Chapter 39: Snow Lotus Secured!

Roar! A long cry echoed from the sky.

It was Zhuiyue bursting forth from the high cloud layer, slamming straight into the Demon Swift Eagle.

The Demon Swift Eagle had not anticipated an ambush above the white clouds, and Zhuiyue’s speed even surpassed its own.

Caught off guard, the Demon Swift Eagle was struck squarely on the head by Zhuiyue.

With a mournful screech, the Demon Swift Eagle flapped wildly as it plummeted toward the ground.

With a thud, it crashed into the muddy, seawater-soaked earth, leaving a small crater—and became a muddy lump.

Zhuiyue pressed forward, confirmed the Demon Swift Eagle could not rise again, then stood proudly to the side, kicking its hooves and snorting hot breaths.

“Zhuiyue, well done!”

Gervas hurried over, praising without pause.

Roar!

“No big deal!” Zhuiyue lifted its head triumphantly.

Gervas was used to Zhuiyue’s little pride; after all, that collision had just earned him sixty gold coins.

Soon, several soldiers advanced and netted the eleventh Demon Swift Eagle.

“Let’s go—head back!”

Though there had been minor turbulence, the overall haul was substantial, and Gervas was in high spirits.

When the party arrived at the village with the Swift Eagles, a chorus of gasps naturally followed.

“Oh my god, look at that—what is it?”

“Oh my god, how can there be such a giant Swift Eagle?”

“I know—it’s a beast! Only beasts can grow this large. Our lord is truly mighty—he captured the Flame Horse just days ago, and now another batch of beasts!”

“Yes, our lord must be blessed by the God of Glory to harvest beasts every single day!”

“Even with the God of Glory’s favor, only our lord has the skill to subdue and bring back these beasts!”

“Exactly! Only our lord could have slain the Demon Serpent and the Marsh Giant from two days ago—in any other baron’s territory, we’d already be dead!”

“Our lord is mighty! I, Kari, vow to be Gervas’s serf for life!”

“I, Jiao La, too—and I’m willing to have children with Lord Gervas!”

“Uh… Aunt Jiao La, aren’t you already the mother of two children?”

“So what if I have children? Can’t I have more with our lord? Do you have a problem with that?”

Seeing Jiao La’s arm thicker than his own, the serf quickly shook his head in apology. “No, I have no objection, Aunt Jiao La!”

Amid the chatter, Gervas had already led his party back to the castle.

He naturally didn’t hear the aunt’s wish—if he had, he’d have to assign extra guards just to enter the village again.

…

Though the taming of the Demon Swift Eagle isn’t difficult, it still requires a process.

The entire process closely resembles hawk-taming: first, starve it until it’s weak and exhausted, then attempt to subdue it.

The only thing missing from this process is having a human endure the ordeal alongside it…

The Swift Eagles were placed in the courtyard beside the castle, their feet shackled, eyes covered with black cloth, and wings bound tightly with hemp rope—and left like that for three days.

After three days, tentative taming could begin: a rider would mount its back to see if it struggled violently.

After securing the Swift Eagles, Gervas had no time to rest—he still hadn’t retrieved the other treasure mentioned in the intelligence.

That treasure was the Snow Lotus, which he valued more than the Demon Swift Eagles.

Fortunately, the mist over the Death Mountains had cleared these past two days—if he’d waited longer, even with the intelligence, he’d have seen it but never reached it.

Due to the danger of the Death Mountains, Gervas could never venture deep on foot—it was nine out of ten deaths.

But this morning, Zhuiyue had just undergone its transformation, allowing Gervas to ride it deep into the mountains from the air.

“Let’s go, Zhuiyue!”

Roar!

“Master, hold on tight!”

With a long neigh, Zhuiyue leapt from the castle’s high balcony, spread its wings, and carved a graceful arc into the sky.

Thus, rider and steed sped swiftly toward Tianehu.

Indeed, flight speed far surpassed ground travel—even the Flame Horse, though nearly as fast as Zhuiyue now, couldn’t compare.

In just twenty minutes, Zhuiyue carried Gervas to the skies above Tianehu.

“Zhuiyue, head straight south—we need to find a snow-capped mountain!”

Roar!

Another long neigh, and Zhuiyue beat its wings toward the Death Peaks.

About half an hour later, the forests below thickened, and the peaks began to rise sharply.

At first, Gervas thought the mountains looked no different from ordinary ranges—just denser.

But gradually, he spotted small colored dots on the ground, roaring upward.

When those dots reached the mountain summits, their full forms became clear: they were ferocious beasts.

These beasts daring to chase and roar were at least third-rank.

Finally, a colorful tiger over thirty meters long appeared—Gervas estimated it reached the terrifying level of a sixth-rank beast.

Had this journey been on foot, it wouldn’t have been nine out of ten deaths—it would have been ten out of ten.

No wonder the kingdom called this the Death Mountains—it was aptly named.

Of course, the air wasn’t safe either—many flying beasts lurked there.

But since they hadn’t gone too deep yet, they hadn’t encountered the powerful flying beasts.

Those flying beasts typically dwelled on peaks piercing the clouds; such peaks were rare along the Death Mountains’ outer edges.

Still, Gervas encountered two groups of Demon Swift Eagles along the way—since they weren’t raptors, both sides avoided each other.

Roar!

“Master, there’s a snow mountain ahead!”

After another half-hour of deep flight, Zhuiyue alerted him—and ahead, a towering mountain range indeed appeared.

Snow covered its peak, but its mid-slopes and base were lush and green.

“Head for the base, Zhuiyue!”

With Zhuiyue’s aid, finding the deep pool wasn’t difficult.

After circling for just over a minute, Gervas spotted the deep pool described by the system.

The water was deep blue, like a gemstone’s eye.

In the center of the blue pool floated a patch of green lotus leaves.

Among the leaves, a streak of white stood out.

“That’s the Snow Lotus—Zhuiyue, get ready!”

Saying this, Gervas pulled a ten-pound chunk of meat from his saddle and hurled it hard to one side of the pool.

This was a plan he’d devised after receiving the intelligence.

Though Gervas was a novice at exploration in this world, he’d eaten pork and seen pigs run.

In his past life’s novels, a guardian beast always guarded treasures—it was a mandatory trope.

So he had to be cautious.

One breath after tossing the meat, Gervas ordered: “Zhuiyue, move!”

Whoosh! Zhuiyue dove swiftly toward the Snow Lotus in the pool’s center.

Fifty meters… thirty meters… ten meters…

Splash!

At that moment, a great surge of water erupted beside them—a five-meter-long fish leapt four meters into the air and cleanly caught the meat Gervas had thrown.

The fish resembled a Queweishan , with a long snout and fangs like giant teeth; its aura clearly marked it as a second-rank beast.

No time to think—Snow Lotus was within reach. Gervas reached out and snatched it.

“Go!”

With the Snow Lotus secured, Gervas gave the order. Zhuiyue flapped its wings hard, and the pair shot upward.

Roar!

Below, a roar echoed—the beast-fish circled the Snow Lotus several times, then looked up, roaring in frustration at the rider and steed.