Killing the Chicken to Get the Egg
The atmosphere suddenly froze.
"You want to eat chicken?" Ji Hongxue asked in shock.
An Bulang nodded and pointed at the rooster. "This is a chicken that has become a spirit—a chicken essence!"
He added, "Chicken essence tastes the best."
The rooster exploded at once. With a strange cry, it spread its wings and flew at An Bulang with incredible speed.
A wild gale rose as the rooster leaned back, its golden talons shooting out like sharp swords and slamming fiercely toward An Bulang's chest.
If that kick landed, an ordinary cultivator at the Profound Body Fifth Layer would definitely suffer shattered ribs and collapse with grievous injuries.
It could have disdained an ant, but since an ant had stepped forward to provoke it, it did not mind teaching the other party a profound lesson!
The next second.
A pair of sturdy, powerful hands seized its heels as it pounced.
"Cluck cluck cluck?" The rooster's pupils shrank.
Before it could react, it found its body being violently hurled to the ground.
Boom!
The earth trembled, and dirt flew everywhere.
A small crater appeared on the hill.
The rooster lay in the center of the muddy pit, its entire bird still in a dazed state.
"So amazing! Even Prince De's Estate had been helpless against it, yet it was defeated in one move." Ji Hongxue covered her mouth and cried out.
An Bulang stood beside the rooster, studying the bird he had smashed into the ground. He smacked his lips. "Should I grill this chicken essence, or make soup out of it?"
The rooster shuddered all over, and a deep, booming voice rang out. "B-Boss, spare my life!"
"Ah! It spoke?!" Ji Hongxue jumped in fright.
An Bulang looked speechless. "I already said this rooster became a spirit. Isn't it normal for it to talk?"
The rooster revealed a proud expression. "Of course I can speak human language."
"Then why didn't you speak before?" Ji Hongxue asked in confusion.
The rooster glanced at Ji Hongxue. "It's like how you can speak dog language. Would you go around barking 'woof woof woof' for no reason?"
"Uh..." Ji Hongxue was left speechless.
"Who am I, Yu Aotian? What status do I possess? Why would I casually speak your crude and vulgar language?" The rooster raised its proud head.
Then, a shoe sole smashed straight into its face.
"Cluck! Boss, spare me!" the rooster screamed miserably.
"Mm..." An Bulang stepped on the rooster's head. "I'll give you one more chance to reorganize your words."
"I... I'm telling you, you'd better let me go. Your strength may be great, but my backing is not something you can afford to provoke. You have no idea what sort of existence you're stepping on..." After thinking it over, the rooster felt unwilling to accept this and directly threatened him. "Do you know what blood flows through me? Let me tell you, I—"
"Isn't it just a trace of Phoenix Bloodline in your body?" An Bulang sneered.
"Cluck?" The rooster's majestic body shuddered again as it stared at An Bulang in utter disbelief.
Its bloodline had yet to awaken. How did this youth know what bloodline was within its body?
As for Ji Hongxue beside them, she was completely dumbfounded. She muttered, "Phoenix bloodline? The bloodline of that legendary divine beast? Heavens! The guardian divine beast of Prince De's Estate actually really has something to do with a divine beast?!"
An Bulang narrowed his eyes. "Is that the sentence you came up with after reorganizing your words?"
"Uh?" The rooster realized that the other party did not seem intimidated by it at all and froze for a moment.
"Fine... Then today, I'll still be having roasted **." An Bulang finally made his decision.
"Cluck cluck cluck... You can't do this! Cluck!" The rooster finally panicked.
At that moment, An Bulang had already grabbed the rooster upside down, his other hand clutching one of its wings.
"I was wrong! I was wrong! I shouldn't have attacked you, I shouldn't have shown off in front of you, I shouldn't have looked down on you humans. I'm the trash!" Yu Aotian began his triple confession of remorse.
"Boss, please, let me go. Cluck cluck..."
The rooster began begging humbly for mercy without any regard for dignity.
"Fine, I can let you go. Give me your egg."
The corners of An Bulang's lips curled up, finally revealing his fangs.
Yu Aotian trembled. "Egg? What egg?"
Ji Hongxue also said, "Bulang, this is a rooster...?"
Then she covered her mouth and exclaimed, "You're such a pervert!"
