"These are chickens?! These are all Honkai Beasts!"
Ryn held down the Azure Empyrea Birds that were pecking him. After eating Honkai energy, these things grew to an enormous size.
However much they ate, that's how much bigger they got. They were completely defying the law of conservation of energy!
Bad news: they fought more fiercely than ordinary Honkai Beasts. Good news: after eating Ryn's Honkai energy, they all became his Honkai Beasts.
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The early morning market was bustling but not crowded. Fu Hua quickly purchased the necessary supplies for their life on Mount Taixu.
Following the signal Ryn sent from his phone, Fu Hua headed towards him.
"Huh, why are there Azure Empyrea Birds here... Great, we can have an extra dish for dinner."
Fu Hua grabbed the tuft of feathers on a passing fat Azure Empyrea Bird and lifted it up.
"Purple feathers... Is my memory failing me again? I remember the crest feathers of Azure Empyrea Birds being red. Well, it doesn't affect the taste."
As she got closer to Ryn's location, Fu Hua saw more and more Azure Empyrea Birds. Not only were they huge, but they all had uniform purple feathers.
Finally, in a place surrounded by a flock of Azure Empyrea Birds, Fu Hua saw "Azure Empyrea" Ryn.
Ryn was draped in a greatcoat woven from Azure Empyrea feathers (like the one Herrscher of Sentience wears in her Herrscher form), lying on a giant Azure Empyrea Bird, with two other birds giving him a shoulder massage and two more massaging his legs.
Fu Hua froze on the spot at this sight, and the dinner in her hand fell to the ground.
"Yo, Fu Hua, you're back! The Azure Empyrea Birds of Mount Taixu are really so hospitable. Want to come and enjoy it too?" Seeing Fu Hua had arrived, Ryn waved to her and had a few Azure Empyrea Birds go help her with her things.
Fu Hua handed her things to a nearby Azure Empyrea Bird, then took off her glasses and retrieved the Grips of Taixuan from her back and put them on.
"You bastard Ryn, what did you do to my Azure Empyrea Birds!!!"
"They did this willingly!"
"You fed them your Honkai energy!"
"They ate it themselves! It's not my fault!"
"There are hundreds of Azure Empyrea Birds here that have been transformed by your Honkai energy. If you didn't actively feed them, don't tell me they snatched it themselves!"
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After a sound scolding from Fu Hua, Ryn tearfully drove away the Azure Empyrea Birds that hadn't been transformed by his Honkai energy. Ryn's Azure Empyrea Bird army plan ended as soon as it began.
However, more than two hundred had already been transformed, which was enough.
Enough my ass. Fu Hua actually said that after being transformed, their lifespans would be drastically shortened, their natural lives cut down to less than two years.
To prevent their corpses from radiating Honkai energy and affecting other creatures after they died, Ryn and Fu Hua tearfully feasted on five or six of them every day.
It had to be said, the meat of the Azure Empyrea Bird was extremely delicious, all-natural and pollution-free. Eating it regularly could even promote health and strengthen the body.
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Fu Hua's sect was located on Mount Taixu, but the Taixu Sword School was no more.
A great fire five hundred years ago burned for days and nights on Mount Taixu, completely destroying its ecosystem. Azure Empyrea was never heard from again, and the Taixu Sword School was disbanded.
The raging fire at that time forced the people on Mount Taixu to flee in a hurry. They kept praying for Azure Empyrea to appear, but Azure Empyrea could no longer answer their prayers.
But although Azure Empyrea did not appear, the Azure Empyrea Birds did.
In the midst of the raging fire, one after another, fat Azure Empyrea Birds broke through the earth. They chirped and then, in flocks, used their massive bodies to extinguish the fire.
In the end, the fire was stopped, but Mount Taixu was also reduced to ruins.
Because of the appearance of the Azure Empyrea Birds, people firmly believed that it was Azure Empyrea who had saved Mount Taixu. They spontaneously rebuilt the ecosystem and homes of Mount Taixu, and called the Azure Empyrea Birds that emerged from the fire, Phoenixes.
They even carved a giant stone statue of Azure Empyrea in the mountains, according to the descriptions passed down through the ages.
Azure Empyrea Birds could actually be seen everywhere on Mount Taixu, but people rarely saw the giant Azure Empyrea Birds of the past again. Only those giant Azure Empyrea Birds were called Phoenixes.
And today, people saw many Phoenixes...
Fu Hua and Ryn sat on the backs of Azure Empyrea Birds, ascending Mount Taixu along a forest path.
Fu Hua and Ryn, at the head of the procession, were hidden from view by the Azure Empyrea Birds, so people didn't see them. But everyone saw the grand procession of hundreds of Azure Empyrea Birds ascending Mount Taixu.
Giant Azure Empyrea Birds, weren't those the legendary Phoenixes! People who heard the news spontaneously stood on both sides of the road, watching the large-scale migration of the Phoenixes.
"I never thought I'd see a Phoenix in my lifetime... This life was worth living."
"Yeah! Now I can face my ancestors with pride."
"But did you guys notice that these Phoenixes, compared to the ones in the records, are purple?"
"What's that supposed to mean? Look, even the Azure Empyrea Birds are all sorts of strange. What's so odd about a Phoenix changing color!"
"True..."
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Ryn nudged Fu Hua beside him with his elbow and said with a smile:
"Look what I hear? Fu Hua, you told me not to feed the Azure Empyrea Birds, but didn't you do it yourself in the past? You even let them leave behind the name of Phoenix, huh!"
"That was not my intention..."
"It wasn't my intention to feed them either. It's all the same, all the same..."
"No... it's not the same..." Fu Hua patted the Phoenix beneath her, sighed, and continued, "At that time, I had died, and the Honkai energy in my body was leaking uncontrollably..."
"But it was a blessing in disguise. The Azure Empyrea Birds near me at the time absorbed this Honkai energy, transformed into Phoenixes, and saved Mount Taixu... Not only did they stop the fire, but they also prevented the people from being contaminated by Honkai energy."
Ryn touched Fu Hua's forehead to check if she had a fever, then looked at Fu Hua with a mixture of curiosity and pity.
"Your past doesn't seem to have been very pleasant... Interested in telling me about it?"
"No."
Fu Hua's face was expressionless, showing no emotional fluctuation, but she still moved her lips and said:
"The Divine Key I possess, Fenghuang Down, is the Eighth Divine Key—the Key of Consciousness. It is the Divine Key that controls information in the brain and masters consciousness.
Ryn, what I told you before about me forgetting... it's not that I truly forgot, but that I used Fenghuang Down to strip away all those memories.
My entire life has been filled with loss and betrayal... but I'm not the type to dwell on the past, nor am I someone who likes to tell others about my past.
So if you really want to know, then go find out for yourself!"