The Sacred Ruins

Chu Feng roamed wild in the primitive mountains, haunting the homes that belonged to the indigenous inhabitants. The process felt very much like a qualitative transformation for him. Once, he had been a nervous novice at fighting and combat. The mere sight of blood alone could have made his sweat turn cold. Gradually, he grew into a calm, composed and impassive killer. He could survive in the wilderness and battle the beasts that claimed to be his enemy.

His practice of Demon Ox Boxing Style was an incessant effort. After days of consolidation, he finally grasped all nine positions of the style and claimed mastery of them.

Trees were dense and verdant in the mountains. Their very existence reflected the old age and the primitive nature of these mountains. Their great height blotted out the sky and covered the sun, and underneath on the mushy soil in between the solid woods of the jungle, Chu Feng scurried off into the depths of these mountains. This time, Yellow Ox did not follow. He was by himself.

"Garrr..."

It was the whistle of a bird. The howl blared and blasted like a thunder-gust. The sound resonated and rang in Chu Feng’s ears. Suddenly, a black bird of prey hastily dove down, fluttering its wings to swirl up a gust of evil wind.

The bird’s feathers all had an unadulterated black color. The bird measured at least ten meters in length. Its body gleamed a bitingly cold metallic luster, as if it had been cast with black gold. It had a pair of pointed talons. They were as cutting as a sharp dagger.

Clonk!

Chu Feng evaded its down thrust, staying hidden behind a giant boulder. To his surprise, the cutting talons of the bird grabbed onto the boulder and shattered it with ease. The bird had a horrifying strength.

The sheer size of it could easily allow the bird to hunt on elephants!

Gales blasted as it dove again. It seemed to have totally ignored the trees that were in the way. Its black feathers were firm as a real steel, riving the branches as it glanced off. The withered leaves plummeted in a flurry.

Chu Feng was fearless. After days of practice, he felt like he had been reborn. He had cast off his old self and took on a new identity. He was even calmer and more dauntless every time he returned to this lot of primitive lands.

The area had become the scene of a fierce fighting in almost a minute.

At last, Chu Feng leaped into the air, greeting the fierce bird in mid-air.

It was this moment that Chu Feng proved his dominance with his powerful boxing style. His fists were unstoppable, razing everything in their way. Finally, both of his fists landed on the bird’s chest with a blaring boom.

The gold-like feathers at the chest of the bird were suddenly blasted away. The feathers sprung to the sky then aimlessly descended, plummeting to the ground.

The bird made a piercing shrill. The jarring noise was grating on the ear, almost penetrating Chu Feng’s eardrums in the process.

Puff!

Its chest collapsed then ruptured. A gaping hole emerged as blood gushed out of the wound.

The colossal corpse of the bird plunged towards the earth into its demise. It crashed on the soggy soil, trembling the earth around it. Trees from the surroundings violently quivered as giant mountain boulders rolled down the hills due to the impact.

Chu Feng bathed in the blood of the lifeless bird. He stood there still, calmly watching as all of these happened.

Then, he took segments of the bird’s flesh then scurried away into the distance.

"Let me taste the meat quality of a bird today."

At home, he cleaned and trimmed the meat with his black dagger. The meat was then stewed, braised and fried into a variety of dishes.

"What a treat!" Chu Feng gasped in admiration.

Most importantly, the meat of the wild beasts had also proven to be an amazing reservoir of power and godly strength. They could well replenish the needs of Chu Feng’s body while empowering him as he practiced boxing at the same time.

"Moo!"

The meat seemed to have served as a quite satisfactory treat to Yellow Ox as well. His stomach had become bloated with the meat it consumed. There was a substantial growth in the circumference of its waist after days of edacious carnivorous meals.

"I’ve treated you well, so when you are home alone, promise me that you will behave yourself," Chu Feng said to Yellow Ox after having eaten his fill, "I will have to go and share some of these meat with Grandpa Zhao, so I will put you in charge of the order of this house."

"Moo!" Yellow Ox agreed.

For the past few days, Uncle Liu from the thrift shop and Grandpa Zhao from the weaponry workshop each had received an abundant supply of the beasts’ meat. The unparalleled quality of the meat prompted both of them into a profuse raving of praises. "What a marvellous taste this has!" They applauded in astonishment.

But unquestionably, Chu Feng dared not to admit that these were indeed the flesh of a brutally murdered beast which had once been the king that haunted the nearby mountains.

They sky turned dark. Chu Feng joyously returned to the yard of his house with a skip and a hop while carrying another two bags of cooked meat. His subconsciousness led him to the parterre where the seeds grew. He checked the place almost twice a day.

Unfortunately, no sprouts could be seen.

Yellow Ox saw Chu Feng looking over at it again, feeling rather uneased. It always had a suspicion that Chu Feng was concocting some sort of malicious intents. Its eyes rounded with doubts and cynicism, then it scurried hastily back into its room, slamming the door behind it.

