Chapter 236 - 207: Subduing the Local Forces and Hunting Tier 2 Demon Beasts

Chapter 236: Chapter 207: Subduing the Local Forces and Hunting Tier 2 Demon Beasts

「Three days later, deep within Crimson Flame Gorge.」

Concealing his breath, Lu Zhao hid behind a cluster of jagged, crimson rocks. His gaze was as sharp as a falcon’s, fixed on the sky above the gorge, which was tinged a faint red by the Earth Fire below.

Waves of heat rolled through the area, and the air was thick with the stench of sulfur. From time to time, dark red lava oozed from cracks in the rock walls.

Like the most seasoned hunter, Lu Zhao lay patiently in wait.

One day, two days... Ten days passed. The sky above the gorge remained empty, save for the occasional Low-tier Fire Crow flying past. There was no sign of any powerful Demon Birds.

Lu Zhao’s mind was as calm as still water, completely unperturbed. Hunting a Tier Two Demon Beast was, after all, a contest of patience and luck. He knew all too well that impatience was a hunter’s greatest weakness.

Another seven days passed.

As Lu Zhao performed his routine scan of the gorge with his Divine Sense, a crimson speck suddenly appeared at the edge of the sky, entering his perception!

The speck moved with incredible speed, and within a few breaths, it came into focus. It had a wingspan of nearly thirty feet, its body covered in crimson feathers that seemed to burn like fire. Only its two talons were as black as ink, glinting with a cold, metallic light. It was the Red-Feathered Black-Footed Bird!

It seemed to have just returned from a full meal. With a leisurely air, it spread its wings, circling and gliding above the gorge. It let out a few clear, high-pitched cries as it prepared to return to its nest above the Molten Rock Area.

A sharp glint flashed in Lu Zhao’s eyes as he made an instant decision. With a single thought, the Corpse Nourishing Coffin at his waist pulsed with a faint, ghostly light. In the shadow of a large boulder not far from him, Li Xuerou appeared without a sound. She wore a simple white dress, her face was pale, and her aura was chillingly cold.

"Go over there and cut off its escape," Lu Zhao ordered concisely via Transmission Sound, pointing to a narrow pass at the other end of the gorge.

Li Xuerou’s hollow eyes turned in the direction Lu Zhao indicated. She gave a slight nod, and her figure blurred, transforming into a nearly transparent white shadow. Hugging the rock wall, she crept toward the designated position at an astonishing speed, not making so much as a whisper of sound.

Meanwhile, Lu Zhao focused all his effort on circulating the Breath Concealment and Shapeshifting Skill. His aura instantly became faint to the point of nonexistence, as if he had merged completely with the scorching rock beneath him and the blistering air all around.

He was now like a lifeless boulder, lying in silent ambush directly in the path the Red-Feathered Black-Footed Bird had to take to reach its nest.

Five hundred yards... four hundred... three hundred!

The Red-Feathered Black-Footed Bird seemed completely oblivious, maintaining its leisurely flight as it headed straight for Lu Zhao’s hiding spot.

Just as it closed to a final two hundred yards, at the very instant it was about to pass over his head—

’Now!’

An icy glint erupted in Lu Zhao’s eyes as his dormant aura exploded like a volcano! His figure shot out from his hiding place like a bolt of lightning. At the same time, his hands flew through a series of seals. The Magical Power from his True Water Spirit Transformation Technique surged wildly into the Hundred Waters Magic Disc, and an incredibly dense Water Blade materialized out of thin air!

"Strike!"

Following Lu Zhao’s low shout, the massive Water Blade, its edges shimmering with a pale blue sharpness, tore through the scorching air. With a piercing shriek and the force of a thunderbolt, it chopped down at the unsuspecting Red-Feathered Black-Footed Bird! Lu Zhao held nothing back, pouring all his strength into this one attack!

A lethal sense of danger washed over the Red-Feathered Black-Footed Bird like a douse of ice water. It let out a shriek of pure terror. At the last possible second, its Demon Beast instincts kicked in, forcing it to react!

The bird wrenched its mouth open and spat out a ball of incredibly intense, almost pure-white fire to meet the terrifying Water Blade! This was its innate magic: Heart-Burning Flame!

At the same time, it beat its wings frantically, its massive body twisting desperately backward and to the side in an attempt to evade the fatal blow!

BOOM!

The Water Blade and the Heart-Burning Flame collided in midair!

SIZZLE!

As the Water Blade met the flame, a huge cloud of white steam erupted! The flame still managed to slow the Water Blade, delaying it for a fraction of a second!

That momentary delay was all the Red-Feathered Black-Footed Bird needed to survive!

SLICE!

The massive Water Blade grazed the edge of the bird’s desperately twisting abdomen! Even so, the blade’s incredible sharpness sliced a massive, three-foot-long gash through the tough feathers on its belly!

The wound was deep enough to expose bone! Scalding Demon Blood gushed out like a fountain, instantly dyeing the feathers below and the very air red!

"SCREEE!"

The Red-Feathered Black-Footed Bird let out an agonized shriek. The searing pain caused its massive body to tremble violently in midair. It completely lost control of its flight and began to plummet!

