The Elder and the Gift

What was this...

Lin Suqing's legs went weak, and she collapsed to the ground. From where she was, at the highest point of the Royal Court, she could see the full form of the Fierce Beast that had descended from the sky.

Four horns, human eyes, pig ears. There was no mistake!

It was Zhuhuai, the man-eating Fierce Beast recorded in the ancient books of the Human Domain!

With a body this large, was it ten thousand years old? Thirty thousand?

It was already over two hundred zhang tall. Would such a massive body really not be crushed beneath its own weight?

Why did something like this exist...

Why had such a powerful Fierce Beast, which the immortals of the Human Domain should have slaughtered to extinction, suddenly appeared in the densely populated tribal Royal Court of the Northern Wilds...

Lord Cangxue, where was Lord Cangxue?

Buzz—

A visible shockwave emerged from the abyss-like maw of the Fierce Beast. Boundless water mist was blown away, cracks spread across the earth, and scorching magma surged from those fissures. The small lake that had been there was already gone.

After its roar, firelight lit up on Zhuhuai's forehead, and orange-red radiance flickered across its four enormous horns in sequence.

It was as though patches of burning clouds had appeared in the sky.

Lin Suqing sensed the Spiritual Energy stirring. In that instant, it seemed that the only Spiritual Energy left between heaven and earth was fire!

The flames flashed, and more than ten fireballs, each a hundred zhang in diameter, appeared from thin air before Zhuhuai's forehead. After the briefest pause, they shot toward the Royal Court.

For a long time afterward, Lin Suqing could not forget this sight:

The blazing fire rained down from the heavens, and half the Royal Court was swallowed by a sea of flames. Those who could not flee in time were engulfed by the firelight;

The mountain-like beast took a step forward, and the earth continuously split beneath the suppression of its gigantic foot. Magma poured from the ground, as if it would drown the entire grassland.

The sudden flames also awakened most of the Bear Hug Tribe members, who had been frozen stiff from excessive shock.

Before it, the ant-like people screamed in panic. The crowd that had followed Wu Wang out of the King's Tent was on the verge of collapsing.

"Don't panic!"

A furious roar!

A roar still carrying the tone of a youth suddenly echoed throughout the Royal Court!

Visible ice-blue currents gathered in the air. Right before Zhuhuai's nose, a tiny figure, no bigger than a grain of rice, raised one hand high and held aloft an already-formed iceberg.

The iceberg was still growing!

Twelve stars shone in the sky, and endless starlight frantically filled in the iceberg's jagged edges, turning it into ice spikes, into ice spears!

Great Star Sacrifice, Wu Wang!

At this moment, Zhuhuai completely ignored the 'threat' before it. It did not even spare that figure a glance, merely taking another 'slow' step forward.

Wu Wang's shout once more spread across a hundred li alongside the starlight:

"General Xiong San! Emergency Evacuation Plan Three!

Abandon the Royal Court immediately! Everyone, leave at once! Carry the elderly and children beside you! I'll draw it away!

Blow the horns! Light the wolf smoke!"

Before the word 'smoke' had faded, the sharp ice spear, now dozens of zhang tall, crashed fiercely toward Zhuhuai's forehead as Wu Wang slashed down with his right hand.

But...

The colossal beast did not react in the slightest. It stared at the Royal Court and stepped forward, allowing that long Solid Ice spear to smash against its brow.

It seemed to produce only a light slap.

The iceberg shattered outright, and in exchange, the beast's head merely trembled slightly.

Wu Wang seemed to have expected this. His cloak fluttered as he once again drew down starlight;

Six Crystal Balls flew from the leather pouch at his waist. They swiftly floated behind him, then exploded together, condensing into a 'six-pointed snowflake' several zhang wide.

Star Invocation Technique: Extreme Cold Wind!

Ice spears, each several zhang long, rapidly formed around Wu Wang. They then tore through the air with sharp whistling howls, shooting madly at the Fierce Beast's face.

The helmet on the young beast's upper jaw concealed Wu Wang's face, making his expression impossible to see.