"Do you really think I have to use your dung to nourish my plants? Perhaps except for dragon dung, there are no other beasts whose excretion I could not find, collect and use for the benefit of my agricultural planting. Had it not been that I was afraid that using an animal’s excrements might potentially defile Tsi Wang Mu and the Fairy of Ninth Heaven, I would have acted a long time ago!" Chu Feng said, then he burst into laughter.

"Moo!"

The whole house trembled from Yellow Ox’s angry bellow.

Chu Feng disregarded its objection, turning his back and pacing onto the quiet street.

When he returned, it was already late at night. The moon was lit, but the stars were scarce. Uncle Liu and Grandpa Zhao both kept him for dinner with a few shots.

Chu Feng’s house was only a short distance away when his slightly tipsy mind was suddenly awoken by a sphere of golden luster floating in the distance. Obviously, it was the golden body of Yellow Ox. Lurking and sneaking around like a ghost, the calf exited the yard in a furtive manner.

It moved and acted like a thief. It stopped, gazing left and right, before it went off into the orchid farm at a glance.

Chu Feng stayed hidden in a dark corner of the street. He was quite surprised by the calf’s stealthy actions. "What on earth is this guy hiding away from me?"

Curiosity drove him into action. He tightened his breath and his body like the way Yellow Ox had taught him to prevent the activities of qi from escaping his body. Then, in an equally stealthy manner, he followed after Yellow Ox.

As expected, Yellow Ox had some quite treacherous looks. It was extremely careful. It looked around to check its surroundings at a quite frequent interval. Sometimes, it would abruptly turn its head around to check its six, as if it was afraid that someone had followed its track.

"Something odd is happening here!"

Chu Feng murmured. His suspicion felt increasingly confirmed. He knew that Yellow Ox must have been into something secretive, something clandestine, and something dangerously underhanded. Otherwise, why would it have been so careful?

Unquestionably, it was afraid that Chu Feng could be potentially tailing after it.

Chu Feng had to slow his pace as he tried to increase the distance between them. He knew that Yellow Ox had an inherent instinct that was of profound acuteness. If their distance was kept too close, he would soon be discovered by the calf.

Recently, after accomplishing a full mastery of the boxing style, an acute instinct had also developed as part of his senses. Even if a beast was distant or out of sight, he could still sense its existence and its movement beforehand.

This felt more like an instinctive reaction that had always been inherent to a human being!

Having increased their distance to one that he felt was far enough, Chu Feng ascertained that Yellow Ox would by no means realize his unwanted involvement in its secretive business. He evenly paced his steps at this distance, calmly tailing after it. He could only vaguely see a dim golden sphere walking ahead of him.

Finally, Yellow Ox ceased at a random spot in the orchid farm. It abruptly turned its head around again, confirming whether or not someone had followed it.

"What an overly prudent bastard!" Chu Feng silently cursed, "And what has made it so prudent?" He hastened to hide behind the trunk of an ancient tree, staying motionless.

Moments later, Chu Feng noticed that Yellow Ox was digging a hole there, then it seemed like it was hiding something into the gaping hole.

"Is this bastard hiding something and not letting me know? You son of a..." Chu Feng gritted his teeth in anger and enmity, but he kept his composure, silently and patiently waiting behind the tree for the calf to leave the site.

Yellow Ox seemed quite contented. God knew what it had hidden down there, but the action did seem to have very much pleased it. It joyously embarked upon its homeward journey while humming a cheerful tune.

"Bastard! You are NOT hiding things from me! I will take everything you’ve hidden there and make you find no places to cry. I will bust your sorry arse!"

Chu Feng was inwardly plotting a revengeful scheme, smiling complacently at his own cleverness.

It was a conceivable scene to imagine that one day, when Yellow Ox returned to reclaim what it had buried, it would discover that the site had become as bare as the palm of its hooves. Surely, this would send it to a raging fury, and Chu Feng would only need to pretend as an innocent onlooker as the calf hopped in madness.

"Hahaha!" The more he pictured the scene, the more amused he felt. He waited until Yellow Ox had completely disappeared into the distance. He slowly came out of his cover, prepared to dig up the treasure.

He could rest assure that for someone who was as picky as Yellow Ox, the things they valued would most likely to be of profound value and worth.

"Did it manage to find something behind my back as we went to the primitive mountain a few days ago? Why did it not tell me?" Chu Feng questioned.

Suddenly, he heard a noise coming from the distance. Although it was a relatively distant sound, but his superhuman hearing had made him aware of the commotion happening in the proximity.

It was already late at night, so who would still come to the orchid farm? Aware of this fact, he became all the more vigilant.

He retreated back to the old tree and calmed himself once again. He tightened his muscle to seal off all activities of qi in his body. The darkness of the night became his camouflage, allowing him to blend into the surrounding scenery.

