468: Chapter 467: Return to Blue Island [Leave] 468: Chapter 467: Return to Blue Island [Leave] PS: I need to take a few days off, and the next updates will be pre-written drafts, so there might be typos that I can’t manage to correct in time.
As everyone probably understands, I’ve become a “sunburnt person” now…
I hope I’m Yang Kang or Yang Guo, not Yang Dingtian or Wang Chongyang…
It’s no big deal; I’ll get back to writing once my fever subsides…
My symptoms are pretty mild at the moment, just a slight fever with some dizziness, and no other symptoms at all.
Hopefully, it stay the same tomorrow.
Well, that’s not entirely true, there is one minor symptom; it seems like I’ve lost the mood for trimming the garden, my spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak…
I’ll just drink herbal tea; I won’t take anything else, watch me beat it and wait for me!
When Hou Niao returned to Blue Island for the second time, he was held aloft in the air ; he had no complaints, at least the thunderhawk wasn’t clutching his neck as it flew.
Looking down from the sky, Blue Island seemed to be a center of attraction, drawing countless creatures to converge here.
Those flying in the sky, swimming in the sea, all were creatures with a certain level of spiritual awareness, as if something invisible was drawing them in.
Hou Niao’s timing on his last visit wasn’t right, so he missed this kind of Beast Tide; but now, looking down from above, the entire massive Blue Island seemed to possess an inexplicable magical power that filled these instinct-driven creatures with allure.
This wasn’t a Beast Tide because the Sea Beasts wouldn’t come ashore, and the birds just circled above Blue Island; they held no interest in the humans on the island.
Yet, it was also a Beast Tide because a massive number of creatures were gathering near Blue Island’s waters, very close to the coastline, so close that humans had completely ceased their normal fishing activities.
On his previous visit, Hou Niao had heard from the local islanders that there was a one-month fishing ban every year, probably due to this reason.
The arrival of the Thunder Force was related to the two Primordial Magnetic Holy Mountains on Blue Island, creating some kind of mysterious interaction; one could view these two mountains as either the starting point or the endpoint of the thunder’s rise.
The Thunder Force emerged because of the two mountains, then diffused to the sea, made a circuit, and returned to the starting point in a year, the distance being less than ten thousand miles.
The natives of Blue Island were quite calm about this, as they experienced it yearly, developing a kind of mental inertia as if this were part of the world’s natural order.
To them, it was all creatures coming to court, affirming Blue Island’s stature.
Hou Niao discovered a human companion.
A Daoist of the Natural Realm was riding alone on a massive crane, hovering over Blue Island.
The Primordial Magnetic environment of Blue Island meant that humans in this region would experience restrictions on the use of Mana, a limitation that also affected Demon Beasts, which is why the Beast Tide around Blue Island behaved so docilely.
Here they would lose their Divine Skills, their ability to transform, becoming pure beasts relying on physical strength; thus, they were not willing to go onto land and court trouble.
With only a tenth of their abilities, dying here would be too unworthy.
In this sense, the two Holy Mountains rightfully served as guardians for humanity.
Deprived of demonic power, most flying creatures struggled to reach Blue Island on their own strength.
Relying solely on their physical bodies for flight, neither demon birds nor humans were inclined to place themselves in uncontrollable danger, and the more instinct-driven monsters were even more cautious, not possessing the faith to advance despite millions of obstacles.
Still, there are exceptions, this Cultivation World always has exceptions.
Some birds with incredibly strong physical bodies could still fly here under human command, as long as they had the flying strength to carry a person; or the rare kind that could maintain some demonic power under certain specific conditions.
The Jadebird was the former, with their massive size, even an ordinary Jadebird could easily carry the weight of a human.
If it were a domesticated Demon Bird pet, of course, it would be able to fly to a dangerous area like Blue Island without heeding its instinctive reluctance.
The Thunder Falcon belonged to the latter category, having a close innate connection with thunder and lightning.
Therefore, it could exert a limited amount of demonic power within the range cloaked by the thunder force.
Such power might not be enough to employ Divine Skills, but if it was just to carry someone in flight, that was still achievable.
Both Cultivators, whether willingly or by force, ended up on Blue Island in their own ways; the only difference was one rode with a commanding air, while the other arrived in a sorry state, being carried.
That was the difference between a pet and a wild beast; they certainly wouldn’t care about a Cultivator’s so-called dignity.
Both noticed each other but tacitly chose to ignore the other’s presence.
Appearing in the same place likely meant they shared a goal, making it far more probable that they would be rivals rather than friends.
Thus, a respectful distance was maintained.
Hou Niao didn’t pay much attention to this stranger; after all, Blue Island wasn’t his, he was free to come, and so were others.
In such an environment restricted by Forbidden Techniques, let alone a Cultivator from the Natural Realm, even if a Golden Core expert arrived, he would not feel intimidated.
His main focus was on the divergence of Thunder Force between the two Holy Mountains, as this was the only chance he could hope for to comprehend its mysteries.
It was the turning point between the withdrawal and release of thunder, filled with mystery and variables.
If he waited for the Thunder Force to embark on its journey again, it was highly likely to be a repeat of his arrival, and the opportunity would become even more elusive.
The thunderclouds had their final target set on the two Holy Mountains.
The Thunder Falcon, carrying Hou Niao, moved with the clouds, gradually approaching.
He could clearly see the throng of Goddesses between the two mountains performing mysterious rites, which coincided with a fixed festival of the natives over the month.
Hou Niao concentrated all his mental energy on understanding the Thunder Force, and before he knew it, he had lost track of the unfamiliar Cultivator.
In an environment where Mana couldn’t be used, without Divine Sense, monitoring other Cultivators was limited to the range of sight; beyond that was beyond his capability, and the same went for the stranger.
It was a very special day, although it was daytime, the sky was completely covered by clouds, with fierce winds, heavy rains, and constant thunder and lightning, revealing the wild frenzy of nature at this moment.
Over Blue Island Sea, Sea Beasts surfaced, and fish leapt and darted about, as if they could gain something from such unusual natural phenomena.
Between the two Holy Mountains, the Goddesses disregarded the torrential rain and thunder, dancing around the altar, singing and chanting spells in a language that was incomprehensible to others.
Sea Beasts, Mortals, Cultivators, at this moment, they were unified in their knowledge that something was happening in the natural world, but very few truly understood the mysteries within.
Hou Niao didn’t understand either; if he did, he wouldn’t have come all this way.
To him, the only way to fathom the secrets of the Thunder Force was to get closer to the Holy Mountains, much closer.
To ordinary mortals, the Thunder Force seemed to be rampaging above Blue Island, increasingly concentrating around the two Holy Mountains; but what Hou Niao felt was not the release, but rather the gathering of the Thunder Force.
It was as if a core power was flowing back to the two Holy Mountains.
According to his understanding, it seemed more like a process of reclaiming the Thunder Force before releasing it again.
In that case, being whirled around in the sky was significantly hindering his ability to grasp the profound principles involved.
Although the Thunder Falcon had never spoken and they couldn’t communicate through Divine Sense at the moment, he knew the great bird understood him.
Indeed, before his words had even faded, the Thunder Falcon loosened its claws, and Hou Niao started to free fall from hundreds of feet in the air…
“You feather-brained fool, at least lower me down a bit…”
In the rapid descent, already accustomed to flying and with excellent control over his body, he flipped himself over and spread his limbs wide to form a large ‘X’ to increase air resistance,
“You vindictive creature, sooner or later I’ll show you what’s what!”