Chapter 22: Schemes

"Feather God, why... why have you never appeared again? Is it because I have not done enough? Did I do something wrong?"
Late at night, upon the altar, the Feather Shaman knelt before the totem, gazing up at the ever-refined image of the Feather God, murmuring ceaselessly to himself.

Ten years had passed.

Since becoming the Feather Shaman, no matter how devoutly he prayed, the Feather God had never answered him. This plunged the shaman into deep self-doubt.

Was it because his faith was not sincere enough, that things had turned out this way?

But...

He could not say why, and so he fell silent.

After weeping for a while, the shaman drew a deep breath, his gaze returning to calm. He returned to his dwelling, where ten Featherfolk awaited him.

As he entered, the ten all looked up, and seeing it was the shaman, they promptly stood. One asked, "Feather Shaman, what happened today? The divine bird passed overhead? And what was that wingless seabird?"

"Wasn't it a merman?" another exclaimed. "Is it really some wingless seabird?"

"Yunche, Yunning,"
The shaman raised a hand, not replying, "Don't get so worked up. Sit down, all of you."

These ten were the original Featherfolk.

Quanxi believed the Feather Shaman to be the king of the Featherfolk, but that was not quite right.
The Feather tribe was not ruled by a single voice; the shaman simply held greater authority. The other ten wielded power equal to his, sometimes even surpassing him.

Among these first eleven Featherfolk, the shaman was the wisest. He swept his eyes over them, gave a gentle laugh, and spoke, "There is no such thing as a wingless seabird. That was indeed a merman... but for reasons unknown, he was able to come ashore, and has even mastered our language."

The Featherfolk belonged to the sky by birth. In recent years, the shaman had sent people to explore the lands all around, even venturing to the coast, where they discovered creatures hidden beneath the sea, occasionally surfacing to observe the changing days and nights at the command of the Merman King.

Few Featherfolk knew this, but upon learning of it, the shaman dispatched several Featherfolk to build nests by the shore, watching the waters closely.

A wingless seabird?

How could such a thing be called Featherfolk?

Even if born unable to fly, every Featherfolk was born with wings.

Even mountain fowl and similar bird-like creatures possess heavy wings.

If it were truly a member of the Feather tribe or a bird, how could it lack wings?

A wingless Featherfolk meant the loss of freedom—could such still be called one of their kind?

"Feather Shaman, your mind is sharp. What do you think we should do?" Yunning asked.

"Talk to him. Let our people converse with him. I want to know what the merman world is like. Pretend to know nothing, but don’t be too deliberate," the shaman said. "If that fails, act yourselves."

The existence of more than one intelligent race in the world made the shaman anxious.

Especially after ten years without a single response from the Feather God, he could not help but imagine the worst—that the Feather God had abandoned his people.

He did not know how the merfolk had progressed, nor their numbers.

If their development outpaced the Featherfolk, would the day come when the merfolk would come ashore and wipe them out?

Survival of the fittest. Only the weak yield to the strong; never the reverse.

In the depths, the merfolk were the sole intelligent species. Their first king wielded the power of giant sharks; so long as they avoided the distant seas, they had neither enemies nor rivals, and could thrive at will.

But the Featherfolk could not. Their enemies were insects—some large enough to slay their warriors. Besides these, many wild birds preyed on them, and beasts on land sought lone Featherfolk to hunt.

In such a world, they could not develop as leisurely as the Merfolk Court, which even managed internal strife.

Instead, the Featherfolk had to unite tightly, growing swiftly between life and death, to strengthen their kind.

More importantly, their lives were far shorter than the merfolk's.

Merfolk could live five hundred years; Featherfolk barely a hundred and fifty.

All these pressures weighed on the shaman, who, though only sixty, already showed signs of age. He could only devise every possible strategy for the tribe’s future.

He wished to use Quanxi—the merman who could communicate with them—to draw upon merfolk wisdom for the Featherfolk’s progress.

In truth, the Featherfolk hoped to cross the river by following in the merfolk’s footsteps.

The other ten nodded in agreement.

Ten years’ experience had made them truly admire the shaman. Though power was shared, they trusted him above all, knowing he was the pillar of their tribe’s growth.

...

A piercing cry echoed: "Screech—!"

Bifang was born, shaking the four corners of the North.

From the Three Central Provinces to the East and North, all living things were awed by Bifang’s emergence.

Even the Merfolk Court, deep beneath the sea, sensed the upheaval, and the entire court moved into alert.

Yet the cause of this chain reaction, Bifang, was still soaring.

It wished to release all its fire, having been inexplicably suppressed beneath the volcano for ten years, filling it with fear and dread of the world.

Liang Yuan watched Bifang’s flying form in silence.

He had fulfilled the red-crowned crane’s wish for immortality, spending ten years, and had given it a new name: Bifang.

But in return, Bifang paid a price few could bear.

Divine power surged within its body, flames boiled in its organs...

The first creation of a novice god was not going smoothly. Though Bifang had soared away, its nature had changed, its mind grown clouded.

This was not what Liang Yuan had intended; he had not wished to create such a divine beast.

Perhaps, from the start, his ambitions had been too high, hoping for success in one leap.

Now, it seemed he had been too optimistic.

Better to start small, step by step, rather than hope to become great instantly.

Liang Yuan drew a deep breath, his eyes shining as he looked toward the Merfolk Court and the Featherfolk ancestral land.

The Merfolk Court continued to grow, and Liang Yuan could see they were expanding into new areas, preparing to build a second city in the central sea.

But the changes in the Featherfolk’s homeland astonished him.

They worshipped the Feather God, and in just ten years, they had already formed a full-fledged civilization!

Such speed far surpassed the merfolk’s progress in the beginning!