Chapter 39: The Snow Lotus is Secured!

Roar! A long whinny echoed from the sky in response.

It was Zhuiyue bursting out from the high clouds, charging straight at that Demon Swift Eagle.

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

Caught off guard, the Demon Swift Eagle was solidly headbutted by Zhuiyue.

With a wail of agony, the Demon Swift Eagle flapped wildly and plummeted toward the ground.

Boom! A small pit was smashed into the mud mixed with seawater, and the Demon Swift Eagle immediately became a mud ball.

Zhuiyue continued the pursuit, and only after confirming the Demon Swift Eagle could not rise again did it stand proudly to the side, kicking its hooves and constantly snorting hot breath from its nostrils.

"Zhuiyue, well done!"

Gervas hurried over, unable to stop praising.

Roar!

'No big deal!' Zhuiyue proudly raised its head.

Gervas also tolerated Zhuiyue's little arrogance; after all, that headbutt had earned him another sixty gold coins.

Soon, several guards stepped forward and used a net to cover this eleventh Demon Swift Eagle as well.

"Let's go, begin the return journey!"

Although there were some minor disturbances this time, the overall result was a great harvest, and Gervas was in a very good mood.

When the group brought the Swift Eagles to the small town, exclamations were naturally unavoidable.

"Heavens, look over there, what is that?"

"Heavens, why is there such a huge Swift Eagle?"

"I know, that must be a demon beast; only a demon beast can be that large. My lord is truly mighty; just a few days ago he caught the Fire Steed, and now he has caught a batch of demon beasts!"

"Yes, my lord must surely be favored by the God of Glory to have demon beast harvests every single day!"

"Even if favored by the God of Glory, my lord must still possess such skill to subdue and bring back the demon beasts!"

"Exactly; as for the demon snake and the swamp giant from the day before yesterday, only our lord could have exterminated them. In other baronies, we would likely have suffered already!"

"My lord is mighty! I, Kari, am willing to be Gervas's serf for a lifetime!"

"I, Jora, am too, and I am even willing to bear children for Lord Gervas!"

"Uh... Auntie Jora, don't you already have two children?"

"Does having children mean I can't bear children for my lord? Do you have an objection?"

Seeing Jora's arm thicker than his own, this serf quickly shook his head in apology. "No, I have no objection, Auntie Jora!"

Amidst the murmurs, Gervas had already led the group back to the castle.

He naturally did not hear that auntie's wish; otherwise, he would surely have to dispatch several more guards to accompany him before daring to enter the small town in the future.

Although the difficulty of taming the Demon Swift Eagle is not high, there is still a process.

The entire process is extremely similar to 'ao ying' (starving an eagle to break its spirit); first, one must make it extremely hungry and weak, and only then attempt to subdue it.

The only thing missing from the process is having a person accompany them through the starvation...

The Swift Eagles were placed in the courtyard on the side of the castle; their feet were shackled, their eyes covered with black cloth, and their wings bound and secured with hemp ropes, left like this for three days.

After three days, a tentative taming attempt can be made: a person rides on its back to see if it struggles violently.

After securing the Swift Eagles, Gervas had no free time; he had not yet gone to retrieve the other good thing mentioned in today's intelligence.

That was the Snow Lotus, which in his heart was more precious than the Demon Swift Eagle.

Speaking of which, it was good that the mist in the Death Mountain Range had cleared these past two days; if he had searched for a few more days, even with the intelligence, Gervas would have seen it but been unable to reach it.

Because of the dangers of the Death Mountain Range, Gervas could not possibly penetrate deep from the ground; it was too dangerous, a matter of nine deaths and one life.

But this morning, Zhuiyue had just undergone a transformation, so Gervas could ride Zhuiyue to penetrate deep from the air.

"Let's go, Zhuiyue!"

Roar!

"Master, hold on tight!"

With a long whinny, Zhuiyue leaped directly out of the high castle balcony, spreading its wings to trace a beautiful arc and soaring toward the sky.

