White-haired Eagle

Once the Temporary Starry Sky Station was established on Yun Mo Tian, hundreds of squads from the Expeditionary Force began setting out in rotation toward various directions to carry out survey missions.

This time, the Dawn was deployed on the eastern side of the station.

Twenty squads from the 115th Legion headed southeast, using survey instruments to probe the ground every thirty to fifty li.

Lu Feng followed along with the Chasing Wind Squad, but his mind was nowhere near the survey work.

After stepping into the Innate Realm, he discovered that his perception range for Exotic Beasts had expanded again.

From the original ten kilometers, he could now sense Exotic Beasts within a fifty-kilometer radius.

The "Six-legged Birds" unique to Yun Mo Tian were not densely packed; they were scattered across the highlands, gathering in small groups of three to five.

But Lu Feng could already sense that within fifty kilometers, there were at least several thousand of them.

In his eyes, these were all mobile energy sources.

Right now, he felt a strong urge to break away from the team and go absorb that energy.

"Captain... can I... withdraw from this mission?" Lu Feng suddenly spoke up in the squad channel.

"What's wrong?" Gao Zhan turned to look at him.

"Not feeling well. I want to go back and rest up."

"Not feeling well?"

No one believed that.

In the eyes of the Chasing Wind Squad, Lu Feng was already a Meridian Condensing Realm martial artist.

A Three Realm Martial Artist's physique far exceeded ordinary people; unless injured, there was no way they'd fall ill.

"Then go on back."

After all, Lu Feng was still young, and it was normal for him to want to slack off occasionally. Gao Zhan wasn't about to scold him over something like that.

"Thanks, Captain!"

With permission granted, Lu Feng immediately maneuvered his Mecha to turn around and quickly broke away from the squad.

"Be careful on the way. If anything happens, call for help on the channel immediately."

"Got it!"

Lu Feng sped toward the station, only veering southward once the Chasing Wind Squad was completely out of sight.

He had already sensed that a dozen li away, seven or eight Six-legged Birds were foraging.

Along the way, Hong Kun sent him a message: "Xiao Feng, are you okay? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Just found the survey work too boring." Lu Feng made up an excuse on the spot.

"This kid..."

Hong Kun shook his head helplessly and said no more.

A few minutes later.

He approached the location of that group of Six-legged Birds.

These Exotic Beasts stood about two meters tall, their six legs supporting a body of solid muscle as they lowered their heads to peck at the moss-like plants on the ground.

Every now and then, they would use their hard claws to dig into the earth and eat the plant roots buried beneath.

When they sensed an unfamiliar presence approaching, the flock raised their heads, glanced over, and turned to flee.

But the moment their eyes met Lu Feng's, they instantly went stiff, frozen in place.

The energy within their bodies, in that same instant, began to surge continuously into Lu Feng's chest.

In just a few minutes, seven or eight strong, robust Six-legged Birds turned into limp chickens, collapsing weakly to the ground.

Lu Feng paid them no mind and continued toward the next location with birds.

Over an hour later.

After absorbing a full fifty or sixty third-rank Six-legged Birds, the Mark on his chest was finally filled.

Lu Feng knew that the Mark's capacity would expand as his cultivation level increased.

He began to cultivate on the spot, converting the energy in the Mark into his own True Qi, continuously charging the Qi Sea in his Dantian.

A day later.

He had practically drained every Six-legged Bird within a hundred-li radius.

With such an abundant energy source, he raised his cultivation to the Innate Realm Fifth Level in just one day.

In his search for more Six-legged Birds, he drifted farther and farther from the Starry Sky Station.

By now, he was over three hundred kilometers away from the Dawn.

Just as he found another cluster of Six-legged Birds gathered together and prepared to absorb their energy—

A massive shadow suddenly appeared in the sky, blotting out the light at his feet.

He looked up and saw a huge white bird, its wingspan exceeding thirty or forty meters, diving down at tremendous speed.

The oppressive aura made Lu Feng instinctively wary.

This was a Leader-level Exotic Beast!

Its cultivation had at least reached the Fourth Tier Peak, or else it wouldn't have made his heart pound with unease.

Just as the massive white bird swooped down in an attack posture, its brown pupils suddenly froze.

Then it slammed on the brakes, its speed plummeting as it landed steadily before Lu Feng.

"Zizizi..."

Faced with this sudden barrage of bird language, Lu Feng understood none of it.

"Luo Lin! Can you help translate?"

The Artificial Intelligence Luo Lin quickly responded: "Based on the sound wave frequency, it's saying—'Who are you? Why can you control my movements? Why do I feel my power being devoured by you? I want to flee, but my body uncontrollably submits to you. Why is this?'"

After hearing Luo Lin's translation, Lu Feng couldn't help but find it amusing.

So this white bird was also under the control of the Mark, involuntarily bowing before him.

But Leader-level Exotic Beasts had already developed intelligence, which was why it asked these questions.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you. Once I've drained you dry, I'll naturally let you go."

Lu Feng grinned, manipulating the mecha's arm to pat the big bird's head.

Back when he hadn't yet broken through to the Innate Realm, although he could control Tier 4 Exotic Beasts, the duration was pitifully short—only a few seconds.

If it were a Fifth-Tier Lord Level, he couldn't even hold on for half a second.

Now that he had stepped into the Innate Realm, he could easily control Tier 4 Exotic Beasts, rendering them no threat at all.

Just as he was absorbing the white bird's energy, a distress signal suddenly came through the communicator's team channel—

"The Chasing Wind Squad is under attack by three unknown Exotic Beasts, all Leader-level! Requesting backup! Requesting backup!"

Seeing this message, Lu Feng immediately stopped absorbing energy and checked the Chasing Wind Squad's location on the mecha's radar interface.

At that very moment, a string of distress messages appeared in the full squad channel.

"The Lingyun Squad is under attack by two Leader-level Exotic Beasts! Requesting backup!"

"The Panshi Squad is under attack by four large birds, Leader-level Exotic Beasts! Requesting backup... requesting backup!"

What was going on?

Within just a few seconds, dozens of Warrior Squads were under attack by unknown Exotic Beasts, all uniformly Leader-level.

At the same time, each squad sent images of the relevant beasts.

Lu Feng opened them and was instantly petrified for half a second.

Wasn't this beast the same white bird standing right in front of him?

Meanwhile, the Starship Butler Luo Lin also sent a message in the full squad channel:

"At this moment, over a hundred squads in the eastern region of the Starry Sky Station are under attack by unknown Exotic Beasts. Please have Warrior Squads in other areas move to support immediately."

"The Exotic Beasts launching this attack are a large eagle species with a wingspan exceeding thirty-three meters, pure white all over. We can temporarily name them the White-haired Eagle."

"Analysis of the sound wave frequencies emitted by each White-haired Eagle shows that this is another species living on the Yun Mo Tian Plateau, which preys exclusively on Six-legged Birds. Roughly every ten days, they mobilize in groups to hunt. Only White-haired Eagles above Tier 4 participate in hunting missions; those below Tier 4 rarely venture out."

"Now that humans have established the Starry Sky Station on the Yun Mo Tian Plateau and are surveying Star Source Ore in the surrounding area, the White-haired Eagles see humans as an invading foreign race and are launching a full-scale attack on us."

If you can't find the book by searching the title, try searching the author's name—maybe it's just been renamed!