Firmament Sword

Now that he was alone, Xu Luo quickened his pace. He executed the Shaking Light Step on the long, ancient road, moving like a soaring bird, his feet barely touching the ground as he shot forward.

Xu Luo only had a general idea of his mother’s sect’s location, not a precise address. However, he wasn’t worried about finding it. He had Master Mao, a High-tier Spirit Beast. As long as they reached the general area, Master Mao could just find a few local Spirit Beasts and ask for directions.

「One month later.」

Xu Luo had arrived in the southernmost part of the Cangqiong Empire. Before him stretched a vast, endless mountain range!

The mountain range stretched for tens of thousands of miles, its peaks rising and falling. It was a magnificent vista of towering mountains, the tallest of which seemed to pierce the heavens. Their summits were capped with white snow, perpetually shrouded in clouds and mist.

Xu Luo knew that once he crossed this range, he would reach the South Sea. His mother’s sect had to be somewhere within these mountains.

”Miaomiao, it’s all up to you now,” Xu Luo said to Master Mao, perched on the branch of an ancient tree.

”This mountain range is enormous! It’s not going to be easy to find,” Master Mao grumbled reluctantly, rolling his eyes. Then, with a flash, he disappeared into the dense forest.

This Southern mountain range was also home to many powerful Spirit Beasts, so Master Mao couldn’t afford to be too reckless.

SCREEE!

A high-pitched, sharp cry suddenly echoed from the sky.

Xu Luo looked up. Through the immense canopy, he saw a giant bird flying overhead—it looked like a giant eagle!

With a wingspan of thirty to fifty meters, the giant eagle circled high in the sky like a dark cloud, seemingly searching for prey.

ROAR—

A roar that shook heaven and earth erupted from the forest, making the very mountains tremble. Immediately after, an enormous white tiger charged out from the dense woods of ancient trees and leaped toward the giant eagle in the sky.

SCREEE!

The giant eagle spread its iron-like talons and dove swiftly toward the white tiger.

Just as the eagle’s iron talons, which could easily crush boulders, were about to seize the white tiger’s head, the tiger opened its mouth. It spat out a bolt of ethereal blue light that washed over the eagle’s body, instantly freezing it into an ice sculpture!

SHATTER!

The giant eagle’s body suddenly shuddered, shattering the ice that encased it. It let out an incredibly furious, sharp shriek.

At the same time, the white tiger seized the opportunity. It raised a forepaw and viciously swiped at the giant eagle’s chest, tearing away a large chunk of flesh.

The giant eagle shrieked in pain, sending feathers and fresh blood flying everywhere.

The white tiger’s body plummeted downward.

Tumbling through the air, the giant eagle caught up to the white tiger and viciously raked its back!

RRRIP… A spray of blood erupted from the white tiger’s back, its pure white fur instantly stained a vast patch of crimson.

Then, the bird and the beast fell from the sky, tangled together. They attacked each other with deadly force, neither willing to back down, as if locked in a struggle between mortal enemies.

Xu Luo witnessed this scene, utterly dumbfounded. The auras emanating from these two Spirit Beasts were nearly as strong as Miaomiao’s.

’Two Spirit Beasts this powerful, and it doesn’t seem to be a territorial dispute... Why are they fighting to the death?’

His curiosity piqued, Xu Luo couldn’t resist quietly moving closer.

On his way, he came across a massive eagle’s nest. One glance was all it took for him to understand. Inside the nest was a pool of blood and a few strands of white tiger fur.

”’So the bastard ate her chick. No wonder she’s fighting to the death,’ Xu Luo muttered under his breath before creeping toward the battle between the eagle and the tiger.”

BOOM!

The peak of a mountain was sheared clean off by a single sweep of the giant eagle’s wing. A landslide of massive boulders, earth, and shattered ancient trees came crashing down toward the white tiger.

The white tiger showed no weakness, continuously spitting bolts of ethereal blue light from its mouth that seemed capable of freezing anything!

The eagle and the tiger fought with earth-shattering intensity, laying waste to the surrounding mountains. The ordinary beasts, strange creatures, and low-tier Spirit Beasts that once lived here either fled if they were lucky or were caught in the crossfire and met a violent end.

The giant eagle was enraged. The white tiger had eaten her child. In the giant eagle clan, a female could only lay three eggs in her entire lifetime—a maximum of three children!

And not all three of those eggs were guaranteed to hatch. For even one to hatch successfully and grow up safely was considered a great stroke of luck.

This female Spirit Beast had gone through countless hardships to finally hatch one egg. She had painstakingly raised her young, and the eaglet was just about to learn to fly when the white tiger ate it. How could she not be furious?

But this white tiger was no ordinary beast. The bolts of blue light it continuously spat possessed immense destructive power, capable of freezing nearly anything, and were causing the giant eagle a great deal of trouble.

The battle between the two terrifying Spirit Beasts was cataclysmic, kicking up clouds of dust and stone. The surrounding ancient trees suffered as well, pulverized by the powerful waves of energy.

