Di Feng was flying in the front with the help of his flying tool. He held a middle-ranked spirit stone in his hand. And, he was drawing spiritual energy from it in a crazy manner.
His complexion looked as pale as a paper since he was almost drained of his magic power because of this long and exhausting pursuit game. But, Shi Mu was still behind him, and was pursuing him in a relentless manner.
However, Di Feng's complexion started to improve as the radiance of the spirit stone he held started to fade.
He used up the spiritual energy contained in that spirit stone in no time. After that, he flung it away and grabbed another spirit stone as its replacement. But then, a stern gleam flashed through his eyes, and the radiance of his flying tool brightened. Then, the flying tool took an abrupt turn in the air, and changed its direction with full speed. Then, it flew towards a massive green mountain peak in the distance.
The Green-winged flying carriage responded a bit slower than it. But, it still took a turn in the air and changed its direction. Then, it dashed after Di Feng once again.
They soon approached the green mountain peak since both of them were flying as fast as electricity.
However, Di Feng's fleeing light descended and flew towards a huge valley below the mountain peak.
The entire valley was permeated with a thick layer of mist. In addition, a couple of plaintive and shrill screaming sounds could be indistinctly heard in the valley.
"Shi Tou, watch out. The valley is occupied with a flock of demon beast. Moreover, their strength can't be underestimated either!" Cai suddenly exclaimed.
Shi Mu's complexion changed as he heard these words.
Meanwhile, Di Feng's fleeing light flashed and stopped at a low altitude in the valley. Then, he turned around and gazed at Shi Mu. He then took out a small jade box from his bosom. It was the same box he had received from the woman Surnamed Zhen.
"Don't you want the Star Stone? You can take it if you have the ability!" Di Feng's face revealed the hint of a ridiculing expression as he said. He then raised his hand, and tossed the jade box away.
The jade box seemingly turned into an arc as it was flung away. Then, it flew straight into the mist of the mountain valley.
A loud hissing sound spread from the mist of the valley the next moment. Then, the mist revealed a violent tumble… as if there was something that wanted to fly out of it.
Shi Mu's facial expression changed. He turned his head and looked at Cai.
Cai saw the situation, and projected two beams of white light from his eyes. Those light beams chased after the tumbling jade box.
"That's right. The Star Stone is indeed in that jade box. In fact, there are two of them!" Cai's voice rang in Shi Mu's mind.
"You should move a bit faster. The Star Stone's texture isn't very sturdy even though it's such a precious treasure. So, don't blame me for not reminding you if the Star Stones get crushed by the monster," A complacent smile bloomed across Di Feng's face. Then, the flying tool under his feet shone with dazzling brilliance. Then, it seemingly changed into a grey light and flew into the distance.
Shi Mu's face turned a bit unsightly when he saw Di Feng drifting away into the distance. However, he didn't pursue him this time.
Quack Quack!
Suddenly, bursts of shrill hissing sound spread from the mist. It was followed by a few gigantic silhouettes that floated into appearance. They were the silhouettes of three gigantic demon birds; they were grey in color.
These demon birds were forty or fifty feet long. The feathers on their wings had a metal-like luster that made them look like an iron sheet. The heads of these birds bore a great similarity to that of an eagle. But, their mouths were flat like a duck's mouth. This made them appear rather ugly.
The overall appearance of these three demon birds was a little ugly, but the aura they were releasing was enough to realize that were at the peak of the Xian Tian realm. In fact, they were only a step away from ascending to the rank of Earth-realm. Moreover, they were in the air. And, this had given them a clear edge over their opponent.
The demon birds' gazes immediately got pulled towards Shi Mu on the Green-winged flying carriage. They stared at him intently for a moment. Then, they pounced towards him while issuing a shrill and ear-piercing scream.
The first monstrous demon bird stretched-open its big mouth, and spouted an expansive mass of densely-packed blue wind-blades; each wind-blade was lower millstone-sized. They galloped towards the flying carriage as soon as they appeared.
Shi Mu's brows snapped upward as he saw them approaching. He then mumbled something, and a beam of white light departed from his body. Then, that light condensed into a huge moon-white light-shield; it was the Qi Spirit Shield.
Innumerable magic characters were moving on the surface of this light-shield. They looked several times clearer than before… so much so that they looked like thin veins flowing on the light-shield. In addition, they were also emitting radiant white light.
