The clouds were white.
The wind whistled past their ears.
The Green-Scaled Eagle wasn't flying very high, but it was fast.
She was clearly in excellent spirits. Every beat of her enormous wings brought a delighted, ringing cry into the rushing air.
Shi Hou sat cross-legged on her back, cradling the black pot that had rendered such great service.
"Skinny Monkey."
Shi Hao lay against the edge of the pot, his little face pressed to its side, practically drooling.
"Should we braise this lion or steam it?"
He stretched out a little hand to gesture.
"I can see its meat glowing. If we make meatballs out of it, will they light up inside my tummy?"
Shi Hou pushed his head away.
"I don't know about glowing, but I do know this thing is incredibly nourishing."
Shi Hou patted the lid, producing a few muffled thumps.
"Once we're back in the village, we'll chop up some lion's-head meatballs first and let everyone have a taste. We'll preserve the rest. There's enough to last you until you're weaned."
"I stopped drinking milk ages ago!"
Shi Hao protested, puffing out his little cheeks.
Screee!
The Green-Scaled Eagle beneath them suddenly cried out and turned her neck, her golden eyes full of eager affection.
She gently pecked Shi Hou's trouser leg with her hard beak.
"Relax. You'll get your share."
Shi Hou waved generously.
"Now that you've boarded my pirate ship... no, now that you're following me, eating rich food and drinking your fill is part of the basic package. This Suanni's organs and bones are yours."
The Green-Scaled Eagle excitedly shook her wings.
She flew even faster.
The mountain forests below raced backward, and the familiar outline of Stone Village was already faintly visible.
Shi Hou reached into his clothes and pulled out the black pig that still hadn't woken up.
Kang lay with all four feet in the air and his tongue hanging out, sleeping like a dead pig.
"Still not awake?"
Shi Hou shook the pig's head.
No response.
"What a useless lump. Dropping the chain at the crucial moment."
He stuffed the pig back into his clothes.
Shi Hou lay back, gazing at the blue sky overhead as he began reviewing the plot in his mind.
According to the original story's script, the Green-Scaled Eagle should have suffered a wing injury by now and fought her way out in a brutal breakout.
On the way back to the village, those sneaky bastards from Bei Village would ambush them.
But now...
The Green-Scaled Eagle was completely intact, bursting with life. She hadn't even lost a feather.
"Looks like you can change the plot as long as you're strong enough."
The corners of Shi Hou's mouth lifted slightly.
We've got this.
This round was a complete victory.
The instant that thought surfaced...
The Green-Scaled Eagle's left wing suddenly stiffened as she glided at high speed.
Her smooth flight path instantly became a death spiral.
"What the fuck?!"
"Auntie! What are you doing?"
The Green-Scaled Eagle was just as bewildered.
She shrieked in terror, desperately trying to flap her wings, but her left wing seemed to have suddenly stopped belonging to her. It spasmed wildly, unable to exert any force.
Shi Hou's eyes nearly popped out.
A cramp?
You're descended from a primordial remnant!
You're the overlord of the skies!
You cramped up in midflight? Does that make any sense?
This wasn't even obeying the most basic rules!
A thought flashed through Shi Hou's mind, and he brought up the system panel.
It hadn't dropped.
This wasn't a system punishment.
"A causality correction?"
Shi Hou glanced at the familiar stretch of dense forest below.
So that was it.
Even without an injury, they still had to plunge into this forest.
This damned plot inertia.
"Hold on tight!"
Shi Hou roared, sweeping Shi Hao into his arms with one hand while clamping the other tightly onto the scales on the eagle's back.
"We're crashing!"
Rumble-
The enormous green figure plunged headfirst into the dense forest below like an out-of-control meteor, accompanied by the sharp cracking of snapping trees.
Dust billowed everywhere.
Countless ancient trees thick enough to encircle with both arms snapped under the impact, startling a flock of birds into flight.
Only after skidding several hundred meters did the Green-Scaled Eagle finally come to a halt, slamming headfirst into a massive boulder.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Shi Hou pushed away the tree trunk pinning him down and climbed up, covered in dirt and dust.
The first thing he did was straighten the black pot on his back.
"Auntie, you really need to work on your piloting."
Shi Hao wriggled out from beneath Shi Hou's arm and brushed the leaves off his head, unhurt.
The Green-Scaled Eagle gave an aggrieved cry and tried moving her left wing.
It was fine.
That strange spasming sensation had vanished without a trace, as though it had never happened.
Shi Hou sneered.
Just as I thought.
