Chapter 311 The Essence of the Field! Pursuers Encounter the Silver Lion (5k)
Bai Zhou took a deep breath, his palms sweating as he gripped his saber, yet his fighting spirit surged within him.
The end of this trial, the old vulture the governor had spoken of, the [Wings of Mourning], finally appeared before him!
At first, it was an almost imperceptible black dot, but in the blink of an eye, it cast an endless shadow covering half a snow-capped mountain. The divine eagle of the dome swept past against the wind and snow, accelerating its descent from thousands of miles above.
With a flap of its wings, the clouds churned and churned, the wind and snow in the high sky were torn to shreds by the fierce airflow, the terrifying oppression pressing down like Mount Tai, the feeling of being watched by a hunter standing at the top of the food chain was far from pleasant.
If it were a [Hunter] like Fang Xiaoxia or Ya here, perhaps they would gain some insight from this strange experience—but for Bai Zhou, he could only feel the familiar breathlessness teetering on the edge of death, the instinct called the intuition of life and death roaring loudly at Bai Zhou.
"Thump!"
The snow beneath his feet trembled, large flakes of snow compressing and solidifying under the pressure of solidification, as if welcoming the return of the master of this territory, or as if the entire snow-capped mountain was trembling.
Then, the cold gaze from the sky was withdrawn, and the terrifying giant eagle named [Wings of Mourning] hurriedly swooped towards the summit of the snow-capped mountain, completely ignoring Bai Zhou, as if it were going to complete some fixed mission.
So, instead of running away, Bai Zhou grabbed his saber, let out a long cry, and sprinted towards the summit of the snow-capped mountain.
With a powerful enemy before him, there was no reason to retreat.
The vulture was hard to find, and Bai Zhou could not afford to miss it. The
boy's small figure swiftly swept between the mountainside and the summit, drawing a stunning and magnificent red streak of fire on the vast white snow-capped mountain.
Then, Bai Zhou finally saw the true face of the giant eagle circling above the snow-capped peak at the summit.
Although a thousand meters away, Bai Zhou could see the entire colossal creature in the distance, and a sense of awe washed over him. It
was enormous.
It was so vast that it stretched as far as the eye could see, like a continuous dark cloud in the sky, or a towering mountain taking flight, its wings creating a hurricane that swept across the horizon, the aftershocks stirring up snow-capped peaks and whipping up countless waves of snow.
But when Bai Zhou saw the giant eagle's features clearly, a chill ran down his spine and straight to his brain.
The old, bald eagle was frail and aged; its crest of feathers had long since fallen, and its wrinkled, bald head was covered in scars.
The broad wing bones were sparsely feathered, each feather a deathly gray-white, as if the withered wing bones were covered with protruding flesh and fascia, covered with layers of scars, some fresh bloodstains, some old dark scars, overlapping to form disgusting abscesses and tumors, a horrifying sight from afar.
No matter how Bai Zhou looked at it, such old age and such dense injuries would have killed any living being long ago.
But this giant eagle was not only alive and well, but also exuded an overwhelming aura, and even—
"Whoosh—"
As the giant eagle flapped its wings, something fell from between its feathers, mingling with the wind and snow like snowflakes, but upon closer inspection, it was actually fine bone fragments.
Broken ribs, fragments of the spine, and most of a skull with teeth—they landed on the snow-capped peaks and mountainsides, buried in the snow and exposed on the ruins.
It turned out that the eagle's drooping wings were clearly inlaid with countless corpses, all embedded in the flesh and blood of its wings, intertwined and fused together, their postures twisted and their expressions filled with agony, as if they could never be reborn.
This was why Bai Zhou felt a chill run down his spine; anyone who witnessed such a horrifying scene would not remain calm.
"Wings of Mourning—"
So this is what "mourning" means?
Merging countless dead with itself, embedding countless corpses into its own wings—
"How ferocious! This old bald eagle is incredibly evil!" Bai Zhou thought to himself, but he could only grit his teeth and face it.