An Bulang's face darkened. "Don't think too much. I mean that egg!"
"You have two choices. First, I slaughter you and roast you. Second, you give me the egg. Pick one." An Bulang smiled pleasantly.
The rooster's body shook violently. In the end, it could not withstand An Bulang's tyranny.
Plop.
A glittering golden egg fell onto the ground.
Ji Hongxue's mouth formed an "O."
A rooster had really laid an egg!
"Alright, you're free." An Bulang tossed the rooster aside, picked up the glittering golden egg from the ground, and nodded in satisfaction.
Yu Aotian wiped away his tears and flapped into the sky. "I, Yu Aotian, will remember today's humiliation. Just you wait!"
"Bulang, the guardian divine beast just flew away like that?" Ji Hongxue watched Yu Aotian fly farther and farther away, momentarily lost in thought.
"It came here to absorb the yang energy of this stretch of earth veins. Now that it has absorbed enough, of course it is leaving. It just never expected to encounter me before departing, so all its years of hard work ended up making a bridal gown for me..." An Bulang chuckled. "My little act of killing the chicken to get the egg went quite smoothly."
"Bad man, you actually stole someone else's baby." Ji Hongxue frowned.
"This isn't any kind of life. It's a crystallization of the essence Yu Aotian formed by absorbing yang energy. Did you really think roosters could lay eggs?!" An Bulang tapped the Woman in Red beside him on the head and laughed as he scolded her.
Ji Hongxue pursed her lips angrily and glared at An Bulang, but she had no words to refute him. Her face turned red from holding it in.
In the end, she still stubbornly said, "Anyway, what you did was wrong."
An Bulang could not be bothered with this naive woman. This world was one where the strong preyed upon the weak—where were there so many rights and wrongs?
If they really had to talk about right and wrong, what would she think if she learned that the rooster had also stolen quite a bit of the yang energy from many people in Prince De's Estate?
Of course, An Bulang would not say that. There was nothing worth saying.
"Oh, right. Tonight, I'm going to White Spring Red Courtyard in the outskirts. Second Brother said he wanted me to meet several experts who cannot conveniently show themselves at Prince De's Estate. If you don't want to come along, you can wander around Autumn Moon City." As she spoke, Ji Hongxue stuffed a stack of silver notes into An Bulang's hands. "Spend freely."
An Bulang was deeply moved. Although he wanted spirit stones more, he would reluctantly accept silver notes instead.
Though Ji Hongxue was not much to look at, she was quite sincere in how she treated others.
An Bulang took the money and immediately left Prince De's Estate. As for Ji Hongxue's suggestion that he stroll around Autumn Moon City at night?
No! He was going to stroll around for the entire day, from morning until night!
Night fell.
Tonight's sky was especially dark.
It seemed there were signs of rain.
Autumn Moon City was still brightly lit, with people coming and going in an endlessly bustling scene.
Two carriages left the lively city and headed toward White Spring Red Courtyard.
White Spring Red Courtyard was a top-class private retreat situated beside a lake, and every kind of service inside was superb.
Ji Hongxue sat in one of the carriages. As she watched White Spring Red Courtyard, its lanterns growing closer and closer, she found herself thinking of An Bulang. That man was really having the time of his life—he had taken the silver notes and run off to play, truly not accompanying her here.
Thinking of this, Ji Hongxue grew somewhat unhappy and sulked in silence.
"Third Sister, we're here."
Ji Changwu stepped down from the other sedan and spoke.
Ji Hongxue nodded and followed Ji Changwu out of the sedan.
She glanced at White Spring Red Courtyard. It was shrouded in a yellow glow and seemed somewhat quiet.
"Why is it so quiet tonight? Are there no guests?" Ji Hongxue asked.
Ji Changwu smiled. "Not everyone can afford this place. It's normal to have few guests once in a while. Come on, they're already waiting in a room."
Ji Hongxue nodded and followed the man into White Spring Red Courtyard.
"Wait... Second Prince, I feel that something is wrong with the atmosphere here."
Ji Hongxue stopped in the small garden of White Spring Red Courtyard and spoke to Ji Changwu, who was leading the way ahead.
"What's wrong, Third Sister? Everything is perfectly normal..."
Ji Changwu turned around, looked at Ji Hongxue, and grinned, baring his teeth.