Yan Mo wanted to throw up the thing in his mouth. He couldn’t see it, who knows what this thing Jiu Feng had made him eat was.
What is good for birds is not necessarily good for humans
That thing got into his mouth and immediately rolled down his throat. When he wanted to puke it out, the thing slid down even faster. It was so much like a living thing, it even felt like it had countless antennae wriggling around in his mouth and throat.
“Eugh!” It’s so disgusting. In a moment of carelessness, Yan Mo let that thing slide down his throat. He tried retching it out, but no matter how much he retched, he couldn’t throw it up.
Yan Mo had no other way besides waiting until his body naturally expelled this thing from his body. If it had some sort of poison or something that would affect the human body, the guide would probably not allow it to stay inside him.
The disgusting sensation passed, and Yan Mo discovered that the taste in his mouth wasn’t bad. It’s like he had just eaten something good. His mouth was full of the lingering pleasant smell.
The taste was a bit like toasted pecans with some tea-like fragrance.
While thinking about what in the world he just ate, Yan Mo walked towards Jiu Feng and buried himself on his warm and soft belly. He made a big, big yawn. He didn’t know why, but he felt sleepy, as if he had eaten a lot and was now full.
Jiu Feng beside him suddenly cried out. “Chieerk—!”
It’s here! They actually found this place!
It? What had found this place? Yan Mo’s sleepiness instantly dissipated, he could feel Jiu Feng had stood up again and was going out towards the entrance.
“Chieek!” Go hide! Go hide in there!
“What happened? What’s out there?” Yan Mo’s blindness made this situation more difficult. He wanted to touch Jiu Feng’s head, but he only found his sturdy claws.
The little two-legs actually fumbled over to the cave entrance, Jiu Feng got angry. He used his claw to flick him back inside. “Chieeek! Chieek, chiek!” Quickly run, go run inside!
Yan Mo was flicked by Jiu Feng’s claw and fell down, even rolled on the ground.
Left with no other option, he could only slowly feel the ground on all fours. He crawled over to the back of the cave while calling Yuan Zhan in a low voice.
Yuan Zhan appeared out of the cave’s depth and grabbed him. He helped the young boy up.
Yan Mo clutched onto him, “What happened, what’s out there?”
Yuan Zhan turned to the cave entrance and his face quickly paled, “Man-eater bees! A lot of man-eater bees!”
“What man-eater bees? Fuck! Man-eater bees!” Just after asking about it, the original body’s memory flashed in his brain and informed Yan Mo what the thing was.
These man-eater bees left a deep impression in the boy’s memory. Just listening to the words ‘man-eater bees’ made the body’s instinctive fear rise.
You might only see this thing once or twice in 3 to 5 years, but once you encounter them, it’s simply a living nightmare!
The original body, luckily and unluckily, had experienced the terror man-eater bees’s attack brought to his home.
The boy had never seen man-eater bees with his own eyes. Their priest had taken him, along with the other children and people with little strength in the tribe to escape. They hide in the depths of the cave they usually use as winter shelter. They did all they could to block the entrance and stop the man-eater bees from coming in.
That time, many of their tribe warriors died.
Two years later, Zhi clan attacked them while they were still vulnerable from the sudden man-eater bees attack and losing many of their warriors.
“Once man-eater bees lock onto a prey, they will never let go. These man-eater bees will never give up, not until the prey dies or they all die! This cave is too open, there’s no place to hide. We have to go deeper inside!” Yuan Zhan pulled his hand and was about to run inside.
“Wait! What about Jiu Feng?” Can he handle those man-eater bees?
Yuan Zhan didn’t answer him. Those man-eater bees were the size of an adult’s fist and came with a large bunch, densely swarming around the bird. Jiu Feng was fighting back with his wind blades but the enemies were too many. One down, another would take its place and charge towards Jiu Feng again.
Even if Jiu Feng was the mountain god, he won’t be able to hold on for long. Once the man-eater bees got inside the cave, the two of them wouldn’t be able to escape.
“Jiu Feng left.”
“What?” Yan Mo turned his head around. He could hear Jiu Feng’s pained cries.
“We have to go now! One of Jiu Feng’s wings is hurt. He’s using his wings to blow the man-eater bees away, but it’s no use, they’re surrounding him.”
“Chieerk—!”
