Calm in Crisis

The next morning dawned bright and clear. Su Hao left the cave, striding ahead with his hands clasped behind his back. Behind him trailed a bald-feathered chicken, drooping and listless.

"This lord is an unparalleled prodigy of the Demon Race, suave and dashing, with extraordinary bearing. I was simply too handsome—far too many humans and demons pursued me. To escape all that trouble, I entered the deep mountains, accidentally encountered a spacetime storm, and was blown here, suffering grave injuries. And now some little brat has taken advantage of my weakness and forcibly formed a contract with me, turning me into a pet beast. What humiliation, what humiliation..."

The bald-feathered chicken hung its head and chattered on endlessly. At last, it sighed. "If that brat lets me go and sends me back while he's at it, I'll immediately bestow upon him ten spirit stone veins, three hundred immortal artifacts, ten thousand stalks of immortal herbs as a bonus, and also..."

"Will you die if you don't brag? Looking at you, it's obvious you got the stuffing beaten out of you and had all your feathers plucked. Were you almost roasted too?" Su Hao glanced back at it.

"How did you know?" The bald-feathered chicken looked astonished. Then its eyes rolled, and it immediately said, "Nonsense! This lord is a descendant of the phoenix. Me, beaten up? With my family background, who would dare hit me? Let me go, and I really can give you countless treasures..."

"Get lost. If you really had that many treasures, would you be drooling over my Blood Yuan Pills?" Su Hao curled his lip. He already knew this fellow's nature—out of ten things it said, 9.9 were lies.

Inside the cave, he had refined seven Blood Yuan Pills. They had nearly driven the fellow mad with craving; its drool had soaked a huge patch of ground.

The bald-feathered chicken raised its head and glared. "I'm telling you, don't think that just because you've become my master, you can humiliate me however you please. Was that saliva? That was clearly phoenix drool! My phoenix drool is a supreme treasure for refining medicine. I..."

Whoosh!

Just then, a piercing eagle cry rang out, sharp enough to split gold and crack stone. High in the sky, a terrifying aura stirred the winds and clouds, shaking heaven and earth.

A Purple-Crowned Mystic Eagle—a fifth-layer Qi Condensation demon beast!

It swooped down to kill.

A streak of purple lightning had already howled down ahead of it.

Su Hao's expression changed drastically. He immediately flashed aside, and the purple lightning blasted a terrifying crater into the ground, sending rocks flying.

What Su Hao feared most was encountering demon beasts that could fly.

Humans could briefly ride the air and glide upon reaching the seventh layer of Qi Condensation. Only upon reaching the Spirit Sea Realm could they truly soar through the skies.

The bald-feathered chicken shrank its neck in fright, then shot forward and clung to Su Hao's thigh. "This lord is scared to death!"

"Hurry up and release some of that kingly aura of yours to scare it off," Su Hao urged as he sprinted.

Demon beasts all valued bloodlines. A single level of bloodline superiority could crush another demon beast to death.

"Sorry, this lord has had all his feathers plucked. What kingly aura could I possibly have? Right now, I'm a phoenix stripped of its feathers—not even as good as a chicken." The bald-feathered chicken clung desperately to Su Hao's leg, telling the truth for once.

Su Hao felt like cursing its ancestors. He sprinted at full speed, pushing his Gale Art to its limit.

But his speed was clearly still inferior to the Purple-Crowned Mystic Eagle's. It rapidly closed in, unleashing wave after wave of purple lightning that riddled the forest with holes.

"If this continues, I'll definitely die. I have to think of something." Su Hao's thoughts raced. Through his training in the mountains, he had learned one truth: when trapped in a desperate situation, one must never panic. Only a calm mind could seize that lone thread of life.

Fire-Breathing Technique!

While running wildly, Su Hao spat toward the sky. A blast of blazing fire howled upward and collided with the incoming purple lightning.

Crackle!

The air exploded, as though electric currents were flashing within it. The purple lightning surged down, extinguishing the flames and shattering the earth.

"This demon beast is terrifying." Su Hao felt troubled, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

He pulled out the blood-red pills and stuffed them into his mouth like his life depended on it, crunching them apart like beans. Surging vital essence rapidly spread through him, bolstering his cultivation. The bald-feathered chicken watched greedily and shouted, "Leave one for me! I want to taste it!"

Su Hao swung his leg and kicked it straight into the air. The bald-feathered chicken decisively took flight, only to begin plummeting amid miserable shrieks.

"Fuck, fuck, fu... fucking hell!" The bald-feathered chicken let out a heart-rending wail. It was not only falling from the sky—the Mystic Eagle was diving down to kill it as well.

The Mystic Eagle was too fast, like a massive sharp sword. Its talons spread wide as an eagle pouncing upon a rabbit.

At the critical moment!

"Now!"

Su Hao shouted and leaped up fiercely, rapidly executing Gale Step. As if he had mastered qinggong, he stepped through the air three times in succession, crossing a full thirty meters. At the same time, he spat out an enormous torrent of flames.

Boom!

The fire roared forward like a dragon. Stimulated by the vital essence of the Blood Yuan Pills, his technique was pushed to its utmost limit. The surging blaze reached the Purple-Crowned Mystic Eagle at the very instant it was about to seize its target.

Yet the Mystic Eagle was fearless and continued downward, seemingly dismissive of Su Hao's spell. Its power was wholly incapable of harming it.

"Explode!"

Su Hao sneered. At the instant the flames reached it and the Mystic Eagle showed no fear, he gave another muffled shout. At the same time, he surged forward even faster.

Rumble!

The moment the flames appeared, they exploded, thunderous gusts and rumbling winds erupting in all directions. Their terrifying power far surpassed a first-level spell. This was a fusion of the Fire-Breathing Technique and the Shockburst Technique, a combined spell that unleashed formidable might.

Furthermore, with Su Hao's innate Dao Fire, the power of this technique was enough to reach the second level.

Screech!

The eagle's cry was so shrill it could tear apart eardrums, filled with pain.

It was badly wounded.

"I'll take your life!"

At that moment, the Mystic Eagle was only ten meters from the ground. Su Hao charged forward, stomped hard against the earth, and launched himself upward. His fist wreathed in flames as it struck out once more.

One strike—Blazing Flame Skyburst!

Pfft!

Flames roared, the air exploded, and the Mystic Eagle shrieked, the sounds mingling into a piercing din.

Su Hao landed on the ground, panting heavily. Several successive uses had drained him of everything. He took out two more pills and swallowed them, replenishing his strength.

These were the only ones left in his hand; his resources had been completely exhausted.

Fortunately, when Su Hao looked over, the Purple-Crowned Mystic Eagle's enormous body crashed straight to the ground. One wing, along with half its body, had been beaten into a bloody pulp by Su Hao.

It sprawled across the ground, letting out mournful cries, its eyes filled with terror.

"Phew." Su Hao let out a long breath.

"That scared me to death, scared me to death." The Bald Chicken turned into a blur of swift legs, kicking up snow and mud as it darted behind Su Hao at top speed.

Su Hao ignored it. Once some of his strength had returned, he immediately stepped forward and finished the creature with a single slash.

Only then did the tension in his heart finally ease completely.

"Very good. Calm in the face of danger, your spells linked together, daring to fight and daring to gamble. Little fellow, you have caught my eye." At that moment, an unfamiliar voice suddenly rang out. A figure emerged from the side, each step covering thirty meters, skill nearly reaching the Dao.

Su Hao's mind tensed once more.