Chapter 175: The Mated Flood Dragons
Yun Che shuddered all over and quickly scanned his surroundings. The pendant's shell was metal, which would reflect some light, and its color was distinctly different from the ground. If it had fallen onto the withered yellow earth around him, it should have been easy to spot. But after searching for a while, Yun Che found no trace of it.
He clearly remembered that when he sat down to heal, his hand had touched the pendant while pulling at his torn collar—at that time, the pendant was still on him.
Could it be...
Yun Che abruptly looked up at the sky... When he had shaken off the Storm Fierce Eagle earlier, he had clearly felt something brush against the back of his neck. At the time, he thought it was his clothes tightening from his sudden movement and didn't think much of it, but now that he considered it...
His pendant had been snatched right off his neck!
The eagle's talons were not only incredibly sharp but also curved into hooks. If they caught the pendant's string, they could easily snag it tightly and pull the pendant off!
The Storm Fierce Eagle flew extremely fast. By now, it was already high in the sky, visible only as a blurry black dot. Yun Che's heart raced with panic. He sprinted forward desperately, but after only a few steps, he stopped and roared upward: "Xiao Xiannü! Help me catch that Storm Fierce Eagle! It stole my pendant!"
"...After a long pause, Xiao Xiannü's ethereal voice came from above: "I am only following my promise to protect you for three months, not acting as your servant. I have no obligation to obey a man's commands."
"That pendant is extremely important to me! It's tied to my origins—the only proof I have to reunite with my birth parents! I absolutely cannot lose it..."
"What has that to do with me?"
Yun Che's gaze locked onto the increasingly faint black dot high in the sky. He took a deep breath and shouted anxiously: "If you can take me to catch that Storm Fierce Eagle, I will open three... no, five! Five of your sealed acupoints! I mean what I say and will not go back on my word! If I fail, you can strike me dead with one palm!"
To any Xuan practitioner, Yun Che's words would sound like thunder—an irresistible temptation that no one could refuse. Xiao Xiannü was no exception. Two breaths later, her figure emerged before Yun Che in a shimmer of ice: "Fine, I'll help you!"
Her cold voice fell, and Yun Che felt an irresistible force lift him off the ground. His body was carried upward like an arrow from a bow, chasing the retreating Storm Fierce Eagle!
A violent rush of air slammed into him, forcing Yun Che to close his eyes temporarily. The wind howled in his ears, no less fierce than when he had ridden the giant snow condor. After he adjusted to the surging airflow, he opened his eyes. Xiao Xiannü was right beside him, her flying posture graceful, like a heavenly maiden dancing through the void. Her long white dress fluttered behind her, and beneath the stirring veil, a stunningly beautiful snow-white face was hazy and indistinct, appearing and disappearing.
Ahead, the black dot gradually grew larger in his pupils.
"Faster! We have to catch it!" Yun Che urged anxiously. He now had to pray that the pendant was securely hooked on the eagle's talons and wouldn't fall off. Otherwise, in the vast Death Wasteland, finding it would truly be like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Xiao Xiannü gave him a faint glance: "Only cultivators at the Heavenly Xuan Realm can fly through the air. The Storm Fierce Eagle is the king of the skies. Even if I go all out, I can at most barely keep pace. Right now, I am already near my limit."
As she spoke, the black dot ahead drew closer by about three li. But just then, the Storm Fierce Eagle ahead seemed to notice their pursuit. A loud and angry cry came from afar, and its speed suddenly increased, causing it to grow farther and farther away.
"No! Did it spot us? Xiao Xiannü, go faster! We have to catch it! We must!" Yun Che gritted his teeth deeply.
Xiao Xiannü looked at Yun Che again, then let out a soft sigh. A faint blue light appeared around her body, causing the temperature around them to plummet instantly.
The sudden chill made Yun Che shiver involuntarily. He quickly circulated his profound energy to ward off the bone-piercing cold. At the same time, he felt the force propelling him suddenly surge, carrying him through the air at even greater speed...
The Storm Fierce Eagle in his vision finally stopped growing more distant, but after a while, it didn't get any closer either. The threat behind it had made the eagle unleash its full speed. Though it was only a Spirit Xuan Beast, it was a true overlord of the high skies. Even Xiao Xiannü, with her Half-step King Xuan strength, could only match it—she wouldn't be left behind, but she couldn't close the gap either.
"Xiao Xiannü, can't you go any faster?" The current speed was already lightning-fast, the howling wind nearly deafening him. Yet he still anxiously wished for more speed. That pendant was far too important to him. In his life on the Cang Yun Continent, he had worn it from birth to death without ever taking it off. In this life on the Tian Xuan Continent, it had also hung around his neck since birth... as if it were the mark of his existence.
In two lifetimes, they had no parents and didn't know who their parents were. In this life, he had finally learned some clues about his birth parents. The pendant around his neck had become his only hope of discovering his origins and finding his biological parents. If he lost it, he would never know his true identity.
