Chapter 457: Chapter 371: The Amnesiac Bird
"What!"
Shen Wang was taken aback, but it was too late to stop it. He instinctively grabbed the flame, using his mana to restrain it. Then, the world spun, and he and Shi Kongxuan vanished together in the teleportation light.
After they left, the surroundings fell back into silence.
But the calm only lasted a moment before a powerful presence descended onto the ruins, scanning the area with divine thought.
"Huh, so thoroughly dead? No, there was a fluctuation of space teleportation just now."
His thoughts spread out, his figure disappeared, appearing by the underground volcano’s edge, where he found traces of residual power of space but no teleportation array.
However, he soon found some traces and mused, "Is it a space array base that can synchronize for teleportation? This phoenix has quite a background, it seems it didn’t die, just severely injured and escaped."
He showed a look of regret, "I thought I had encountered a fallen phoenix, missed the chance again."
In an area millions of miles from the forbidden land, a light descended from the sky, distorting space, and a five-colored array platform appeared.
Standing on it were two people, Shi Kongxuan and Shen Wang.
When the two of them once again saw their surroundings, they found themselves in an unfamiliar place.
Fog was all around, and the peaks and strange rocks were rugged. There wasn’t much demonic qi in the air, indicating this was a desolate region.
Shi Kongxuan cautiously surveyed the surroundings and let out a breath, "Great, we should be far from the forbidden land and out of danger."
He excitedly jumped off the teleportation array, "Who would have thought that we two Demon Venerables could escape from such a deadly land. Son-in-law, it really is thanks to you. In the future, we should avoid such places; the waters are too deep, one slip, and you’re dead."
Shi Kongxuan, perhaps a bit talkative after surviving, chatted on for a while before noticing that Shen Wang wasn’t speaking and turned his head in curiosity.
Then he saw Shen Wang holding a gray little bird, looking serious.
"What is this thing?"
Shi Kongxuan was puzzled. He walked over and looked at the little bird that somewhat resembled a chick and was slightly scorched, noticing its colorful feathers, and then realized something, horrified, "That phe...phoenix?"
He broke into a cold sweat. If this thing followed them, is there any way they’d survive?
"It should be; besides it, no one else could have forcefully entered the teleportation array. But its situation is a bit special."
Shen Wang nodded.
"Damn, I rejoiced too soon."
Shi Kongxuan was on the verge of tears, "Son-in-law, I apologize to you. I shouldn’t have taken you to the forbidden land. Now Qingqing’s unborn child has no father, nor a grandfather."
"Ahem, don’t be too pessimistic; the situation might be different than you think."
Shen Wang coughed. He, too, initially thought it was over but then realized something was off.
The phoenix was staring wide-eyed at him, seemingly not recognizing him.
Shi Kongxuan swallowed nervously and tightened his grip on the weapon he had just drawn.
But he noticed that the phoenix in Shen Wang’s hand didn’t make any move. If it wanted to kill them, it could have done so with a flap of its wings.
He nervily walked over and found the feathers disheveled and eyes confused, as if not recognizing them.
"Is it... amnesiac?"
Shen Wang nodded, "It should be. Probably got struck dumb by lightning."
"It’s possible. Although it barely survived the heavenly tribulation, it was nearly about to fall, making it out alive with amnesia and most of its power lost. Such cases are not uncommon."
Shi Kongxuan speculated, not sensing any threat from the little bird.
Shen Wang furrowed his brow as he sized up the little phoenix, "What do we do with it, throw it away?"
He tried to toss the little phoenix, but it immediately flew back, appearing to have decided to stick with him.
Shen Wang was at his wit’s end. He didn’t dare to act against it, fearing that any provocation might trigger a memory recovery, which could result in instant demise.
He turned to glance at the teleportation array. Now dimmed, lacking sufficient power, it could no longer be activated.
He could only store it away. Shen Wang looked at the little phoenix, exchanged glances with Shi Kongxuan, and decided to abandon it, turning to flee.
They used escape techniques and vanished in an instant, but when Shen Wang turned back, he saw the little phoenix on his shoulder, without any trouble, curiously observing him, seemingly not understanding why they were running.
"Damn it."
He tossed it away again and fleeted quickly, yet still couldn’t shake it off.
The two ran over a thousand miles, using various methods, but they still couldn’t rid themselves of this little phoenix.
Rather, the little phoenix seemed to think they were playing a game, happily chasing after them.
Shen Wang gave up and said helplessly, "It seems this creature is determined to follow us. With its power, even struck amnesic, we might not be a match for it."
He guessed, "Probably before losing its memory, it was set on teleporting away, and now without memory, it knows only to follow us."
Shi Kongxuan was helpless, "Can’t fight it, can’t shake it off, what do we do?"
Looking at the little phoenix sticking to them, he was also helpless, "How about we take it with us for now? After all, it doesn’t seem threatening currently, and maybe it’ll be useful in the future."
Shen Wang sighed, "We don’t seem to have a choice, just hope it never recovers its memory."
He thought over and over, realizing there wasn’t much else they could do.
Looking at the little phoenix, he said tearfully, "You can follow, but don’t cause trouble. If you act up, be careful I might..."
Despite his words, he knew inside that they couldn’t fight it. If the little phoenix regained its memory, he’d have no recourse but to beg, so he couldn’t speak any harsh words.
The little phoenix tilted its head and flew into Shen Wang’s arms, surprisingly starting to sleep right away.
"So casual, huh." Shen Wang was resigned, only able to carry the bird onward, seeking a way out of this desolate place and determining their current location.
The little phoenix stayed quiet along the way, obediently nestled in Shen Wang’s arms, peeking out occasionally after waking to take in the surroundings, surprisingly looking rather cute.
As they continued, Shi Kongxuan suddenly stopped, on alert, "Son-in-law, did you feel it? It’s like something’s watching us."
Shen Wang naturally perceived something amiss too. He used divine thought to probe, but the surrounding fog affected it.
Just then, a low growl came from the depths of the mist, and soon, a massive black shadow rushed out from the fog.
The shadow resembled a panther, emitting black demonic qi all over, with blood-red eyes brimming with a murderous glow.
Shi Kongxuan’s face changed, "It’s a Black Demon Panther, seems at peak Demon Venerable Level, not easy to deal with!"
"Probably intruded into its territory, ask it where this is." Shen Wang wasn’t afraid of being targeted, as long as there were living beings.
He said, "We’re just passing by, have no ill intentions toward you."
The Black Demon Panther, however, was exceedingly ferocious, ignoring Shen Wang’s words, opening its blood-filled mouth, letting out a deafening roar, and pouncing at Shen Wang and Shi Kongxuan like black lightning.
