At a clearing in the dense jungle, a natural hot spring was bubbling.
The spring water was so clear that one could see down to the bottom. There was a layer of white sand on the bottom of the pool. Near the mouth of the spring[1], a black flagstone had been set at the side of the pool. The spring water was constantly gushing out of the pool, flowing through few cracks on the stone surface and seeping into the ground.
Ji Wu was comfortably sitting in the warm water with his eyes closed and a smile on his face. His skin occasionally emitted a faint fiery light.
Jiang Yao, held a three-meter-long red serpent and circled around the pool while muttering a bizarre ancient spell. Her voice gradually grew louder. Suddenly, she sliced the serpent's neck with a black jade knife in her hand. Hot blood poured onto the stone and formed a dozen strange spell symbols on the stone surface.
Seven huge muscular women were standing around the pool, throwing medicinal packages made of all kinds of herbs into the water. In addition to the medicinal packages, they sometimes threw in odd things such as, an arm-long beast fangs, poison sacs from unknown creatures, and a variety of insects' bodies or carapaces[2] into the pool.
Following Jiang Yao's voice, the clear springwater gradually changed colour, turning into a pool of blood-red, thick liquid. Wisps of red smoke drilled into Ji Wu's skin. Ji Wu's body then began trembling. His tranquil expression also became twisted.
A few miles away, Ji Hao stood on a treetop and smiled as he watched Jiang Yao and Ji Wu.
The stoneman was sauntering under the tree. It felt annoyed that its body was too heavy for it to climb trees. Yet it was very curious about what they were seeing from up there. The only thing it could do was frequently look up at Ji Hao and hope that he would speak a few words.
Next to Stone was an old tree. This tree had human-limb-like branches and a mouth-like, large tree hole, from which it sipped fruit wine from a vat that it had wrapped with its branches.
Whenever Stone walked near the old tree, the tree would lash its butt with branches. However, Stone could not sense any pain as its body were made up of stones.
Sitting next to Ji Hao on the treetop was a breathtakingly beautiful girl. Leaves and vines decorated her body which made her look like a woodland fairy. She held a longbow with a charming smile on her delicate face. Her facial expression kept changing at every moment. Sometimes she frowned and pondered seriously, and in the next moment, she would suddenly raise her eyebrows and giggle.
The girl was riding a leopard which had fire-red fur with silver spots on it. This thirty-foot-long leopard was standing on a kid's-fist-thick branch, but the branch didn't even shake a bit. The beast seemed as light as a phantom and as graceful as a prince.
The stoneman was a 'Stonemlin'. The 'Stonemlin' once was an ancient stone down in the valley. Somehow, the stone had learned to absorb the life force energy from nature. Year by year, it started to grow a human-like spirit and eventually learned how to turn itself into a human shape.
The old tree was a 'Treeman'. Slightly different from Stone, this old tree was born from seeds and had grown into a mundane tree. However, this ordinary yet special tree was born with a strong spiritual power and one day, it had unexpectedly gained sentience. Since then, it had always known how to strengthen itself with the natural life force energy. After years of practicing, the old tree became a mobile Treeman with human-like limbs.
The girl named Heng Luo at Ji Hao's side was a little girl and a deity from nature. She was a 'Nymph', which was a magical creature. Heng Luo was born from the accumulation of natural life force energy and spiritual power, making her have the talent to control beasts, identify all kinds of plants, and communicate with all living creatures. She was the guardian of the jungle; the vitality of the jungle and that of her were tightly connected to each other.
Ji Hao never liked to hang around with the kids in the village. Ever since he had learned to walk, he had spent nearly all his time in this jungle. In these years, Stone, the Treeman, Heng Luo, and few other special creatures became his true friends.
Mr Crow was also standing on the treetop beside Ji Hao and Heng Luo. He turned his head sideways and cawed at them.
Heng Luo nodded; she touched a branch near her with her slim finger. Suddenly, a green sprout on that branch started to grow rapidly, quickly turning into a big flower. An intense fragrance came, along with the voices of Ji Wu and Jiang Yao from the flower.
In the jungle, every plant could become the eyes and ears of Heng Luo.
Ji Hao squatted down next to Heng Luo, quietly listening to what Jiang Yao was saying to her son.
Jiang Yao walked rapidly around the hot spring pool and constantly threw things into the water. Meanwhile, she was harshly speaking to Ji Wu.
"Wu, you're a son of mine. Your grandfather is the Master Maguspriest and a powerful leader in the Bi Fang Clan. You have noble blood, which is far better than that of the people of this humble Fire Crow Clan. How could you lose your fight against a kid four years younger than you?"
"Amma!" Ji Wu grimaced in pain then said. "He attacked me from behind! That little bastard...I won't let him have another chance at the ceremony. I will split him!" While speaking, Ji Wu waved his arms in the air excitedly.
"That's right. My son, you belong to our Bi Fang Clan, you should be way better than those Crow's people. You should kill the little bastard at the ceremony...You're my son, you can never lose to a boy of that lowly Qing Yi Clan woman!" Jiang Yao said in a cold voice.
"Qing Yi Clan woman?" Heng Luo curiously looked at Ji Hao and asked, "Is that your Amma? Hao, I like your Amma, I like her smell."
Ji Hao listened to the sounds coming from the flower and slowly answered, "I like Amma too, but it seems some people don't..."
"But Wu... No, do not kill him. You will make the blood oath[3] with Ji Hao at the worship ceremony. If one of you loses the fight, he will become the slave of the other."
"You will enslave that little bastard! You understand?" Jiang Yao paused then continued.
"I have enough slaves! Abba eliminated dozens of small clans these years, I have hundreds of slaves! I don't want him to be my slave. I want to kill him, Amma!" Ji Wu yelled when he heard what Jiang Yao said.
"You silly boy, you will enslave him." Jiang Yao narrowed her eyes and her voice turned vicious. "Enslave him... If I can't kill Qing Fu at the ceremony, we will trade Ji Hao's life for two of her treasures!"
Ji Hao heard what she said through the flower. He raised his eyebrows and applauded to this 'perfect' plan.
"Wonderful...Her husband wants to replace Abba and become the leader; she wants Amma's treasures; her son wants to kill me! What a nice family!"
While laughing, Ji Hao pointed towards the spring pool.
The Treeman opened its tree-hole mouth wide, swallowed the vat, moved its gigantic body, and slowly walked towards the pool.
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[1] The mouth of the spring: A hole where the spring water comes out from underground.
[2] Carapaces: Hard outer covering or case of certain organisms such as arthropods and turtles.
[3] Blood oath: A blood oath is when one would shed their own blood and offer it onto an altar or whatever they believed right and swore to uphold a certain task, no matter what. Also it was when a person would shed blood, usually, they'd cut their hand and then shake hands in agreement with a task they swear to uphold.
