"Hey! You crazy girl!"
Caught by surprise, Ji Hao fell hard on the ground. He threw a glance at that dagger; its surface was blue and sparkling; obviously, it had been dipped in some kind of poisonous liquid. Ji Hao numbed the pain, grabbed the girl's wrist, and spun her around with lightning speed, after which he flipped the girl's wrist with his left hand. The girl's wrist dislocated along with a click. In the meantime, Ji Hao's right hand hit on the girl's chest. He spread his fingers and sent a wisp of internal power towards the girl's heart.
Followed by a loud bang, a flame spurted out from Ji Hao's palm and burned the girl in the chest. She screamed in pain and spat out a mouthful of blood from her small, cherry-like mouth.
A lot of yellow spell-symbols appeared simultaneously on the surface of her armour. Ji Hao sensed that a great power of the earth, that had been released from the armour and wrapped around the girl's body.
Ji Hao felt as if his fists were hitting on some kind of light-shield, even creating sparks. His following attacks were all blocked by that invisible light-shield, and were unable to harm the girl again, not even for a little bit.
The girl quickly stepped back in a flurry. At the same time, Ji Hao leaped and strode forward with his eyes fixed on her.
Every step of Ji Hao caused the ground to tremble within the radius of tens of feet, causing the girl to lose her balance and fall on the ground.
The girl looked down and cast a fearful glance at her burnt armour.
"I am Jiang Xue! My father is Jiang Shu, an elder Magus of the Bi Fang Clan! How dare you wound me? You lowly kid!" She then looked up at Ji Hao and yelled at him aggressively.
Ji Hao didn't slow his pace even after he heard what Jiang Xue had said. He had even started to chant a magic spell that he had learned from those Fire Crow Clan elders in a whisper.
In the Southern Wasteland, there were no any specific differences between Maguspriests and elder Magi of clans. Some of powerful Magi even served their clans as both. Generally speaking, Maguspriests were mostly those who were good at all kinds of mysterious and powerful witchcraft. They also had the responsibility of communicating with their ancestors' souls and ensure the bloodline inheritance. Almost every Maguspriest was psychic. Maguspriests could be seen as the most powerful force of a clan, while elder Magi were mainly responsible for dealing with all kinds of administrative affairs of their clans. Although Maguspriests had slightly higher status in the clan than elder Magi, all elder Magi were still powerful and influential beings among their own clansmen.
Was Jiang Xue's father an elder Magus of the Bi Fang Clan?
"So...Your father is an elder Magus of the Bi Fang Clan...But...so what?" Ji Hao quickly walked up to her, looked down at her eyes and said harshly, "According to the rules of the Southern Wasteland, you broke into my house without any permission, which means it'll still be reasonable even if I kill you!"
"Don't you dare!" Jiang Xue screamed out of fear. But she then stood up and yelled at Ji Hao, "My father is Jiang Shu! One of the top ten elder Magi of the Bi Fang Clan! Don't you dare hurt me now!"
She gasped and continued, "You killed Ji Wu! I had just been engaged with him last year! It will be reasonable too if I kill you to take revenge for him!"
"Ha!" Ji Hao raised his eyebrows and laughed. He just had realized that this little girl was trying to take revenge for that dead kid, Ji Wu; that was why she had broken into his house and had attempted to kill him when he was talking to the mysterious man in his spiritual space.
"I didn't kill Ji Wu. It was his own father, Ji Shu. Ji Shu killed his own son! What does that have anything to do with me?" Ji Hao pointed at Jiang Xue and yelled back. "You crazy girl. Even vengeance is not an excuse for you to break into my home! Even if I kill you now, your elders can't say that I was wrong."
Jiang Xue's facial expression changed fleetingly. But then she smiled.
Ji Hao acutely sensed that somebody was behind him. He quickly interlocked his hands together and casted a spell. His body suddenly exploded into countless fiery light dots that gathered together tens of feet away. Ji Hao's body reappeared at the spot where those light dots had gathered.
A muscular man, who had been holding the fat bear down with a couple of others, now stunningly stood where Ji Hao had been standing only a second ago, with a spear held in his hands. If Ji Hao hadn't dodged away, his heart would have been pierced by now.
However, Ji Hao had dodged too quickly; neither Jiang Xue nor the man had been able to see clearly how he had done that.
"You're just a Novice Magus! I...I'm a Junior Magus warriors! How could I...How could you...Bastard! No wonder they say that you're the most talented kid in a thousand years!" the man shouted out.
Jiang Xue stared jealously towards Ji Hao.
Ji Hao had just transformed his body into light dots and avoided a sneak attack. What he had cast was a very difficult Maguspriest type of witchcraft. Only Maguspriests who were beyond the Junior Level could cast a witchcraft like that. As for those Magus warriors, no matter how strong their bodies were, they could never cast this kind of witchcraft unless they had learned how to control their spiritual power.
But Ji Hao was a Novice Magus who hadn't even awakened his bloodline power[2] yet. How could he cast a powerful witchcraft like that?
Jiang Xue's pretty face went sour and her mouth corner twitched downward. She glared at Ji Hao and yelled, "You? The most talented kid? It's not possible! I, Jiang Xue, I'm the genius of the Bi Fang Clan! I'm at the top level of Novice Magus...But...but I couldn't..."
Ji Hao glanced at her surprised. Is this crazy little girl on the twelfth level??
She seemed a year or two younger than Ji Hao, how could she be that powerful? But the Bi Fang Clan was one of the most powerful clans in the Southern Wasteland; their elder Magus' daughter must have had a lot of good tutors, Ji Hao thought.
"Yeah...that's what everybody says...That I might become the first Supreme Magus in a thousand years," Said Ji Hao proudly and threw a sideways glance at Jiang Xue in the meantime. "I started to learn all kinds of witchcraft from those Maguspriests since I was only three months old, and I casted my first spell, [Gathering Poisonous Bugs], when I was three years old."
Ji Hao laughed out loud and continued, "So...You broke into my house with your people, what do you really want? Did the Bi Fang Clan want a war with our Fire Crow Clan? Are your elders planning on killing me - a future Supreme Magus? Whatever it is, I'm not done with you...Our Maguspriests won't let you just leave."
Jiang Xue's facial expression changed again. She gnashed her teeth, and panickedly glanced at Ji Hao.
Ji Hao's words were fair and reasonable. Anything could get serious when it involved the relationship between two clans.
Jiang Xue was scared by Ji Hao's speech and didn't know how to respond. She had never been through any of this.
Back in the yard, the fat bear was still struggling and trying to get rid of those couple of Bi Fang Clan warriors. One of them had left to attack Ji Hao earlier. The fat bear took this chance and forcibly stood up; the bear let a roar out and threw two warriors away. Before the other two had realized what had just happened, their chests were smashed by the bear's palms.
The fat bear slowly rose from the ground, held its palms high and roared at Jiang Xue's face. Its sticky slobber poured out from its mouth and its beady eyes suddenly turned red.
"Ji Hao! I'm not finished with you!" Jiang Xue glared at Ji Hao and said. "I'm not here to take revenge for Ji Wu. I'm just visiting your Abba and Amma on behalf of my aunt, Jiang Yao."
She sneered and continued, "I'm just sending my best wishes to your parents. And you? You let your beast hurt my guards! I will tell my Abba and aunt about this."
Then she gnashed her teeth and quickly walked out of the yard with her guards.
Ji Hao watched her leave. His heart sank.
The worship ceremony was not over yet, Ji Shu hadn't formally become the leader either. However, the revenge had already begun.
