Chapter 496 – Legend, Lord of the Night Crow!

Dragon Mound Fertile Soil Realm, Tianyuan Territory’s designated evolution ceremony platform.

Sophia sat there in a black dress, resembling a blooming black water lily.

Yet, her heart was anything but tranquil.

“As long as the thoughts and desires in our hearts are strong enough, miracles are bound to happen.”

Would she maintain the same intense conviction as the Lord to make miracles blossom?

No, that wasn’t it.

That wasn’t the key.

Clearly, the Lord was attempting a novel method of evolution, and she was the most crucial component in it.

“Sophia, oh Sophia, you must not mess this up.”

She took three consecutive deep breaths, forcing herself into a state of calm.

Moments later, her eyes had become as serene and profound as black onyx stones.

She gave an OK hand signal.

The radiant glow of evolutionary miracles then burst forth from her, forming a blazing white pillar that shot up into the clouds.

Within the light, Sophia recalled her past life, and the conviction in her heart gradually solidified.

…

“Flutter, flutter—”

A girl covered in mud looked up blankly, spotting a crow on a nearby wall flapping its wings as it flew off to another place.

The girl touched herself, feeling the sharp, hard protrusions beneath her wide sleeves that she could vaguely detect.

“It’s a crow.”

“I see crows every day. How fitting for someone like me.”

The girl mocked herself.

Crows were symbols of misfortune, and so was she.

“But it doesn’t matter. If I’m the only one left, I won’t have to worry about passing my misfortune to others anymore.”

Dragging her exhausted body, she continued onward toward the desolate, uninhabited lands.

…

Deep in the forest.

A black-haired girl draped in a black cloak stood tall. Her cloak was tattered, and she was covered in dust, yet her posture remained straight and unwavering. Even with three ferocious gray wolves baring their teeth before her, the seemingly fragile girl showed little fear on her face.

She covered half her face with her right hand and slowly swept it aside, revealing eyes that were black with flecks of crimson, exuding an eerie and formidable aura as she coldly stared down the gray wolves.

She spoke:

“I am the Raven’s Envoy. Foolish gray wolves, I command you to retreat at once.”

“Oh… You show no fear and dare to attack me? Very well, then shatter amidst the sky full of black feathers.”

The girl raised her arms high, chanting under her breath.

From the dappled shadows of the trees, dark figures swiftly emerged, swarming and biting at the three snarling gray wolves.

The gray wolves and the dark figures tore and gnawed at each other.

After a while…

The three blood-soaked gray wolves howled and fled into the forest, leaving a trail of black feathers scattered across the ground.

The remaining crows flapped and cawed before vanishing into the woods in the blink of an eye.

“Huff… Hah… That is the price for provoking the Raven’s Envoy.”

The girl leaned against a tree to steady herself.

Mottled sunlight fell upon her pale face, her eyes strange, with black feathers sprouting on her cheeks.

She wiped the sweat from her brow. “This is just fine.”

“There’s nothing wrong with this.”

…

On a narrow path.

A figure cloaked in black, hood drawn tightly to conceal their entire form, descended from the sky and landed atop the roof of a halted carriage.

Before the carriage, two women clung to each other, trembling, while three men—likely the coachman, guards, or relatives—lay in pools of blood.Blocking the path ahead, standing right in the middle of the narrow trail, were three goblins with bulging muscles and deep blue-green skin.

The goblins chattered in their guttural tongue, their eyes locked intently on the two trembling human women. They snorted heavily through their noses, drool dripping from the corners of their mouths.

They lunged forward, only to retreat screaming.

Black feathers, sharp as sabers, pierced deeply into the ground and the three goblins.

“Hu…mans…”

The lead goblin roared, his bulging muscles swelling another size as he forced out all the black feathers embedded in his body.

He picked up a massive wooden club, half again as tall and three times as wide as the Black-Robed Girl’s entire body, and charged forward while swinging it wildly.

“Hmph.”

The Black-Robed Girl extended her hand, and black feathers materialized out of thin air on both sides—sharp as needles, piercing as swords—shooting forward in the next moment with a swishing sound.

Wave after wave.

The charging muscular goblin slowed down gradually, finally collapsing with a thud about three to four meters away from the carriage.

The three goblins, pierced through with black feathers like porcupines, lay fallen in a pool of blood.

Blue-red blood slowly spread outward, the pungent smell of rust assaulting their senses.

The Black-Robed Girl remained expressionless, as if she had merely done something trivial.

