Chapter 1654: Invader

It was clear from the condor's shriek that it was in dire straits.

If he weren't mistaken, it was the 'outside invader' Gu Luolin mentioned that put the bird into danger. However, the condor was a king among beasts. Who could be strong enough to threaten it?

Kui Lin?

Ye Zichen thought about it, and of those who'd entered, Kui Lin was the only one he could think of capable of threatening the giant condor.

But then, Venerate Spirit Treasure and Red Demon might be able to do it too!

Gu Luolin was going on about helping the condor. Ye Zichen could only pull her back and chastise her. "Is your brain filled with nothing but bubbles? There's a cliff down there!"

"But I can fly!" Gu Luolin blinked at him.

Her words were like a real slap in the face. Ye Zichen had just accused her of being brainless, but she'd been aware that this was a cliffside cave this whole time!

And she could even fly!

Could you use flying-type divine artifacts here?

Ye Zichen had never used anything like that before, because he'd never had any problem flying on his own. Flight artifacts were designed for those beneath the diviner level; he hadn't used them since his breakthrough.

But here on this snowy mountain, he and his companions couldn't fly, and none of them had suggested artifacts. He hadn't brought it up either.

It seemed none of them had even considered the possibility.

But just as Ye Zichen was pondering the possibility that flight artifacts might be useful here, two pairs of transparent wings formed of pure wind manifested behind Gu Luolin.

"....." Ye Zichen was stunned.

Full mastery of wind!

When he saw her wings, Ye Zichen's eyes filled with shock.

These were Wings of Wind. You needed full mastery over wind to condense them. At Ye Zichen's current level of attainments in wind, never mind two full pairs of wings, he couldn't even condense a single individual wing.

He wouldn't have guessed this little girl had such control over wind!

Two pairs of Wings of Wind? She'd most likely already condensed the dao heart!

"Look!" As she spread her wings, Gu Luolin spun in a circle, the surrounding winds whirling around her. She danced on the tips of her toes, like a fairy enveloped in winds.

"Can you carry other people with those Wings of Winds? If so, take me with you. I might very well know the invader in question, and even if I don't, I can probably lend a hand."

He couldn't discount the possibility that the invader was Venerate Spirit Treasure, especially since Yang Jian had seen the condor carry him. It was possible that Venerate Spirit Treasure would come in, guns blazing, to rescue him.

If so, the problem would melt away the moment Ye Zichen showed his face.

"You..." She looked Ye Zichen up and down. "Are you up to it?"

She clearly sensed how pitifully low his cultivation was. Ye Zichen hadn't anticipated a little loli like this would look down on him. He couldn't help but let out a long sigh. "Just take me with you!"

"Fine. If anything goes right, just call me 'princess' and I'll rush to your aid."

"....." It seemed she really thought being called 'princess' was a show of respect!

But she really was an expert with full mastery over wind. She carried Ye Zichen down the cliffside. When the condor carried him, the wind cut into his face, but this time was different. He barely even sensed the wind's power, and even when he did, it seemed like nothing but the caresses of a gentle breeze.

The cliffs were terrifyingly high. Ye Zichen and Gu Luolin passed through three layers of clouds before finally landing on the ground.

"Scree!"

Above the snowy mountain, the giant condor's eyes flashed with fury as it looked at the invaders. The corpses of smaller aerial beasts littered the ground around them. But in truth, the condor's plight wasn't as terrible as Ye Zichen had Gu Luolin imagined. It let out a mournful cry, not because it was injured, but because of its falle clansmen.

But its situation didn't brook optimism. Yang Jian had injured it earlier, and it hadn't had time to heal.

These invaders seized the opportunity while it was injured to attack its pre-existing wounds. As such, although it had no new wounds to speak of, its original wounds had deepened significantly. Crimson blood flowed forth, staining its pure white wings.

"Demon Emperor, this beast is a difficult foe."

One of the invaders was short, and he puffed away at a pipe, but his gaze was serious. Plumes of smoke drifted upward. The condor watched the smoke intently; it was this smoke that had injured so many of its generals.

This man was none other than the King of the West, Tai Tan. The Western Kingdom had always been a land of poison users.

As their king, Tai Tan was a true grandmaster poisoner. The "pipe" he puffed away at was, in fact, a divine artifact he'd spent practically everything he had creating. It was ranked twenty-seventh on the Divine Artifact leaderboards.

"Indeed, it's not easy to handle," said Jiao Hai, King of the South.

These two Yao Kings were now entirely under the Demon Emperor's thrall. But looking at their group now, it was strange: their once grand procession had been whittled down to only four, and that included the Demon Emperor himself. Who knew where the others had gone?

"Isn't it better this way?" Demon Emperor Kui Lin burst into laughter. "To have encountered such a mighty beast, it seems I'm rather fortunate!"

