The Ironwing Bird Reappears

Xia Trading Company. It was the largest trading company in Great Xia Prefecture, established by the Xia family of Great Xia Prefecture itself. A five-story commercial building on the shopping street—this was where the Nanyuan Branch of Xia Trading Company was located. The first floor sold standard medicinal pills, the second floor handled weapons, the third floor offered cultivation methods, the fourth floor sold miscellaneous goods from the myriad races, and the fifth floor was reserved for bulk trading. ... After leaving home, Su Yu headed straight for the fourth floor of Xia Trading Company. He had visited this place with Su Long before. Su Long was, after all, a cultivator at the ninth stage of the Qianjun Realm; Nanyuan lacked sufficient yuanqi, and without external aids, continuing cultivation was impossible. The fourth floor was divided into several sections: "Unknown Cultivation Methods," "Monster Flesh and Blood," "Damaged Magical Treasures," "Heaven and Earth Treasures"... Of course, since this was only the Nanyuan Branch, most items were merely at the Qianjun level, with practically nothing at the Wanshi level. In the Monster Flesh and Blood section. A pretty, well-trained sales clerk offered a warm, professional smile. "Sir, what can I help you with?" "Blood from the Ironwing Bird race!" "Ironwing Bird..." The female clerk pondered for a moment, then quickly asked, "Blood essence or ordinary blood?" A massive Ironwing Bird had an immense volume of blood throughout its body. Apart from a handful of drops of blood essence, the rest was ordinary blood. Ordinary blood had few uses, whereas blood essence served many purposes. Not certain which one he needed, Su Yu hesitated before saying, "Bring both for me to see." "Certainly!" The sales clerk didn't ask further. Ironwing Birds weren't a rare race; they were a standard aerial force on the All-Heavens Battlefield. Had it been a more powerful flying race, Nanyuan might not have had any in stock. Soon, a male employee retrieved two transparent glass bottles from a glass counter. "This is ordinary blood, and this is blood essence. Both come from Qianjun Realm Ironwing Birds." Seeing Su Yu stare at the glass bottles, the sales clerk explained with a smile, "If you need Wanshi Realm Ironwing Bird blood, sir, our Nanyuan Branch doesn't carry it. You would have to go to Great Xia Prefecture to purchase that." "Qianjun Realm is fine!" Su Yu had no use for the Wanshi Realm, and even if he did, he might not have been willing to spend the money. "How much?" "The ordinary blood is inexpensive: five thousand coins per bottle. Blood essence is far more valuable. An adult Ironwing Bird yields fewer than ten drops of blood essence, so one drop sells for fifty thousand." Su Yu frowned slightly. That expensive? "Qianjun Realm creatures are just cannon fodder on the All-Heavens Battlefield—they die by the droves. Is a single drop of blood essence really that costly?" The sales clerk remained composed and kept her smile. "What you say is true, sir, but shipping it back from the All-Heavens Battlefield and transporting it to Great Xia Prefecture incurs hefty costs! Extraction, preservation, retail... multiple procedures, taxes included... so fifty thousand isn't expensive at all." She added, "If you were on the All-Heavens Battlefield, Qianjun Realm Ironwing Birds would naturally be worthless; with some luck, you could pick them up anywhere. But this... is not the All-Heavens Battlefield." Su Yu fell silent. Indeed, Qianjun Realm myriad-race beings were worthless on the All-Heavens Battlefield. But once a battle broke out, who had the time to scavenge? Even if you salvaged something, could you transport it back? Only enterprises backed by formidable power, like Xia Trading Company, were capable of shipping such goods. Consequently, prices naturally soared once items reached the rear. "Give me one bottle of ordinary blood... and one drop of blood essence!" Su Yu's heart ached at the expense. Fortunately, his old man wasn't around; otherwise, if he found out Su Yu spent over fifty thousand on this right after he left, he would beat him half to death. "Certainly. Will that be card or cash, sir?" "Card!" Su Yu showed no expression, but his heart bled. Fifty-five thousand! In one go, he had spent a sixth of the savings his father had accumulated over many years. *This is just a guess. If it doesn't work... that will be a massive loss.