"This is my real limit," Xiao Xiannü replied. Sensing Yun Che's heartfelt anxiety, she offered words of comfort: "Don't worry too much. We'll catch up eventually."
"You're confident?"
"After all, it's only a Spirit Xuan Beast. When it comes to endurance, it can't compare to me at all. If we keep chasing like this, it will surely exhaust itself before I do. As long as we don't lose track of it, it won't escape."
Xiao Xiannü's words set Yun Che somewhat at ease. Remembering the last high-altitude flight, he couldn't help but smile... Last time, he and Lan Xueruo had been chased by the Storm Fierce Eagle until the giant snow condor tired out. Now, the situation was completely reversed. He and Xiao Xiannü were chasing the Storm Fierce Eagle through the air, waiting for it to tire instead.
The Storm Fierce Eagle's massive body cast a long black shadow across the sky as it flew straight north... heading deeper into the Death Wasteland.
Xiao Xiannü and Yun Che pursued relentlessly, vast stretches of land passing beneath their gaze. Two hours later, they had left hundreds of li of wasteland behind, completely crossing the territory of Spirit Xuan Beasts and entering the airspace of Earth Xuan Beasts. If Yun Che were to land now, encountering any beast would be life-threatening.
Even this region's high skies were something the Storm Fierce Eagle would never dare enter under normal circumstances. But with Yun Che and Xiao Xiannü in hot pursuit, it had no choice but to fly here with all its might... and then continue north.
Another hour passed, and the sky gradually darkened. Before they knew it, they had covered nearly nine hundred li. The airspace they were in now was close to the center of the Death Wasteland—a place Yun Che could never reach with his own strength.
After such a long period of full-speed flight, the Storm Fierce Eagle finally began to show signs of fatigue. Its flying speed slowed, and its distant cries no longer carried vitality but instead became increasingly weak and weary.
The profound energy of a Half-step King Xuan was incredibly deep. Even after carrying someone at full speed for three hours, Xiao Xiannü showed no signs of exhaustion. As the black dot ahead grew closer and she could gradually make out the Storm Fierce Eagle's blurry silhouette, she said softly: "It's nearly exhausted. Get ready to capture it."
As she spoke, their flying speed increased slightly, drawing them ever closer to the Storm Fierce Eagle. Half a quarter of an hour later, they were less than a kilometer away. At that moment, the Storm Fierce Eagle suddenly flapped its wings, let out a feeble cry, and its body slumped down toward a low hill below.
Xiao Xiannü quickly dove with Yun Che, descending closer to the ground...
But just then, Mo Li's startled shout rang out in Yun Che's mind: "Dodge! Danger!!"
Yun Che's heart jolted. The moment Mo Li's voice fell, a huge silver shadow shot up from the low hill below. Like a serpentine lightning bolt, it streaked straight upward. A massive mouth, the size of a house, opened wide, filled with terrifying fangs, and lunged at them.
Both Yun Che and Xiao Xiannü were shocked. Xiao Xiannü grabbed Yun Che's arm and pulled back with all her strength, narrowly dodging the enormous maw. But the danger wasn't over. Behind them, an equally threatening aura surged—another nearly identical maw lunged at them from the rear...
"Get back!"
Xiao Xiannü frowned. Her right hand extended and instantly erected a barrier of ice crystals dozens of zhang wide in front of her. The gaping maw slammed into the ice barrier, rebounding far away. The barrier itself now bore large cracks.
Seeing the cracks in the ice barrier, Xiao Xiannü's brows furrowed deeply.
Yun Che's eyes were filled with shock.
Because he saw dragons...
Silver dragons!
And two of them!
Two silver dragons, each over thirty zhang long, soared into the air, one in front and one behind, circling around him and Xiao Xiannü. Their scales reflected silver light like countless slithering serpents, and two vast, terrifying auras locked firmly onto them.
"These aren't true dragons, but two mutated flood dragons! They reek strongly of poison... In terms of rank, they are high-level Heavenly Xuan Beasts! Their strength is at the peak of the Heavenly Xuan Realm, comparable to a level-ten Heavenly Xuan Realm expert. In a few decades, they would step into the Half-step King Xuan realm. If there were only one, with her Half-step King Xuan strength, she could handle it. But two... unless she sacrifices herself!"
Mo Li's voice was extremely cautious: "Your best option now is to let her engage the two flood dragons while you take the chance to escape immediately! Otherwise, you'll only die! Because escaping together is impossible... A dragon's ability to fly is even greater than an eagle's!"
At that moment, the flood dragon in front opened its massive mouth and spoke in human tongue: "Another foolish human coveting the Dragon God's treasure... Die!"
Its voice was heavy and thunderous. As the words fell, both flood dragons surged simultaneously. Two violent auras, one from the front and one from the back, blasted toward Yun Che and Xiao Xiannü.