Chapter 1193

Shrill cries rang out continuously; of Luo Qianfu's over a hundred subordinates, some were killed by Hu Xiaotian, others shot by Yan Nujiao, and the rest were under attack by birds and beasts, each unable to protect themselves, let alone protect Luo Qianfu.

Luo Qianfu was shocked and terrified; seeing Hu Xiaotian draw nearer, he grew more panicked, lost the will to fight, summoned his gray vulture, and before Hu Xiaotian could arrive, clambered onto the back of his gray hawk, which carried Luo Qianfu upward into the night sky.

At this moment Hu Xiaotian also broke through layer after layer of obstruction to reach his rear, slashing with a blade; though the strike was powerful, it came a step too late—the blade energy missed Luo Qianfu entirely. Watching the gray vulture carry Luo Qianfu higher and higher, Hu Xiaotian could only sigh in frustration, never expecting that this scoundrel would escape.

Luo Qianfu looked down from midair, the recent scene still filling him with dread; he flicked his sleeve to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, silently resentful, unaware where these people came from or how they could be so formidable—judging by the force of that blade strike just now, they must have reached the stage of projecting blade energy. He couldn't help but recall the camel that had attacked him earlier, not realizing it was the same person; he never imagined that Mount Mangjiao would harbor so many experts, wondering why these two opposed him. Luo Qianfu silently sighed, seeing the flying eagle he had almost secured being sabotaged from within—once the flying eagle was caught in his sticky substance, it could not move at all, and no one but himself could release its bonds.

The gray vulture suddenly cried out, pulling Luo Qianfu back from his thoughts; he looked up and saw countless sea birds swarming to surround him. In panic he took a short flute from his waist and began to play—not a complete melody, sometimes like birdsong, sometimes like a cuckoo weeping blood. The sea birds hearing his flute began to dodge, yet refused to scatter, flying up and down to form a huge black-and-white ring in the sky ahead of him. Luo Qianfu prepared to fly out from the ring's center, but saw on the opposite side a man arrogantly standing on a snow hawk, hands clasped behind his back, gazing at him from afar.

Seeing the white snow hawk, Luo Qianfu's eyes flashed with blazing light; though the snow hawk could not match the flying eagle, it was still a rare and precious bird, far superior to his gray vulture. What made him even more envious was that the opponent not only possessed one Snow Eagle, but had another trailing behind like a shadow. Truly, "one person's gain is another's loss, one commodity's gain is another's loss"—Luo Qianfu felt both envy and hatred. He envied the other's possession of such a rare bird, and resented that the beast tamer who had just driven the flock of birds and scattered the bats must be this young man before him.

Luo Qianfu did not take his opponent seriously. Although the opponent had just displayed top-tier beast-taming skill, in Luo Qianfu's mind there were few in the world worthy of facing him in battle—Yuemo Li Chang'an should count as one; as for this youngster, barely twenty, with no reputation in the jianghu, his beast-taming ability must be inferior to his own, and now the birds were under his control.

Luo Qianfu gave a cold snort, rose from his gray vulture, and with a shout the bird shook its wings and surged at astonishing speed toward the ring of sea birds. His hands behind his back had already drawn two repeating crossbows; he intended to kill the opposing beast tamer in one blow and seize the two Snow Eagles. His heart surged with excitement—he never expected such an opportunity today, not only could he capture the flying eagle alive, but someone had even delivered a snow hawk to his doorstep; if he could achieve three gains at once, he would be worthy of the title of Supreme Beast Tamer under heaven.

Luo Qianfu's thoughts were too beautiful; people often lose their wits when overcome by **, and he was no exception. As he piloted his gray hawk through the ring formed by the sea birds, the thousands of birds suddenly contracted toward the center. He had believed he had the sea birds under control, yet he did not expect that as he passed through the ring's center the birds would lose control—no! They must have been controlled by that young man.

The gray vulture Luo Qianfu rode also panicked in the face of the birds' frenzied assault, desperately flapping its wings in a futile attempt to break out of the siege; despite its large size, the sheer number of sea birds, each hurling itself heedlessly, caused constant impacts on Luo Qianfu and the vulture. In his haste he drove the gray vulture into another downward dive, trying to shake off the birds' encirclement—since he began practicing beast taming, he had never been in such a sorry state.

The young beast tamer appearing in the sky was Xia Zhangming, who maneuvered two snow hawks, one left and one right, to attack Luo Qianfu. Although Luo Qianfu was willing to fight, his gray vulture beneath him was frightened out of its wits and kept diving downward.

Hu Xiaotian looked up at the movements in the sky; although he regretted Luo Qianfu's escape, seeing the scoundrel forced back by the flocks after fleeing halfway up, and then spotting Xia Zhangming and the snow hawks in the air, he finally understood why the frenzied bat swarm that had attacked him had dispersed.

Seeing Luo Qianfu forced downward by Xia Zhangming, Hu Xiaotian would not miss such an opportunity, striding straight toward the point where Luo Qianfu would make an emergency landing.

