Chapter 123: The Death of the Feather King

At that moment, the Feather King suddenly stepped in front of me, spreading his wings with his back to the giant spider to shield me. The creature spat out a mass of white silk, ensnared him, and scurried rapidly up the mountainside. Having devoured several other monsters, the spider seemed to no longer fear the sunlight. The bird-men on the mountain slopes converged to intercept it, but the beast moved with such speed that several of them were sent flying upon impact. Seeing their leader abducted, the rest of the bird-men took to the air in pursuit.

My master and I followed closely behind. Since he did not possess the ability to ride the wind, I took his hand and led him, trailing the army of bird-men deep into the canyon. It turned out that the Cave of Ten Thousand Demons was not the end of the gorge; the area was a labyrinth of ravines and competing peaks. The giant spider had already vanished, and despite the nearly twenty thousand bird-men tailing it, they had completely lost the trail! I told them, "Split up and search. Form squads of one hundred. If you spot the target, report back immediately."

The bird-men quickly organized themselves into disciplined squads of one hundred—far more professional than the brothers of the Azure Dragon Gang ever were! Mentioning the Azure Dragon Gang brought to mind that woman, Leng Wushuang; her arrival had led to the total annihilation of the gang, yet Qin Tian had risked his life to protect her! I truly could not fathom what was going through his mind.

My master and I led one of the squads as we wove through the mountains, while the other eighteen squads fanned out to search from the air. My master asked, "What is the deal with these bird-men? Are they your friends?"

"Hardly friends. They have a favor to ask of me, which is why they agreed to help me rescue you."

My master nodded thoughtfully. "The one captured by the beast must be their leader, right? Had he not saved my life, I would have been subdued by that Blood-Tailed Spotted Python long ago. In any case, we must not let anything happen to him!"

Adjusting our direction, I looked back at him. "Don't worry, Master. Even if it costs me my life, I will rescue the Feather King—if only for the sake of the Feather Tribe's integrity."

My master nodded in approval. "Yunfei, you've grown up."

"What do you mean by that, Master? Was I not grown up before?"

He let out a dry chuckle. "Hurry and find him. We must rescue the Feather King before dark!"

For half an hour, over ten thousand bird-men scoured the skies above the Cave of Ten Thousand Demons to no avail. I ordered them to assemble. "This isn't working. Let's go down to the ground. Keep the hundred-man squad formation and be careful!"

The bird-men descended, and my master and I landed in a relatively spacious clearing with our squad. Scanning the surroundings, there was no sign of the giant spider. The valley was deathly silent. I led the way, but the mountain paths were treacherous, hemmed in by peaks with gaps only wide enough for a single person to pass, which slowed our search significantly. After squeezing through a narrow fissure, we emerged into an open area. The view suddenly expanded to reveal a large space with a small stream flowing through it, fed by water from the canyon above. The sunlight felt incredibly pleasant on our skin.

I had no heart for sunbathing. The giant spider seemed to have vanished into thin air; ten thousand eyes could not catch a glimpse of it. I asked my master, "Where could this monster have gone? Is it capable of invisibility?"

My master’s brow furrowed at my words, as if he were calculating something. He reached into his belt and pulled out a compass—yes, a compass. I had seen such things in films, used for Feng Shui and exorcisms. It was strange that he carried one, but before I could ask, he gestured for me to be silent. His expression was grave; the needle on the compass trembled slightly. As he approached the stream, the needle jerked sharply to the right. He spun around, pulled out a calligraphy brush, and drew a strange, translucent talisman in the void that shimmered with a faint golden light. With a flick of his fingers, he launched the talisman forward. A series of explosions rang out, and amidst a flash of white smoke, the giant spider revealed its true form.

"Demon, so this is where you were hiding! Surrender at once!" My master tucked the compass into his belt and held his fingers in a sword-seal gesture before his chest, radiating the aura of a grandmaster. The spider had a humanoid shape wrapped in silk on its back. The bird-men prepared to charge, but I stopped them; that was likely the Feather King, and we could not risk harming him.

My master observed more closely than I. As the spider materialized, he had already drawn a Bagua diagram on his palm and struck it out. A golden Bagua symbol appeared beneath the creature’s feet, radiating brilliant light. The spider was trapped within, spinning in frantic circles, unable to break free.

It was the Palm Bagua he had taught me. Watching him perform it again after more than a year was still breathtaking; this formation was clearly his greatest specialty. Seeing the beast subdued, I prepared to rescue the Feather King, but the spider suddenly spat a glob of silk at me. I was prepared and instantly unleashed a fist-sized fireball from my right hand. The moment the silk touched the flames, it ignited, and the fire traveled like a fuse, instantly setting the spider’s entire body ablaze. The situation spiraled out of control; I never imagined the silk would be so flammable, and the Feather King was still on its back!

I hurriedly unleashed a blast of cold ice, but it melted before it could reach the spider. A wave of scorching heat washed over us. The spider writhed on the ground, twitching its eight legs. Seeing the ice had no effect, I rushed forward to attempt a rescue. My master reached out to pull me back, tearing my clothes in the process, but I had already dived into the flames. Without hesitation, I grabbed the figure on the spider’s back and tossed it out. My master caught him steadily, and the bird-men rushed forward to extinguish the fire. The giant spider lay still on the ground—it was dead.

I walked over to the Feather King and helped him up. He still had a faint breath, but his body was shriveled, like a dried corpse. He struggled to open his eyes, scanned the crowd, and gripped my hand tightly. "Hero... I am finished. You must fulfill the promise you made to me! Otherwise, I cannot die in peace. Also, after I am gone, my successor..."

His hand went limp, and he breathed his last. I laid him on the ground. "Rest assured! I will do what I promised!"

My master patted my shoulder. "Boy, you have a heavy responsibility on your shoulders now."

I did not understand what he meant and was just about to tell the bird-men to carry the Feather King’s body out of the valley when they all suddenly knelt in unison: "We swear to serve the Feather King until death!"