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The hovering, slightly larger birds landed as well, then formed too rows, their chests puffed out and their heads held high. When they looked at the condor clutching Ye Zichen, their eyes were full of worship, but also terror.

“Scree!” The giant bird circled and cried out. The birds on the ground responded, as if having a conversation, but Ye Zichen didn’t understand the birds’ language at all

Then, the giant bird descended. As it did, it tossed Ye Zichen down to earth.

Thud!

Ye Zichen landed, leaving a deep imprint in the accumulated snow. In his somewhat depleted state, he had to resist with his body; he had no spiritual power defenses to speak of.

So he fell, hard. He lay there in a daze for quite some time before coming back to his senses. 

As he lay in the snow, Ye Zichen heard birds in all directions. Their cries weren’t as resonant as those of the giant bird. Most likely, these were the leaders’ ordinary clansmen.

It was as if Ye Zichen were lying on a dinner plate, right in front of them. Were they going to start pecking at him?

“Jeez, I’m not going to get eaten by birds, am I?” Despite the stinging pain following his fall, Ye Zichen struggled to crawl up out of the snow. He didn’t want to get eaten by birds for no reason. 

He stuffed a continuous stream of pills into his mouth. Although Ye Zichen knew this was most likely the birds’ base, he also knew his odds of fighting his way out were low. Still, he wouldn’t just passively wait to die, nor would he simply let the birds eat him!

The birds screeched and cawed and drew closer even as Ye Zichen took medicines to recover his divine power. 

But at that moment…

“Scree!” A resonant cry rung out before Ye Zichen, and a shadow seemed to envelop him. When he looked up, he saw the same bird that had grabbed him standing in front of him, screeching angrily at the smaller birds.

They really did back off, too. Ye Zichen seized the opportunity to recover, but as he did so, he wondered if the giant bird just wanted him for itself.

If the little birds tried to eat him, Ye Zichen might be able to fight them off for a while, but if the larger bird tried….

“Scree!” He heard a simple yet forceful call. When he looked up, he saw a pair of eyes staring intently at him; they belonged to the giant bird.

“Scree!” The bird called out once more. It seemed as if it were trying to communicate.

“What does that mean?” Ye Zichen stared at it in confusion. No matter how well-studied he was, he couldn’t possibly have mastered even the languages of beasts.

“Scree!” Yet another simple cry. Afterward, the bird stuck out its neck and looked forward, took a few steps, then turned back to look at Ye Zichen.

“Do you want me to follow you?” Based on the bird’s movements, Ye Zichen could roughly guess what it was trying to convey.

The bird gave him a human-like nod. It seemed it wasn’t planning on eating him, but he decided to remain cautious just in case. He carefully restored his divine power even as he brushed the snow off his body and walked out of the snowdrift.

The instant he appeared, the surrounding birds seemed intent on pecking at him.

But the giant bird called them to a halt, and the other birds stopped in their tracks. However, their eyes flashed with greed when they looked at Ye Zichen. It seemed he had a treasure they couldn’t overlook.

Could it be the Worry-Alleviating Grass?

Ye Zichen gently brushed the grass in his pocket. Venerate Spirit Treasure said it was poisonous, and that it was primarily used as a toxin, aside from its effect on countering Thousand Lotus Flower poisoning. However, after spending all this time in the snowy mountains, Ye Zichen felt its uses couldn’t possibly be so simple.

It seemed all the beasts of the mountain were deeply interested in it!i

“Scree!” After making the other birds back off, the giant bird called out to Ye Zichen once more, then went on its merry way. It seemed only this leader among birds could control the others, so it was now serving as Ye Zichen’s protective umbrella.

Who knew what the other birds would do to him after their leader left? Ye Zichen dared not even imagine it. He simply hurried after the giant bird.

The bird’s territory was vast; it seemed to encompass this entire stretch of mountain.

As they walked, Ye Zichen saw several other groups of vicious beasts, and all of their eyes blazed with desire when they saw Ye Zichen. However, all the giant bird had to do was look at them, and the offenders trembled and prostrated themselves on the ground. 

“You’re the top dog around here, huh?” When he sensed that the bird really didn’t have any ill intentions, Ye Zichen relaxed and started chatting it up. 

The avian beast could understand human language, but it couldn’t speak it. It tilted its head, then screeched, its eyes filled with confusion.

“That means you’re the boss, the head, the leader, the king. I can tell that the beasts over here are all rather afraid of you, so you ought to be the toughest of the bunch, right?” said Ye Zichen. 

This time, the bird understood him completely. It even nodded, seemingly quite pleased to hear Ye Zichen describe it that way.

