Unafraid of [Wings Fire]

Wentesi stopped the Crow Lord and asked with interest:

"Wait, what cultivation levels are the two demons chasing you? What Dao lineages do they cultivate?"

The Crow Lord spun around and looked at Wentesi. Realization dawned on him, and he smiled ingratiatingly.

"Right! How could I have forgotten about you? Shilongzi, you must be a Buddhist mount now, right?"

"Then your master must be a powerful eminent monk. Hurry and call your master out.

"He can take both those stinking demons as mounts. That'll rid me of my enemies and give your master more mounts, killing two birds with one stone!"

The Crow Lord grew more excited as he spoke. He looked Wentesi over again, then said as understanding dawned:

"I was wondering how you got so big after only half a year. So your master fed you some heavenly materials and earthly treasures?"

Wentesi nodded and said:

"All right, then I'll summon my master to take those two demons as mounts."

The Crow Lord nodded his crow head repeatedly.

But Wentesi had not finished. He continued:

"Only, my master probably won't be satisfied with just those two. He'll take you as a mount too, so please bear with it."

The smile on the Crow Lord's face turned into a grimace.

"Don't... Shilongzi, I was wrong."

Wentesi wanted to tease him further and asked with feigned gravity:

"What were you wrong about?"

"I... I shouldn't have sold you the Hairy Head Sun Method out of greed for those spirit resources..."

Seeing how serious Wentesi looked, the Crow Lord lowered his voice and sincerely admitted his mistake.

"I was only teasing you. I'm not a Buddhist mount."

Wentesi waved a dragon wing and spoke indifferently.

The Crow Lord's eyes widened, and he cursed:

"Why, you little Shilongzi! How dare you lie-"

Before the Crow Lord could finish cursing, Wentesi interrupted:

"Stop! First tell me the Dao lineages and cultivation levels of your pursuers. Then I'll consider whether to help you. They're already here."

With that, Wentesi looked in the direction the Crow Lord had come from. Gathering Hairy Head Sun Law Power in his eyes, he carefully sensed and searched.

The Crow Lord's eyes widened as he said:

"If you're not a Buddhist lackey, what are you talking about? Hurry up and run with me."

"Don't put on a brave face. With your meager cultivation, you'd just be serving yourself up on a platter to them. Those two demons are extremely formidable and skilled at attacking. Let's get going."

With that, the Crow Lord flapped his wings and made to leave.

Wentesi could not be bothered to argue with him and asked again in a low voice:

"Cultivation levels and Dao lineages!"

Only then did the Crow Lord stop and hurriedly say:

"The firebird is at the first layer of Qi Ingestion and cultivates the [Wings Fire] Dao lineage. The golden eagle is at the Embryonic Breathing Sixth Layer and cultivates the [Wind Qi] Dao lineage."

"Run! Shilongzi, my scent has rubbed off on you. They definitely won't let you go. Let's split up and run."

Even now, the Crow Lord still wanted to flee.

Just as Wentesi heard Crow Lord out, two rushing sounds came from the horizon. Two demonic figures, one scarlet and one gold, swooped close.

"Too late."

Wentesi answered calmly.

The first to appear was a golden eagle, three meters long, with feathers like black gold that gleamed brilliantly. Its hooked iron talons glinted with chilling light.

Its eagle eyes fixed sharply on the Crow Lord, then swept coldly over Wentesi, its gaze filled with undisguised ferocity.

It made no effort to restrain the sixth-layer Embryonic Breathing Demon Power radiating from its body.

Accompanying him was a firebird, smaller at only a meter long.

Fiery red feathers covered its entire body, and most striking of all were the plumes atop its head, which were burning!

Its wings were broad and its head relatively small. It appeared with a scorching restlessness; this was a demon cultivating [Wings Fire].

"Crow Lord, let's see where you can run!"

The golden eagle spoke in an extremely shrill voice, like metal and stone striking together.

The golden eagle's gaze passed straight over Wentesi and fixed on the Crow Lord behind him, as though filled with towering hatred.

Wentesi ignored the little bird's clamor. His dragon eyes narrowed slightly; he had sensed a third presence.

The trace of the water element was concealed behind the two demons.

Sure enough, a black snake several zhang long suddenly darted out from behind them the next moment.

The snake was bluish-black all over, surrounded by a mist of water vapor. It had no claws beneath its belly, only ridged scales. Its tongue was long and slender, and its vertical pupils were cold and venomous as it stared fixedly at Wentesi.

The sight of the snake suddenly made Wentesi very uncomfortable.

It was a discomfort that came from the depths of his heart.

The Crow Lord seemed to recognize the snake and hurriedly shouted a warning to Wentesi:

"That's a Hook Snake, of the [Winnowing Basket Water] Dao lineage! Watch out for its tail. It's extremely venomous!"

As he spoke, the Crow Lord flapped his wings repeatedly and retreated several meters, clearly wary of the demon.

While Wentesi sized up the three demons opposite him, they were sizing him up as well.

Seeing his enormous body, formidable scales and seemingly extraordinary presence, all three grew somewhat wary.

