Demon Sparrows Filling the Sky

At his words, Lin Lan saw Mu Nujiao walk up before him. An indescribable gentleness shimmered in her eyes, like flowers blooming in spring—warm and radiant. She was presumably grateful to Lin Lan as well.

"Hello, I'm Lin Lan." Lin Lan nodded, his expression unchanged.

"Hello, hello~ I'm Mo Fan, hehe~" Mo Fan appeared beside Lin Lan at some point. The moment he saw a beauty, he introduced himself with a grin.

Mu Nujiao could not help but giggle at Mo Fan. Her smile was like a lily in bloom, charming all who saw it. "Your friend is rather interesting," Mu Nujiao said, glancing at the grinning Mo Fan with her beautiful eyes.

"He's always like this. Don't mind him." Lin Lan glanced at Mo Fan and smiled calmly.

"Lin Lan, were you two raised by some great clan? That lightning just now was practically as powerful as Soul Lightning!" the Fire Element mage praised Lin Lan.

"We're not children of any great clan. We're just commoner mages," Lin Lan replied.

"Commoner mages? Don't try to fool me. I've always had a sharp eye for people." The Fire Element mage became excited, his face full of disbelief. That violent lightning was still vivid in his mind.

"Yeah~ Brother Lin, that lightning of yours was at least from a Spirit Seed. You're still in school, right~?" The Ice Element mage also did not believe Lin Lan's explanation. Lin Lan was briefly at a loss for words.

"Alright, Uncle Mu Da Long, Uncle Mu Xiang, stop asking him. It's rather impolite," Mu Nujiao said. Though she was curious too, she could tell that Lin Lan did not want to say.

"Hahaha~ Sorry about that, Brother Lin. My name is Mu Da Long. I was just curious for a moment what family had raised such a talent as you," Mu Da Long said apologetically. "Same here, Brother Lin~" Since Mu Nujiao had spoken, Mu Xiang suppressed his curiosity as well.

"It's fine. I don't mind much." Lin Lan shook his head. He could also tell that these two mages were likely only collateral members of the Mu Family, sent to help Mu Nujiao train. It seemed that Mu Nujiao's reputation as a battle-crazed woman had probably spread among the other great families because she often fought demons.

The five of them quickly left the area. Mo Fan had even collected an essence orb, which counted as Lin Lan's share, so their efforts had not been wasted. Mo Fan also took the Seven-Colored Cloud Sparrow's most valuable wings with him.

"Brother Lin, are you and Brother Mo still in school?" Mu Da Long asked curiously.

"We just graduated. I brought my brother out to hunt demons and make enough money to get by," Lin Lan replied.

"I see~" Mu Da Long understood. They had graduated from university—no wonder they looked so young yet possessed such formidable strength.

"How did you Mu Family people end up hunting demons in Roaring Town? Don't you have family-arranged training grounds?" Lin Lan asked. Having been in this world for so long, he knew that such great families arranged safer places for their younger members to train. The wilderness held far too many uncertainties.

"Because the training grounds arranged by the family were too monotonous, I asked these two uncles to help me," Mu Nujiao said with a soft smile.

"That's good too. Miss Mu, you're still in high school and already have such cultivation. That's quite outstanding." Lin Lan glanced at Mu Nujiao and praised her.

"Outstanding is too much. It's only because of my family's nurturing," Mu Nujiao replied modestly.

By the time they left the mountains, it was already noon.

"Lin Lan, to thank you, let me treat you to a meal. I've reserved a private room at the hotel." Mu Nujiao politely invited Lin Lan to eat. Mo Fan was starving, and longing gleamed in his eyes.

"No need. We still need to go back and rest. Maybe next time~" Lin Lan thought it over before declining.

"Alright, then~ We'll be back this afternoon. If you have time, you can come visit the Mu Family." There was some disappointment in Mu Nujiao's beautiful eyes, but she did not insist. She invited the two of them to visit the Mu Family another day, then the three of them left.

