Chapter 55: The Cave Beneath the Cliff!
The Scarlet Flame Azure Hawk, with a black arrow partially embedded in its skull, lost control and plummeted from the sky. Seeing this, the blue eagle dove rapidly after it, heading toward the cliffside where the hawk had fallen.
Magical beasts cultivated in a rather rough and primal way—absorbing the energy of heaven and earth, devouring sun and moon essence, consuming rare treasures, or directly eating the flesh and magic cores of stronger beasts.
Soon, the blue eagle spotted the blood-soaked body of the Scarlet Flame Azure Hawk lying on a ledge partway down the cliff. The fall had clearly caused it significant injury.
Swish…
A crisp and fluid bowstring sound rang out. This time, Jiang Lin did not hold Xiao Yi Xian close. He had said it before: women only weakened his draw strength. Fine—now he was going to test the Black Feather Bow's full-draw damage against a tier two magical beast.
The hawk seemed to sense its impending death. With a faint, pitiful screech, it tried to beg for mercy as it hovered weakly a hundred meters away from Jiang Lin.
"When you prepare to hunt, you must also be prepared to become prey. That applies to both of us… doesn't it?"
Tier two beasts were fairly intelligent. But Jiang Lin showed no mercy. He activated the Qing Feather Archery Technique. Crimson-gold Dou Qi surged through the bow and arrow. Whoosh! The Scarlet Flame Azure Hawk had no time to react before its iron-like skull was pierced clean through. Instant death.
"Coo coo coo!" The blue eagle chirped excitedly, then swooped down to scavenge the magic core. But Jiang Lin stopped it first.
"I need that fire-type tier two core. I also need the feathers and bones. You can have the meat. Don't worry—I'll feed you other cores later." Despite being called the blue eagle, this beast was actually wind-type, so giving it a fire-type core would be wasteful. Xiao Yi Xian had named it "Xiao Lan" because of its elemental alignment—it's common in this world to deduce Dou Qi attributes just by someone's name.
Xiao Yi Xian's surname was Han, and her full name was Han Xianyi. Kind of a "mountain herbalist" vibe… fitting, since her Dou Qi was wood-type (later turning poison).
"Coo coo coo!" The eagle grumbled, clearly displeased. But remembering how the small human on its back had shot down a tier two beast with ease, it reconsidered. A great eagle born under heaven must know when to yield to rise again! So, it no longer argued.
"Is the cave far from here?" Jiang Lin gestured. The eagle shook its head—no, it was nearby.
"Good. Leave the body here for now. We'll take care of it later." Jiang Lin drew a small knife, sliced open the hawk's chest, extracted the fire-type magic core, then departed with Xiao Yi Xian.
Magic cores could be found in various parts of a beast's body—some in the head, others near the heart. Jiang Lin figured that if the brain was already small, placing the core there would just make the beast dumber. Better near the heart.
Five minutes later, the blue eagle hovered in place on a strong updraft under the cliff. Below, twenty meters down, they spotted a man-made cave entrance with a stone door, partially visible in the moonlight.
"Careful—there are lots of rock snakes inside!" Xiao Yi Xian warned.
Rock snakes were barely classified as tier one beasts. They were good at camouflage and poison, often lurking on cliff walls, blending in with their environment to ambush passing humans or beasts.
"Yeah, I can sense quite a few." Jiang Lin nodded, wrapped an arm around Xiao Yi Xian's slim waist, and swapped positions with her mid-air, making her yelp softly in surprise.
"Hold on tight. Eagle-bro, ease in slowly. No need to fear—we're domesticating you now, no poison or injury will stop you." Jiang Lin reassured Xiao Yi Xian and lightly patted the blue eagle, signaling it to move in. His soul sense told him the cliff wall was crawling with activity—many eyes filled with cold hunting intent stared back. But he couldn't pinpoint exact positions due to distance.
Click—
The Black Feather Bow unfolded again. This time, Jiang Lin didn't use a physical arrow. He gently plucked the bowstring, channeling Dou Qi into the bow until an ethereal energy arrow formed.
The Black Feather Bow, Qing Feather Technique, and Black Feather Arrows combined to produce a synergy greater than the sum of their parts. But each component could also work independently. The bow alone could form Dou Qi arrows. Though weaker, Jiang Lin's six-star Dou Fighter cultivation could push it to a full-strength strike—though at a massive energy cost.
With the Qing Feather Technique, these arrows followed optimized energy paths—like having a technique-enhanced shot. At full power, they could rival a perfected Xuan-level technique, which only Dou Practitioners with Dou Qi armor could normally withstand.
But when combined with a Black Feather Arrow, the energy arrow merged with the physical one, allowing it to pierce even Dou Qi armor easily. A careless Dou Practitioner could have their defenses shredded.
At this level, the bow's killing power peaked. Even Jiang Lin, with only six-star Dou Fighter strength, could break a low-tier Dou Master's defenses using the Black Feather Bow.
Sometimes, Jiang Lin couldn't help but marvel—Dou Qi garments and armor offered powerful protection against energy attacks. No wonder people liked fighting bare-handed: it was all about flashy techniques versus flashy shields. Who would've thought he specialized in hybrid damage—magic for effect, physical for armor-piercing!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
As the blue eagle cautiously approached, Jiang Lin's soul sense lit up with red dots. Without hesitation, he gently pulled back his bow and—using a touch of Qing Feather technique—fired over a dozen Dou Qi arrows at once toward the cave entrance.
Pop pop pop!
The arrows exploded on the cliff wall, kicking up shards of rock. Dozens of rock snakes twisted awake, realizing their cover was blown. Seeing that their attacker was no pushover, they scattered and fled in all directions. Jiang Lin let them go—except for one particularly sneaky snake trying to sneak past. With a snap of his bow, he vaporized it on the spot. The rest ran for their lives.
"I thought you were going to shoot them all," Blue Eagle muttered as it landed at the cave entrance. Jiang Lin and Xiao Yi Xian dismounted together.
"Because I'm… merciful," Jiang Lin said, feigning righteousness.
(END CHAPTER)
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