Chapter 2253: The Waves of the Era, Whoever They Strike Dies

Starting from here, we deviated from the main official road, and few travelers came this way.

In Cangyan, traveling on the official road versus a wilderness trail makes a world of difference in safety.

As long as one leans over the cliff edge and looks down, one can feel the strong sea wind blowing up from the ocean surface; if not for holding on firmly, Mr. Sun's hat would have already flown off into the free air.

He turned to Captain Pu again to confirm: "We are here...?"

"Transfer!"

"..." Transfer at the cliff edge?

With Captain Pu leading the way, he discovered there was also a narrow path hugging the cliffside leading downward.

Though somewhat narrow, the stone steps were well-paved and not difficult to walk.

Captain Pu led him through a small stone cave, and suddenly the view opened up—

They had reached the sheer cliff.

The mountain wall was almost vertically ninety degrees to the sea surface, yet it bore one groove and hollow after another, the result of natural weathering, now each inhabited by a giant mountain eagle!

These mountain eagles had feathers grayish with brown, showing color in the sunlight; even the smaller ones were twice the size of ordinary eagles, while the largest had a wingspan of eight zhang, a tuft of white feathers on the chest, iron talons and steel beaks, appearing formidable.

Captain Pu walked over and whistled to attract the eagles' attention.

The mountain eagles' gazes as they looked over seemed to be sizing up prey, with two even lowering their bodies as if preparing to attack, making Mr. Sun feel his scalp tighten slightly.

Captain Pu raised a token high in his hand and spoke loudly:

"Chixiao Imperial Guard, Black Armor Army, Captain Pu Hua, by the Emperor's decree, to welcome Mr. Sun Hongye to Juchen! Please, the Gray Feather Tribe, assist us."

The largest mountain eagle tilted its head to look at the token, let out a low cry, and then two slightly smaller mountain eagles flew over, landing steadily on the platform before Captain Pu, and spoke in human speech:

"Take out the things inside the cave."

"Thank you, we will rest tonight at Tongyue Mountain."

Obviously, this was what Captain Pu Hua meant by "transfer."

Inside the cave, there were actually several sets of carriers placed; the two of them assembled them themselves, mounting the carriers onto the mountain eagles' backs, then gently climbed aboard and carefully secured themselves.

"Hold on tight." The mountain eagle said, then dove off the cliff.

Free fall from a great height! This was so thrilling that Sun Hongye held his breath instantly.

But the mountain eagle soon spread its wings.

With a whoosh, the updraft lifted them up, straight into the high sky!

The speed of ascent was several times faster than descent.

Both had already wrapped their heads and faces in cloths, then activated their protective gangqi to resist the fierce wind blowing in their faces.

The mountain eagle circled once, adjusted its direction, and then flew toward Tongyue Mountain.

Although carrying a passenger of over a hundred jin on its back, the mountain eagle had air currents steadily supporting it during flight, so carrying passengers was not burdensome.

Behind them, three more mountain eagles followed up, forming an escort squad.

Actually, the sky was not entirely peaceful either.

Jiu Lu Port grew ever farther, while the mountains lay beneath their feet. Sun Hongye lowered his head to look down at the earth, feeling deeply moved.

He had once served in his sect, but had only traveled the air routes twice.

The spiritual energy of this world was indeed far more abundant than before, but the concentration varied greatly by region; most areas' spiritual energy could not support avian demons carrying people, naturally not supporting flying magical artifacts either.

Yet, as soon as he stepped onto Cangyan's land, he experienced avian demon flight.

On his first breath here, he discovered the spiritual energy was truly astonishingly rich!

To the point that even after taking several deep breaths, he felt somewhat drunk.

According to Captain Pu's words, the spiritual energy concentration within Cangyan had nearly recovered to the level of the early Middle Ages!

Thus, occasionally seeing high-flying experts in Cangyan was no cause for great alarm.

However, low-altitude flight was prohibited within the Jiu Lu Port area to avoid disturbing normal order. If they wanted to transfer to the air route, they had to leave Jiu Lu Port.

Of course, many major cities within Cangyan also prohibited both high and low-altitude flight. All kinds of aerial transport carriers and avian demons carrying people must land in the suburbs, letting passengers switch to overland travel to enter the city.

Therefore, the mountain eagles flying to Tongyue Mountain did not take a straight line, but had to detour around many cities.

For outsiders unfamiliar with the flight routes, it was easy to get into trouble.

But aerial transport was expensive, so most travelers still chose ground travel. Moreover, the cargo capacity of air routes was extremely limited, so bulk goods still had to be transported by land.

Even so, Sun Hongye still enjoyed the convenience of riding the wind.

Traveling a thousand li in a day? Heh, trivial.

However, when they flew over a stretch of forest, two monsters emerged from below, resembling long-necked crows with red light in their eyes. They followed the mountain eagles for dozens of zhang, clearly hostile toward the passengers on the eagles' backs. Sun Hongye felt their gaze on him was like looking at fresh meat.

But a few mountain eagle guards charged past and drove them away.

After flying for three hours, the mountain eagles stopped to drink water and eat.

Captain Pu patted the large one's back feathers, took out dried mice from his pocket, and fed them: "These mountain eagles fought alongside us during the Dragon God War; good things are shared. Their favorite is this specialty from Wuxian—dried mice."

The mountain eagles indeed liked them, eating one by one with great enjoyment.

Captain Pu also asked Sun Hongye: "Want some?"

"No, thank you."

At the streamside where they landed, there was a remote mountain village.

The mountain eagles indicated this was their fixed landing point, safe.

The village was not small in scale, with over a hundred houses; placed elsewhere it might rival a town's size, but it had already been reclaimed by nature, with more than half the roofs covered in ferns and grass, and colorful small flowers blooming, like a cluster of lonely graves.

A gust of wind blew, and the broken door panel beside Sun Hongye creaked.

Desolation and vitality, bleak yet harmonious.

"This village seems not to have been built long ago." Sun Hongye noticed the wall's colored plaster had not fully faded, "At most less than ten years?"

"Perhaps it was built around the time of the Dragon God War—population movement was especially large then—later abandoned during the 'Jingzhe period,' so the time is indeed short."

Puhua walked through the deserted village, checking for dangers; occasionally a weasel or fox would dart out, but no monsters were lurking:

"But there's nothing to be done—mountain sprites and wild beasts born from the enlightenment of imperial flow-juice keep appearing endlessly, and no military force can possibly reach every remote wilderness of the nation, nor can they constantly drive away and exterminate these things. So ordinary residents can only gather and move into big cities and towns, where they are protected by the army, to be safe."

"Like this small village before us, at first the residents were unwilling to move, saying it was their ancestors' home, but in the end they could no longer endure the outside disturbances and had no choice but to give up. After a long time, the land simply returned to nature."

Sun Hongye was moved: "This is still because Cangyan is wealthy and strong, able to protect its own people. The outside world, however, has long been in great chaos! I've passed through several countries that couldn't even survive the 'Awakening of Insects' period—they just vanished on the spot!"