The wind had grown thick and sticky.
The farther they flew into the mountains, the heavier the stench of blood grew, as though they had plunged headfirst into paste that would never dissolve.
Below them, there was no longer just a sea of trees.
Collapsed peaks, fractured river valleys, and scorched craters blasted out by Treasure Arts lay everywhere.
The Green-Scaled Eagle flew very low.
Not because she did not want to fly higher, but because she did not dare.
High above, they could vaguely make out several savage birds with wingspans exceeding a hundred meters tearing into one another. Even their fallen feathers were like broadswords, plunging deep into the rocks.
"Something's coming!"
Shi Hao lay at the front of the eagle's back, his small hand suddenly pressing against her neck.
The auntie understood him. She abruptly folded her wings, her enormous body executing a perilous sideways roll in midair.
Whoosh!
A streak of purple lightning skimmed past the Green-Scaled Eagle's belly.
It was a snake.
Only as long as a chopstick, it was purple and gold all over, with fine, jade-like scales and a pair of thin, transparent wings.
It drove into the cliff beside them. With a flick of its tail, it shattered the rock and used the recoil to shoot back like an arrow.
Straight toward the Green-Scaled Eagle's eye.
The snake was too fast.
So fast that even its afterimage was impossible to make out.
"Purple Gold Snake!"
Shi Hao shouted, his tender little face showing no fear, only excitement.
He knelt on one knee on the eagle's back, azure light surging from his right palm.
An azure full moon the size of a millstone flew from his hand.
The moon spun, its edge sharp as a blade, cutting precisely across the purple streak's path.
Clang!
Sparks flew everywhere.
The Purple Gold Snake was actually as hard as iron. Its collision with the Treasure Art rang out like clashing metal.
It was knocked away, tumbling twice in midair with a piercing hiss.
Just then.
A streak of red light shot without warning from the shadows beneath the Green-Scaled Eagle.
It was a Blood Sable.
It had been hiding in the treetops all along, waiting for that instant of stiffness as the Green-Scaled Eagle dodged the Purple Gold Snake.
Its hooked claws gleamed with a ghostly blue light as they went straight for the Green-Scaled Eagle's unguarded belly.
If they connected, they would rip her open and spill her guts.
If their mount was gravely wounded, this altitude of several thousand meters would become a death trap.
"You're courting death!"
Occupied by the Purple Gold Snake, Shi Hao could not turn back in time.
Shi Hou moved.
Turn, drop the shoulder, swing the back.
The enormous black pot on his back swept outward like a black city wall.
Thud!
An utterly muffled boom rang out.
It sounded like a battered drum struck ten thousand fathoms up in the sky.
Even the Green-Scaled Eagle's massive body was knocked several yards sideways by the recoil.
The ambushing Blood Sable's claws had only just touched the black pot's rough surface.
All five claws snapped instantly.
Next came its finger bones, arm bones, and shoulder blade.
Before it could even scream, its entire face slammed into the bottom of the pot.
Over two hundred thousand in blood-and-qi power, coupled with the Stone Pot's own hardness-this blow was pure physical annihilation.
Splat.
A cloud of red blood burst apart.
The Blood Sable slid down the pot's bottom like a lump of sludge. Before it could fall, Shi Hou scooped it up with his free hand and stuffed it into the pot.
"Hiss-"
Shi Hou sucked in a sharp breath and shook his slightly numb left arm.
The Blood Sable looked small, but its impact had been like a cannonball fired from its barrel.
Had he not been so thick-skinned and tough, that blow would have dislocated his arm at the very least.
"Skinny Monkey, on your right!"
Shi Hao's voice rang out.
After being driven back, the Purple Gold Snake had not fled. Instead, it had used its companion as cover to circle around behind them.
It opened its mouth and spat out a cloud of purple poison mist.
A sickly sweet stench spread instantly.
"Up!"
Shi Hou did not dare get careless. He grabbed the black pot's handle with one hand and aimed its opening at the poison mist.
Whoosh-
The inside of the black pot seemed to possess its own gravitational pull. In one gulp, it swallowed every last trace of the poison mist that could have corroded metal and stone.
The Purple Gold Snake froze.
Its simple little brain clearly could not comprehend such a maneuver.
In that instant of hesitation.
Shi Hao seized his chance.
"Perish!"
A second azure moon slashed out.
This time, a layer of silver runes coated it.
They were the beginnings of the profound mysteries of lightning he had comprehended from that primordial precious bone.
Splurch.
