Chapter 420: One Lethal Strike

The crag eagles whooped with joy. In order to thank him for his generosity, a number of crag eagles handed him various spiritual herbs and gemstones that they had accumulated.

The crag eagles very much liked sparkling objects, so gemstones comprised the larger part of their gifts. The rock giant was overjoyed by the portion that Zhang Lie swept his way.

The next day, the rock spirit was startled to see that Yu Xuanguang was joining their stealth raid on the golden rocs' nest. "What are you doing here? Aren't you afraid of dying?"

Zhang Lie frowned. "You suffered serious injuries yesterday. Are you sure you're well enough to be coming with us?"

Yu Xuanguang shrugged. "My injuries are hardly as serious as they appear."

The rock spirit folded its arms. "Don't be stubborn! You were like a plaything to those two golden rocs from yesterday. If you insist on going, you'll only die!"

Yu Xuanguang countered, "I've mostly recovered after consuming some spiritual herbs."

The rock giant pointed at his chest. "In that case, what's with those bandages? Surely they're not decorations!"

"Go rest," Zhang Lie urged. "Leave the golden rocs to us."

Yu Xuanguang refused to back down. "As the chief of the crag eagles, how can I not be a part of such an important raid? Even if I were to die, I want to do it fighting an enemy of the clan!"

The elder added, "We're in need of manpower. You killed one roc yesterday, so now there are only four left. Zhang Lie and I can handle one each, but two more remain. Perhaps this rock giant can handle one, but that leaves one more roc unaccounted for. Any more help would be advantageous to us."

Seeing how stubborn the chief of the crag eagles seemed to be, neither Zhang Lie nor the rock spirit continued to dissuade him. The rock spirit folded its arms again. "Don't you be a burden to us!"

Yu Xuanguang snorted. "I won't lose to you rock monsters."

As they made their way to the golden rocs' nest, the rock spirit suddenly asked the elder, "Don't you want to kill me?"

Zhang Lie glanced in its direction in surprise.

The rock spirit continued, "Yesterday, my lord told me that the reason Mt. Wanren is leaning over is because my clan once dug up a deposit of rock by the foot of your mountain. I won't apologize for what happened, since we need rock to survive, but..."

The elder chuckled. "It's been so many years since then. What's there to argue about? Our kin who once battled the rock spirits have already perished. Furthermore, with Zhang Lie around, what could I do to you?"

To be honest, the fact that Mt. Wanren was leaning sideways didn't have much of an impact on the local ecosystem. After all, the crag eagles slept out in the open, and those who had taken part in the fight against the rock monsters had long since died. Furthermore, that fight had hardly been one-sided; both the crag eagles and rock giants had suffered casualties.

Suddenly, the elder announced, "We've arrived."

Zhang Lie glanced curiously around him.

They were high up a nearby mountain, one so tall that its peak was shrouded by clouds. The mountain wasn't as large as Mt. Wanren, and it seemed rather like a tree that had lost all its branches, leaving just the trunk behind. Zhang Lie flew up and saw a nest right by the peak of the mountain, likely the nest of the golden rocs.

Just then, they heard the golden rocs' caw as three of the rocs flew out from the nest and headed toward Zhang Lie's party.

Yu Xuanguang turned to the rock giant. "It's all your fault! Look at how large you are—they discovered us because of you!"

Zhang Lie mulled things over for a moment. "I don't think it was the rock spirit's fault. Look at where the rocs are headed—they didn't even look at the rock spirit. They're simply flying in the direction opposite ours."

Yu Xuanguang came to a realization. "The golden rocs are heading to Mt. Wanren."

The elder added, "If my guess is correct, the rocs are heading over there in order to seek revenge. After all, Zhang Lie slaughtered a golden roc yesterday. I expected they would do so sooner or later, but to think that we would end up meeting them halfway!"

Yu Xuanguang urged, "Elder, we have to stop the golden rocs, or Mt. Wanren will be in danger!"

The elder nodded. "Of course. We came here to prevent further tragedy!"

Zhang Lie beckoned to the rock spirit beside him, "Make a move!"

The rock spirit was already prepared to do so. It raised a huge boulder of spiritual rock high into the air and tossed it toward the golden rocs.

So immense was the force with which the rock spirit had flung it that it whooshed through the air like a missile, striking the unprepared rocs. As the rock spirit continued tossing boulder after boulder, the rocs turned around and swooped down on the rock giant.

Their piercing cries seemed to be announcing that they would destroy this rock monster that had been foolish enough to challenge them.

Yu Xuanguang was about to make a move when Zhang Lie held him back. "Wait. Now's not the time to strike yet."

Yu Xuanguang turned toward the elder, who nodded sagely.

As the rocs drew closer and closer, Zhang Lie placed a hand on Venombane's handle as he charged up genetic energy for one lethal blow.

The rocs drew even closer. Yu Xuanguang's forehead beaded with sweat. "Elder?"

The elder shook his head again: it wasn't yet the best time to strike.

Just as the three rocs were about to strike the rock giant, Zhang Lie raised his right arm high into the sky, and the image of a dragonturtle appeared before him. The two gravity-controlling tablets struck the ground, distorting the local gravity around them.

The three rocs lost control of their trajectory in mid-air, crashing against each other as their genetic energy frothed around them, their claws scraping by the top of the rock giant's head.

Zhang Lie made his move then. Activating his forest wolfman and blood ant soulshards simultaneously, Zhang Lie transformed into a blood-colored wolfman.

"[The Boundless Blade: Dragon's Wrath]!" A dragon of blood howled as it took to the skies, then swooped down on one of the three rocs.

Before it could react, its chest was pierced by the blood dragon, and it fell from the skies like a rock, tracing a long trail of blood behind it.

[You successfully killed a peak-grade golden roc and obtained its soulshard. By consuming the flesh of the peak-grade golden roc, you may receive one to ten peak gene fragments.]

Zhang Lie smiled—not only had he managed to get rid of his target in one blow, it had even dropped a soulshard!

The elder and Yu Xuanguang followed swiftly behind Zhang Lie, morphing into a black and a silvery-white beam of light as they struck at their respective targets.