Mutated Flamefire Sparrow

Soul beasts were unevenly scattered throughout the Soul Hunting Forest. Lu Yang and Su Yuntao walked for a long time, yet even after the sky had gone completely dark, they had encountered only a few plant-type soul beasts.

Because of those creatures' plantlike nature, the two would face little danger as long as they kept their distance. But the Flame Sparrow they were searching for remained nowhere to be found.

"Who knows whether any Flame Sparrows even live in this Soul Hunting Forest," Su Yuntao remarked with a sigh.

His words set Lu Yang thinking as well. Soul hunting was full of uncertainties to begin with. Whether they could find the soul beast they wanted, and whether its age would be suitable, all depended on luck. Besides, the Soul Hunting Forest was a soul beast habitat built on land enclosed by the Empire. Unlike a wild gathering place such as the Star Dou Great Forest, it did not have vast numbers of soul beasts living within it.

They searched the Soul Hunting Forest for several hours, encountering a few more soul beasts along the way, but none were to Lu Yang's liking.

After several battles, Su Yuntao had expended a fair amount of stamina and soul power. They decided to stop searching for the time being, rest, and resume after daybreak.

That night, no soul beasts disturbed them. Su Yuntao was able to get a good rest, and by dawn, he had recovered completely.

Near noon, a piercing cry startled Lu Yang and Su Yuntao. Both turned toward its source. "That's the cry of a flying soul beast. Let's go take a look."

As they hurried toward the sound, several more cries rang out ahead of them.

"Sounds like a fight. Let's be careful." Su Yuntao slowed his pace. Rashly stepping into a battle between soul beasts was never a good thing for a soul master.

Before they could even get close, however, the two fighting soul beasts came into view.

They were both flying soul beasts. One was precisely the Flame Sparrow Lu Yang wanted, while the other was a mutated soul beast. It looked extremely similar to a Flame Sparrow, but instead of flame markings, the tips of the feathers covering its body bore a faint golden hue.

Lu Yang's eyes lit up at the sight of the Mutated Flamefire Sparrow. Although his martial soul, The Winged Dragon of Ra, was fire-attributed, as an embodiment of the sun, it also possessed a light attribute. Its light, however, did not lean toward holiness like that of the six-winged angel martial soul. Instead, it inclined more toward the Light of Destruction.

If that touch of gold on the Mutated Flamefire Sparrow came from a light attribute, its attributes would undoubtedly suit Lu Yang better. Absorbing its soul ring should give him a greater boost than an ordinary Flame Sparrow's would.

The two soul beasts, fighting for some unknown reason, kept circling and colliding in the sky. Watching the might unleashed by their battle, Su Yuntao swallowed. "No matter how you look at it, the force of this fight doesn't seem like something hundred-year soul beasts could produce."

"So these are two thousand-year soul beasts?" Lu Yang asked.

"I don't know." Su Yuntao shook his head. "The Soul Hunting Forest is meant to provide low-ranking soul masters with a place to hunt soul beasts. Most of the soul beasts raised here are ten-year or hundred-year ones. After all, low-ranking soul masters can't absorb rings that are too old."

"It isn't impossible for thousand-year soul beasts to appear in the Soul Hunting Forest, but when they do, the Empire usually sends soul masters to wipe them out so they won't upset the balance here. These two may well be thousand-year soul beasts that slipped through the net. Now we're in trouble."

Lu Yang could already hear the desire to retreat in Su Yuntao's words. He had no objection. Safety had to come first when soul hunting. Tempting though the Mutated Flamefire Sparrow was, this was a deadly battle between thousand-year soul beasts. Lu Yang could hardly bring himself to ask Su Yuntao to rush in and kill it for him.

But just as they were about to leave, the two soul beasts locked in savage combat overhead spotted them. As though reaching an agreement in an instant, both stopped fighting, changed direction, and dove toward Lu Yang and Su Yuntao.

"Damn it! Yang, run!" At the sight, Su Yuntao grabbed Lu Yang and fled toward the outskirts of the Soul Hunting Forest.

But against flying soul beasts, even with Martial Soul Possession, Su Yuntao's speed fell far short of the two pursuing Flame Sparrows.

In desperation, Su Yuntao hurled Lu Yang forward out of his arms and shouted, "Yang, get out of here! I'll hold these two beasts off!"

Unfortunately, good intentions did not mean the soul beasts would cooperate. After Su Yuntao threw Lu Yang away, the Flame Sparrow did indeed fix its sights on Su Yuntao and dive toward him. The mutated one, however, swept over his head and charged straight at Lu Yang.

Su Yuntao was filled with regret at the sight, but it was already too late for him to rush over and protect Lu Yang.

Just as the Mutated Flamefire Sparrow swooped down, its sharp beak stabbing toward Lu Yang, a surging power erupted from within him. It formed a soul power shield before him and blocked the attack.

The force of the Mutated Flamefire Sparrow's strike against the shield was then reflected back severalfold, sending it hurtling backward toward the approaching Su Yuntao.

At the same time, the oppressive aura erupting from Lu Yang nearly shattered the Mutated Flamefire Sparrow's mind. Already wounded in its earlier battle, it could no longer stay airborne and plummeted straight down.

"Second soul skill, Bloodthirsty Wolf Claw!"

As the Mutated Flamefire Sparrow tumbled backward through the air, Su Yuntao seized the opening without hesitation and attacked. His claws tore viciously into the base of its wing, leaving three deep, bloody gashes and nearly ripping one wing off.

Had this Mutated Flamefire Sparrow been only a hundred years old, such an injury would probably have killed it on the spot. But the thousand-year beast clearly possessed far greater vitality. It beat its wings, still trying to escape. Unfortunately, in its dazed state, it merely floundered on the ground a few times before collapsing, its breath feeble in the extreme.

Unfortunately, the attack power of a battle soul master like Su Yuntao was not something Yu Xiaogang's pig could compare with. That claw strike had indeed grievously wounded the Mutated Flamefire Sparrow, but it had failed to kill it. Moreover, if not for its earlier savage battle with the thousand-year Flame Sparrow and the suppression of the aura erupting from Lu Yang, Lu Yang and Su Yuntao would probably have died beneath its claws by now.

At that moment, Lu Yang pulled a Fine Iron Dagger from inside his clothes and stabbed it into the Mutated Flamefire Sparrow's head. That blow ended its life outright.

Even after seeing the Mutated Flamefire Sparrow die, Su Yuntao did not let down his guard. He scanned their surroundings, searching for the other Flame Sparrow. Yet at some point, that Flame Sparrow had already left.

The Flame Sparrow had been trying to kill the mutant within its flock in the first place. Seeing the Mutated Flamefire Sparrow dead, and having also been intimidated by the aura that had erupted from Lu Yang, it had decisively left the area.

Only after confirming that their surroundings were safe did Su Yuntao finally relax. With his strength, he had almost no chance against a thousand-year soul beast, let alone the two they had encountered this time. Escaping without injury was already a tremendous stroke of luck.

But before he could enjoy that relief for long, he saw Lu Yang staring fixedly at the purple soul ring emerging above the Mutated Flamefire Sparrow's corpse. A thought suddenly sprang into his mind, and he hurried over to stand before Lu Yang. "Yang, don't tell me you're planning to absorb this Thousand-Year Soul Ring?!"