Page 563

Gu Xiaoxi quickly used her dagger to defend.

Fortunately, the dagger was sharp enough, and she cleaved the attacking eagle into two halves.

She landed swiftly on the ground, and at that moment, countless eagles surged forth from the forest. They flapped their wings and surged toward Gu Xiaoxi in attack.

In just a moment, a frighteningly large number of them flew out from the forest.

It was as if Gu Xiaoxi had stirred up a hornet’s nest, and in the blink of an eye, the sky above her head was dense with eagles, blocking out the sunlight.

Her reaction was also incredibly fast, quickly rising into the air and flying away into the distance.

At the same time, she summoned four daggers, slashing wildly behind her.

A rain of blood fell from the sky above the forest. Wherever Gu Xiaoxi passed, a dense black mass followed her.

Gu Xiaoxi swiftly leaped, dodging the eagles’ attacks and counter-attacking while also calculating what to do next?

There were, in the forest, no fewer than a few thousand eagles. In just the short time before, more had pursued her from behind. Even if she fought, she couldn’t kill them all.

She wanted to escape, but the eagles pursued her relentlessly, as if they wouldn’t stop until they killed her.

At this point, she couldn’t flee toward Jing Rui and Jing Haoran. Doing so would bring the inescapable danger to them as well.

The flock of eagles chased her for a full kilometer.

Gu Xiaoxi, at last running out of strength, had no choice but to land in a dense thicket.

And the group of eagles behind her, evidently masters of flight, saw her land and rushed toward her like sharp swords.

Gu Xiaoxi wielded her dagger, glaring at the eagles with a fierce cold light in her eyes.

With a sweep of her hand, she instantly split the bodies of four eagles, splattering blood on the ground, which noticeably slowed the speed of the pursuing eagles.

But it was only a slight delay.

Suddenly, the second wave of attack arrived.

One hundred eagles charged at Gu Xiaoxi at the same time.

Upon seeing this, Gu Xiaoxi’s pupils shrank in fear. She immediately drew back her dagger and channeled her Inner Strength.

An unrivaled Inner Strength gathered in her hands, eventually forming a powerful current of air.

She met the charging eagles head-on, releasing the Inner Strength from her hands.

Immediately, space distorted, and the eagles in the forefront were forcefully struck by her Inner Strength, bleeding from their beaks and nostrils as they died. The ones behind were knocked back several meters by Gu Xiaoxi’s attack.

In this brief respite, Gu Xiaoxi inadvertently suffered wounds on her arm and back from two eagles that had slipped through.

She hadn’t expected that, apart from the direct pursuit, the eagles would also ambush her.

She immediately used her dagger to slay the ambushing eagles and turned to quickly disappear into the deep forest, fleeing into the distance.

However, this time, for some unknown reason, the eagles did not pursue her any further.

Gu Xiaoxi had already escaped the dangerous area.

In the midst of the dense jungle, Gu Xiaoxi sat down on the ground, clutching her arm that was bleeding profusely, her back burning with pain.

It was rare for her to get injured on a mission.

Yet today, she had fallen at the hands of a few beasts.

And what was that thing in the lake emitting Spiritual Energy?

What could possibly command so many eagles to protect it?

So many questions made Gu Xiaoxi feel extremely frustrated.

She removed her clothes to find that a large chunk of flesh had been torn from her arm by the eagles, clearly indicating the fierceness of their sharp beaks.

Gu Xiaoxi hurriedly channeled Spiritual Energy to heal her wounds. Thankfully, the Spiritual Energy in the forest was rich, and in a short while, her injuries were nearly healed.

She put her clothes back on and looked towards the deep parts of the dense forest.

Although she was eager to explore further, the inside was simply too dangerous.

She had to find Jing Rui first and join up with him before considering anything else.

Jing Rui and Jing Haoran had been anxiously waiting all this while.

Binoculars could not see the depths of the mountain forest. When a dark cloud passed by earlier, they sensed danger but had no idea what it was.

"Aunt Jing, nothing will happen to Gu Xiaoxi, right?" Jing Haoran expressed his concern, especially since it had been such a long time since she’d returned.

There was no sign of movement from within the valley.

"You stay here; I’ll go take a look," Jing Rui also worried. No matter what, she felt that Gu Xiaoxi, despite her youth and cleverness, might not be able to stay calm under all circumstances.

If something had happened to her inside, Jing Rui would feel remorseful.

Saying this, Jing Rui was ready to go.

Jing Haoran grabbed Jing Rui’s arm, his face serious as he said, "I’ll join you. If you both leave, one by one, leaving me here alone, that won’t do!"

Jing Rui pondered for a moment and then led Jing Haoran deeper into the valley.

