The Giant Eagle

Wu San and his companion's affair was just a minor episode for Ye Yun. He soon put it out of his mind. Finding the Vermillion Fruit Tree was what mattered; everything else could wait.

While Ye Yun followed the map toward the Vermillion Fruit Tree's location, Wu San and his companion stumbled back to Border City, supporting each other along the way. The first thing they did upon returning was look for padded coats. The frost on their bodies wouldn't melt even under the sun, so they had to put on several layers to keep warm.

What terrified them was that even after wrapping themselves up like cotton balls, they still shivered from the cold. In the end, they had no choice but to ask a more advanced cultivator for help. It cost them two spirit herbs to dispel the bone-deep chill.

"Old Zhang Six, it's time we settled this score," Wu San said through gritted teeth, feeling the sun warm his body.

Half an hour later, Wu San and his companion cornered Old Zhang Six at his residence. A few minutes later, they left, covered in blood. From then on, Border City had one less information broker.

Ye Yun knew nothing about what Wu San and the other man had done, though he had expected it. The moment he let them go, Old Zhang Six's fate had been sealed. Unless he was stronger than the two of them combined, or someone else intervened, he was doomed to die. But Ye Yun had never given the matter any thought. By now, he had followed the map to the area where the Vermillion Fruit Tree was supposed to be.

Standing on his flying sword, Ye Yun looked at the map, then at the sprawling mountains before him, overgrown with weeds. He felt like stuffing the map back into the head of whoever had drawn it. The range of mountains stretching for dozens of miles was marked on the map as a tiny hill, no bigger than two fingers, shaped like the character for "mountain." How was he supposed to find anything? The earlier parts of the map had been fairly reliable, so why was this part so wildly inaccurate? He really couldn't understand it.

"Whatever. I'll look around first. The map says the Vermillion Fruit Tree grows on a cliff, so I'll search for cliffs. And the spiritual energy near one should be denser than elsewhere. There should also be a demon beast or spirit beast guarding it. If I search according to those clues, I'm bound to find it."

Though the Great Wilderness was called a wilderness, it wasn't truly desolate. It lacked the forests and ancient trees found in other places, but it still had plenty of wild grass and low shrubs. Nor was it lacking in spirit herbs or animals. That was exactly why Ye Yun's search wasn't going smoothly.

He hadn't found the Vermillion Fruit Tree, but before nightfall, he did find two spirit herbs: a Sun-facing Flower and a Nine-leaf Grass. The Sun-facing Flower was named for always facing the sun, and the Nine-leaf Grass was named in much the same way. It grew an extra leaf every ten years, completing a cycle every ninety years. After nine cycles, it would transform into a Reincarnation Grass, which had the power to restore youth. The one Ye Yun had found already had six leaves, meaning it had grown for sixty years.

Though these two spirit herbs were only of ordinary quality, they were still a decent find. The Sun-facing Flower was an important ingredient in Essence Recovery Pills, which restored magical energy, while the Nine-leaf Grass was the main ingredient in Nine-Turn Pills, which healed injuries. It was a worthwhile haul.

Before night fell, Ye Yun hurried back to Border City. At this time of year, few people spent the night outside the city in the Great Wilderness unless they had no choice. It was simply too dangerous. As Ye Yun knew, three years earlier, around this same time, a demonic cultivator at the Jade Purity Ninth Layer had relied on his considerable strength and stayed outdoors overnight instead of returning to Border City. That night, the people inside the city heard a tremendous commotion coming from the Great Wilderness. It continued until the early hours of the morning.

The next morning, after the city gates opened, cultivators soon found extensive signs of battle outside the city. Many followed the traces deep into the Great Wilderness, where they discovered that the demonic cultivator had been reduced to a skeleton. They could only identify him from the clothes still on his bones. Judging from the signs of battle, he had fought not only countless ordinary beasts that night, but at least ten demon beasts as well. At least one of them had been at the Jade Purity Ninth Layer. Since then, no one had spent the night outside the city at this time of year. Even if they were running late, they would race back with all their might.

Ye Yun was confident in his strength, but he wasn't a fool. The demon beasts outside the city were clearly clearing the area. No matter how strong he was, he couldn't withstand a swarm of demon beasts—especially with countless ordinary beasts on top of them. They could wear him down to death.

Fighting was forbidden in Border City at night during this period. It was an unwritten rule, and anyone who broke it would be hunted by everyone in the city until they were dead. As a result, the city was safest at night during this time, and everyone could sleep soundly. Ye Yun did the same.

He slept soundly. After getting up in the morning and eating breakfast, Ye Yun once again set out on his search for the Vermillion Fruit Tree. Unfortunately, the goddess of fortune wasn't watching over him today. He had found nothing by noon. With the blazing sun overhead, he could only pause to find a place to rest and grab a quick lunch.

If the Great Wilderness had anything in abundance, it was wild rabbits. He caught one in the grass, cleaned it, and rubbed on some seasoning made by Zhang Xiaofan. Then he gathered some dry branches, burned part of them down to coals, and moved them beneath a grill he had set up. As the rabbit began to roast, the fire beside it continued to burn wood into charcoal. Wisps of smoke rose along the cliff, accompanied by the faint, savory scent of roasted rabbit.

A few minutes later, the rabbit's skin had turned golden under the scorching coals. Ye Yun took out a small knife and scored the golden rabbit, allowing the meat deeper inside to cook as well. The aroma grew even richer.

Ye Yun breathed in the delicious scent of the roast rabbit and picked up the seasoning bottle, ready to sprinkle on a little more so the meat inside would be properly flavored. Just then, he suddenly heard a piercing eagle cry overhead. Sensing danger, Ye Yun grabbed the long sword beside him, pushed off with his feet, and quickly shot backward. He had retreated seven or eight meters when a golden figure flashed over the grill. The golden roast rabbit, already cooked eight-tenths of the way through, vanished.

Once he had steadied himself, Ye Yun looked up and saw a golden eagle with a wingspan a hand's breadth wide darting away. Its talons gleamed like metal, and they clutched the dripping, golden roast rabbit.

Perhaps the eagle sensed Ye Yun's gaze, because it turned its head and gave him a look full of contempt. It let out a taunting cry, pecked at the roast rabbit in its claws, then flew off. The blatant provocation made Ye Yun see red. He formed a sword seal with his right hand, and the black sword shot from its sheath, trailing pale blue light as it chased after the golden eagle.

The golden eagle hadn't expected Ye Yun to be able to control objects. A trace of panic flashed in its eyes at the sight of the flying sword, but in the blink of an eye, anger replaced it. It was the lord of the sky. So what if that human could control objects? It was the true ruler of the heavens.