“Stop talking…” Ji Guang frantically reminded. But it was too late, the Winged Sea Leopard had already heard Ding Bu’Er’s voice. With this, it kicked the other lucky survivor to one side, and pounced in Mo Wuji’s direction.
“Everyone attack!” As the snarling Winged Sea Leopard sprang towards them, Ji Guang instinctively raised his glistening blade, facing his rabid foe with fiery defiance in his eyes. Gao Juan and the injured Sun Liyan followed suit. Although Ding Bu’Er was weaker than the rest, but he had caused this situation to develop, hence he rushed forward without hesitation too.
Out of the five of them, only Mo Wuji hung back. Not only did he hang back, but he stood completely still. He did so not out of the fear of death, but he was observing the surroundings ever since he heard Ji Guang describe the Arrow Shooting Beast. The combined effort of four men should be able to keep the Winged Sea Leopard under control, so it meant little if he did not participate. Instead, Mo Wuji expressed greater concern for the Arrow Shooting Beast that hurt Sun Liyan. Direct attacks are easy to dodge, but it’s much harder to avoid sneak attacks. The presence of a camouflaged Arrow Shooting Beast worried Mo Wuji more.
Indeed the events played out almost exactly as what Mo Wuji predicted it to be: Ji Guang and Co. basically absorbed the attacks of the Winged Sea Leopard. While the Winged Sea Leopard possessed a high level of brute strength, it lacked mobility. Out of the four that surrounded it, three of them, excluding Ding Bu’Er, were battle-hardened with plenty of experience. Taking advantage of this, they fought to a standstill with the Winged Sea Leopard. However, gaps began to show in their offensive. The Winged Sea Leopard seized the opportunity and leveraged on its size to charge ferociously at them. Sun Liyan’s injuries acted up, and within a few minutes Ding Bu’Er’s lack of strength started to show. Unable to stand up against the force that hit him, Ding Bu’Er was knocked back and left a gap behind. The Winged Sea Leopard saw this, and snapped at the opportunity, biting at Ding Bu’Er.
Unfortunately, Ding Bu’Er’s repetitive moves had no way of adapting to the situation. As he was about to be eaten by the Winged Sea Leopard, Mo Wuji let go of all restraint and was about to leap forward. At that moment, a black shadow shot forth like an arrow, piercing through the air towards Ji Guang.
Once Mo Wuji noticed that Ji Guang was also heading to rescue Ding Bu’Er, he immediately turned around to face the arrow. Now he could focus on blocking the sneak attack.
“Ding!” The jet black arrow deflected off Mo Wuji’s drawn blade. Fortunately, he was already at Channel Opening Stage Level One, thus he could dissipate the great force that accompanied the arrow. If he were in his pre-cultivation state, this force would have been sufficient to blow him away.
After successfully shielding Ji Guang from the black arrow, Mo Wuji kicked hard against the ground, directly pouncing at a piece of exposed coral. He observed the jet black arrow originating from this particular piece. Putting one and one together, he inferred that this was the Arrow Shooting Beast. Against such a vile and cunning creature, fighting from a distance would be looking for death.
Being Channel Opening Stage Level 1, coupled with 27 opened meridians, although he had not progressed to the next level, Mo Wuji’s explosiveness was off the charts. A distance of over 10m was covered in a second. His long blade tore through the air with a whoosh.
The unexpected attack caught the Arrow Shooting Beast by surprise. Never had it considered the possibility that Mo Wuji could block its arrow. Combined with the fast reaction time of Mo Wuji, the beast could only watch helplessly as the blade cut through its flesh.
While the cut appeared on the coral, but there was the sensation of slashing through flesh. A stream of fresh blood flowed out, and the coral transformed into a shadow once again, disappearing from under the blade.
Other than the slight breeze that followed, Mo Wuji did not sense any trace of the Arrow Shooting Beast anymore. Right below where the piece of coral was, lay a puddle of striking red blood. Guessing that the Arrow Shooting Beast would not emerge again, he swiftly turned to help Ji Guang and Co., and at this instant he heard the Winged Sea Leopard let out a violent roar.
Ji Guang’s curved sword had severed off the Winged Sea Leopard’s lower jaw, and fresh blood spurted out of the wound. Full of rage, the Winged Sea Leopard lost its composure, with the two blades of Gao Juan and Sun Liyan protruding out of the back of its neck subsequently. The giant carcass of the animal fell, crushing a large piece of coral on the ground.
