Chapter 283: Black Feather Eagle

Everyone in their hearts was hoping that these two could stay here for a while longer, even if just for one day—no, even if just for half a day would be enough!

As long as they could receive guidance from one of these two, their future path of cultivation would, at the very least, avoid several years of detours.

A gentle smile appeared on the man's face as he shook his head slightly and said, "I, Qi Heng, appreciate everyone's kind intentions. It is just that this time, both Zhang Xue and I have come bearing an important mission from headquarters, so we truly cannot afford to be delayed."

"Brother Qi is absolutely right." The woman's voice carried a hint of coldness. "We have already made contact with the Yong'an City Branch, and according to the plan, we will arrive there this morning."

"This..." The president of the Guangzhou Martial Arts Association heard these words, his face full of reluctance.

A person behind him hurriedly tried to persuade them: "Two seniors, why not discuss it with them again and change the arrival time to the afternoon?"

"That's right, two seniors, we only arrived last night, and you are leaving as soon as the sun rises today; isn't this too rushed?"

"That's right, that's right." The martial artists echoed one after another, trying their best to make them stay.

Qi Heng continued to shake his head slightly. "The current situation is critical. Both Zhang Xue and I have emergency missions to attend to, and after arriving at Yong'an City, we must rush to other places without stopping. Therefore, we really cannot stay here any longer; everyone, please return."

The crowd still wanted to try and persuade them further, but when they looked closely, the figures of the two were no longer before their eyes.

"Forget it, everyone go back." The middle-aged man sighed helplessly and turned to face the crowd.

Seeing this, the crowd looked at one another, and could only walk back in low spirits.

On the Wasteland outside the city, two figures, one on the left and one on the right, were like two streaks of lightning, speeding forward. In just a few blinks of an eye, they had left the ten-plus miles of distance far behind them.

"Continuing north, in another nine hundred-plus miles, we will reach Yong'an City," Qi Heng said.

Zhang Xue frowned slightly, her delicate brows knitting together as she asked, "Brother Qi, has the Yong'an City Association really produced a Pulse Refining Realm martial artist?"

It was not that she was unwilling to believe it, but the probability of such a situation occurring was truly minuscule.

Looking back at the martial artists who had successfully broken through to the Pulse Refining Realm in these past few years, not a single one had come from a small city.

"I am not too sure either, but won't we know once we get there?" Qi Heng looked ahead with a firm gaze. "I believe that with Song Tian's character, he would not speak recklessly about such matters. Moreover, that martial artist named Lu Yu does indeed have some unique qualities."

"Oh?" Zhang Xue could not help but be curious, and subconsciously asked, "What is unique about him?"

"He only joined the Association a few days ago. Judging from his subsequent performance, his strength upon joining should not have been Transformation Energy, but rather the level of a Transformation Energy Martial Artist."

"Hmm? This..." Zhang Xue's brows furrowed slightly, seemingly puzzled as to what was so special about that.

After all, even at headquarters, there were many martial artists who only chose to join the Association at the Transformation Energy stage.

"What if he is only seventeen years old?" Qi Heng turned his head, looked at her calmly, and said slowly.

"What? Seventeen years old!" Zhang Xue immediately opened her mouth in surprise, her eyes full of disbelief.

"That's right, seventeen years old," Qi Heng said with a wry smile. "Compared to those geniuses at our headquarters, he is not far behind, right? Of course, excluding that peerless genius."

"Indeed." Zhang Xue nodded.

Those geniuses at headquarters also became Transformation Energy martial artists at around fifteen or sixteen, and now they have basically all been promoted to Pulse Refining martial artists.

Among them, one is exceptionally gifted, born with eight veins connected, and broke through directly from Transformation Energy to the True Essence Realm. Even the president himself feels inferior and is cultivating that person as his successor.

"Moreover, he ranked first on last month's Contribution Points Monthly Ranking, with a total of 29 million points. You must know, this means that everything he killed were Advanced Fierce Beasts. What is even more shocking is that he accomplished all of this alone in a single day."

Qi Heng looked at Zhang Xue, who had been stunned into silence. "Could you or I have achieved this level when we were at the Transformation Energy stage?"

Zhang Xue subconsciously shook her head. How could that be possible?

Even she, at the Transformation Energy stage, hunted Fierce Beasts together with a martial artist squad; facing an Advanced Fierce Beast alone carried risks that were simply too high.

"Therefore, I firmly believe he has already reached the Pulse Refining Realm," Qi Heng said with a smile.

"Mm." Zhang Xue nodded in agreement.

"If he really is a Pulse Refining Realm martial artist, that would naturally be for the best. Perhaps he can help us share some of the pressure. You must know, that Two-Headed Ice Armor Python in the eastern part of our Jiangnan Region is already restless; I fear it won't be long before it drives the Fierce Beasts in its territory to launch an attack."

"Yes." Hearing this, the smile on Qi Heng's face gradually faded, and his brow was filled with worry.

The Two-Headed Ice Armor Python is a genuine Commander-level Fierce Beast.

It is over twenty meters long, weighs over a thousand tons, and the hardness of its skin far exceeds that of diamond. A 150mm howitzer shell hitting it head-on cannot cause it the slightest damage; one must use missiles or armor-piercing shells.

But this Fierce Beast is extremely fast and can easily dodge missile attacks, or spit cold air from its mouth to freeze the missiles directly. The most terrifying thing is that it possesses intelligence!

That's right, once a Fierce Beast reaches the Commander-level, it can think about problems just like a human.

They already have super-strong constitutions and immense power, and when combined with intelligence, one can imagine how troublesome they are.

If this Commander-level Fierce Beast moves out, other Commander-level Fierce Beasts might follow suit.

By then, medium-sized cities might be able to hold out for a while, but those small cities and some gathering places would simply be unable to withstand it and would inevitably fall into a sea of blood.

The key is that the situation in the west is also unstable.

The Dragon-Man Race has been plotting in secret, perhaps waiting for this opportunity to expand their territory so that even stronger existences can descend.

Sigh, it is all headache-inducing bad news, Qi Heng sighed secretly in his heart.

"Brother Qi, look out!" Just at this moment, Zhang Xue suddenly shouted urgently, her gaze fixed tightly on the high sky.

They saw a massive black shadow, nearly ten meters long with a wingspan of over thirty meters, swooping down toward them like a meteor.

The distance between the two sides was less than three thousand meters, and judging by that speed, it would likely take less than two seconds to cover that distance.

"It's a Black Feather Eagle! Get behind me!"

Qi Heng shouted loudly, quickly taking the red long blade from his back, gripping the hilt tightly with both hands.

Black Feather Eagle, an Elite-level Fierce Beast!

Its claws are incredibly sharp, and by taking advantage of its high-altitude position, it can easily tear apart the body of any Elite-level Fierce Beast; it is terrifying to the extreme! If they were caught by one of its claws, they would surely die.

The Black Feather Eagle let out a sharp screech, and its speed suddenly increased by a few notches.