Luo Qianfu kept watch on the movements above while not forgetting Hu Xiaotian below; seeing him indeed coming straight for him, killing intent flared in his heart. He raised both hands, aimed his repeating crossbows at Hu Xiaotian, and let loose a series of shots—whoosh! whoosh! whoosh!

Hu Xiaotian swept his long blade before him, forming a shield of light that knocked down all the bolts Luo Qianfu fired; then he took a big step forward, leapt several zhang into the air, raised his blade high over his head, and brought it down fiercely—a blade energy sliced through the night, chasing wind and lightning as it shot toward Luo Qianfu.

The blade energy was formless; Luo Qianfu could not see it, but from the terrifying howl as it tore the air he knew the strike's power was extraordinary. In his haste he tumbled head over heels from the gray vulture, an ungraceful posture, yet his judgment proved correct—the instant he left the vulture's back he heard it utter a mournful cry, blood and feathers flying everywhere, actually split cleanly in two by Hu Xiaotian's projected blade energy, cleaved cleanly in half.

Luo Qianfu had expended much energy to tame that gray vulture; seeing his beloved mount die so miserably filled him with extreme anguish. He raised his double crossbows and fired again at Hu Xiaotian.

Hu Xiaotian saw Luo Qianfu had fallen to the ground, judged he could not escape his pursuit, swept his blade to knock down the bolts Luo Qianfu fired, and said coldly, "Luo Qianfu, quickly release the flying eagle, or today I will separate your head from your body."

Luo Qianfu roared, "You gutless rat! You've ruined my mount and my plans—today I'll make sure you never return!" Though his words sounded fierce, his heart had lost its confidence, for he saw three more men arriving from different directions to join the battle; these three targeted the followers he had just brought, attacking without mercy, cutting down any who resisted.

Luo Qianfu saw the man in the center wearing black, gleaming iron gloves on both hands—each of his punches claimed a life—and he knew this style all too well; it was clearly Island Lord Yan Tianlu, a discovery that shocked him greatly.

Hu Xiaotian also noticed the arrival of the three; the man in the middle was none other than Island Lord Yan Tianlu of Mount Mangjiao, who had indeed brought reinforcements, and he shouted loudly, "Kid, leave this traitor to me!"

Luo Qianfu had personally witnessed Tang Jiu Cheng shoot and kill Yan Tianlu, watching him fall from a high cliff into the sea, yet he never expected to see him here; instantly his soul fled in terror. At this moment his rear was blocked by Hu Xiaotian, while Yan Tianlu and the two others sealed off his other possible escape routes. He lifted his gaze to the sky, where Xia Zhangming stood on a snow hawk, commanding thousands of sea birds to shroud the night. His situation was truly "no way to heaven, no door to earth," and what frightened him even more was that the beast tamer who now rode the snow hawk possessed skills superior to his own, rendering his deadliest technique useless.

Luo Qianfu, overcome with panic, actually fell to his knees and kept kowtowing, pleading, "Big brother, spare my life! Big brother, spare my life!"

Yan Tianlu gave a cold snort: "You wretched thing! Only now do you know to beg me for mercy—when you betrayed me, did you ever treat me as your elder brother?"

Luo Qianfu kept kowtowing without cease; this sycophantic, groveling appearance was so disgraceful that even Hu Xiaotian could not bear to watch.

Yan Tianlu said, "For the sake of our former sworn brotherhood, I'll give you a quick death!"

Luo Qianfu knocked his head hard against the ground until his forehead turned bruised; as he bowed, three cold arrows shot from behind him forward—whoosh! whoosh! whoosh! —the three bolts struck Yan Tianlu's chest at close range, every one hitting without exception. The instant the arrows were released, Luo Qianfu leapt up like a rabbit from the ground and flung out a cloud of poisonous powder.

Yan Tianlu raised both hands to shield his face, allowing the three feathered arrows to strike his chest; his inner breath ebbed and flowed, and the protective aura around his body suddenly expanded, forcing the poisonous powder back entirely.

Luo Qianfu clearly had not expected Yan Tianlu, even wounded, to retain such formidable combat strength; unable to dodge, he found himself enveloped by the very poisonous powder he had unleashed, letting out a miserable cry as he covered his face with both hands. Yan Tianlu had already strode forward and landed a heavy punch on Luo Qianfu's chest.

As Yan Tianlu threw his punch, Hu Xiaotian shouted loudly, "Hold back your hand…" His plea for mercy for Luo Qianfu was not born of compassion, but because he saw the flying eagle had been secretly harmed by this man and feared he could not save it.

Yan Tianlu's punch landed hard on Luo Qianfu's chest, with a crack of breaking bones; Luo Qianfu spat out a torrent of blood, flew backward over five zhang, and landed right at Hu Xiaotian's feet. Seeing the man still alive, Hu Xiaotian immediately thrust his soft sword at the man's throat—though he had just been wielding a blade, the sight of Yan Tianlu's appearance made his mind work swiftly, and he sheathed his knife at once.

Hu Xiaotian said, "Speak! What did you do to the flying eagle?"

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