Chapter 100: Intimidating the Golden Eagle

Feeling the fierce wind brush across his face, Ke Bei’s expression changed in an instant. Qi surged within him, and the Vajra-Impregnable Body technique flared to life at once, so that his forehead, cheeks, even his entire skull seemed to shimmer with a faint golden sheen.

Bang!

The azure-eyed golden eagle struck its cold-glittering talons hard into Ke Bei’s forehead. A sharp clash of gold against iron rang out. For a moment, surprise flickered through its huge eye: it had never expected a human skull to be so hard. It hesitated briefly, then its wings jolted violently and a massive force erupted; its claws clenched tighter around Ke Bei’s head and it shot up into the sky.

“Looking for death?”

A cold flash passed through Ke Bei’s eyes. Dense qi from his dantian surged like storm waves. Just when he was about to crush the eagle with one punch, a sudden thought struck him, and the raised fist slowly came down.

“What if I can control this azure-eyed golden eagle and have it carry me to the base?”

General-tier beasts already possessed intelligence not weaker than a human’s. Though Ke Bei knew how hard this would be, he decided to try. On the ground he could no longer bear being entangled by endless beasts and zombies. Even this far from the outpost there were so many of them already; if he approached closer, surely more high-level zombies and monsters would appear. Before he understood the outpost, he did not want to reveal his power too early.

“Hm. Intelligence may work better.”

A faint smile touched Ke Bei’s lips. If the eagle lacked intelligence, it would be harder still to control. Yet a beast with human-like intelligence is its advantage—and its weakness.

Because intelligence means fear of death.

Ke Bei had already decided. He no longer hesitated. Gently controlling his qi, he thrust out his hand and gripped the eagle’s claw with force. He pulsed his energy with care: he needed its claw to release his skull, but he could not hurt it.

Boom!

Qi poured out like lightning. The talon gripping Ke Bei’s head vibrated hard and, uncontrollable for a moment, loosened.

“Now.”

At the instant the eagle’s claw was shaken by Ke Bei’s qi and briefly lost power, he surged up with one sudden thrust of inner force. His body rose at once, and he vaulted onto the broad back of the eagle. The moment he landed, he whipped out his arm and tightened it around its neck.

Every movement flowed in one seamless line.

By the time the eagle reacted, Ke Bei had it locked in his grip.

Afterward he let out a slight breath. He was still high in the air, terrifyingly close to a thousand meters above the ground. If he slipped, even with the Lingbo-Steps technique and the Vajra-Impregnable Body skill, he could not be sure he would not die from a fall.

“Fly three hundred kilometers east and I’ll let you go. Otherwise, we both die!”

Ke Bei tightened his hold on the eagle’s neck and spoke in a cold, slow voice.

“I know you understand me. Do as I say. Immediately.”

Ke Bei swept a hard glance across the faint teal gleam of its eyes and said in a low tone.

“Human, are you looking for death?”

Even a Grade-Jiang beginner beast can speak in human words. As a mid-grade Jiang beast, the azure-eyed eagle could naturally and clearly understand and speak human language.

Three hundred kilometers east, the eagle knew, was a zombie-clan outpost. If Ke Bei truly came to die, it would certainly be killed; that was why it had asked that question.

“Do not worry. I have my reasons to go there. What can a lowly outpost do to me? Stay still. Not even a single hair of yours will be harmed.”

Ke Bei guessed its thought at once: it feared he might go for mutual ruin.

“Insufferable. Why should I believe a human’s word? You think I’m a fool?”

The eagle’s tone was cold and dismissive, but it still flew steadily toward the east. Ke Bei’s words—“a petty outpost cannot do anything to me”—had shaken it. Though it doubted him a little, it did not dare to take risks.

Ke Bei read it correctly. Intellect is a beast’s strength, and it is also its weakness. Once a beast gains it, they are not so different from humans at all—they all fear death.

“Do as I say!”

Ke Bei gave a cold growl, and dense qi roared up from his dantian. He knew that to convince the eagle, he had to unleash enough force.

So this time he did not hold back. The qi of the first six layers of the Nine-Sun Divine Art exploded in an instant, and an unseen pressure enveloped the eagle’s huge body.

Boom!

A cold flash lit Ke Bei’s eyes. His palm snapped shut, and the controlled, invisible force suddenly compressed the immense body of the eagle. Its form stiffened for an instant, then its massive frame began to plummet.

“Whoooooosh!”

The wind shrieked at their ears. A faint smile curled on Ke Bei’s mouth as he plunged with the eagle.

“Human… I’ll do as you say!”

With less than a hundred meters left to the ground, the eagle panicked. If it kept falling like this, it would be smashed to meat paste.

Fearful, it also now understood Ke Bei’s power. The human was not heading to a zombie outpost just to die.

If he is not courting death, there is no point in dying together with him. No need to be buried for this madman.

That was exactly the effect Ke Bei wanted. A cold amusement flashed through his eyes, and he suddenly drew his qi back into his body.

The moment he withdrew it, the invisible pressure vanished. Barely eighty meters remained before impact. The eagle suddenly startled and, unable to think of anything else, flapped its huge wings with all its strength.

Whoosh whoosh...

It flapped wildly. Only when its body had dropped to less than a meter above the ground did the downward rush stop. It began slowly climbing again.

“Madman!”

Inwardly, the eagle cursed him.

When it started rising again, Ke Bei—sitting on its back—finally exhaled in relief. Though he had appeared calm and fearless all along, his heart was very tense. If he had fallen now, it would have been a cruel, humiliating end.

Seeing Ke Bei’s power, seeing his madness, the eagle was genuinely frightened and wanted to get far, far away from this human lunatic.

After all, humans were the ones heading for the zombie-clan outpost. It had nothing to do with the beastkind. What happens between humans and the zombie clan is their own affair.

So with that thought, the eagle faithfully carried Ke Bei toward the zombie clan’s base. Its speed was several notches faster even than Ke Bei at full stride, and before long the three-hundred-kilometer distance was already behind them.