Chapter Seventeen: Caiyao’s Origins – Part Two

In the depths of the Dark Forest, Caiyao’s small frame actually gave her a certain advantage. She darted left and right, squeezing through the smallest gaps, turning sharply at every fork, while the Blue Luan Bird, being larger, found it much more difficult to follow. Yet the bird was powerful, charging after Caiyao with relentless force, crashing through trees and causing a great stir among the beasts of the forest.

The Crimson Phosphor Twin-Tailed Serpent, which He Tianshu and his companions had previously been hunting, had been frightened by the imposing presence of the Blue Luan Bird. The Blue Luan was its natural enemy, and the serpent, believing itself the target, fled in terror—only to run right into He Tianshu’s group and be captured on the spot.

Caiyao, though she had been wounded earlier, was now running with all her might, but the distance between her and the Blue Luan Bird was closing rapidly. At that critical moment, Li Sibai appeared in front of her. Focused solely on escape, she ran straight into his arms. In the ensuing chaos, both she and Li Sibai were seized by the Blue Luan Bird. Fortunately, Li Sibai’s senior brothers and sisters acted swiftly; seeing their junior taken, they unleashed their celestial swords, grievously wounding the Blue Luan Bird and rescuing both Li Sibai and Caiyao.

In truth, He Tianshu and Yao Xueqing were not weak, but harming a divine beast like the Blue Luan Bird was no easy feat. Their celestial swords, however, were truly formidable. Moreover, the divine bird, caught off guard by the presence of such powerful weapons, had not expected that a mere sweep of its wings would not suffice to scatter them. Instead, it was wounded by their blades.

Of course, Caiyao and the others could not have known these details.

Having listened to Caiyao’s tale, Li Sibai was both astonished and delighted. Astonished that little Caiyao turned out to be a Rainbow Mystical Bird—a creature of divine rank—and that the old tree spirit was even more formidable, having met the Patriarch Yuxu and possessing ten thousand years of cultivation, surpassing even the celestial level. Such beings he had only ever read about in the "Treatise on Rare Creatures," yet now they stood before him. Delighted, for these extraordinary beings were his friends, and he himself, almost unwittingly, had ascended another level. This would make entering the inner sect this year and discovering his true origins all the more attainable.

Still, worry gnawed at him. There was demonic and monster tribe battle energy within his body. Could he be related to those tribes?

"Could I possess the bloodline of the monster tribe?" Li Sibai muttered to himself.

After Pangu separated heaven and earth, the pure essence of the world rose and became the exclusive domain of the divine realm, while the impure descended to the mortal world. The path of cultivation for immortals was to absorb the pure essence and refine it into true qi, thus replacing the turbid energy within. The monster tribe, however, absorbed the pure essence and refined it into battle energy for the same purpose. As for the demon tribe, they seemed born for battle energy—natural vessels of it. The six realms were entangled yet separate: gods and demons, immortals and monsters, humans and ghosts—parallel lines that never intersected. Yet now, in Li Sibai, the rules appeared to have made an exception.

Li Sibai had always believed himself to be an ordinary human, with only turbid energy within, able to absorb the pure essence of heaven and earth and, through the Xuantian Technique, refine it into true qi to replace the turbid energy, thus cultivating as an immortal. Yet his progress was slow; the true qi barely circulated a single cycle before dissipating, and he had long been unable to break through the third level of the Fengchu Realm. Now, discovering battle energy within, he wondered what effect it would have on his cultivation. It seemed he would have to wait for the old tree spirit to awaken for answers.

By now, the sun was nearly set, its last rays struggling to pierce the depths of the Dark Forest, as if to make its presence known to Li Sibai and Caiyao. Li Sibai looked up at the sky, then at the old tree spirit and Caiyao, shaking his head with a wry smile.

“Well, it seems we’ll have to spend the night here. Is it safe, Caiyao?”

“Don’t worry, brother. This is the deepest part of the Dark Forest, the old tree spirit’s domain. Few beasts dare venture here. However…”

“However, what?” Li Sibai asked.

“However, those who do are all celestial-ranked beasts.” Caiyao giggled.

Li Sibai was speechless—he couldn’t tell if she was joking or serious. Yet her expression showed no sign of concern, making it hard to believe her words.

“Then you can protect me, right?” Li Sibai asked shamelessly.

“I’m afraid not. I can’t defeat them,” Caiyao replied.

“But you’re a divine beast, surely you’re stronger than me?”

“I am a divine beast, but I only evolved after eating your millennium snow lotus a few days ago. Besides, I’m a support-type divine beast, and my offensive power hasn’t developed yet. Still, they won’t be able to bully me. I can protect myself, but I can’t promise to protect you—it’s a matter of life and death.”

“Ah… so that’s how it is.” Li Sibai felt a tinge of disappointment but soon realized it was better not to rely on others if he wished to grow.

Support-type divine beast? He vaguely remembered reading about such creatures in the "Treatise on Rare Creatures," but none matched Caiyao’s description.

“So what are your support abilities?” Li Sibai asked.

“I can assist your training, brother.”

“And besides that?”

“Well… not for now. If you feed me more delicacies, maybe I’ll unlock more as I level up.”

Li Sibai was utterly speechless. He had truly encountered a gluttonous bird with an insatiable appetite. The very thought made his head ache.

“So, what would you like to eat tonight? I’ll go find something for you,” he offered.

“No need, brother. There’s a hot spring nearby, rich with precious herbs. I’ll go find something to eat there. Just stay here and don’t wander off—I’ll be back soon.”

“All right then. I’ll wait here. Take care of yourself, and if things go wrong, just run—you said you’re a support-type divine beast, after all.”

“Don’t worry, brother. My wounds are almost healed, and my cultivation has advanced greatly these days. There’s nothing in this forest that can threaten me—unless…”

Li Sibai was about to ask “unless what?” but Caiyao refused to answer. Transforming into her rainbow bird form, she flapped her wings and soared away.

Li Sibai watched her fly until she vanished from sight, silently wishing her well: “I hope she doesn’t run into that Blue Luan Bird again.”

After Caiyao left, Li Sibai steadied his mind. Suddenly, his stomach grumbled in protest. He had entered the Dark Forest at dawn and now, with dusk falling, had eaten nothing all day, his nerves stretched taut. Only now, as he relaxed, did hunger strike.

He took out the rations he had brought from the sect, along with his water flask, and began to eat alone in the gathering dusk.