Iron-Beaked Vulture

Dong Lin headed west, while Tao Yan went east.

Using his agile movement technique, Dong Lin carefully moved between the branches, his spiritual sense probing the distribution of exotic beasts around him.

Dong Lin ignored the weaker herbivorous exotic beasts at the early stage of the first rank.

He was mainly looking to mark some late first-rank beasts, as well as some particularly powerful mid first-rank beasts.

With Dong Lin and Tao Yan's strength, hunting peak first-rank exotic beasts might not have posed much of a problem, but it was not entirely safe.

The two decided to hunt late first-rank exotic beasts first.

By then, Dong Lin had explored nearly twenty li.

Dong Lin spotted a large bird in the distance and cautiously approached, focusing his divine sense on that area.

"An Iron-Beaked Vulture?"

The vulture's right wing was bloody, with less than half of it remaining. It seemed to have just gone through a fierce battle.

The vulture was feasting heartily, devouring a corpse in front of it that had already rotted nearly halfway.

According to Dong Lin's divine sense, it should have been a late first-rank spirit beast.

"Probably a deer."

Dong Lin observed the spirit beast corpse the vulture was devouring, somewhat uncertain.

After all, the spirit beast's head was already gone, perhaps swallowed by the vulture before him.

Furthermore, after spirit beasts mutated, their bodies changed somewhat from their original forms, so Dong Lin could not confirm it for the moment.

It was an insignificant matter.

Clearly, this vulture was extremely powerful.

Dong Lin judged that it possessed at least the strength of the peak late first rank, only one step away from the peak first rank.

However, its wing had suffered severe damage, so its combat strength had likely dropped sharply. It was an excellent prey.

The moment Dong Lin saw the vulture, he had already notified Senior Sister Tao Yan through a transmission jade talisman.

About a quarter of an hour later, Tao Yan used a speed-type secret art and rushed to Dong Lin's side.

By then, the vulture had finished feeding and leapt onto a large tree.

It hid among the dense leaves to rest and recuperate.

Dong Lin had taken all of this in.

If this Iron-Beaked Vulture had been at its peak, it would certainly have discovered Dong Lin watching it from the shadows nearby.

But after its wing had been severely damaged, the vulture's awareness had greatly declined, allowing Dong Lin to exploit the opening.

The moment Tao Yan arrived, Dong Lin could no longer wait to strike at the vulture hidden within the tree trunk.

Against a stationary target like this, Mystic Spirit Heavenly-Thunder was actually extremely suitable in terms of destructive power.

However, Mystic Spirit Heavenly-Thunder made too much of a commotion, so Dong Lin decided to use Heavenly Stellar Earth-Thunder to open the way instead.

Heavenly Stellar Earth-Thunder was cast with incredible speed. With Dong Lin prepared, two terrifying bolts of lightning instantly struck the vulture concealed within the tree trunk.

Gray feathers flew everywhere, drifting down alongside the leaves.

The entire trunk was blasted black by Dong Lin's Lightning Arts, and flames rose from it.

The vulture let out a strange cry, sprang away from the tree at tremendous speed, and fled into the distance.

Naturally, Tao Yan, who had been waiting nearby, could not let this prey already at her lips escape.

Large sheets of dark ice crashed down around the vulture, and bone-piercing cold instantly engulfed it.

The vulture's fleeing speed visibly slowed.

Three frigid ice arrows arrived in answer, punching three bloody holes through the vulture's scorched feathers as blood sprayed in every direction.

Dong Lin used Windchase, turning two steps into one.

He arrived in time, and a Tiger Claw Strike slashed viciously across the vulture's body.

The vulture shrieked sharply in pain.

Seeing that the situation had turned grim, the vulture knew it could not escape the hands of these two humans simply by running. It had no choice but to counterattack.

The most terrifying weapon on this Iron-Beaked Vulture's body was the strange sharp beak on its mouth, hard as iron and stone.

The vulture twisted its neck at an eerie angle and pecked viciously at Dong Lin.

Seeing the force behind the attack, Dong Lin hurriedly dodged to the side.

But the vulture's reaction speed was truly swift. Following the direction of Dong Lin's dodge, it adjusted its position mid-peck and stabbed fiercely toward Dong Lin's back.

In that instant of lightning and flint.

"Mysterious Water Condensing Ice, defend!"

Tao Yan promptly added an ice-element defensive spell. A smooth ice shield separated Dong Lin from the vulture.

By the time Dong Lin rolled twice across the ground and got back up, the hard ice shield behind him had already been pecked through by the vulture and shattered into several fragments.

The vulture's entire body was now a bloody mess, and it clearly could not hold on for much longer. It hurriedly turned around, spread its only remaining wing, and flapped as it fled backward.

Tao Yan could only hastily condense two ice arrows and send them stabbing toward the vulture's back.

Dong Lin also hurriedly drew the Thunderclap Sword from his back.

Although he had not yet practiced any sword arts, the lightning patterns on the Thunderclap Sword had always been storing Dong Lin's Heavenly Stellar Earth-Thunder Lightning Arts.

This vulture was already at the end of the road. There was no need to unleash everything at once as he had when dealing with the Earth-Element Armored Beast last time.

After activating only two strands of Lightning Arts, Dong Lin thrust the Thunderclap Sword straight at the vulture.

With an explosive Windchasing Step beneath his feet, Dong Lin's speed abruptly rose by another level.

The vulture tried to turn and defend, but it was already too late.

As the two ice arrows exploded against the vulture's body, Dong Lin's sword arrived in a flash, brutally piercing straight through it.

Two explosive Heavenly Stellar Earth-Thunders ran rampant within the vulture's body. In an instant, a scorched fragrance scattered through the air, and the late first-rank Iron-Beaked Vulture fell silent.

"Finally took it down. I never thought this heavily wounded beast could still possess such strength."

Dong Lin looked at that incomparably sharp beak and spoke with lingering fear.

Had Tao Yan not acted in time just now, a sizeable bloody hole might already have appeared in Dong Lin's body, crippling more than half his combat strength.

This vulture was covered in treasures.

Though its flesh could not be eaten due to the toxins throughout its body, it could be brought back and handed to cultivators specializing in refinement.

They could extract highly potent poison from the vultures' toxic flesh.

And the most valuable thing was that iron beak.

This iron beak was an excellent material for crafting certain offensive magic artifacts. Its sharpness rivaled that of some second-rank magic artifacts.

"I'll keep all the resources we obtain from hunting for now. Once the hunt is over, we'll divide them."

Dong Lin said.

"Mm, alright."

This battle had not lasted long, nor had it consumed much energy, so the two decided to continue onward.

Suddenly, a tremendous boom came from afar.

The entire forest trembled twice.

Dong Lin and Tao Yan both looked east.

"It seems to have come from over there. Let's go take a look."

"Let's see what's going on. Move."

At that moment, a place about twenty li away had already become a complete mess.

More than a dozen disciples had formed three factions and were confronting one another, while between them lay a dying Stone Statue Giant Monster.

This was an exotic beast that had just entered the second rank. The earlier disturbance had been caused when it hammered some disciples who had been fighting with magic, shaking the earth. Its power was immense. The one struck head-on had already lost all signs of life, collapsed into a heap.

Another four or five disciples caught in the aftermath had also suffered grave injuries, making the three groups that had been fighting each other halt their struggle warily.