His figure wheeled about, like a tiny snowflake dancing before Zhuhuai's beastly head.

This time, Wu Wang pressed even closer, diving straight at the giant beast's right pupil.

He absolutely could not let it unleash another barrage of fireballs!

"Look at me!"

Wu Wang shouted, hoping to draw at least some of its hatred this way. Yet the giant beast remained completely unresponsive, continuing forward at its original pace.

Even when the ice spears struck its supposedly most vulnerable eyes, they could not cause so much as a bloodshot streak to appear in those human-like eyeballs.

The veins on Wu Wang's arms bulged, while transparent feathers rapidly gathered behind him.

Puff!

A pair of radiant wings formed from ice crystals appeared behind Wu Wang. The ice wings beat furiously, carrying him soaring into the sky.

If the front would not work, then he would attack from above!

He had been the closest before. If he did not step forward to draw this Fierce Beast's attention, who else could?

Inside and outside the Royal Court, the terrified crowd seemed to find something to lean on. Memories awakened within them—memories of their ancestors carving out a place to survive in the Northern Wilds.

General Xiong San stared at the figure shooting into the sky and shouted at the top of his lungs:

"Young Master, run! This isn't an ordinary ten-thousand-year Fierce Beast!"

But he had no Star Invocation Technique. His loud voice alone could not possibly let Wu Wang hear him.

What had the Young Master said just now? Emergency Evacuation Plan Three...

"Damn it!"

Xiong San gritted his teeth and stomped his foot. Turning around, he began roaring without pause. Wolf riders relayed his cries again and again, and the area around the Royal Court instantly boiled with voices.

One muscular man and woman after another, built like iron towers, stepped forward and slung the people beside them over their shoulders, running toward the open lands.

Those giant wolves had gone weak in the legs and could no longer gallop. Their owners carried them over their shoulders as well, racing north and south to avoid the west, directly before the Fierce Beast.

The priests...

The priests...

General Xiong San abruptly turned around and saw those scattered figures clad in long robes.

They were kowtowing and praying to the Fierce Beast.

"Carry them away too! At a time like this, they're still worshipping?!"

Meanwhile, in the flame-wreathed Royal Court.

"What are you doing?"

Amid the spreading flames, Lin Suqing flung out waterballs one after another. Spiritual Energy wrapped around her body, and movement talismans had been affixed to her long dress as she rescued people with everything she had.

When she reached one spot, she halted in stunned disbelief. Before her was a gathered crowd, continuously kowtowing toward the distant Fierce Beast.

These people wore priests' robes. Each of them looked terrified, their voices choked with sobs, yet they kept shouting, "This is the Star God's gift," and "Thank the Star God for His blessing."

"What are you doing?"

Lin Suqing asked again. Looking at these old priests, whose strength rivaled Immortal Cultivation experts of the Human Domain, she said, "You call this a gift?

This is a Fierce Beast!

This is a man-eating Fierce Beast!

Shouldn't you be supporting the Young Master? The Young Master went to draw away this Fierce Beast so everyone could retreat, and you—you're kneeling here doing what?!"

Yet those figures merely lay prostrate in worship, offering no response to Lin Suqing's cries or questions.

"Sigh."

A soft sigh suddenly sounded by her ear.

"Miss Lin, don't blame them.

In the Northern Wilds, beasts that fall from the sky are gifts bestowed by the Star God. It is only that sometimes, such gifts exceed what we can bear."

Lin Suqing turned around. She first saw the young girl pushing a wheelchair, then her gaze settled upon the thin, aged figure seated in it.

This wheelchair had clearly come from the Young Master's hand.

And Lin Suqing had seen this aged figure once before. She was Wu Wang's grandmother, the previous Chief Priest of the Bear Hug Tribe.

"Miss Lin," the Old Chief Priest asked gently, "could you carry me to the front?

My clansmen will not let these old bones of mine take risks, but now, only I can help my grandson."

"You..."