This was a forced plot cutscene.
Since this was a film set, the actors must already be in position.
"Come out."
Shi Hou brushed the dust off his clothes and called toward the rustling bushes ahead.
"Stop hiding. That reek of bei could stink someone to death even upwind."
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
The bushes parted.
Dozens of figures riding giant wolves closed in, forming a fan-shaped encirclement.
Bei Village.
On the back of the giant wolf at the front sat someone who looked like a mummy.
White cloth covered his entire body, leaving only his eyes and half his nose exposed.
Those eyes were now filled with madness and venomous hatred.
Bei Feng.
"Cough, cough... I thought this would take some effort."
Bei Feng's voice was hoarse, like a broken bellows being worked.
He stared fixedly at the black pot, then glanced at the Green-Scaled Eagle beside them, who seemed to be "struggling" to rise.
"I never expected even heaven to help me."
"That beast is injured, isn't she? Can't fly anymore, can she?"
Bei Feng raised something in his hand.
A piece of bone.
It was only the size of a palm, covered in blood-colored runes and emanating a cold, sinister aura.
"This is a precious artifact bestowed by our Sacrificial Spirit."
Bei Feng's hand trembled.
"It can unleash the power of a single strike from our Sacrificial Spirit."
"You lump of charcoal, and that milk-drinking brat."
"I'll smash your bones, inch by inch!"
Shi Hou glanced at the bone.
Then he looked at Bei Feng's "I'm the greatest under heaven" swagger.
Silently, he unfastened the black pot from his back.
Thud.
The black pot hit the ground, standing in front of him.
"You talk too much."
Shi Hou picked at his ear.
"If you're going to fight, fight. I'm in a hurry to get home and cook."
"You're asking for death!"
Bei Feng bit the tip of his tongue and spat a mouthful of blood essence onto the ghastly white bone.
Buzzz-!
A sinister wind rose.
The bone floated into the air, its blood-colored runes lighting up.
An enormous, illusory image of Old Vulture took shape in midair.
Its two forelegs were especially short, its eyes sinister. It opened its bloody maw and unleashed a silent roar toward Shi Hou.
"Die!"
Bei Feng pointed a finger.
Wrapped in a foul-smelling wind, Old Vulture's phantom turned into a blood-colored torrent and lunged straight at them.
The vegetation on the ground instantly withered and blackened.
"Skinny Monkey!"
Shi Hao's little face tightened, and he moved to charge forward.
"Stay back."
Shi Hou stepped forward.
He grabbed the black pot with one hand.
"Off you go!"
Swinging his arm in a full arc, he smashed the black pot viciously into the charging Old Vulture phantom.
Boom-!
A muffled impact rang out.
The seemingly terrifying Old Vulture phantom, imbued with the divine might of the Sacrificial Spirit, failed to raise so much as a splash when it struck the black pot.
It shattered outright.
It turned into a skyful of red specks of light and vanished.
"This... this is impossible!"
Bei Feng's eyes nearly split from bulging.
That was the Sacrificial Spirit's precious artifact!
And some lousy pot had just... swatted it apart?
"There's nothing impossible about it."
Shi Hou planted the pot on the ground, shaking up a ring of dust.
"That old dog of yours has bad teeth."
"Auntie!"
Shi Hou shouted.
Behind him, the Green-Scaled Eagle had long been seething with anger.
She was the overlord of the skies. When had she ever suffered such humiliation?
Earlier, she couldn't fly. Now that she was on the ground, it was time to teach them the rules down here.
Screee!
The Green-Scaled Eagle gave a fierce beat of its wings.
Azure wind blades formed a terrifying storm.
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
The dozen or so giant wolves at the front were sliced to pieces by the wind blades before they could even scream.
The people of Bei Village fell like wheat before a scythe.
Blood flowed in rivers.
Bei Feng had been standing farther back, and the bone in his hand automatically protected its master, barely shielding him from the first wave.
He lay collapsed on the ground.
At last, he knew fear.
"Run! Run!"
Bei Feng scrambled on his hands and feet, trying to flee into the woods.
"Where do you think you're running?"
A childish voice rang out above his head.
Bei Feng looked up.
All he saw was a tiny shoe sole rapidly growing larger in his vision.
"Whose bones did you say you were going to smash?"
Shi Hao descended from the sky.
His right leg stretched taut, cleaving down like a battle-axe.
Thud!
It struck Bei Feng square in his already bandage-covered face.
This time.
There wasn't even a scream.
Bei Feng's head was driven straight into the dirt.
Before you continue