Chapter 27 - Little Birdie

Qu Wren, who was climbing the cliff, felt an ominous presence above him. Even so, he did not stop he moved steadily towards the blood jade root that was right in front of him. The sky rumbled and a huge purple thunder clashed down towards the cliff.

Eyes wide, he watched as it blasted, knocking something down. "What the hell was that….."

From the fumes he could see a vague human figure. 'Oh dear lord, is that a person!! I heard of heavenly lightning, is this it?!!!'

It had been taught to him by his elders once that when a cultivator reaches a certain limit in his cultivation, the heavenly lightening will descend upon thee, burning away the impurities and remodeling the flesh.

It was a type of rebirth itself.

But the thing is, these kinds of tribulations are very rare and very dangerous. Only one out of thousand cultivators survive out of this calamity.

The overwhelming scent of burning flesh explicitly meant that this said cultivator had failed in his ascend.

"That's sad..." he whispered and peaked out but another lightning came down from the sky. This time the lightning did not attack the target, but it was aimed towards him. "Oh, shit!!" he swiftly moved to the small area between the rocks and wedged himself there.

A bolt of lightning smashed down right next to his face, missing him by just a few inches. His heart pounded fast and his blood was rushing through his veins. "That…. Was scary…. Why did it try to strike me down?" he mumbled, holding his pounding chest.

Usually these tribulation clouds and thunder will only attack down the one who is going to breakthrough.

"Am I gonna go through a breakthrough as well?"

Confused, he swiftly checked his cultivation. His navel and meridians still looked the same. There was no sight of a core in his body. He silently peaked out to see the dangerous purple clouds had cleared away and bright sunlight was streaming through the fluffy white clouds. "I guess even my elders can be wrong."

He slowly wiggled out of the small space and climbed up towards the top. The blood red jade looked even more lustrous in the sunlight.

With a final jump he got to the corner of the ledge and griped the blood jade, but his hand met something soft. Surprised, he let go of it swiftly.

A Soft squeak was heard.

"Huh…." He climbed up another step and got closer. Right on top of the blood jade was a small pink bird that was squeaking softly. Its eyes were still closed and its body was featherless, showing that it was still a baby bird. He gently nudged it.

The bird moved and bit his fingers tightly.

"Ah!!" he waved his hands, but the birdie refused to let go, clinging to him like a glue. "I don't have time for this."

Ignoring the chick, he went about extracting the blood jade root from the rock.

This was one of the powerful spiritual sprit herbs that his father had written about in his book. It usually grew on top of spirit stone hoards or in a place with ample spiritual energy. Even the clam doctor once mentioned that the extract from this herb could bring a dead man back to life.

This herb grew differently compared to the plants. The roots grow outwards and the plant grows inwards away from the sun. If the stem is damaged, the root looses all its spiritual energy.

With a small dagger, he slowly chipped away the nearby rocks. Green crystal like rocks tumbled down from its sides to expose a pair of white translucent leaves.

"Wow, it really looks like my father's record." he gently pulled the small plant out and put it in his pocket. Only after which he glanced at the chick that had clamped down onto his fingers. The little birdie was at least as big as his palm. Usually only eagle chicks and hawk chicks are that big.

"Makes sense. Eagles build nests up high. Maybe this chick's nest must have been at the top."

The chick squawked loudly and with his finger still in its mouth.

"Well….. Hachin might get hungry. And this one looks plump."

The chick squawked and let go of his hand. But wren swiftly caught it and put it inside his shirt. "He-he, got a spirit plant as well as lunch. What a catch,"

He happily climbed down from the cliff and ran through the sandy beach. "Hachin!! Look I got it!!! I got you the blood jade root. It will heal your stomach ache," he shouted as he ran to the familiar tree. He bent down and crawled under a low-hanging branch to get inside the small shape they hid.

But there was no trace of anyone inside.

"Hachin?"