* With that thought in mind, Su Yu hurriedly asked, "By the way, do you buy back Ironwing Bird blood here?" The clerk paused slightly, then promptly smiled. "We do. A thousand coins per bottle of ordinary blood, and ten thousand per drop of blood essence." "I..." Su Yu wanted to curse! Highway robbery! Even if Xia Trading Company belonged to the family of Xia Longwu, he couldn't help cursing it as a den of thieves. A buyback price at one-fifth the selling price—what an outrageous rip-off! Forget it, he wouldn't stoop to arguing with them. These employees were merely following rules and had no authority; talking to them was pointless anyway. After swiping his card, he held a wooden box containing two glass bottles. One bottle held just a single drop of golden blood. The golden blood seemed to churn, and within it, one could faintly discern a miniature Ironwing Bird spreading its wings in flight. This was blood essence! The blood essence of races leaning toward monster forms all aided cultivation to some extent. Consuming Ironwing Bird blood essence could help Qianjun Realm warriors enhance their physical strength somewhat. After the Kaiyuan Realm, humans stepped onto the formal path of cultivation; what the Qianjun and Wanshi Realms cultivated was physical strength. While useful to the Qianjun Realm, it was useless to the Kaiyuan Realm. In fact, consuming such monster blood essence easily damaged the body—otherwise, bathing in the blood of gods and demons wouldn't have resulted in exploding bodies. In the Kaiyuan Realm, the nine apertures were not yet unobstructed, so yuanqi could not circulate; accumulating it inside the body made it a lethal poison. Natural treasures like the Heavenly Yuan Fruit birthed pure Heavenly Yuan Qi, which was relatively gentle, unlike overbearing yuanqi. Just as Su Yu was thinking this, the sales clerk cautioned, "Sir, if you haven't reached the Qianjun Realm, you must not consume the Ironwing Bird blood essence. It would be very dangerous!" "I know. Thank you!" Saying so, Su Yu asked casually, "Do you have Heavenly Yuan Fruits here?" "Pardon?" The clerk looked blank, then quickly replied, "My apologies, we don't carry that here, nor have I heard of a treasure called the Heavenly Yuan Fruit." Su Yu didn't mind. There were too many races and far too many heavenly treasures; one couldn't expect a sales clerk to know everything. It was already plenty if she knew what was in their inventory. "What about yuanqi liquid?" "We don't have that either... Yuanqi liquid is difficult to store and dissipates easily, making the storage costs too high!" The clerk hastily explained. "It's available in Great Xia Prefecture. We actually used to sell it years ago, but the overhead was exorbitant and the customer base was small, so we no longer stock it." "Oh. What's the price like?" "In Great Xia Prefecture, it should be about a hundred thousand per drop, though I'm not sure if there's any variance now." Seeing Su Yu inquire about these items, the sales clerk was quick to recommend, "Are you looking to accelerate your Kaiyuan Realm cultivation, sir? We actually carry many treasures and pills that can help, such as fire swine blood, Kaiyuan Pills..." Su Yu rolled his eyes inwardly. *I'm not a novice.* Those things were said to help, but in reality they only accelerated progress by a tiny fraction. If normal cultivation speed was one hundred, they might boost it to one hundred and one. He had known about these methods long ago, but only a fool would indulge in such extravagant waste! Spending tens of thousands on that junk amounted to gaining about one extra day's cultivation over a month. Did he have so much money that he didn't know how to spend it? Of course, people definitely bought them, or they wouldn't be manufactured in the first place, and they had a decent market; buying smaller quantities wasn't outrageously expensive either. Su Yu asked no more and departed carrying the wooden box. He had the items in hand, though whether they would be useful remained unknown. If they didn't work and he hadn't used them up, he could always resell them. Even if reselling incurred a heavy loss, it would at least recoup some funds. ... Downstairs at the residential compound. Chen Hao, who was waiting for Su Yu to come down, watched him return from outside and asked curiously, "Yu, why were you out?" "Buying some things." "Oh. Let's head to school then..." "Not going!" "..." Chen Hao looked utterly aggrieved. "Not going? When I asked you earlier, didn't you insist you had to go? Why aren't you going anymore?" "Self-study at home!" Su Yu chuckled. "Go on ahead. Cultivate hard and strive to reach the fourth stage of the Kaiyuan Realm soon!" Chen Hao was also at the third stage of Kaiyuan. The guy had no hope of testing into the Civilization or Scientific Research Academies; if he failed to get into the War Academy, he would really have to go to the Internal Affairs Academy. "I..." Su Yu cut him off and, with plenty of coaxing, finally sent Chen Hao on his way. ... In the living room. Su Yu stared at the two bottles of blood, frowning in silence. He had the blood, but the critical question was: how should he use it? *Swallow it?* *Qianjun Realm blood wouldn't make my body explode, but it would definitely injure me.* *Wait for another dream and let the Ironwing Bird kill me again? But... it took over ten years for it to appear once. Am I supposed to wait another decade or more?