The Magus Era

A terrifyingly great weight.

Ji Hao staggered back for around twenty big steps, before he finally stabilized his own body. Twenty-seven three-inch-deep footsteps could clearly be seen on the bronze floor; smoke was puffing out from all of those foot-imprints.

Ji Hao tightly held the long hilt of the mace. Blood vessels all over his body had swelled and showing under his skin. He felt that all his internal organs were being scorched by some great heat. A stream of blood was choked up in his throat, and had nearly spurted out. White smoke could be seen rising from out his head - every stream of sweat that gushed out of his body, evaporated into steam under influence of such great heat.

Along with the sound of a flame, a large piece of fire appeared around Ji Hao’s body. Within the flame, his body was nearly translucent, and over two hundreds of interleaving meridians, which were shining with a fiery light, could be seen looming; those shining meridians vaguely formed a totem of a three-legged Gold Fire Crow.

Ying Yan looked at Ji Hao with a slight trace of surprise, then took a glance at the shining meridian net inside Ji Hao’s body with an unknown, deeper meaning contained within his eyes.

Man Man, the girl who just had carelessly thrown the mace at Ji Hao, popped up her eyes and stared at Ji Hao in a slight panic while yelling, “Did he die? Oy, old Yan! I don’t think he’s dead, look! He is still standing there, not vomiting blood, nor smashed into a pile of meat, I think he’s alive, don’t you?”

Bong!

Ji Hao held the hilt of the mace and dropped it hard onto the ground; even half of the manor shook when he did that.

Letting out a hoarse laughter, a thick taste of blood came out from Ji Hao’s throat. He looked at Man Man, while smiling bitterly, and said, “I’m ok, I have a bit of strength that allowed me not to be smashed to death. This mace is quite heavy!”

Man Man let out a great sigh of relief, beat her own chest hard, laughed out aloud and turned to Ying Yan, yelled harshly, “Old Yan! You people always say that I’m too incautious, accidentally hurt or killed many slaves! Look, look, this time, I didn’t kill anyone! It was all because those slaves you had chosen were useless things, not my fault at all!”

Ying Yan only smiled bitterly, and didn’t say anything.

Man Man put her hands behind her own body, leapt up to Ji Hao, raised her head and looked at Ji Hao from head to toe. She frowningly measured the height difference between Ji Hao and herself with her hand, then stood on her tiptoes, and slapped hard on Ji Hao’s shoulder.

“Hm, hm, what’s your name? You don’t look much older than me. You were able to catch my stick, which means that you’ve got some power in you. From now on, you’re following me, and are responsible for carrying my stick.”

Ji Hao’s face suddenly twitched. What? Follow this little girl around and carry this horrible mace? shouted Ji Hao in his head.

“Ji Hao, what’re you think about? Just express your gratitude towards the young master! To follow our young master is a wonderful thing that most of your Southern Wasteland people couldn’t even dream of!” Ying Yan let out a laughter and said to Ji Hao once Man Man finished speaking.

Ji Hao was speechless for a short while, and remained silence. Ying Yan narrowed his eyes and said with a soft yet cold tone, “Ji Hao, to follow our young master will not only bring you endless benefits but will also be good for your Abba, Amma, and even your entire clan!”

Ji Hao thought of those warning given by Ji Xia, Ji Zhuo and Ji Fang before he had left the Cold Stream Valley. He clearly knew that the one standing behind this little girl, Man Man, must be somekind of an incredibly powerful being, which was even more powerful and bigger than the Bi Fang Clan. Someone who the Fire Crow Clan wouldn’t dare to provoke, no matter what. Ying Yan just had clearly said that by following Man Man, both he and his parents, even his clan, would gain huge benefits; the hidden meaning of his words was even more obvious - If Ji Hao refused to do so, then Ji Xia, Qing Fu and his clan would all be embroiled in some kind of huge trouble.

Smiling calmly, Ji Hao leaned the mace against his own chest, raised and cupped both of his hands together, saluted Man Man and said, “Since my dear young master, Man Man, thinks that I, Ji Hao, am qualified to be one of your guards, and doesn’t dislike my humble background, and my asininity, then Ji Hao shall follow your order.”

Man Man blinked her eyes and laughed out aloud, threw a heavy slap on Ji Hao’s chest.

