Jing Hong was coming over when she heard the commotion and she arrived just in time to see Emperor Ao being buried under a mountain full of rubble and debris and she stopped short, bewildered with shock.
Chu Xun turned around and peered at Jing Hong wickedly.
“Now that the older one’s dealt with, now for the younger one.”
She looked warily at Chu Xun, “What do you want?”
“I’m hurt, Jing Hong. You stood by and watch how that old loach tortured me and you did nothing. How could you?”
“Teacher was only trying to help you!”
“I could care less about that,” he uttered, eying Jing Hong lasciviously like thugs and bullies would when they saw young beautiful girls.
Jing Hong’s sweet face blushed, realizing Chu Xun was trying to tease her. Demurely, she reminded him, “You should run. Teacher would be coming out any moment now.”
“Him?” Chu Xun crossed his hands behind his back and gazed proudly into the air. Smugly, he said, “Did you not saw how I had driven him into the ground? Loneliness is the bane of invincibility. Is there anyone who can stand toe-to-toe against me?”
Bang!
The mounds of rocks burst open and Emperor Ao broke out from his momentary captivity, charging straight at Chu Xun.
Realizing how the tables had turned, Chu Xun bolted for dear life.
But the ancient dragon had reactivated the entirety of his powers. Even if Chu Xun could double or even quadruple his powers, he could never hope to defeat a monstrosity of the Integration stage like him.
Three seconds. That was all he lasted. Emperor Ao caught up to him and swatted him down like a fly before he gave Chu Xun a fierce round of walloping.
Came to the end, Chu Xun emerged barely alive with both his eyes blackened like panda bears.
Jing Hong clasped a hand to her mouth and stifled a giggle.
Emperor Ao casually returned to enjoy his tea, while not forgetting to hurl at Chu Xun a jeer or two.
Chu Xun scurried off, once again deflated and vexed at how heavily bruised his face was and ran off in a deluge of tears to grumble to Hua Qingwu.
Inside her crystalized ice casket, Hua Qingwu slumbered like Sleeping Beauty.
Chu Xun ran a finger down the edge of the ice sarcophagus with a morose look.
That Hua Qingwu had to become like this was a scar inside Chu Xun’s heart that could never heal, like the two locks of white hair that would never ever disappear.
He stayed there the whole day, accompanying her as he regaled her with tales of what had been happening outside and his recent adventures.
…
The next day.
Chu Xun set off from Dragon’s Back alone.
He had wanted to take Jing Hong with him.
But she declined. She needed to undergo another round of solitary meditation and hermitage to train or she would never catch up to Chu Xun’s present prowess.
Chu Xun did not pester her. With the anomalies everywhere, gaining more strength meant having better means to defend oneself.
What was more, he would have given anything for Jing Hong to be safe. He was still very much a machismo who believed that the sport of war was something best left to Man.
Before leaving, he left all the magical supplies in his Storage Ring to Jing Hong. After all, she was his woman.
Chu Xun left Dragon’s Back as impoverished as a pauper. This battle had depleted him greatly both physically and financially.
He first traveled back to Fire Dragon Palace. He slipped inside without fanfare and made sure everything was well before leaving quietly.
Assuming the guise of an ordinary-looking youth, he hurried to Gujiang City.
On his way there, he browsed through the Martial Tao Forum to learn about what happened recently.
He was shocked to find that Immortal-stage champions of the alien races were emerging.
Traveling alone afforded him the time and leisure of traveling slowly. He would stop to hunt wild beasts for food when he was hungry and wild flowers and magical fruits could easily satiate his thirst.
“It’s been so long since I enjoy such comforts.”
He was lying on the grassy slopes of a hilly meadow with his hands pillowing his head. Not far from him was the carcass of a wild boar with one of its hind legs missing. Chu Xun had barbecued it for a meal.
Basking in the warmth of the sun, Chu Xun fell asleep.
This was the first time that Chu Xun had really fallen into an actual slumber since his return to Earth, since most of his time sleeping he spent them cultivating his powers.
He slept until he was awakened by the screech of an eagle overhead in the midday sun.
He opened his eyes and saw a silver-beaked eagle circling up high, its keen eyes staring straight at him.
It was eyeing the wild boar carcass not far away from Chu Xun.
“Come down then. It’s yours,” Chu Xun propped a leg up casually and gestured to the huge avian predator. He couldn’t finish the giant carcass himself so why not?