Above the dome, the bald eagle's cloudy eyes slowly turned, looking down at Bai Zhou's tiny black shadow from above, its gaze carrying a strange indifference that Bai Zhou couldn't quite understand.
The next instant, with a "whoosh," the bald eagle flew down and landed.
A colossal form slanted into the snow-capped mountain peak, its passing creating a whirlwind that whipped up countless waves of snow, revealing the frozen earth and fragments of ruins hidden beneath.
Then—
beneath the scattered snow, atop the exposed ruins, Bai Zhou saw a collapsed archway lying before him, its lintel adorned with a relief of a divine eagle battling a serpent.
Beyond the archway lay a vast cemetery! A
dense forest of tombstones stretched out, each towering gravestone adorned with ancient bouquets frozen in ice and snow, their age unknown.
Besides the stele forest, countless corpses littered the open ground. Some were dried and uncorrupted, others were just bones. These corpses were densely packed together, forming a chilling death zone within the stele forest, filled with a terrifying, dark aura of killing intent, usually concealed by the snow.
"This is—!"
Bai Zhou's pupils constricted, his expression turning grave, his heart skipping a beat.
Because, deep within the white bones and dense stele forest, he saw a thatched hut, mostly crushed by the snow—through the dilapidated brick walls and broken windows, a deep blue orb of light came into Bai Zhou's view.
The orb of light, about the size of a fist, hovered in mid-air inside the hut, shimmering with a cold, eerie blue light. The extreme cold seemed to travel along Bai Zhou's gaze, freezing him instantly with just one look, and he quickly looked away.
Even so, frost had already formed on Bai Zhou's eyelashes.
In that single glance, upon seeing the pale blue light, Bai Zhou vaguely saw the entire snow-capped mountain rise abruptly before him, with howling winds and towering glaciers, its mysteries indescribable.
"This thing is—"
Almost simultaneously, knowledge about "Condensation Contract—Second-Order Advancement for Ritual Masters" surged from the depths of Bai Zhou's mind.
In extremely spiritually active terrain, there's a chance such things can be born. They are the common heart of the entire snow-capped mountain and the icy city-states buried within it, the essence of the entire snow mountain field!
In some descriptions, they are occasionally called "earth cores" and "dragon veins," rare treasures that even advanced ritual masters struggle to find.
This is because not only are their birth conditions extremely demanding, but even after birth, they are adept at concealment—ritual masters, arriving in special extreme terrains, sometimes spend ten years searching and still may not know whether the terrain beneath their feet has given birth to it, let alone find any definite trace of it.
But now?
Seeing the priceless treasure appear in the thatched hut, right before his eyes, Bai Zhou's heart pounded.
Although Bai Zhou knew it was connected to the entire field, the two seamlessly integrated—it was the Great Snow Mountain, and the Great Snow Mountain was it—and therefore Bai Zhou could never take it away
, this didn't mean it lost its value.
On the contrary, for a low-level ritual master like Bai Zhou, its value was immeasurable!
For ritual masters, the most difficult part of forming a bond lies in perception. The more powerful and extreme the terrain field, the harder it is to perceive and depict; countless dangers and threats lurk within the myriad phenomena of heaven and earth.
However, as the essence of the terrain field, this thing almost condensed all the imagery of the entire field, completely undisguised.
This meant that a powerful terrain field, which originally only high-level ritual masters could perceive and successfully form a bond with, could, with the help of this core field, be miraculously perceived by a low-level ritual master, and thus successfully formed a bond!
Like the snow-capped mountain beneath his feet, which he had only vaguely sensed before—now, reaching its summit, Bai Zhou clearly realized that as a terrain capable of nurturing a domain core, this snow-capped mountain was definitely not a place where a first-tier ritual master like him could comprehend and form a contract!
The historical background of this snow-capped mountain, and the energy hidden beneath its snow, were probably far greater than Bai Zhou had initially thought!
But now—
with a domain core, everything was different.
This was a treasure that ritual masters dreamed of.
