A Chance Encounter with Crow Lord

The sky was vast and high, and the mountains and waters were beautiful.

A great flock of Iron Skylarks flew together through the sky, their clear chirps ringing out from time to time and scattering through the mountain forest.

No other bird dared approach the airspace above the forest.

The flock of Iron Skylarks flew and played without restraint. They were clearly the overlords of this airspace, with no bird able to challenge them.

Suddenly, a streak of crimson-gold light shot up from the horizon, swift as lightning as it tore across the sky.

Before the Iron Skylarks could react, the streak of crimson-gold light barreled straight into their flock.

Puff, puff!! Puff, puff!!

Dozens of explosive pops rang out as the flock of Iron Skylarks was instantly smashed apart.

Shattered feathers filled the sky, and hundreds of clouds of bloody mist burst into the air.

The skylarks, so arrogant only moments ago, could not even let out a scream. Like paper kites crushed beneath a heavy weight, they fell helplessly into the mountain forest below.

The moment the skylarks' corpses hit the ground, more than a dozen other kinds of birds sprang out of the woods. They swooped down on the corpses and pecked at them frantically, as though venting their resentment.

"Oh? I didn't notice you just now. Be more careful in your next lives."

Wentesi glanced at the flock of skylarks he had smashed to pieces, then beat his dragon wings and flew away.

He really had been thinking about something just then and hadn't noticed the little things.

Wentesi flew extremely fast, and his body was large and heavy, so he carried tremendous kinetic energy.

When he ran into little things like these, they naturally shattered on impact.

His flying speed wasn't achieved through sheer physical strength alone; magic propelled him as well.

A dragon's body was extremely heavy. Physical strength alone certainly couldn't keep such an enormous body aloft.

True dragons were magical creatures, with unimaginably vast reserves of magic in their bodies.

When they flew, the magic within them flowed of its own accord, making their bodies light and flight effortless.

That was the truth behind a true dragon's flight. Its wings served primarily to adjust direction and boost speed.

If a dragon truly relied on its wings alone, it couldn't get a hundred zhang off the ground, even if they were ten times stronger.

As he flew, Wendesi recalled the monk Wuchen from earlier and felt somewhat playful.

That monk Wuchen was quite interesting.

He had only used a little sinking-cost scheme, and Wuchen had taken the bait, offering up every last possession he owned.

Of course, that was also because of the awe Wuchen felt toward an elder's authority.

That incident also made Wentesi resolve to disguise himself as a Buddhist elder in the cultivation world.

For one thing, Buddhism had a fairly strong presence in this world, so he could be a fox borrowing a tiger's might.

For another, the special nature of his Golden Land was just right for disguising himself as a Buddhist elder. Even Wuchen, a Buddhist disciple, hadn't noticed anything amiss, so one could imagine how others would fare.

Thinking of the treasures Wuchen had carried, Wentesi chuckled.

"They're all good things. They were wasted on him, but they'll have value with me. You could say they're being put to their best use!"

Wentesi felt no guilt about it. As a red dragon, he deserved them.

The monk Wuchen lacked the wisdom and strength to keep those treasures safe, so heaven had sent Wentesi to keep them instead.

All those things were now stored among the dragon scales on Wentesi's body.

A Soul-Suppressing Bell of the [Shamanic Qi] lineage, a gold storage bracelet, a monk's robe, and a cultivation scripture for [Brahma Sound Six Consciousnesses Many Ears Penetration].

The gold storage bracelet was rather unusual. Even in the Western fantasy world, spatial equipment counted as a rare treasure.

In the past, he had always swallowed his valuables and stored them in his dragon stomach. He had never had such a convenient device, and at last he wouldn't have to use his enormous stomach for storage anymore.

At the thought of the Western fantasy world, Wendesi grew pensive again.

"Should I return to my territory now, or stay here a while longer?"

Wentesi stopped flying forward and flapped his dragon wings to hover in the air as he considered the question.

More importantly, it was far too strange that he had inexplicably crossed straight into the cultivation world during this sleeping period.

He had to find out why. If he couldn't figure it out, he might cross straight into some mighty cultivator's Pill Furnace during his next sleeping period, delivering himself to their doorstep as dragon materials.

"I'm afraid it's because of my Legendary Dragon Species, my [Rainbow Dragon] bloodline. I should see if there's a way to deal with it in the Western fantasy world?"

After a little more thought, Wendesi suppressed the urge to return to the Western fantasy world.

After pondering for a while, he said to himself:

"Since I'm here, I might as well settle in. My strength has just increased again, so I can try searching this cultivation world for treasures, cultivation methods, and the like.

