The Sorceress: Blossoming Power

When she heard the leader's offer, her childhood years came back to her mind. There was a time she jumped down from the back of a giant eagle to the back of another eagle as the birds flew lower and lower on the valley, scaring the grannies. Yan Ma even fainted.

For the pranks, she remembered scaring the python by throwing a porcupine in the middle of its coiled body. She thought of doing those stunts again and attack without exposing her true power to these people.

"Hey! My baby Hutyuns, when Nianshi disappeared, let me fall but become invisible all around my body. Then be ready to my every command while they are distracted. Okay?"

"Yes, my queen," they all answered through telepathy.

"When I tell you to make me look like a vampire bat or any animal make me look like one but with greater ferocity. Let's scare these men out of their wits. Haha." She said with excitement brewing inside her. The Hutyuns caught up with her enthusiasm and loudly said "Yes" in unison.

She waited until the birds began coming but the enemy's leader had a foreboding while looking at the creepy smirk on her face. He thought of going near her, but the wild geese arrived with their v-shape formation and went through the men's positions, slapping a few men with their wings along the way.

This irritated the men and wished to catch them for dinner but did not do so, afraid to get distracted from their purpose and receive a good scolding. So they only hunched down and gave way for the ducks. Winter was coming, so the men let the geese passed even though they find it strange for these egg-laying creatures to bother to choose this path.

Xinyi looked away laughing as she listened to the ducks' quacking saying, "You, dumb men. Don't you dare hurt our Xinyi or we will make you suffer."

Next, a colony of bats followed and alarmed the leader. "Move away from the vampire bats," said the leader as he kept on pulling the rein to let the reluctant mount fly all the way to Xinyi.

Then, "Everyone, now," Xinyi said in her mind and Nianshi became a bat with the diary hidden with him while she feigned shouting, "Ahh! Help!!!"

The leader's attention was on her the whole time and caught unprepared when the lion-dragon vanished. He hurried the mount to catch her as she 'fell'. As Xinyi thought so, three of them came to her rescue but the leader came first. But as he pulled her toward him, her face changed into a bat's face snarling with two long sharp canines glaring straight at him.

The leader jumped in fright and let go of her in that instant but... he panicked more when his body went sideways because his saddle got separated from his mount and fell with it. His instincts kicked in and shouted his mount's name as his hand tried to reach for the beast. The loyal flying crocodile swooped down and caught him.

While this happened, they heard more cries because all of the saddles turned upside down with the men. Fortunately, the leader's mount got him on time; He held tight around the reptile's body with his body lying on top. He let his mount go back to the ground after losing his saddle but some men fell and got wounded. No one died because the tall trees lessened the speed of their falling but a lot of them got sprains and bone dislocations.

This greatly infuriated the leader and roared like a wounded beast with his hands clenched as he thought of her. But then he shook his head. "No, she was not human. It was an impersonating beast. Damn, we were fooled."

He looked up to find 'the impersonating beast' among the different types of birds flying in the sky but… to his annoyance, there was no sign of 'her'. Poor guy, the person he desperately sought was now one of the giant eagles, soaring high above the rest.

Xinyi stretched her hands sidewise with hair and clothes flapping on her back, feeling like an eagle herself as the Hutyuns cloaked and flown her. She yelled and laughed in glee, enjoying the flight and smell of fresh air as she zoomed around the clouds. After a time of enjoyment, she shouted, "Faster to Herketish Lake."

As they flew further from Forsaken Valley, larger birds joined her all the way to the magic mountain.

This mountain was the safest place to reunite with Nianshi. Because, in there, only magic-wielding beings could enter.

----- o -----

Inside Skrider's space, time flew fast. Xinyi exactly stayed there for two days unknowingly. So, while Xinyi was in there…

Inside the cave in Fengfu City. Xionmao didn't agree to let Shijian out but suggested he would ask other animals to run around the camp.

The creature was of great significance to expose it out in the open. If Nianshi was that great, so was Shijian but the young Qilin could grow fast and become equally strong as Nianshi if a powerful Chiangda could own her. Xionmao hoped to let Xinyi have the Qilin but it was up to fate. Yes, fate of which he could not force as a guardian.