"Abba!" Jiang Yao looked at the bearded man timidly.
Jiang Yao's father? The Master Maguspriest of the Bi Fang Clan, Jiang Bo? Ji Hao had been concentrating on their talk.
"You're just too stupid. That's why you could only marry Ji Shu. Your sister was much wiser than you so she deserved to marry that lord!" Jiang Bo yelled at his daughter in front of Ji Shu and the other man.
The corners of Ji Shu's mouth suddenly twitched downward after he heard what Jiang Bo had said. Although Ji Bo was talking to Jiang Yao, from his words, it was easy to tell that Ji Shu wasn't a big deal to Jiang Bo. His stupid daughter, Jiang Yao, married him but Jiang Yao's sister who was a lot smarter than her, had been engaged to a man who was much more influential than Ji Shu.
Ji Shu had been hurt by Jiang Bo's words, but he didn't say anything. After all, the Bi Fang Clan which had dominated the Southern Wasteland was incredibly powerful. Since Jiang Bo was their Master Maguspriest, Ji Shu wouldn't even dare to offend him.
The other man glanced at Jiang Yao with a look of dissatisfaction on his face. He slightly stretched his body, then a loud noise came from inside his body. His bones were as hard as iron, able to mimic the sound of a hammer hitting on an iron whenever his joints clicked.
"My people checked the place where they had been attacked. We used seven kinds of sharp-nosed and well-trained animals, but couldn't find any trace of the attackers," said the man in a low voice. "In the Black Gold Mountain, only those few old bastards could do this."
Jiang Bo spoke coldly, "So, those old men from your clan still want Ji Xia to be the leader. Which means even if you can beat Ji Xia at the ceremony, you can't kill him. Or it'll be hard to earn loyalty from your people."
The strong man sighed, shook his head and said, "Not only that, we can't let people know that Jiang Yao and Ji Wu have been attacked either. Even though we know it wasn't the Black Water Serpent Clan, we can't do anything about it."
"What?" Jiang Yao screamed when she heard what the man said. She seemed to have forgotten that she just had been slapped by her own father.
"Abba! So, are you not gonna avenge me?" She paused for a second, then popped up her eyes and shouted in an astonished tone, "What? It wasn't the Black Water Serpents who attacked me? Did the Fire Crow Clan people attack me? I thought..."
Jiang Bo didn't even let her finish her words and slapped her again harder than the last time. Jiang Yao felt like her face was almost smashed. She coughed out some blood, then passed out.
"How could I, Jiang Bo, have such a stupid daughter?" Jiang Bo shook his head and said. "The worship ceremony is coming. Ji Shu is going to be the leader of your Fire Crow warriors. If people find out that his wife and son had been attacked and seriously injured under his protection, how can your people be convinced to follow him."
Ji Shu stomped the ground and nodded to Jiang Bo. "I will find out who did this after the ceremony," said Ji Shu.
Jiang Bo nodded and maintained his cold demeanor; he said, "For now, the most important thing is that you have to become the leader of your Fire Crow Clan warriors."
Back in the attic, Ji Hao chuckled. Ji Shu and Jiang Bo, how perfect their plan was.
Ji Hao interlocked his fingers together, while lightning flashed through his eyes. In the meantime, on the top of the tent, lightning appeared on the black crow's feathers. Its body quickly turned into a flame ball that had merged with the lightning. Soon, the small crow transformed into a palm-sized ball of flame and lightning.
Ji Hao gathered all of his internal power and somehow sent the power to the lightning-flame ball. The ball absorbed Ji Hao's power, swelled to the size of a head then quietly fell into the tent. The lightning-flame ball dropped into Jiang Yao's vat, splashing a lot of thick green drug-liquid out then quickly sinking to the bottom.
People in that tent were all shocked. Jiang Bo subconsciously transformed into a beam of fiery light, rushed out and growled, "Who was it?"
Ji Shu stepped back at first, pausing for a second. Then he dashed towards the vat and put his hand into the liquid, and tried to take the ball out of the vat. The strong man that had been standing beside him was a lot quicker than him, he had already grasped the lightning-flame ball in his hand when Ji Shu had moved.
"Wu Guan Pi Li, Tie Jia Fei Xiong, Ji Ji Ru Lu Ling." The man held the ball in his hand and casted a spell.
Ji Hao sneered with his eyes closed. He flicked his fingers and the lightning-flame ball which had the accumulation of all his internal power exploded in the man's hand, followed by a thundering noise.
The man hummed and staggered backwards. His entire body was wreathed in flames and lightning. He tightly held his hand in front of his chest to keep the lightning-flame ball from blasting out and hurting the rest of the people.
The man was quite strong. Ji Hao couldn't exactly tell how strong he was. Ji Hao had used all his power and created a lightning-flame bomb, but it only caused a few burns on his skin.
Jiang Yao and Ji Wu's vats exploded at the same time. The thick drug-liquid splashed everywhere. Both of them had already been badly injured, now they had once again been hurt by the vat's fragments, making them spit out even more blood. Especially Ji Wu, who had fallen on the ground with blood spurting out from those penetrated wounds on his belly and chest.
"Wu!" Ji Shu dashed to Ji Wu's side and pressed his hands on Ji Wu's wounds, and tried to stop the blood. He didn't even take a glance at Jiang Yao who was also lying on the ground and constantly coughing blood.
Jiang Bo came back inside the tent with a long face.
"Who did this? Who attacked us from the dark?" Jiang Bo roared in fury. Meanwhile, his delicate face showed a trace of fear. As the Master Maguspriest of the Bi Fang Clan, he had been attacked without any sign which was driving him crazy.
Ji Shu's people heard the explosion; they quietly came out of their tents and became vigilant to their surroundings.
Ji Hao's attack hadn't disturbed any of the Fire Crow Clan people, but Ji Shu and his people would definitely have an uneasy sleep tonight.
Ji Hao proudly laughed in the attic.
These Magi, indeed, had tremendous physical power. Nevertheless, without practicing their spiritual power, they couldn't understand those witchcraft such as the one Ji Hao had just casted. Even a Senior Magus like Ji Shu wasn't that hard to beat, Ji Hao thought.
He lied on the bed with a smile on his face, and silently absorbed the energy of the starlight to replenish his internal power.
