Contest for the Prize

The Azure-Scaled Eagle cast a sidelong glance, the scales all over its body gleaming with a cold light as though polished from refined metal, icy and oppressive. Divine radiance shone in its eyes as it looked down below. "Auntie Azure, hurry up! There's no time!"

The howling gale surged as the Azure-Scaled Eagle dove. Its spread wings stretched fifteen or sixteen meters, like a dark cloud pressing down, its shadow enough to make hearts tremble.

With a whoosh, Shi Hao leaped five or six meters into the air and landed on the broad eagle's back. At once, he felt its hardness—every scale was as cold and hard as refined iron.

"Little Dot, don't take risks!" Clan Chief Shi Yunfeng shouted. Everything had happened too fast; before he could stop him, Shi Hao had already jumped aboard.

"Don't worry, Grandpa Chief. We won't take risks. We'll only act when we find the right chance." Shi Hao waved his little hand, telling him not to worry.

"Little Dot, be careful!" Shi Linhu cried out. He knew he could not stop the little fellow, so all he could do was warn him loudly.

"Uncle, I know. Grandpa Chief, you should go back first. It's too dangerous here. Even if our whole village came out, our chances would be slim."

The villagers fell silent. It was the truth. Even if every able-bodied man joined forces now, they would be swallowed by the hundreds of frenzied vicious beasts and bleed out in the mountain forest.

"Let's go!" Clan Chief Shi Yunfeng waved his hand and gave the order. Otherwise, disaster might be drawn upon them.

"Little Dot, you must be careful!" the villagers called out together, loudly reminding him.

"I know. Grandpa Chief, you all be careful too."

The Azure-Scaled Eagle circled once, skimming past the mountain peak as it flew into the distance. It was incredibly fast. The wind roared like thunder, lashing their faces painfully and making it nearly impossible to open their eyes. Little Dot Shi Hao lay flat on its back, his small hands gripping its cold, gleaming scales tightly as he squinted down below.

"Auntie Azure, be careful! There are so many vicious beasts below!"

The Azure-Scaled Eagle was astonishingly fast. With one beat of its wings, it crossed range after range of mountains in an instant and arrived before this stretch of highlands. Forest trees lay flattened, enormous trees had snapped, and broken branches and fallen leaves littered the ground.

Several hundred powerful vicious beasts were fighting, along with over a hundred fierce birds beating their iron wings. Nothing remained intact; even many boulders had shattered. The place was a complete mess.

Beast roars and bird cries rang through the mountains and forest, while blood dyed the ground red. Many massive beast corpses had fallen, trampled into bloody pulp. The entire place reeked of blood!

Before the collapsed stone mountain, terrifying creatures packed together in dense masses, fighting madly. Blood occasionally sprayed dozens of feet into the air. They jostled one another, digging through huge rocks in search of Suanni's corpse.

There were striped mountain cats several meters long, horns growing from their heads. They were powerful and fierce, able to tear open a giant beast's body with every strike, going wild amid bloodshed. Their claws were incomparably sharp as well; whenever cold light flashed, blood would surely spurt.

"Awoo..."

An enormous Kui Beast roared like rolling thunder. Its massive body was twenty meters long, like a small mountain. Its sound waves were weapons, stunning whole swaths of fierce beasts unconscious. When its huge feet stomped down, bloody pulp splashed everywhere.

"Bang!"

A silver pangolin eight or nine meters long, with a massive cone-like horn growing from its head, was unstoppable. It pried even mountain rocks apart and drilled straight into the mountain.

There were simply too many kinds, all powerful mutant species. Otherwise, they would never have dared appear here. Every one of them belonged to an intelligent race.

Giant beasts battled for supremacy. A group of formidable creatures crashed into one another violently, all wanting Suanni's corpse so they could devour it and evolve into the overlord of the mountain forest.

"Whoosh!"

The gale howled as the Azure-Scaled Eagle shot over at top speed. It extended a pair of millstone-sized iron claws toward the eight- or nine-meter-long silver-white pangolin. That creature would most likely be the first to obtain Suanni's corpse, since more than half its body had already vanished into the stone mountain.

With a puff, despite the pangolin's iron-hard hide, the Azure-Scaled Eagle's pair of coldly gleaming claws still pierced its tail, drawing streaming blood.

A furious roar came from within the rocks. The silver-white pangolin went mad, lashing its tail wildly as it burst from the pile of stones. It stood upright and thrust its over-two-meter-long horn at the Azure-Scaled Eagle's chest.

But the Azure-Scaled Eagle was incredibly fierce. It had once forced the people of Stone Village to use their ancestral artifact. One had to know that was a terrifying treasure left behind by an ancient vicious beast king.

