Northern Nether Golden Patterned Eagle

The newcomer glanced at the group, then his gaze fell upon Fan Xiu, whose mark had already vanished.

"You destroyed your own mark, so you should know the rules. Come with me."

Fan Xiu was unwilling to accept this and immediately said, "Lord Inspector, that man forced me to do it! It wasn't voluntary. Please uphold justice for me!"

Fan Xiu's sudden betrayal startled the red-dressed girl. If the Inspector intervened, the youth who had just saved her would be in trouble.

But just as she was about to speak up for Liu Bai, the Inspector coldly said, "Cut the nonsense. I'm only responsible for taking away those without marks. I don't care about anything else."

As he spoke, he grabbed Fan Xiu by the shoulder and lifted him up, then turned into a streak of light and vanished.

The girl merely opened her mouth at the sight, yet no sound came out. Only confusion remained on her pretty face.

Liu Bai secretly laughed. Fan Xiu really had some wishful thinking, actually expecting the Inspector to stand up for him. He thought far too highly of himself.

From the moment that aged figure of light had announced the rules, Liu Bai had known that the people from Northern Azure Spirit Academy would never intervene in this assessment. After all, unless someone cheated during an exam, no invigilator would step in to help answer questions.

But did someone like Fan Xiu even qualify for anyone to help him cheat?

Seeing the girl's puzzled gaze, Liu Bai smiled faintly. "There are two circumstances under which one will be eliminated early from the Northern Cang Realm assessment. First, if you shatter the mark on your forehead yourself, that counts as voluntarily giving up. An Inspector will come and take you away. Second, if you suffer a fatal attack, the mark will also erupt with a brief burst of power and take you out of the Northern Cang Realm. That likewise means elimination."

Of course, if the attack was too terrifying and killed someone before the mark even had a chance to react, then they could only blame their bad luck.

Northern Azure Spirit Academy naturally did not wish to see heavy casualties during the assessment, but so-called accidents were inherently unpredictable and impossible to avoid completely...

After hearing Liu Bai's explanation, the girl understood that he had said it for her benefit. She finally came back to herself, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Thank you for saving me. But I have nothing with which to repay you. You can take my mark, and if you want Spirit Jade Fruits, I can give those to you as well."

Liu Bai smiled but did not accept any of it.

After all, that had not been his purpose...

"I want to know whose faction this Zhou Gang belongs to, and the real reason the three of you were hunting this young lady. As for these Spirit Jade Fruits, don't mention them. I don't believe a few fruits would make you go to such lengths." Liu Bai looked at the two remaining men and asked directly.

The moment the two saw Liu Bai's gaze fall on them, they jumped in fright. Upon hearing his question, both wore troubled expressions.

"Don't want to talk? You should have heard what I said earlier. If you refuse, don't blame me for sending you out directly."

That explanation had naturally been meant in part to intimidate them. If they truly refused to speak, Liu Bai would not mind personally acting and sending another one away.

The two became even more panicked at his words. Had they not joined Zhou Gang precisely so they could enter Northern Azure Spirit Academy more easily and have someone to rely on within the academy? If they were eliminated now, what the hell had any of that been for?

"I'll talk, I'll talk..."

At last, one of them could no longer bear the pressure and hurriedly spoke.

The other immediately panicked as well. "I'll talk too! Our Zhou Gang was founded by 'King Zhou,' Zhou Fan. Zhou Fan participated in the Spirit Road and received a King-Level Assessment. He then founded Zhou Gang together with several of his friends. They're all Divine Soul Realm experts, so after entering the Northern Cang Realm, they attracted many people to join. Now, they're one of the largest factions in this Northern Cang Realm!"

Liu Bai raised a brow. He had not expected Zhou Gang to have been founded by a King-Sealed Prodigy. Someone like that should at least be at the Divine Soul Realm Late Stage by now, shouldn't he?

Seeing his companion speak first, the youth who had initially submitted hurriedly added, "The reason we were hunting this young lady is because she knows about the Northern Nether Golden Patterned Eagle. We acted to prevent her from leaking the news."

"Our original goal was actually to capture her, or at least hold her back. As long as we waited for our boss to kill the Northern Nether Golden Patterned Eagle, she wouldn't pose a threat anymore."

"What? How do you know about the Northern Nether Golden Patterned Eagle?!" The red-dressed girl reacted even more fiercely than before, sharply demanding an answer.

"Uh, th-that... we don't know either. We were only following our boss's orders..." When it came to this question, both men began to stammer.

