Chapter 140

Seeing the divine eagle about to spread its wings and charge at the giant python, Niu Dingtian's mouth curled slightly as he gathered his inner strength and shouted ahead: "Elder Brother Eagle, don't panic! I'm coming to help!"

A deafening boom exploded in the mountains, the divine eagle's gaze froze, and its charging motion stalled instantly.

Not far off, the startled male python hastily withdrew from the female's body, and the moment was interrupted by a person.

Seeing this, Niu Dingtian couldn't help but grin, then leapt forward, jumping straight toward the sheer base of the peak.

The falling speed was extremely swift; in the blink of an eye, his feet had already touched the vegetation on the cliff.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Falling from a height of nearly a kilometer, the impact force was enormous; even with Niu Dingtian's half-step Innate cultivation, the twigs under his feet snapped with crack after crack.

But upon encountering resistance, Niu Dingtian's body instantly became incredibly light, and the force of his fall dwindled to near nothing.

Immediately after, he lightly tapped several treetops in succession; after a series of fleeting afterimages, he landed steadily on the ground at the base of the cliff.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, Niu Dingtian hesitated not at all and lunged straight at the two large pythons in the distance.

Seeing the tasty morsel about to be snatched away, the divine eagle's dazed gaze instantly turned fierce.

"Chirp~"

"Chirp~"

After two sharp cries split the valley, it spread its wings, a gale surged forth, and its massive body turned into a bolt loosed from a crossbow, shooting toward the two distant pythons.

The eagle snatching food, humans overreaching! A naked contempt flashed in the divine eagle's eyes; it clearly didn't regard Niu Dingtian at all.

These past few days, tasty prey in the mountains had suddenly become hard to find; it had waited here quietly for half a day before the two big ones appeared, never expecting to encounter a highway-robbing human.

Having early on made contact with Dugu Qubai and learned worldly ways, it would not naively think the fellow who just interrupted its business was a good bird.

Niu Dingtian didn't know what the divine eagle was thinking at this moment, but the creature's swooping speed truly startled him.

At first he seized the initiative, swooping past the divine eagle's position, but after the eagle spread its wings and dove from the sky, the distance between them rapidly shrank.

"Damn it, a half-step Innate cultivator is worse than a mere feathered beast?"

Seeing the divine eagle in the sky relentlessly closing in, Niu Dingtian, in desperation, blurted out a curse: "Is this the guy who, decades later, can't even fly?"

Although surprised, he didn't dare delay his steps; losing to a beast would leave him faceless before others, so he hurriedly exerted all his strength to increase his speed.

At this moment,

He also recalled that the fastest raptor's diving speed in the air could reach over a thousand li within half an hour, which is about five to six hundred kilometers per hour.

And behind him was a mutant divine eagle, its strength outrageously great; who knows how much faster its diving speed could be!

Just like that,

One man, one eagle, one above and one below, they suddenly began to compete; a distance of four or five li was covered in just a few breaths, and it seemed they would both lunge at the pythons beneath the tree shade at the same moment.

"Boom" "Boom"

At the final moment, seeing it hard to tell who would strike first, Niu Dingtian thrust both palms forward; two majestic internal forces, launched later but arriving first, instantly slapped the two ground pythons away.

At the same time,

Man and eagle, with a booming sound, landed on the ground simultaneously.

Seeing the lifeless delicacy before it, the divine eagle stood frozen in place.

No wonder it reacted thus; it is inherently a proud bird, and moreover a bird that cares greatly about its appearance.

Since following Dugu Qubai, strength and speed have become its pride.

Besides its master, in these areas it has never yielded to anyone, be they human or avian.

Never did it expect that today a two-legged creature would get the better of it.

For a moment, the forest air fell into an eerie silence.

What a huge bird!

Although he had braced himself mentally, upon seeing this raptor up close, Niu Dingtian's heart still felt a jolt of shock.

It's big… and damn so handsome…

Could it be that even middle-aged birds undergo earth-shaking changes? Niu Dingtian couldn't help but wonder.

Compared to its appearance decades later, the difference is more than heavenly; it's practically a genetic mutation, hard to put into words.

Look at those golden-brown feathers, glossy and shiny—how could one imagine them as sparse, missing patches here and there?

At present, the golden feathers on its head lie smoothly back, with no sign of any lump forming.

When it stands upright, the divine eagle's stature is immense, actually far taller than an ordinary adult.

While Niu Dingtian was covertly sizing up the divine eagle, this great bird was also silently observing him; however, when a bird's gaze turns inward, outsiders cannot discern it.