It was a Seventh-grade avian Beast Lord. The wild boar might be dead, but it still retained a sliver of its former presence of another Seventh-grade Beast Lord and that daunted the silver-beaked eagle from coming near.
If this unknown youth could slay even a Seventh-grade Beast Lord, how could the silver-beaked eagle dare to come down? It was no fool.
“It’s for you to eat. Come freely,” Chu Xun called. The carcass would rot and dirty the environment if left here so he might as well allow the eagle to feed on it. But his true reason for baiting the eagle was because he needed a mount.
The eagle squinted its eyes at the short young man below him and spoke in the tongue of humans, “Go a thousand meters away and I’ll come down.”
“Stupid bird, are you taking me for a fool?” Chu Xun scowled jokingly.
A Reincarnation Whip strand shot like a speck of light before he even finished. Terrified, the silver-beaked eagle flapped its wings desperately to escape but it was just too slow. The Whip constricted around its throat firmly.
Chu Xun yanked hard and the gargantuan mass of the giant eagle rolled to the ground in a whirl of its lurching weight and feathers exploding into the air like confetti despite its best struggles to stay afloat.
Bang!
The massive hulk of the silver-beaked eagle smashed a wide crater in the ground, rocking the earth and kicking up waves of dirt into the air.
“Please… Don’t kill me! Please!”
The eagle was not at all hurt and it covered its eyes with its large wings, whimpering for mercy.
Chu Xun nearly doubted what he saw. Eagles are known to be majestic predators of the skies and this particular bird was a Seventh-grade Beast Lord. And yet here it was, looking as cowardly as a wild duck.
Humans might be cunning, but Beast Lords which had gained sentience and intelligence were no less crafty either.
“Come here,” Chu Xun tugged at the Reincarnation Whip to get it to follow.
With one yank of the whip, Chu Xun dragged the silver eagle – whose bulk which could easily dwarf a small hill in size – after him.
Swoosh!
The eagle lunged without warning, its talons screaming through the air as they aimed viciously for Chu Xun’s throat.
Chu Xun snorted coldly. What a cunning animal, he mused. It first pretended to look weak only to be waiting to spring a sudden ambush!
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Rumble!
Chu Xun’s body shone brilliantly in a sudden burst of purplish rays that came in pulsing waves, knocking the eagle off its feet.
Then he swung the Reincarnation Whip mercilessly at the bird and it smacked hard on it, lashing it with such force that more feathers tossed into the air, leaving a wound both bloody and raw.
Rumble!
The silver-beaked eagle screeching hideously with pain and it crashed down again, causing another big hole in the ground and another bout of tremors that sent the whole hillside trembling.
Chu Xun raised aloft the Reincarnation Whip.
“Please, sir! Mercy, please!”
Chu Xun sneered, “What’s this? The same trick again?”
“No! I wouldn’t dare… Never again… Never again…” It pleaded pitifully, vaulting itself using its wings and tail like a human prostrating and begging for dear life.
Crack!
With hardly an ounce of hesitation, Chu Xun whipped the bird fiercely.
The silver-beaked eagle emitted a hysterical screech with feathers tossing everywhere, but it did nothing to fight back.
“Please, sir! No more! No more! I yield! You are my master and I’d gladly carry you on my back to wherever you want to go to!”
Chu Xun grinned. What a scaredy Beast Lord.
“I thought you alien races already have Immortal-stage champions emerging. And yet here you are, willingly surrendering like a cowardly cat?” Chu Xun teased.
“I’m not one of them, sir! I’m a native here. A bird of Earth,” insisted the silver-beaked eagle.
“Huh?” Chu Xun yelped with surprise, “So even birds of Earth could now reach Beast Lord levels?”
“No. I ate a magical fruit by mistake,” the bird explained.
“Can you transform into a human?” Chu Xun asked.
“I can’t. The Trees of Transfigurations are all guarded by the alien races now and we won’t dare go near at all,” said the eagle.
“Come here,” Chu Xun said.
“Please, sir! Don’t eat me! My flesh is too stiff and hard! I won’t be as delicious as that wild boar!” the distraught eagle caterwauled madly.
“Who says I’m eating you!? No one eats eagle flesh,” scowled Chu Xun jokingly.
“As if you aliens even care about that. You aliens eat everything,” muttered the eagle, thinking Chu Xun was out of earshot.
“Who said I’m an alien?” Chu Xun uttered, slightly stunned.
“Ah?” the eagle peered at Chu Xun, his eyes swirling with suspicion, “Are you really human?!”
