The Crow of Calamity

“Why bother with all that effort? Just chop it up and feed it to the pigs!” Sha Polang craned his neck and leaned in, offering a wicked suggestion.

As soon as the words left his mouth, a chill ran down his spine, his hair standing on end as if plunged into an icy abyss.

“Why did it suddenly get so cold?” He stepped back in confusion.

“That bird of ill omen holds a grudge. Naturally, it’s targeting you.” The old skeleton’s eye sockets flickered with faint ghostlight.

“Isn’t it just a crow’s corpse?” Sha Polang’s face darkened as he retreated further.

“This is no ordinary crow!” The old skeleton emphasized again, shaking his head and muttering about bad luck. “How did we run into such a jinx? We must have used up a lifetime of good fortune just by meeting it…”

Hearing this, everyone knew the fire crow was a being of terrifying origin. This old skeleton, who always claimed to have lost his memory, actually recognized it—he had to be a living fossil among living fossils.

“Since it’s no ordinary crow, let’s just end it here and now.” With that, Xiao Chen pulled out the Heavenly Stele, which was less than a meter long, and weighed it in his hand like a brick, ready to slam it down onto the three-foot stone coffin.

The old skeleton’s eye sockets went wide, shooting out two beams of incredulous light. For a moment, he was stunned—it was the first time he had ever seen someone brandishing a real Heavenly Stele.

“This… is a genuine Heavenly Stele?!” He looked doubtful, his skeletal face drawn long, stammering, “You’re holding the Heavenly Stele… in your hands…?!”

Though the old skeleton had no flesh, the light in his eye sockets conveyed an astonishing range of emotion. At that moment, it was as if a camel were lodged in his throat, choking him speechless.

“How… how is this possible?” Having lived deep in the Death World for ages, he knew well the might of the Wordless Heavenly Stele. Seeing another stele of the same kind filled him with shock.

“Wait!” the old skeleton shouted. He watched as Xiao Chen hefted the Heavenly Stele, swinging it like a brick toward the stone coffin, and three drops of cold sweat actually appeared on his gleaming skull.

I’ll be damned! The old skeleton’s expression was enough to make people want to laugh, yet no one could.

Xiao Chen paused mid-swing, the Heavenly Stele hovering less than three inches above the coffin. “Since it’s a menace, I’ll just smash it now and be done with the trouble.”

“Killing this bird of ill omen isn’t that easy.” The old skeleton stopped him. “Its primordial spirit isn’t here. If we only destroy its physical shell, when its spirit returns, it will be very hard to deal with.”

Anyone could see that the two-foot-long crow’s corpse was icy cold, utterly devoid of life force—its spirit was nowhere inside.

“Is this shabby old bird really that terrifying?” Sha Polang asked.

“Of course it is. In the Primordial Era, it was a notorious bird of ill omen. Everyone who saw it would flee. Wherever it passed, death followed. A true jinx.”

“No wonder people today dislike crows. So the source is right here. Its fearsome reputation spanned the ages, even dragging its descendants into disgrace.”

Everyone could imagine how ferocious this old crow must have been in the Primordial Era—an absolute calamity. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have tainted even its own descendants.

“So what do we do? Can we only seal it?” Xiao Chen hadn’t expected to stir up such a huge problem. He had only wanted to subdue a war ancestor, but instead he had unearthed a terrifying living fossil.

“Bang!”

Xiao Chen grabbed the fleeing tiger demon, his hand blotting out the sky as he clenched the beast’s massive body. It creaked and groaned, on the verge of shattering.

“O Great Demon King from hell, spare me! I truly did not know this fire crow had such an origin, nor that it was so ferocious. I did not mean to deceive you!”

The demon god trembled like a leaf, howling in fear that Xiao Chen would crush him.

“I know now—I know who it is! Legend says the ancestor of our demon race has been living in seclusion for millions of miles. It…” The tiger demon was almost in tears. “How was I supposed to know that this venerable ancestor would be my neighbor?!”

Earlier, he had mentioned that the demon race’s progenitor dwelled somewhere in this vast region. Now, connecting it to the fire crow was only natural.

“Hmm, not necessarily the same one.” At this point, the old skeleton circled the stone coffin. “I think something is wrong with this fellow.” With that, he asked the tiger demon, “You said this jinx demands offerings of spirit blood and spirit meat every day?”

“Yes, none of the nearby demon gods dare to refuse.” The tiger demon nodded repeatedly.

Xiao Chen’s group felt a stir. They suspected the ancient jinx was not quite right—why would a living fossil of its caliber need ordinary blood essence?