"Damn it, Lanzi, I'm exhausted! Do you know how tiring it was to carry those wings? Why didn't you use your storage space? And why didn't you eat when there was free food?" Mo Fan panted as he complained to Lin Lan, his resentment clearly deep.

"I'll cook for you, alright? And I can't show this ability in front of other people. Keep a low profile, understand? Don't tell anyone else that I have the Space Element either, or it might bring trouble upon us." Lin Lan cautioned Mo Fan, then stored the wings in his storage space. It seemed Mo Fan only knew what the Space Element was, but did not understand its spells yet. He also had a little way to go before grasping the principle of keeping one's abilities hidden. Still, when Mo Fan awakened the Lightning and Fire Elements, he had never intended to hide them. He wanted to play the weak and crush the strong.

"Oh, oh~" Mo Fan nodded, looking only half convinced. Lin Lan's cooking really was delicious, but in Mo Fan's view, Innate Dual Element meant giving someone a huge move when they thought you had no skills left and scaring them half to death. In short, it was meant to be used as a trump card.

"Let's go back and rest. We'll come fight again this afternoon." Lin Lan called to Mo Fan, who was still pondering behind him. Seeing Lin Lan walk away, Mo Fan hurried after him.

That afternoon, the two returned to the mountains and began another round of demon hunting. There were now more and more Demon Sparrows. Quite a few demon-hunting teams had arrived as well, and the air everywhere was thick with the aura of magic.

"Explosive Wave~ Torrential Roll." In an open area, eight people were hunting Demon Sparrows. Among them was the female mage Lin Lan had encountered when he first entered the mountains. With a third-tier mid-level Water Element spell, she transformed water into a gigantic wave and blasted it toward a large flock of Demon Sparrows. Trees snapped wherever the wave swept through, and Demon Sparrows were struck from the sky. The water's pressure crushed their bones, and dead Demon Sparrows scattered across the ground.

"Captain's awesome! Long live the captain!" the skinny mage praised her.

"Captain Cai Yun, impressive~" the captain of another team complimented Cai Yun. "Ice Lock~ Pierce." A pale blue star map appeared beneath the mage's feet, and countless ice spikes erupted from the ground, piercing the bodies of the flying Demon Sparrows. Blood slowly dripped from the tips of the ice spikes.

"Captain Guo Mo is impressive too," Cai Yun returned the compliment to the plump Ice Element mage.

As they spoke, more and more Demon Sparrows gathered overhead. Whenever they cleared out an open patch, even more Demon Sparrows would rush in to fill it, making the flock denser than before.

"Wind Disk~ Blades." Dozens of wind-forged blades swept through the air in waves, cutting toward the Demon Sparrows. A huge number of Demon Sparrows were sliced apart, their corpses carpeting the ground and fragments scattering everywhere. "Captain, we can't kill all these demons~ There are more and more of them, and my magic energy is almost drained," the mage who had mocked Lin Lan earlier said to Captain Cai Yun.

"It's fine. I'll clear them out. Ice Coffin~ Crash." Star maps formed one after another beneath Cai Yun's feet. The aura of ice continuously spread through the air, and wave after wave of frigid chill filled the surroundings. Seven star maps merged into a dazzling constellation, and icy killing intent surged forward.

Several Ice Mountains descended from the sky. Their freezing aura froze everything, and countless Demon Sparrows turned into ice statues the moment they approached, then fell from the sky. The falling Ice Mountains swept away flock after flock of Demon Sparrows, including quite a few Seven-Colored Cloud Sparrows that were struck dead. When the Ice Mountains landed, countless demon corpses lay upon the ground.

"Captain Cai Yun's Ice Coffin is becoming more and more refined," Guo Mo applauded in praise.

"Captain... they're coming again." The skinny mage trembled as he stared at the pitch-black sky ahead. Countless Demon Sparrows filled the entire heavens. Though it was clearly afternoon, sunlight could no longer be seen. The Demon Sparrows blotted out the sky and covered the sun.

I changed the town's name.