At this very moment, it was indeed stunned, but not so stunned as to let its guard down against an unfamiliar expert; thus, it remained secretly on guard.

Seeing Niu Dingtian had no intention to strike, proud as it was, for the sake of face it could only continue feigning ignorance.

"Elder Brother Eagle, what great speed!"

Seeing the divine eagle silent for a while, Niu Dingtian suddenly broke the silence with a smiling compliment, feeling no shame at all for his earlier sneakiness.

However, the divine eagle gave no reply; having long understood human nature, it heard those words as nothing but sarcasm.

Niu Dingtian, seeing this, silently walked to the python carcass, lifted one with a hand, and delivered it straight to the divine eagle's talons.

Regardless of whether the divine eagle could understand, he spoke solemnly: "I originally thought Elder Brother Eagle couldn't handle two opponents alone, but I didn't expect it to be so swift and fierce."

"I acted in panic just now, fearing they might escape; now it seems that was unnecessary."

He glanced again at the pythons on the ground, his face reluctant: "These two snakes are precious, I was the first to kill them, and their gallbladders can enhance one's power, yet such a chance is rare to encounter."

Saying this, he suddenly paused; the snake gallbladder is indeed precious, and even if he disdains such things, he must now treasure it.

As Kong Wenju once yielded the pear, now Niu Dingtian yields the gall—hehe, my yielding is not merely the bitter snake gall.

"Is it really that precious? It… seems quite precious," the divine eagle's eyes shifted to an extraordinarily vivid expression.

Just then, Niu Dingtian shifted his tone, smiling as he said: "But…"

"I never imagined I could encounter such a handsome divine eagle today, and Elder Brother Eagle's strength has also opened my eyes; surely Elder Brother Eagle is a one-of-a-kind divine beast under heaven!"

These two Pusi qu snakes are still precious, but giving them to you, Eagle Brother, is rather slight; since this is our first meeting, Eagle Brother, don't disdain them—hurry up and enjoy them while hot; next time I'll get you a bigger one.

Hearing these words, the Divine Eagle couldn't help but be stunned; hearing them, it always felt somewhat off—clearly I, the old man, discovered them first and have been guarding them here for half a day, so how did they become yours?

But when it looked at the two corpses beside its claws, it seemed unable to find a reason to rebut.

However, these words were actually not bad; although I don't know how sincere they are, hearing them it involuntarily felt a sort of airy sensation.

No amount of flattery can stick—its self-esteem is no less than a human's; having lost the tasty morsel and lost face, it inevitably harbors some anger.

After Niu Dingtian's puffery, it vanished outright, dissipating completely clean.

Then,

It no longer stood on ceremony with the tasty morsel on the ground—after all, it had guarded it for a day; how could it lightly give it up?

Next, its talons clenched tightly around the python, its hook-like beak pecking twice in succession at a spot below the python's belly.

After breaking the snake's skin, it directly pulled out two purple snake gallbladders the size of goose eggs; then it raised its eagle head and swallowed the snake gall in one gulp.

Seeing the Divine Eagle actually close its eyes to savor the taste, Niu Dingtian asked with a smiling tone: "Elder Brother Eagle, how does the snake gall I sent taste different?"

He seemed afraid that this great eagle didn't understand human feelings, his words almost directly shouting: "You're eating my stuff!"

Just then, the Divine Eagle slowly opened its eyes, then strode forward head high, expressionlessly approaching Niu Dingtian.

Goo-goo-goo~

Its eyes flashed with sharp light, fighting spirit soaring, and it let out several goo-goo calls from its beak.

Want to fight? Niu Dingtian narrowed his eyes slightly, he saw the meaning in the Divine Eagle's eyes—this guy wanted to regain face with him.

But having eaten my stuff makes you my person—how can I let you act so aloof?

Thus he smiled and said: "Elder Brother Eagle, how about a wager? If I lose, from now on I'll be yours; if you lose, from now on you'll be my bird—let's make it quick! Are we in or not?"

But as soon as those words were finished, a fierce gleam flashed in the Divine Eagle's eyes, its huge wings swept, and a fierce gale came straight toward Niu Dingtian howling.

The howling wind blew straight, making Niu Dingtian's clothes rustle loudly.

Niu Dingtian stood firm on the spot, unmoving, and shouted without mercy: "Elder Brother Eagle! I originally admired you! Even if I can't beat you, I won't lose face—let me have a few moves! But how could you pull off such a shameless sneak attack?"

"People who do this are all despicable villains! Elder Brother Eagle, do you really want to be a despicable little bird?"

