Chapter 44 Dream
The wind blew fiercely, carrying countless golden rays, tearing Ji Rong's feathers and peeling off her skin and flesh, preventing her from spreading her wings and flying high, leaving her only able to fall downwards.
The sky was endless, and besides the pain and the swirling, falling flesh and feathers, Ji Rong also saw countless lives falling with her.
The heavens and earth trembled!
She struggled to turn her head and looked back, and saw a giant god emitting light, holding a huge axe, chopping down a giant tree.
Ji Rong crashed straight to the ground, her eyes wide open in death; in her final moments, she saw a giant tree collapse with a deafening roar.
Countless dragons and phoenixes circled and cried out in anguish. Ji Rong wanted to join in, but her neck was broken and she could no longer make a sound.
The flames spread, setting trees large and small ablaze. A woman cried out to heaven and earth as her witness, her voice like a sob, like blood.
Ji Rong wanted to hear her pleas, but unfortunately, her blood was gradually draining away and her brain was beginning to stop functioning.
The world seemed to have fallen into eternal darkness and silence.
After an unknown amount of time, Ji Rong was suddenly awakened by a "thump thump" sound.
There was a group of creatures plowing the land.
They uprooted Ji Rong, who had somehow turned into a tree, and scattered her remains on the ground.
Ji Rong wanted to curse, but her new body had no mouth.
Lying on the ground, Ji Rong yearned for water, but instead, one sun after another appeared.
Nine suns hung in the sky, instantly turning her into ashes.
She heard herself say, "Why bother?"
After the scorching sun, a timely rain fell.
Ji Rong heard herself bursting out of the ground, only to be plowed again, followed by nine suns shining down on her, obliterating her into ashes.
"Damn it!" Ji Rong cursed inwardly.
After countless sprouting and scorching, Ji Rong is about to emerge from her shell once again.
A beautiful bird swooped down to the ground, seemingly grabbing at the earth with a casual grab as it took off.
After flying for an unknown amount of time, the bird released its claws and left Ji Rong beside a spiritual vein.
Ji Rong felt warm all over and extremely comfortable, so she was about to fall asleep.
When she opened her eyes again, she was enormous, with all sorts of birds perched on her body. She looked at them one by one and finally confirmed that they were all phoenixes.
She was surrounded by a vast array of phoenixes.
She wanted to move, so she moved a long root.
The dust kicked up by the roots flew everywhere, and a tree by the sea, exhausted, leaned to the side, disturbing the three little dragons that were sunbathing on it.
Ji Rong looked towards the sea and realized that another tree had grown from her root.
So Ji Rong moved the roots and found stones underground to cut off the roots that had grown into the tree one by one.
The birds sing joyfully in the trees every day and night.
Ji Rong's tree gave birth to many more trees, which gradually changed their appearance.
She heard all the creatures in and around the tree calling her "ancestral tree".
Then she fell into a deep sleep again.
When she awoke again, she was horrified to find that an enormous phoenix was resolutely burning her.
But the gods on the other side were not willing to grant her wish; they brought various kinds of spiritual water to irrigate the sacred fire of rebirth.
The sacred flame ignited the phoenix, and it also ignited Ji Rong.
It was fire again. Ji Rong understood, but felt neither joy nor sorrow.
She gathered all her vitality and concentrated it on a single branch, then used that branch to gently brush the phoenix's feathers.
This time, she actively sought out her target. She saw a little phoenix standing below with sad eyes. He didn't seem perfect, but he was still very good. She found him quite pleasing to the eye.
Heaven and earth will always leave her a glimmer of hope. When she wakes up again, she will naturally not be herself, but what does it matter?
She will eventually be herself. The prosperity of all races will not be hindered by the declining divine path. In the end, all calculations and struggles will be meaningless.
A wind rose, accompanied by the flames of rebirth that would destroy the world, and an enraged phoenix soared into the sky.
Countless streams of spiritual water surged in like ocean waves, drenching the phoenix and knocking it to the ground.