“You’re safe now.”

She spoke to the two women and jumped down from the carriage.

The two young women, who had been slumped on the ground hugging each other with their heads buried, only gradually realized the danger had passed after ten or twenty seconds.

They began to lift their heads, their refocused gaze following the voice to the black-robed figure not far away.

“Thank…”

A sudden gust of wind lifted a corner of the hood.

The young woman who was about to speak suddenly froze, her pupils contracting sharply.

She caught a glimpse of black beneath the hood.

She instinctively shuffled backward, her face showing terror no less intense than before, her voice growing shrill and hoarse, “W-Witch, monster!”

The girl’s outstretched hand silently dropped to her side.

She pulled her hood up further, shadows covering most of her face.

With cold, measured steps, she walked silently into the nearby woods, disappearing from the sight of the two young women, leaving behind only the blood and black feathers as evidence of her presence.

Inside the woods, the girl with her hood down leaned against a large tree, her head slightly tilted back, her pupils unfocused as she stared ahead.

“It’s not like I wanted this.”

“Hmph, so what if I’m a monster? I didn’t save them for thanks anyway.”

“This is enough.”

The girl pulled her hood back up and walked with cold but determined steps deeper into the woods.

…

In the remote Wilderness.

The Black-Robed Girl narrowed her eyes, gazing at the figure in the distance.

She declared clearly:

“Hmph, I am an ill-omened person, a cursed one.”

“But we are all ill-omened people too.”

The pink-haired girl reached out her hand.

She also reached out her hand.

But they were ultimately people the world could not tolerate.

They were Witches, monsters.

“I’ve heard that in a distant Empire, Witches can live normal lives too.”

…

“In the end, we never reached the place of our dreams.”

…

“But we were fortunate enough to come to such a place.”

…

“Black Feather is quite adorable too.”

…

“If you’re willing, this place can be your home as well.”Black crows fluttered and danced.

The curse rooted in the bloodline was purified through evolution, yet the bloodline itself was not the original sin. On the contrary, it was the key to wielding extraordinary power.

She used to despise it.

Now, she felt grateful.

“I am the Raven’s Envoy. O flock of crows, heed my command.”

“Caw, caw, caw—”

……

In the laboratory, Isloria drew tube after tube of crimson blood from her.

“According to my research, our witch bloodlines do not solely originate from magical creatures.”

“When magical creatures and humans ■■, they give birth to either pure magical creatures or humans mixed with magical creature blood. These humans reproduce generation after generation, but the bloodline of the magical creatures remains deeply embedded within. This bloodline awakens in a certain generation, in a compatible individual, under specific circumstances—this is what we call a witch.”

“Not every magical creature’s bloodline can persist through generations of human reproduction. Those that endure often originate from very high-tier sources. Your bloodline is like this, and so is mine.”

Sophia was not like Dolai or Sickle Moon. Though her knowledge was not as extensive as Isloria’s, she was not completely ignorant.

She was no illiterate.

“You mean…”

“Yes,” Isloria said. “Roughly speaking, it can be explained this way: a certain high-tier existence scattered its bloodline, contaminating and giving birth to many magical creatures. These creatures reproduced, and through a series of events, eventually gave rise to us witches.”

“Even after possibly dozens or hundreds of generations, the bloodlines we awaken are by no means inferior.”

She possessed an exceptional bloodline.

Sophia and the others also had rare bloodlines.

Rarity, in the world of ordinary people, was already a mark of genius—it was just that the Eagle Kingdom was ignorant and backward.

“The evidence lies within ourselves.”

“You’ve noticed it too, haven’t you? With your epic three-star tier, you already have the ability to forcibly create ‘offspring’ with the black crow bloodline through power bestowal. And if one disregards the survival of those bestowed with power and scatters the bloodline power widely, it can be called ‘contamination.’ Not the kind of filth contamination we usually speak of.”

“These contaminated offspring are controlled by the bloodline’s source, and there are other functions I haven’t fully figured out yet.”

“The direction of our repeated evolutions may also point toward the source of our bloodline.”

“But don’t worry. When the Lord granted us the Miracle Evolution, the unstable elements of this bloodline power must have been purified. Otherwise, long before our bloodlines advanced to the epic tier, we would likely have drawn the attention of the unknown existence at the bloodline’s source.”

Sophia wasn’t worried.

She used to fret about such things, but now, she only saw power as a weapon.

What one must do is master the weapon.

Right now, she was only frustrated about one thing.