The shortcut was here.
Ordinary terrain could only allow for the formation of one contract at most—but if Bai Zhou had formed a contract with a powerful terrain like the snow-capped mountain beneath his feet from the beginning, how many contracts could he form on his body? What kind of contracts would he form?
It was hard not to be excited.
However, before that—
"Screech—!!!"
A drooping wing swept overhead, accompanied by a raging hurricane, and a vulture, its flesh and bones fused together, landed on the collapsed archway not far in front of Bai Zhou.
[Wings of Mourning]!
The murderer who killed the governor's youngest son, Bai Zhou's ultimate target on this journey!
It was as if a towering mountain had descended from the sky, its massive claws, several meters wide, gripping the archway ruins, its cold, indifferent gaze fixed on Bai Zhou.
Now, who would be the Foolish Old Man who moved the mountain?
The answer was unquestionable.
"I've been waiting for you to come—"
Bai Zhou muttered softly, then, following the knowledge of the Life-Forging Trial, his movements changed rapidly, performing several rituals.
It was still the same as before, not a prayer for the mercy of heaven and earth, but a greeting to fate.
"Buzz—"
The familiar feeling returned, a strange sensation of being watched over Bai Zhou's entire body.
—The witness of fate, in position.
The shortcut to condensing the bond was in the distance, but the prerequisite was to defeat the giant eagle before him and complete the trial. With a "buzz," his fighting spirit surged, and Bai Zhou beckoned twice to the infamous, ferocious-looking vulture, as if in provocation.
Sure enough, the vulture was enraged, soaring into the sky, and in the instant the hurricane rose, the "mountain" swooped down.
A terrifying aura, far surpassing that of ordinary Fate Forgers, filled the air with a pungent, overwhelming stench of blood, utterly crushing Bai Zhou's seemingly insignificant presence.
Yet, Bai Zhou, expressionless and fearless, swiftly drew his sword to meet the attack.
His fighting spirit surged, his sword energy intensified.
The young man and the divine eagle clashed atop the snow-capped mountain, as if a myth had descended upon this place to forge Fate, right before their eyes!
At the same time, a fully armed and imposing team also entered the Sunset Mountains.
Five aspiring Fate Forgers, three zero-fate Fate Forgers, one one-fate Fate Forger—and the leader was an extremely powerful two-fate Fate Forger!
Each of them had a different path, yet they cooperated seamlessly, their equipment comprehensive. Each possessed shrewd eyes and a capable demeanor, clearly ruthless individuals who had spent years licking blood from the edge of a knife.
But they all held the leader in deep awe, for he was a two-fate trial participant, and the adventurer path was renowned for its
fighting prowess ; this man was the most formidable of all!
These two trial participants, clad in black robes, were sworn enemies of Noranus. Having just learned the reason for the Noranus family's demise, they were ordered by a purple-robed nobleman to relentlessly pursue them, leading their men into the Sunset Mountains.
"That Lucus, a remnant of Noranus, how did he end up here?" Walking through the howling winds of the mountains, one cursed inwardly.
"Boss, with that kid's meager strength, he actually dared to come here—" Beside the black-robed man, a level one Fate Forger, clad in armor and carrying a bow and arrows, spoke with a grave expression, "No matter how you look at it, he can't possibly leave alive. Is it really necessary for us to chase him all the way in?"
"Even if—" he hesitated, "even if we just wait outside the mountains, like ambush?"
"You don't understand. There are many complex considerations involved." The man in black robes shook his head seriously and replied in a deep voice, "Right now, that kid has had a stroke of luck, getting involved with that governor. This time, he's come into the mountains for the governor's mission."
"So, he can die on a mission, he can die in the Sunset Mountains, but he can't die anywhere outside the mountains—at least not now!"
