The Card Cultivation System
CCS-74

Xika stood in the middle of the basement room while holding a round disc that was previously the middle of the upper room floor.

"So.......put it this way?"

"really. Now back off." said Huo Bing.

After that he spread his wings which began to shine and came out two clones of himself from each wing.

Huo Bing and his two clones opened their mouths. It then fires an equally powerful attack towards the round disc.

He shot him for a while. Then the disk shone. Other patterns on the wall also glow.

The light grew brighter until Xika had to close her eyes for a while.

But when he opened it again.........

"Eh? Why are we still here? Huo Bing, have you not eaten yet? I remember you who finished off the Viper's meat."

Huo Bing did not respond to Xika. He was just as confused as the boy.

Then Huo Bing tried it once more.

He fired his attacks longer than before. The plate shone again, followed by a pattern on the wall. The light is getting brighter and........

Nothing happened.

Heiliao figured out what was wrong. But Huo Bing still tried it again.

After his fourth failure, Huo Bing had only just stopped.

"Hah.hah.......it seems........there is something wrong...with.....hah......the formation...." said Huo Bing tired of running out of qi.

Xika also came to think next to Heiliao.

"Is the formation broken?"

"No. The formation won't light up if it's broken. There must be something else."

"Is it because some of the patterns on the wall have been damaged because of our fight?"

"Can be. I'll try to fix it."

Then the wolf walked to the cracked part of the wall. He put his claws on the wall. Then his claws shone and the pattern that had previously been erased due to their fight re-emerged on that cracked wall.

Heiliao walked over to all the shattered or cracked walls. He fixed everything.

After he finished, he returned to Xika's side and shouted at Huo Bing.

"Try again!"

Huo Bing displayed a strange expression as Heiliao shouted. Xika guessed that she was exhausted.

Huo Bing opened her mouth about to protest.

"What's? Are you tired already? Hmph! It turns out that it should be me who goes forward." Heiliao said dismissively.

Huo Bing closed it again.

"I-I never said I was tired. When did I say that? I just want to say you can count on me." said Huo Bing who ended with a gasp of breath.

"Hurry up then" Heiliao said happily because his tactic worked.

Huo Bing again spread his wings, and re-created two clones.

He did the same thing as before. Shoot that round disc.

But nothing happened after the formation lit up.

Huo Bing fell asleep on the ground. He's exhausted. He immediately collected qi to relieve his fatigue.

"Hmm..it doesn't seem like that's the case" Heiliao said, not caring about the exhausted Huo Bing.

Then he looked at Xika and asked,

"Is there another suggestion?"

Xika was silent for a while before answering ,

"The reform moves all those who are not interested. Does that mean we still have an interest in this place?"

"Nonsense." Heiliao said as he nodded. Then he walked around the room to find out what else they had to do to get out of this place.

Xika also went with Heiliao. He watches his surroundings closely.

Meanwhile Huo Bing was still gathering qi with great difficulty.

Xika and Heiliao finished surrounding the place somehow for how many times. But they still found nothing.

Then Xika raised her head and turned to a corner in the room.

He remained silent for a while before revealing what was on his mind.

"Heiliao, it seems that it is true that our affairs have not been completed in this place."

"Hm? Did you find him?"

Xika nodded. Then he gave a sign using his head so Heiliao could see the direction he was pointing.

Heiliao turned her head and found out what Xika suspected was still having affairs with them.

In that corner lay the corpse of the Great Elder that the three snakes had talked about earlier. His body had rotted enough to leave his bones. But its size makes anyone know that it is a creature that is quite dangerous when he lives.

Heiliao and Xika walked over to the corpse. Previously they had never approached him at all because there was a wearing aura around him. But this time, what can I do.

The closer to the corpse, the more the aura of not wearing it was felt.

Now Xika and Heiliao were standing in front of the corpse a few meters away.

"What do we do with this body?" xika asked while staring at the corpse of the snake with a body diameter of 25 meters.

"Eitherway. Let's just check it out first."

Then Heiliao walked over to the corpse. Xika was actually unwilling to do so, but Heiliao had already advanced so he was forced to follow her.

The two of them walked a distance of one meter from the corpse. Xika looked back at the corpse and asked,

"If I forge a spear or a sword using his bones, how much can I make?"

Xika nodded at Heiliao's words. Then he stepped forward about to check the quality of the bones in front of him this.

"Wait!"

