Big Bodhi

Chapter 2: Heart Fire

Mountain ghosts were those that dwelled in the abyss, and most of them were female. They liked to devour humans, beasts, demons, and spirits. They were born where the yin energy flourished, like in the dark ravine of mountains and the depths of rivers, lakes, and seas.

If nothing unexpected happened, they could never leave the land of transformation.

Ji Yuenian's long lashes trembled slightly as he raised his head to look at the young girl's terrifying and sinister face. The light in his eyes faintly reflected the pale white halo swirling around her. Soon, his headfelt numb, followed by an incomparable feeling of infirmity invading his whole body. For a moment, he could not move his fingers at all, leaving him quite shocked at the way the things were escalating.

"It's been a long time since I've seen a human here," The jade fingers that were glowing with pale light raised up slightly, gently stroking Ji Yuenian's head. The mouth on the mountain ghost's face wriggled, and her hoarse and unpleasant voice echoed once again through the deep and narrow mountain stream. "This taste truly is much stronger than those newborn spirit creatures and monsters,"

The mountain ghost's hand touched Ji Yuenian on the top of his head, making him feel as if he was instantly thrown into a freezing hell. The bone-piercing cold air engulfed his entire body within a few breaths. His fair and handsome face unknowingly started emitting a trace of white mist, which was clumsily sucked by the mountain ghost through her parted mouth.

"This vital energy, although it is of little use to me, it leaves behind a memorable taste..."

The mountain ghost hovered in the air bare-footed, talking to herself as if no one else was present. Her tone carried a hint of intoxication as she stroked Ji Yuenian's head. Every minutiae of her movements was imbued with extreme gentleness.

Although Ji Yuenian could not move, he could clearly sense that he was getting weaker by the second. If he allowed the troublemaker to continue devouring him, he would definitely die!

A pitch-black flame gradually emerged from his soul.

The name of this fire was Heart Fire. Even if only a trace of it appeared, the flames were potent enough to burn anything.

[TN:- Should we change Heart Fire to Natal Fire?]

Boom!

Like a bolt out of the blue, the fog shrouding his memory suddenly dispersed a little, like a sun breaking through the clouds. Although Ji Yuenian's eyes were tightly closed at this moment, he saw a glimpse of a scene in the depths of his memory that made him tremble slightly.

Before he could continue to recall the incomplete picture in his memory, a heart-wrenching pain came from his left arm.

Ji Yuenian suddenly opened his eyes. His handsome face was a little distorted because of extreme pain, but when he opened his mouth, he couldn't make a sound at all. Even the shallow white light that permeated the mountain stream was stained with a blinding red.

"Not bad."

The mountain ghost tore off Ji Yuenian's left hand and casually threw it into her mouth. The harrowing sound of chewing reverberated in the narrow space.

After a few short breaths, his hand was devoured entirely by her; her beautiful little face etched with the lines of aftertastes.

Obviously, she had not eaten a human for a long time, and now she wasn't willing to kill Ji Yuenian directly, but wanted to keep him in captivity like a poultry hen and consume him slowly over time.

A stream of pale white halo flowed from her fingers, covering Ji Yuenian's left arm. Strangely, the bleeding gradually stopped, and there was even a trace of it healing in such a short period. Such a method was truly astounding.

Ji Yuenian lowered his head, and there was not even a trace of blood on his pale face. His black eyelashes trembled slightly as traces of Heart Fire once again surged out from an unknown place, and the light in his eyes flickered with endless darkness.

Ever since he woke up, he had been on the banks of a stream running through the mountain pass. Not only had he lost all his memories, his body was also extremely weak.

After falling into the depths of this narrow mountain stream to avoid the sound of the bell, he fell into the hands of this mountain ghost, who regarded him as livestock.

These terrible events happened successively one after another in an extremely short period of time, causing Ji Yuenian's soul to kindle a pitch-black and terrifying flame under the machinations of some mysterious power.

"Eh?" The mountain ghost seemed to have sensed something abnormal. Looking at Ji Yuenian, who had his head lowered, she let out a sneer. "A mere mortal, something akin to livestock. Though it is extremely rare to have a Heart Fire, but... how dare you resist me?!"

After saying those words, she waved her hand again. White light shot out like a rainbow, cutting off Ji Yuenian's entire left arm!

The white ray left behind some white light, so that there was no blood oozing out of Ji Yuenian's left arm. Following that, she brought his left arm into her mouthpart.

Crunch, crunch.

The pain was too intense. Ji Yuenian fainted under such intense stimulation, and no more fire appeared in the depths of his soul. The dark Heart Fire slowly disappeared.

Gulp.

The mountain ghost swallowed the last mouthful of flesh and blood with satisfaction, and the twisted mouthpart slowly shrank. Surrounded by a white light, her face transformed into that of a beautiful girl from the previous scene soon after.

The clear and limpid eyes finally focused on Ji Yuenian's face.

"Although it tastes like an animal, this child is not bad. If it weren't because I haven't eaten a living person for many years, I might have wanted to play with it before eating it."

Strangely, her voice was no longer as hoarse and unpleasant as before. Instead, it was clear and melodious as a yellow warbler.

[TN:- Yellow warbler is a bird species with a pleasant and melodious voice.]

Ji Yuenian had only fainted for a few short breaths. Although his left arm no longer bled, the sharp pain emanating from it still woke him up from his unconsciousness.

When he woke up, he saw that beautiful barefoot girl hovering in the air above the narrow mountain stream. She was looking down at him with a playful gaze.

Suddenly, a finger-thick white lightning ray appeared from the sky, directly piercing into the girl's forehead!

The young girl's expression changed slightly. In a moment, her figure had completely turned into an illusion. She narrowly dodged most of the power of the lightning. After the blazing white light passed through her body, it fiercely struck the bottom of the mountain stream!

Boom!

Crushed stones flew apart accompanied by an ear-splitting cacophony, destroying the narrow mountain stream as a consequence. The dazzling white light glared in the night sky. It even illuminated half of the Qingluan Mountain as if it was daytime.

"You evil servant, why are you not kneeling down?"

The clear voice swept over from high above the sky with a trace of suppression. It turned into ripples which carried the blazing white lightning that had not completely dissipated towards the mountain ghost, who appeared again.

The young girl let out a cold snort as her fair hands danced, and a white light spread out from her body, turning into a flickering white shield protecting her.

The light shield and the sound wave collided violently, forming dense transparent ripples in the air, setting off a gravel storm that destroyed everything.

"I was wondering which one of you was actually here. It turned out that it was just a child who had not weaned yet. You actually dare to speak such nonsense, wanting to make me kneel? Leave your life behind!"

As she spoke, the girl's face had once again turned into the terrifying appearance of a mountain ghost. She opened her mouth wide and a jet-black evil wind formed out of thin air. It turned into a ten-meter-long python that roared as it pounced towards the slender figure in the sky.

The figure paused for a moment, as if he had not expected that the mountain ghost's yin energy would be so tyrannical. However, in the next moment, he once again formed a hand seal, producing a flash of blazing white lightning that struck straight into the body of the black python.

Roar!

As the lightning entered its body, the python let out a pained howl. Its body once again disintegrated into a breeze of black wind, disappearing into the night sky.

The figure shined with silver and white light, slowly appearing above the collapsed mountain stream. The figure was only a few zhang away from the mountain ghost, and immediately smiled, "Fellow Daoist, I was presumptuous just now."

[ED: zhang, an old Chinese measure of length equal to 10 chi, or 3.58 meters (11 feet 9 inches).]

The silver light gradually dissipated, and the silhouette's face also appeared clearly.

It was a young Daoist with red lips and clear white teeth.