As he spoke, the man in black robes frowned, "Therefore, we must ensure that this kid dies on the way to a bounty mission, dies inside the Sunset Mountains!" "
At this moment, a team member exclaimed from behind, "From an insignificant prisoner to a ninth-class citizen, and even daring to accept the bounty from [Wings of Mourning]—
" "
This kid has a strange quality about him, and it seems he's also got a stroke of luck
," the man said. "Although I don't know how much help that governor, who lost his young son, provided in this—but if this kid really succeeds, the Nolanus family might actually have a chance to rise again because of him—"
"—No way!" The black-robed man's words were resolute, interrupting the team member's exclamation. "That brat from the Nolanus family, he can't do it!"
"Because, regardless of his success or failure, regardless of his potential or what secrets he holds, we will wipe him out today!"
The black-robed man's voice was sinister, his eyes filled with hatred and excitement. "The Noranus family is finished! Nobody wants to see it return, and it will never return—"
He turned to look at the group behind him, knowing what they were hesitating about: "Don't worry, although the Graveyard of Civilizations is infamous, we are not weak."
"That brat dared to go in alone, what about us?"
"Anyway, we're only operating on the outer perimeter, we can't be completely defenseless. Look at the powerful equipment you just acquired, and think about the generous reward for this mission!"
Money is a powerful motivator, and that's true everywhere.
Amidst their increasingly heavy breathing, the group's unease dissipated considerably.
"And don't worry, I obtained a treasure from that lord on my way here."
With that, the black-robed man pulled out an incense burner, emanating a strange fragrance. "With this, as long as we don't actively release hostility, those ominous creatures and evil spirits in the mountains generally won't attack us!"
Mentioning "that lord," the purple-robed nobleman, everyone's faces showed reverence, and they almost immediately believed the black-robed man's words.
And indeed, it was just as the black-robed man said.
Reaching the outer reaches of the Sunset Mountains, although everyone in the group was wounded and covered in dust, thanks to their carefulness, no one was lost.
Every now and then, the leader in black robes would sternly warn, "Don't look back! Don't look around! Look straight ahead, follow the trail, don't fall behind!"
"If you violate any taboos here,
and are targeted by something ominous, I can't save you!" During this time, some people narrowly escaped death, asking fearfully, "Boss, how did that kid get so far? Are we really okay continuing like this?"
The black-robed man sneered, "Heaven knows how that kid did it—I'm just following his trail."
"But if he can get this far, why can't we?"
That's true. What is Lucus? Can he compare to their impressive lineup?
No matter what methods that kid used, with the incense burner in hand, they shouldn't be able to get as far as him—
with this thought in mind, they continued onward.
Crossing the desert and leaping over cliffs, the group moved forward at an astonishing speed. Soon, using special means, they followed the tracks left by the white boat, climbed over hillsides, and arrived at a dense forest.
In the distance, the hazy view of snow-capped mountains stretched out before them. Then, they saw a silver lion lying at the foot of the slope, resembling a continuous mountain range.
It was a wondrous encounter, as if destined.
"Boom—boom—"
The lion snored loudly, as if it were fast asleep.
"So powerful!" A suffocating feeling washed over them. The lion below was almost instantly labeled as terrifying and unapproachable by everyone.
"Found it, over there—
"
At this moment, a thin man in the group, who had been keeping his eyes closed, twitched his red nose and whispered.
It was he who had been tracking the white boat's trail: "The scent is extremely strong! That brat went there and lingered for a long time!"
"That is—?"
Following the direction the red-nosed man pointed, they saw a low cave in the distance, its size seemingly unrelated to the mountain-like silver lion.
The cave entrance was pitch black, as if something was hidden inside.
"Standing there for a long time—" The man in black robes frowned. "Could it be that Lucus's secret is hidden there?"
The red-nosed man shook his head and replied, "In any case, let's just follow the cub's tracks."
"But—" The Life Forger carrying a bow and arrow hesitated before speaking, "Won't going there risk disturbing the lion?"
"If the cub can go, then we can go too." In the end, the man in black robes made the decision. "It seems that this lion is sleeping even more soundly than we thought!"
