Chapter 51: The Giant Rocs' Death
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Gu Shenwei felt he was a lonely warrior, swimming in the boundless sea. Exhausted, he saw an island by chance and landed on it. Even though he clearly knew that his destination was over the horizon and he had to continue his swimming, Gu Shenwei lingered on the island and made excuses to postpone swimming again.
The giant rocs were his island. He liked these strange creatures and even revered them.
During the past two months, unless it rained cats and dogs, he met the giant rocs every day and ate the fruit and flowers they brought. Sometimes, he chatted with them. When they were in a good mood, Gu Shenwei even could stroke their beautiful black feathers.
The giant rocs looked like imperatorial elders. They liked this unusual young man and constantly brought gifts for him. But they still behaved elegantly and only occasionally allowed Gu Shenwei to break the boundary and play with them for a while.
Before the horrible moment came, Gu Shenwei had no sense of its approach. Although Mama Xue became more and more impatient and urged him to speed up the progress of his practice, and although Shangguan Yushi often gave attitude to him because of her increasingly unconcealed hate, generally speaking, he peacefully spent the two months in Golden Roc Fort. Shangguan Ru started to trust in him. Besides, his qigong deviation did not break out. It was the most relaxing time since he had entered Golden Roc Fort.
It was too relaxing for Gu Shenwei, as such was not supposed to be the life of an avenger. If he had to find the omen of the miserable event would follow, this relaxed state could possibly have been it.
That afternoon, Gu Shenwei came to Giant Rock Cliff as usual. He tidied up and practiced Kung Fu for a while as usual. Later, the giant rocs arrived on time. They brought some big and black fruit this time. Gu Shenwei still did not know what it was, but he took a bite. To his suprise, its taste was delicious and succulent. He quickly ate it all and threw the pits away.
He chatted with two rocs about the trifles that had happened lately: Master Ru lost her favourite wooden saber. The servants did not know whether it had dropped down the cliff or not. If the rocs saw it, it would be nice if they could pick it up and bring it to him. That could be very helpful indeed.
The giant rocs could not understand human beings' words, so he just spoke thoughtlessly and did not take it seriously.
They did not stay with him too long, but today they were much more eager to leave than before. After giving the fruit to Gu Shenwei, they wanted to fly away. But they reluctantly stayed behind because of the young man's disappointed look.
They were a little bit nervous though, and kept looking and observing surroundings. The tense atmosphere became apparent and even Gu Shenwei began to get nervous. He had not realized what was going on, but waved rocs away. He said, "Just go. Come to see me tomorrow."
The giant rocs nodded. They always kept silent and never chirped. The male gaint roc spread its wings, while the female giant roc kept her eyes pointed at the young man, which seemed to show its kindness before leaving.
At this time, someone cast two enormous bird nets and ended their goodbye.
One fell from the high western wall and the other net raised from the bottom of the eastern cliff. One from the sky, one from the earth, there was no place for them to escape. The nets were approaching the giant rocs and Gu Shenwei.
The male roc had spread its wings and promptly flew up. Using its sharp beak and claws, it tore down the net from the bottom in a flash.
But the female roc hesitated. It strengthened its leg and pushed the young man away. Unfortunately, it was captured by the net descending from the eastern wall.
Gu Shenwei hit the giant stone and fell. The female roc had not pushed him fiercely, so he was not injured. At the same time, the male roc came back to the ground and helped the female roc tear the big net.
Even in such an emergent moment, they did not make a sound.
The nets lost their functionality. But the giant rocs had wasted their best chance of escaping. Nets began dropping one after another. In total five nets were capturing them. They were hemmed densely.
Gu Shenwei felt his blood rushing up, as if he were witnessing his own family being slaughtered. He let out a wild cry and rushed to the giant rocs, ripping the nets. However, what Gu Shenwei had done was just a drop in the bucket, because his Inner Strength was too weak.
The two giant rocs were struggling with all their strength. Their mighty power and the sharpness of beaks were beyond the ambushers' imagination. Within minutes, the male roc tore a hole on the top of the nets. But it did not fly away directly. Instead, it stayed to finish ripping the gap to free the female roc first.
At this moment, many ambushers jumped out from the walls and the cliff side. Everyone was in grey, which was as the same color as the stones. They also covered their faces and showed only their cold and merciless eyes.
More than a dozen people pulled down on the vast bird nets and other six ambushers ran towards the giant rocs.
Gu Shenwei tried to stop the ambusher closest to him, but the man did not even give a glance at him and kicked Gu Shenwei in his belly with his right foot as fast as lightning. Gu Shenwei flew away and hit the high wall with force, as if he had never practiced Kung Fu.
The female roc headed out from the nets but its wings were still trapped by them. The six ambushers threw ropes, separately entangling their necks.
The more dangerous it was, the more calm the giant rocs became. They circled around on the spot all of a sudden. The ambushers pulling them lost their balance and had to circle with them.
Noticing their enemies could hardly stand, two giant rocs rapidly pecked the ropes with their sharp beaks. The rapid speed and accurate attack could be compared to the first-class Kung Fu learner. The six ambushers nearby them hastily dodged the pecks. One of them was too late, and his eyeballs were pecked out.