In mid-air, a giant bat emerged, then it slowly descended above the orchid farm.

Chu Feng was taken aback!

Then, he frowned. He realized it was not a bat, but a man who had features that made him look like a giant bat. It fluttered its featherless wings, slowly and silently descending.

At the same time, there was also a woman vertically below him. She travelled like a gust of wind, arriving at the site almost simultaneously as the batman appeared in mid-air.

The batman had a benevolent countenance. His face was pretty too. He landed at where Yellow Ox had hidden its treasure.

The woman, in comparison, looked rather plain and ordinary. She looked not as stunning as the man, but she had plenty of make-ups. Her vermilion lips looked bright as a rising sun, and her smoky eyes looked black as a nimbus cloud. In the darkness of the night, she cladded in a jarringly white dress, making her even more of a trifle out of place.

"What was that thing that just passed by? Vaguely, I can tell it is a golden ox, but how did it come here?"

The two stood there and whispered to one another.

"I saw it going in the direction of Qingyang Village."

"Oh, so it went to the same town as where our target, Chu Feng, lives?"

In the distance, Chu Feng could vividly hear the content of their whisper. His heart shrank at once. Why did these two come for him? What did they want?

"I can’t believe you asked me to come with you just for an ordinary person, but no matter what, I will kill him tonight!" the man said. His face turned cold. Murder was written all over his face.

"That golden creature had dug a hole, and it seemed like it has hidden something around here. How about we check it out. Maybe today is our lucky day, and who knows what treasures we will find!" The woman ran her fingers through her hair, giving a winsome smile. She seemed to have deemed the task of killing Chu Feng as a mere trifle, so understandably, she was more interested in finding out what treasures had been buried on the ground. With grace and delicacy, she squatted down on her heels.

She looked like someone who was compulsively neat and clean, but right now, all of her fingers were drenched in soggy mud.

"Let’s divide evenly if we find anything good," the man said.

Chu Feng calmly watched in the darkness. He did not choose to step in to impede their efforts. The opportunity for him to intervene had not yet come. As their common enemy, he knew that there would be a better time for him to initiate an attack.

A scuffling noise sounded as the woman dug up the dirt. Her pair of bright eyes betrayed the high expectation she had. Clearly, she had seen this opportunity as the prospect of an easy profit.

Chu Feng frowned upon his decision to hold back for a temporal moment, but after careful deliberations, he became less worried. He knew that Yellow Ox’s belongings would still not be lost even if he sprang into action later. Things that required careful planning and good timing was better to be done later than sooner.

"Ah..."

The woman vented out a piping outcry. The noise was especially piercing under the coverage of a dark night.

She swung and flung her hands like a mad man who had just woken from a terrible dream, then she desperately rubbed and scrubbed her hands against the batman, looking ever so frantic and delirious.

"What the hell are you doing!" Obviously, the batman had seen what the woman had dug up. He burst into raging fury almost in an instant. He rapidly retreated back. He seemed so disgusted that he burst into an episode of painful retching and kecking.

"Cow dung! All there were was sh*t in there!"

The woman wailed a piercing cry. She frantically swung her arms and hands as if she had been hypnotized by an evil spirit of some sort. She scrubbed her hands with leaves and pieces of tree trunk. In the end, she gave in and started retching as well.

In the distance, Chu Feng was dumbstruck in astonishment.

At this moment, his brain rapidly operated, trying to make sense of these all.

It took him a while before he could finally understand the implication. "Motherfxcker... what a close call!"

"Yellow Ox! You were so full of sh*t!" Chu Feng silently cursed.

The very thought that he might have become the victim instead made him break out in a cold sweat. What a frightening scene that would be!

Chu Feng wiped away the cold sweat again. God knew how many times he had silently cursed at Yellow Ox in his heart. He was also baffled. For what did Yellow Ox have to take such secretive measures in ensuring that his answering to the call of nature would not be seen by others? It could easily take a dump in his yard, and that would even prove as beneficial to both parties.

All in all, doing pieces of mischief seemed just like a second nature for Yellow Ox! It was a indeed a bastard after all!

But at last, he came to a realization. It was his frequent mentioning of cow dung for the past few weeks that might have inflicted trauma on the calf’s mental psychology, so this was the measure that it had taken to guard against him!

"Bastard!"

Having linked everything together, Chu Feng became truly speechless. He was at a loss whether to laugh or to cry. Between him and Yellow Ox, it felt like Chu Feng had done more harm to the calf than the other way around.

In the distance, the woman was still struggling to restrain from the extreme disgust she unfairly received from her treasure hunting endeavor. She could not hold back the relentless retching. The kecking sound was accompanied by her disgusted shrill. Her life had become all a misery.

The batman also had a streak of dry coughs. Then, with great resolute, he riven and rent the clothes that had been daubed with animal excrement. Obviously, he was not impressed.