The Magus Era

　　

Cultivators had powerful souls. Therefore, they were especially clever and could do what ordinary people couldn’t. Within merely a few hours, Ji Hao had roughly learned the language and some characters used by these local residents and gained some basic knowledge about this world.

These woods were called Silent Forest and were the territory of the green kind.

Intelligent creatures in this world were divided according to their different natures, including the green kind, water-kind, earth-kind, gold-kind, fire-kind; these few were the most common kinds. There were also some special kinds, but this elderly man named Mu Jiuxiao, who was ‘captured’ by Ji Hao alive, didn’t know about them.

Green-kind people living in Silent Forest were divided further into three branches according to their different natures and spirit beast souls; they were ‘Wind Bird’, ‘Thunder Beast’ and ‘Poisonous Bug’. Mu Jiuxiao and his clansmen belonged to Wind Bird, and living on this small island was a large Wind Bird clan ranked within a hundred among all Wind Bird clans in Silent Forest.

Silent Forest wasn’t peaceful at all. Although they belonged to the same kind, people from Wind Bird, Thunder Beast and Poisonous Bug had always been fighting against each other over territories. Even large Wind Bird clans often fought against each other intensively for resources.

Fights and battles happened rather frequently in Silent Forest. Meanwhile, green-kind people living in Silent Forest had been fighting against earth-kind and water kind people living on the grassland outside the forest. On an average, a small-scale war would happen every year while a large-scale war would happen every three years.

As far as Mu Jiuxiao knew, earth-kind and water kind people living on the grassland were also facing the threats of earth-kind people, fire-kind people and gold kind people who lived in mountain areas, which were further away. Messy wars happened to them frequently as well.

All in all, this was an energetic world. People living in this world had always been fighting against each other. Branch clans of one kind fought against each other or joined hands to fight against another kind. People from different kinds who lived close to each other might join hands and fight against people from other kinds who lived further away. Sometimes, people from one kind might join hands with people from another kind who lived far away from them, and fight against people from the third kind who lived nearby…

Fortunately, people living in this world had great reproductive capacity. If one took the green kind people as an example, they lived deeply in the forest and were nourished by green power. Therefore, a woman could give birth to her children in only one and half month after the fertilization. At one time, a female could at least have two children and at most four. Children would grow mature and have their own children by the age of ten.

Such a strong reproductive capacity allowed people living in this world to fight as much as they liked. Ss long as they had enough resources, the population of each clan would only grow bigger and bigger. They never needed to worry about extinction that might be caused by wars.

Besides, the reason why people living in this world had always been fighting against each other was because the groups of ‘holy spirits’ of each kind had also been fighting intensively against each other.

About the term ‘holy spirit’, Ji Hao covered it with guess upon listening to Mu Jiuxiao’s general words. People like Mu Jiuxiao and his clansmen were all ‘mortals’. When a mortal cultivated him or herself to a certain level, he or she would encounter a trial that came from the heavens. Once he or she passed the trial, this individual would attain an unimaginably great power, earn the ability to fly to the heavens, reaching to the ‘holy land’ and becoming a ‘holy spirit’, which could stand high above the masses.

As far as this Wind Bird clan that Mu Jiuxiao belonged to was concerned, many of their ancestors had become holy spirits. The wooden house that he cultivated himself in was also a holy temple; people worshiped their ancestors in this place. The statue in the house was the combination of the wills of all holy spirits of this clan.

Just like the ancestral totem worshiped by Gold Crow people, the wooden statue in the house was the totem of all Mu Jiuxiao’s clansmen.

This wooden statue was not only a totem, but it was also a path leading Mu Jiuxiao and his people to their holy spirit ancestors. If any destructive disaster ever happened to this clan, they could contact their ancestors through this wooden statue and kill their enemies with the power of their ancestors.

According to Mu Jiuxiao, when holy spirits in the holy land release their powers through this wooden statue, hundreds of clan elders who were as powerful as himself could be killed easily.

At the same time, Ji Hao learned that those gigantic yet weak animals and spirit trees in the woods were all ’livestock’ raised by green-kind people.

Those animals and spirit trees wouldn’t become too powerful, no matter how many years they grew for, and all of their life-force would gather in their spirit Dan. Every year, green-kind people would harvest a certain amount of animals and spirit trees and present the spirit Dans contained in their bodies to their holy spirits.

Mu Jiuxiao couldn’t tell why those animals and spirit tree were so enormous but so weak; those creatures were like that since the beginning anyway. For countless years, those creatures were always huge in shape but weak in powers, and could only serve as offerings.

Mu Jiuxiao also taught Ji Hao about contents in the book that was placed on the table, without any reservation.

That was an all-purpose cultivation guide of Wind Bird, containing a set of all-purpose cultivation method and over ten small magics. All Wind Bird people living in Silent Forest were using the same cultivation method, and their magic was the same as well. Under Mu Jiuxiao’s guidance, Ji Hao easily mastered those small magics.

For these small magics, the efficiency of using natural powers was incredibly low. However, the corresponding spell symbols of these magics were actually parts of the great Dao of nature. Therefore, after Ji Hao memorized these spell symbols, he could create higher level, more powerful magics without any difficulty.

The night was passing, and as a trace of light emerged from the sky, the daytime would be starting.

Ji Hao had already learned the language and characters used by people living in this world. Meanwhile, he gained a basic understanding of this world. He sat in front of Mu Juxiao, narrowed his eyes, looked from head to toe at this elderly man who was constantly sweating, then said, ”What do you think I should do with you?”

Mu Jiuxiao had been quivering intensely and couldn’t say a word. He didn’t know where Ji Hao came from or what purpose did he come with, or what he wanted to do. Neither did he know about Ji Hao’s personality, therefore, he couldn’t answer Ji Hao’s question.

He only knew that Ji Hao was incredibly powerful, indescribably powerful, and maybe only those holy spirits standing high above the masses could rival Ji Hao. Therefore, he dared not to say anything. He was afraid that Ji Hao might slaughter everyone living on this small island and wipe his clan out.

Tremblingly, Mu Jiuxiao subconsciously looked at that statue of holy spirits on the altar.

”En? Want to call you ancestors to save your lives?” Ji Hao grinned.

Mu Jiuxiao instantly lied down, facing the ground while tremblingly said, ”I dare not, dare not.”

Ji Hao shook his head and was about to say something, but suddenly, a series of noise came from outside. Ji Hao was already familiar with the local language, so he understood what countless people were cheering about, ”Holy spirit messenger! Holy spirit messenger! Elder, come out and welcome the Holy spirit messenger!”

Ji Hao paused while Mu Jiuxiao immediately raised his head, tremblingly glancing at Ji Hao.

”You see, it’s the Holy spirit messenger…This is very rare, holy spirit messengers are much more powerful than me!” A dim stream of light flashed across My Jiuxiao’s dark-green eyeballs.

He was forced to teach Ji Hao the language of this world and some common sense about this world. This didn’t mean that he had built a friendship with Ji Hao. If it was possible, Mu Jiuxiao surely didn’t want Ji Hao to live.