The phoenix looked back at the ancestral tree that had given her branches, and suddenly a profound understanding dawned on her, revealing an unprecedented determination within her.
"The Phoenix's True Meaning," Ji Rong saw that the words were silently uttered from her beak.
Then, her feathers, flesh and blood, magic, talent, and the branches that the ancestral tree had given her, all scattered randomly along with the mantra.
"My name is Wind Maiden..."
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In order to shatter the last vestiges of dignity of the Phoenix Clan, God commanded all the Phoenixes to come and watch, and He made the Wind Maiden bow her head and admit her mistake.
The Wind Maiden, however, refused to yield and chose to die in a phoenix-like rebirth.
Ji Rong, who "watched" all of this, knew that Nirvana was the appearance, and self-liberation was the truth.
After that, Ji Rong would always appear in a little phoenix's dream.
This little phoenix hid "Ji Rong" in his Dao core. "Ji Rong" gave him almost limitless vitality, enabling him to break through the shackles of his bloodline and become stronger day by day. He also gave back a huge amount of spiritual energy to "Ji Rong" to maintain her spirituality.
Many years passed, and the little phoenix grew into a young phoenix.
He was hot-blooded and often stood up for his people, but he was repeatedly defeated. Because of his perseverance, his daughter was kidnapped by the Golden Cauldron Palace to be a maid.
His daughter cried and begged him to let her stay. He wanted to chase after her, but in the end, he lowered his hand.
From then on, he secluded himself to practice divination, often talking to himself, and gradually transformed into an old phoenix.
One day, a bird knocked urgently on his door and said, "Ancestor Feng, something terrible has happened! Many phoenixes in Falling Phoenix Ridge have run away, and now the Heavenly Maiden of the Academy has gone after them. We're doomed."
"Oh?" Feng Lie's calm heart suddenly surged. He said, "Who has the guts to run away? Well done, take me to see."
The wind fiercely pushed open the door that had been closed for who knows how many years, and howled towards the sky.
Soon, the hilltop was filled with the chirping of birds.
With a mighty flap of his wings, he arrived at a simple guillotine, melted the fine iron chains, and released the captured phoenixes. He burned a celestial maiden to death and had no intention of leaving alive. He said, "The true meaning of the phoenix."
He said to his own Dao Core, "Ancestral Tree, my life is coming to an end. It's time for you to go."
He opened his mouth, released the Dao Pill, and then scattered it in all directions.
Countless birds scrambled to snatch the ashes left by the fierce wind, but none of them noticed Ji Rong in the corner.
"Hey, did Feng Lie actually convey the message 'I'm here' to these birds?"
Hey you guys, it's not there, I'm right here.
Ji Rong lay in the corner thinking, when she suddenly remembered that one afternoon, "she" had also been lying on the ground like this, sprouting, and then being burned to ashes.
"Ouch, that would really hurt. How could I have such a thought? Who is that?"
A beautiful bird came over and caught the dark-skinned Ji Rong in its beak.
"Hmm, the journey is about to begin again."
Ji Rong closed her eyes and pondered, the warm touch of the bird's beak soothing her thoughts. She asked, "Why am I here?"
"It must be...because...I'm dreaming. I...it seems...I just...passed through a leaf."
"Yes, I'm dreaming." Ji Rong confirmed her guess.
She came to the foot of a giant tree that reached the sky.
She looked down at her bright wings and flew up without hesitation.
Many different races live in the trees, but they all call themselves down.
Ji Rong ignored her and continued flying upwards, soaring straight into the clouds of the ninth heaven.
There is a tall, large cloud platform there, with thrones of various sizes arranged within it.
This time, there were no gods on the cloud platform; it was completely empty.
Ji Rong looked around, but the towering tree was nowhere to be seen, and the air was filled with a thick smell of blood and rust.
A sense of unease rose from the depths of her heart. Ji Rong looked back and her lithe body suddenly felt like a heavy iron weight, rushing through layers of clouds and cliffs, and plummeting downwards.
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