Red Heart Patrols the Sky - Chapter 443 - Yan Xiao's First Cry

Chapter 443 - Yan Xiao's First Cry

Words : 1468 Author : Deep Feelings

Chapter 443 of "Red Heart Patrols the Sky" begins with intriguing events: Facing this strange, terrifying howl.Among the Holy Tribe present, almost only the Priest with white... Don’t miss it!

Facing this strange, terrifying howl.Among the Holy Tribe present, almost only the Priest with white hair remained calm.

Her tone was even measured, “Ba Zhi, take the head of Xiang Shou over there.

It’s placed in my workshop, and I have already offered prayers for it.”

Qing Ba Zhi clenched her teeth, wordlessly walking away.

This is tradition.

This is the tradition…

Qing Qishu and Qing Jiu Ye remained silent, their faces showing shame.

“Foreign young lad.” The Priest looked at Jiang Wang, “Didn’t you ask me what the plight of the Divine Shade Land is?

We of the Holy Tribe have no choice but to have our young warriors fight each other to the death, and then the head of the warrior who dies in this contest…

is presented as an offering; this is the predicament we face.”

“What causes such a predicament?” Influenced by the oppressive atmosphere, Jiang Wang’s voice was also hoarse, “Was it that cry just now?”

The aged Priest looked at him and told the following story—

Long ago.

A tail-less swallow approached, speaking human language, and said, “Kind-hearted people, I am starving, on the brink of death.

Could you give me something to eat?”

A kindhearted Holy Tribe girl brought some fruit.

The tail-less swallow said, “No, I don’t eat these.”

The Holy Tribe girl brought it a bowl of rice and a bowl of water.

The tail-less swallow said, “How can these fill my belly?”

The Holy Tribe girl grew angry and said, “What exactly do you want to eat then?”

At that moment, the tail-less swallow revealed its hideous true face, saying, “Only your head can ease my hunger a little.”

With that, it pounced on the Holy Tribe girl.

This scene was witnessed by a Holy Tribe warrior who raised his bow and shot the tail-less swallow dead with an arrow.

But horrifyingly, the next day the tail-less swallow appeared again.

Completely identical, not a single feather harmed.

It even pleaded in the exact same tone, “Kind-hearted people, I am starving, on the brink of death.

Could you give me something to eat?”

People already knew its hideous true face, so this time no one answered.

The brave Holy Tribe warrior shot it dead immediately.

To prevent the strange tail-less swallow from reviving again, the warrior also burned its corpse to ashes.

Yet on the third day, the tail-less swallow appeared once more.

This time, it began to weep, “I’m about to starve to death, I beg you, give me a human head to eat.”

Of course, no one agreed.

The Holy Tribe warrior killed it once again, but in doing so, the warrior realized it was much stronger and swifter than before; killing it had no longer been so easy.

The fourth day…

The fifth day…

Each time the tail-less swallow was killed, it would appear again the next day, unscathed and even more powerful than before.

No matter what was done with its corpse, buried or chopped up, and even a warrior roasted and ate it…

it would always revive.

Finally, one day, the Holy Tribe warriors were no longer its match and were killed by it during a fight.

The tail-less swallow pecked off the poor warrior’s head and devoured it in a few bites.

Then it joyfully said to the people, “This is the hundredth head I have eaten, kind-hearted people, thank you!

I’m full now!

See you in a year!”

Having said that, it flew away from there.

And indeed, it did not appear again until a year later…

When the tail-less swallow reappeared, the Holy Tribe warriors had been preparing for an entire year, setting traps and working together to kill it.

They trapped its corpse with chains, placed it inside a coffin made of Divine Dragon Wood, and buried the coffin in front of the Altar of Trees, hoping to use the Divine Power to suppress the evil creature.

But, to their despair, the tail-less swallow revived the next day.

And as before, it had become stronger.

A great battle ensued, it killed seventeen Holy Tribe warriors, and pecked off the head of one of them.

