While Zhou Donghuang was still gathering his strength, the golden-crowned eagle suddenly accelerated to a higher altitude but was still unable to dodge. The stone thrown by Zhou Donghuang smashed into its skull.
The golden-crowned eagle plummeted in a daze, and if not for the other golden-crowned eagle that managed to grab it in support, it would have been the first golden-crowned eagle of the species to fall to its death.
“Many thanks for your mercy.”
After recovering from its daze, the older golden-crowned eagle finally came to and thanked Zhou Donghuang profusely.
At that moment, they looked at Zhou Donghuang with a gaze full of dread.
Earlier, they had already witnessed the power of the youth when he had grabbed their wings and flung them away, and they could easily tell that the youth had been holding back when he had flung the stone at them.
If not, they would be dead.
“This qi-gathering elixir that I have should be able to help you attain Great Consummation of the Qi-gathering.”
With a flick of his arm, Zhou Donghuang tossed a bottle of qi-gathering elixir to the older golden-crowned eagle.
Suspicion and surprise glittered in its eyes, but it nevertheless reached out a talon to catch it and opened the seal on the bottle, pouring the contents into its mouth and draining it to the last drop.
It was not worried that the youth would harm it because if the youth had intended to, he was entirely capable of killing it mercilessly earlier on.
After consuming the qi-gathering elixir, the older golden-crowned eagle closed its eyes and roosted on its younger brother’s broad back and began to practice. When it opened its eyes again shortly after, they were glittering with excitement.
This qi-gathering elixir… can actually increase the sensitivity to qi by a thousand percent!
When the older golden-crowned eagle spoke again, it was with barely contained excitement. “Compared to this qi-gathering elixir, the qi-gathering elixir that increases sensitivity to qi by a hundred percent that we stole from several adepts that year are nothing but rubbish!”
That year, the imperial court of Yunyang country had sent a Great Consummation adept of the Qi-gathering into the Lost Forest to hunt the two golden-crowned eagles, and not only had he returned empty-handed, but several members of the party had also been robbed of their qi-gathering elixirs.
“Increases the sensitivity to qi by a thousand percent? Big Brother, are you joking?”
The younger golden-crowned eagle’s eyes showed disbelief.
Almost as soon as it had finished speaking, its older brother curled its right talon into a fist and gave it a savage knock on its skull. “You dare doubt what your older brother says?”
The younger golden-crowned eagle laughed in embarrassment. “No, of course not.”
Zhou Donghuang swept a casual gaze over the two golden-crowned eagles and turned to leave for the second time.
“Young man, wait!”
Just as Zhou Donghuang turned around, the older golden-crowned eagle spoke up again, making Zhou Donghuang pause in mid-step and turned to look at it, his eyes narrowing slightly. “What is it? You want another round?”
“No, no, no…”
The older golden-crowned eagle shook its head hurriedly. “We are no match for you, we admit defeat.”
“I asked you to wait because I wanted to ask for a few more bottles of that qi-gathering elixir that you gave me… just that one bottle is not enough for me to attain Great Consummation of the Qi-gathering.”
“Eight to ten bottles more should allow me to barely attain Great Consummation of the Qi-gathering,” the older golden-crowned eagle said.
“You want a qi-gathering elixir?”
A smile at his successful ploy pulled at the corners of Zhou Donghuang’s mouth, and he casually said, “You and I are neither relatives nor enemies; why would I give you a qi-gathering elixir?”
“This…”
The golden-crowned eagle was stunned. What this youth before him was saying made sense.
Previously, it had always been robbing adepts who entered the Lost Forest of their qi-gathering elixirs, and this had become a habit. This made it think that all the adepts who entered the Lost Forest had to surrender their qi-gathering elixirs to it.
Now, it had just realized that this youth’s ability was stronger than its own, and it could do nothing if he refused to give it a qi-gathering elixir.
Seeing the golden-crowned eagle sink into silence, Zhou Donghuang knew the time was ripe and said to it, “Actually, it’s not that you can’t have more of the qi-gathering elixir I gave you earlier. Leave the Lost Forest and follow me, and as long as you obey me, I can provide a steady supply of that kind of qi-gathering elixir for you. With the qi-gathering elixir that I can give you, in just a short period of time, not just Great Consummation of the Qi-gathering but even if you want to advance to the Connate stage and become Connate stage demons, it will not be difficult.”
Zhou Donghuang revealed his “motive.”
And this was also the reason that he had not killed the golden-crowned eagles earlier because he wanted to bring the two golden-crowned eagles out of the Lost Forest and bind them into his service.
These two golden-crowned eagles were not only of uncommon ability, but they were also incredibly fast as mounts, far faster in comparison to ferghana horses.
“Younger Brother, what do you think?”
The older golden-crowned eagle asked the other golden-crowned eagle discreetly, but it did not know that even though it had lowered its voice, Zhou Donghuang’s could still hear it clearly.
“Big Brother, if he can really provide us with an uninterrupted supply of qi-gathering elixirs that increases the sensitivity to qi by a thousand percent, I feel that we should follow him.”
The younger golden-crowned eagle continued softly, “At our current standard, Great Consummation of the Qi-gathering is our limit. If we follow him as he asks, we have a chance to become Connate demons!”
