The bird was at death's door; Xuan Yang even suspected it might breathe its last at any second.
The two found a spiritual spring far from the ruins of the village. Shen Yan washed away the blood and ash from its body, while Xuan Yang, following his instructions, used his True Fire to melt a pill back into its original state of spirit herb liquid. Because he hadn't mastered the intensity of the flames, several spirit pills were incinerated into vapor by him. Finally, after a frantic struggle, he managed to obtain a small bottle of elixir liquid.
"Oh, he's one of my kind," Xuan Yang remarked as he saw the little bird Shen Yan was carrying back from the spring. He was startled to realize it was a young crow fledgling. Earlier, it had been so covered in dirt and blood that he couldn't tell, but now that it was clean, he saw it was pitch black—just like Xuan Yang.
As soon as the words left his mouth, Xuan Yang remembered that he wasn't actually part of the crow tribe. Feeling a bit dejected, he muttered to himself, "Well, I say 'same kind,' but it's not exactly the case..."
As he spoke, he poured the elixir liquid down the bird's throat.
Since the creature before him was a crow fledgling, the village that had been destroyed must have been a gathering place for the crow tribe. He wondered how many had been killed or injured, and how many Yao had managed to escape. Were this little bird's parents still alive?
Seeing Xuan Yang lost in thought, Shen Yan glanced at him. He assumed the boy was just feeling some sentimental melancholy and didn't ask for details.
The pills Zhai Bairong refined were truly potent. Even though the medicinal efficacy had dropped by half after being melted back into liquid, the little crow was pulled back from the brink of death at a visible rate. However, perhaps due to extreme shock, it did not wake up immediately after its injuries had mostly healed, remaining in a coma instead.
"What do we do now?" Xuan Yang squatted on the ground, his arms propped on his knees, cupping his face as he watched the sleeping bird.
"Let's wait," Shen Yan replied. To tell the truth, he wouldn't have bothered with this meddling from the start. However, he was also slightly concerned, wondering if the little bird had seen Xuan Yang's true form. Since they had already saved it, they might as well wait for it to wake up and gather some information.
"Oh, right! The Calamity Beast corpses!"
Delayed by the rescue, Xuan Yang only now remembered the purpose of their trip. Shen Yan gave him a flat look, saying that the space in this forest was too cramped to lay out the carcasses. They would wait until the matter of the little crow was resolved, then find a remote, wide-open area to discuss it further. Although it was hard to judge without seeing the details, they could dismantle the hides, internal organs, and spirit cores to sell separately. It would surely bring in tens of thousands of spirit stones.
"That's great! It would be even better if a few more showed up!"
Xuan Yang was very tempted by the prospect, though he didn't quite feel the reality of having earned this money himself. Thinking about how he would first show off to Nie Shiyun and the other, and then go to a restaurant for a feast, Xuan Yang couldn't help but break into a happy smile even while sitting on the dirt in the woods.
Shen Yan sighed. "I told you, they're a once-in-a-century occurrence. We were just lucky enough to be the first to run into them. And with so many of them, it's a good thing you could take them all down alone. If it were just me, I would never have taken on such a hassle."
Xuan Yang's eyes sparkled as he looked at Shen Yan, boasting, "Am I amazing or what?"
Shen Yan smiled helplessly, for once indulging him with a compliment. "Yes. Very amazing."
As soon as those words were spoken, it was as if pink bubbles were popping around Xuan Yang's head, as he immersed himself in a joy known only to him. Shen Yan mused that the boy could be this happy over a single compliment; perhaps it was because he usually didn't give him much of a kind face. Raising a child was indeed difficult. They waited for a long time, but the little crow showed no signs of waking. As night fell, the two decided to take their flying swords back to the town, resting at an inn to recover their strength while waiting for the injured bird to wake up on its own.
In truth, the little crow had no fatal injuries. It was likely just too young and had suffered too much of a shock; it remained unconscious for three whole days.
During this time, Xuan Yang was already itching to send word to Nie Shiyun. However, Shen Yan said it wasn't good to be too conspicuous outside, so he didn't dare to rashly send a letter back. Finally, feeling truly stifled, Xuan Yang asked Shen Yan to use a communication crystal to relay a message to Nie Shiyun on his behalf, under the pretext that the two of them had met by chance on the road.