“Go on, pull out a crow feather and see?” The old skeleton gestured to Sha Polang.

Sha Polang grimaced. “Even now, it sends chills down my spine. Even with its spirit absent, there seems to be some instinct left in its body. If it gets a grudge against me, I won’t be able to live in peace.”

With that, the scoundrel shamelessly dragged the tiger demon forward. “Guardian mountain beast, I have an important mission for you—go pull out a bird feather?”

“…” The tiger demon cursed inwardly. That kind of bird feather wasn’t so easy to pull. Who wouldn’t fear such a primordial calamity?

“What are you hesitating for? It’s just a dead crow. Hurry up and pull!” Sha Polang urged, but then he felt another chill at his neck and involuntarily stumbled back three large steps.

Xiao Chen sent the tiger demon flying with a slap, then shoved Sha Polang aside. He decided to do it himself. Since he had already stolen the old crow’s coffin lid and earned its enmity, pulling a single divine feather was hardly a concern.

Throwing aside the three-foot coffin lid, Xiao Chen reached into the stone coffin.

“Fall back! Everyone fall back!” The old skeleton was slicker than anyone. Even as he shouted, he flew backward, the first to retreat to a distance.

The moment Xiao Chen’s hand entered the coffin, he felt an icy deathly aura. His fingers felt as if they had plunged into an ice cellar, the cold stabbing like needles. For someone of his cultivation to feel such a sensation showed how terrifying the yin energy was.

When his fingers touched a dull black feather, he had the fleeting illusion that the fire crow’s body had stirred, and its closed eyes seemed to crack open, revealing a cold gleam.

This illusion from the corpse of a primordial jinx sent a chill through everyone’s hearts.

“Illusion or reality…” Xiao Chen muttered. With his other hand, he brought out the Heavenly Stele brick. If there were any demonic tricks, he would not hesitate—destroy the physical shell first, never mind how powerful the spirit might be.

“Thump.”

Xiao Chen plucked a black feather, then stared intently at the fire crow’s corpse. Seeing no reaction, he slowly backed away.

“Boy, is there any blood on the feather?” the old skeleton called from afar.

“No,” Xiao Chen answered truthfully.

“Then it’s just as I suspected. This jinx really is broken.” The old skeleton seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and flew back.

Keke had been by Xiao Chen’s side all along, full of curiosity. She took the black feather and gave it a light flick. With a thunderous roar, a torrent of black divine flame surged forth, reducing a nearby mountain to ash in an instant.

Everyone stared dumbfounded. A single tiny crow feather possessed such terrifying power! The sheer strength contained within that corporeal shell was immeasurable.

“This fellow probably crippled himself by trying to break through,” the old skeleton muttered to himself.

By now, Xiao Chen had boldly lifted the fire crow’s corpse out of the coffin. It didn’t seem like a primordial jinx anymore—just a dead chicken.

He turned it over and over, examining it, and was shocked to find that the fire crow’s body was made of stone, yet it had grown feathers! “This jinx tried to take a step further and ended up crippling himself,” the old skeleton cackled. “A stone body sprouting black feathers, but when plucked, not a drop of blood essence seeps out. Its vital energy is exhausted. It tried to force a breakthrough, and it went horribly wrong. What was it thinking, trying to regenerate flesh and blood when it was perfectly fine as a stone crow?”

“What should we do with it?” Xiao Chen asked the old skeleton.

“Its physical shell is half-wasted, and its spirit must be severely damaged too. I think it hasn’t left its cave—it should still be near that flame cave. Let’s go have a look. If we let it recover its wits, the consequences will be dire.”

Hearing this, Xiao Chen and the others set out immediately for the flame cave.

The fire crow had injured itself in cultivation and needed daily blood essence to keep its stone body active. It couldn’t have strayed far from this area.

Along the way, Xiao Chen carried the fire crow like a chicken. When they reached the divine mountain, the old skeleton turned back to look at him. “Boy, do you really think it’s a dead chicken? This is the infamous jinx of the Primordial Era, an invincible terror who rampaged through the myriad heavens. And you’re carrying it by the neck like a chick?”

“What else should I do?” Xiao Chen had never planned on a truce from the moment he brought the jinx out of the flame cave.

“Don’t be like that. Maybe we can resolve this misunderstanding. I think this jinx only risked a reckless breakthrough because it ran into big trouble. It might not actually want to fight us to the death.”

“Right, it really is a misunderstanding.” Xiao Chen caught on and placed the fire crow’s corpse back into the three-foot stone coffin, closing the lid.