When it left, it said, “I’m full, thank you for the hospitality!

See you in a year!”

A year later, when the tailless swallow returned, people had different opinions.

Some practiced combat skills to fight the tailless swallow again, while others tried new methods to prevent its resurrection.

At this time, a samurai from the Holy Tribe stepped forward and said, “It only needs to eat one human head, so why should so many of us die?”

This samurai committed suicide in front of the tailless swallow, offering his own head.

After the tailless swallow pecked at the human head, it indeed left and did not harm anyone else.

This practice of “offering heads” continued to this day and became the precursor to the “Swallow Peck” tradition of the Holy Tribe.

The story is not long, but extremely dark and despairing.

A monster that could never be completely killed and only grew stronger the more it was resisted turned the appalling act of consuming human heads into a habit.

People both feared it and got used to it.

The white-haired old woman finished telling the story.

Jiang Wang and his two companions fell silent.

The “Swallow Peck” tradition of the Holy Tribe is a history of great sacrifice.

But from another perspective, isn’t it also a history of the tailless swallow’s taming of the so-called “Holy Tribe”?

“I have a question,” Wu Quji asked straightforwardly.

“Since the tailless swallow needs only one human head a year, why don’t you send the elderly or children who are too weak to work, rather than letting the young and strong warriors of your tribe die?

From a value perspective, this doesn’t seem appropriate.

The young and strong warriors should be the security of a tribe’s survival, shouldn’t they?”

The old priest looked at him deeply.

“Elders are history, children are the future.

Losing history is losing honor.

Losing the future is losing everything.

We do not have the tradition of sending our elders and children to their deaths.”

Yanzi glared at Wu Quji.

“Although my Holy Tribe has been compelled to submit, our spines have not broken!”

Then, Jiang Wang asked, “Is the tailless swallow the same as Yan Xiao?”

Before entering Divine Shade Land, Qing Qishu had mentioned this seemingly taboo name, which had left a deep impression on him.

“Yan Xiao?” Before the priest could nod, it was Su Qi next to him who curiously spoke out first.

While the priest was telling the story of the tailless swallow, Su Qi had been thoughtful, seemingly making some connection.

“Young man, do you know about Yan Xiao?” the old priest’s cloudy eyes fixed on Su Qi.

“I once came across an ancient text that mentioned Yan Xiao,” Su Qi said hesitantly.

Jiang Wang’s heart stirred.

An ancient text from the modern world mentioned the creature from Forest Sea Source Realm known as the tailless swallow?

This matter was becoming increasingly mysterious.

Everyone looked at Su Qi with inquiring eyes.

After a moment’s thought, he prefaced, “I’m not sure of its authenticity, I’ll just tell what I have seen.”

“But speak without concern,” they encouraged.

Su Qi organized his thoughts and recounted, “According to the ancient text…”

“Swallows are good birds, and owls are seen as evil.

Ancient people detested the owl.

To behead an owl and hang it on a tree for public display—

That was the origin of ‘displaying severed owl heads’.

It has also become a form of punishment that the Human Race still uses today, often severing the heads of those executed and hanging them on wood for public display.

It is said that after the owl’s death, its evil thoughts do not cease.

Out of a hundred thousand displayed owl heads, one might give birth to an extremely malignant bird.

Named Yan Xiao.

Legend has it that this creature, embodying the evil thoughts of the owl and resenting that humans adore swallows yet despise owls, took on the form of a swallow.

It transforms into the form of a swallow to take lives.

In the guise of something the Human Race ‘likes,’ it inflicts harm on them.

Because it is born from a severed head, it naturally has a head but no tail, which is the most striking difference between Yan Xiao and a swallow.

Yan Xiao is the most malevolent of all owls, inherently cruel, feeding on the heads of living beings.”

As Su Qi finished, his voice even began to tremble—

“When Yan Xiao cries, it must devour a hundred heads!”

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Chapter 443 - Yan Xiao's First Cry

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