But Liu Bai did not care about that right now. The instant he heard the name Northern Nether Golden Patterned Eagle, his eyes lit up.

The Northern Nether Golden Patterned Eagle was ranked sixty-fifth on the Earth Ranking of the Myriad Beast Record. It was an exceptionally powerful Heavenly Beast. An adult possessed strength at the Heaven Fusion Realm Late Stage, making it very suitable as his Spirit Beast Core.

He had been worrying about his Spirit Beast Core all this time, yet one had now practically delivered itself to his doorstep...

Although the Northern Nether Golden Patterned Eagle was an ice-attribute Spirit Beast and did not suit the cultivation method Liu Bai currently practiced, he had already decided to follow the path of gathering the five elements. Sooner or later, he would cultivate a water-attribute cultivation method. At that point, its attribute would match the Northern Nether Golden Patterned Eagle's perfectly, so there was no issue at all.

In fact, after learning that he could cultivate five Spiritual Wheels, Liu Bai had wondered whether he could fuse with five Spirit Beast Cores of the five elemental attributes. If he truly succeeded, his strength would absolutely surpass those at the same level by several times, perhaps even dozens of times!

Invincibility among those of the same level would be child's play!

"Do you know the Northern Nether Golden Patterned Eagle's location?" What worried Liu Bai most now was whether Zhou Fan had already killed it. If that were true, he would not have the slightest chance.

"Uh... we don't know..." The two answered quietly, fearfully.

Clearly, the three of them were not Zhou Fan's trusted subordinates. Otherwise, they would not have reached the Divine Soul Realm without refining Spirit Beast Cores. It was obvious that Zhou Fan had not given them many benefits.

With that, Liu Bai could not help turning his gaze toward the girl beside him...

The red-dressed girl secretly gritted her teeth. She had originally set her sights on the Northern Nether Golden Patterned Eagle herself, but her strength was insufficient and she lacked manpower, so she could only give up for the time being. She had planned to find some helpers and make preparations before acting, but she had never expected the news to have leaked long ago.

As for Liu Bai before her, he clearly had his eyes on the Northern Nether Golden Patterned Eagle as well, so she had even less hope now.

"I actually know about another Heavenly Beast. If you're willing to cooperate with me to obtain the Northern Nether Golden Patterned Eagle, I'll tell you its exact location. And I can help you deal with that Heavenly Beast too... Believe me, that Heavenly Beast is definitely no worse than the Northern Nether Golden Patterned Eagle!"

Liu Bai was immediately surprised. Could this girl be some hidden character with maxed-out luck...

They had only entered the Northern Cang Realm for a single day. He had searched with all his might and had not even found a Heavenly Beast's feather, while she already had information on two Heavenly Beasts?

"Tell me about it first. Let me hear it." Liu Bai said with interest.

"That Heavenly Beast lives within a massive underground cave. I never went inside, but I once happened to hear its roar from one of the entrances. It sounded like a bull's bellow. The aura it gave off alone made my heart tremble. It was definitely a Heavenly Beast!" The red-dressed girl spoke with a solemn expression.

"Oh? A Spirit Beast living in an underground cave, with a roar like a bull's..." Liu Bai fell into thought.

Spirit Beasts that lived underground were generally earth-attribute Spirit Beasts. Of course, it could also be a metal-attribute Spirit Beast or one with another special attribute, but the former was more common in the end.

"Right, I also found extremely smooth marks around the entrance to the underground cave. They should have been caused by the Heavenly Beast rubbing against it as it went in and out, so it's most likely a python or flood-dragon type Spirit Beast..." the red-dressed girl added.

"A python or flood-dragon type Spirit Beast..." Liu Bai's eyes lit up.

"As an assessment small world controlled by Northern Azure Spirit Academy, the Northern Cang Realm shouldn't contain Spirit Beasts that exceed the Heaven Transformation Realm. That means the Heavenly Beasts here should all rank outside the top fifty on the Earth Ranking of the Myriad Beast Record. Among flood-dragon-type Spirit Beasts ranked after fiftieth, not a single one is earth-attributed. So it is likely some kind of stone python. The most likely candidates are the eighty-fourth-ranked Mountain Swallowing Python and the seventy-fourth-ranked Earth Spirit Stone Python..."

"If it's the Mountain Swallowing Python, that would be manageable. Its mature form is only comparable to the Heaven Fusion Realm Early Stage, so I still have a way to deal with it. But if it's the Earth Spirit Stone Python, that would be troublesome. It's comparable to the Heaven Fusion Realm Middle Stage. Even a group of Divine Soul Realm cultivators besieging it would likely find it difficult to achieve anything."

