Chapter 3898 — The Target Is Gone

If he brought it along, not only would that man become a target of the Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle's pursuit, but he would also be greatly slowed down—his fate would be all but certain death.

But Wei Zhao had his own reasons for doing this. In order to cover Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai's safe escape, taking the cub along was the perfect choice to draw the attention of the Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle overhead.

What was more, the ghostly thing had just given him a tip: once such a cub was subdued by a human and became a spirit pet, it had completely left the wild spirit beast pack. If its spirit beast parents discovered it, they would not continue to protect and feed it—they would kill it outright.

For it had been brainwashed, obeying only its master's commands, and so in its parents' eyes it had become a thorough aberration, something to be eliminated as quickly as possible.

Yet Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai knew nothing of such matters. In fact, even if they had known, neither of them would have let Wei Zhao do something so dangerous.

Qiao Hongcai especially—if Wei Zhao died because of his impulsive act of subduing a spirit pet today, he would live the rest of his life in self-reproach and regret, a fate worse than death.

But they had no chance to speak. Seeing Wei Zhao hoist the unconscious cub onto his back, the Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle overhead flew into a towering rage at once. Its two enormous wings beat violently, and a vast, incomparable gale of gang wind came crashing down from above.

Boom! The great tree beneath their feet was extremely thick, requiring at least five people with arms linked to encircle it. Yet even so, it could not withstand the mighty gang wind stirred up by the Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle. After a thunderous crash, it—along with a dozen or so giant trees around it—was snapped clean through and came crashing down.

Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai lost their footing and tumbled down with it into the dust. Fortunately, they were, after all, early-Foundation Establishment experts. Though they landed in a sorry state—Qiao Hongcai, owing to his wounds, even vomited a great mouthful of blood—they were not about to be smashed to death outright.

Amid the chaos of broken wood and shattered branches filling the sky, by the time the two of them finally steadied themselves, Wei Zhao was long gone from sight—and even the adult Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle overhead had vanished without a trace.

Qiao Hongcai panicked at once and made to go find Wei Zhao, but Xiao Che stopped him. "In your current state, coughing up blood like that, even if you caught up you'd only be a burden to the leader. Don't worry—the leader never does anything he isn't sure of. If he dared to do this, he must have his own way."

"But we can't just abandon the leader like this, can we?" Qiao Hongcai said anxiously.

"Then wait for me. I'll go up and take a look." With that, Xiao Che leaped straight up onto a giant tree not far away.

Trying to find Wei Zhao in this boundless dense forest was simply unrealistic. The only way now was to use the Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle to determine Wei Zhao's position. And though the Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle had an enormous body, it was very hard to see from down below—one had to climb to the top of a tree.

Qiao Hongcai wanted to follow, but he was not the agile type of expert; who knew how long it would take him to get up a tree, especially now that he was wounded. He could only wait below for news from Xiao Che.

After waiting anxiously for a while, he saw Xiao Che come flying down from above. Qiao Hongcai hurried forward and asked, "How is it? What's the leader's situation?"

Xiao Che wore a strange look on his face. He scratched his head and said, "Well... I don't know how to put this."

"What do you mean, how to put it? Is the leader in danger? Just say it!" Qiao Hongcai grew even more anxious.

"No, no—the Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle is now about a dozen li to the north. But when I looked just now, it kept circling around that spot, as if it were searching for something, yet it never descended." There was a note of disbelief in Xiao Che's tone.

"What does that mean?" Qiao Hongcai still did not understand.

Xiao Che pinched his chin and ventured, "The way it feels to me, this Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle seems to have lost track of the leader—that's why it's circling like that."

"How is that possible?" Qiao Hongcai could not help but stare blankly.

As a powerful spirit beast of mid-Foundation Establishment or above, and a bird of prey of the aerial overlord class, the Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle's perception was beyond doubt. Once it locked on to something, even an expert stronger than it might not be able to shake it off—let alone Wei Zhao.

"I don't know how the leader managed it either, but from what I can see, that does seem to be what happened." Though Xiao Che was equally incredulous, seeing was believing, and he had no choice but to accept it.

"So what do we do now?" Qiao Hongcai scratched his head. If Wei Zhao were in danger, then by his nature he would have charged in without a second thought—but the situation now left a man at a loss.

Xiao Che thought for a moment and said, "The way I see it, we can't go to the leader now. Otherwise, not only would we fail to help, we'd very likely make things worse. But we can't stay here long either—if the Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle can't find the leader, it may well turn back. We'd best leave first and think of a way to reunite with the leader afterward."

"Well... all right." Qiao Hongcai was still somewhat worried about Wei Zhao's situation, but under the circumstances, rushing after him would indeed be the most foolish and harmful choice. He could only do as Xiao Che said.

Meanwhile, on Wei Zhao's side, just as Xiao Che had surmised, Wei Zhao had indeed successfully shaken off the Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle's pursuit.

The Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle overhead was about as strong as the one they had encountered during the last new-recruit trial—also mid-Foundation Establishment. Given Wei Zhao's current strength, shaking off its lock was originally an extremely difficult thing, and from first to last, the ghostly thing had not lifted a finger to help.

This time, the reason he had managed so smoothly was all thanks to the cub Qiao Hongcai had just subdued.

True enough, in the eyes of the Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle overhead, this cub was a perfect signal beacon. Carrying such a cub, Wei Zhao was like a man hauling a several-hundred-watt light bulb—no matter how fast he moved, he could not escape its perception.

Yet there is an old saying: darkest right beneath the lamp. The Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle could have locked directly onto Wei Zhao, but since the cub was there like a natural great light bulb, the eagle naturally locked onto the cub instead. It did not know that Wei Zhao carried a golden finger called the jade pendant space.

Once he had drawn the Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle away from Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai, Wei Zhao promptly stuffed the cub into the jade pendant space. And so, without suspense, the Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle lost all trace of Wei Zhao in an instant, as if its eyes had suddenly gone blind.

Only then did the scene Xiao Che witnessed come about: the Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle circling and ranging overhead, yet never able to find Wei Zhao's figure. RS