As he spoke, he solemnly warned the people behind him, "Everyone, be careful. We'll bypass the lion and follow it. Don't make a sound!"
They were quick to act, showing their decisiveness.
However—
they didn't realize that
as they approached the low cave, or rather, the small den,
the thunderous snoring seemed to lessen, maintaining a deliberate rhythm.
With its back to the group, the silver lion, its undulating silhouette like a mountain range, slowly opened its eyes—eyes filled with madness and murderous intent.
Chapter 312 The Will of Heaven Returns to Ashes, First Appearance in the World, Successful Extermination, Trial Completed!
"This is—uh—this is a nest?"
Finally reaching the dark, low cave, the group exchanged bewildered glances, examining the grassy nest before them.
"Why would that brat have a nest here—no, this nest looks old, it couldn't possibly belong to that brat."
The black-robed man clutched the incense burner in his arms, his brow furrowed in surprise and doubt: "Then, this nest belongs to—"
His words trailed off.
A sudden, eerie silence descended. Yes, eerily quiet, so quiet that not a single sound could be heard.
Including the thunderous, reassuring snoring that should have been soothing. The air seemed to solidify, almost liquefying, and before they knew it, they were surrounded by flowing silver light, like insects adrift in a mercury river. In a flash, the group, struggling against the viscous air, slowly but surely turned their heads to find a colossal mountain range, or rather, an incredible lion, forged from silver, standing behind them, head bowed, coldly surveying them. A sacred light illuminated the entire dense forest, yet carried a chilling, menacing aura. A mountain had risen. Then, it opened its massive maw, plunging darkness into the forest, the sky, and everything in sight. The silver lion swallowed the sky whole. "Life—such a fragile thing." In his final moments, the man in black felt as if he had become a philosopher, suddenly experiencing a multitude of profound truths. Clutching the incense burner in vain, his doubts would never be answered: "Wasn't it agreed that with the incense burner, as long as we didn't show hostility, we wouldn't be attacked?" " How... how could this be?" The roar and tremors from the dense forest reached the snow-capped peak. "Who's blind enough to provoke that old man—" Bai Zhou muttered to himself, but quickly regained his composure. A chilling killing intent swept over Bai Zhou. The vulture standing on the collapsed archway began its hunt, its wings spreading as it had invincible as the Wings of Mourning in countless battles. The wind and snow swirled, and a hurricane tore off large sections of the ruined wall behind Bai Zhou, mixing with the frozen earth and snowflakes, turning into a gray-white vortex of death that mercilessly swallowed the boy's small figure in the blink of an eye.
The raging hurricane, each strand imbued with a violent spiritual energy, was enough to tear most enemies to shreds—but this was merely the effect of the vulture's wingspan.
"Caw caw—"
Watching the boy's figure easily engulfed by the hurricane, the vulture's eyes unconsciously filled with disappointment and contempt.
Then, in the next instant—
"Buzz—buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz!"
A strange buzzing sound, like the chirping of flies or the buzzing of mosquitoes, suddenly rang out in the center of the vortex, growing ever louder.
A blurry figure swirled and danced within the vortex, each movement possessing a unique beauty and wondrous rhythm.
Seeing this, the vulture's murky eyes flickered with what seemed like surprise.
—Three thousand three hundred vortices!
Bai Zhou's figure seemed to merge into the swirling hurricane, his saber dancing in the direction of the hurricane's rotation, transforming the immense power contained within into Daoist energy layered upon the long blade.
Using the opponent's force against them!
His intuition for life and death was fully awakened, his inner eye opened, and his accompanying lightning was unleashed. His spirituality was meticulously arranged and operating at full power according to the trial's requirements.
With a "rip," deep blue arcs of lightning swirled around the blade, mingling with the flames that erupted from it. Scalding spirituality spread from the blade to Bai Zhou's arm, making him appear as if he were burning in a snowstorm, his black trench coat billowing and swirling amidst the ice and fire.
At the same time, a divine domain flashed behind Bai Zhou, and a figure seated on the Heavenly Throne stepped down, merging with Bai Zhou's form, causing Bai Zhou's aura to surge wildly.
