Chapter 36 part 6

Although Wang Tianba had been tortured by hunger for the past year, to be honest, it didn’t eat as much as before. Instead, it felt something was wrong. Its developed sense of smell made the fragrant smell of food linger in its mind, which made it want to end its current state quickly and eat heartily.

Kong Bi spread the picnic mat on the ground and sat on it, waving to Wang Tianba.

Wang Tianba immediately lifted its leg and ran over. The preparations of many days, the surging spirit, and instinct drove it to feel instinctively somewhat uneasy at this moment. Therefore, Kong Bi’s arrival actually made it relax a little. Although it has long left its parents and become independent, at this moment, having a backer around will always make people feel safe.

Kong Bi felt Wang Tianba’s bones, a strange look in her eyes.

Because of feathers, it’s difficult to judge a bird’s weight with the naked eye. However, as long as you part the feathers on their chest, professionals can directly determine their physical condition by the fullness of their pectoral muscles. The skin beneath a bird’s feathers is so thin that you can directly see the bones; in their juvenile stage, you can even see their internal organs. Wang Tianba was the same before, so when everyone examined it, although they were surprised by its size, they didn’t find any other abnormalities.

But now it was different. Its skin layer had thickened within just a few days to the point where the keel bone was no longer visible on its chest. However, you could still feel it by hand. The surface of its skin felt like it was covered with a thick layer of oil film. This change greatly increased Wang Tianba’s defensive capabilities.

You must know that birds’ bodies are very fragile. To fly, they have sacrificed too many things, and a thin skin layer is one of them. Therefore, if they face an attack and don’t dodge in time, they are very susceptible to internal injuries. But now Wang Tianba didn’t need to worry too much about this aspect. If Wang Tianba encountered Kong Bi in this current state, she would not be able to directly slap Wang Tianba to the ground. Instead, it would transmit a kind of counter-shock force, and the power would be directly reduced to the lightest level with the vibration.

This is similar to the primary flight feathers on an owl’s wings. Their serrated primary feathers divide the large airflow during flight into smaller turbulent flows, allowing them to fly almost silently. Wang Tianba’s current skin layer of fat and oil film also achieves the same dispersing effect.

In addition to this, Kong Bi noticed that Wang Tianba’s head seemed to have grown larger again. Among birds of prey, owls already have relatively large heads and eyes. However, Wang Tianba’s head was now even heavier, contributing more weight than the newly grown skin layer on its body.

Kong Bi weighed Wang Tianba during the examination, and its weight change wasn’t significant. The skin layer seemed to have a special structure, with the overall increase in weight perhaps only a few grams, while its head had clearly gained more weight. The color of its brown eyes also seemed to have lightened slightly, which might be because the number of cone cells in its eyeballs had increased.

Many owls’ eyes are composed of a large number of rod cells and a small number of cone cells. Some species of owls even lack cone cells entirely in their eyes, which is why they can’t see clearly during the day. This is usually the difference between nocturnal and diurnal creatures. Animals like pigeons and chickens only have cones and no rods, so they can’t see clearly at night and are only active during the day. But Wang Tianba now seemed to be developing a tendency to be able to see both day and night.

Is this evolution?

Kong Bi was a little surprised. A stronger body increased survival ability, eyes that worked day and night enhanced hunting ability, including the enlarged skull…

It’s also evolution, so why don’t I have such obvious changes?

Kong Bi recalled her own situation. She hadn’t grown more developed legs, her brain didn’t seem to have changed, and she didn’t have the spiritual power or divine sense described in novels. No, wait, it seems she did have something…

Peacock are not very good at flying, but Kong Bi felt that as long as her demon power held up, flying from one side of Blue Star to the other wouldn’t be a problem. However, her bones hadn’t become hollow as a result, and her soft muscle tissue had become very firm. When her muscles tensed, ordinary controlled knives couldn’t even break through her defense. However, compared to Wang Tianba’s evolution, these changes didn’t seem to involve a change in the fundamental nature of her being.

Recalling the famous phoenixes of ancient times, judging from their appearance, it seems many of them were of the Phasianidae family. In other words, the evolution of the Phasianidae family doesn’t focus on the physical body, but rather on special innate abilities and the application of magical arts?

Kong Bi felt this possibility was very high, because even in this Dharma-ending era where the Qi of heaven and earth cannot be sensed, she could cast her supernatural powers with ease. However, in this current era, wouldn’t this direction of evolution be less advantageous than physical evolution?

Not dwelling too much on this, Kong Bi carefully observed Wang Tianba’s condition.

It now only had two places on its body that hadn’t evolved: its heart and its brain, both of which are the most vulnerable parts of the body.

“Woo ah—woo ah—”

Wang Tianba roared towards the sky.

The people staying in the monitoring room looked at each other in confusion.

“What is it doing?”