* Su Yu felt a headache coming on. Before buying it, he had been full of zeal, but now that he possessed it, hesitation crept in. Last night he had finally obtained a clue, and he had steeled his resolve to swallow it if all else failed. Yet when the moment truly arrived, Su Yu balked. Getting injured was excruciatingly painful. *Or smear it on my body?* No sooner had the thought occurred to him than Su Yu decided to test it. As long as he didn't ingest it, there shouldn't be much danger. Naturally, he couldn't recklessly experiment with the blood essence, but the ordinary blood posed little risk. Uncapping the bottle of ordinary blood, Su Yu dabbed a bit onto his finger, smeared it across the back of his hand, and waited for what would happen next. A few minutes later, Su Yu frowned. Absolutely nothing happened. The blood was slowly evaporating! It had cost five thousand coins a bottle, after all. Since it wasn't blood essence, drinking small amounts normally could help strengthen the body. Letting it go to waste like this was too pitiful. *No effect...* *What about consuming a tiny bit?* Su Yu touched his tongue to the back of his hand, licking off just a trace. After waiting a little longer, there was still no reaction. *Ordinary blood doesn't work, or could it be... the method is wrong? Or did I simply misunderstand?* Su Yu felt an ache in his temples. Tens of thousands of coins had been spent. Had he acted too rashly? Yet that nightmare had tormented him for too long. He wanted nothing more than to resolve it immediately; if spending tens of thousands could solve it, he wouldn't care in the slightest. Shifting his gaze to that drop of blood essence, Su Yu struggled to make up his mind. There was only a single drop of blood essence, and like a piece of jade, it couldn't be divided at all. Therefore, this thing could only be swallowed; smearing it would be useless. *Do I really have to swallow the blood essence? I'm only in the Kaiyuan Realm. If I swallow it, even if I don't die, my vitality will be severely damaged. I already had no hope of reaching the fourth stage of Kaiyuan, and if I'm injured, let alone reaching the fourth stage, I might not even maintain the third stage.* Su Yu was torn with indecision. Over the years, tempered by the nightmares, he was actually steadier and more decisive than his peers. When it came to taking risks, had his father not gone off to the battlefield, he wouldn't even have considered applying to the War Academy. Yet the nightmares had lasted too many years, and right now he desperately wanted to understand the truth behind the dream. *It's just one drop. It won't kill me...* *Why not give it a shot?* *If I really get injured, at worst I'll give up on applying to the War Academy. At Kaiyuan stage three, my chances weren't high anyway.* *If I test into the Civilization Academy, there isn't much difference between stage three, stage two, or even stage one.* Su Yu examined the glass bottle before him. The golden blood was somewhat glaring. After a moment's hesitation, Su Yu took out the blood essence. It rested in his hand like a smooth stone, slightly heavy. Su Yu tightened his grip on the droplet, yet there was still no response. *Should I wait another day and try having another dream? Could other monsters also need Ironwing Bird blood?* *Or is Ironwing Bird blood only useful today?* The dream changed every day, roughly around midnight. If it became useless once today passed, how long would he have to wait? The next time an Ironwing Bird appeared might not be in this lifetime, or it might take decades. His breathing grew slightly ragged. "Then... I'll try it!" "At worst, I get injured. If I'm injured, I'll go test into the Civilization Academy! I'll study the myriad races there, and sooner or later, I will decipher the true answer!" As for the War Academy, his chances had been slim to begin with. Faced with the choice between deciphering the dream and gambling on uncertain admission to the War Academy, Su Yu gritted his teeth and chose to solve the dream. If he cracked the nightmare, there might be unexpected rewards. Holding the blood essence in one hand, he pulled out his communicator with the other and swiftly sent a message: "Come to my place. There's something I need to tell you. If no one answers when you knock, break down the door!" The message was sent to Chen Hao. If he ended up injured or even unconscious without time to call for help, Chen Hao's arrival would ensure he was taken to the hospital. Having arranged this, Su Yu clenched his teeth and popped the blood essence straight into his mouth. *At worst, I'll just get hurt. Am I someone who's afraid of pain?* "Ah!" A shrill scream escaped his throat, and Su Yu nearly burst into tears. *It hurts so much!* *Rumble!* The next moment, his head roared, darkness swallowed his vision, and Su Yu collapsed unconscious to the floor. *Moonlight!* The massive Ironwing Bird that blotted out the sky appeared once more—just like the previous night, yet subtly different. For over ten years, Su Yu had never experienced this: two dreams that repeated. Today, it happened. The Ironwing Bird reappeared!