Watching the giant eagle fight with mad desperation, completely disregarding its own injuries in its vow to kill its enemy, Xu Luo’s heart was stirred. He thought of his own mother, who, for his sake, had accepted her sect’s harsh conditions just to obtain a single Elixir for him.

’It seems a mother’s love is the greatest love in the world, regardless of species.’

With this thought in mind, Xu Luo let out a long cry. ”Big eagle, don’t be afraid! I’m here to help!”

The white tiger was already growing fearful of the eagle’s suicidal attacks. ’I just ate one of your chicks, so what?’ it thought. ’Just lay another egg and hatch a new one! Is this really worth fighting to the death over?’

It never expected that at a time like this, some gawking bystander would actually rush in to help. The white tiger was instantly shocked and enraged.

When it saw a human youth appear before it, the white tiger laughed in its fury and spoke in a human tongue.

”Human, you’re courting death!”

ROAR—

After speaking, the white tiger let out a furious roar. A bolt of blue light, like a flowing Star River, shot directly toward Xu Luo!

The female giant eagle only had eyes for the white tiger and paid no mind to Xu Luo’s arrival. Seeing the tiger attack Xu Luo, she opened her incredibly sharp, iron-like talons and clawed viciously at the white tiger’s head!

’Breaking Army Seven Kills!’

’Sixth Kill!’

’Rage Sea Tide!’

Xu Luo roared in his mind. Wielding the black Seven Star Sword, he unleashed the Rage Sea Tide.

An immense power transformed into an incomparably sharp Sword Intent. Like a tsunami, it howled through the sky, shattering the white tiger’s bolt of blue light before sweeping forward with unstoppable force!

BOOM!

The immense force plowed across the ground, completely flattening everything in its path—ancient trees, boulders, hills, and even small mountain peaks!

Like a kite with its string cut, the white tiger’s body was sent flying!

The white tiger possessed ninth-rank strength, which was already half a step weaker than Xu Luo. Factoring in the injuries from its fierce battle with the female eagle, it stood no chance against the ferocity of Breaking Army Seven Kills.

RRRIP!

RRRIP!

Ignoring the shockwave from Rage Sea Tide, the Sixth Kill of Breaking Army Seven Kills, the female eagle endured the backlash to the point of coughing up blood, just to viciously tear two huge chunks of hide from the white tiger’s body.

The white tiger let out a heaven-shaking roar of pain.

”Ah, my tiger pelt!” Xu Luo sighed, giving the female eagle a regretful look.

Hearing this, the severely injured white tiger nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.

’So this damn human only rushed out to help because he had his eye on my hide? This is too fucking much!’

But the white tiger was at a critical juncture. Severely injured, it was about to be killed by the enraged female eagle and Xu Luo. Just then, a furious shout echoed from the far distance, ”Who dares to kill my big cat!”

RUMBLE!

The sound wave rolled in like a thunderclap on a clear day, powerful enough to make one’s eardrums ache.

A figure appeared in a flash, blocking the way in front of the white tiger. Seeing the grievously injured, near-dead beast, the man’s expression turned incredibly foul.

He was an old man in his fifties, short and stout, with an ugly face. He had beady, triangular eyes, a wisp of a goatee on his chin, and sallow, waxy skin, as if he were chronically ill.

To top it off, this ugly old man had a small pigtail sticking straight up from his scalp... His bizarre style was enough to leave one speechless.

But the aura he exuded was astonishing and brimming with killing intent.

The old man’s eyes were locked on Xu Luo and the heavily injured female giant eagle. He snarled, ”What audacity. You dare lay a hand on my big cat? If he dies, you will all be buried with him!”

”Old Man Pigtail, you’re quite the tyrant, aren’t you? Aren’t you even going to ask what happened?” Xu Luo sneered at the old man. ”Your tiger ate my big eagle’s chick. How are we going to settle that score?”

’Shameless. Who’s your big eagle?’

As another High-tier Spirit Beast, the female giant eagle was highly intelligent. She shot Xu Luo a murderous glare.

However, she didn’t voice her objection. The reason was simple: the newly arrived old man exerted immense pressure on her. And while this human boy might not be a good person either, at least for now, he was on her side.

”My big cat ate your big eagle’s child?” the old man sneered, his tone utterly tyrannical. ”It deserved it! Big cats are carnivores. In this jungle, the strong prey on the weak. You either eat or get eaten. What is there to discuss?”

”Since you put it that way, fine,” Xu Luo said with a grin. ”I was just planning to make a pot of tiger stew. I’ve never eaten a giant tiger, a High-tier Spirit Beast, before. It must be incredibly nourishing. Old Man Pigtail, why don’t we share? Look, it’s about to die anyway...”

”You dare call me Old Man Pigtail? You little brat, you’re courting death!” the old man flew into a rage. The severely injured white tiger behind him was just as furious.

’This damned human brat actually wants to eat me! After you’re dead, I’ll make sure to eat you first!’