"Whether we do it or not is just a word! If you don't speak, I'll take it as your agreement!"

But the Divine Eagle paid no heed; besides annoyance, its eyes couldn't hide astonishment—it never expected that, upon suddenly provoking, Niu Dingtian could remain unmoving!

But soon it returned to its aloof demeanor, its wings flapping wildly, suddenly increasing its force by more than double!

Whooo—!!!

Crack!

The violent gale grew ever larger and fiercer, the branches behind already snapped—one can imagine the wind speed Niu Dingtian at the forefront is enduring.

Still picking up, huh!!!

Niu Dingtian already felt slightly short of breath; he thought if he had come two months earlier, during the scorching summer it would surely not be a loss—this is truly a giant electric fan!

"Elder Brother Eagle! If you don't speak, I'll take it as your agreement!" Niu Dingtian suddenly shouted, "Let you have nine-tenths of your internal strength; if you lose, you'll be my bird! No cheating allowed!"

Saying that, he swung his fist into the wind and smashed it toward the Divine Eagle's wings.

This punch was pure physical strength, carrying not a trace of internal energy.

Seeing this, the Divine Eagle's frenzied battle intent suddenly erupted; its wings slashed sideways, the gale ceased abruptly, and it fiercely met Niu Dingtian's incoming fist.

"Bang!" "Bang!"

This Divine Eagle regularly hones its strength beneath the waterfall during mountain floods, felling the giant logs rushing down from above the torrent, then the logs would flow back down with the current and it would swat them away again.

Repeatedly training like this, one can imagine how strong its wing strength is now.

Therefore, after the two punches landed in flesh, Niu Dingtian genuinely felt a sense of power.

"Bang!"

The two fists collided, another punch followed, and thus man and eagle went back and forth, wildly smashing into each other.

At first, Niu Dingtian and the Divine Eagle were evenly matched, your punch against my wing—a pure contest of strength.

But as the punches kept landing, Niu Dingtian gradually began to feel considerable pain.

This bird's wing is truly harder than stone!

Thus he decisively channeled some internal energy.

"Bang!" "Bang!"

These two punches were exceedingly fierce; after they blasted out, Niu Dingtian continued swinging his fist, laughing loudly and saying: "Elder Brother Eagle! Does it feel good or not?"

As soon as Niu Dingtian said that, the Divine Eagle let out a few goo-goo sounds, its eyes flashing with clear emotional waves: excitement! exhilaration! It felt great!

Immediately afterward, it proactively swung its wings and smashed toward Niu Dingtian.

Sure enough, a bird of temperament—its temper comes and goes quickly; this flesh-to-flesh contest it has already become addicted to.

This is far more comfortable than patting giant logs under the waterfall!

No wonder it's like that—since Dugu Qiubai died, it has lived alone as a single eagle in this mountain valley for many years.

Because it has tasted human companionship and gained human thoughts, over time it inevitably feels lonely.

But today a human suddenly appeared; although his mouth is cheap, at first he genuinely accompanied it in a fight for half a day without using internal energy.

This feeling is truly familiar~

"Bang!" "Bang!"

Again two moves clashed; with Niu Dingtian bolstered by twenty percent of his internal strength, this time the Divine Eagle couldn't stand firm, kept retreating, and gouged two two-foot-deep trenches into the ground.

"Elder Brother Eagle, if you lose you'll then be my bird," Niu Dingtian flashed his fists, smiling and said: "The wager just now you didn't object to."

Hearing these words, the Divine Eagle's expression instantly solidified.

"Chiu~"

After a sharp, ringing cry rang out, its eyes seemed to sneer; then its wings flapped a few times, and it flew straight up to midair, beginning to circle.

It intended to unleash its bloodline advantage, employing the ancestral inherited ability: Plunge Down and Strike!

"Chirp~"

Another piercing cry rang out in the sky, startling the birds and beasts below into frantic scattering.

Seeing this, Niu Dingtian's face instantly lit up with excitement; having fought for a while, he seemed to have forgotten that this guy still had the ability to fly.

"Chirp~"

After emitting an extremely sharp cry, the Divine Eagle ceased circling and, like an arrow released from a bow, shot swiftly downward at Niu Dingtian.

Seeing this momentum, Niu Dingtian's face finally turned solemn.

In the previous exchanges, he discovered that the Divine Eagle already possessed strength comparable to a Grand Master, and a high-speed dive from such height would likely multiply its impact tenfold!

The black dot in the sky rapidly expanded, carrying a tearing-through-air sound, and in the blink of an eye it slammed onto Niu Dingtian's head. (End of chapter)