On their third day in the mountains, the five continued north into the canyon, which grew narrower as they went.
The rock walls on either side were riddled with densely packed holes carved out by wind erosion. Fierce winds swept through them, making strange, mournful sounds like countless whistles blowing at once. Huo Wu's face had gone slightly pale, but she gritted her teeth without a word. She had grown up among the volcanoes of the south, accustomed to scorching heat and the smell of sulfur. This place, with its cold winds howling in fury, made her uncomfortable from head to toe.
After roughly the time it took an incense stick to burn, Feng Qingxuan stopped. An Iron-Beaked Falcon, around five hundred years old, perched on the rock wall thirty zhang ahead. Feng Lingtian took one look and shook his head.
Huo Wu muttered quietly, "You don't even dare take on a five-hundred-year one?"
Feng Lingtian ignored her.
They walked on for another hour, and the canyon abruptly opened up. A lone peak rose from the ground, its summit eroded into a huge stone pillar. At the top of that pillar-
A bird of prey was hovering against the wind.
Its outstretched wings spanned more than two meters, its silver-gray feathers gleaming with a cold, metallic sheen in the sunlight. An exceedingly fine, pale-gold line traced the edge of every feather, flickering faintly as it adjusted its posture. Its talons gripped the edge of the stone pillar, their tips plowing grooves of varying depths into the rock.
Most alarming of all were its eyes: golden pupils, cold and sharp, without a trace of warmth.
It was almost identical to Feng Lingtian's Peregrine Falcon martial soul.
It was a Wind-Chasing Falcon.
The disdain vanished from Huo Wu's face. Huo Wu had innate rank-nine soul power, and her perception of soul power far surpassed that of others her age. The presence emanating from that Wind-Chasing Falcon was far fiercer than that of the Fire Attribute soul beasts in the south. This was not a difference in age, but the suppression of one species by another. Wind-Chasing Falcons were apex predators among Wind Attribute birds.
"That Wind-Chasing Falcon is probably around six hundred and fifty years old." Huo Wu unconsciously lowered her voice.
Feng Qingxuan looked at Feng Lingtian, a question in his eyes.
Feng Lingtian touched the porcelain bottle inside his robes. He had brought five pills of Foundation-Fortifying and Essence-Nurturing Powder on this trip into the mountains. His older brother had one, and he still had four. That was enough.
Without hesitation, Feng Lingtian tipped out a pill of the medicinal powder, tilted his head back, and swallowed it. Warmth rose from his abdomen and spread through his meridians into every limb and bone, wrapping all his meridians like a layer of invisible armor.
His Peregrine Falcon martial soul possessed him instantly. Pale-gold wings of light unfurled behind him, and Feng Lingtian shot off the ground, becoming a streak of light rushing straight toward the lone peak's summit.
The Wind-Chasing Falcon noticed him. Its golden pupils abruptly contracted, and with a fierce beat of its wings, it lunged straight at him without dodging or retreating.
High above the canyon, the two figures collided with a crash.
The Wind-Chasing Falcon's right wing swept across like a huge scythe, the pale-gold lines along its edge tracing an afterimage through the air. Feng Lingtian abruptly arched backward in midair. The wing blade skimmed past the tip of Feng Lingtian's nose, and the wind pressure it stirred up severed several strands of hair over his forehead.
Too fast.
The Wind-Chasing Falcon's speed far exceeded Feng Lingtian's expectations. This soul beast had honed itself in the canyon's fierce winds for six hundred and fifty years. To it, wind was not an obstacle, but a weapon. Every beat of its wings used the wind to accelerate, and every turn came half a beat faster than Feng Lingtian anticipated.
When its first strike missed, the Wind-Chasing Falcon forcibly twisted in midair, its left wing following immediately with a diagonal slash. With no time to adjust his posture, Feng Lingtian crossed his arms to block, pale-gold soul power gathering into a shield of light before him.
Bang!
The wing blade struck the light shield, sending Feng Lingtian flying backward. His back slammed hard into the rock wall, and loose stones showered down. Feng Lingtian's arms went numb, and the webs between his thumbs and forefingers ached from the impact.
On the ground, Huo Wu instinctively held her breath.
Soul rings had already risen beneath Feng Xiaotian's feet, and his fists were clenched. But Feng Xiaotian did not move. His father had said that their soul hunting was their own affair.
Feng Lingtian sprang away from the rock wall, kicked hard against a jutting rock, and charged toward the Wind-Chasing Falcon again. This time, Feng Lingtian did not clash with it head-on, instead using the canyon walls on either side to change direction constantly. A kick off the left wall, a step against the right-his figure traced sharp zigzags through the air.
Peregrine Falcon against Wind-Chasing Falcon.
The two overlords of the sky battled through the canyon. Dull crashes erupted again and again as feathers collided with soul power. The fierce winds churned into an even greater frenzy, and shock waves swept loose stones from the walls, sending them whirling wildly through the air.
The Wind-Chasing Falcon suddenly let out a piercing cry and snapped its wings shut. Its entire body became a silver-gray arrow, thrusting straight at Feng Lingtian with astonishing speed. Its beak was the arrowhead, flashing with an iron-gray chill.
This strike was more than twice as fast as before.
Feng Lingtian's pupils abruptly contracted. Feng Lingtian knew this was the Wind-Chasing Falcon's innate ability: folding its wings into a dive, concentrating all its strength on a single point. This form of attack was called Wind-Piercing Thrust, the Wind-Chasing Falcon's strongest killing move.
I can't take this head-on, Feng Lingtian thought.
Feng Lingtian forcibly twisted his body in midair, and the Wind-Chasing Falcon's beak grazed his ribs. The sound of tearing robes rang out clearly. A bloody gash stretched from beneath his armpit to his waist, blood drawing a thin red line through the air.