This actually saved Shen Yan some trouble. He had intended to report to Nie Shiyun and Zhai Bairong anyway. This way, he didn't even need to find an excuse to slip away.
"Tell him I've struck it rich!" Xuan Yang instructed.
Shen Yan was somewhat surprised. When it came to money, Xuan Yang was usually stingy, yet he had said, "I did all the work, so I'll take sixty percent and you take forty." One had to know that based on the actual ratio of effort, it wouldn't have been excessive for Xuan Yang to take everything except the spare change.
However, in Xuan Yang's eyes, although he hadn't yet formally responded to Shen Yan's affections or admitted to anything, he already considered Shen Yan—who liked him and always looked after him—as "one of his own." Naturally, Xuan Yang was very willing to share with his own people.
On the evening of the third day, the little crow finally stirred and woke up.
"Daddy, Mommy..." The little crow began to cry as soon as it opened its eyes. Its last memory was being knocked unconscious under the ruins. Now, upon waking, it saw a human sitting in front of it with a blank expression and a gloomy aura. It was instantly terrified, thinking it had been kidnapped by the "evil humans" its kin often spoke of.
"Are you awake?" Xuan Yang had been in the outer room and ran over immediately upon hearing the noise. Sensing the aura of a fellow Yao, the little bird gradually stopped crying.
"Are you a Yao too? Why are you with a human?" The little crow pulled in its wings. Feeling that its spiritual energy was replenished, it transformed into the shape of a human boy. In human form, he looked to be only four or five years old—an age where one naturally calls for their mother upon waking.
"I'm a Yao raised by humans!" Xuan Yang puffed out his chest, looking rather proud of himself. "My name is Xuan Yang. His name is Shen Yan. What about you?"
"Wu Yi..." The child, calling himself by that name, timidly sized up the two people before him. Shen Yan hadn't spoken from beginning to end, but Xuan Yang possessed an innate friendliness that made the boy feel close to him. Since he was a Yao, he probably wouldn't sell him, right? He wasn't precious, nor did he have much cultivation; he shouldn't be worth much.
Seeing that he was full of doubts but didn't dare to speak, Xuan Yang took the initiative to answer his questions. Wu Yi was as young as he looked and had never stepped foot outside the vicinity of the crow tribe's village before. Having survived such a sudden disaster was a lot for someone of his tender age to endure.
"You said your parents are still alive?"
Wu Yi nodded vigorously. "Daddy went to resist and stall for time with the others at the start. Mommy was holding my little brother and pulling me along to escape. I tripped, and something very, very heavy pinned me down. Mommy tried to push it, but she couldn't move it no matter what..."
Xuan Yang thought to himself that it was likely that collapsed wall...
"She grabbed some villagers running past to help me, but then there wasn't enough time. She and my little brother were pulled away first... Although many of our kin died, they must be okay!" Wu Yi's eyes were full of conviction. "Daddy, Mommy, and the uncles and aunties must have gone to a safe place to take refuge. Thank you for saving me, Brother Xuan Yang, but I have to go find them now!"
With that, Wu Yi threw back the covers and prepared to jump onto the floor with his short, radish-like legs. Shen Yan finally spoke for the first time, his voice laced with helplessness. "Do you know where this is, or where they are? How do you plan to find them like this?"
"Ugh..." Wu Yi looked around belatedly. Peering down from the inn window, the evening streets were bustling with humans! He was instantly plunged into despair. In his young mind, a human settlement represented a place very, very far from their village—as far as two different worlds.
"Why are you scaring him? It's actually only a two-day trip by flying sword," Xuan Yang comforted Wu Yi, seeing him trembling with fear.
"Flying sword...?" Wu Yi tilted his head, seemingly having never heard of such a thing.
It made sense. How would a country child who had never left his village know what a flying sword was? Xuan Yang gave a brief summary. "Basically, it's a transportation tool that you get on and—whoosh—you're at your destination."
Shen Yan caught his implication and asked, "You want to take him back? The village was burned to smithereens by the Calamity Beasts. Wherever the fire of a Calamity Beast touches, not a blade of grass will grow for a hundred years. The land won't sustain anything. His tribesmen likely won't return to the original site."
"They'll have to collect the bodies at least," Xuan Yang muttered, swallowing the second half of the sentence—*if there are any bodies left that haven't been burned to ash.*
"Collect the bodies... Waaah..." Young Wu Yi, facing such a tragic disaster for the first time, thought of the kind elders in the village who might now be unrecognizable corpses. Overcome with grief, he began to cry again.
