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Chapter 151: The Vermilion Bird Dream
The night was desolate, yet Lin Chuyu's face was ashen, for she felt herself soaring through the air, powerfully flapping her own wings, leaving countless unseen landscapes behind in the night.
The Vermilion Bird was the fastest of all winged creatures, born to fly. At this moment, Lin Chuyu had transformed into a fully formed Vermilion Bird. She did not understand why this was happening to her, nor did she know where she wanted to fly. Lin Chuyu's Vermilion Bird Form soared over mountains, flew across rivers, and glided over forests, but she felt exhilarated by this flight.
Lin Chuyu felt that she was meant to belong to the sky. She tilted her head back, welcoming the wind, striving to savor the feeling of freedom that mortals could never comprehend. Her complexion gradually shifted from pale to a smile; at that moment, she finally felt like herself. Although Lin Chuyu had initially been flying solo, suddenly a flock of Vermilion Birds appeared beside her.
These birds were flying freely just like her. Lin Chuyu did not recognize them, yet in her heart, they felt like family. The flock of Vermilion Birds soared through the sky, and Lin Chuyu could see many male birds circling around the females.
The male Vermilion Birds seemed to be displaying their strength and agility to the females, as if courting them. Just then, the morning sun peeked over the distant mountains. The sunlight illuminated them, and Lin Chuyu could feel its warmth. As the sun rose higher, she could see the ground below, though she did not know what lay beneath.
All she could see was an expansive wilderness below them. The birds circled above at a leisurely pace while Lin Chuyu flew alongside them, sometimes soaring upward and other times darting swiftly between two closely situated peaks.
However, before long, one by one, the Vermilion Birds began to vanish from her sight. Lin Chuyu felt panic at this sudden change; her eyes grew misty—perhaps from tears or maybe just the morning dew.
She did not know where she was headed as more hills began to appear below her. Lin Chuyu had lost track of how long she had been flying; what had begun as an exciting new experience turned into a sense of urgency. It dawned on her that something was terribly wrong. When had she transformed into a Vermilion Bird? Would she have to remain in this form forever? This thought filled her with dread.
Lin Chuyu questioned whether she had lost her mind; otherwise, how could this be happening? She remembered coming to Qingyang City with Ji Zichen; Kiko had gone to meet Prince Huixin while she rested in a guesthouse arranged by Wei Ye. Lin Chuyu pondered that nothing strange had happened to her—how could she have ended up like this?
She wondered if she was dreaming. Yes, it must be a dream; there was no other explanation for it. Yet this dream felt too real and too bizarre—could it even be possible to wake up from it?
But in the next moment, Lin Chuyu dismissed this seemingly reasonable hypothesis. If this were a dream, how would she know about the courtship behaviors of Vermilion Birds? She knew nothing about them.
Could it be that she truly was in a state of madness? What circumstances could lead her to become like this? This crucial memory eluded her grasp entirely, leaving Lin Chuyu feeling extremely uneasy.
Just as Lin Chuyu was engulfed in fear and confusion, she suddenly heard Ji Zichen calling her name. While still soaring through the air, Lin Chuyu looked around but did not see Ji Zichen. In a panic, she called out, "Brother Ji, where are you?"
Ji Zichen's voice sounded distant and fragmented. "Why are you flying? Is this what a fully formed Vermilion Bird looks like?"
Lin Chuyu was taken aback. "Brother Ji, can you see what I see?"
"Yes," Ji Zichen replied. "It seems you've transformed into your Vermilion Bird Form; Kai Zhou Shen's ring allows me to attach myself to you."
Lin Chuyu furrowed her brow, feeling increasingly anxious about this strange situation. "Brother Ji, what is going on?"
Ji Zichen originally had the ability to keep his emotions hidden, but after meeting Lin Chuyu, that ability seemed to vanish. He found himself facing many things he couldn't understand, and when it came to controlling his emotions, he was far worse off than before.
Ji Zichen managed to suppress his inner feelings and said, "I don't know either. When I entered the room, I saw you sleeping on the bed, covered in Vermilion Bird scales. It felt like I was in your dream."
Lin Chuyu was terrified by his words. She had scales all over her body and didn't understand what it meant. "A dream? Am I dreaming? Brother Ji, this dream is so scary! Please wake me up!" she said anxiously, looking at Ji Zichen.
Ji Zichen didn't shake her awake because he wasn't sure if doing so would have any side effects. He also doubted whether conventional methods would actually wake her up.
"Don't panic," Ji Zichen said. "I sense that this situation is not as simple as it seems. I can feel that the Vermilion Bird is not under your control."
Lin Chuyu immediately responded, "Yes, it feels like it's carrying me away."
