Chapter 44

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<h1><b>Little Boy Eagle (1)</b></h1>

Deep in Weishan, Home of the Sparrow Tribe.

Weishan was one of the few dangerously steep mountains in China; its numerous sharp cliffs made it difficult for the flightless to enter. 500 years ago, this was the main stronghold of all demonic birds. Back then, the master of Weishan was the Luan bird.  Today, Luan birds almost became extinct. Given the falling birth rates of demonic offspring, in order to better preserve the demonic race, the Luan bird opened a part of the mountain range to the remaining bird species to increase their chances of survival.

500 years ago, the sparrow tribe was overlooked as a flock of weak demons, but with their strong reproductivity capacity, they gradually became the largest demon race in Weishan. Despite their weak demonic powers and low status, due to their strong reproductive capabilities, the females of the sparrow tribe were preferred more as potential brides amongst other demonic ethnic groups.

Everyone had the same idea; sparrows can lay several eggs in a mating period, what if one of them turned out to be one of their species? This idea was quite rational and it also produced some success.

It was now dusk. The sun was setting behind the clouds, its vast rays dyed the entire mountain cliff in a hue of red. Several young sparrows were napping in their nests on the treetops. Suddenly, a shadow flew out of the horizon, passing through cliffs and descended from the skies, before landing on the branch of a fir tree.

“Chirp Chirp~~” (Someone’s back, who’s back?)

No one knew who first noticed the visiting sparrow, but the valley was instantly filled with the incessant chirps of little sparrows. The commotion roused everyone from their sleep. Everyone flapped their wings excitedly to get a glimpse of the “senior” that had returned from the outside world.

Sparrow spirit Wu Wei shifted into his human form and smiled at the little sparrows that perched on his shoulders. Then, he pulled out a bag of popcorn from his knapsack and tossed the contents to the ground. All of a sudden, the entire valley of young sparrows flocked over, flapping their wings enthusiastically as they noisily fought over food.

“Chirp chirp~~” (It smells so good.)

“Chirp chirp~~” (Is this popcorn?)

“Chirp chirp~~” (My big sister brought this the last time she visited too.)

Sparrow spirits who had not learned how to shapeshift were not allowed to leave their tribeland, which was why these young sparrows could only rely on their older siblings to bring back such goodies. Unfortunately, those older siblings who were finally able to leave the mountains for the cities rarely returned home.

“Remember to drink water, don’t choke.” Wu Wei advised as he stuffed the popcorn packaging back into his knapsack. Demons were a nature-loving race and they forbid any form of littering in their mountains. When he leaves, he would have to take his trash back with him.

Wei Wu continued to walk deeper into the mountains and arrived at the entrance of the eagle tribe’s homeland. Facing the guard, he announced himself, “I’m here to see my big sister.”

“Go on in.” The eagle tribe guard recognized Wu Wei. This weak sparrow spirit was the younger brother of their clan leader’s wife.

Wu Wei had a twin sister. The year they were born, his mother laid five eggs and only the two of them survived. Compared to his weak constitution, his old sister, Wu Wenwen, was a formidable sparrow spirit. While he resided within the Weishan tribeland, as a result of contracting demonic poisoning while he was in the womb, Wu Wei was unable to transform until he was seven years old. Because he was weak and small, he was overlooked by his parents and bullied by the other children in the tribe. Wu Wenwen was always protecting him, so the relationship between the siblings was always positive.

When Wu Wenwen was of age, she married the son of the eagle’s patriarch. Six years ago, she laid one egg, and as luck would have it, this egg contained a male eagle. The eagle tribe rejoiced and held the grandest celebration of the century to welcome the birth of the new patriarch, but no one could have anticipated the drastic change of plans when his nephew broke out of his shell.

His nephew was truly a strong male eagle and he was born with the strength of a level seven demon, but he was unable to control his power. When he emerged out of his shell, his demonic strength exploded and it nearly hurt his own mother. Both the sparrow and eagle tribes tried everything they could but were unable to control the young eagle’s uncontained demonic power, and ultimately resorted to sealing him within the confines of the tribeland.

Five years have passed since he was sealed. Today, his nephew was still unable to shapeshift into a human form. Not that he wouldn’t, but it was that he couldn’t. A male eagle who could not transform was to be confined to the tribeland. Wu Wenwen could not bear leaving her son alone, so she stayed behind with him.

“Sis.” From a distance, Wu Wei could make out his sister who was patiently combing the feathers of a small male eagle.

“Xiaowei?” Wu Wenwen greeted her younger brother with surprise. “Why are you here?”

“I’m here to see you and Xiaowang,” Wu Wei said as he tenderly patted the little eagle that was perched on his sister’s shoulder.

“Uncle.” Although the young eagle had its powers sealed away and was unable to transform, it still had the ability to speak human. It was noted that for all other fledglings, none were able to speak human prior to shapeshifting.

“Good boy, I got you some yummy snacks~~” Wuwei presented a bag of pork jerky to his young nephew.

“Thank you, Uncle.” The eagle boy eagerly pecked at the pork jerky, his round and gleaming eyes squinted in contentment.

“Take it and eat it somewhere else.” Wu Wei handed the entire bag of jerky to the small eagle. The young eagle grabbed it with its talons and flew far away with his beating wings.

“You have something to tell me?” Seeing that her brother had deliberately sent her son away, Wu Wenwen immediately knew that he had something to say to her in private.

“Mom told me that you plan to divorce my brother-in-law?” Indeed, there was something he wanted to discuss.

“Did mom send you here to talk me out of it?” Wu Wenwen’s smile vanished as she expressionlessly returned to the stone table and poured her little brother a cup of water.

“Mom did want me to talk you out of it, but I prefer to hear your thoughts,” Wu Wei sat across from his sister and asked in concern.

“My thoughts?” Wu Weiwei laughed dryly, “Three years ago, your brother-in-law wanted me to leave the tribeland with him to conceive another child.”

“You’re unwilling?” The demonic race was depleting in numbers. Every species wished to leave behind as many offspring as they could.

“If I agreed to it, it would mean abandoning Xiaowang.” Wu Weiwei looked at the treetops in the distance. The young eagle was happily playing on the highest branch, “Xiaowei, aside from me, no one would care for him, do you get what I’m saying?”\n