Of the three eagle eggs, the two on the right were perfectly intact.
The leftmost one had been grazed by Yang An's arrow, leaving a thumb-sized hole in its center.
A crystalline, honey-like fluid leaked from the crack, wafting a faint, sweet fragrance.
Books say that most ferocious beasts evolve from wild animals that have breathed in worldly spiritual energy for years or happened to devour heavenly treasures.
Thus, their flesh and blood are potent tonics.
Even the lowliest parts can strengthen one's blood energy and boost physical power! The value of these three giant eagle eggs is likely no less than the Black Jade Lotus in my shirt!
Yang An's stomach growled. He swallowed hard at the sight of the eggs.
"If only I had a pot..."
Having awakened the memories of his past life as a civilized man, the idea of eating raw eggs was still somewhat repulsive to him.
"I don't know how long it'll take to recover my stamina."
"Now is not the time to be squeamish."
Picking up the cracked egg, Yang An took a small sip. His eyes widened instantly—the egg had no fishy smell at all! Instead, it was incredibly delicious and sweet!
With that, all his hesitation vanished.
He hoisted the egg above his head and poured it into his mouth like a coconut. The crystalline whites and golden yolk went gulp, gulp, gulp into his stomach.
An egg several times larger than an ostrich egg was drained in the blink of an eye!
Even after the last drop was gone, Yang An still craved more. He tossed the empty shell aside; it was so hard it didn't even shatter against the rocks.
Yang An picked up the second egg.
He had to hack at it twice with his short knife to create an opening, then lifted it to guzzle the contents. Just as he suspected, these eggs were truly spiritual treasures.
Yang An's exhausted body began to react.
The fluid transformed into a warm current, churning in his belly before rapidly flowing into his limbs. His hands and feet, previously frozen stiff, warmed up in no time.
Furthermore.As he finished the second egg, Yang An's pores gradually opened, and he began to sweat. Along with the sweat, semi-transparent impurities—smelling quite foul—were expelled from his skin.
He guessed these were the "impurities" within his body.
This process lasted for about the time it takes for half an incense stick to burn. When it ended, Yang An felt an indescribable sense of refreshment and vigor!
The fatigue accumulated from climbing the cliff in the wind and snow had vanished completely.
Even his strength seemed to have increased; with a light squeeze, he crushed the second eggshell into powder.
Yang An thought to himself:
This must be the [Heaven-Sent Demon Lord] ability in action. My body is like a furnace, capable of digesting heavenly treasures and converting them into my own power.
As expected, the most terrifying part of the [Demon Lord Tai Sui] talent isn't the tenfold combat power boost, but the absence of bottlenecks in both cultivation and comprehension.
With that in mind.Yang An prepared to open and eat the third egg.
But on second thought...
What was the fun in enjoying such a good thing alone?
His sister and brother-in-law at home had never tasted such a thing. He had to leave one for them to try.
He cut a length of rope from his waist, tied a few knots to form a makeshift carrier, and secured the last egg. After shaking it to make sure it wouldn't fall, he slung it at his waist.
Having eaten his fill.His strength had returned.
Planning to reach home before sunset, Yang An didn't linger in the nest. He grabbed a handful of feathers and stuffed them into his fur coat for insulation.
He climbed onto the branches surrounding the nest.
Braving the snow, he made a powerful leap upward, grasping the rope he had cut earlier. Pulling himself up, he reached the iron arrow he had driven into the cliff earlier.
He took one look down at the bottomless abyss.
Quickly withdrawing his gaze, he secured the broken rope back to his waist and began climbing toward the summit using the iron arrows as steps.
The wind and snow in Yunling Mountain remained ferocious.
However, after consuming two giant eagle eggs, Yang An's blood energy was several times more vigorous than before. His strength had increased significantly, and with the insulating eagle feathers under his coat, he no longer felt the bone-piercing chill!