The defensive power of the Qi Spirit Shield seemed to have grown ten times sturdier than before. This had happened because of the enhancement in Shi Mu's magic power.
Boom!
The wind-blades bounced off as soon as they bombarded the Qi Spirit Shield. However, the Qi Spirit Shield only revealed a little flash of light by the impact of this bombardment. And then, it got stabilized right away.
Shi Mu felt relieved when he saw this. He then whistled softly, and waved his hands.
The golden sword flew out of his body in response. Then, it started to inflate against the wind, and transformed into a gigantic golden sword that was over a hundred feet in size.
The massive golden sword swayed like a golden dragon, and changed into ten or more huge sword-shadows. Then, they hacked towards the first grey demon bird.
The demon bird was alarmed by this. It issued a hoarse scream, and a layer of green radiance burst forth on its body. Then, it spread its wings, and its massive body ducked out of the way in a very nimble manner. It succeeded in dodging the imminent sword-shadows by a hairsbreadth owing to this movement.
Shi Mu's facial expression turned cold as he witnessed this scene. Therefore, he started to read a magic spell in a loud voice. He also continued to wave his hands. Consequently, the golden sword's speed grew almost twice its original.
Then, a golden light flashed, and three sword-lights appeared in front of the demon bird. They then hacked towards the wings and chest of the demon bird.
The demon bird got frightened when it saw this. So, it immediately received its spread wings, and kept them close to its body in order to evade the sword-light. However, it also knew that it couldn't escape the sword-light that was aimed at its chest no matter how hard it tried.
Therefore, it exuded a high-pitched scream at first. Then, it opened its mouth, and a series of large green wind-blade flew out.
Several wind-blades flew out of its mouth one after another. Then, they got connected to each other, and condensed into a green ring that was several feet in size. The green ring's appearance was similar to a saw-tooth.
The ring of green wind-blades started to spin at lightning speed with a shrill "Wu Wu" sound. Simultaneously, it continued to knock-off the golden sword-lights.
Clang Clang Clang!
The wind-blade ring was continuously spinning and colliding with the golden sword-lights. And, intermittent bursts of metal clanging sound were ringing as a result of this continuous collision. The green ring turned out successful in resisting the bombardment of the golden sword-light in this manner.
Another shriek of the demon bird was heard in this meantime. Simultaneously, a sharp black claw stuck out like a flash of lightning, and resisted the golden sword-light in a firm manner.
The golden sword-light flickered a few times. Then, it fell apart.
The gleam of a complacent look surfaced in the demon bird's eyes in response. But, a streak of white light darted over the next moment, and whirled around its body like lightning; it was actually a white chain.
The demon bird suddenly found its wings tied up by the chains. It tried to open its wings, but was left startled to realize that it was unable to stretch-open its wings.
Its gigantic body swayed a few times in the air. Then, it fell towards the ground like a huge rock.
Suddenly, a glaring golden sword-light shot in the air like an electric current! It was the body of the golden sword. And, it had flashed past the body of the demon bird.
Puff!
The demon bird's huge head tilted to one side, and tumbled down. Simultaneously, a large amount of blood spurted out of its neck. In fact, it formed a ten-feet-high blood spring.
The battle between Shi Mu and this grey demon bird seemed very complicated at first. But, it had lasted only for a fleeting moment.
The other two demon birds rushed to the vicinity, and saw that the corpse of the demon bird that had been leading their group. However, this dreadful sight smeared their eyes with a petrified look.
These demon birds were regarded as a formidable demon beast with remarkable intelligence. In fact, their wisdom couldn't be considered inferior to any common human being.
Both demon birds issued a shrill screaming sound at first. Then, they opened their mouth and spurted out dozens of wind-blades towards Shi Mu. They then flapped their wings, whirled around, and fled towards the valley below.
Shi Mu let out a cold snort as he saw them running away. The Green-winged flying carriage immediately moved along with the Qi Spirit Shield on top of it. Then, it made tracks for them below.
Ping Ping!
The Qi Spirit Shield started to flicker as the wave of expansive wind-blades bombarded it one after another. Even its radiance dimmed a lot as a result. Several cracks had also appeared on the surface of the shield. But, it still withstood the bombardment in a firm manner.
Shi Mu flicked his hand, and a light flashed in the void beside him in response. Then, ten or more kinds of magic charms appeared before him. They were releasing astonishing waves of magic power since all of them were middle-ranked magic charms. In fact, two of them were emanating bursts of red light since they were high-ranked fire-attribute magic charms.