Thus, one man and one horse sped rapidly toward Tianehu.

It must be said that the speed of soaring in the sky absolutely far exceeds that on the ground; even though the Fire Steed's speed was actually no worse than Zhuiyue's current speed, they still could not compare.

In just twenty minutes, Zhuiyue had brought Gervas to the airspace above Tianehu.

"Zhuiyue, continue forward in the due south direction; we need to find a snow mountain!"

Roar!

With another long whinny, Zhuiyue flapped its wings and headed toward Death Peak.

About half an hour later, the forests below became dense, and the mountain ranges began to rise high.

At first, Gervas felt that looking at them, there was not much difference from ordinary mountain ranges; perhaps they were just a bit denser.

But gradually, he saw occasional small dots of different colors on the ground roaring and snarling upward.

Only when those small dots ran up to some mountain peaks did their full forms become visible; they were actually ferocious demon beasts.

These demon beasts daring to chase and roar were at least Tier Three to start with.

Eventually, a mottled tiger over thirty meters long even appeared; Gervas calculated it had reached the terrifying level of at least a Level Six demon beast.

If this journey had truly been on the ground, it would not have been nine deaths and one life, but ten deaths and no life.

No wonder the kingdom calls this place the Death Mountain Range; it is indeed well-deserved.

Of course, the air is not actually safe either; there are many flying beasts and demon beasts as well.

It is just that they had not ventured too deep yet, so they had not encountered those powerful flying demon beasts.

Those flying magical beasts generally prefer to dwell on towering peaks that pierce the clouds; such mountain ranges are not common on the outskirts of the Death Mountain Range.

However, along the way, Gervas still encountered two groups of Demon Swift Eagles; seeing that the Demon Swift Eagles were not birds of prey, both sides actively gave way to pass.

Roar!

'Master, there is a snow mountain ahead!'

After traveling deeper for another half hour, Zhuiyue issued a reminder, and indeed, a towering mountain range appeared ahead.

The upper reaches of the mountain range were covered in white snow, yet the mid-slopes and foothills were lush and verdant.

'Head to the foothills, Zhuiyue!'

Thus, with Zhuiyue's presence, finding the deep pool was not difficult.

After merely circling for over a minute, Gervas discovered the deep pool mentioned by the system.

The pool water was a deep blue, resembling a gemstone's eye.

And in the center of that deep blue pool lay a small patch of green lotus leaves.

Amidst the lotus leaves, a streak of snow-white was intermingled.

'That is the Snow Lotus; Zhuiyue, prepare yourself!'

Speaking thus, Gervas pulled a ten-jin block of meat from the side saddle and hurled it fiercely toward one side of the deep pool.

This was what Gervas had pondered after obtaining the intelligence.

Although in this world Gervas was a novice explorer, he had eaten pork and seen pigs run.

A guardian beast must always accompany a treasure; this was an essential plot device in novels from his past life.

Therefore, he had to be on guard.

And one breath after tossing the meat block, Gervas ordered: 'Zhuiyue, act!'

With a swoosh, Zhuiyue's form rapidly dove toward the Snow Lotus in the center of the deep pool.

Fifty meters, thirty meters, ten meters...

Splash!

Just then, a huge commotion of churning waves came from the side; a large fish four or five meters long leaped four or five meters into the air, steadily catching the meat block Gervas had thrown.

This large fish resembled a quill-tail eel, with a long mouth and fangs like giant teeth; its aura clearly marked it as a second-tier magical beast.

There was no time to think further; the Snow Lotus was right before his eyes, so Gervas reached out and snatched it directly.

'Go!'

With the Snow Lotus pouch in hand, Gervas gave the order; Zhuiyue's wings flapped fiercely, and the man and beast soared upward.

Roar!

At this moment, a roar came from below; it was that magical beast fish circling several times beside the Snow Lotus flower before lifting its head unwillingly to roar at the man and beast.