"The charm of heavenly treasures," Yang An chuckled, hauling himself up the rope.
Just as everything seemed to be going well.
When Yang An had climbed only a few dozen meters.
A piercing shriek suddenly erupted from the distance!
"SCREE!!!"The sound approached at extreme speed!
Following it was a gust of wind as sharp as a blade. Yang An shuddered; without time to look back, he gripped the rope with one hand and swung himself violently to the side!
But he was still a fraction too slow.
Rip! The thing grazing his left back instantly tore through several layers of his fur coat, leaving three bloody gashes. The feathers stuffed inside scattered into the wind!
Yang An endured the searing pain.
Only then did he have time to look back.
He saw a black eagle, even larger than the one he had just killed, soaring into the high sky. It then tilted its head down and dove toward him once more in a glide!!
Remembering the eggs in the nest.
Could it be that a pair lived in that nest?! I killed the female, and now the male is here for revenge?!
There was no time for shock.
The black eagle was too fierce. Yang An reached for the bow on his back, only to realize he had no arrows left in his quiver. Moreover, hanging on a cliff without a foothold, he couldn't even draw the bow!
Right now, he was a sitting duck for the eagle!
He had zero ability to fight back!
"I have to get to the top of the cliff immediately!" Yang An decisively abandoned the idea of fighting and scrambled up the iron arrows as fast as he could!
But no matter how fast he climbed, he couldn't outrun a flying eagle. The black eagle spread its wings.
With a few beats, it crossed dozens of meters!
Seeing it about to catch up amidst the freezing wind!
Having just been clawed in the back, Yang An knew exactly how sharp those talons were!
Seeing the eagle's claws aimed straight for his head.
"If I get caught, it's game over, isn't it?"
In his desperation.
Yang An, always quick-witted, grabbed the eagle egg hanging from his waist and threw it with all his might in the opposite direction!
The giant eagle raised its talons.
Just as it was about to tear Yang An apart.
It suddenly saw the egg flying from his hand, plummeting toward the abyss!
The giant eagle let out a furious cry.
It decisively abandoned its pursuit of Yang An, tucked its wings, and performed a sharp mid-air turn, diving after the falling egg.
"The eagle took the bait!"
"Or rather, in its eyes, my life is far less important than that egg!"
"Whatever the reason."
"This is my only chance to live."
Seizing this precious moment, Yang An didn't hold back and immediately activated the tenfold combat power of his [Tai Sui] talent. As his blood energy surged, he gripped the iron arrows with both hands, using the leverage to pull himself up like a nimble cat.
Once his feet were firmly planted on an iron arrow.
Yang An used it as a launching pad. His legs bent like compressed springs, his muscles gorging with blood and expanding!
They nearly tore through his trouser legs.
With a muffled Bang!, tenfold power exploded from his legs. Braving the gale, he shot upward like an arrow from a bow, leaping over ten meters high!
He landed steadily on a fixed iron arrow above!
The arrows he had driven in earlier were paying off.
Using them like stairs, every charged leap covered over ten meters!
Having eaten two eagle eggs.
His strength had increased, and the duration he could maintain the tenfold combat power was also longer than before.
One, two!He repeated this cycle more than ten times!
Of the two-hundred-meter cliff, less than a hundred meters remained. At most, five or six more leaps would bring him to the top, where he could escape into the deep forest.
He could survive the black eagle's talons!
Yang An held his breath and prepared to leap again, but that murderous eagle shriek caught up once more!
The charging black eagle tore through the wind and snow.
A whooshing sound echoed!
The eagle was fast—far faster than Yang An. Seeing the egg clutched in its talons and its murderous eyes locked onto him, Yang An's heart sank. He knew he couldn't outrun it.
"Continuing to flee is just a slower death."
"Then I won't flee!"
"You damned feathered beast! You want my life? Then I'll take yours first!"
With nowhere left to retreat, the murderous light in Yang An's eyes flared!