That way, when I return, this trip won't have been in vain."

As the saying went, a thief never left empty-handed, and neither did a dragon.

This was also a good chance to learn more about the secrets of this world.

He had crossed over to a different place this time. Last time, he had crossed into the Xiang Region, but according to the monk Wuchen, this time he was within the Chuan Region. The two places were more than ten thousand li apart.

Besides, Wentesi didn't want to go home empty-handed, so this trip was bound to be a long one.

Ahem... the monk Wuchen's "offerings" didn't count.

As Wentesi flew, a hollow rumble suddenly sounded from his enormous stomach.

He was hungry.

During his long, seven-month sleeping period, all the nutrients in his body had gone toward nourishing his dragon body and increasing his cultivation. His stomach had long since emptied.

The hunger hadn't been very noticeable when he first woke up, but after flying for so long, he felt it much more keenly.

His stomach was growling.

Wentesi lowered his head slightly, his sharp gaze sweeping over the forests among the mountain ranges below.

He soon spotted a black-maned wild boar rooting and pecking for food in the woods.

The boar was quite large, four hundred jin by his estimate. At the sight of its sturdy form, Wentesi was reminded of the pig demon that had left him in such a sorry state.

His dragon face immediately darkened.

Of course, compared with that pig demon, this boar was a minor witch before a great one. The pig demon was as big as an elephant.

Wentesi had always been exceedingly petty. He would remember that wild boar well and get his revenge sooner or later.

Wentesi beat his dragon wings, ready to dive down and catch this boar to take the edge off his hunger.

But just as he moved, he suddenly sensed something approaching.

Since his sleep, his perception had greatly improved. Within several li, it was as good as radar, and nothing could escape detection.

He clearly sensed a trace of Yao Qi approaching at great speed.

"A demon?"

Wentesi stared in the direction from which the Yao Qi was coming.

In just a few breaths, a tiny black dot shot out from the horizon, approaching Wentesi at incredible speed.

Wentesi's dragon eyes narrowed. It was a glossy black crow surrounded by a layer of white Qi, a Demon Cultivator.

When the other party flew a little closer, Wentesi finally recognized him.

Wasn't that Crow Lord?

They hadn't seen each other for a few months, and he was already in such bad shape?

Crow Lord really did look terribly haggard.

His black feathers had once been sleek and glossy, but now they were dull, with faint traces of blood on them. A piece was missing from his left talon, too; he was clearly injured.

The scars elsewhere on his body were too numerous to count.

Crow Lord also saw Wentesi hovering in the air. At first, he looked astonished by Wentesi's enormous dragon body, but then he shifted course, the air currents around him rippling as he prepared to fly around him.

He hadn't recognized the enormous creature before him as Wentesi at all.

The last time they met, "Shilongzi" had been no more than two meters long and had looked like a large lizard.

But the crimson-gold giant before him was seven meters long, with a wingspan of twelve meters. Its scales gleamed gold and red, and its presence was frightening. One look was enough to tell it was not to be trifled with; it was obviously some kind of powerful creature.

Just as Crow Lord used a [Wind Qi] demon technique and prepared to flee, Wentesi's majestic voice rang out:

"Crow Lord, we haven't seen each other for a few days. How did you end up in such bad shape?"

Crow Lord froze and flapped his wings to stop again. Still shaken, he studied Wentesi, seeming to search his memories.

After a moment, Crow Lord still couldn't remember who he was and asked in confusion:

"Which member of the Feather Race are you? I don't think I've ever met you!"

Wentesi chuckled softly and said with a teasing note:

"You don't even recognize me? I'm that Shilongzi you used to call me.

Last time, you tried to trick me out of my spirit resources with the 'Hairy Head Sun Method.' I exposed you, and you even had to compensate me with a second-grade fire virtue cultivation method. Have you forgotten already?"

At those words, Crow Lord's eyes darted around, and understanding dawned on him.

"So it's you! Shilongzi!"

Crow Lord seemed surprised and curious and wanted to ask something else, but Wentesi interrupted him:

"Weren't you in the Xiang Region? How did you end up in the Chuan Region? And judging by the way you look, what injuries have you suffered?"

Crow Lord's old face reddened slightly, and he looked embarrassed as he cawed:

"Don't even mention it. I'm being hunted right now, by that stinking golden eagle and stinking firebird.

They're right behind me! I can't talk now; I have to run!"

With that, he prepared to beat his wings and flee.

Wentesi spread his dragon wings and blocked Crow Lord's path.