Then, another faint light flashed in the void before him. It was followed by dozens of transparent chains. They had darted out of his body, and had gotten attached to those magic charms.
Shi Mu then waved his hand, and the magic charms — that were spread in hundreds-of-feet of scope — shot out in a manner that made it seem as if dozens of meteors were moving at an extremely fast speed.
Those magic charms caught up with the two demon birds in a matter of few breaths.
Shi Mu then pointed his finger between his eyebrows, and the Magic-Controlling Spirit Chain flashed. Then, dozens of magic charms divided into two sides, and flew toward the two demon birds separately. Then, they wound around their bodies and tied them up.
"Explode!" Shi Mu's eyes glinted as he shouted 'explode'.
All magic charms flashed in response. They then exploded at the same time.
Bang!
Two mighty explosions shrouded the bodies of those demon birds. Plumes of smoke began to ascend from everywhere. The violent explosions had also triggered intense gusts of wind. The mist floating in the valley below also spread and dispersed by the impact of the explosion.
Then, two masses of black bodies fell from the wind of the explosion, and crashed to the ground.
The feathers of both the demon birds had gotten burnt due to this explosion. Even their bodies had been covered with various kinds of frightening wounds. However, their bodies were still twitching from time to time; this indicated that they were still alive.
A person's silhouette flashed at this time; it was Shi Mu… he had begun to descend from the air.
He didn't pour even a glance at these demon birds, and flew straight into the valley instead.
This valley didn't look big. It was only twenty or thirty feet long. A myriad of trees and plants had grown all over this valley. In addition, a mountain-spring could also be seen flowing out of the depths of the valley. In fact, the mist was curling and ascending from this spring. This spring was apparently the source of this dense mist in the valley.
Moreover, there was a dark cave above the spring. Shi Mu could hardly hear any cry or shrill sound spreading from the cave. However, a few small shadows were vaguely visible in the cave along with few small figures. They were apparently the cubs of those grey demon birds.
Something flashed at the entrance to the cave at this moment. It was a grey demon bird; it had jumped out from inside. It opened its wings, and blocked the entrance as soon as it appraised. It had apparently sensed Shi Mu's aura since a hint of fear could be seen in its eyes. But, it still opened its mouth and issued a few threatening neighing-like sounds to scare Shi Mu.
Shi Mu faintly glanced at the grey demon bird. Then, he turned his head and looked towards the ground around him in order to find that small jade box.
The grey demon bird was rather surprised to see this situation, but it remained unmoved at the cave's entrance.
"Shi Tou, it's here!" Cai who stood on Shi Mu's shoulders suddenly shouted while pointing his wings to a certain corner of the valley.
Shi Mu's face beamed with joy. He hurried over there, and found a jade box somewhere in the thicket of bushes.
He picked up the jade box, and opened the lid. He saw that two fingernail-sized Star Stones lay quietly in the jade box. They were giving off bright rays of light.
One of them ought to be the one that Zhong Xiu had lost that day. As for the other one… Shi Mu had no idea where the woman surnamed Zhen had obtained this from. However, his understanding of this woman allowed him to assume that it must not have been obtained through some fair means. But, this thing had now fallen into his hands. And, it was a pleasant surprise for Shi Mu.
This pleasant realization triggered a hint of excitement in Shi Mu's eyes. He roughly examined the two Star Stones for a moment. After that, he moved his head in a nod as he noticed that there was nothing wrong with these stones. So, he covered the lid, and received the small jade box.
He again looked at the grey demon bird at the cave's entrance. Then, he turned around and walked out of the valley.
The expression in the grey demon bird's eyes loosened a bit as it saw Shi Mu moving away from there. Its stiff body also slowly relaxed.
Shi Mu walked out of the valley at a fast pace. He then swept a glance over the two demon birds on the nearby ground; they were the same ones that had been burnt by him a moment ago. His eyebrows moved upwards in response, and he walked over to them.
The living aura of both demon birds had stopped, and they had turned into corpses by now.
Shi Mu turned his hand, and drew out the beast soul bag. The beast soul bag issued a suction force as soon as he cast a magic spell.
After that, two clusters of bluish-green beast souls departed from the corpses. They twinkled a few times, and flew into the beast soul bag.