"Ugh!" Qian Fan felt an immense force hit him, throwing him off balance in an instant and sending him stumbling forward. He instinctively reached out to brace himself against the ground, only to touch a cold, smooth surface. Looking down, he found it was the same rune-covered blackstone he had seen before.
After biting down on the hem of his clothes, the Strange Chicken did not hesitate. It snapped its head backward, and Qian Fan felt a brute force haul him back. His feet scraped across the blackstone with an ear-piercing screech, but he could not stop himself. "Damn it! Let go of me!" Qian Fan roared, flailing his hands as he tried to pry its beak open. But the Strange Chicken was astonishingly strong. Its beak clamped onto his clothes like iron pincers, refusing to budge no matter how hard he struggled.
Suddenly, as though it had lost patience, the Strange Chicken gave a violent backward tug. Qian Fan felt his body go weightless as he was flung into the air, traced a parabola, and slammed into the ground. "Bang!" The impact echoed through the empty space. Qian Fan felt as though all his internal organs had been knocked out of place, and a strong taste of rust surged into his throat. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth onto the blackstone, only to dissolve into wisps of bluish smoke, as though it had never existed.
He struggled to lift his head and saw the Strange Chicken standing before him, his sorry state reflected in its obsidian eyes. It let out a "cluck, cluck," as though mocking his helplessness. Before Qian Fan could catch his breath, it lunged at him again, this time biting his trouser leg and dragging him across the blackstone.
The rough stone scraped his