CFSMS -Chapter 57 The Birds Bring You Customers

In a certain area of the secret realm, Lou Xiaotian was hiding in a tree, peeking cautiously toward a cave not far away.

Not long ago, he had discovered a spiritual herb growing inside that cave—a natural treasure born of heaven and earth. Such treasures were usually guarded by beasts, and in this case, the guardian was a Windstorm Lion.

This type of lion was known for its speed, and its cultivation was at the late Golden Core stage—one minor realm higher than Lou Xiaotian. He had originally planned to take it by strategy rather than force.

But before he could make a move, another demonic beast arrived.

As the spiritual herb had reached maturity, it attracted other beasts competing for it.

So the two beasts began fighting inside the cave.

Roars and explosions echoed from within, faint arcs of lightning flickering around.

Lou Xiaotian could already guess the outcome—it would definitely be the lion’s victory.

Because the newcomer was a flying beast, and its natural advantages were severely restricted inside the cave.

As expected, after a sharp, agonized eagle cry, a heavily injured Thunderhawk flapped its nearly broken wings and fled in misery.

Watching the defeated beast leave, Lou Xiaotian quietly slipped down.

As the saying goes, “the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind”—and he intended to be that oriole.

Inside the cave, the Windstorm Lion was injured and licking its wounds, while not far away, a white spiritual herb stood out vividly.

Lou Xiaotian crept forward silently and launched a sudden attack on the lion.

A burst of violent spiritual energy caught the Windstorm Lion completely off guard.

Although Lou Xiaotian’s cultivation wasn’t particularly high, he had plenty of good treasures on him.

With this ambush, he successfully took down the lion and obtained the spiritual herb.

After storing everything away, Lou Xiaotian relaxed and walked out of the cave—only to see several birds perched on the trees ahead, seemingly watching him for who knows how long.

A few of their tail feathers were a brilliant red, flickering with faint flames.

Very beautiful birds.

Lou Xiaotian admired them for a moment—then saw the Flame Sparrows suddenly dart straight toward him.

“Hey, wait—don’t!”

Their speed was even faster than the Windstorm Lion.

Though small, the Flame Sparrows’ attacks were extremely sharp.

He couldn’t handle multiple opponents and fled in panic, covering his head as he ran.

After a while, Lou Xiaotian belatedly realized something strange: these Flame Sparrows weren’t trying to kill him—they were driving him toward a certain direction.

Wanting to resist, he met those tiny green eyes and shamefully gave in.

“Stop pecking me already, I’ll go with you, alright?”

He took out his communication device, the “One Realm Pass,” trying to contact Qin Zhan for help.

But at that moment, Qin Zhan was busy working for Lu Wu and missed the message entirely.

In fact, Lou Xiaotian wasn’t the only one encountering Flame Sparrows.

Across the entire secret realm, wherever there were humans, Flame Sparrows appeared.

Following their boss’s orders, they were driving all humans toward the same direction.

As they moved along, some people ran into each other.

Some looked disheveled and clearly had struggled in the secret realm, while others were glowing with satisfaction, having gained many treasures.

But they all shared one thing in common: intense fire poison within their bodies, their sclera reddened, as if on the verge of going berserk.

Jiang Yunhe was among them.

The fire poison in the Fireflame Secret Realm had left him temporarily helpless.

Even the herbs he found within the realm contained extremely violent fire-attributed energy, making them unusable for now.

After being found by the Flame Sparrows, Jiang Yunhe originally had a chance to leave.

But he noticed something unusual.

The fire poison on these Flame Sparrows was extremely weak.

Perhaps whatever place they came from had something that could suppress fire poison. That was why Jiang Yunhe chose to accept their guidance.

If someone had a map, Lu Wu would have noticed that more and more people across the entire secret realm—from the inside out—were converging toward her direction.

The movement of humans attracted the attention of nearby beasts.

The beasts were extremely wary of the Flame Sparrows.

As long as Flame Sparrows were guiding humans, none of them dared to attack.

All intelligent beasts had already developed some level of awareness.

They couldn’t understand why those usually violent, beast-killing birds had suddenly gone mad today.

To figure it out, groups of beasts quietly followed behind, trying to investigate.

At the stone monument, a new batch of ice jelly had just been prepared.

Lu Wu took out two ice-attributed spirit stones to keep it cool.

Beside her, Qin Zhan casually accepted his “payment” from Lu Wu—several bowls of ice jelly.

With no customers at the moment, Lu Wu pointed at the stone monument, signaling Qin Zhan to go inside and seek his fortune.

Qin Zhan had actually been curious about the monument for a long time, but Lu Wu’s safety mattered more.

Now that she had spoken, he could barely contain his curiosity and stepped forward, touching the monument—vanishing from sight.

Lu Wu assumed it would take a while for him to come out.

Just as she was about to call Huohuo over to pet her fur, someone suddenly fell from the sky in the next instant.

If Lu Wu hadn’t reacted quickly, she would have been turned into meat paste.

Looking closely, it was Qin Zhan.

“?”

Lu Wu’s expression clearly asked: Really… that fast?

Qin Zhan’s face turned green and red in turns as he tried to explain, stammering for a long time.

“I went in and found a corpse. The spiritual energy on it was very strong, so I tried to take a look. Before I could get close, I was kicked flying by that white skeleton.”

And then he was expelled.

He rubbed his backside.

He didn’t have the heart to admit that the skeleton had actually teleported behind him and gave him a solid kick on the butt.

There was no way to dodge it.

It still hurt, and he couldn’t use spiritual energy to remove the pain.

Grimacing, he used body language to fully express his suffering.

“Was that skeleton alive?”

Lu Wu felt relieved that she hadn’t gone in herself.

“No, it wasn’t alive. It just had a remnant soul and acted on instinct.”

Based on his observation, that remnant soul wouldn’t last much longer.

If he was right, that cave was the core of the entire secret realm. The reason the realm had only now become visible was because the skeleton’s power was gradually fading.

Qin Zhan tried again but was rejected from entering.

After gaining nothing but a painful fall, he composed himself with a forced smile.

Feeling sympathetic, Lu Wu comforted him a few words—just then, a figure appeared on the left.

Lu Wu immediately became alert.

Her potential customers had arrived!

“Stop pecking me already, I’m walking, alright?”

A voice drifted over with the wind, and Lu Wu raised an eyebrow.

She noticed at once that several Flame Sparrows were flying above the newcomer’s head, driving him toward her direction.

“Chirp!”

Huohuo pressed against Lu Wu affectionately.

Human, the birds are bringing you customers.

Birds are taking care of you.

“Fellow daoist, greetings. Fate has brought us together—would you like a bowl of ice jelly?”

Lu Wu lifted a bowl of ice jelly and greeted him warmly.

The newcomer was unfamiliar with her, and naturally had no idea about Lu Wu’s reputation as a “living brand.”

He looked at Lu Wu and Qin Zhan, then at the out-of-place stall here, his expression turning extremely complicated and hard to describe.