When the sun was rising, Ji Hao was standing in the yard, gazing at the rosy sun.
Last night, with the help of Ji Kui and the other elders, Ji Hao made a companion beast contract with Mr Crow. Mr Crow was nearly a thousand years old; he was even more powerful than some ordinary Senior Magi.
Once the contract was made, Mr Crow's vast bloodline power had gushed into Ji Hao's body in a rapid stream. Mr Crow's power had instantly awakened Ji Hao's bloodline power, promoting him to the Level 11.
Ji Hao slowly stretched his arms and legs in the yard.
Inside his body, tens of red-colored vein-like lines had appeared; these lines had interwoven and formed into meridians. Ji Hao's blood was continuously flowing through the meridians. Even without having to jump into his spiritual space, he could perceive those faint light spots which were twinkling on his meridians. These spots were the Magus Acupoints contained in Ji Hao's blood, passed on through the Gold Crow bloodline. None of them had been awakened as of yet.
With the flowing of Ji Hao's blood, these red-coloured meridians were continuously growing firm. Not long after, it had slowly started to absorb power from Ji Hao's blood.
Along with this series of move, Ji Hao sensed that a vast and mysterious power was hidden inside his body. He felt as if he only needed to improve his strength a little bit more, or maybe just wait until the right moment, this magical and great power would burst out of his body. This was a gift he received from his Gold Crow bloodline.
In the room, Ji Xia and Qing Fu were still sleeping.
Even though Ji Hao had dealt with the fire forces, their bodies and souls were badly injured by the fire.
Ji Hao was trying to cure their bodies and souls with the power of the [Nine Secret Words], which would take a few days. They needed to rest, which was why Ji Hao hadn't woken them up yet.
The fat bear was lying near the door on its own stomach. Mr Crow had currently shrunk his body into one-foot tall, stood on the bear's head, and picked a piece of meat. After he had made the companion beast contract with Ji Hao, he was allowed to freely shrink or enlarge his body size.
After a while, the gate of the yard was unexpectedly pushed open by a young man who was wearing a simple leather armour,while holding a spear and carrying a wooden shield. The young man walked into the yard, took a glance into the window and nodded towards Ji Hao.
"Hao, how's my uncle and auntie?" Said the young man.
Ji Hao turned around, looked at the young man for a while, and answered, "Abba...and Amma, they've had Ji Tu's medicine earlier. Now they're getting better...They just need to rest. They'll...they'll be ok."
The young man was Ji Hao's distant cousin, Ji Hu. Ji Hu was three years older than Ji Hao. Judging from the blood relationship, Ji Hu and his families were just distant relatives of Ji Hao and other people in their clan. However, compared to Ji Hao, whose close relatives had mostly died in battle, Ji Wu came from a large and thriving family, which was quite influential in the Gold Black Mountain.
As for Ji Hu himself, he was also talented and powerful. He had already reached the seventh level as a Novice Magus. During the last few times when they had gone hunting in groups, his good performance had caught much attention.
Normally, Ji Hao wouldn't spend his time with Ji Hu or any other kids in the village. He had always been either concentrating on studying Maguspriest witchcraft from those elders, or he had been hanging around with Heng Luo and his other non-human friends. The fact that Ji Hu had abruptly showed up, made Ji Hao wonder what he did want from him.
"Hao, we were all pissed off when we saw Ji Shu wounded uncle Xia," said Ji Hu with a deep frown, "Our Fire Crow Clan warriors should never hurt their own people! We don't want to follow his lead...We..."
Ji Hao stared at Ji Hu who was talking loudly and angrily; many thoughts flashed through his mind.
Ji Hu then took two steps forward, put his mouth close to Ji Hao's ear and said mysteriously, "Few days ago, I went up into the mountains and searched for little eagles. You know what I found? I found two 'killing vines', at least hundreds of years old! You know that the 'killing vine' can even bring the dead back to life... That pair of vines were guarded by a human-faced centipede. I tried to take them for uncle Xia and auntie Qing Fu, but it was too risky for me to challenge that centipede by myself... Why don't we go together? Let's go get those 'killing vines' and cure my uncle and auntie!"
"'Killing vines'?" Ji Hao pretended to be surprised that Ji Hu had found two 'killing vines'. He grabbed Ji Hu's shoulder and said, "Really? Let's go get them! But...human-faced centipede? I'm afraid that even the two of us together will not be able to kill that..."
Ji Hu patted his own chest and said in a low voice, "Of course not, so I brought Feng and Shui. The four of us, together! That centipede is doomed!"
"Hao, we must cure uncle Xia. As long as uncle Xia is here...he'll lead us to fight against Ji Shu...Then Ji Shu will never get what he wants! Not here, the Gold Black Mountain!" Ji Hu then continued with an enticing tone.
Ji Hao threw a sideway glance at Ji Hu. Such a perfect and naive plan, only kids would buy it.
Ji Shu had the Fire Crow Axe Cane held in his hands, which meant he had the highest power within the clan. Even Ji Kui and the other elders couldn't do anything to change that. How could it be as easy as Ji Hu had said?
Ji Hao stayed silent for a while, then held Ji Hu's hand with both of his hands and said anxiously, "Ji Hu, my brother, then let's go get those vines now! I really want to save my parents!"
He paused, then lowered his voice and continued, "Let's sneak out, don't let others find out what we're doing...I'm afraid that there are Ji Shu's people in the village..."
"Ha, you're very thoughtful. If someone tells Ji Shu, he will send people to hold us back! You know...we're only kids, we can't bear to fight against those elite warriors."
Ji Hao nodded to Ji Hu, then whistled. Mr Crow flapped his wings and landed on Ji Hao's shoulder.
Ji Hu took a glanced at Mr Crow. There were countless small crows like this out there, as weak as ordinary birds. Nothing to worry about, he thought.
"Let's go. Hopefully, we can make it quick and come back early. Hmm...Hao, come, this way...We better don't let others see us. Let's take that trail in the woods..." Ji Hu led the way and got into the woods.
Around half an hour later, they met with the other two young men and sneaked out of the valley, then headed up towards the mountains.
