Golden Feather Scale Eagle

Deep within Sunset Forest, Dugu Bo and the other two stealthily advanced ten kilometers toward the source of the cries.

The forest ahead had already been reduced to ruins. Trees lay toppled in swathes, and the ground was riddled with craters.

"Screech!" A piercing cry came from the sky. A golden bird of prey with a wingspan exceeding thirty meters dove toward the center of the ruins.

A massive black snake was coiled there, its body undoubtedly over forty meters long. It raised its broad head, its ink-black vertical pupils fixed firmly on the golden raptor in the sky.

Just as it was about to reach the great snake, the golden raptor abruptly halted in midair. Its enormous wings suddenly became dazzlingly brilliant.

With a downward sweep of those wings, countless sharp golden rays shot straight at the snake.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!" Harsh metallic collisions rang out as the golden rays struck the snake's scales. Mere breaths later, the snake let out a miserable shriek.

Large amounts of its scales shattered, and the golden rays pierced directly into its flesh. Blood rained down.

Driven by blood loss and pain, the black snake refused to be outdone. Its head shot forward, and before the golden raptor could react, it bit down on it.

Its sharp fangs pierced straight through the scales. Then, the venom stored in its poison glands was frantically injected into the golden raptor's body through its teeth.

The raptor beat its wings wildly, its sharp talons ripping through the great snake's scales and embedding deeply into its flesh.

"That's a Bone-Corroding Profound Snake over forty thousand years old. I didn't expect Sunset Forest to have such a rare Soul Beast!" Dugu Bo exclaimed.

Only Liu Yanyang kept watching the golden raptor. "Old Poison, doesn't that raptor look like a Golden Feather Eagle to you?"

"What? A Golden Feather Eagle? A top-tier avian Soul Beast!" Dugu Bo immediately looked toward the raptor.

He had only glanced at it earlier and had not paid it much attention, since Golden Feather Eagles were simply too rare.

It was said to possess the bloodline of the Golden-Winged Great Peng. He had only ever seen descriptions of Golden Feather Eagles in an ancient book.

"No, little monster. The book said Golden Feather Eagles were covered from head to toe in sharp, brilliant golden feathers. But aside from the feathers on this one's wings, every other part of its body is covered in scales."

Liu Yanyang found it strange as well. Logically speaking, Golden Feather Eagles should not have dragon scales, yet this one did.

"Little monster, do you think it's possible that this Golden Feather Blaze is a mutant, possessing the bloodlines of both the Golden-Winged Great Peng and the True Dragon?" Dugu Bo said.

Liu Yanyang nodded, agreeing with the idea. It should be called a Golden Feather Scale Eagle now.

After struggling with each other for more than ten breaths, the two sides tacitly separated. The Golden Feather Scale Eagle flew back into the sky and stared fiercely at the Bone-Corroding Profound Snake.

It let out another cry, its entire body blooming with golden light. A dangerous, terrifying aura surged from its body, and it immediately dove straight at the great snake.

The Bone-Corroding Profound Snake sprayed a vast cloud of black poison mist at the Golden Feather Scale Eagle.

"That's Bone-Corroding Rotting Poison! Death is certain upon contact. It can reduce a person or beast to nothing in moments, and its toxicity is even somewhat stronger than my Jade Scale Snake Emperor Poison," Dugu Bo said with admiration.

Yet the Golden Feather Scale Eagle flew straight through the poison mist, suffering little damage. Its beak directly pierced the profound snake's vital spot.

After letting out a miserable shriek, the Bone-Corroding Profound Snake immediately lost its life. An ink-black Soul Ring slowly emerged.

The Golden Feather Scale Eagle collapsed beside the Bone-Corroding Profound Snake's corpse, looking as though it were at death's door, but its mournful cries never ceased.

An Golden Feather Scale Eagle barely over ten thousand years old actually managed to kill a forty-thousand-year Bone-Corroding Profound Snake, Dugu Bo marveled inwardly.

He turned, about to tell Liu Yanyang what a pity it was. After all, this Golden Feather Scale Eagle was exceptionally suited to him, but its age was far too high.

Yet he saw Liu Yanyang already standing in an inconspicuous spot, dragging something with both hands.

Looking closely, he found it was a smaller Golden Feather Scale Eagle. It was already dead, and several parts of its body had been corroded.

No wonder the Golden Feather Scale Eagle had gone so mad. Its child had been killed by the Bone-Corroding Profound Snake.

Liu Yanyang dragged the corpse to the Golden Feather Scale Eagle's side and set it down. The eagle struggled to raise its battered wing.

It trembled as it stroked the little Golden Feather Scale Eagle's corpse. Tears flowed from its eyes, and mournful cries rang out without end.

Liu Yanyang sighed. Such life-or-death struggles were common in the Soul Beast world, and he had never intended to interfere.

But seeing the Golden Feather Scale Eagle risk everything for its child made his heart ache.

Several minutes later, the Golden Feather Scale Eagle stopped crying. It looked at Liu Yanyang, gratitude appearing in its eyes, perhaps because it had seen the sorrow in his.

The Golden Feather Scale Eagle's gaze became resolute. After letting out a loud cry toward Liu Yanyang, an energy field appeared around him.

Liu Yanyang realized that he could not move. Black light burst from the Golden Feather Scale Eagle's body and enveloped him.

"Little monster!" Dugu Bo roared as he rushed straight toward Liu Yanyang.

In an instant, energy flooded wildly into Liu Yanyang's body, yet he felt no discomfort whatsoever.

The Dragon Roar Spear manifested automatically, and a black Soul Ring slowly formed beneath his feet.

The sight left Dugu Bo and his granddaughter frozen on the spot.

Liu Yanyang had his eyes closed, enjoying the exhilarating sensation of energy entering his body, completely unaware of the changes around him.

"Bang!" His clothes exploded apart, and a pair of brilliant golden wings six meters long unfurled from his back.

"Th-this is a Soul Bone—an External Soul Bone!" Dugu Bo said in shock.

Only after a quarter of an hour did Liu Yanyang open his eyes. The Golden Feather Scale Eagle had already vanished into ashes.

Liu Yanyang clasped his hands and gave a slight bow toward the place where it had disappeared.

Then, looking at the black Soul Ring beneath his feet, he reflected, I'd never held out much hope for obtaining a ten-thousand-year fourth ring. Who would have thought I'd get one in such a muddleheaded way?

"Little monster, what just happened?" Dugu Bo asked in confusion as he came before Liu Yanyang. Dugu Yan, meanwhile, studied the External Soul Bone with the curiosity of a child.

"A sacrifice," Liu Yanyang said calmly.

"Isn't that something only Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts can do?"

Liu Yanyang shook his head. "I don't know. Perhaps the Golden Feather Scale Eagle's intelligence was too high, and it understood how to sacrifice itself even at ten thousand years!"

Dugu Bo nodded. He could only accept that explanation.

Liu Yanyang touched the wings spread behind him. Because of the sacrifice, this External Soul Bone had completely fused with him.

As he quietly felt the wings twitch slightly, their feathers resembled sharp golden daggers, chilling anyone who looked at them.

Then he looked at the two of them. "The Soul Bone skill is decent. It increases my flight speed. With my current strength, even an agility-attack Soul Sage wouldn't be able to catch me!"

"And you call that decent? Have you ever seen a Soul Ancestor who could outrun an agility-attack Soul Sage?" Dugu Bo said enviously.

"Then the Soul skill I'm about to tell you about might just leave Old Poison utterly dumbfounded!" Liu Yanyang laughed.