yellow chick and praising me loudly. If I don’t pretend to be a hen and ‘cluck’ a little, I’d anger the Phoenix Venerable and be burned into roasted chicken. Can you save me then? Cluck, cluck!” the Golden-Winged Great Peng said angrily.

Li Zheng: “…”

These spirit beasts were quite adept at human affairs.

The Golden-Winged Great Peng continued, “Don’t look at how embarrassing I am. Look at the Crimson Chi next door; it’s already turned into a red bracelet. And look at that Azure Dragon; it hasn’t realized the seriousness of the situation yet. Just wait a bit, huh… cluck!”

The last “cluck” in the Golden-Winged Great Peng’s sentence was filled with schadenfreude.

The Golden-Winged Great Peng had quite foresight. As soon as it finished speaking, the Azure Dragon said to Yun Xiguang with tenderness and nostalgia, “You’ve lost your spirit bond root?”

Yun Xiguang subconsciously touched his forehead and said, “An accident.”

“No matter,” the Azure Dragon said. “I’ve gained freedom and can freely wield my abilities in this world even without a spirit bond master. You’re Guanyue’s descendant and helped me recover my dragon bone. I’m willing to protect you for another lifetime. Even if you don’t have a contract, as long as there’s an oral agreement, I can…”

Before the Azure Dragon could finish, an angry little yellow chick rushed over, aided by two phoenix feathers, and slammed into the Azure Dragon’s neck.

“Chirp chirp chirp!” Chi Qiong pointed at the Azure Dragon’s large head and unleashed a torrent of abuse.

The Azure Dragon was momentarily stunned but quickly recognized the two phoenix feathers entwined around Chi Qiong’s body and identified Chi Qiong’s identity.

“It’s you, Your Excellency!” The Azure Dragon emitted two sounds that Yun Xiguang couldn’t comprehend, but they were clearly not the words “Phoenix Venerable.”

“Chirp chirp!” Chi Qiong used his small wings to point at Yun Xiguang, seemingly telling the Azure Dragon that this was his spirit servant!

The Azure Dragon’s body trembled, causing the flowers, trees, and grass on the mountain to shake along with it.

“So that’s how it is. My eyes were dull, and I failed to recognize your pact, Your Excellency,” the Azure Dragon said.

The Azure Dragon lowered its head, suddenly feeling that letting His Excellency look up at it was disrespectful. So, it transformed into a small dragon the size of a grass rope, lying on the ground, looking up at Chi Qiong.

Chi Qiong ran forward two steps and stomped on the Azure Dragon’s body with one claw, venting his frustration with two forceful stomps.

Then he looked at Yun Xiguang, issuing another rapid series of “chirp chirp chirp,” likely blaming Yun Xiguang for trying to ride two dragons again.

Yun Xiguang was at a loss and hurriedly squatted down to soothe the little spirit bird’s emotions.

On the other side, the Golden-Winged Great Peng proudly said to Li Zheng, “See, I told you the Azure Dragon would end up lying down sooner or later. My ‘clucks’ are already pretty good, cluck!”

Li Zheng: “…”

These spirit beasts were quite adept at handling human matters.