What shocked Ou Yangming was the red light only dried the water around the little bird. As for the basin and the items around it, they were perfectly fine. Furthermore, the young fellow sensed a fluctuation from the Military Fire in his sea of consciousness when the red light shone. Unquestionably, the red light was connected to the fire, or they could not have resonated at all.
Ou Yangming’s eyelids twitched. ‘Sure enough, this fella is mystical. No wonder the goshawk and Big Yellow revere and fear it.’
Once the little bird curbed the red light, the black spots on its body disappeared, and they were replaced by a bright red color. Despite that, not only was the red color catching, but it also carried an unspeakable sense of danger.
The little bird looked up and expressed its proudness through its lively eyes.
‘Hmph, trying to soak me in the water? Impossible.’
Ou Yangming forced a smile. He was extremely surprised when he looked at his hands.
He sensed intense heat when the red light glowed, but it was not painful at all because he felt like he was releasing the Military Fire.
This made him more certain that the little bird was related to the Heavenly Phoenix Fire.
He put aside his curiosity and remarked with a smile, “Little fella, you have some tricks up your sleeves.”
The little bird lifted its head high and glanced disdainfully at Ou Yangming as though it was displaying its arrogance. Nevertheless, after a while, it looked half-intentionally at the young fellow.
Ou Yangming grinned and did not bother at all. He stood up and carried the little bird in his hand.
The little bird struggled a little and stared at one of Ou Yangming’s fingers as if it was considering pecking it once. The young fellow was not inferior to spirit beasts anymore after his body was tempered by the Heavenly Thunderbolts, but the little bird was confident that it could make him bleed by pecking his finger once.
It finally gave up after it fell silent for a moment, and it lay quietly on Ou Yangming’s hand without moving anymore.
Ou Yangming, who was clueless about the little bird’s thoughts, brought it into a room. They were in a big courtyard, and this was the most luxurious room other than Old Craftsman’s. It used to be the young fellow’s residence, but he let it out now.
“Lil’… Red, this will be where you’ll stay in the future. If you’re unsatisfied with anything, please let me know,” Ou Yangming said with a smile.
‘Lil’ Red?’
The little bird was stunned at first, then it understood what the name represented. It hopped about 10 meters high and released a whooshing flame aura when it spread its wings. As such, it displayed its majesty as a powerhouse.
However, it later noticed a confused look.
A thought crossed its mind at that instant, ‘Given that he resisted more thunderbolts than I did, he’s probably more capable than me so it doesn’t seem much if he gives me a name. The name is… Okay, I’m lucky that it’s not Lil’ Water or Lil’ River, so I’ll just accept it for now.’
The little bird’s rising power vanished at once. It landed on the ground angrily and glanced resentfully at Ou Yangming, then it flapped its wings to make its way to the soft and comfortable bed.
Honestly, the presence or absence of the huge bed made no difference to the little bird but since it was a noble being, it would not reject the condition to enjoy.
With that, the blanket on the bed was painted in red light, then it was automatically spread out to cover the little bird’s body. The bird later shut its eyes and ignored Ou Yangming as if it fell asleep right away.
Ou Yangming looked at the little bird in shock. When he offered the room to the bird, he never thought he was going to stay inside anymore.
Having said that, he was astonished when he saw the little bird lay on the bed like a human and the blanket covering it automatically.
‘This little fella must’ve gained spiritual nature.
‘But is it comfortable for a bird to sleep like that?’
Ou Yangming turned to leave after some thought. Since the little bird was willing to do this, he would not object to it nor stop it.
Changlong County was soon in peace again. There were numerous casualties due to the disaster, so much so that the numbers were higher than when the Beasts caused a mass slaughter. Even so, the city could still operate in order as long as the higher-ups were well-organized.
Ni Jingshen and the others visited Ou Yangming that same night, where Deng Xiyuan and Li Xinfan—the two people-in-charge—arrived together.
The governor flashed a bright smile and said, “Master Ou, everything in the city has been settled now. Please instruct us on the next step.”
Ou Yangming was surprised. “Shouldn’t you be considering the next step instead? Why are you asking me?”
He was formidable in terms of martial arts, but he did not know much about affairs among the people. If he had to give orders, the city would likely end up in a mess.
Deng Xiyuan’s eyes glowed. “Master Ou, you don’t have a recommended candidate in mind?”
“Do I need to recommend someone?” Ou Yangming was even more bewildered.
“Since you’re not going to nominate anyone, I’ll continue to take up the governor’s role.” Deng Xiyuan smiled embarrassedly.
Ou Yangming was dumbfounded. He scanned the governor from head to toe before he came to a sudden realization.
“Governor Deng, I don’t know your concerns, but I’m merely a rogue cultivator. Regardless of the achievement, I won’t claim credit for myself and will never overthrow the government, so stop worrying for nothing.”
Deng Xiyuan and the others were relieved. Based on Ou Yangming’s martial arts, not to mention stealing a city, even if he wanted to dominate a county or go against the imperial family, he could triumph in the end.