"Screech—!!"
At this moment, a giant eagle suddenly attacked, its wingspan tens of meters long, blotting out the sky with an overwhelming force as if the heavens and earth were collapsing.
With two sharp "whoosh" sounds, the corpses fused with the wings all turned at the same moment, hundreds of faces crowded together, all looking at Bai Zhou in that instant—a scene too horrifying to describe.
Bai Zhou remained silent, expressionless, standing amidst the hurricane, wielding his sword against the swirling snow.
"Clang!"
The saber rang out, the Spirit Name Treasure unleashed at 10%—a red and white light crisscrossing the greyish-white snow, entwined with the might of lightning and flame.
"Moonlight Oath Saint Slash"—a slash accompanied by lightning
!
The moon rose, thunder roared, and the hurricane's turbulent currents were torn apart.
A massive wall of air split open, dividing into two streams that swept past the white boat on either side, the deafening clang of metal clashing echoing across the snow-capped mountain peak.
The unparalleled sharpness of the Spirit Name Treasure instantly ripped through the giant eagle's flesh and blood, tearing apart the faces of hundreds of agonizing, grotesque corpses, striking the eagle's bones and sending sparks flying.
"Screech!!"
The [Wings of Mourning] cried out in pain, abruptly stomping to the side, seemingly shaking half the snow-capped mountain.
One wing braced itself on the ground, crushing the ruins and rubble, while the other wing spread skyward, crashing down upon the white boat.
"Clang!!!"
Another echo of metal clashing reverberated across the mountaintop. The white boat's arm went numb from the impact, its tiger's mouth splitting and bleeding. Using the force of the impact, it rolled several times, landing with a barely conscious footing some distance away.
At this moment, the [Wings of Mourning] looked at Bai Zhou with a hint of human-like surprise, and even a touch of seriousness.
It finally regarded Bai Zhou as an opponent, even though this kid wasn't even a Fate Forger yet, but the sharpness of that long sword was something even it couldn't withstand.
The child wielding the sword was laughable, but that sword undeniably possessed the qualifications to threaten any adult.
"Again!"
Taking a deep breath, Bai Zhou stepped forward once more.
Yes, that's the feeling.
Under the witness of fate, the trial was underway, and Bai Zhou began to feel a sense of "digestion," or rather, evolution. What was being digested and dissolved were the Fate Forger thresholds that hindered life from entering a new stage, while what was evolving was his entire life state from the inside out.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
At the summit of the snow-capped mountain, the battle between the two sides was fierce, the clanging sounds like striking iron were endless, the mountain-like skeletal vulture and the tiny boy fought on the swirling snow, the entire snow-capped mountain serving as the backdrop for their contest.
This scene was as if a myth had descended upon the land, and an epic hero was about to write a miracle in slaying the eagle!
Although it was clear at a glance that the giant eagle was suppressing Bai Zhou, easily keeping him on his toes with a mere flap of its wings, and occasionally crushing small mountains with its talons, requiring Bai Zhou to exert all his strength to tumble and dodge, barely escaping with his life, Bai Zhou possessed a magical treasure. Under the newly grown longsword named "Wait," the giant eagle's tough hide and the fused corpse that had once served as its invincible armor were all easily cleaved like paper.
As a result, the giant eagle was sometimes hesitant to attack, and the two fought back and forth.
In the fierce clashes, Bai Zhou could clearly feel that the trial was progressing rapidly, as if the magnificent scene of the fierce battle between man and giant eagle on the snowy mountaintop was being recorded in history, reflecting and gradually overlapping with the mythical epics that had once occurred.
"Tear—
"
Another sound of flesh being torn rang out. Taking advantage of the gap in the giant eagle's attack from the air, Bai Zhou used the recoil from the slash to flip and land on the eagle's wing.
"Crunch, crunch!" His boots crunched underfoot among the flesh and bones embedded in the corpses, a chilling sound that sent shivers down one's
spine. Then, he strode across the broad eagle's wings.