Li Xiangdong, an expert who had always focused his research on avian ethology, said uncertainly, “It seems to be… courting?”

Everyone was surprised: “Are forest eagle-owls in heat in June?”

“Isn’t it a female bird?”

“Does it have a crush on Director Kong?”

Kong Bi had no idea that the people in the monitoring room had developed strange speculations because of Wang Tianba’s behavior. At this moment, Wang Tianba’s calls were very different from its usual “goo goo goo.” They were somewhat hoarse and sharp, and also had a sense of ancient desolation. However, Kong Bi couldn’t understand what it was calling at all, just like the ‘hu’ and ‘ha’ sounds made by the elders of Kong Family Village when they performed ancient sacrificial dances during the New Year, which seemed only to be for creating atmosphere.

But Kong Bi knew that this was by no means as simple as setting the atmosphere.

She felt the vibration of the air. This mysterious tone seemed to be stirring something between heaven and earth. Kong Bi guessed that it was probably the Qi of heaven and earth, but unfortunately, there was no such thing nearby.

However, at this moment, Kong Bi understood why birds sing loudly when courting. On the one hand, this sound is indeed loud enough to attract the attention of their kind in the distance. On the other hand, this may be the way that monsters used to mobilize the power of heaven and earth.

Not only the sound, but also dance may have the same effect in the past. However, with the disappearance of the Qi of heaven and earth, this instinct has been passed down, but it has long lost its original function.

Perhaps it is the same for humans. In the Tang Dynasty, they still sang and danced. Perhaps it was because mortals “followed the trend” from cultivators such as Qi Refiners.

Wang Tianba quickly stopped this inexplicable singing behavior. It seemed to be very confused why instinct drove it to do this, but it was obviously aware that this behavior was useless except for wasting physical strength, so it stopped and flapped its wings, and the feathers on its body made a rustling sound.

Kong Bi felt that the vigorous energy in its body was stimulated. If someone approached at this time, they would find that they were inexplicably afraid to breathe. The temperature rose slightly higher than that of the surrounding area, and the air seemed to stop flowing.

I don’t know when it started, the sound of cicadas began to make people irritable, and birds flew restlessly in the air.

An inexplicable air of restlessness was spreading outwards.

Finally, a powerful suction emanated from Wang Tianba. The familiar, abundant energy within her body was instinctively guided by Wang Tianba along a strange path throughout its entire being. Ultimately, one-third rushed towards her heart, while the other two-thirds surged towards her brain.

A raw, obstructive sensation struck, like a massive mountain blocking Wang Tianba’s path.

There was no way forward.

Repeated collisions and strikes, needle-like sensations assailed its heart and brain. Each of her attacks felt not like it was directed at an enemy, but at herself.

Wang Tianba fell into a deep sleep, yet the energy in her body continued to charge forward along the same path it had when awake, undaunted and fearless.

Kong Bi looked at Wang Tianba. The energy of the spiritual spring water was very obvious in her perception, just like the active creatures observed in the thermal imaging device, so she naturally did not miss Wang Tianba’s painful expression just now.

At this moment, she finally understood why the inherited memories repeatedly emphasized that minor demons must break through in their sleep. Every time they launched a charge against the ‘cage’, they could clearly feel themselves brushing shoulders with death. How could their own thoughts not shrink back in fear, and even doubt their decision to break through?

Without the momentum of pressing forward fearlessly, without resistance, how could one break through the boundaries of life and leap out of the cage?

Unfortunately, while minor demons could still take shortcuts, there was absolutely no easy way for big demons. Perhaps this was why, even now, some minor demons could still be seen, while big demons were almost like legends in ancient times.

But even though the breakthrough was left to instinct, this journey would be difficult.

The energy coiling around the heart had dissipated, and more power began to rush towards the brain.

The twisting and stabbing pain from the depths of the soul constantly stimulated the desire to survive, making Wang Tianba’s sleep uneasy. Compared with the body, how illusory and fragile is the soul?

While a heart can still be reactivated after stopping for ten minutes or even an hour, if the soul dissipates, even if one doesn’t die, they become a living corpse.

The organs living in the body cooperate with each other sincerely, and most of the blood-producing work is actually entrusted to the brain rather than the heart.

A faint yet discernible sense of death lingered around Wang Tianba, lying dormant. Kong Bi was startled and alarmed. Even though this aura wasn’t directed at her, she still felt an indescribable fear.

But she did not choose to leave, and let this feeling wash over her.

It is a rare opportunity to feel the state of breakthrough in advance. Since ancient times, whether it is human or demon, when breaking through, they will choose a quiet place with no one, not only to prevent others from disturbing them, but also to avoid letting others see their state when breaking through.

A true teaching in a single sentence is worth more than ten thousand scrolls of family teachings. There is nothing that allows one to comprehend all this more than witnessing someone’s breakthrough firsthand.