Even this man was unyielding. After attacked by the rocs, regardless of the blood squirting from his eye sockets, the ambusher kept tightly holding the ropes.
While pecking the ambushers with their sharp beaks, they used their claws to rip the nets at the same time. Every time scratching the nets, they tore down a large piece. The firm and tenacious nets were as tender as weeds under their attacks.
Gu Shenwei was knocked down and watched the battle between people and rocs in horror. He could do nothing, but just silently prayed in his mind. If the giant rocs could safely fly away, he would sacrifice anything, and even was willing to stop his revenge.
However, since the day his family was broken up and the members died, his prayer had never come true. The Will of the Divine always played tricks on him, giving him hope and then mercilessly taking it away.
The giant rocs were extremely powerful, even a dozen of ambushers could not easily control them. Seeing the hole becoming bigger and bigger, it would not take a long time before the rocs could fly away. If they did, the six ambushers would either release them or be dragged into the sky.
The big bird nets could not bear the rocs' scratching and finally were destroyed. The male giant roc immediately used its beak and claws to force the six ambushers to step back. Now the female roc spread its wings and prepared to leave.
Gu Shenwei had his heart in his mouth. He looked up and saw the female giant roc, its mountain-like body, wind-like wings and phoenix-like golden crest, and he yelled "Go! Go!".
The female giant roc left the ground and raised its head to the sky. Then the beautiful and unique head was suddenly cut down. Its body still maintained its flying posture. Red blood sprayed out, as if the sunset glow had tinted the sky red.
A dark shadow appeared behind the female giant roc. He was like an invisible devil and seemed to materialize out of thin air, holding a narrow and shineless grey saber, which could freeze steel into powder. Even though he killed the most beautiful and elegant creature in this world, the killer would have no regrets.
"No!"
Gu Shenwei shouted in despair. The scene seemed to take him back to the night a year ago. That night, he was forced to watch his family members as they were slaughtered and beheaded.
"No!"
At the same time, another angry shout rang out. A figure flew out from the northern giant stone. He was a man but moving like a swift bird, as if he had wings on his back.
The moment the man flew over, the female roc's body fell down. While the killer was landing, he hit the killer's chest with his palm.
The masked killer who had just killed the giant roc, had made the worst mistake in his life. His saber was useless in front of this man. After attacked by the man, he spat out blood and flew off the cliff, falling into the bottomless abyss.
The killer did not scream, because the power of that palm had already killed him.
The female giant roc fell down. Its head was chopped off by the killer and rolled on the ground, a dozen steps away from Gu Shenwei. Its yellow eyes were still open but had lost their radiance.
But the male roc's eyes, like burning flames, were emitting scorching light. It swayed its body wildly and blew violent whirlwinds with its wings. Every beak attack would peck off a killer's eyes. Every clawing would grab a piece of a killer's flesh.
People trembled with fear once they heard the killers coming. But these killers were as fragile as little children in front of the giant roc.
In an instant, the six ambushers nearest to the roc lost their lives. The man, who had jumped off from the giant rocks, had already quickly stood back. He said harshly, "I want it alive. Don't hurt it!"
More ambushers flocked in from the high walls outside the giant rocks. There were forty or fifty people in all.
The male roc stood proudly. Its feathers on the wing tip shook like sharp swords. For a moment, no one dared to challenge it.
It lowered its head and pathatically glanced at its dead lover. All of a sudden, it raised its head, its chest full of air, and the roc looked as though it had expanded its size two-fold.
Every ambusher standing here had killed millions of people. But this time, they were freaked out. No matter how the master scolded them, they just slowly and cautiously moved towards the male roc. No one wanted to be the next sacrifice.
The male roc despised these little tiny human beings. It gathered all its energy and strength. Then the roc let out its first and last chirp since it was born.
The voice, like the thunder, resounded through the sky and spread across the whole of Golden Roc Fort, and even passed further to Jade City at the foot of the mountain. People in the city were also frightened.
The sound was still lingering around the crowds for a long time after it had fallen down.
The great raven giant died. It chose to commit suicide.
All people on Giant Rock Cliff were too shocked to move. "No chirping in its lifetime. With one chirp, it would die. It's a real Golden Roc. What a pity. One had been wounded."
The man, who yelled "no" at the same time with Gu Shenwei was also dressed in grey clothes. He was of medium build with a long and slender face and sunken eyes, and was plain-looking. But his killing intent and royal demeanor could not be ignored. The killers around him could not help but lower their heads, even if stone-made Golden Roc Fort behind him seemed shorter.
Gu Shenwei once felt the strong killing intent when seeing Marshal Yang. But compared with the man, Marshal Yang's killing intent was not worth mentioning, as if a river flowed to the sea.
Gu Shenwei's sorrow and anger was suddenly replaced by the horror that came from the depth of his heart.
A masked killer walked to Gu Shenwei and knelt on the ground, one hand squeezing Gu Shenwei's neck and the other hand holding the dagger tied on his waist. He humbly asked the man in grey,
"My lord, how should we deal with this slave?"