Sensing the threat, the giant eagle raised its head and cried out, its wings suddenly whipping upwards, throwing Bai Zhou off its wings.
Bai Zhou rolled twice in mid-air, adjusted his posture, and with his long sword pointing downwards, used the momentum of his descent to plunge it fiercely into the giant eagle's nape.
"Thud!"
The blade pierced flesh, and the giant eagle cried out in pain, yet with a strange excitement.
Pain was probably nothing to a living corpse like it, but even though its body was riddled with countless wounds, it had been far too long since someone had stabbed it in the back of the neck.
In that instant, the rare stimulation of being on the verge of death made the giant eagle serious.
With its wings spread, the giant eagle began to take off.
"Sound boom!"
A sonic boom exploded in Bai Zhou's ears, and it took off at lightning speed, dragging Bai Zhou along into the sky.
The wind and snow howled around them, and the hurricane stung their cheeks like knives. In the blink of an eye, Bai Zhou, with the saber stuck in the back of the giant eagle's neck, was being dragged into the sky thousands of miles high.
The emptiness beneath their feet made their bodies go limp, and when they looked down, even the snow-capped mountains seemed small. The fierce wind reminded Bai Zhou that if it fell at this moment, it would surely be smashed to pieces.
—Or, at the moment of Bai Zhou's fall, Bai Zhou, with nowhere to hold on in mid-air, would be instantly torn apart by the giant eagle's talons!
The sky was the giant eagle's true domain. Here, it twisted and turned, swooping back and forth, sometimes soaring straight, sometimes plummeting, sometimes spinning, sometimes changing direction.
Blood splattered across the sky from the back of its neck, but Bai Zhou, firmly rooted there, refused to fall, displaying remarkable tenacity.
In truth, Bai Zhou had considered detaching himself from the eagle's body and calling upon the Pegasus to carry him.
However, while the Pegasus could accompany him in battle, ensuring he had some self-defense capabilities in the air—in terms of offense, Bai Zhou possessed little aerial combat ability, let alone any aerial combat experience. "
One-on-one, one-on-one..."
The blade energy surged, rampaging and spreading across the giant eagle's neck wound, further expanding its gains.
Having finally found a breakthrough, it would be a pity to give up now.
Moreover, if things continued like this, the vulture's advantage would gradually increase, and Bai Zhou knew that the damage he had inflicted on the vulture was limited, placing him at a complete disadvantage from beginning to end.
This wouldn't do!
Perhaps—he should
take a gamble!
Seizing the opening in the wound on the back of the neck, he concentrated his efforts—
all in!
Bai Zhou, nearly tossed about in mid-air by the giant eagle, his head spinning, suddenly had a pale golden flame ignite in his eyes.
Then, with a "whoosh," the pale golden flame spread from his eyes to his entire body, and a surging battle intent soared into the sky thousands of miles above.
Battle Flame!
The battle flame burned, his spiritual energy boiled, and Bai Zhou gripped the spiritual treasure tightly, further releasing its restraints. At the same time, he felt an intense heat in his chest, as if a great sun was slowly rising, about to burst forth.
"You're lucky," Bai Zhou muttered to himself, gazing at the majestic, mountain-like divine eagle soaring through the sky.
His growth had been too rapid, and he had always been hiding his trump cards—
leading him to not even know what his full-force explosion would look like.
Until today, until this moment.
The vulture is absolutely comparable to a level 1 life-forging master, and its defense and speed far surpass those of a level 2 life-forging master of the same rank. Even a level 2 life-forging master without a spirit-name treasure might not be able to defeat it.
It is an unparalleled enemy that Bai Zhou has absolutely no chance of defeating without going all out!
The next moment, Bai Zhou, having reached his strongest peak state through sheer power, unleashed a white light from his chest that was more dazzling, glorious, and destructive than the golden battle flames.
"Screech—!!!"