Under the tenfold combat power.
A dark red, baleful aura flickered like flowing light at the corners of his eyes. He suddenly drew the short knife from his waist and leapt off the cliff—a suicidal jump directly toward the black eagle flying up from below!
It looked as if man and bird were about to collide.
In its rapid ascent.
The black eagle couldn't change direction in time, but it didn't need to!
It beat its wings violently, accelerating upward!
It intended to use its razor-sharp beak to skewer Yang An's body and tear him apart completely!
Coincidentally, Yang An thought the same!
He gripped the short knife with both hands, his waist arching like a fully drawn bow, and stabbed downward at the eagle's head!
With [Fated Against Tai Sui] fully active.
The flow of time in Yang An's perception seemed to slow down! Everything around him turned into slow motion! Just as the eagle's spear-like beak was about to pierce his body!
"DIE!!!"
Yang An hoisted the charged knife high, and a split second before the eagle could strike, it descended like a bolt of lightning. The cold, white blade slammed deep into the eagle's skull!
Squelch!
The knife sank in up to the hilt!
Warm blood sprayed across Yang An's face!
The black eagle shrieked in agony. Because of the blinding pain, the beak that should have pierced Yang An's stomach grazed past his shoulder instead, leaving a trail of blood!
He had dodged the fatal blow!
However, the momentum of the eagle's high-speed flight had not dissipated.
The steel-like eagle wing, like an iron bar, slammed heavily into Yang An's stomach, pushing him upward for another dozen meters!
Bang!
Yang An's back smashed violently against the cliff face.
The jagged rocks shredded his coat, and several of his bones snapped. Yang An sprayed fresh blood from his mouth and nose, feeling as if his body was being crushed!
He roared in pain.
The black eagle was also shrieking, its wings thrashing!
Both man and bird had reached their limits. Now, it was a contest of who was more ruthless!
Whoever was more ruthless would survive!
Yang An gripped the eagle's feathers with a death grip.
Under the tenfold combat power, his murderous eyes turned a deeper, burning crimson. Enduring the agonizing pain, he roared and twisted the handle of the knife embedded in the eagle's head!
"DIE!!!"
The rotating blade turned the eagle's brains into mush!
Blood poured from the eagle's beak and its eyes. With its brain destroyed, the beast let out a final dying wail and began to fall powerlessly.
Yang An won. He was more ruthless than this black eagle!
His sister and brother-in-law were still waiting for him at home; he didn't want to die with this feathered beast.
He let go.
Leaving the short knife in the eagle's head, Yang An grabbed the safety rope at his waist, jumping off the bird just before it fell.
He thought the eagle would just die like that.
But the black eagle, its eyes overflowing with blood that stained its feathers, hated this human who had slaughtered its entire family!
It hated Yang An to the core!
In the final moment of its life force.
It pushed everything to beat its wings twice more, soaring up, and bit through Yang An's life-saving rope in one go!
It dragged him down into the abyss along with it!
Below the cliff.
In a nearby pine forest.
The soft, white snow weighing down the branches melted into water under a wave of heat.
Lin Hao, riding the flaming lion, was currently very irritable.
He spoke with growing impatience to his adjutant, Han Dang: "Is your information solid? Did Princess Anle really enter the mountains with a few female officials just to find a Snow Civet Cat to play with?"
"Don't worry, Young Master. This news came from the Princess's estate; it can't be wrong. It's just..." Han Dang hesitated.
"Just what?"
"Young Master, are we really going to kidnap the Princess? Won't there be trouble?"
A few years ago.
Lin Hao had accompanied Lin Yeping to the capital and caught a glimpse of Princess Anle from afar. He was instantly captivated. Since then, he had been haunted by her, unable to eat or sleep.
Princess Anle was the Divine Sovereign's most beloved princess.
Even when she married.
It was highly likely she would marry into the Divine Sovereign's own clan.
Lin Hao thought he would never have a chance to get close to her in this life.