"It seems that you and I are both possessing this Vermilion Bird," Ji Zichen explained. "It doesn't mean any harm; it might just want to take you somewhere. Let's follow it and see what it's planning."
With no other thoughts in her mind, Lin Chuyu agreed to Ji Zichen's suggestion. The two of them were carried within the body of the Vermilion Bird as it soared through the sky. At one point, the bird landed by a river to drink water due to its thirst. As it drank, both Lin Chuyu and Ji Zichen felt a sweet taste in their consciousness. Lin Chuyu hesitated and said, "This water is so sweet!"
"I can feel it too," Ji Zichen replied.
After a brief rest, the Vermilion Bird continued its ascent into the clouds. In the distance, two dark spots were flying towards them from the opposite direction. Ji Zichen sensed the bird's wariness, which made him increasingly tense.
Suddenly, the Vermilion Bird let out a low cry of unease as the two dark spots grew larger, their size far exceeding Ji Zichen's initial estimation.
They were two large Fire Geese, whose long beaks could pierce through anything.
Realizing the danger, the Vermilion Bird changed its flight path. However, the two Fire Geese did not pursue them. The bird flew at its fastest speed, and seeing that the Fire Geese were not chasing them brought a sigh of relief to Ji Zichen. He couldn't help but exclaim, "Aren't Fire Geese extinct? How are there still two around?"
Lin Chuyu was unaware of the extinction of Fire Geese and asked, "Brother Ji, how do you know they are extinct?"
"I heard it from an elder of The Divine Alliance Under the Covenant," Ji Zichen explained. "I also saw murals of Fire Geese in ruins that depicted their extinction process—there was a great fire that consumed them overnight in Mountain Valley."
The Vermilion Bird dove down at an astonishing speed towards lower stone peaks. Once they reached Stone Peaks, they could finally breathe easy; those two Fire Geese would surely pass by without noticing them.
However, just as they were about to escape smoothly, one of the Fire Geese spotted them. It opened its long beak and let out a strange cry while the other twisted its thick neck around to see what its companion had noticed.
When it saw a Vermilion Bird trying to slip into Stone Peaks, it joined in with a loud call. The two Fire Geese angled their bodies and began to chase after the Vermilion Bird.
"What should we do?" Lin Chuyu asked anxiously.
Ji Zichen was equally frantic, but the Vermilion Bird was not under his control. "If this Vermilion Bird isn't foolish, it will fly lower. As long as it stays close to the surface of the Stone Peaks, it will have the advantage. The Fire Geese will either follow or choose to give up."
The Vermilion Bird seemed to understand Ji Zichen's words, or perhaps its thoughts aligned with his. The two Fire Geese also sensed the Vermilion Bird's intentions. The larger of the two began to accelerate, overtaking the other Fire Goose. One Fire Goose flew above the Vermilion Bird, honking loudly as it aimed its long beak down at the bird.
The Vermilion Bird nimbly dodged to the side, and the Fire Goose's long beak struck the rock instead. The Fire Goose let out a loud cry—not from pain, but in anger at missing its target. Its beak left no mark, but it had chipped a hole into the stone.
Before the other Fire Goose could join the fray, the Vermilion Bird had already darted into the narrow mountain range among the stone peaks. The two Fire Geese followed closely behind, needing to maneuver up and down and side to side to avoid crashing into the hard cliffs.
Ji Zichen wore a look of astonishment. Although he knew that the Vermilion Bird was adept at navigating through mountains, this was his first experience with such exhilaration. He even worried that the bird might crash into a cliff and injure itself.
At first, Ji Zichen struggled to adjust to the rapid movements of the Vermilion Bird among the cliffs, but once he acclimated, he calmed down significantly. He turned to Lin Chuyu and said, "If you're scared, just close your eyes. I'll tell you when we've passed the Stone Peaks."
Closing her eyes was something Lin Chuyu had already done out of fear; she had tightly shut them without needing Ji Zichen's reminder.
From Ji Zichen's expression, one couldn't tell he had any concerns, but he did have them. However, both he and Lin Chuyu understood that they needed to trust this Vermilion Bird. Ji Zichen had never felt such an eager anticipation before; if he could ride on its back, he believed that with his Five Elements Pearl, he could easily deal with those two Fire Geese.
But since he wasn't on the Vermilion Bird's back, when it flew toward a peak in the northwest direction, it suddenly veered sharply to the right.
Ji Zichen couldn't decipher what this Vermilion Bird intended because ahead lay a dead end. The two Fire Geese were hot on their tails; this area was too narrow. Just before crashing into the cliff ahead, the Vermilion Bird pulled up sharply. The pursuing Fire Goose couldn't adjust in time and slammed into the hard rock wall with a mournful cry.
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