It beat its wings against the sky and shot upward in an instant. Yet its claws did not loosen; they still gripped the pangolin's tail as it swiftly pierced into the clouds.

During this, wind and thunder rumbled. The pangolin struggled violently, but it was useless. Without the mountains beneath it to brace against, it could not stand upright and could not harm the fierce bird.

Suddenly, after passing through the clouds, the Azure-Scaled Eagle released its claws. The pangolin became a streak of silver-white light and plummeted down at tremendous speed.

"Boom!"

A chorus of miserable cries rang out in the mountain forest, followed by smoke and dust soaring into the sky. The enormous eight- or nine-meter pangolin crashed into the battlefield, breaking the bones and snapping the tendons of several powerful creatures. It itself became a puddle of mangled flesh. Even a body as hard as steel could not withstand it.

"Auntie, that was amazing!" Little Dot exclaimed in amazement.

The Azure-Scaled Eagle dove again toward the stone mountain. It was the top predator of the outer mountain regions and naturally could look down upon the beasts.

With a hum, this time it did not use the strength of its body. It opened its beak and spat out a blue moon. It differed somewhat from Little Dot's Silver Moon, its diameter exceeding two meters. Its target was the twenty-meter Kui Beast.

The moment this primordial precious technique appeared, chaos erupted here. Many fierce birds and beasts panicked and fled in all directions. Yet there were also savage creatures that became even more bloodthirsty, pouncing forward to kill it, determined to first eliminate this great threat.

With a puff, that blue moon shone brilliantly, incomparably sharp as it sliced straight through the Kui Beast's enormous head. Blood sprayed more than ten meters high before the headless giant body crashed down with a rumble. The earth shook, and blood flowed like a small river.

"Meow!"

A scalp-numbing cry came from behind. That enormous mountain cat, several meters long, had concealed itself behind a raised boulder. It suddenly leaped up and lunged at the Azure-Scaled Eagle from behind. A large black horn on its head thrust straight toward the back of the Azure-Scaled Eagle's skull, while its sharp claws extended more than half a meter, tearing directly at its back.

It was an exceptionally well-timed ambush. If it truly struck, even the Azure-Scaled Eagle's iron-hard scales would likely be unable to withstand it. After all, this was also a mutant mountain cat with ancient beast blood.

At the same time, wingbeats sounded as seven or eight fierce birds dove from every direction, all clawing at the Azure-Scaled Eagle. They considered it the greatest threat and wanted to join hands to eliminate this aerial overlord.

A hazy glow emerged as a Silver Moon rose, runes flickering. Palaces stood within the moon, accompanied by ancient trees. Precious radiance flowed from its disk, and with a hum, it swept through the air. The terrifying mountain cat's horn snapped, its skull was split open, and it shrieked miserably as it fell.

"Auntie Azure, don't worry. Leave what's behind you to me," little Shi Hao said in his childish voice.

The Azure-Scaled Eagle cried out, beating its wings as it swept through the other fierce birds. Scales and feathers flew everywhere, blood streaming in long trails. In one breath, it tore apart five or six fierce birds several meters long. Some were even larger than it, yet all were slain by its pure physical strength.

This was the descendant of an archaic demonic bird. Without using precious techniques, it could sweep through the mountain forest with its body alone, invincible wherever it went.

The wind howled. This time, as the Azure-Scaled Eagle dove down, most of the fierce beasts fled aside, not daring to meet its edge, for it was simply too powerful.

"Auntie Azure, let's dig through these rocks. Suanni is beneath them," Little Dot said.

The Azure-Scaled Eagle landed. With one claw, it shattered a massive boulder weighing a thousand jin. Its iron wings spread, and with a whoosh, it swept all the fragments away. It dug rapidly. This place was too dangerous; even one as powerful as it did not dare linger long.

Rocks flew apart, and a deep pit was soon excavated. Suddenly, purple light flashed. A dazzling streak shot out, flying straight toward the Azure-Scaled Eagle.

"Clang!"

The purple-gold streak struck the Azure-Scaled Eagle's left wing, throwing up a shower of sparks. The fierce bird gave an angry cry, pain shooting through its iron wing.

"Ah, it's a purple snake!" Little Dot cried out.

The snake was too fast to react to. It retreated after one strike. It was only as thick as an adult's thigh and six or seven meters long, quite "slender" compared to giant beasts.

Yet it was extremely powerful. Purple-gold scales gleamed all over its body, flowing with brilliant radiance. Its body was incomparably tough. With a vicious bite, it even shattered the Azure-Scaled Eagle's scales, which were harder than iron.

Moreover, black blood flowed from the Azure-Scaled Eagle's wound. It had clearly been poisoned.

