"Clang!" A clear sound rang out.
The bamboo pole he had been gripping slipped from his hand and fell to the ground without him noticing.
The pole he had just regarded as a treasured sword, the vessel for all his martial-hero dreams, now seemed utterly worthless to him. He could not even be bothered to look at it again.
His eyes grew hazy, and a trace of fascination and longing appeared on his face. He slowly raised one hand, as though trying to touch the holy light emanating from the birdman's side, and that sacred mission.
At the sight, the birdman's smile grew even brighter, and he gently stretched the enormous wings on his back.
He bent forward in midair and extended a hand as well, pointing his fingertips toward Liu Jingtang and radiating a soft white light.
Man and bird stretched out their arms. Their fingertips drew closer and closer, about to touch and complete that so-called sacred covenant.
At this critical, historic instant!
A loud cheer, tinged with mockery, suddenly came from the edge of the woods!
"Bravo! What a rendition of the world-famous Creation of Adam!"
"Did Michelangelo take a photograph of you two with a camera back then to produce that masterpiece for the ages?"
The sudden cheer instantly interrupted the covenant between Liu Jingtang and the birdman.
Jolted awake by the voice, Liu Jingtang felt another surge of inexplicable anger and burned with rage. "Why?! Why does someone always interrupt me at the most crucial moment?!"
The smile on the hovering birdman's face froze, and his gaze turned cold. He, too, seemed somewhat angry.
Almost simultaneously, both whipped their heads around and glared toward the edge of the woods where the voice had come from, wanting to see who was bold enough to disrupt and