Yan Mo also knew that the most correct action for him now was to follow Yuan Zhan out of the cave.
But he didn’t know why, he felt as though his two feet were shackled to the ground.
“How can Jiu Feng anger those man-eater bees? How did he get hurt?” Yan Mo muttered to himself.
“Maybe he stole something important from the man-eater bees, or bumped into them on his way back and provoked them. Come on! Jiu Feng can’t hold on much longer. When those man-eater bees get to him and he gets their toxins in him, he won’t be able to run away even if he’s the mountain god! We need to leave while they’re all focused on Jiu Feng!” Yuan Zhan didn’t ask for Yan Mo’s opinion anymore. He clasped him with his arms and dragged him away.
“Chieek——!”
Yan Mo’s feet was lifted from the ground — He told himself it’s not that he wanted to leave, it’s Yuan Zhan who dragged him to leave; but Jiu Feng’s shrill call made his hands reach out for… whatever will do, as long as he could stop Yuan Zhan. He had grabbed onto the cliff rocks, and successfully stayed where he was.
“Is there any way to help Jiu Feng?” He heard himself saying.
Yuan Zhan looked at him in disbelief. “There’s no way for us to help Jiu Feng. Those are man-eater bees! Not just one or two, a lot of man-eater bees!”
“Fire!”
“What?”
Yan Mo turned to the direction of Yuan Zhan’s voice and implored him, “We can’t just leave like this, Jiu Feng did it for me… Dammit! That stupid bird!” The first time he did it was still okay, just catching back Yuan Zhan and Meng. This time, he actually provoked the man-eater bees. Even though the bird did it for him, he didn’t want to be indebted to a bird at all!
“Lead Jiu Feng to the stone house, block the door, meanwhile we’ll also fight the man-eater bees with fire.”
“There’s no torch, I didn’t bring tinder!”
Yan Mo was the type to be calmer the bigger the crisis. “You said that those man-eater bees are focused on Jiu Feng?”
“Yes.” Yuan Zhan already understood what Yan Mo wanted to do, but climbing up the cliff at this time would need more than just courage.
“Climb up with me on your back. Shout to Meng to carry over a few torches to meet up with us. After we run far enough, I’ll call over Jiu Feng so he can fly over to the stone house.” Those man-eater bees can’t kill Yan Mo. As long as he could reach the stone house, there will be a chance to turn this situation over. Compared to Jiu Feng, Yuan Zhan was… Yan Mo was glad that he had no way of seeing Yuan Zhan’s expression. You inevitably have to sacrifice something when you do anything. He compared the two choices and chose the best outcome for himself.
He was the priest acknowledged by the mountain god Jiu Feng. He couldn’t lose Jiu Feng now!
Yan Mo had thought it over. If Yuan Zhan died on the way to the stone house, he still had Meng. Meng, who would be carrying torches, wouldn’t get killed by the man-eater bees that easily.
What made him worry was the way up from the nest to the cliff. He could only pray now that Jiu Feng had taken those man-eater bees far enough that they wouldn’t notice the two humans over here.
“If you don’t want to, I can climb up by myself. That is mountain god Jiu Feng, I am the priest he chose. I absolutely can’t escape by myself at this time!” Yan Mo softened his tone, “If you want to run on your own, I won’t blame you. Put me down here, you run inside.”
If this was half a month earlier, Yuan Zhan would have put him down and run off on his own. Whether it was Jiu Feng, or Yanmo, none were on his list of things to protect with his life. Even when a group of warriors encountered predators like these bees they can’t fight off, they would have to let some people die so that others could live and secure a higher number of survivors.
“Put me down! Jiu Feng won’t last any longer.” He knew just by Jiu Feng’s anxious and furious screeches.
“What can you do if you go out?” Yuan Zhan took a deep breath, then looked out of the cave coldly. “I’ll tie you to my body, you hold on tight. I won’t be able to look after you when I’m climbing.”
Yuan Zhan had his own calculations.
Outside, Jiu Feng was doing his best to take the bees further away. He seemed to know that those man-eater bees were coming for him, he didn’t let them fly near the nest. Those man-eater bees were led away by Jiu Feng, they surrounded him and attacked him. Those bees wouldn’t be able to get close at all if Jiu Feng’s wing was not wounded, but of all the times, one of his wings was injured right now. Every time he had to flap his wings, he seemed to be hurting a lot and exerting a lot of effort.