“After we become Connate demons we will no longer need qi-gathering elixir… and we will be entirely capable of leaving him, could he still manage to bind us and prevent us from leaving?”
A qi-gathering elixir was only useful to adepts and demons at the stage of Qi-Gathering, and was of no help to adepts and demons at the Connate stage.
“Younger brother, I notice you have become cleverer,” the older golden-crowned eagle chuckled.
Zhou Donghuang laughed to himself in his heart at the whispered exchange between the two golden-crowned eagles.
He, Zhou Donghuang, could formulate a qi-gathering elixir that could help increase the rate of practice of adepts and demons at the stage of Qi-gathering. Could he also not formulate some potion that could help adepts and demons at the Connate stage increase their rate of practice?
These two golden-crowned eagles were too naive.
Now, these two golden-crowned eagles still did not know that they had embarked on a path of no return.
After they had finished their hushed discussion, they both expressed their willingness to follow Zhou Donghuang.
On the way back, Zhou Donghuang stood on the back of the older golden-crowned eagle with his hands clasped behind his back, allowing them to fly him back to the Chu royal city.
The golden-crowned eagles were huge, far larger than ordinary eagles. They stood at around one and a half meters tall and had a wingspan of five meters. Zhou Donghuang was able to stand on them as though he were standing on level ground.
“Young man, how should my big brother and I address you from now on?”
The younger golden-crowned eagle suddenly looked back at Zhou Donghuang and asked as it was clearing the way ahead.
“Just call me ‘Young Master.’” Zhou Donghuang smiled casually.
“And you two, do you have names?” Zhou Donghuang followed up immediately.
Seeing the two golden-crowned eagles shaking their heads in unison, Zhou Donghuang continued, “Since you don’t, I’ll give you names…”
“From today onwards, you’ll be ‘Big Gold’ and he’ll be ‘Little Gold.’”
In short order, Zhou Donghuang had named both golden-crowned eagles. The older golden-crowned eagle he was standing on was Big Gold, and the other golden-crowned eagle was Little Gold.
On the journey to the Lost Forest, a hundred kilometers from the Chu royal city had taken Zhou Donghuang several hours.
Now, it took him only fifteen minutes to be brought back by the golden-crowned eagles.
This was the normal speed of the golden-crowned eagles without expending their qi. If they expended their qi in flight, they could travel even faster.
A journey of a hundred kilometers in fifteen minutes… a thousand kilometers would need more than half a day. Ferghana horses only travel a thousand kilometers a day in the figurative sense.
Zhou Donghuang did some quick estimates and realized that the normal flying speed of the golden-crowned eagles was around ten times the speed of a ferghana horse. Moreover, ferghana horses required a road, and golden-crowned eagles flew through the air smoothly without obstruction. They did not need to consider the availability of roads.
From the prefecture capital of Yunfeng prefecture to the Chu royal city at top speed, a ferghana horse would take at least two and a half months after including time for rest breaks.
With golden-crowned eagles instead, even at their normal speed and including rest breaks… and considering that there are no obstructions in the air and traveling in a straight line, it would take only about five days at most.
At this thought, Zhou Donghuang increasingly felt that not killing the two golden-crowned eagles and taking them into his service instead had been an extremely wise decision.
“There.”
It was late evening, and as the golden-crowned eagles flew into the Chu royal city, no one noticed them even though they slowed down. Zhou Donghuang guided them to land in the back courtyard of the guest compound of Chuxiu Inn.
Usually, this back courtyard was unused. It was just as well that the two golden-crowned eagles could use it as their resting place.
However, to avoid scaring Yang Zixi, Fu, and Aunt Mei, Zhou Donghuang invited them into the back courtyard and introduced the golden-crowned eagles to them.
After almost half a day of rest, Yang Zixi’s condition had obviously improved greatly.
When Zhou Donghuang saw her, he could not help feeling rather diffident.
After all, just earlier this morning, he had expressed his feelings to the young lady and told her that he only treated her as a younger sister… but that afternoon, he had fooled around with another woman in the depths of the Lost Forest.
“This is Big Gold, this is Little Gold… umm, they are the two silly birds I took in when I was in the Lost Forest. They’ll be staying here in the back courtyard from now on,” Zhou Donghuang told the three of them.
“Silly birds?”
The three of them started in surprise, looking at the two majestic golden-crowned eagles, unable to see how they matched the description of “silly birds.”
It was also because night had already fallen, and the back courtyard was dimly lit that Yang Zixi and Aunt Mei were unable to see the golden crowns of the two giant eagles.
If not, even if they did not dare believe that these two giant eagles were the two golden-crowned eagles from the Lost Forest, they would definitely have made the connection to those two golden-crowned eagles.
As the most powerful demons in the Western Ridge of the Chu King, the two golden-crowned eagles of the Lost Forest were known to everyone.
After the three of them left the back courtyard, Big Gold looked at Zhou Donghuang and asked doubtfully, “Young Master, were you introducing us to them just now?”
“Although I don’t understand most of the human languages, I understand when humans are referring to us… you didn’t tell them that we are the golden-crowned eagles?”
In the past, Big Gold could always hear the shouts of panic when he was robbing adepts in the Lost Forest, and over time, he had learned how humans referred to golden-crowned eagles.
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