The Purple Gold Snake was sliced in half at the waist.
The two pieces of its corpse fell.
Shi Hou's eyes and hands were quick. The black pot that had just swallowed the poison mist reached out again, neatly catching the Purple Gold Snake's remains.
"That was close."
Shi Hou fastened the black pot onto his back again, some of the earlier cheeky grin gone from his dark face.
They had not even reached the very center yet.
Just two Fierce Beasts working smoothly together had nearly wrecked them.
Had their reactions been half a beat slower, the Green-Scaled Eagle's belly would have been sliced open.
"The way ahead is even harder."
Shi Hao pointed below.
A mighty river surged there, its waters murky yellow, its enormous waves towering skyward.
A giant crocodile the size of a house lurked in the muddy water. Only its two lantern-like yellow eyes showed, fixed on the Green-Scaled Eagle in the sky.
It was gathering its strength.
Its tail swayed gently, stirring huge whirlpools in the river.
"Go around."
Shi Hou patted the Green-Scaled Eagle's neck.
He had figured it out now.
Every Fierce Beast here had its own unique trick.
Especially a huge creature like this that lived in the water. Once it dragged you under, your strength would be cut in half.
The Green-Scaled Eagle beat her wings, about to climb.
Boom!
The river below exploded.
The giant crocodile actually leaped out of the water.
Its body, dozens of meters long, soared into the air. It opened its bloody maw and spat a turbid column of water.
Countless sharp bone spikes rode within the water column, packed densely as pear blossoms in a torrential storm.
If that hit, the Green-Scaled Eagle would be turned into a sieve.
"I'll block it!"
Without a second thought, Shi Hou stepped to the edge of the eagle's back and held the black pot upright before him.
Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!
The dense barrage of impacts sounded like a blacksmith hammering iron.
Every bone spike shattered into powder against the black pot. The shocks split the web of Shi Hou's hand, and blood ran between his fingers.
But he did not retreat a single step.
His feet wedged like nails into the gaps between the scales on the Green-Scaled Eagle's back, holding his balance firmly in place.
Shi Hou gritted his teeth and endured.
As long as this bird kept flying, they still had a chance.
If they crashed into the beast tide below, not even an immortal could save them.
"Skinny Monkey, duck!"
Shi Hao seized an opening.
He slipped out beneath Shi Hou's arm, his little face grim.
At some point, a Broken Sword had appeared in his hand.
He had seized it from the Bei Village Villagers. Though damaged, its material was extraordinary.
Shi Hao poured all his strength into it, and the Broken Sword hummed.
"Go!"
The Broken Sword became a streak of light, stabbing straight into the giant crocodile's soft eyelid.
Splurt!
Blood flashed.
The giant crocodile let out an earth-shaking scream. Its enormous body convulsed violently in midair before crashing back into the river, throwing up waves a hundred meters high.
The river turned red in an instant.
Countless aquatic beasts lurking in the shadows caught the scent of blood and swarmed forward, devouring the gravely wounded giant crocodile in moments.
The Green-Scaled Eagle took the opportunity to climb, finally escaping that stretch of deadly water.
Shi Hou plopped down on the eagle's back, panting heavily.
He looked at his bleeding palm, then at the churning bloody water below.
I can't get reckless.
Absolutely cannot get reckless.
"Skinny Monkey, look."
Shi Hao suddenly tugged at the hem of his clothes, his voice very low.
Shi Hou looked in the direction he pointed.
In the mountain hollow ahead.
All sounds of fighting had vanished.
It was eerily quiet there.
Beneath a not particularly tall Stone Mountain, golden light carpeted the ground.
A golden lion so enormous it defied description lay quietly among the scattered rocks.
Its fur looked as though it had been cast from gold, every strand radiating brilliant light. Though its eyes were closed, the oppressive aura that made all beasts bow still set the air trembling.
The Suanni.
A primordial remnant.
Even dead, it resembled a sun that had fallen to earth.
Within several hundred meters of it, not a single Fierce Beast dared approach.
And beyond that circle of empty ground.
The densely packed beast tide surrounded it ring upon ring, like a black flood.
Greed, fear, longing.
Countless scarlet eyes stared at the golden corpse.
All were waiting.
Waiting for the last remnants of its might to fade.
"What a huge chunk of... food."
Shi Hou swallowed. His instinctive greed instantly gained the upper hand over his earlier caution.
He felt the black pot on his back.
If I could stew this.
Could I soar straight to the heavens?
Before you continue