The midday sun, warm and comforting, shone upon the valley. The lush trees, amidst which a thin mist rose.

Jing Rui could feel that the deeper they went, the stronger the spiritual energy became in the depths of the valley.

She, with Jing Haoran at her side, drew nearer to the inner area quietly.

At the same time, she was extremely nervous, unsure of where Gu Xiaoxi was!

Jing Haoran had been following Jing Rui all along, the silence around them making his scalp tingle for no apparent reason.

...

Gu Xiaoxi returned to the spot where she had parted from Jing Rui only to find that there was no one there, which immediately set off alarms in her head.

Without guessing, she knew they must have gone looking for her after she had been gone for a long time.

What to do now?

Was it not dangerous inside?

Gu Xiaoxi quickly took out her cell phone and called Quan Shaoqing.

At that moment, Quan Shaoqing was busy with a video conference in his study.

Upon seeing Gu Xiaoxi’s call, he smiled, ended the video call, and picked up the phone.

"I’ve run into trouble! Come quickly and help!" Gu Xiaoxi said urgently.

Without a second thought, Quan Shaoqing checked her location via GPS.

Seconds later, he appeared by her side.

Upon seeing Gu Xiaoxi standing there, her clothes stained with blood, he furrowed his brows and strode forward, asking with concern, "What happened?"

"I discovered a place ahead with treasure, so I went to scout it out first and ran into a flock of eagles.

There were too many of them, and I got slightly injured.

But Aunt Jing and Jing Haoran went looking for me.

They will certainly get hurt if they go.

Come quickly and help me save them," Gu Xiaoxi said while pulling Quan Shaoqing’s hand and running.

Quan Shaoqing, seeing her urgency, grew solemn as well.

"Don’t worry, just guide the way. I’ll take you there!" Quan Shaoqing said, pulling her to a halt.

This time, Gu Xiaoxi remembered that if he transported her through a spatial passage, their speed would be much faster.

So, she pointed toward the valley not far away and said, "Don’t get too close to the center of the valley. I suspect there are even stronger spiritual objects there, and those eagles are nothing but puppets controlled by someone."

Quan Shaoqing nodded in understanding, took hold of Gu Xiaoxi’s small hand, and vanished with her from the spot.

The next second, they were already by the side of a small lake, not far away.

At this moment, the lake surface was teeming with eagles.

The noisy sound was a stark contrast to the quiet Gu Xiaoxi had encountered on her first visit.

Gu Xiaoxi didn’t see Jing Haoran and Jing Rui and thought that they must not have arrived yet.

She and Quan Shaoqing hid under a dense clump of trees, watching the nearby lake surface.

The azure water of the lake rippled with waves stirred up by the wings of the eagles, while the flowers along the bank bloomed even more resplendently.

Gu Xiaoxi could feel the spiritual energy emanating from the lake becoming increasingly dense.

Quan Shaoqing also furrowed his brows, clearly unsure of what had happened here. However, he was certain that something in the lakebed was emerging, either a treasure or some creature evolving after successful cultivation.

While the two observed the scene with tension...

Beneath the circling eagles by the lake, a black fox appeared in Gu Xiaoxi’s line of sight.

Instinctively, Gu Xiaoxi covered her mouth and turned to Quan Shaoqing, saying, "Is it a Nascent Soul?"

If that was the case, the consequences were unimaginable.

The Nascent Soul was so powerful!

Yet Quan Shaoqing shook his head with certainty, "It only has one tail. A Nascent Soul is a Nine-Tailed Fox that practices evil arts, not acknowledged by the Heavenly Dao. Thus, it has always remained in the Mortal World causing harm."

"Then what is this?" Gu Xiaoxi asked, puzzled.

"Passed down from Ancient Times, animals have more Secret Techniques for cultivation than humans. Therefore, this is a Black Fox that is cultivating, and it wants the spiritual objects at the bottom of the lake. That’s why it’s making these eagles watch over the lake for it," Quan Shaoqing explained.

Gu Xiaoxi nodded, then asked, "Are you confident you can deal with it?"

"Dealing with it is not a problem, but we shouldn’t underestimate those eagles. Let’s see what’s at the bottom of the lake first. I have a feeling that whatever is inside is about to emerge," Quan Shaoqing said.

Gu Xiaoxi’s eyesight was very good; from here, she could see several small fish in the lake swimming around in panic.

The eagles hovered back and forth over the lake surface, and the fox on the side watched with greedy eyes. Perhaps it was so focused on the object in the lake that it didn’t even notice Gu Xiaoxi and Quan Shaoqing.

Clearly, because the object in the lake was taking so long to emerge, the fox grew impatient.

It transformed, turning into a handsome man with entrancing peach blossom eyes.

He rolled up his sleeves, clearly planning to enter the water!