Ji Guang paid no attention to the slain Winged Sea Leopard, but instead walked in front of Mo Wuji, thanking Mo Wuji with a bow, and said, “Brother Mo, thank you for saving my life again.” He knew that Mo Wuji helped him to deflect the arrow from the Arrow Shooting Beast while he was busy saving Ding Bu’Er’s life. That arrow could have gone through his neck, fatally wounding him.
“Brother Ji, since everyone’s part of the team, it’s natural for us to look out for each other. Moreover, if it weren’t for you, Bu’Er would likely be dead by now.” Mo Wuji replied with a smile. But deep down everyone understood that it was Ji Guang that saved himself. If Ji Guang did not step out to save Ding Bu’Er, then Mo Wuji definitely would not have gone to help Ji Guang block the arrow, instead choosing to go to the aid of Ding Bu’Er.
“Brother Mo, I’ll be your friend from now on.. I previously thought that you were trying to take advantage of us, but it looks like I’ve been too narrow minded. If it were not for you hiding behind, waiting for the Arrow Shooting Beast, Brother Ji would not have survived this ordeal.” The silent Sun Liyan finally took the initiative to speak to Mo Wuji.
“Let’s conclude the niceties here, and focus on searching for the Winged Sea Leopard eggs.” Ji Guang gestured to the team, and took point in the search.
It did not take much effort for them to find a coral cave with a smooth platform. The cave was gigantic, with a height and breadth of over 3.2m. Even before taking a step into the cave, all five of them could smell a fishy odor. “This is the place!” Ji Guang exclaimed, “This cave should be a temporary nest for Winged Sea Leopards to hatch its eggs. They will abandon the cave and leave within four months.” The five entered one by one, and quickly approached the deepest recesses of the cave. A towering nest made of an assortment of beast fur welcomed them in the depths of the cave. Six eggs lay snugly in the centre of the nest.
These should be the eggs of a winged sea leopard, but what puzzled Mo Wuji was that five out of the six egg was around the size of a volleyball, but the sixth was only a third the size of the others. On top of that, the five large eggs had beautiful black and white stripes on them, while the small egg was dirt yellow, with the appearance of a slightly larger chicken egg. “Our luck is quite good time time, each of us gets one large egg. That puny one shouldn’t be a Winged Sea Leopard’s egg, it might be something the Winged Sea Leopard picked up elsewhere. Does everyone agree if we give that to Brother Mo too?” Ji Guang immediately settled the distribution of the loot.
Ding Bu’Er and Mo Wuji naturally had no objections; Sun Liyan and Gao Juan agreed as well. They were completely aware of Mo Wuji’s level of strength. Moreover, they owed a great part to Mo Wuji for them to be able to reach this far safely.
Unexpectedly, Mo Wuji laughed and said, “No need for that, I’ll only take this small egg. Bu’Er gets one large egg, while you three split four eggs among yourselves. After all, it was Brother Ji that led us to this location.” After completing his sentence, he swiped the small egg and kept it away. His objectives had been met long ago anyway. Without Ji Guang, he wouldn’t have been able to find this place, much less open 27 meridians on the way here. If he also did not have the service disciple token that Qin Xiangyu gave him, Mo Wuji would have not gone against common sense to choose the small egg only, but keep one of each. After all, with a Winged Sea Leopard’s egg, he might have been able to become a service disciple. Since he now possessed the token of a service disciple, the Winged Sea Leopard’s egg no longer had any value to him. So why not give it to Ji Guang instead. Sometimes being taken advantage of is not necessarily a bad thing; this was a precious life lesson that Mo Wuji had learnt.
Even if he brought the Winged Sea Leopard’s egg back with him, he would not bother to hatch it. Killing the Winged Sea Leopard, and hatching its descendents to use as a ride. The whole notion made Mo Wuji feel uncomfortable. Although he did not take part in the killing of the Winged Sea Leopard, he felt the same nonetheless.
“Okay, thank you Brother Mo for your generosity. You’ll be my friend from now on, so if there’s anything that you need me to help me, please don’t hold back.” Ji Guang graciously accepted Mo Wuji’s act of generosity, after all a single Winged Sea Leopard’s egg was not enough for him. Mo Wuji only got the chance to get a Winged Sea Leopard’s egg only because he had made greater contributions than Ji Guang, and as Ji Guang owed his survival to Mo Wuji.