But its troubles were far from over.

In the instant its mind was thrown into chaos by pain and instability, a figure in white shot out from the shadows of the pass behind it like a phantom! It was Li Xuerou, who had been lying in ambush all along!

She was so fast it was beyond the Red-Feathered Black-Footed Bird’s wildest imagination! In the same instant the bird perceived her, Li Xuerou was already within a hundred feet! Her pale, slender fingers formed a claw, their tips wreathed in a Yin Evil Death Qi so dense it seemed solid. With a sharpness that could pierce metal, she aimed straight for the bloody wound on its abdomen! If this strike landed, it would be enough to tear its organs out!

A mixture of shock and fury gripped the Red-Feathered Black-Footed Bird, and the intense pain caused its savage nature to erupt! Enduring the tearing agony in its abdomen, it violently twisted its long neck. Its long, black beak, glinting with a cold metallic sheen, shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow. With a piercing shriek of displaced air, it pecked viciously at Li Xuerou’s head! The strike was as fast as lightning and held all the strength of its final, desperate struggle!

Faced with this fierce counterattack, two points of eerie, scarlet light suddenly ignited in the depths of Li Xuerou’s hollow eyes!

’Three Yin Realm, activate!’

An invisible, icy, and deathly still force field instantly spread out from her! Within the confines of the force field, the very air seemed to solidify, and even the flow of time felt as if it had become thick and sluggish!

The Red-Feathered Black-Footed Bird’s lightning-fast peck suddenly seemed to be stuck in an invisible mire. Its speed slowed visibly, its trajectory becoming clear and easy to follow!

Li Xuerou’s body swayed slightly, as light as a willow catkin in the wind. She dodged the fatal beak by a hair’s breadth, a perilously close call.

The beak, carrying a sharp gust of wind, grazed past her temple, yet it failed to touch even a single strand of her hair.

Meanwhile, her own claw, wreathed in Yin Evil Death Qi, plunged unimpeded and with unerring accuracy into the massive wound on the Red-Feathered Black-Footed Bird’s abdomen!

SQUELCH!

As the claw sank into flesh, the Yin Evil Death Qi began to viciously corrode it! Already grievously wounded, the Red-Feathered Black-Footed Bird suffered this final, fatal blow. The last vestiges of vitality in its body were drained in an instant!

It let out a short, desperate cry. Its massive body went rigid, and its wings ceased to beat. Like a kite with its string cut, it plummeted stiffly toward the scorching rocks below, trailing a spray of blood and scattered crimson feathers.

CRASH!

Dust and shattered rock flew into the air. The Red-Feathered Black-Footed Bird slammed heavily onto the ground, twitched a few times, and then went still.

Its crimson feathers, stained with dust and its own blood, looked dull and wretched. The massive wound on its abdomen was splayed open grotesquely, its internal organs faintly visible. It was dead.

With a flash, Lu Zhao appeared beside the bird’s corpse. His movements were swift and precise. First, he took out several high-quality Jade Bottles. Concentrating Magical Power at his fingertips until it was as sharp as a blade, he skillfully sliced open several key blood vessels on the corpse, guiding the scalding Essence Blood, rich with Fire Spiritual Power, into the bottles. He filled five bottles in total, each one radiating a scorching, violent aura.

Next, forming a sword with his fingers, he precisely dissected the bird’s chest and abdomen. From within, he extracted a crimson, pigeon-egg-sized orb with fiery patterns swirling across its surface—it was the bird’s Demon Pill!

The object was scalding to the touch and contained a pure, immense Fire Element Demon Power. It was the perfect material for refining a Fire Puppet’s core. Lu Zhao carefully placed it into a specially made jade box and applied a Sealing Spirit Talisman.

Once that was done, he waved his hand and placed the massive corpse of the Red-Feathered Black-Footed Bird into his Storage Bag.

Its feathers, skeleton, and talons were all high-quality materials for Artifact Refining and Puppet Making, and were worth a considerable sum.

Lu Zhao looked at Li Xuerou as she drifted gracefully to the ground and tossed her a Jade Bottle. It contained some of the Red-Feathered Black-Footed Bird’s Essence Blood he had just collected.

Li Xuerou caught the Jade Bottle, removed the stopper, and tilted her head back, drinking the scorching, crimson Essence Blood in one go. As the Essence Blood entered her, a faint blush appeared on her pale face, and the Yin Evil Qi around her seemed to become a bit more active.

She licked the lingering traces of blood from the corner of her mouth contentedly, her hollow eyes turning to Lu Zhao.

Without another word, Lu Zhao sent a thought, recalling her into the Corpse Nourishing Coffin.

She had expended a great deal of energy in the battle, and now she had also consumed Essence Blood containing potent Fire Spiritual Power. It was the perfect time for her to recuperate inside the coffin, digest the blood, and stabilize her Cultivation.

With everything finished, Lu Zhao didn’t linger. With a push of his foot, he transformed into a faint blue Escape Light and shot into the sky.

He needed to return as soon as possible to properly process the corpse of the Tier Two Demon Bird. His path of hunting beasts on the Broken River Plains had only just begun.