Chu Chen quickly returned to his hut and went into the meditative state, spreading his senses outward. In the blink of an eye, he had been back in the eaglet’s body next to the entrance of Black Fog Valley.
Ever since his encounter with the witch who had her bath, this eaglet clone had been sleeping away in the nest, occasionally eating a few fragments of eggshells and going back to sleep.
The nest had been right above the Black Fog Valley and had the magical fog floating by throughout the year. Due to that, there were hardly any beasts that would came by to disturb him.
The moment his consciousness entered the eaglet’s body, a great pang of hunger welled up from within him. Chu Chen suddenly realized that this eaglet clone of his had not eaten for the past few days.
He lowered his head, checking himself out. After a few days of rest, the eaglet’s body had been much stronger than before. Long slender feathers covered his body. Even his wings were covered by stiff feathers. The feathers on his body had finally been completely grown. From then on, soaring over the skies had no longer been a dream.
Having taken a look around him, the egg shells in the nest had been completely eaten up. At that moment, the eaglet had to go out hunting for its own food.
Following his instincts, Chu Chen stood at the edge of the nest and made a leap.
Whoosh!
His broad wings spread out in the air like a blossoming black lotus. Flapping fently, his body shot out like a bolt of black lightning.
The feeling of flight…
Chu Chen closed his eyes. However, his gnawing hunger did not let him enjoy the moment much. At that moment, finding food had been his top priority.
He circled around the air for some time. The eaglet’s vision had really been amazing. Even in the darkness of night, high up in the air, he had still been able to have clearly seen the veins on a blade of grass on the ground.
After flying around randomly for some time, Chu Chen could not help but have felt worried. For some reason, he saw a few wild rabbits, foxes, and other small animals. However, he did not feel any appetite that came from his natural instinct. It was as though there had been no meat.
‘F*ck. What do I need to eat to curb my hunger? Aren’t eagles carnivores?’
His strong hunger pang caused Chu Chen to feel dizzy. When his gaze swept over a distant area, it suddenly brightened.
That had been an iron mine that was located approximately a hundred kilometers away from the Crystal Spring Mountain. When his gaze swept across a mound of ores, and iron ingots, there had been an insuppressible urge welling up from within him.
‘What…could it be that my eaglet clone needed iron?’
Although it felt unreal to him, he still flew toward that iron mine. The hundred kilometers of distance only took the eaglet about an hour to reach.
Due to the sect’s disciples’ need to have refined flying swords, magical weapons, and magical treasures, they required large amounts of metal. Some larger sects had a few iron mines to help support their expenses. This iron mine was one that belonged to the Crystal Spring Sect.
However, because it was late at night, the iron mine had only a few people. Even the disciples that were supposed to stand guard had been hiding in a quiet corner sleeping away. With that, Chu Chen did not have much to worry about, he flew directly into a slightly hidden tunnel and landed on a pile of half processed iron ore.
The jet black ores looked like an exquisite meal in Chu Chen’s eyes, having given out an incredibly alluring scent.
‘Is this thing…edible?’
Chu Chen hesitated for a moment. Finally, his hunger overpowered his rational mind. Having closed his eyes, his hard eagle beak gave it a strong peck.
Splotch!
The tough iron ore had been pierced as though it had been tofu. That gave him quite the scare. He knew his body had been extremely tough, whereby he had an almost impenetrable body right from the moment he hatched. However, he never expected his body to have reached this kind of toughness. Even an iron ore had easily been pierced. Just what kind of strength was that?
The next instant, his strong sense of hunger did not let him think about that question. Having sucked through his beak, the bean-sized ore had been quickly sucked into his stomach.
The moment the iron ore went down his throat, he felt his sense of hunger subside substantially. The next moment, waves of warmth washed about in the eaglet’s stomach. In less than 30 minutes, the iron ore had been fully digested.
‘This eaglet can really eat iron!’
After confirming that, he no longer hesitated. Chu Chen began to help himself to a buffet in the mound of iron ores. When he felt full, he realized that he had unknowingly eaten a millstone’s volume of iron ores.
If he were to have tallied that, it would have been at least tens, or maybe almost a hundred kilos!
Chu Chen was speechless. If this eaglet could have eaten a few dozen kilos of iron ore while it was still young, when it grew up…it would have been quite difficult to feed!
After a filling meal, Chu Chen casually combed his feathers with his beak. To his surprise, one of the feathers on his body had taken on a metallic sheen. It had no longer been as soft as his other feathers. When he knocked it with his beak, it gave a crisp metallic sound. It felt as strong as a piece of steel that was refined countless times.
‘Will I turn into a real steel eagle? Could it be that as time passes, this eaglet’s body would turn into a magical treasure for combat?’
While Chu Chen had still been dazed by his findings, he suddenly picked up on sounds of a chase going on from the quiet outside world. His heart skipped a beat. Before he could have reacted to it, a dark human-shaped figure came running in.
He then picked up a familiar scent that caused Chu Chen and the person that came in to be stunned for a moment.
“Oh little one, it’s you? Why are you here?” The figure approached him and took off the black-colored mask around her face, having revealed a beautiful face that stole the light from the world.
‘It’s the witch!’
Chu Chen turned around and immediately saw the witch had been holding someone under her arm. It had been another girl dressed in white. At that moment, her entire body had been tied up by ropes and held onto like a little chick in the witch’s hand.
The chasing sounds from outside the cave grew louder. The witch nodded slightly, as though signaling Chu Chen. He understood what she meant and quickly flapped his wings and landed on her shoulder.
The next moment, the witch turned into a stream of light and flew deeper into the tunnel.
Upon reaching the deepest part of the tunnel, the witch finally stopped. With a loud thud, she threw the girl under her arm on the floor without a care.
“My father will never let you go!”
With that fall, the girl in white dress looked even more pale than before and cold sweat started appearing on her forehead. However, her face still seemed to have carried an arrogant demeanor.
“Shut up! Don’t think that I, Ling Xuan, would not kill you just because you’re the daughter of the master of Secret Sky Sect.”
‘Ling Xuan?’ Chu Chen finally found out the witch’s name.