The golden eagle seemed to be the leader of the three. It spoke coldly:

"Where did a winged lizard like you come from? This Crow Lord is our prey. If you know what's good for you, get out of the way, or even you will-"

Before he could finish, Wentesi moved.

He could not be bothered wasting words on this bunch of demons.

Strike first and gain the upper hand; strike late and suffer!

Why reason with this bunch of demons? Just fight!

Hairy Head Sun Law Power instantly spread throughout his body, forming a faint protective film over his scarlet-gold scales. Then Wentesi beat his dragon wings and shot forward.

A fierce wind sprang up!

His enormous body was not cumbersome in the least. Instead, he charged the three demons at tremendous speed, bearing terrifying wind pressure!

That was right, he charged straight into them!

The firebird reacted fastest. With a shriek, it tilted its wings and flew upward, dodging Wentesi's charge;

The Hook Snake was exceptionally slippery. It twisted its body and escaped by the narrowest margin, brushing past his dragon claws.

Only the golden eagle, confident in its powerful body and delayed half a step by the words it had just spoken, had time merely to raise one wing to block.

"Boom!!"

A muffled impact rang out.

Golden feathers scattered across the sky. Before the golden eagle could even scream, it was sent flying.

It fell in an arc through the sky and crashed into a mountainside, sending rubble tumbling down.

The wing it had raised to block was broken at a grotesquely twisted angle.

Whether the golden eagle lived or died was unknown!

"Screech, screech! (You're courting death!)"

True to its cultivation of [Wings Fire], the firebird was not afraid when it saw Wentesi strike its companion dead in a single move. Instead, it grew furious.

It shrieked and spread its wings to their fullest. They suddenly began to burn fiercely, sending a multitude of flaming feathers flying at Wentesi.

One feather followed another in an unbroken stream!

The flaming feathers, wreathed in rolling flames and waves of heat, scorched and distorted the air in their path as they flew toward Wentesi's dragon head.

Wentesi swung his dragon tail and first turned sideways to dodge one of the flaming feathers.

Once he saw clearly that the attack was made of fire, a trace of mockery flashed through his eyes. He stopped dodging and charged straight into the flaming feather arrows.

Red dragons were immune to fire!

Countless blazing feathers struck his body and began to burn him.

The firebird thought its attack had succeeded, but beneath the flames, the red dragon charged on without slowing in the slightest.

His dragon scales gleamed as before, without a single scorch mark. The flaming feather arrows had no effect when they struck him.

The firebird was dumbfounded. This move was its ultimate technique!

It had never failed against an enemy, yet today it had no effect at all. The firebird was shaken to its core and stood frozen, forgetting even to dodge.

On a battlefield, an opportunity often lasted no longer than that instant.

In the blink of an eye, Wentesi had flown in front of the firebird.

His enormous dragon jaws suddenly opened, and his sharp dragon teeth flashed coldly as they snapped shut!

"Crunch! Crunch!"

Bones cracked crisply. Before the firebird could even scream, Wentesi caught it in his jaws.

Then Wentesi clenched his jaws, chewing the firebird to pieces, feathers, bones and all, before swallowing it whole.

It tastes good, but there's too little meat.

Wentesi gave his assessment of the firebird in his heart, then turned an icy gaze on the Hook Snake, the only one left on the field.

Wentesi licked his lips, as though savoring the taste of the firebird, or perhaps preparing to enjoy his next meal.

Only a few breaths had passed from the start of the battle to the firebird's death.

Seeing one companion sent flying and the other swallowed alive, the Hook Snake felt a great chill in its heart.

Courage is the spirit of battle; when courage breaks, spirit scatters, and when spirit scatters, defeat is certain!

The Hook Snake's former cruelty and coldness vanished, leaving only fear.

How could it still have the courage to fight Wentesi?

It twisted around and dove downward, heading for a river not far away on the ground.

It had been born and raised in water and was one with it. As long as it entered the river, even this terrifying monster would be unable to do anything to it!

Then it would survive!

"Trying to run? Not so easily!"

Wentesi glanced at the fleeing Hook Snake and opened his gaping maw, unleashing his first dragon breath since his period of slumber.

His dragon mouth opened slightly, scorching dragon breath rapidly gathering in his throat as the Hairy Head Sun Law Power in his body poured into it.

The next second, a beam of scarlet-gold light ten zhang long erupted, smashing into the fleeing Hook Snake like a blazing sun and a sea of fire!

"Sizzle-"

Almost instantly, the dragon breath blasted straight through the middle of the Hook Snake's body, severing it in two.

Its head and tail writhed frantically beneath the dragon breath, but after struggling for a moment, they fell.

Its body, several zhang long, was roasted black and curled by the dragon breath, its skin charred.

At last it became two pieces of charcoal that fell straight from the air.

The chunks of charcoal hit the ground with a "plop" and shattered into several pieces.

Wentesi beat his dragon wings, hovering in midair.

He glanced at the golden eagle, whose fate was still unknown against the cliff, then turned to the dumbstruck Crow Lord and smiled.

"Crow Lord, did you just tell me to run?"

The Crow Lord stared at Wentesi, dumbfounded. Only after a long while did he manage to stammer:

"You... you're not afraid of [Wings Fire]?!"