“I’ve applied many times to scout the vanguard base in Dragon’s Slumber Valley, so why does the Lord keep rejecting me, caw!”

“If the Lord wants to eradicate the Dragon’s Slumber Valley army, we must first understand the enemy’s layout, right!”

She sighed.

Isloria said in surprise, “You still don’t get it? With our Lord’s way of doing things, he won’t let you go to such a dangerous place until you’ve developed absolute survival skills. You should also take care of yourself—you’re no longer the lone Night Crow Envoy of the wilderness.”Someone would worry.

Someone would care.

She had family, she had a home.

Therefore, she must infiltrate the stronghold of Dragon’s Slumber Valley, she must possess such capability!

At this moment, the thoughts in her heart, the emotions swirling in her chest, grew intensely profound.

The light of evolution pierced through the night sky.

The darkness itself cheered and celebrated.

Her Domain expanded, resonating with the night.

The Nethercrow Storm, Nightshade Eyes, and Nethercrow Avatar each advanced through evolution.

And at this very moment,

“Ding!”

A prompt rang in Mu Yuan’s ears, arriving as expected.

“Prompt: Your Hero ‘Sophia’ bathes in the radiance of Miracle, evolving into the Legendary One-Star lifeform ‘Lord of the Night Crow,’ and awakening the legendary power ‘Crow Lord.'”

——

“Crow Lord”

“Description: The emblem of the Crow Lord. Where the Crow Lord’s finger points, crows swarm and the world turns upside down.”

“Ability ①: Black Crow Constructs created by the Crow Lord can absorb external energy autonomously, allowing them to remain active almost indefinitely.”

“Ability ②: Black Crows and Black Crow Constructs under the Crow Lord’s command have a slight chance of sprouting intelligence. Intelligent Black Crows are controlled by the Crow Lord and possess the ability to cultivate and self-improve.”

“Ability ③: The Crow Lord can descend via consciousness into Black Crow Constructs or any related Black Crow artifacts (statues, totems). This descent ignores spatial distance; the stronger the construct, the more power the Crow Lord can exert.”

“Ability ④: When the Crow Lord perishes, she can seize a Black Crow Construct within range (currently 5,300 kilometers) to substitute death and revive. The stronger the substitute crow, the more power the Crow Lord retains after revival. If the Crow Lord is weakened beyond a certain point, this ability can no longer be activated.”

“Ability ⑤: The Crow Lord can preserve a wisp of her consciousness within a Black Crow Construct. If the Crow Lord completely falls, she can be reborn from the Black Crow Construct. (This ability requires the Soul Realm to use.)”

Mu Yuan gazed up at the profound and deep night.

Miracle seemed to echo back.

“Lord of the Night Crow, a lifeform symbolizing the pinnacle of crows.”

……

Deep within the Wilderness, in a place where strands of Crimson Mist drifted.

At the center of a large monster Tribe, a lifelike Black Crow statue was enshrined.

Beneath the statue, a powerful Black Crow figure with crow wings on its back knelt forward, hands raised high.

Hundreds of intelligent monsters followed the Chieftain’s lead, kneeling in unison and offering sacrifices.

They had performed such worship many times before.

But this time…

The Chieftain suddenly felt surprise, great joy, and ecstasy.

“The Crow God, the Crow God has responded to us!”

In the obscure depths, the Chieftain felt as if he were in a Mysterious Land shrouded in gray mist.

He was as insignificant as an ant.

And at the edge of this world, a majestic, revered, and supreme figure stood tall, looking down.

The Chieftain dared not raise his head.

Otherwise, he might have noticed that this grand figure with an indistinct face seemed…

Rather like a slender human girl.

……

Deep within the Wilderness, in a Hidden Place where no Crimson Mist drifted.

Inside an ancient Village ancestral hall, a crow-shaped statue was also enshrined.

An elder prayed here, but it was merely a ritualistic prayer for peace of mind.

For the statue had long been covered in dust, with no response for centuries.Yet at this moment, the divine statue that had remained dormant for centuries began to emit an almost imperceptible glow.

……

Somewhere in the Land of Red Mist.

Gnarled withered trees twisted skyward, while silhouettes of Black Crows dotted the branches.

Deep within this eerie land stood a majestic and ancient palace.

A being that resembled both human and avian—bizarre in form yet radiating inherent nobility and sanctity—murmured softly with closed eyes.

“Strange… the faith… seems to have diminished.”

(End of Chapter)