But that dodge also created an opening in the Wind-Chasing Falcon's attack.
A dive had to be followed by a climb. The Wind-Chasing Falcon had to spread its wings again to steady itself. And in that instant, the base of its left wing would be completely exposed.
Now.
Feng Lingtian traced an arc through the air, his right fist wrapped in pale-gold soul power as he drove it precisely into the base of the Wind-Chasing Falcon's left wing from the side. There was nothing fancy about this punch. All the soul power in his body gathered over his knuckles-strength, speed, angle, all compressed into this single strike.
A dull impact exploded through the canyon.
The Wind-Chasing Falcon gave a shrill cry of pain. The feathers on its left wing burst apart, and several silver-gray flight feathers drifted down. It lost its balance and fell diagonally toward the ground, its right wing flapping desperately but unable to steady its body.
Feng Lingtian pursued it downward, following with his left fist to deliver the final blow.
The Wind-Chasing Falcon slammed heavily into the rock wall, slid to the ground, and moved no more.
A yellow soul ring slowly rose from its corpse. The yellow was rich and bright, deeper than that of ordinary hundred-year soul rings, but it was still only a hundred-year ring.
Feng Lingtian landed, stumbling a step before regaining his footing. Feng Lingtian's chest heaved violently. Seven or eight slashes marked his robes, and the wound beneath his ribs was still bleeding. But Feng Lingtian's eyes were bright.
Feng Lingtian touched the porcelain bottle inside his robes. In that battle, the Wind-Chasing Falcon's speed and explosive power had far exceeded his expectations. Absorbing its ring would probably be harder than he had anticipated as well. Feng Lingtian hesitated for an instant, then tipped another pill of Foundation-Fortifying and Essence-Nurturing Powder from the bottle and swallowed it with his head tilted back.
Two pills of Foundation-Fortifying and Essence-Nurturing Powder should be enough.
Feng Lingtian sat cross-legged and reached out to touch the soul ring.
The yellow ring of light became a streak that surged into Feng Lingtian's body. The next instant, a violent force exploded through Feng Lingtian's meridians.
Pain.
Agony fiercer than he had anticipated.
The Wind-Chasing Falcon's soul power was like a wild beast that had been trapped for years and had finally found somewhere to vent its fury, rampaging through Feng Lingtian's meridians. Every meridian was stretched to its limit, every inch of bone trembling and ringing. Feng Lingtian's face turned deathly pale, veins bulging across his forehead, his clenched teeth grinding audibly.
Fortunately, the combined medicinal effects of the two pills of Foundation-Fortifying and Essence-Nurturing Powder clung firmly to the inner walls of his meridians. No matter how the Wind-Chasing Falcon's soul power battered them, his meridians never ruptured. Like two layers of invisible armor, they forcibly withstood every attack.
Huo Wu stood where she was, watching without moving.
Huo Wu's lips pressed into a thin line, and at some point her hands had clenched into fists. Huo Wu had personally experienced the pain of Fire Essence Body Tempering, fierce flames burning her meridians for three days and nights. She had thought hers was the strongest method of body tempering. But now, watching that six-year-old boy sitting cross-legged, his face pale as paper yet never collapsing, Huo Wu suddenly felt something she could not describe welling up inside her.
It was not defiance. It was not envy.
It was something she did not want to admit.
Two hours later, Feng Lingtian opened his eyes.
A bright-yellow soul ring slowly rose beneath Feng Lingtian's feet, its color rich, its light flowing. His first soul ring, six hundred and fifty years old-he had done it.
Feng Lingtian stood and flexed his wrists. The soul power within him had more than doubled, and it had gained a fierce, razor-sharp quality. That was the Wind-Chasing Falcon's nature blending into Feng Lingtian's soul power. Feng Lingtian could feel that his speed, eyesight, and perception of the wind's flow had all risen to a new level.
Feng Xiaotian came over and gave his younger brother a tight hug. Feng Xiaotian said nothing, but the strength of his arms said it all.
Feng Qingxuan stood nearby, a barely perceptible smile appearing at the corners of his mouth.
Huo Wushuang watched the scene in silence, his gaze falling thoughtfully on the porcelain bottle inside Feng Lingtian's robes. Huo Wushuang walked over to Feng Xiaotian and asked in a low voice, "That medicinal powder your brother just took-did he refine it himself?"
Feng Xiaotian glanced at Huo Wushuang and nodded.
The look in Huo Wushuang's eyes changed. He was silent for a moment and asked no further questions, merely committing the matter to memory.
Huo Wu kept her back to everyone the entire time, never turning around.
"All right." Feng Qingxuan clapped his hands. "We've finished hunting Lingtian's soul ring. Next, we'll head into the forest to find Xiaotian's third soul ring."
Feng Xiaotian took the lead toward the forest. Huo Wu stood where she was, watching Feng Xiaotian's retreating figure and clenching her fists.
Just then, Feng Xiaotian, who was walking at the very front, suddenly stopped.
Feng Xiaotian abruptly raised his head, his gaze sharpening as he looked toward the forest. At that same moment, Feng Qingxuan gripped his sword hilt. Feng Xiaotian had reacted half a beat faster than his father, Feng Qingxuan.
What father and son sensed was an exceptionally powerful fluctuation of soul power coming from deep within the forest. That presence carried the cutting sharpness of wind and the ferocity of a wolf, like a ferocious beast that had slumbered for years finally opening its eyes.
Far older than two thousand years.
The corners of Feng Xiaotian's mouth lifted slightly. It seemed Feng Xiaotian would not have to go out of his way to find his third soul ring.