Sensing the threat, the vulture seemed to feel uneasy, its movements becoming even faster, manipulating the surrounding turbulence into hurricanes that attacked Bai Zhou, desperately trying to shake off the damned flea on the back of its neck.
But it was no use.
Like a white sun, it rose from below Bai Zhou's navel to his chest, slowly blooming on his body.
The intense fluctuations triggered a chain reaction in the surrounding spiritual energy; the spiritual energy high above seemed to ignite, even the air itself distorted and boiled.
In Bai Zhou's destiny space, above the white sun-shaped destiny mark, a profound, ancient, noble, and majestic secret mark hung high, seemingly containing the shadows of multiple secret marks, ultimately returning to one.
Integrating the strengths of various secret techniques such as [Moon Ashes], [Oath of Saints Slash], [Basic Nine Slashes], and [Thousand Blade Vortex Slash], the "Heaven-Given Secret Technique" best suited to Bai Yang's destiny and the adventurer Bai Zhou himself,
finally, proudly, made its first appearance before the world—"
[Heavenly Will Returns to Ashes]!"
The next instant.
"Boom!!!"
Several pure white beams of light burst forth from his chest, piercing through the surrounding wind and snow. At this moment, Bai Zhou could see nothing; he only felt a sun-like body emerge from his chest, rotating at an unprecedented speed, almost out of control. The
Heavenly Will Returns to Ashes, the Heavenly Secret Technique, burned his destiny, drawing every last drop of spiritual power from his body, absorbing, squeezing, and draining him completely!
Finally, Bai Zhou could no longer maintain his form and fell from the giant eagle.
But before falling, with its last ounce of strength, Bai Zhou managed to guide the bursting white sun onto the blade, successfully releasing it towards the back of the giant eagle's neck—
at that moment, the giant eagle whirled around, and for the first time, fear appeared in its cloudy eyes.
A pure white sun rose high in the sky, thousands of miles above.
The sun slowly rotated, growing larger and larger like a snowball, releasing countless rays of light.
Wherever the light touched, the wind was crushed, the snow evaporated, and the air became a deathly vacuum.
An irresistible force exploded from the sun, turning everything into a vast expanse of ashes, as if an irresistible divine will had descended, determined to overturn the world and start anew!
Above the Sunset Mountains, the perpetual black mist was crushed by the immense power, vanishing without a trace.
Within a three-mile radius, the clouds in the sky were completely swept away.
In an instant, an irregular circular hole appeared in the sky above the snow-capped mountains, allowing sunlight to stream in and bringing a rare ray of sunshine to the perpetually gloomy, massive mountains.
At the center of the swirling white sun's release, directly facing the focal point of [Heavenly Will Returns to Ashes]
—the ferocious eagle known as the [Wings of Mourning]—only managed a single, mournful cry before its sparse, grayish-white feathers curled and turned black in the white light, completely transforming into ash.
Hundreds, even thousands, of skeletons fused and embedded in the wings trembled in the white light, as if encountering a natural enemy, turning to dust segment by segment from skull to spine.
These twisted corpses, entangled in the wings for countless years, were thus reduced to bone dust and ash, peeling away layer by layer from the eagle's body, scattering across the sky, carried away by the flowing white light in all directions.
"Boom—
"
At this moment, Bai Zhou, who was falling from the sky and was extremely weak inside and out, looked in the direction of the sound and saw a huge black shadow falling straight down like a meteor below the explosion of the white sun, without any further struggle.
Although he was so weak that he didn't even want to move a little finger, Bai Zhou couldn't suppress the excitement in his heart amidst the howling wind.
Because this meant that the unparalleled enemy that Bai Zhou had fought for so long in the sky, like a mythical rebirth, the skeletal ferocious eagle called [Wings of Mourning],
had been successfully defeated!
At the same time, as if to verify Bai Zhou's thoughts, under the witness of fate, a "thud"
like a bell tolled, as if a tripod was being shaken.
A strange echo of the trial being completed came from Bai Zhou's body, which was in mid-air.
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