The slap, which seemed nothing, was actually as heavy as a mountain. Ji Hao was sent flying backwards along with that mace, the leather armour worn by him suddenly burst into pieces; luckily, the tight armour made by Po emitted a bright light and blocked the power of Man Man’s slap.

Ji Hao thudded against the wall along with the mace. A huge, bronze candlestick was hit by his body and deeply sank into the wall. The violent shock made Ji Hao feel dizzy, stars were flashing in front of his eyes, and he had nearly passed out.

Ying Yan gasped widely, and seemed to scream out again; Man Man opened her mouth as well, while she stared at Ji Hao nervously.

After seeing that Ji Hao had started coughing, and was embarrassedly struggling back up from the ground, Man Man gasped deeply, laughed out, yelled, “Ah, ah, is your name Ji Hao? You look so thin, and don’t even seem to have any muscles, but I never thought that you’re so good at taking a beating! Wonderful, wonderful, I don’t have to worry about accidentally getting you killed anymore, you’re a lot more useful than those trashes!”

Ying Yan raised his hand and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, laughed hollowly and said, “Young master, the old master said that...”

Man Man turned back, angrily glared at Ying Yan and said, “Too many words! Don’t ‘Abba said this’, ‘Abba said that’ to me all day! My ears even gained callus by hearing these! Ah! Is this the jade string flower that my big brother talked about? Haha, so interesting!”

Man Man then leapt high towards the lake, just like a flea. She landed on the edge of the terrace which was built right on the lake. She had jumped too high and hadn’t controlled her own body well, because of which she hit against the bronze guard bar that was decorated with jade. Along with a thunderous bang, the over hundred feet long guard bar was hit into pieces, and countless bronze fragments darted into the air like bullets, flying towards the lake along with ear-piercing swishing sounds.

Those bronze fragments of the bar darted into the lake, sent up huge waves, and smashed those soft petals of the jade string blooms.

After the surface of the lake had calmed down, in the middle of the originally splendid, starry-sky-like sea of blooms, an extremely ugly hole could now be seen, and large amounts of broken leaves and branches were floating on the water surface.

Soon after that, a large pool of blood started rolling up onto the surface of the water Within the blood-water-mix, hundreds of poor smashed fishes were floating up with their white bellies towards the sky.

To see that many dead fishes silently float between the beautiful sea of flowers, seemed very weird no matter from which angle you would look at it.

Ying Yan couldn’t even bare to look at the lake. He buried his face in his own palms, while letting a moaning sound out from his throat, like a hurt puppy.

Man Man who had just hit against the guard bar, nearly fell into the lake. She pressed hard on the ground, leaving a deep pit on the bronze floor of the terrace, after which she finally steadied herself. She thrust her head out of the terrace, took a stunned glance at the broken flower cluster and the cloud like blood-water, which were still rolling under the surface of the lake, abruptly let an embarrassed laughter out and said, “Ying Yan, you should handle this, come on, clean this up, or I’ll beat every single of your grandsons when I get back!”

“Yes, yes, yes, young master, yes...”

Ying Yan looked at Man Man with a tearing face but had no tears, while continuously saying “yes”.

Man Man made a serious face, and with her hands clasped behind her body, walked out of the terrace. From time to time, she turned her head back and looked at the surface of the lake, which had dead fishes continuously floating up, and laughed embarrassedly.

After having taken a few steps further, Man Man seemed to have thought of Ji Hao. She turned towards Ji Hao, waved her hand, and said, “Ji Hao, right? Get my stick and follow me!”

Ji Hao helplessly took a deep breath, spent quite an effort to lift the strangely heavy mace up, and caught up with Man Man, while stepping heavily.

“Oy, Ji Hao, are you caught by Ying Yan and sent here to clean this house? I know that! Old Yan and the few others, they always like giving orders and using people, for whatever they want!”

“So, your home should be nearby, isn’t it? Do you know anywhere that is interesting around here? Why don’t you take me there to have a look? Come on!”

“Ha, haha, this time, I finally got to get out with my guards, and have some fun while my Abba isn’t home. I must have enough fun before I go back.”

Walking in a dark corridor, Man Man was murmuring to herself, while Ji Hao was carrying the mace with a twisted face, and ceaselessly shaking his head.

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TL note: Really like Man Man. But can’t help to think that maybe Ji Hao should eat her, and have her strength…

Editor note: My dear Tl’r wants to introduce cannibalism into this already ancient-sacrifice-filled novel *sigh*