But regardless of which one it was, it would be extremely suitable for Liu Bai. The Mountain God Art he primarily cultivated was an earth-attribute spirit art. If paired with either of them, its power would be even greater than that of the sixty-fifth-ranked Northern Nether Golden Patterned Eagle.

After giving it some thought, Liu Bai said, "I can agree to help you seize the Northern Nether Golden Patterned Eagle's Spirit Beast Core. But whether we succeed or fail, you must tell me the location of the Spirit Beast you mentioned."

The red-dressed girl did not hesitate for long. After a brief moment of thought, she agreed directly.

After learning that Zhou Fan had set his sights on the Northern Nether Golden Patterned Eagle, she had not held much hope to begin with. Asking Liu Bai for help was merely a last gamble.

What if she succeeded in the end...

"By the way, I still don't know your name." Liu Bai suddenly looked at the red-dressed girl, as though only just realizing it.

The girl had already regained her calm, and her injuries were mostly healed. Hearing this, she said, "My name is An Ran."

Upon hearing that name, Liu Bai's steps abruptly halted.

He suddenly realized that his luck was quite good too. He had encountered two beautiful women in a row who were both named characters from the original story. Wasn't this An Ran Mu Chen's opponent in the final stage of the Northern Cang Realm assessment in the original story? At that time, she should already have been at the Heaven Fusion Realm. And it seemed that An Ran's Spirit Beast Core back then had been this very Northern Nether Golden Patterned Eagle...

Could it be that the Northern Nether Golden Patterned Eagle in the original story had been obtained by her in the Northern Cang Realm?

Liu Bai smiled lightly, finding it somewhat strange.

"What is it?" Noticing the change in Liu Bai, An Ran looked over in confusion.

"Oh, nothing. Let's hurry. If Zhou Fan gets the Northern Nether Golden Patterned Eagle's Spirit Beast Core and leaves, we won't have any chance at all!"

Upon hearing that, An Ran immediately lost all interest in anything else and hurriedly led Liu Bai deeper into the wilderness.

At their original spot, the two remaining youths looked at one another.

What were they supposed to do next?

Go back?

They did not quite dare to. At the very least, they could not go back now, or they would have no way to explain this.

Gritting his teeth, one of them said, "Let's find somewhere to recover first. That man is so powerful. Fan Xiu was eliminated by him, and we're seriously injured too. We can only go back and find the boss after we recover."

"Mm, mm, mm. You're right. We're badly injured, so we need to heal first..."

In any case, the two were now tied to the same rope. Neither feared that the other would betray him, so whatever they said went.

Meanwhile, as they hurried along, Liu Bai asked An Ran, "An adult Northern Nether Golden Patterned Eagle is comparable to the Heaven Fusion Realm Late Stage. Is the one you mentioned that strong?"

An Ran shook her head. "Northern Nether Golden Patterned Eagles are entirely ice-blue, but a layer of golden feathers grows on their wings. Every time another layer of those golden feathers appears, its strength rises once. It develops three layers in total before reaching adulthood. The Northern Nether Golden Patterned Eagle I saw had only just developed its second layer of golden feathers, so it should only be at the peak of the Heaven Fusion Realm Early Stage."

If they had been dealing with the Northern Nether Golden Patterned Eagle themselves, that would have been good news. But now that Zhou Fan had acted first with his people, it was bad news for Liu Bai and An Ran.

Facing the siege of several Divine Soul Realm experts, along with a powerful King-Sealed Prodigy like Zhou Fan, this Northern Nether Golden Patterned Eagle that had not fully matured might not be a match for them...

Before long, the two arrived beneath a sprawling range of snow-capped mountains.

The mountains seemed several thousand zhang tall. From halfway up, they were blanketed in thick snow, and even at the foot of the mountains, Liu Bai could feel the bone-piercing chill.

"The Northern Nether Golden Patterned Eagle's nest is at the summit of these snowy mountains!"

She had once happened to see it flying down from the mountaintop. A massive ice-blue eagle that blotted out the sky had swooped down, and in an instant, every Spirit Beast beneath the snowy mountains had fled desperately. The scene had been terrifying.

At the time, she had only taken one distant glance before fleeing in a hurry. She vaguely seemed to have seen other figures flash past in the distance, but she had not paid attention then. Thinking back now, those people must have been the ones who leaked the news.

And they had even remembered her, bringing this disaster upon her!