Animal World

Although he had already fought the owl at close quarters once, Xiang Kun still found the sight of it standing on a rock beneath the moonlight, as tall as an adult, deeply shocking.

Xiang Kun remained highly alert, studying the owl's body language. He could clearly sense its wariness and fear of him.

Yet it hadn't immediately spread its wings and flown away upon spotting him. If it had, he definitely wouldn't have been able to catch up. He would have had to keep tracking it in the direction it flew, and at that rate, he might not find it again before dawn.

Besides, with the owl's senses, it had probably noticed him as soon as he noticed it. It could have simply flown away; there was nothing he could do about it.

If it wasn't flying away, that proved it had something else in mind...

Either, for some reason, it couldn't fly just yet.

Or it was still unwilling to give up and wanted to kill Xiang Kun.

In Xiang Kun's judgment, the second possibility was more likely.

Whatever the reason, this was his chance.

Still, he didn't dare charge in and attack. He was afraid of scaring the owl off. Ideally, he could make it come at him first.

Xiang Kun stopped a dozen or so meters away from the owl. He noticed its body shift back slightly, as if it were starting to retreat. Perhaps it had realized that he was in better shape and was preparing to flee.

Xiang Kun's mind raced. This standoff couldn't last long. As time passed and the owl became more convinced that it couldn't gain an advantage, it would be more likely to flee.

Xiang Kun slowly raised the screwdriver in his hand and held it between his teeth. Then he slowly took the Swiss Army knife from his pocket and opened the blade, moving as gently and gradually as possible so he wouldn't startle the owl and make it fly away.

Once the Swiss Army knife was open, Xiang Kun drew a long cut across his left arm.

Blood soon began to flow, then dripped one drop at a time from his elbow onto the ground.

Xiang Kun switched the knife to his left hand and made the same long cut on his right arm.

He held both arms out, displaying the wounds to the owl.

Earlier, he had licked some of the blood the owl had left on his arm and felt his body crave it intensely. He guessed that the owl was very likely coveting his blood as well.

The Giant Owl had probably ambushed him by the lake to hunt, not simply because it was aggressive.

If it had a habit of attacking humans, it would have been exposed long ago. That didn't fit the way it had behaved.

The owl's blood had a powerful allure for Xiang Kun. It wasn't simply a sensory desire for something delicious, but a cry from his body's instincts. The pull was even stronger than an ordinary animal's hunger for food.

Xiang Kun considered himself fairly rational and disciplined, yet he still needed considerable willpower to resist the allure of the blood. In fact, one of the main reasons he had risked coming here to face the extremely dangerous Giant Owl was that craving.

Even if the Giant Owl was more intelligent than other animals, he didn't believe the beast could have that much self-control.

After just a dozen seconds, the wounds on his hands stopped seeping blood. It grew thick and sluggish, and the edges of the cuts began slowly drawing together.

So Xiang Kun cut each arm once more with the Swiss Army knife, making the blood flow again.

As he showed the owl his wounds and blood, he slowly took two steps forward. He noticed its posture becoming distinctly more aggressive.

It was about to lose control!

The owl suddenly spread its enormous wings and beat them, soaring over Xiang Kun's head. Then it abruptly swooped down, talons spread, and lunged at him.

Xiang Kun's attention had been razor-sharp, and his senses were at their peak. He could even hear the owl's heartbeat and breathing.

So the moment the owl began to move to attack, he sensed it coming.

As the owl took off, Xiang Kun had already taken the screwdriver from his teeth and gripped it in his hand. He lowered his center of gravity, ready to attack.

Xiang Kun's dynamic vision was also at its limit. He kept the owl firmly in sight as it moved through the air. He didn't dodge or retreat. As it swooped down over his head, he threw all his strength into leaping upward.

Xiang Kun's plan was clear. Whether he used his fist or the screwdriver, striking the owl anywhere else might injure it, perhaps even badly, but it would be difficult to stop it from flying or fighting back.

So his target was clear: the owl's eyes!

More specifically, the eye he had blinded earlier, which still hadn't fully recovered!

Xiang Kun's reaction completely caught the Giant Owl off guard. It was far more intelligent than an ordinary owl; it could even tell that Xiang Kun was deliberately using his blood to tempt it into attacking. But it simply couldn't resist the temptation, and no longer wanted to try.

It had expected Xiang Kun to dodge its attack and counter afterward, just as he had done by the lake. That was why it hadn't put all its strength into the first swoop. It was confident it could grab him with a second attack after he dodged, then carry him into the air—to its true "home ground."

But Xiang Kun didn't dodge to the side. He leaped straight at it, throwing off its response. On top of that, one of its eyes hadn't healed, distorting its vision. Xiang Kun slipped between its talons and grabbed hold of it in midair!

As soon as Xiang Kun wrapped his arms around the owl, he drove the screwdriver hard into its eye. He pulled it out, then stabbed it in again!

With a piercing cry, Xiang Kun fell from the air with the enormous owl in his arms. They rolled down the mountainside, soon slammed into a tree trunk and bounced away. The screwdriver flew off, but Xiang Kun still clung tightly to the owl.

The owl didn't die right away. It fought back desperately, and the two of them grappled on the ground once more. This time, the fight was even more brutal.

Warm sunlight fell across his face, and Xiang Kun slowly opened his eyes.

He found himself sprawled on a hillside, one leg hooked over a tree trunk and his body wedged in a clump of weeds. He looked like the letter S.

He pulled his leg off the tree trunk and rolled down the slope, stopping when he crashed into another tree.

Xiang Kun rubbed his aching side and got to his feet, then rubbed his head and looked around.

He was still on that small mountain. Judging by the sun's position, it was probably morning.

But Xiang Kun knew that more than a few hours had passed since his battle with the owl.

He looked up the slope. There were broken branches everywhere, and the place was a mess. That was where he and the Giant Owl had fought their final battle.

Xiang Kun climbed up to the place where he had last lost consciousness and fallen asleep. Apart from one of his shoes, there was no sign of the Giant Owl—not a feather or a trace of blood.

But Xiang Kun knew the owl hadn't escaped.

Before he passed out, he had been certain that the owl died in his arms. He had also drunk a great deal of blood.