Before figuring out Ou Yangming’s real intention, the Supreme Great Ancestors could not help but be afraid and worry.
Ou Yangming got up but stopped abruptly when he was at the door.
The other people tensed up, but the young fellow simply turned around and noted, “I have a favor to ask.”
Deng Xiyuan quickly responded, “Master Ou, please go ahead.”
“Are there toys suitable for playing with a bird? I need some.”
“Playing with… A bird?”
“Yes!”
Deng Xiyuan and the others looked at each other strangely.
‘What’s with Master Ou? Is he losing his ambition by riding a hobby to show that he doesn’t intend to meddle in the imperial family’s affairs?’
Chapter 479 - Birdcage
The next day, Ou Yangming brought a gorgeous birdcage with an opening on only one side into the room.
Under his supervision, the capable craftsmen in the city put in a lot of effort to smith the birdcage. The young fellow naturally could not constrain the little bird in a typical birdcage because he did not want it to misunderstand him.
Besides, Ou Yangming suspected that the little fellow could not be contained even if he smiled a magic birdcage using peculiar stones.
Therefore, although the birdcage was extremely luxurious, only half of it was covered. Inside it, objects such as a bed fit for the little red bird’s size, a bell, and so on were laid out.
Nobody knew why Ou Yangming suddenly requested this but given his identity, numerous people fought for the job the moment he made the request. As such, everything was prepared after just one night.
Nonetheless, when Ou Yangming carried the birdcage and walked past the goshawk and Big Yellow, the two formidable spirit beasts had strange looks on their faces.
In particular, the goshawk seemed to be losing its balance.
Even so, regardless of how shocked the two spirit beasts were, they did not step forward to stop the young fellow. In fact, Big Yellow was curious and thrilled as though it wanted to watch the fun.
Ou Yangming pushed the door open and placed the birdcage on the he
ad of the bed. “Little fella, I prepared this gift for you. Do you like it?”
The birdcage was much bigger than normal cages. It could not be compared with his bed, but the little bird had ample space to move around inside.
All of a sudden, the little bird on the bed opened its eyes and stared at the birdcage. There was a complicated look in its eyes, and it seemed to be enraged.
“What is it? You don’t like it?” Ou Yangming was shocked.
The little bird tilted its head to study Ou Yangming seriously as if it was trying to distinguish if he meant to insult it.
With that, the human and the bird stared at each other for a long time before the latter no longer seemed aggressive. This was because it did not notice a look of ridicule from the young fellow’s eyes, but seriousness and care.
It was evident that Ou Yangming treated it like a normal bird and did not have other intentions, but it was also the reason the little bird was upset.
Seeing as the little bird was not going to reject the gift, Ou Yangming reached out to carry it up and placed it on the soft bedding in the birdcage. The bedding was specially made, hence it was much better than that of the big bed in terms of comfort.
The little bird twitched its wings as if it was protesting against something, but it relaxed after a while.
This was because it noticed various sparkly gems on the birdcage, as well as calming unique sandalwood on the inside. They were carefully prepared by the craftsmen, who wanted to fawn over Ou Yangming. The young fellow was actually clueless, but the little bird gave him the credit.
The little bird lay on the bedding and reached out its claws to touch the items around it from time to time. It either made loud ringing sounds with the bell or kicked the iron bar hung at the top of the cage.
Ou Yangming grinned. As expected, the little fellow was playful.
He exhaled deeply and curbed his thought, then he sat with his legs crossed beside the cage.
After experiencing several strikes from the Heavenly Thunderbolts, his mental power had finally broken through the 100-points limit and arrived at 110 points.
The crystal ball that belonged to the Sky-devouring Devil God’s follower gave Ou Yangming great advantages. Not only did his mental power go past the limit but most importantly, the crystal ball carried an incredibly unique secret technique.
His first crystal ball helped him grasp the secret technique to refine interspatial bags, whereas the second one possessed a Spiritual Condensation and Forging Technique.
In actuality, the secret required one to hurt oneself first before hurting others, and it must not be normally used. Nevertheless, if one faced a powerful enemy, as long as the disparity between both sides was too huge that it could not be made up, one would stand a chance by employing the secret technique.
The release of mental power for living beings was equivalent to using essential Qi; there would always be a limit value.
If one had 100 points of power, it did not mean that one could blast out all of that power in one punch. It would be quite remarkable if one could release a tenth of one’s peak value in one go.
However, with the Spiritual Forging Technique, one could condense one’s mental power in advance, causing a 20% to 30% release in one move.
This was more than merely the doubling of one’s power. If one utilized the technique well, one could easily challenge someone of a higher rank.
Needless to say, the release of such a mighty power would greatly damage one’s body. Unless it was absolutely necessary, nobody would adopt the technique.
Ou Yangming was slowly cultivating the secret technique in his sea of consciousness at the moment. His notable mental power first used a certain point as the center, then it turned into waves and kept crashing toward the point.
Owing to the unique control of the technique, the point coagulated without dispersing. It was like a firm rock in a turbulent stream as it maintained a firm ground amidst the monstrous waves.
