True Martial World

Chapter 486: At One’s Wit’s End

The strange bird that came out of the nest was about 7-8 meters long. It was much smaller than the other strange birds, however its eyes were golden in color and it even had three claws.

These claws were the symbol of a three-legged Golden Crow. Although this strange bird was obviously not a Golden Crow, it was still three-legged, which proved that its bloodline was extremely close to that of a three-legged Golden Crow. It was a lot stronger than the other strange birds.

Seeing this three-legged strange bird appear, Yi Yun’s expression became even uglier. He could feel that this three-legged strange bird was the leader of this group of strange birds. Its energy was more than ten times that of the other strange birds. This made it even more impossible for him to handle them all.

It would probably take an instant for that three-legged strange bird to rip him to pieces.

Also, its speed was definitely extremely terrifying!

With the strange bird leader here, how was he going to pick the lotus seeds?

Yi Yun felt speechless. The Great Empress mystic realm had given him such a good opportunity, but he was helpless at obtaining it. The difficulty was just too great.

Yi Yun believed that his strength was already at the top amongst people of his own age, but he did not dare pick the red lotus in front of him.

If it was anyone else, it would be even more in vain.

Picking the lotus seed was like seeking one’s own doom. If Yi Yun did not pick it, he would feel indignant about it. As such, he hid behind a large rock and entered a dilemma.

And at this moment, Yi Yun saw the three-legged bird that came out of the cave fly down. It flew to the center of the circle formed by the other strange birds and began inspecting the prey they caught.

“Tributes?”

Yi Yun first thought was that the other strange birds had caught prey to pay tribute to this leader bird, but later on, he realized he had guessed incorrectly.

The three-legged strange bird used its claws to spit open a prey’s corpse. From the preys’ corpse, it grabbed its heart.

The red heart was covered in flowing blood, and later on, the three-legged strange bird brought a meter long desolate beast bone from somewhere. It then used the top half of the bone as a container and let the blood in the prey’s heart flow out and filled the bone cup to the brim.

“Extracting the blood from the heart?”

Yi Yun was in awe. The blood from the heart was the essence of all the blood in a desolate beast’s body. What was this three-legged strange bird collecting the blood from the heart for?

After it obtained the blood from all the preys’ heart’s, the three-legged strange bird suddenly flew towards the lava lake. It then used its sharp claws to easily extract a few lotus seeds from the lotus seedpod.

Seeing this scene, Yi Yun’s heart sank. The strange bird had taken all the matured lotus seeds away.

For a treasure at such a rank, it was probably not easy to pick it, including its tubers, in one go. Its tubers may be invulnerable to the slashing from swords and sabers. Besides, with so many strange birds watching, Yi Yun did not have the confidence in doing so.

It would have been pretty impressive if he obtained a few lotus seeds, but now, all the matured lotus seeds had been plucked away by the three-legged strange bird.

The three-legged strange bird placed the lotus seeds into the bone cup and then carried the bone cup into the cave on the mountain cliff.

That cave that was situated on the cliff was an even clearer target. It even had the strange birds’ leader guarding it. Yi Yun turned speechless upon seeing this. It was now even more difficult to obtain!

“This strange bird extracted the lotus seeds and the blood from the heart. It even used a desolate beast’s clavicle bone as a cup. What is it doing?”

Yi Yun felt that the three-legged strange bird was probably not going to simply drink the desolate beast’s heart’s blood, if not, with a desolate beast’s nature, they would eat the raw meat and drink the blood. They could just swallow it down, so what was the point of the bone cup?

For a desolate beast like the three-legged strange bird, it would not have been an easy task to create a container. Using a bone cup to drink blood would be extremely taxing for it, it did not have to do so.

However, regardless of what the three-legged strange bird wanted to do, Yi Yun was helpless. With his strength, he could not do a thing in such a strange bird’s territory.

After the three-legged strange bird disappeared, only then did the other strange birds complete their odd rituals as they began to feast on the prey on the ground.

Tens of strange birds rushed forward and immediately, flesh and blood were sent flying. Yi Yun noticed that, even when these strange birds ate, the few strange birds in charge of being on alert on the cliff did not relax at all. They remained behind to care for the lava lake. Only after the other strange birds were done eating would a few other strange birds fly towards the mountain. They then changed shifts with the few strange birds guarding on the top level.

“So strict!” Yi Yun was completely speechless. They were just a bunch of birds, yet the management of their lookout post was similar to humans. It felt impenetrable.

What was he to do?

…

At the same time as Yi Yun was unable to obtain the treasure despite seeing it, in a sealed space in the first level of the God Advent Tower.