Lin Suqing's voice trembled, and her gaze flickered away slightly, but she quickly made her decision.

High in the sky, the air had already grown thin.

Wu Wang spread his hands, rapidly chanting incantations one after another. The ice wings on his back greedily absorbed Star Power.

Another iceberg formed beneath his feet. The twelve stars above his head seemed within reach, while below, thick smoke billowed from the earth, whose curvature was already visible.

The iceberg was fifty zhang in diameter and over a hundred zhang tall.

Wu Wang suddenly lowered his head and spat out blood. Violent dizziness flooded his mind. This was already his limit.

But it was not enough!

For this Fierce Beast to support such an enormous body, its physical strength had surely reached an astonishing level!

Whenever the giant beast stepped upon the earth, what appeared to be magma erupting was actually the product of its own 'force field,' reinforcing the ground's endurance so it would not sink into the earth.

There were too many legends in the Northern Wilds about such Fierce Beasts—such Fierce Beasts known as gifts from the Star God.

Attacking tribes was their custom!

The most recent incident had been three hundred years ago, when the Kuafu Tribe, once the strongest tribe of the Northern Wilds, was suddenly attacked by a Fierce Beast of this level one night.

The Kuafu Tribe's Royal Court had turned into a sea of flames. The tribe never recovered, and its current strength ranked even below the Bear Hug Tribe!

Why had it drawn such a Fierce Beast here?

Had the help he had secretly given the tribe destroyed the balance of the Northern Wilds?

Shaking his head hard, Wu Wang drove away these thoughts. He suddenly bit the tip of his tongue, and bloodshot veins filled his eyes.

The iceberg beneath his feet began growing again.

Wu Wang brought his hands back before his chest and rapidly formed seals. Layers of fierce wind wrapped around the iceberg's exterior.

The entire iceberg resembled a spinning top rotating at breakneck speed.

If he simply threw the iceberg down from the sky, the heat caused by frictional resistance would melt it before it reached the ground. The only result would be giving the Fierce Beast a bath.

But the combination of wind- and ice-type Star Invocation Techniques could both cleverly protect the iceberg from touching the frictional heat and suitably adjust its trajectory during descent.

Whether this was the correct way to use the Star Invocation Technique, Wu Wang did not dare make such a boast.

But this was already the limit of what Wu Wang could do!

Wu Wang flipped through the air, spreading the ice wings behind him as both hands pressed against the iceberg.

The necklace around his neck slipped from his collar and floated before Wu Wang. The emerald gemstone upon it faintly glimmered.

Mother, are you all right?

If she had not appeared in a situation like this, she must have run into trouble.

Closing his eyes, Wu Wang took a deep breath.

Success or failure would be decided in this one stroke!

He had to buy everyone enough time to evacuate!

A humming sound pounded in his ears. The starlight around the iceberg dispersed, fierce winds swept outward, and it suddenly plunged!

On the ground.

At the edge of the orderly fleeing crowd, where firelight spread everywhere.

An aura wrapped around Lin Suqing as she carried the Old Chief Priest, whose body had shriveled with age, on her back. She raced forward as if skimming the ground.

The moment she had lifted this elder onto her back, Lin Suqing's heart had clenched.

She was so light.

And her body was withered, with little life remaining.

"Miss Lin, we of the Bear Hug Tribe have failed as hosts by dragging you into such a calamity."

"The Young Master saved my life," Lin Suqing hurriedly replied. "Chief Priest, you need not stand on ceremony with me."

"Sigh." The elder lifted her head toward the giant beast steadily approaching and slowly said, "It was the strength of our Bear Hug Tribe that broke the balance of the Northern Wilds... A little farther ahead. At this distance, I do not yet have sufficient confidence."

"All right."

Lin Suqing answered. Holding her breath and focusing her mind, she changed the aura around her into the shape of a sword. Two talismans floated up on their own and stuck to her back, increasing her speed another notch.

The elder's sigh seemed to take great effort:

"Miss Lin, help me tell Ba'er that he did nothing wrong. Because of his marvelous ideas, the tribe no longer has people starving to death.

