Abandoned Nests (continued)
Jian Mo said, slightly out of breath, "The environment here is too harsh; no wonder the animals living here aren't on guard."
Wu Jiong glanced back and said, "Let's come up and take a look when we have time."
They walked a little further and soon arrived at the place where the Honey Sparrow had built their nest.
The Honey Sparrow spotted them and flew towards them like raindrops, trying to peck at them. "Chirp! Chirp!"
Jian Mo quickly covered her face with her hands, but the Honey Sparrow still pecked her hair and back, leaving her quite disheveled.
Wu Jiong protected Jian Mo and roared at the Honey Sparrow.
The wolf howls echoed through the mountains. The Honey Sparrow paused in mid-air for a moment, then launched an even fiercer attack. "Chirp!!!"
Wu Jiong stood in front of Jian Mo, then suddenly transformed back into a giant wolf, stretching out its paws to slap him: "Roar--"
The roar created a sonic wave, causing many Honey Sparrow to lurch in mid-air, startled by the giant wolf, and flapping their wings as they turned and desperately fled into the sky.
In the blink of an eye, all the Honey Sparrow around scattered and disappeared.
Jian Mo lay beneath the wolf's belly, staring wide-eyed at everything.
The Honey Sparrow were so decisive; these little guys gave up just like that, and not a single Honey Sparrow attacked them again.
The giant wolf turned its head, grabbed Jian Mo by the collar, and gently tossed him onto its back. "Let's go take a look."
Jian Mo hugged him tightly. "Okay."
The giant wolf began to run through the mountains.
It's so high up here, and the air is so thin, but it seems to have no effect on the giant wolf.
Jian Mo looked back and saw that the bovine-like creatures that had been moving around halfway up the mountain had turned into small black dots.
However, it seems that the giant wolves could probably go up the mountain to hunt without much trouble.
They quickly ran to the edge of the cliff.
The Honey Sparrow built their nests on this barren mountain.
It wasn't noticeable from a distance, but as they got closer, Jian Mo realized that the place was densely packed with bird nests, so densely packed that it was terrifying.
Judging from the color of the nests, the Honey Sparrow must have been nesting here for a long time. Some nests are still a pristine light white, while others are black and have been largely eroded by wind and rain.
The Honey Sparrow may not have returned for various reasons, and the nest has been abandoned here.
The giant wolf ran to the edge of the cliff, put him down, turned into a human, and put on the beast robe. "Let's go collect honey."
Jian Mo nodded vigorously. "Okay!"
Wu Jiong pulled Jian Mo to the nearest bird's nest.
The Honey Sparrow's nest is somewhat like a swallow's nest, with pieces of material stuck to the stone wall to form a semi-circular nest.
Its nest was lined with hay, and on the hay were shiny, light yellow sugar cubes.
Those were sugar cubes they brewed and stored, intending to eat slowly and feed to the birds.
Jian Mo stood beside the bird's nest and could smell the sweet aroma of the sugar cubes.
It looks so tempting.
For Jian Mo now, these sparkling candies were more tempting than yellow gems.
Wu Jiong rummaged through the nests and pulled out four candies from the thirteen. "Let's take a little from each nest, and save the rest for them. Don't take them all."
Jian Mo nodded. "Will they come back?"
Wu Jiong: "Yes, building a nest is not easy. As long as the nest is not destroyed, they will come back."
Jian Mo was relieved.
They went to each bird's nest one by one, taking about a third of the sugar from each nest.
The temperature here is so low that it has frozen the sugar cubes solid.
The sugar cubes were put into the basket, and soon half a basket was filled.
Jian Mo sniffed. Although it was so cold here that he was almost catching a cold, he was truly happy.
This is all sugar!
He had previously tried his best to only manage to make a little bit of sugar syrup, but these were concentrated sugar cubes!
Very good!
They approached each bird's nest one by one, and soon arrived at an abandoned bird's nest.
Jian Mo's gaze sharpened: "This bird's nest—"
Wu Jiong also looked and said, "It looks like it's made of honey."
Jian Mo: "Right? Right? I think so too."
He reached out and gently tapped the bird's nest, then scratched it with his fingernail. "It really is made of honey!"
After tapping it, Wu Jiong confirmed, "It is indeed true."
Jian Mo's mouth dropped open as she turned to look at the abandoned bird nests covering the mountainside. "My God, this is a huge haul!"
Honey!
This high concentration of sugar has no shelf life; it probably won't expire, not even in a hundred or ten years.
Jian Mo was so excited she was almost sweating. "It really is honey! Why don't they reuse these abandoned nests? Or eat them? Such wonderful nests!"
Wu Jiong: "I don't know, but this nest must be exceptionally hard."
Jian Mo: "What?"
Wu Jiong: "Try it yourself."
Jian Mo was puzzled and gently tried to pry open the bird's nest, but couldn't budge it.
He tried a little force, but couldn't budge it.
Immediately afterwards, he used all his strength to pry the bird's nest off the ground. The nest remained firmly stuck to the stone wall, as if it had been a part of the stone wall from birth.
Jian Mo's hands were red from prying, but the bird's nest was still there. He looked at the nest in front of him, panting, "Why was it so hard to pry?!"
Wu Jiong: "They must be sticking their nests together very firmly to prevent strong winds from blowing them away. I'll go."
Jian Mo stepped aside and waited for Wu Jiong to come and break the nest.
Even Wu Jiong had to use all his strength to break the nest off.
After removing the straw from the nest, the entire nest was made of honey, shiny, hard, and extremely beautiful.
Jian Mo looked at the bird's nest, her eyes sparkling.
After discovering that the bird nests were made of honey, they broke off all the abandoned nests.
They didn't touch the nests that were in use, only the abandoned ones.