Chapter 2859: Golden Eagle's Talons

Ye Liuyun and the others still had several days until their next destination; along the way Bai Hu had been absorbing bloodline power plentifully.

This made its divine beast aura much richer, its size grew noticeably, and it could now absorb even more primordial qi.

This time they weren't in a hurry, proceeding slowly. Along the way Ye Liuyun kept storing mysterious qi into the Space World. The Ten Thousand Gods Command had been continuously absorbing the ambient qi ever since they entered, as if it could never be filled.

Long Nv had also been continuously absorbing. The ambient qi here could strengthen her dragon aura and comprehensively boost her strength.

As they walked, they were suddenly spotted by a golden eagle. Long Nv, the Vermilion Bird, and the other monster beasts felt that assuming their true forms here would be too dangerous and too conspicuous in the sky, so they all fought in human form.

Only Bai Hu revealed his true form, with Crimson Silk coiled around his neck. Compared to the fierce beasts here, Bai Hu's stature appeared considerably smaller.

Upon seeing Bai Hu and his party, the golden eagle dove straight at Bai Hu. As for the humans, it considered them too scrawny to be worth eating.

Though the Hunting Falcon had taken human form, its vigilance toward the skies remained high; it was the first to spot the golden eagle flying in from afar. Ye Liuyun's Golden Pupil assessed it, judging that the eagle's cultivation level matched Bai Hu's, so Bai Hu could take it on alone, and he let Bai Hu handle it himself.

The others immediately distanced themselves from Bai Hu, clearing the battlefield. After the golden eagle swooped down, everyone could see it was heading straight for Bai Hu.

The golden eagle swiftly swooped down, extending its talons toward Bai Hu.

Bai Hu waited until it drew near, then suddenly released bloodline pressure, letting out a roar as he launched a sound‑wave attack and also employed a soul‑shock wave, startling the golden eagle into frantically flapping its wings to slow down.

Bai Hu didn't wait for it to flee; he leapt into the air and reached out with his claws to grab it.

The golden eagle flapped its wings, thrusting its massive talons forward to meet Bai Hu's claws head‑on.

The two beastly claws collided with a loud bang; Bai Hu immediately twisted and fell to the ground, while the golden eagle was also knocked backward and crashed to the ground.

"Ao!"

Bai Hu let out a painful cry; the claw that had just collided was bloody, and one of its claw‑tips had actually been snapped off by the golden eagle.

But he saw the golden eagle again.

It flapped its wings, trying to fly upward, whereupon Bai Hu immediately leapt into the air to perch on the eagle's head, opened his mouth, and spewed countless beams of golden light at it.

Those golden beams were like solid gold spears, bombarding the eagle in a furious barrage, but the eagle simply flapped its wings and deflected every spear.

Although Bai Hu's obstruction didn't prevent the eagle from taking flight, it also didn't injure it.

"This golden eagle's physical body is incredibly strong!" Long Nv exclaimed admiringly.

At that moment the golden eagle also realized it and Bai Hu were of the same cultivation level, their strength roughly equal. Yet Bai Hu had attacked it twice without managing to injure it.

So it now sized up Bai Hu, a fierce glint flashing in its eyes; it decided not to retreat, flapped its wings to rise to Bai Hu's height, and lunged forward with its talons to grab him.

At the same time it let out a sharp cry, launching a sound‑wave attack against Bai Hu as well. However, its Divine Soul Power was weak, so its sound‑wave attack paled in comparison to Bai Hu's. Bai Hu needed no defense; it couldn't hurt him. Even the Crimson Silk coiled around his neck could withstand its sound‑wave attack.

Seeing the golden eagle extend its talons again, Bai Hu felt indignant—he, the king of beasts, had actually had a claw‑tip snapped off by a large bird.

So he switched to his other foreleg and clashed with the eagle once more.

After a booming impact, Bai Hu let out another anguished howl. This time it was worse—two claw‑tips were broken, the pain at the breaks so piercing he dared not put weight on them even to land.

Seeing that Bai Hu was no match, the golden eagle immediately flapped its wings and repeatedly raked its talons at him. From its aerial advantage it seized Bai Hu's shoulder with one claw, digging straight to the bone and actually hoisting him aloft.

Bai Hu turned his head and bit the eagle's hind leg. Though the eagle's physical body was formidable, Bai Hu's strongest strike still made it wince, causing it to loosen its grip slightly.

Meanwhile Bai Hu was straining to pull free from that claw when a tearing sound rang out—a large swath of his skin and flesh was ripped away by the eagle.

In desperation the eagle kicked Bai Hu's head with its other talon, striking his forehead and gouging three deep, bone‑visible blood grooves.

Bai Hu howled in pain, blood dripping from his teeth. As it turned out, the bite he had just taken on the golden eagle

was like biting onto an iron plate. Although it made the eagle hurt a bit, the bite didn't break through; instead, two of his own tiger teeth came loose.

Now Bai Hu's two offensive weapons—his claws and tiger teeth—were both damaged, his Golden Light was unusable, and he was wounded; he immediately realized the golden eagle was a tough opponent.

Seeing that Bai Hu truly couldn't defeat it, the golden eagle immediately lunged at him again. It sensed its own bloodline power draining considerably, mistakenly blaming Bai Hu, and thus wanted to finish him off quickly.

Bai Hu's combat experience was fairly rich; in this situation he could no longer meet force with force, so he simultaneously exerted bloodline pressure to suppress the eagle's strength and launched a spiritual soul attack against it.

He had already tested this earlier—the eagle's Divine Soul Power was clearly inferior to his, so this was the only way to finish it off preemptively.

Crimson Silk had only absorbed a third of the golden eagle's bloodline thus far, but Bai Hu could no longer delay, or else his very life would be at risk.

Sure enough, the golden eagle's soul was its weak point; it was instantly devoured by Bai Hu's soul. This also reflects how, lately, monster beasts have been focusing on enhancing their soul power.

"Bang!" With the eagle's soul extinguished, its massive body toppled backward, legs twitching, then lay completely still.

Bai Hu immediately swallowed a drop of Life Spring Water to heal his wounds. He didn't even bother collecting the spoils, simply collapsing onto the ground to tend to his injuries. Crimson Silk hurriedly helped him absorb the remaining bloodline power from the eagle's corpse.

Ye Liuyun and the others also gathered around, examining the eagle's talons and physical body.

After Ye Liuyun inspected it with his Golden Pupil, he sensed that the eagle's interior brimmed with metallic energy, making it akin to a lump of gold; its talons, he was certain, could be directly forged into weapons.

"Go smelt the eagle's flesh instead of eating it; the metallic energy within its body will definitely enhance your physical form," Ye Liuyun told Bai Hu.

"I couldn't possibly eat that thing!" Bai Hu bared his teeth at Ye Liuyun, who then noticed bloodstains at the roots of Bai Hu's sharp teeth—revealing that his bite on the eagle had actually backfired on him.

He then looked at the eagle's hind leg and saw that not even a tooth mark from Bai Hu remained.