He never expected the Princess to come to Yunzhou to admire the snow.
And she only brought a few accompanying female officials—not a single guard!
A heaven-sent opportunity!
A flicker of fire lit up in Lin Hao's eyes. He said excitedly, "Prince Jing needs my father's support. As long as the deed is done, this marriage will be set. By then, even the Divine Sovereign will have to accept it. Who would dare say a word against it?"
"Is that so?"
A charming female voice suddenly drifted from above.
Lin Hao snapped his head up, but there was nothing above but branches and falling snow!
"Did I hear wrong?"
Lin Hao felt suspicious and was about to ask his adjutant.
Whoosh!A blurred figure flickered past his eyes!
Eerie as a ghost!
Terrified, Lin Hao lashed out with his whip toward the figure, but the force only blasted the snow on the ground. He hit nothing. He barked at the surroundings, "Who! Who is playing tricks! Come out now and I might spare your life!"
It seemed Lin Hao was the only one who noticed the voice and the figure.
Han Dang, the adjutant beside him.
Thought Lin Hao was having a hallucination and quickly asked with concern, "Young Master, what's happened?"
Before Lin Hao could speak.
Han Dang, who was fine just a second ago, felt a thin red line appear on his neck. Right before Lin Hao's eyes, his round head silently slipped from his shoulders and thudded onto the ground!
The spraying blood splashed across Lin Hao's face in a crimson stain!
Lin Hao was struck with horror. "Enemy attack! Form up!"
He hurriedly ordered the accompanying soldiers to defend, but as Han Dang lost his head, the other attendants could no longer hear him.
Seeing no response.
Lin Hao looked to the side. The dozen or so attendants behind him had all lost their heads silently, just like Han Dang. Their headless corpses sprayed blood as they tumbled from their mounts!
They lay in the snow along with their severed heads.
Like disassembled toys, scattered everywhere.
Except for Lin Hao.Everyone had been slaughtered in this pine forest.
Bodies lay strewn about, and the steaming blood stained the snow in crimson patches.
Like flowers blooming in the winter.
Never had he encountered such a terrifying and eerie scene!
Pale as a ghost, Lin Hao urged his lion to flee, but before he could move a few steps, even the flaming lion he rode suddenly lost its head.
The lion fell dead.Lin Hao, riding it, tumbled into the snow.
Nearly driven mad, Lin Hao kicked away the lion pinned on his leg and scrambled away, screaming, "Ghost! There's a ghost!"
At that moment.Eight women in green robes, wearing faceless masks, slowly revealed themselves from the pine forest, clutching long swords. The blades were stained with blood; clearly, the slaughter was their handiwork.
In pairs.They blocked all of Lin Hao's escape routes.
Approaching him without a word, Lin Hao was scared out of his wits. Cornered and with nowhere to run, he broke down into sobs, swinging his precious sword wildly in front of him.
"Are you humans or ghosts?!"
"My father is the Yunzhou Jiedushi, Lin Yeping! If you touch me, my father won't let you get away with it!!"
"STAY BACK!!!"Clang!
After knocking the sword out of Lin Hao's hand.
The eight women in green withdrew their swords simultaneously. They then formed two neat rows, parting to reveal a magnificent embroidered umbrella behind them, woven from gold silk and red thread. Purple golden bells were tied to the eight corners of the umbrella.
As the wind blew.They made a crisp, pleasant ringing sound—ling ling~
Beneath the umbrella was a phoenix carriage cast in pure gold. Two Blue Phoenixes (Qingluan) with feathers glowing softly crouched in front.
The Great Xia Dynasty's Princess Anle.Qin Guo'er.
Her face veiled in crimson gauze, her eyebrows traced with a lazy air.
Leaning against the phoenix carriage, she toyed with her freshly painted nails and said indifferently:
"Filthy insect, say that one more time."
"Whom exactly... were you planning to kidnap?"