In the forest with fresh air, Mo Yu lay in the grass, his breath completely restrained. His body was motionless like a rock. His eyes peered through the grass at a green wolf drinking from a stream.
It was the third day since Mo Yu and Xiao Yixian had parted ways. Over the past few days, he had been moving deeper into the Monster Mountain Range. Judging by his speed, he should now be in the middle of the range.
The green wolf before Mo Yu was an ordinary second-level beast, comparable in strength to a two or three-star human fighter. In their recent encounters, Mo Yu had inflicted severe wounds on the wolf. To prevent it from dying prematurely, he had kept it alive, preparing for a decisive strike.
"Now!" Mo Yu thought as the green wolf limped to the stream and lowered its head to drink.
In a swift motion, Mo Yu emerged from behind the cover of falling leaves, appearing directly behind the wolf. Seventeen lightning patterns surged on his right arm. A powerful force surged into his fist as he struck the wolf's waist with the ferocity of thunder.
"Thunder Body!"
As the low roar resonated in his heart, the immense force caused the wolf to whimper. Its body was hurled more than ten meters before crashing into a tree trunk. Its legs twitched for a moment before it finally went limp.
With a decisive step, Mo Yu approached the fallen beast, drew a small dagger from his waist, and cut open the wolf's head. A small green crystal emerged from its eye.
"Finally found a second-level magic core."
Mo Yu's eyes brightened at the sight of the green crystal. He had been sensing an imminent breakthrough and needed a second-level magic core to complete it.
After extracting the magic core, Mo Yu discarded the wolf's corpse and looked up to determine the direction. He then made his way briskly toward a mountain wall.
At the base of a steep mountain wall, Mo Yu carefully climbed up the wet and greasy stones to a cave situated four or five meters above the ground. Like a nimble monkey, he quickly entered the cave, which had been prepared in advance.
The cave was a bit cool but spacious enough for Mo Yu to stay comfortably. Inside, he found some daily necessities and a stone bed deep within. He took out the second-level magic core and prepared to make his breakthrough.
Sitting cross-legged on the stone bed, Mo Yu began his meditation. He performed the hand seal of cultivation, slowly calming the Dou Qi that had been disrupted in his body. After repeating this cycle for an hour and feeling the Dou Qi return to its previous state, he summoned Xuan Lei.
Mo Yu was highly skilled at using black thunder to devour magic cores, so consuming a second-level core was a straightforward process for him. The energy feedback from Xuan Lei was the final push he needed for his breakthrough.
"Eight-star fighter!"
Feeling the surge of power in his body, Mo Yu smiled. As an eight-star fighter, he was just two steps away from becoming a fighter master. However, these two steps presented a significant challenge. The closer one was to the end of their practice, the more energy was required, and progress slowed considerably.
Shaking off his thoughts, Mo Yu retrieved a black scroll from his ring. It was a scroll detailing advanced Xuan-level flying fighting skills.
Unrolling the carefully tied scroll, two black eagle wings emerged. The wings were pitch black with faint purple cloud patterns, resembling black steel with a special metallic texture. The feathers emitted a faint heat.
"The Black Flame Purple Cloud Eagle is a fifth-rank flying magical beast. It is said to possess a sparse bloodline of the ancient phoenix. Its flying speed is among the fastest of all flying magical beasts. It is cunning and ferocious by nature and extremely difficult to capture. It only inhabits the Yunzhimian area in the southern part of the continent," Mo Yu read from the scroll.
"I didn't expect this flying fighting skill to originate from the southern part of the continent. It must have taken a lot of effort," Mo Yu mused, stroking his chin.
Mo Yu then touched the slightly purple-black eagle wings on the scroll. His keen soul perception detected a violent and brutal soul hidden within the wings.
"There's an unconscious soul embedded within these wings, which was fused with the wings of a flying monster through a secret method. The flying fighting skills of the Douqi Continent are indeed extraordinary," Mo Yu remarked.
"In that case, I'll first subdue this remnant soul!"
Placing his palms on the scroll and lightly pressing down on the soft wings, Mo Yu closed his eyes.
As soon as his palms made contact with the wings, the brutal soul of the eagle let out a piercing cry that made Mo Yu's soul tremble. The cry traveled through the scroll and penetrated Mo Yu's arm, drilling into his brain.
However, Mo Yu's soul was stronger than that of an ordinary great fighter, enhanced by the blessing of Xuan Lei. Even the remnant soul of a fifth-level monster could not overpower him.
The battle of souls lasted only three minutes before the Purple Cloud Eagle's remnant soul was completely defeated. Mo Yu was not surprised; if he couldn't withstand a fifth-level monster's residual soul, he would have no business traversing the continent.
After suppressing the Purple Cloud Eagle's soul, Mo Yu placed his palms back on the eagle wings. His fighting spirit began to flow along the path described in the scroll. It traveled to his arms and then into his palms.
When the fighting spirit manifested in his palms, the eagle wings on the black scroll shone brightly. The purple and black colors deepened until they became two tiny rays of purple and black light, which shot into Mo Yu's palm like lightning.
The two tiny rays of light flowed through Mo Yu's meridians, eventually stopping at his back, where they extended into two extremely thin branches that reached his spine.
Simultaneously, all the text and images of the eagle wings on the black scroll disappeared.
Mo Yu felt the fighting spirit in his body flow freely along the two small branches and into his back. The jet-black eagle wing tattoo on his back emitted a purple light and transformed into real wings. The wings, initially the size of a palm, expanded to about two feet.
Feeling the newly formed wings with their purple patterns, Mo Yu flapped them slightly. With a rustling sound of wind, he leaped out of the cave and soared into the air.
"It's been a long time since I last felt this way."
Suspended in mid-air, the purple wings fluttering behind him, Mo Yu took in the mountain view and reflected on his progress with a sense of satisfaction.