Chapter 3897 — The Danger Arrives
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"Leader, don't underestimate me. Where you two go, I go," Xiao Che declared at once.
Qiao Hongcai started at those words, and his face shifted with emotion. He waved his hands hastily. "Leader, Xiao Che, this is my own business. If I throw my own life away, that's only what I deserve, but dragging the two of you into it—that's just wrong. If anything happens, I'll never know peace for the rest of my life. You two had better leave, quickly!"
Wei Zhao clapped him once on the back and laughed. "All on your own, what do you figure your chances of walking out alive are? Enough. No more nonsense, no more wasting time—get on with it!"
Qiao Hongcai looked deeply at the two of them, and wasting no more words, spun about and lunged at the cub. The adult Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle might return at any moment; if he had not succeeded in binding it before then, everything would have been for nothing.
To bind a spirit beast required two indispensable conditions. First, one needed a spirit-pet talisman of the appropriate grade. Second, the captor had to wound and subdue the beast with his own hands and obtain a drop of its blood.
This Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle cub was currently around the early Heaven rank in strength, yet if it truly came to a fight, even a mid-Heaven rank expert might not be able to beat it. And it was a bird of prey, possessed of a natural advantage in the air.
Qiao Hongcai was, after all, an early-Foundation Establishment expert. With his strength, dealing with this cub was naturally more than enough—provided it did not flee. Otherwise, once it took to the sky, he and Wei Zhao and the rest would be utterly helpless.
Fortunately, though the cub had been shrieking furiously all this while, it showed no inclination to take off and flee. It simply crouched in its nest, eyes fixed on Wei Zhao and the others. Even when Qiao Hongcai lunged at it, it did not fly off outright, but instead whirled about with savage ferocity, slashing wildly with its not-yet-fully-grown talons.
Even Qiao Hongcai, an early-Foundation Establishment expert, came away with several gashes deep enough to show bone. That alone showed how ferocious its fighting power was.
"Leader, could it be this cub still doesn't know how to fly? Otherwise, why hasn't it run off yet?" Xiao Che, watching from the sidelines, could not help but wonder aloud.
The mightier the spirit beast, the longer its growth period. A Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle like this one might already look considerable in size, and its strength might already be at the early Heaven rank, but it was still a good while from adulthood. At this stage, being unable to fly was perfectly normal.
Wei Zhao said thoughtfully, "Maybe. But the Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle is not only powerful—it's exceedingly cunning and treacherous. I can't shake the feeling this cub is up to no good."
"No way. You mean this little thing isn't running because it's deliberately trying to hold us here, waiting for the adult to come back?" Xiao Che's face looked as though he had seen a ghost.
"Nothing's impossible. Spirit beasts at this level of strength are already highly intelligent; their scheming and trickery are no less than a human's. Never underestimate them," Wei Zhao said with feeling.
In the last newcomer trial, whether it was the Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle that had nearly killed him or the Nine-Tailed Cloud-Piercing Leopard he had slain, the cunning they displayed had been enough to send a chill down one's spine. Wei Zhao's suspicions about the cub before him were not without reason.
Leaving aside everything else, for the whole time just now the cub had been crying out—there might well be some link of sense between it and its parents, and the adult Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle could already be on its way back.