“Are you getting here or not?!” Chu Xun grumbled hotly, “I might not eat you, but that doesn’t mean I can’t slaughter you and roast you on a spit!”
That struck fear into the eagle enough that it quickly scurried over clumsily. It stood in from of Chu Xun, a veritable hill-like mass that even obscured his view of the sun and the sky and Chu Xun was barely the size of its talons alone.
“Can’t you bend down a little?” Chu Xun was speechless; the bird was so huge that he felt like it was staring down at him.
But the eagle could not transform into a human and that was the lowest it could reach. With a fawning giggle, it said, “The sun’s too hot, sir. My size shall be a perfect shade for you.”
So much for the pride of being king of the skies, Chu Xun mused quietly.
“So… Are you really human, sir?” the eagle affirmed cautiously.
“What else? If I am, I would have long roasted you and eaten you,” said Chu Xun, eager to have a go at the bird.
Strangely, the eagle appeared to look relieved to hear this. “So you really are a human! Heavens, the fright you gave me just now. But the alien races would never roast me if they want to eat me.”
“But to be honest, sir, you look so much like one of them. You don’t know how terrified I was just now.”
Chu Xun could hardly answer him. Knowing that he was a human who would never eat him seemed to make them closer than he would like.
“What about that boar, sir? Do you still want it?” the eagle eyed the boar carcass, its stomach groaned hungrily as if on cue.
Chu Xun could have sworn that he never felt so exasperated. A high-tiered avian Beast Lord and a predator of the skies, not only has his honor and pride lost, but starving like a common beggar?!
“Knock yourself out,” Chu Xun said.
“Gee, thanks, sir,” the eagle lowered into an unequivocal bow and pounced on the carcass, wolfing down the meat ravenously.
It did not take long for the eagle to finish off the whole carcass which was the size of a mound.
Chu Xun stared blankly. Good Heavens, how long has this bloody bird been starving?!
The silver-beaked eagle burped, caressing its stomach with its wings like how a human would, groaning, “It’s been so long since I’ve had a meal so good.”
“You are a lord of the skies, and yet you’re starving?!” Chu Xun was perplexed. Had this eagle lost the ability to hunt and forage sustenance after its mutation?!
“You might not know, sir, that the areas around here is now the territory of an alien lynx. With him here, we cannot hunt food,” cried the eagle, sobbing.
“Can’t you go somewhere else?”
“You’re from the moon, aren’t you?” the eagle said to Chu Xun, “Most of the hills here have been occupied by the alien races and all wild game here is their property.”
“Turn your head here,” said Chu Xun darkly.
The eagle felt a jolt of shiver and cursed itself for speaking too much, but it could only obediently stuck its head out as it was told.
Chu Xun smacked hard on its head with such force that the entire girth of the eagle shook like a roly-poly doll.
“You coward! You should have all band up together to resist the alien races and drive them away!”
“We can’t beat them,” grumbled the eagle.
“…” Chu Xun was too frustrated to even respond. Nevertheless, the eagle’s story illustrated how overbearing the alien races were on Earth.
”But surely with your powers, you could have easily scrape yourself a living by working for the alien races?” said Chu Xun curiously.
To Chu Xun’s amazement, the eagle raised aloft its head and proclaimed, “I am a self-respecting native of Earth! I’d never surrender myself to become a lackey of the alien races! That’s a disgrace! I’m going to join Queen Jiu You. I want to fight alongside her!”
Chu Xun almost burst out with laughter. How could this bird brazenly talk about honor and disgrace after his cowardly display just now?!
“Who’s this Queen Jiu You?”
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“Queen Jiu You. Jiu You is her actual name. She’s one of the strongest beast who’s a native of Earth. She might be young, but she’s invincible in battle. Her prowess with her golden halberd in battle had struck the fear of Heaven into many of the alien races thusfar.”
The eagle peered left and right, as if looking around to make sure no one was listening and it drew closer to Chu Xun before it whispered, “Now sit tight and listen. Here’s a secret: there’s word that Queen Jiu You is the youngest consort of the Devil. Surely you’ve heard of the Devil? He’s the greatest champion of the human race.”
The news shocked Chu Xun so greatly that he almost slipped off and rolled down the hillside.
Jiu You, you wretched brat! You and the havoc you’ve wreaked!
The eagle gave Chu Xun a smug look that seemed to say: I told you to sit tight. What do you think? Are you shocked?