“Man, you’re not modest at all.” Ye Zichen chuckled. It seemed the beast wasn’t at all what he’d thought. He’d assumed that, as a “vicious beast”, it would be bloodthirsty, but now it seemed more proud than anything else.

Especially in regard to its position. When Ye Zichen complimented it, it responded like an elementary school student bringing home a perfect score on a test.

But what concerned Ye Zichen more was that he’d yet to see any other people in the mountains. Whether it was the Ocean Emperor’s group or the Demon Emperor’s, he hadn’t sensed them at all. 

He hadn’t discovered any ultimate treasures, either. Well, aside from the lotus patch - that could be considered a treasure. As for the rest…

All he’d seen was group after group of vicious beasts!

The only good thing about getting carried off by a giant bird was that he was now far closer to the mountaintop palace. The mountains were like a series of countless cones, and the snowy mountain palace was constructed atop the center most mountain. There were even countless other smaller mountain ranges in the periphery of the larger once. The bird’s territory was in the second ring, far closer to the palace than where they’d entered.

Even if Ye Zichen wanted to run, he couldn’t escape from right under the bird’s nose. He couldn’t fly here, and even if he was fleet of foot, he couldn’t possibly outrun the bird. It was just, Ye Zichen still didn’t know what the bird wanted him for!

The bird still had the wounds Yang Jian had left on it, and they were still bleeding, but it ignored its injuries completely as it forged ahead.

After walking on foot for about an hour, Ye Zichen discovered that something was off about their path. This wasn’t the main route through the mountains at all; they were traveling around the periphery. If they went any furthermore, they’d reach a cliff. 

“Hey, come on, Brother Condor!” They quickly reached a cliff, and Ye Zichen came to a stop.

The bird looked a bit like a condor, and Ye Zichen had chatted with it a fair bit on their way here, so he decided to simply call it “Condor.” 

The condor turned to look at him. Ye Zichen then said, “There’s no road ahead. We’re not going to keep heading straight, are we?”

“Scree!” The bird let out a simple cry, then gave a human-like nod. 

“Quit joking around. There’s no path, and I can’t fly. Do you want me to fall to my death?” Ye Zichen didn’t know what to say.

The condor blinked, as if mulling it over. Then, its eyes flashed with disdain. Still, it knelt.

“You want me to ride you?” asked Ye Zichen.

The condor nodded and flapped its wings, as if saying…. 

Hurry up already. If you dilly-dally, I’ll just leave you here.

Ye Zichen hadn’t expected the condor to be so friendly as to let him sit on its back. To tell the truth, although Ye Zichen had lived among cultivators for so long, he’d never had any sort of mount. Riding a giant condor was quite a novel experience. 

As he sat atop the condor’s back, Ye Zichen suddenly glanced at his empty left sleeve.

Wasn’t this scene just like Yang Guo atop his giant conor? Like in Return of the Condor Heroes?

With this scene alone, they could film a new version of the series. Only Yang Guo’s lover, the Little Dragon Girl, was missing.

The condor took to the skies, its feathered wings stirring up countless winds. Ye Zichen held onto its back feathers, clinging for dear life. As he lay close to its back, he saw the bird fly a circle over the mountains. To Ye Zichen’s surprise, there was another, hidden, beautiful scene waiting for him to the north of the mountains, including a cave in the cliff side.

Only a bird like the giant condor could have discovered it. It seemed this was the condor’s home; it was just large enough to accommodate the condor’s massive frame. 

“Scree!” As soon as they entered, the condor shook its wings, sending Ye Zichen flying from its back.

Fortunately, there was straw on the ground, and Ye Zichen had recovered enough divine power to prevent injury from the fall. The bird was facing away from him, so he gave it the finger. However, before Ye Zichen could finish his complaint, he saw a girl lying within the cave.

Ye Zichen was certain that she was human!

She looked like she was in her teens, and Ye Zichen had absolutely no impression of her, except that from the way she was curled up, she was probably cold.

She was unconscious, so she couldn’t manipulate her spiritual power. Or rather, Ye Zichen couldn’t sense any spiritual power on her at all. However, her flushed complexion reminded him of Pu Jingwan after she started showing symptoms.

The girl had Thousand Lotus Flower poisoning!

Her life force was weak, and she was curled up in the straw, trembling uncontrollably and sweating.

Ye Zichen looked at the opening to the cave. Although the interior was shielded from the wind, the temperature throughout the mountain range was still quite low. There was no way this girl could endure it.

Ye Zichen waved, placing a seal over the doorway. Then, a ball of heavenly fire appeared in his palm.

“Scree!” When it saw flames light up in Ye Zichen’s palm, the bird instinctively retreated. Wild beasts feared fire, and the condor was no exception.