Not Much Different

"Roar!"

The Golden Hou also roared toward the source of the attack, poised to strike. Its power surged like ocean tides, astonishingly fierce, and its golden radiance blazed like a dazzling sun.

That crimson sword light had put it under immense pressure. Had Di Yi not reacted so swiftly, it would surely have been injured. It could sense that this was a terrifying enemy.

"A hou-like beast?"

A voice suddenly rang out. It was the divine sense of Cloud-Rushing Town's Sacrificial Spirit. Though its body was far away, its divine perception had arrived along with the crimson sword light.

It hesitated. According to the information it had received, the supposed foreign spies were a person and a strange dog, but the reality did not seem to match.

Through its divine sense, it could see only an unusual hou-like beast, with no sign of the young spy mentioned in the report.

"Are you also here to stand up for people who tried to kill me and actually attacked?" Di Yi asked. This was already the third group. Before one wave had subsided, another had risen.

"Hm?"

Cloud-Rushing Town's Sacrificial Spirit could hear his voice but could not see him, leaving it bewildered and uncertain.

Rooted in Cloud-Rushing Town, it had encountered mighty creatures from the Western Frontier and powerful humans from the Stone Kingdom Imperial Capital, yet it had never encountered an existence that even its divine sense could not detect.

Something was very wrong.

But it quickly caught the key point, picking up on the implication in Di Yi's words. The facts did not seem to match the information it had received.

"Please explain in detail." Cloud-Rushing Town's Sacrificial Spirit was no hotheaded novice. If someone it could not even perceive really were a foreign spy, he would have no need to infiltrate anything. He could simply sweep through all opposition.

Besides, even conceding every possible point, if he truly were a foreign spy, why would he expose himself and let his identity be discovered in a strategically important border town?

That would be far too unprofessional.

There had to be more to this matter, and it wanted to learn the truth. It certainly was not trying to smooth things over because it had lost its nerve. As Cloud-Rushing Town's Sacrificial Spirit, could it possibly lose its nerve? Absolutely not.

"Oh, I didn't expect someone reasonable to show up." Di Yi was surprised. He had assumed this one would refuse to listen to reason, just like the previous two groups.

After hearing Di Yi's explanation, Cloud-Rushing Town's Sacrificial Spirit understood everything.

As for whether he might be lying, it considered that utterly impossible. After all, this had happened in Cloud-Rushing Town. If it wanted to investigate, there was no way anything could be concealed from it.

Of course, its main reason was that it believed a powerful individual had no need to lie.

"I understand. This was a misunderstanding. There are indeed some vile people among humankind. I never imagined they would be bold enough to falsify information just to conceal the truth and serve their own interests." Cloud-Rushing Town's Sacrificial Spirit sounded furious. "Rest assured. As a Sacrificial Spirit, I promise that this matter will be resolved to your satisfaction."

"That won't be necessary. I've already dealt with it." Di Yi waved a hand, then stroked the Golden Hou, signaling for it to stand down.

"Safe travels." Seeing the hou-like beast leave, Cloud-Rushing Town's Sacrificial Spirit knew that the person beyond its divine perception had also set off. It then withdrew its divine sense.

The matter had been settled peacefully, but the repercussions were neither particularly large nor entirely small. It felt it would be best to warn certain people.

After all, as Cloud-Rushing Town's Sacrificial Spirit, it was effectively part of the Stone Kingdom's establishment. If some muddleheaded fools made enemies for their own people, that was one thing, but if they brought the flames down upon the Stone Kingdom itself, then...

Once they left the area under Cloud-Rushing Town's influence, the Great Wilderness appeared again, filled with towering mountains and treacherous terrain.

Compared with the Western Frontier, however, this place was much better. There were not many exceptionally ferocious creatures, and it was relatively peaceful.

After all, beyond Cloud-Rushing Town lay territory the Stone Kingdom could control. Tribes that lived off the mountains were scattered throughout it, some with populations in the hundreds, others in the thousands.

For the safety of the people within its territory, the exceptionally ferocious creatures had all been cleared out when the major towns were built, either driven away,

or killed on the spot. Of course, although that was the general state of things, this was still open territory. There might be some protection on the ground, but there was almost no defense against threats from the air.

Right then, for instance, a great bird swept across the sky above the Great Wilderness. It was enormous, clearly a hulking creature, and carried itself with imposing majesty, as though this entire mountain range had become its domain.

"Stay still. Don't cause trouble." Di Yi held back the Golden Hou, which wanted to knock the great bird out of the sky. It was flying along perfectly peacefully and had shown no hostility. There was no need to attack it.

"Whine, whine..." The Golden Hou struggled, though it did not dare use any force, merely letting out low whimpers.

It was an uncrowned king, after all. Back in its old stretch of the Great Wilderness, what bird would dare circle and soar above its head? What beast would not show it the utmost deference?

Yet what had it encountered after leaving that part of the Great Wilderness?

Those petty people hardly bore mentioning. After all, even before meeting Di Yi, it had encountered people who dared provoke it in its old home, though they had ultimately died beneath its claws.

At least that had not been an isolated occurrence.

But that bird? It had encountered others of its kind in its old stretch of the Great Wilderness, yet none had ever dared provoke it. Now this one dared fly over its head.

That was intolerable.

It felt that its dignity had been violated.

This was "rebellion"!

Within the Great Wilderness, it was the uncrowned king, with every beast and bird bowing before it. Things ought to be the same outside the Great Wilderness. It felt it should teach that bird what it meant that a king must not be insulted.

Unfortunately, it could not move. There was no way for it to teach that bird a lesson.

"All right, be good." Di Yi rubbed the Golden Hou's head, telling it not to mind the great bird.

"Roar..." With no other choice, the Golden Hou shot the great bird a furious glare, then continued onward with Di Yi.

Before they had traveled much farther, however, they saw an enormous feather skim over the treetops. There seemed to be people standing on it, while several others who looked like guards flew close to the ground.

Naturally, these people saw Di Yi and the Golden Hou, but they did not stop. From the look of things, their target seemed to be that great bird.

"A hunting party?" Di Yi watched them recede into the distance. They were probably from a nearby tribe.

Judging purely by their strength and bearing, he felt this group was far stronger than Stone Village's hunting party. But if they really intended to hunt that great bird, they would probably fail.

The Golden Hou felt no hostility toward ordinary animals. For it to feel offended and become hostile, the creature in question had to be at least a vicious beast.

"Or perhaps they're going to steal its eggs..." As far as he knew, hunting vicious beasts was extremely dangerous. Almost no one did it. At most, people would wait for the big creatures to leave their nests, then steal their young.

"Roar?" Puzzled, the Golden Hou nuzzled Di Yi, seemingly asking why they had stopped.

"The world beyond the Great Wilderness..." Di Yi withdrew his gaze, patted the Golden Hou, and continued on his way.

To him, there did not seem to be anything particularly special about the world within the Great Wilderness or the world beyond it. Apart from the land being a little larger and the people a little more numerous, the way they survived was not much different.