Chapter 91: Mastering Flight

At this moment, killing and being killed played out unceasingly.

From time to time, a big fish would swallow a small fish, and then a few small fish would appear, using their newly grown sharp, dense teeth to bite a big fish to death; or some fish would unknowingly swell up their entire bodies and burst apart into a wash of blood.

Yet no matter how chaotic things became beneath the sea, that thick blood-water ultimately could not drift upward and spread to the sea surface seventy or eighty meters above.

The sea surface remained tranquil and warm; the gentle winter sunlight shone softly upon it, and from time to time a sea breeze rose up, stirring the ocean's heart into surging waves.

……

Whoooosh— whoooosh—

The howling of wind in his ears grew ever louder.

That was the sound of rushing air brought about by Baichuan sprinting at extreme speed.

As his speed grew faster and faster, he also drew closer and closer to the end of that cliff.

At this moment, every sensory organ across Baichuan's body worked at full capacity.

An invisible wave rapidly spread outward, clearly constructing in his mind a transparent map model centered on himself, covering a radius of two kilometers.

In an instant, he seemed to split into two parts, viewing the world from two perspectives.

One was first-person, the other a god's-eye view; the two coexisted without conflicting with each other.

He had never so clearly seen his own slender body sprinting along that flat road from a third-person perspective.

Close! Close!

Drawing nearer and nearer, Baichuan could already foresee himself about to reach the cliff's edge.

Below, at that moment, a startling wave suddenly rose up.

Instantly, the sea surface surged into towering waves.

And at that very instant, the sea breeze that had stirred up those startling waves also blew head-on toward Baichuan.

"Now!"

Having sensed that the moment to spread his wings had come, Baichuan took a deep breath, gathered strength throughout his entire body in an instant, the muscles of his thick hind legs knotting and bulging high, and then unleashed a fierce Burst.

In a flash, the slender flood serpent that had been sprinting across the land leapt up like a caged dragon ascending to the heavens, swinging its long, sleek body as it rose higher and higher through the air.

And at the moment its leaping strength was spent, that gust of sea breeze happened to reach Baichuan, and he immediately used this fierce sea breeze to spread his massive wings, seizing the chance to take to the sky.

Whoooosh—!

For the first time, his vast wings—great as clouds hanging from the heavens—were free of burden, able to beat easily through the air.

Baichuan also felt an unprecedented sense of exhilaration.

He had successfully taken off!

He gazed into the heavens so close before him, as if he could reach out and touch them.

This was the first time he had ever been so close to that beautiful sky, and Baichuan could not help feeling a little intoxicated.

This was his first step toward the sky, and at the same time a great step for a land creature charging into the heavens!

This was a milestone worth commemorating!

However, he knew this was not yet the moment to be careless; what came next was the true test.

Once this gust of sea breeze passed, whether he could truly fly would finally be exposed.

Thoughts flashed through his mind in countless variations.

Baichuan finally came back to himself and began to adjust his body step by step.

And at that moment, the gust of wind finally passed.

In an instant, Baichuan felt as though he had lost his power; his body sank, and he hurriedly beat his wings rapidly to provide himself with thrust.

Finally, after a frenzy of beating, his body slowly regained its balance once more—and just then another gust of wind blew in.

Instantly, his entire serpentine body felt as though it were being buoyed by the wind, becoming lighter all over.

Baichuan knew such a chance would not come again if missed.

He also began constantly sensing the direction of the wind—the effect of his newly evolved ability, "Qiliu Ganzi LV1," which gave his mane a keen sensitivity to the movement of air currents.

He began to follow the rhythm of those gusts of wind, spiraling to change direction, constantly beating his wings forward in the wind's direction to glide.

One meter… ten meters… thirty meters…

Baichuan had finally broken his previous record!

Success!

This meant he had, to a certain extent, mastered the wild wind.

A wild cry rose in Baichuan's heart; at this moment he was happier than ever before, for this meant he was about to conquer that beautiful sky.

However, he seemed to have grown too carried away, forgetting to adjust his body, and at that moment the wind also seemed to stop.

In an instant, he lost his balance once more—completely lost it this time—spinning down from midair and plunging into the water.

Splash!

A huge spray of waves was sent up from the sea surface.

Baichuan was left dazed and seeing stars from the crash.

It seemed he still could not be too carried away.

He shook his somewhat dizzy dragon head, recalling the distance he had glided before—a full seventy meters—truly worthy of celebration!

Moreover, since he had succeeded the first time, he had more or less picked up a trick or two, and future practice would be easier.

Thinking of this, Baichuan was just like when he was a child and got his very first game console in life, impatient to try again.

……

And at this moment, beneath the sea.

That storm of blood and carnage finally came to an end.

Because that alluring crimson liquid within the seawater had completely vanished.

In this thick blood-tinged water, a half-transparent small fish whose entire body had grown considerably more slender, along with a pike 1.7 meters in length, swam out, swaying their bodies.

All that remained was a stretch of murky seawater strewn with various severed limbs.

If anyone were to look closely at this moment, they would notice that these two fish were somewhat bizarre.

The half-transparent fish — its mouth was now lined with dense, fine teeth, and within that mouth there竟然 existed another smaller mouth, the color of the teeth on the smaller mouth seeming rather peculiar as well.

Besides that, the two pairs of tiny fins on its sides and the tail fin had also grown noticeably larger and wider.

As it swam, its already transparent body began to slowly vanish and fade, blending completely into the seawater.

As for the other one, it was even more obvious.

The pike, a full 1.7 meters long — on that elongated body, all the scales had now sloughed off, appearing somewhat smooth and flushed red, and beneath its body had grown three pairs, that is, six tiny sharp little claws.

If Baichuan had been paying close attention at this moment, he should have been able to see the magnetic field peculiar to electricity on its body.

Unfortunately, Baichuan was at this moment utterly engrossed in the joy of soaring into the heavens — where would he find the spare attention to care about other trivial matters?

When a person's attention is fully concentrated, they pay no heed to other changes in the outside world.

Or rather, even if he had noticed, he probably wouldn't have cared — he might even have been delighted, and added some extra seasoning for it.

With the panel in his possession, he couldn't wish for more Strange Beasts with special abilities — the stronger the ability, the better, strong enough that even he would covet it.

……

At this moment, the sea surface.

Baichuan once again began to fold his own pair of wings — this was also thanks to the fact that his entire body's bone strength had now increased considerably; otherwise, at this point his wings would probably have been smashed and broken.

Returning once more beneath the water, although he knew he had only just taken off from land and glided seventy meters — that didn't count as true Flight.

Still, he couldn't resist wanting to test whether the idea he'd just had was feasible — whether he could freeze moisture in an instant and fling it out.

Thereby truly achieving Flight.

Baichuan slowly swayed his tail fin, maintaining his own balance, and once again returned to calm……

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone!

(End of this chapter)