And do not blame the priests for only knowing how to pray. They have prayed to the Star God for their entire lives.

When the will of the Star God descended as a giant beast, how many of them could think that resistance was even possible?

This grandmother has lived for over six hundred years. I should have understood everything in life by now, yet even I worry whether I will suffer the Star God's punishment after death. How could they not?"

"Senior, what can we do?"

Lin Suqing asked in a trembling voice. The closer they drew to the Fierce Beast, the more obvious the trembling of her Dao heart became.

The elder gently said, "Look to the sky."

Lin Suqing raised her head as instructed. The iceberg, wrapped in layers of fiery 'petals,' was plummeting at tremendous speed!

The radiance of ice and fire reflected off one another, while fierce winds carved streaks of azure through heaven and earth.

A trace of comfort shone in the elder's clouded eyes:

"He has always had all kinds of wild, unconstrained ideas. In all these years, this is the only time I have seen someone use the Star Invocation Technique like this.

The Northern Wilds are truly too narrow for him.

Miss Lin, take me only this far. Here will do."

Lin Suqing swiftly stopped, half-kneeling to let Wu Wang's grandmother place her feet steadily on the ground.

The elder, wrapped in a rough hemp scarf and dressed in loose robes, laboriously took two steps forward. Her left hand curled loosely, and a long wooden staff formed from thin air. She gripped it in both hands to support herself.

Then the sleeves of her loose robe slipped down. She knelt and deeply kowtowed toward the giant beast.

Lin Suqing heard the elder murmuring...

"I spent my entire life believing in the Star God, praising the Star God, looking up to the Star God. I should have been grateful for the Star God's gift.

But who would not want to protect their own family?

Light of the stars, please enfold me;

Sky and earth, please return to peace.

Ancient gods stood amid the stars, while humble living beings begged for a sliver of Your protection. The radiance of sun and moon was but an illusory mask; only the stars endured through eternity.

Stars!

The old man's voice suddenly soared. His shriveled body lifted its head and stood tall as he leaned on his staff, stepping forward one pace at a time!

The sky, once lit by firelight, filled with countless stars. Two intertwining rivers of stars blossomed with endless starlight.

The earth trembled. The great grasslands became like a heaving sea, ripples spreading layer upon layer across the ground.

Lin Suqing saw it...

Dazzling light shone around the old man. It was Spiritual Sense at its absolute peak!

An immense pressure spread from around him, even obscuring the Fierce Beast's body!

The old man raised his wooden staff high. In that instant, heaven and earth seemed to freeze. Boundless starlight gathered at the tip of the staff and surged toward the earth.

Clang!

With a crisp sound, the staff touched the ground. Nothing seemed to happen.

But in the distance!

Look at the distance!

The giant beast's "slowly" advancing body suddenly stopped. The light flashing on its forehead abruptly vanished, the lava churned up by its colossal feet ceased flowing, and spiderweb cracks spread across the earth.

A gale swept through the air, carrying away the blazing heat that filled the sky. That iceberg was already like the spear of the gods hurtling through the heavens, crashing down with unstoppable force.

Great Star Invocation Technique: Ice Star Fall!

For the first time, the human-like eyes of the Zhuhuai giant beast flickered. Its pupils lifted, staring fixedly at the rapidly enlarging icy blue.

The roar resounded across the vault of heaven.

"Miss Lin."

The old man looked at the crumbling earth in the distance, at the giant beast sinking into the ground, at the iceberg that had struck firmly against the beast's neck, and at the youth gliding safely through the air. He smiled serenely.

The divine light around the old man faded, and the brightness in his eyes slowly dimmed. The stars had vanished from the sky.

"There are no gods in the Human Domain, are there?"

"Mm."

"What a... wonderful place..."

The old man murmured. Supporting himself with his wooden staff, his already small body slowly sat down, and his aged head slowly drooped.

"Ah... great and exalted Star God, this humble servant begs for Your forgiveness..."