At the same time, the point also carried a tremendously wonderful ability. It kept adsorbing Ou Yangming’s mental power and grew tougher under the spiritual storm’s attack, causing its power to slowly increase.
Ou Yangming observed from the side through his conception. He suddenly had a feeling that the Spiritual Forging Technique was similar to when he struggled during the thunderbolt attacks.
After being struck and tempered by the thunderbolts, Ou Yangming succeeded in cultivating his body. Even though he could not compare with a massive creature like Multi-armed King Kong, he might not necessarily end up in a disadvantageous spot if he contended with Big Yellow with pure physical power.
The point of mental power kept withstanding impacts at the moment and slowly became tyrannical too.
Ou Yangming’s mental power did not grow throughout the process, but a point of an unusually forceful mental power was added to his sea of consciousness. Once he used the mental power, the power released would be many times greater than before.
Of course, it would be a one-shot deal and would cause certain damage to his sea of consciousness. Thus, he would not act rashly unless he was at a dead-end.
Ou Yangming shook his head and sighed. The Sky-devouring Devil God’s follower was terribly unlucky. The man must have cultivated the secret technique too but did not have the opportunity to release it during the fight that day. In the end, he was faced with a blazing fire instead and died a graveless death.
‘Blazing fire?’
Ou Yangming was struck with a thought as he remembered the little bird’s actions.
A thought crossed his mind. ‘Is this little fella the one that ordered Multi-armed King Kong about and made the goshawk submit to me willingly?’
It was worth noting that the flame released by the little bird when it self-ignited resonated with Ou Yangming’s Military Fire as if they came from the same source. Moreover, it was also the same case for the fire that killed the Sky-devouring Devil God’s follower, as well as the one that controlled the formation map on Multi-armed King Kong’s head.
That said… Ou Yangming subconsciously looked at the little bird.
The little fellow was still engrossed in playing with the bell and the iron bar.
Ou Yangming’s face twitched. He could not relate the little bird to the mysterious powerhouse anymore.
He slapped his forehead and thought, ‘I must be overthinking this.’
The little bird turned to look strangely at Ou Yangming, then it focused on the little toys in front of it. Its race was richly gifted by nature, so not many living beings dared to offend its kind. Having said that, similarly, the powerful beings kept respectful distances from them too, hence it was the little bird’s first time playing with these little toys.
‘Since my comrade gifted them to me, it’ll be fine for me to play with them for a while!
‘But why does he have a weird look on his face…’
In spite of that, the little bird was not going to get to the bottom of it. It quickly forgot about it and began to entertain itself.
Regardless of how mighty a race was, their young ones would be interested in playing. It was just that the young ones from certain big races never had the chance to come across these things.
In terms of strength only, the little bird could make a clean sweep in this world for sure. Nonetheless, it could not help but become immersed in the fascinating toys carefully made by the Humans. At the very least, it could not extricate itself from them as long as it was not tired of playing with them yet.
Ou Yangming cast aside the unlikely thought and allowed the mental power in his mind to crash into the point in the center, then he circulated his essential Qi.
Long Dexing’s essence and blood had unusually substantial energy. Ou Yangming kept consuming the energy when he was being tempered by the thunderbolts. When his body constitution was upgraded to a limit, his essential Qi was also enhanced to the peak of Extreme Grade.
Perhaps Ou Yangming could not be mentioned
on equal terms with Elder Universe and the others in terms of the application, but he was not inferior in terms of the amount.
This was the miracle created by the Sky-devouring Devil God’s unique ability, and it made Ou Yangming understand how forceful and dangerous the power was.
Another person could not have controlled everything so perfectly if he or she suddenly underwent such a drastic improvement. However, Ou Yangming’s mental power was so mighty that it still grew faster than his essential Qi did. Under the control of his superb mental power, he was able to move around freely without losing control.
Ou Yangming cultivated his essential Qi seriously and slowly gained better control over it. Even without the suppression from his outstanding mental power, it was not in a mess.
He sighed a breath of relief after he carefully inspected his body once.
Following that, he turned his wrist to retrieve a peculiar stone from his interspatial bag. He studied it for a while before he enveloped it with his Military Fire.
It only took a brief while before an arm guard was made. Ou Yangming worked persistently and carved the Thunderbolt-resistant Rune on the inside of the equipment with his Military Fire.
His previous pieces of Thunderbolt-resistant Equipment were destroyed by the last Heavenly Thunderbolt, but they were the exact reason he managed to survive. Hence, he quickly began to smith some pieces of equipment again during his free time as he wanted to make up for what he lost.
Just as Ou Yangming refined the last rune, he sensed an abnormal aura around him.
When he turned to look, he realized that the little bird stopped playing with the objects in the birdcage and was staring at him instead.
Chapter 480 - Spiritual World
Ou Yangming smiled and asked, “Little fella, you’re interested in this?”
The young fellow had to use his Military Fire when he smithed earlier, but he did not expect that he would draw the little bird’s attention once he was done. ‘Can the little fella understand smithing art?’ Ou Yangming pondered again and was relieved.
Immortal Path to Heaven c1-725 Page 282