“Your Mountain God is really good to you.” Yuan Zhan took the rope from his shoulder, told Yan Mo to climb on his back then tied Yan Mo with his body with the rope over and over, “You’re right. You’re his priest, you can’t abandon your god. And I am your chieftain, I also can’t abandon my priest and the patron god of my tribe.”
Yuan Zhan went out with Yan Mo on his back, and buried his hands into the rocks.
Jiu Feng’s eyes were sharp. He immediately found his little two-legs, who not only didn’t run to the inner cave like he told him to, but had also run out of the nest with that bigger two-legs.
Jiu Feng screeched exasperatedly. Jiu Feng actually had his own plan to lose these annoying bugs that stung and shot him stingers. He could soar high up into the sky, the wind up there was cold and harsh and man-eater bees can’t follow him there. He could stay up there and fly towards mountain peaks that emit fire and smokes, those bugs hate those mountains. He just had to wait there until he had recovered his strengths. Then, even if his wings haven’t healed thoroughly, he could kill all of those annoying bugs with his winds.
Now… If he flies off to the sky, those bugs will lose their target and immediately notice little two-legs. Little two-legs still have the smell of that thing!
“Kieeeh—!” Raising a youngling is really troublesome! Disobedient little chick will get all his fur pecked out!
“Cheeik, cheeik, chieeek——” Stupid! Stupid! He can’t hold on much longer! His wing really hurt! His head is also hurting! And his claws! His whole body hurt!
Yan Mo was stunned for a second. Jiu Feng was scolding him? Blaming him, and even calling him stupid?
He’s trying to help that silly bird, alright? Who was the stupid one, really?
He felt indignant. He, this great doctor, went out to such a big danger, rarely had a moment of ‘high moral’ to do something ‘good’. This decision might even make the guide give him another 200 scum points, and Jiu Feng called him stupid?
When you are saved later, I will make you say sorry!
Yuan Zhan couldn’t understand Jiu Feng’s calls. He could only hear the urgency in Jiu Feng’s screeches, so he quickened his speed of climbing up. Fortunately it was bright, he could see the cliff wall clearly and didn’t need to hesitate when climbing.
Some of the man-eater bees seemed to catch the smell coming from Yan Mo. Two of the bees on the periphery broke away from the encirclement and flew off towards Yan Mo.
Jiu Feng saw it and immediately spouted wind blades to kill those two man-eater bees. He didn’t know that on the back of those man-eater bees were two even smaller man-eater bees. These two were smaller man-eater bees, only the size of an adult’s thumb. These two continued to head over to Yan Mo.
The remainder of Jiu Feng’s wind blades cut into Yan Mo’s back, making two slashes on his skin.
Yan Mo hissed from the pain. The smell of his blood ended up drawing more man-eater bees to come over.
“Keeeeh—!” Stupid! Run away!
Yan Mo didn’t know that it was Jiu Feng’s wind blades that hit him. He thought the bees had attacked him, so he urged Yuan Zhan, “Hurry!”
Yuan Zhan also thought that the man-eater bees already started attacking them. His hands and feet climbed up quicker. He forced his way up against the raging mountain wind and climbed up.
The young man’s arms, wrists and fingers bore the weight of two people. He also needed to go against the mountain wind. Inserting his hands into the hard rocks wasn’t difficult, but it costs him a lot of energy to scale up the cliff at a fast speed.
Yuan Zhan reached the cliff top. He didn’t stop to catch his breath but madly rushed forward the moment his feet touched the ground. As he ran, his fingers moved up to his mouth and he blew a sharp whistle.
Meng who was anxiously waiting in the stone house heard the whistle from far away and dashed out of the house.
“Torch! Quickly, get the torches! Quick!” Yuan Zhan yelled on top of his lungs, his shouts rang in the air.
Meng turned around and burst into the house again, hurriedly lighting up two torches.
Little kid A’wu was working outside the house. He was sun-drying the animal skins. He watched Meng storming out then inside again, not knowing what Meng was doing.
Meng went out again with the torches and pointed at the house with one of them. He yelled at the kid harshly, “Get inside!”
Yan Mo asked how far they’ve gone.
Yuan Zhan was going through the small path they had made to get out of the Thunder’s Mouth. He replied, “We’ve passed the stone pillar!”