But Heiliao's screams stopped him.

Xika stopped with one leg still floating.

"What's wrong?" said.

"Don't come near. Back out. Don't step your foot one step further."

Xika obeyed Heiliao and walked back. He returned to Heiliao's side with a questioning look.

Heiliao used his head to point at something.

Xika turned her head and under the corpse she found..........

spiritual formation?

"What kind of fo-formation is that?" xika asked quite surprised because he would step on the formation if Heiliao did not tell him.

"Eitherway. But for a while do not approach the formation in the slightest." Heiliao said with a serious look that was replied with a nod from Xika.

They returned to Huo Bing. After waiting for a while, Huo Bing finally opened his eyes and found them waiting for him.

"What's wrong?"

"It looks like the formation didn't work on us because we still have an interest here. And that interest is........"

Xika did not continue her words, but she turned to look at the corpse of the Great Elder.

Huo Bing followed his gaze and instantly his countenance deteriorated. He understood what Xika meant.

"What should we do?" xika asked after Huo Bing understood her point.

"Eitherway. The formation wants us to do something about the goddamn corpse, but I don't know what we should do."

Then the three of them fell silent.

After a few minutes passed, it was Heiliao who first opened the sound.

"How about we trace its history. Why are these snakes chasing you?"

"not you. You." said Xika correcting Heiliao's speech. "I was only chased because they knew Huo Bing was with me" he continued.

Heiliao was silent for a while then asked again.

"And why are they after you? Aren't you dead? What are you doing until they come after you, even if you're dead?"

"They want to destroy me completely. Although my body is gone, my soul is still there."

"Why did they do that?"

"Of course because they were sent.

"Sent by whom?" heiliao asked curiously.

"...................

"Your mother? Phoenix or Cygnus?"

Heiliao could already guess what kind of father and mother Huo Bing was from. It's just that he doesn't know which one's father's clan and which one's mother's clan.

"Phoe....nix.." replied Huo Bing with a voice that grew smaller and smaller.

Heiliao thought for a moment and then spoke again.

"So the Phoenixes sent the snakes to exterminate you? I can understand if it's another animal, or even a human. Why the snake? I think snakes are the natural enemies of birds. What's possible, the nation of Phoenix........"

"No! There's no way Phoenix would do that. Their blood runs through me, so I know they can't possibly do that. The Phoenix nation can't possibly be betrayed!"

Then Huo Bing was silent and lost in thought. Heiliao's question managed to open up the fact that he had been trying hard to resist.

"Hey, relax. How do you know that your mother's clan sent them? Maybe you heard it wrong?"

Xika approached and tried to calm Huo Bing down.

"No. My mother couldn't have lied."

And Huo Bing was again immersed in his thoughts.

Xika walked a bit far away from Huo Bing along with Heiliao. Then he issued his opinion.

"Before I thought that his mother's clan was after him for not accepting their people 'smudged'."

Heiliao frowned.

"Well, do you know that the Phoenixes are the ancestors of the birds? They do not like that one of them who is an honorable bird is married to another nation. I heard it can damage the bloodline.

So they sent assassins to wipe out their 'disgrace."

Heiliao nodded at Xika's story which was quite reasonable.

"At least that's what I thought. But come to think of it, no matter how much the Phoenixes hated Huo Bing, they would not be willing to cooperate with their enemies just because of Huo Bing. But it's a different story if it's not the real thing."

"What do you mean?" heiliao asked who thought that was the real thing.

"What if that's not the real reason? What if they chased after Huo Bing and his parents for some other reason?"

Heiliao again frowned.

"This is just my guess.

What if Huo Bing's father and mother happened to find out that the Phoenixes had betrayed and cooperated? Perhaps they would tell this to the other birds. But of course the Phoenixes could not let their plans leak out. So they sent the snakes to hunt both.

In the midst of that escape, Huo Bing's father and mother fell in love with each other and finally gave birth to Huo Bing. After living on the run for so long, they finally have a child. And they can't live on the run like this continue, especially since they already have children. So they finally gave themselves up for their son. But who would have thought that the Phoenixes were still chasing their children? Maybe they want to make sure that their plan really doesn't leak."

"................."

Heiliao was speechless at Xika's guess. But his guess this time made more sense than his previous story.

But without them knowing, there is one more creature who listened to Xika's allegations.

The distance between them was indeed quite far, but Huo Bing could still hear Xika's voice clearly.