Shen Yan gave a soft "tsk," standing up with some impatience. "If you want to take him, then communicate with him clearly. I'm going to wait outside for a bit."
"Uh, okay." Xuan Yang watched Shen Yan's sudden irritable departure, bewildered. Why had the other man's mood soured so abruptly? Did he just really hate crying children?
Xuan Yang himself was still essentially a half-grown child. The only person younger than him he had ever seen was the little girl Qi Xuan'er had given birth to; he had no idea how to coax a child. He stared blankly as Wu Yi's face turned red from crying, and only after a long while did he tentatively wave his hand. "Don't cry. Based on what you said, at least your brother and mother should still be alive. I'll take you near your village. If your kin return, you'll be able to find them."
"R-really? Ugh, what about that scary monster?"
"I killed it! It's safe there now," Xuan Yang said, patting his chest.
"Wow! So amazing! Brother Xuan Yang is so amazing!" Wu Yi was innocent and simple, believing Xuan Yang's words without a doubt. Although what Xuan Yang said was true, the feeling of being trusted so easily made him very happy. Especially facing this fledgling who was half his own kind, a sense of responsibility welled up within him.
"Of course. I'm already close to reaching the Nascent Soul stage. If it weren't for that guy Nie Shiyun holding me back and not letting me... cough, I'm getting off track. Anyway, I have some business to take care of in the city for the next two days. After that, I'll take you back to the Yao tribe." Xuan Yang cleared his throat.
"Okay!" Wu Yi nodded quickly, being very well-behaved. "Brother Xuan Yang, what is 'Nascent Soul'?"
"Eh, it's the Nascent Soul stage, the Infant stage."
"I know that Foundation Establishment is the Heaven Rank! Is it even more amazing than the Heaven Rank?" Wu Yi's eyes widened.
"Yes... it's about enough to take down dozens of Heaven Ranks with a wave of the hand..." Xuan Yang felt a bit powerless facing Wu Yi's questions. In this child's mind, Foundation Establishment was already an incredibly high level; the strength of the other tribe members in the village was evident. This made Xuan Yang, who usually loved to brag, feel like he had nowhere to apply his strength.
Wu Yi said in wonder, "Then if Brother Xuan Yang came to our village, you could be an Elder!"
"Thanks, but I'm not interested." Xuan Yang's lip twitched. To go from being a genius disciple of the Cloud Clear Sect to a village Elder—that was too much of a step down.
Wu Yi, whose eyes had been red from crying just a moment ago, soon lost his immense sense of unease and sorrow through the "hundred thousand whys" exchange with Xuan Yang, becoming relaxed. Moreover, in a short amount of time, he had become very close to Xuan Yang, as if it were only natural.
"Alright, you rest first. I'm going to find Shen Yan." Xuan Yang hadn't forgotten Shen Yan's impatient departure and wanted to see what was wrong.
"That gloomy human?" Wu Yi still felt a lingering fear.
"He just looks a bit cold at first glance, but he's actually a very good person." *Especially to me,* Xuan Yang added in his head.
Wu Yi nodded dubiously and continued to ask, "Then should I call him Uncle Shen Yan?"
Xuan Yang's throat was dry from talking. He was just picking up a cup of tea from the table to moisten his throat when the question nearly made him spray it out. "W-why am I 'Brother' and he's 'Uncle'? That's a mess of generations!"
"Eh? But he's a grown-up. You're still a kid like me..."
Xuan Yang said irritably, "No, no, I'm not like you. I'm not a kid anymore, okay! I just grow slowly. Actually, I'm already over twenty years old, only... twenty-something years younger than that guy..."
As he spoke, Xuan Yang himself felt that the gap was indeed quite large. But only children calculated generations like that. In the cultivation world, a gap of ten or twenty years was perfectly normal! They were all peers!
"Anyway, he and I are about the same," Xuan Yang concluded. He didn't know why he was so obsessed with putting himself and Shen Yan in the same category, but it felt like he wouldn't be comfortable otherwise.
Wu Yi nodded. "Okay, then you're both 'Brothers'."
Only then was Xuan Yang satisfied. Imitating an adult, he patted Wu Yi's head and told him to sleep. Wu Yi, whose cultivation was still very low, still needed sleep; not long after lying down, he fell into a deep slumber.