When Xiao Chen’s group arrived again at the flame cave, they saw that a Chaos Banana Palm had sealed the ancient entrance, flames roaring and chaotic mist swirling.

“Caw!”

The crow’s mournful cry sounded from within the flame cave, setting everyone on edge. So the primordial jinx’s spirit was indeed here!

“While I slept, you stole my flesh. And you still dare to return…” A hoarse, aged voice spoke, laden with menace.

“Old duck, you’re still alive? That’s not easy.” The old skeleton swayed forward.

A primordial jinx, called an ‘old duck’—everyone exchanged glances, wanting to laugh but not daring.

“Who the hell is that?!” The fire crow’s spirit inside the flame cave erupted in fury. In all the Celestial Realm, who would dare mock it so brazenly? They must have tired of living.

“Old duck, don’t bluff. If it were the you of old, you’d have rushed out already and left a trail of carnage. But this time, you’ve crippled yourself, haven’t you?” The old skeleton’s tone was sly and cutting.

“Just who the hell are you?!” The fire crow was both shocked and enraged.

“Don’t get mad, old brother. I came specially to see you…” With that, the old skeleton shot two faint beams of light from his eye sockets toward the flame cave entrance, apparently revealing his identity.

The fire crow cried out in surprise: “It’s you, that old scoundrel! You haven’t turned to dust yet?”

“As the Primordial Supreme King said, if you duck are still alive, how could I die?”

They traded insults for a while before calming down.

“It was all a misunderstanding. I’ll return your flesh, and we’ll call it even. What do you think?” the old skeleton finally asked.

“Leave the boy who stole my flesh behind, and the rest of you can go,” the fire crow rasped dryly.

“Old duck, what do you mean by that?” the old skeleton demanded.

“In ages past, even the great powers of the heavens gave me a wide berth. Today, a mere whelp steals my body. If I don’t kill him, what face will I have left?”

“Ya ya!” Keke grew indignant.

Xiao Chen was blunt. He yanked the crow’s corpse out of the stone coffin like a dead duck and said to Keke, “Let me make you a delicious dish. Peking roast duck—it’s a famous recipe in the Nine Provinces.”

With that, he began to pluck the crow’s feathers in earnest, while his other hand gripped the Heavenly Stele, ready to smash the fire crow at any moment.

“Ya ya ya…”

Keke played along beautifully, building a fire on the ground. She threw the black feather into the flames, using her formidable divine power to control the rising black inferno. The terrifying heat spread, and the fire crackled and popped.

“I…”

The fire crow’s spirit in the cave nearly turned to stone from shock, then a torrent of fury erupted, spewing scorching flames from the ancient cave! A primordial jinx who had terrorized the heavens, whom even the great powers dared not provoke lightly, was about to be roasted today—it would be the greatest joke in ten thousand ages!

“Stop!” the primordial jinx roared, truly panicked.

Just then, the crow’s corpse in Xiao Chen’s hand shook violently, its eyes snapping open to reveal two icy beams of light, utterly devoid of emotion, filled only with death.

A sudden manifestation of spirit in the corpse put everyone on edge. But Xiao Chen remained fearless—the Divine Diagram shrouded him, the ancient scroll hung in the air, the Heavenly Mark appeared, and the Heavenly Stele pressed directly onto the stone crow’s body.

He knew the jinx’s spirit had not fully emerged, only a sliver of divine thought. It posed no real threat.

“What? You’ve gathered all these things…” The fire crow seemed deeply shocked.

At that moment, the old skeleton flew over. “Now you see, even if your flesh was stolen, it’s not that shameful. Look, even the Heavenly Stele is being handled like a brick.”

“It really was all a misunderstanding…” Xiao Chen put away the ancient scroll and the Divine Diagram, but kept the Heavenly Stele pressed on the fire crow’s corpse.

The old skeleton quickly played the peacemaker. “Boy, put away the Heavenly Stele and apologize to the old duck—uh, I mean, to this revered progenitor of the demon race.”

Xiao Chen stored the Heavenly Stele and returned the crow’s flesh to the stone coffin.

“If you want to turn hostility into friendship, that can be arranged.” The fire crow’s attitude shifted. “Simply lend me the Divine Diagram in the future.”

Xiao Chen’s heart stirred. The power of the Divine Diagram was so great? In the past, the Stone Emperor had helped him, and before his fall, his only request was to borrow the Divine Diagram when he returned. It seemed the mysteries of this diagram were far deeper than he had imagined.