Kui Lin laughter playfully, while his three remaining subordinates all had mighty, turbulent auras, and all of them were imperial lords. The surviving aerial beasts dared not attack recklessly.

"The last such powerful beast we encountered seemed like some sort of snow ape. A creature so powerful must surely be guarding an ultimate treasure. If not for the fact that transcendence is even more tempting, I would surely have killed it and seized its treasures."

"Your Majesty, you're saying..."

"Hmph. If I'm not mistaken, this beast is guarding some heaven-defying ultimate treasure too." Kui Lin's eyes flashed with greed. He'd sensed that the ape was guarding an enticing treasure too, but then, the ape lived too far away from the palace, and here, every second was precious. If he wasted too much time fighting the snow ape, someone else might beat him to the transcendent fortune waiting for him in the palace.

That would be like throwing away a watermelon to seize a sesame seed!

For the sake of transcendent fortune, Kui Lin gave up on whatever treasure the ape was guarding and rushed to the mountain palace. But he never would have guessed....

"Well, well, well, what a surprise! I rushed straight to the palace, ignoring the treasures along the way. To think I'd run into such an impressive aerial beast en route! All I could think of was rushing to the palace and avoiding unnecessary trouble, but it seems I can't avoid this good fortune no matter how I try. I can be certain that, with your cultivation, with you blocking the way ahead, no one else has made it past you. I haven't encountered others either, so it seems I got here first."

"That means I can take it easy, and I can't leave this place empty-handed, now can I? Whatever treasure you're guarding, bird, I'll take it!" The Demon Emperor's gaze was unspeakably confident.

The bird blocking their path was indeed powerful. For the likes of Tai Tan and Jiao Hai to say it was a difficult opponent meant that it was terrifying indeed.

Had they been anyone else, they likely wouldn't have come out ahead. If they had to blame someone, they could only blame their own bad luck. But in Kui Lin's case, the reverse was true: meeting such a beast was his good fortune.

There was only one way this would end: with the beast's death!

As terrifying as the beast seemed, in truth, it was putting up a strong front.

True viciousness wasn't apparent on the surface. Only those with weak hearts would put on such an intimidating face to scare others off.

Besides, the beast was already wounded, and not lightly at that.

"Scree!" The bird let out another resonant cry. It could understand Kui LIn's words, and they only infuriated it even further.

It flapped its wings, stirring up mighty gales. Countless icy whirlwinds appeared around it.

The howling winds were like intangible blades. Jiao Hai and Tai Tan seemed like they were suffering, and they had no choice but to unleash their divine power to form a barrier.

"Angry?" Kui Lin glanced at the condor, which was on the verge of losing it. "No.... it seems you're afraid. If I'm not mistaken, you really are keeping watch over an ultimate treasure, and you're frantic that I've seen through you. It seems you're using this display of temper to hide your fear."

"Scree!"

"So, you've finally learned fear. So why have your clansmen block my path in the first place? Why not just let me go?" The Demon Emperor met the winds head on. He released a streak of dark purple demonic energy from his palm.

The dark energy was like a wisp or single strand of thread, but no matter how the winds howled, it didn't waver in the slightest. A breath of time later, the energy gathered in Kui Lin's palms formed more and more strands, which wrapped around the birds in the surrounding area until they couldn't move a muscle. The strands then contracted continuously until...

There was an explosion of blood. The surrounding birds barely even fought back; they couldn't resist as the strands of demonic energy crushed them into a bloody pulp.

"Scree!" The already infuriated condor couldn't bear the Demon Emperor's cruelty to its clansmen. It beat its massive wings, stirring up the accumulated snow and mixing it with the accumulated snow. Fierce, icy gales bore down on the Demon Emperor.

"Your Majesty!" Jiao Hai and the others cried out in alarm, but not long after those massive wings beat, something lifted them up gently. The Demon Emperor's hand, still covered in strands of demonic energy, was lifting it up.

"You go deal with the other beasts. Don't worry about this one."

"Yes, sir!" Jiao Hai, Tai Tan, and the remaining demon left immediately. When the condor saw that these small fry were still alive, it streaked, then swung its wings at them.

"What's wrong with your memory? An attack like this can't get past this emperor." Kui Lin's dark energy-covered hands pierced directly through the condor's wings, then pressed it firmly against the surface of the mountain.

"Scree!" It let out an agonized wail and struggled to fold its wing, but the demon energy was incomparably firm.

"I see you're no ordinary vicious beast. You're intelligent. How about this? Become my mount, and when I leave this place, I'll take you with me. How about it?"

"Scree!"

"You refuse?" The Demon Emperor hooked his finger, and strands of his dark energy pierced right through the condor's remaining wing.

"Wind Blade!" Suddenly, a feminine shout rung out overhead. The surrounding wings transformed into countless blades and sliced directly at Kui Lin. Ordinary wind blades were of no use against the Demon Emperor, but these made him sense a hint of a threat.