Shen Tu Nantian had already been wasting his time, sitting there for a few months.

His face was pale, his long hair was disheveled and his eyes seemed sunk in.

Over the past few months, he challenged the disk array images left behind by the black-armored warrior again and again. To him, it was a trampling to his body and soul.

Now, Shen Tu Nantian no longer had the look of a gentleman. The corner of his eyes were covered with blood stains, which made him look like a demon.

Shen Tu Nantian was extremely ambitious. And indeed, he worked very hard and put in all of his effort and expended his physical capacity. He ignored the effects on his soul and the backlash on his body from the disk array’s images so as to gain insight from this disk array. As long as he grasped the profound charm of the move, then his strength would suddenly increase by leap and bounds.

However, at this moment, Shen Tu Nantian had still not figured out the nomological principles in the attack that the black-armored warrior used.

Shen Tu Nantian felt indignant. He had not been able to see the laws in the disk array he chose. This was equivalent to wasting one of the opportunities in the Great Empress mystic realm.

How could Shen Tu Nantian accept this?

Again and again, Shen Tu Nantian tried continuously. He ignored the fact that his eyes were bleeding. He remained staring at the battle between the black-armored warrior and the Roc, despite the skin on his face seemingly being carved by a knife, forming blood marks.

Bam!

No miracle happened. At the moment the lance beam slashed through the horizon, Shen Tu Nantian was once again sent flying backwards.

“Peng!”

Shen Tu Nantian crashed into a wall as his nose and mouth were covered in blood.

Shen Tu Nantian was feeling anger in his heart. He believed that Yi Yun had likely found the solution. How could he take losing to Yi Yun, once again, lying down?

“Ah!”

Shen Tu Nantian let out a crazy cry. He suddenly unsheathed his sword and began to slash the empty void like crazy.

He felt a great sense of defeat as a result of the disk array.

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

Sword beams poured out in all directions and lasted for nearly a minute. When Shen Tu Nantian finally calmed down, the ground and walls surrounding him were covered in overlapped sword scars.

These sword scars were not left behind because they had cut into the Great Empress mystic realm’s walls. In fact, the Great Empress mystic realm’s walls were impregnable. These sword scars were left behind because the sword Qi lingered without dissipating.

“This is…”

Shen Tu Nantian was stunned. These sword Qi were sharper than usual. They even contained a hard to describe sharpness and forcefulness. This was a form of sword intent. It was as if, after being suppressed for so long, his indignation and anger had transformed into a sword intent from the explosive feelings he had from despair!

Sword Intent was the will of the sword Dao. When Shen Tu Nantian was able to fully inject his will into the sword, then he could display the sword intent.

This result made Shen Tu Nantian shocked. If it was during normal times, at his peak, the sword Qi he produced was stronger than what he did now, but it lacked in a such forceful sword intent.

“To think about it, I should not have been able to last for so long, but now, I am still standing here…” Previously, all of Shen Tu Nantian’s thoughts and focus had been gathered on the disk array, while he did not focus on his body. However, now, he suddenly realized that, imperceptibly, his energy had been greatly tempered. The most important thing was that under the tough training for the last few months, his soul energy and determination had greatly increased.

For a swordsman, these two points were very important.

“Hahaha!” Shen Tu Nantian suddenly laughed recklessly after a short moment of pause. “Yes, although I did not manage to gain insight from the disk array, it has given me an opportunity to hone myself. These few months of cultivating was greatly beneficial for me. I have cultivated for more than twenty years and my Yuan Qi is thick. I have no lack in moves, but when it comes to sword intent and soul power, those are indeed my weaknesses. Now however, they’ve been enhanced!”

Shen Tu Nantian was overjoyed. This was an unexpected outcome. It was something that came by not searching for it!

He looked at the disk array left behind by the black-armored warrior once again. This disk array far exceeded his realm, so despite giving his best, he could not see the attack in any way, so he had to give up.

However, he guessed that Yi Yun would not have gained much from the move used by the black-armored warrior. Yi Yun’s gains were probably also in the realms of soul and determination. He was definitely not weaker than Yi Yun.

“I already said so, how can I be inferior to that kid!?”

Shen Tu Nantian was filled with fighting spirit. He had lagged far behind Yi Yun at the previous trial, but he believed that he would slowly catch up.

Shen Tu Nantian had already made his decision. In the future, regardless of what Yi Yun chose, he would make the same choice. This way, he would definitely not suffer.

Shen Tu Nantian walked out of the sealed space and looked up at the path that led to the second level of the God Advent Tower. He then strode up.

“This time, I am sure that I can obtain the recognition of the God Advent Tower and enter the second level!”