With a puff, the descendant of the archaic demonic bird acted decisively. It spat out a tiny crescent moon, which sliced off the entire patch of scaled flesh with a puff. It weighed several jin, and blood immediately sprayed everywhere.

"Auntie Azure!" Little Dot cried out.

No one had expected such a terrifying mutant serpent to be hiding among the rocks. It was clearly extremely powerful, daring to contend with the azure fierce bird.

The Azure-Scaled Eagle cried out. Runes flickered over its wound, rapidly stopping the bleeding and stabilizing the injury. Then two icy bolts shot from its eyes as it stared at the great snake flowing with purple-gold radiance.

"Hiss, hiss..."

The snake was intelligent and possessed great wisdom as it confronted the eagle.

Moonlight emerged and radiance spilled down. The Azure-Scaled Eagle unleashed its precious technique, slashing at the purple-gold serpent at tremendous speed. The pressure made the air roar and moan.

Astonishingly, the Purple-Gold Snake was incredibly fast. It actually reared upright, flicked its tail, and sprang more than twenty meters away, evading the strike.

The Azure-Scaled Eagle beat its wings and lunged after it. Opening its beak, it summoned the blue moon again, even more blazing this time. It spun through the air after the Purple-Gold Snake, ringing with clangs.

"Clang!"

At last, it struck. Yet astonishingly, the Purple-Gold Snake was not cut in two. Only a large patch of scales was stripped away, exposing threads of blood.

It twisted about in pain, then swiftly leaped away again, retreating more than twenty meters.

With a hiss, Little Dot attacked. A Silver Moon appeared in his right palm, its disk holy, its rosy light shooting in ten thousand rays, auspicious vapors rising. With a hiss, it flew out and struck the strange snake's wound.

Many scales had fallen away there, greatly weakening its defense. Blood burst forth at once, but it still did not sever the strange snake. It only cut in about a thumb's depth. Its flesh and bones were extraordinarily hard, forcibly withstanding the blow.

The Azure-Scaled Eagle's gaze was icy. As long as it did not venture deep into the mountain range, it was rarely injured. Yet today it had suffered such a great loss. Naturally, it pursued without mercy.

Suddenly, a streak of blood-red light shot from the side, over two meters long and flashing with dazzling crimson radiance. It came with extreme suddenness, impossible to guard against, and landed on the Azure-Scaled Eagle's back.

It was a Blood Marten, over two meters long. Its entire body was crystalline like red agate, and it had a pair of wings crimson as rosy clouds. Though it could not compare in size to giant beasts, it was exceptionally powerful.

It possessed immense strength and moved as fast as lightning. In a single rush, it nearly disemboweled Little Dot. The Silver Moon knocked it aside, and it narrowly missed his abdomen before slashing with one claw, cutting a gash more than half a meter long across the Azure-Scaled Eagle's neck.

Little Dot gave a soft shout, and the Silver Moon appeared again, forcing the Blood Marten back.

The fierce bird shuddered, its entire body glowing as it flew into a complete rage. Suffering setback after setback had filled it with savage fury. It began hunting the two mutant beasts.

The Purple-Gold Snake and Blood Marten coordinated with perfect understanding. It was as though they had rehearsed the attack beforehand. Little Dot marveled at this; these creatures truly possessed extremely high intelligence.

"Boom!"

A silver alligator burst from the river and arrived here, smashing aside a stretch of rocks in an instant.

At the same time, another seven or eight formidable creatures appeared, far stronger than ordinary giant beasts, forming a terrifying standoff.

In the end, as though they had reached some unspoken agreement, they stopped attacking. Together, they rapidly excavated the rocks, preparing to first uncover the precious remains left behind by Suanni before fighting over them.

The Azure-Scaled Eagle also ceased its pursuit. Large patches of blood stained its body, while its azure scales gleamed coldly, making it look terrifying.

"Auntie Azure, are you all right?" Little Dot asked worriedly. There were several hundred giant beasts, and several were no weaker than the Azure-Scaled Eagle. Seizing Suanni's remains would be far too difficult.

"Boom!"

The silver alligator was frenzied, repeatedly overturning enormous boulders. Suddenly, a brilliant golden glow bloomed, like a small sun rising and shining amid the rocks.

It was a leg as thick as a pillar, strong and powerful, densely covered in golden beast fur. It was dazzling, as though cast from gold, shimmering with radiant light and overflowing with ferocious aura!

The precious body of the ancient relic Suanni had appeared. Primordial runes flickered across it, dazzling beyond compare. Every powerful creature was shaken, their eyes blazing as they all lunged forward.

It was Sunday today, so the chapter update tonight will be a little later. We have to compete for the rankings at midnight. It's a new book and needs everyone's care, so please give it plenty of support. Friends who are still online then, please come help!