The White-Haired Eagle

After the Temporary Starry Sky Station on Yun Mo Tian was completed, hundreds of Expeditionary Force squads began setting out in rotation in every direction to conduct reconnaissance.

The Dawn had been deployed east of the station.

Twenty squads from the 115th Legion headed southeast, using their surveying equipment every thirty to fifty li along the way.

Lu Feng followed the Chasing Wind Squad, but his mind was nowhere near the reconnaissance mission.

After entering the Innate Realm, he discovered that his range for sensing Exotic Beasts had expanded again.

It had grown from ten kilometers to a staggering fifty.

The Six-legged Birds unique to Yun Mo Tian were not particularly numerous. They were scattered across the plateau, gathering in groups of three or five,

yet Lu Feng could already sense at least several thousand within fifty kilometers.

To him, they were all mobile energy sources.

He was filled with an intense desire to leave the squad and absorb their energy.

"Captain, I... could I withdraw from this mission?" Lu Feng suddenly asked over the squad channel.

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

"I'm not feeling well. I'd like to head back and recuperate."

"You're not feeling well?"

No one would believe that.

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

The physical constitution of a Three Realm Martial Artist far surpassed that of an ordinary person. Unless injured, they couldn't possibly get sick.

"Then head back for now."

Lu Feng was still young, after all. It was normal for him to want to slack off once in a while, and Gao Zhan wasn't going to reprimand him over something like that.

"Thanks, Captain!"

With permission granted, Lu Feng immediately turned his Mecha around and quickly left the squad.

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

"Understood!"

Lu Feng sped toward the station. Only after the Chasing Wind Squad had vanished from sight did he change course and head south.

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

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

"I'm fine. I just think the reconnaissance mission is too boring." Lu Feng casually made up an excuse.

"You little rascal..."

Hong Kun shook his head helplessly and said no more.

A few minutes later.

Lu Feng reached the spot where the Six-legged Birds were.

The Exotic Beasts stood over two meters tall, their muscular bodies supported by six legs. They pecked at the moss-like plants growing on the ground.

Every so often, they used their hard claws to scrape away the soil and eat the plant roots buried beneath it.

When they sensed an unfamiliar presence approaching, the flock looked up, then turned to flee.

But the moment their eyes met Lu Feng's, they froze, standing motionless as if stunned.

The energy inside them surged toward Lu Feng's chest, pouring into it without pause.

Within minutes, the seven or eight strong, sturdy Six-legged Birds had gone limp, collapsing onto the ground one after another.

Lu Feng paid them no mind and continued toward the next place where he sensed birds.

More than an hour later.

He had absorbed the energy of fifty or sixty Tier 3 Six-legged Birds before the Mark on his chest was finally filled.

Lu Feng knew the Mark's capacity would grow as his realm advanced.

He began cultivating on the spot, converting the energy within the Mark into his own True Qi and repeatedly striking at the Qi Sea in his Dantian.

A day later.

He had nearly absorbed every Six-legged Bird within a hundred li of the area.

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

As he searched for more Six-legged Birds, he traveled farther and farther from the Starry Sky Station.

By then, he was more than three hundred kilometers from the Dawn.

Just as he found several Six-legged Birds gathered together and prepared to absorb their energy,

a vast shadow suddenly appeared in the sky, blocking the light below.

He looked up and saw a massive white bird, its wings spanning over thirty or forty meters, diving toward him at tremendous speed.

Its overwhelming aura made Lu Feng feel a flicker of apprehension.

A Leader-level Exotic Beast!

Its realm had to be at least Fourth Tier Peak, or it wouldn't have made his heart skip a beat.

As the white bird dived toward the ground in an attacking posture, its brown eyes suddenly widened.

Then it abruptly slammed on the brakes, rapidly slowing before landing steadily in front of Lu Feng.

"Chirp, chirp, chirp..."

Lu Feng couldn't understand a word of the long string of bird calls.

"Luo Lin! Can you translate for me?"

Artificial Intelligence Luo Lin responded at once: "Based on the other party's sound-wave frequencies, it is saying, 'Who are you? Why can you control my movements? Why do I feel my strength being devoured by you? I want to flee, but my body is submitting to you against my will. Why is this happening?'"

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

So the white bird had also been controlled by the Mark and had knelt before him against its will.

It had only asked those questions because Leader-level Exotic Beasts had developed intelligence.

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

Grinning, Lu Feng used his Mecha's arm to pat the big bird on the head.

Before breaking through to the Innate Realm, he had been able to control Fourth Order Exotic Beasts, but only for an extremely short time—just a few seconds.

Against a Fifth-Tier Lord Level beast, he couldn't even hold on for half a second.

Now that he had entered the Innate Realm, he could easily control Fourth Order Exotic Beasts, leaving them no way to threaten him.

Just as he was absorbing the white bird's energy, a distress message suddenly came through the squad channel on his Communicator—

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

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

At the same time, a string of distress messages appeared on the All-Channel.

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

"The Panshi Squad is under attack by four large birds—Leader-level Exotic Beasts! Requesting support... Requesting support!"

What was going on?

In just a few seconds, dozens of Warrior Squads had come under attack by unidentified Exotic Beasts, and every one of them was a Leader-level beast.

Each squad had also sent pictures of the creatures attacking them.

Lu Feng opened one and froze for half a second.

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

Meanwhile, Starship Butler Luo Lin also sent a message through the All-Channel:

"At this moment, more than a hundred squads in the eastern region of the Starry Sky Station are under attack by unidentified Exotic Beasts. Warrior Squads in other regions, please provide support immediately."

"The attacking beasts are large eagle-like creatures with wingspans exceeding thirty-three meters and snow-white plumage. We can temporarily name them White-haired Eagles."

"Analysis of the sound-wave frequencies emitted by each White-haired Eagle indicates that this is another species of Exotic Beast living on the Yun Mo Tian Plateau. They feed exclusively on Six-legged Birds. They venture out in groups to hunt approximately once every ten days. Only White-haired Eagles of Fourth Order or higher participate in these hunts; those below Fourth Order generally do not leave their nests."

"Humans have established a Starry Sky Station on the Yun Mo Tian Plateau and are surveying the surrounding area for Star Source Ore. The White-haired Eagles have mistaken humans for an invading species and are launching a full-scale attack against us."