Dozens of smaller-sized man-eater bees, who had escaped Jiu Feng’s wind attacks, followed closely behind the two. They didn’t charge over and attack immediately. They flew back and forth behind Yan Mo, as if confirming something.
Yuan Zhan heard the buzzing noise from the bees, and started sweating from the pressure.
Yan Mo, who could hear the man-eater bees but couldn’t see them, stuck closer to his body and yelled, “I’ll call Jiu Feng over now, you run faster!”
Yuan Zhan moved so quickly that only his foot could be seen running into each other, he seemed like the incarnation of a warhorse.
Yan Mo himself put two fingers into his mouth and blew a whistle to call Jiu Feng, he was afraid that Jiu Feng didn’t hear it, so he made several whistles.
Jiu Feng heard it. He thought that little two-legs was in danger and was calling him to save him.
The silly bird’s head heated up. He threw away the best moment to fly into the sky, swung his wings hard to force out a path to fly through within the dense swarm of bees, and rushed towards the direction Yan Mo’s whistle came from.
Meng had met up with Yuan Zhan, who was carrying Yan Mo on his back and ran like his life depended on it. Meng urgently asked, “What happened?”
“Man-eater bees!”
Just three words, but Meng didn’t ask anymore. He gave one of his torches to Yuan Zhan and they both ran blindly to the stone house.
Meng only focused on running and didn’t notice that the dozens of small man-eater bees that followed behind the other two had all perched on Yan Mo’s back.
“Are we there yet?” Yan Mo kept asking.
“We’re there!” Yuan Zhan yanked the rope and put Yan Mo down. He and Meng quickly pulled over anything usable in the house to block the door and the window.
The little kid shrank into one of the corners, he didn’t dare come closer. Because of the angle, he was the first to find the man-eater bees hanging on Yan Mo’s back. His eyes split open, but his screams were blocked in his throat.
“Leave the door open. Ah Zhan, take out a column of the stones at the door so Jiu Feng could come inside later. Block the door after Jiu Feng gets in. Meng, move the fire in the house to the corner, don’t let it burn Jiu Feng!” Yan Mo didn’t care if the two were willing or not, he just ordered out.
Meng looked over to Yuan Zhan with doubts in his eyes.
“Explain to you later, do as he said!” There’s not enough time for Yuan Zhan to explain.
“After you’re done, someone must go out with the torch to guard the entrance, don’t let those man-eater bees enter the house!” After commanding everyone, he didn’t make more trouble for the busily running duo. He felt around for the entrance himself then put all his strength to blow out a very loud whistle toward the sky.
Jiu Feng appeared soon after, flying towards the stone house with a big swarm of man-eater bees behind him.
Yan Mo heard his cries. He waved and shouted, “Over here! over here!” He had never wished Jiu Feng could understand his words more than this moment.
Jiu Feng didn’t understand him, but he happily found the biggest hole on that annoying stone house had been opened just wide enough for him to get inside. Little two-legs were standing in front of the entrance.
But the two bigger ones are trying to drive him away using those torches he hates?
Jiu Feng was furious! He instinctively wanted to send out wind blades towards those fire-holding two-legged monsters but the little two-legs was waving at him and kept shouting something.
“Chieerk—!” Stupid! Quickly get inside and hide! Those annoying bugs are coming!
Jiu Feng circled around the stone house in the sky, no longer having the leisure to think about the two bigger two-legs. His uninjured wing slammed down again, blowing away man-eater bees who were closing in.
“Go down! Go down!” Yan Mo frantically shouted from the door.
Yuan Zhan and Meng did as Yan Mo told them, each taking a torch and rushed out to guard against the bees when they got closer.
Yan Mo had planned out everything well. Once Jiu Feng gets inside, Yuan Zhan and Meng will also get in. Close the door, block the gaps, leave a small hole on the window and lead the bees in. The man-eater bees would get in one at a time. While them, inside the house, could kill off the man-eater bees one by one.
However, most of the time, things will develop in the way you least expect it to. No matter how good your plan is, even if you only omitted sudden changes in your calculations. At execution, just a few of careless omissions could smash your plan to pieces.
Yan Mo, who had a dozen of small man-eater bees on his back, was even more clueless to this fact…
Edited by Silversun
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