Perfect World: I'm Shi YiChapter 134 – Awoo!
No one was aware of the Fiery Red Bird's muttered complaints.
"Brother, I'm hungry," Shi Hao said bluntly.
Right after he spoke—Grrrrrumble!A loud stomach growl echoed in the quiet.
Shi Hao looked down at the Fiery Red Bird beneath his foot, eyes glinting with mischief. If it weren't for his craving for Shi Yi's gourmet cooking, the bird would have been skinned and roasted halfway through their journey already.
When life hangs by a thread, one either acts fast or dies slow. Thankfully, the Fiery Red Bird was the former—it instantly burst into shameless flattery, desperation dripping from its voice.
"Holy Child, my respect for you is like the endless rivers, roaring and mighty, a tide that can't be stopped once it rises—"
"Enough, enough."
Shi Yi cut him off with a wave, frowning not because he disliked praise, but because this was just bad flattery. No nuance, no elegance—pure groveling.
"Holy Child, spare me!" the Fiery Red Bird wailed, eyes wide with dread.
"Spare you? Not impossible. Tell me, do you know of any man-eating vicious beasts nearby?"
Shi Yi stepped forward and lightly patted Shi Hao's head. The younger brother immediately understood, lifting his foot from the Fiery Red Bird's neck and letting it breathe again.
"I do! I do!" the bird blurted. "There's one not far from here—stronger than me—and it's eaten plenty of humans."
The bird didn't hesitate to sell out its fellow beast. In this moment, loyalty meant nothing compared to survival.
"Oh? Then let's pay it a visit."
Shi Yi leapt onto the Fiery Red Bird's back with the ease of a leaf on the wind. The bird didn't protest—it was just relieved to still be alive.
"Holy Child, I'll take you there now."
The Fiery Red Bird flapped its wings gently, careful not to jostle its passenger. Its deference was total. If bootlicking were an art, this bird would be a master.
On the sidelines, the Nine-Headed Golden Lion looked on with contempt. It had never seen such disgraceful behavior.
"Come on, Little Stone," Shi Hao said cheerfully, mounting the lion's back.
He could fly just fine on his own—faster than most, too, when using the transformation granted by the Intent and Form Sutra. But why bother, when he had a lion for a mount?
This was like those rich guys from his previous life buying sports cars. It wasn't about speed. It was about style.
The Nine-Headed Golden Lion let out a low rumble. "I'm not that feather duster. You better hang on."
Then it launched forward, chasing after the Fiery Red Bird. The ground trembled beneath its paws.
Most would have been thrown off instantly from the bumpy ride. But Shi Hao laughed, clearly enjoying the chaos.
"Hopeless. The lot of them are hopeless." Huo Ling'er sighed, scooping up the Little Wolf God midair and hugging it tight.
"Awooo!"
The Little Wolf God flailed and whimpered, struggling free of her suffocating embrace. It poked its tiny head out, gasping for breath like a drowning man reaching the surface.
"My brother and Shi Hao are always like this," Hu Niu said, glancing at the Little Wolf God. "If no one pushes them, they'll delay everything. But let's be real—inside the Hundred Shatter Mountains, if they've set their sights on something, no one's taking it from them."
She eyed Huo Ling'er's bear hug with some sympathy. That little she-wolf was in for a rough ride.
"No need to rush for the Undying Divine Spring," Yun Xi said, stepping onto Yu Zimo's unfurled One World Painting. "I only know the general direction, not the exact location. Wandering while we search might actually yield better luck. Fate's weird like that."
She'd joined Shi Yi's group midway but showed no sign of awkwardness. That alone was a skill. Despite her soft and delicate appearance, Yun Xi was shrewd and cunning underneath.
Yu Zimo had silently cursed her a thousand times already.
"Let's go."
Yu Zimo formed a hand seal. The painting beneath her rose into the wind, trailing behind the Fiery Red Bird.
Elsewhere
"Senior sister, I really can't eat anymore. That Golden Lion Head stew... I haven't even digested half of it. One more bite and I'll explode," someone from the Heaven Mending Pavilion moaned, clutching their stomach.
"Just follow them for now," said Xia Youyu, senior disciple of Heaven Mending Pavilion. She sat atop a massive gourd-shaped artifact, gliding through the air behind Yu Zimo's flying painting. Her pace was neither rushed nor slow, like a noblewoman touring the Hundred Shatter Mountains.
Alongside them were members of Shi Village. Sadly, they had arrived late and missed the Lion Head feast.
Same with Huo Ling'er, Yu Zimo, and Hu Niu. The only one who'd gotten her fill was Yun Xi, who had been tailing Shi Yi since earlier. She'd enjoyed multiple servings of treasure-flesh and spiritual delicacies.
Roasted bear paw. Golden Lion Head stew. And soon, maybe a feast of Ancient Descendant Beast meat.
One thing was clear—follow the right person, and fortune follows you.
"Yi-ge'er and Shi Hao really are brothers. Shi Hao suppressed an Ancient Descendant like it was nothing, and Yi-ge'er? Let's not even talk—he's on another level. It takes all of us working together just to barely take down one of those beasts."
"They're the pride of the human race. Yi-ge'er is the First Generation—our clan's greatest genius. Not even Pure-Blooded Ferocious Beasts can compare."
"Shi Hao's got the Nine-Headed Golden Lion as a mount. The bird with Vermilion Blood all but begged to serve Yi-ge'er. Who would've thought our human clan would see such glory?"
"You think Shi Hao has any shot at catching up to Yi-ge'er?"
"No chance. Yi-ge'er's got the Double Pupils, the Thirteen Supreme Dao Scriptures, and the Divine Willow on his side. Unless he screws it all up on purpose—like trying to transplant someone else's Supreme Bone or chasing some path he doesn't understand—he'll always be ahead."
The praise, once balanced between the two brothers, slowly shifted into pure worship of Shi Yi. But the reasoning wasn't baseless.
So long as Shi Yi didn't abandon his destined path, he would always overshadow Shi Hao.
About a dozen minutes later, Shi Yi and the Fiery Red Bird arrived at a bleak, cold cliff.
At the cliff's base was a massive nest made of withered black wood. Bones—human and otherwise—were scattered around. Skulls, ribs, shattered femurs... many of them stained with fresh blood. The smell of rot clung to the air.
The nest itself was lined with soft spirit grasses—clearly this was a dwelling, not just a kill site. It was both a lair and a feeding ground.
"Everyone who enters the Hundred Shatter Mountains is supposed to be a proud genius of the human race... and yet they end up as beast food. But then again, if it eats people, it only makes sense for people to eat it in return. Nature's cycle."
Shi Yi frowned. This beast wasn't ordinary. He counted at least a dozen human skeletons in the pile—and they hadn't been dead for long.
The Fiery Red Bird circled once, then cried out, "Strange... it's not here!"