The joke was cold, but reality was even colder.

Watching as Darkrai and other strange beasts' giant claws and sharp teeth descended mercilessly.

The Wutong-like creatures, coexisting with the civilization left by humans, seemed to be emitting desperate wails.

As the strongest of its kind, Golden Shining Owl still hadn't given up, recklessly drawing energy and even life force from its body.

It continuously unleashed skills.

Even though its skills seemed like phantom bubbles, bursting with a single touch, to the bizarre Darkrai and other pet beasts.

Even though all its attacks vanished without a trace, like water droplets falling into the desert.

It never gave up.

Because it clearly knew that behind it was its clan, those younglings who hadn't yet had a chance to properly see this world.

"Golden Shining!"

It shrieked mournfully, a cry of /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ bleeding, despair, and yet determination.

"Shining..."

The older Shining Flying Owls also didn't give up.

They used their strongest skills again and again, even as their wing feathers fell out and tail feathers were torn off.

Knowing everything was futile, they still refused to give up.

"Heh."

"Abyssal Catastrophe!"

The silver-robed leader's smiling voice was even colder than the moonlight of Shadow Abyss.

The air was stained a murky purplish-black.

Dark Star Gravity tore open space cracks, and the Wutong-like creatures and the surrounding remnants of ancient civilization were ripped apart.

The Flying Owls felt as if they had entered a giant meat grinder.

Even though they used their bodies to protect their fragile younglings, they still let out desperate wails the moment the Descent of the Abyss arrived.

"Boom—"

When the first purplish-bronze lightning feather floated down, even the collapsing space seemed to freeze.

A clear, resonant cry came from the end of the firmament, as if a giant claw burning with black-gold lightning flames had forcibly torn open the expanding abyssal cocoon.

The crimson compound eyes on Darkrai's body burst open one after another in the lightning flames.

Other mutated pet beasts also seemed to have suffered terrifying critical hits, their aura, supported by madness, seemed to be crushed into a fleeting illusion in an instant.

The sudden change caused the silver-robed man to pale in shock, and it stunned the Flying Owls who were waiting for death.

Only to see a giant bird, shimmering with lightning all over, dive down, blocking in front of the Golden Shining Owl, whose heart was about to be pierced by a beast claw.

Like a god descending!

The dying Golden Shining Owl suddenly opened its eyes wide.

This Transcendent creature blocking in front of it was so unfamiliar: its aura, its appearance, its feeling were all strange.

But every single one of its feathers seemed to be engraved with the totem belonging to their Golden Feather Finch clan.

It was also a Golden Feather Finch?

But did their clan have this evolution path?

Who was it?

This Transcendent creature, who saved the bird heroically, was naturally Golden Yuanbao.

Mingxi and the others had rushed in this direction when they discovered that these five silver-robed individuals were preparing to harm the Shining Flying Owl clan.

However, the power gap between the Flying Owl group and the silver-robed individuals was too great, plus the silver-robed individuals had special means, so even with their various accelerations, they couldn't arrive in time before casualties occurred.

In Shadow Abyss, due to spatial erosion, space movement skills were prone to errors.

Therefore, Chu Kuangsheng had strictly forbidden Little Silver Flower from using Space Flash in Shadow Abyss.

To avoid the outcome of them arriving only to find the Flying Owl group already slaughtered, Mingxi had Golden Yuanbao use Chasing Wind and Thunderbolt to go ahead.

This was why Golden Yuanbao appeared alone like a savior.

"Boom—"

Thunderstorm bloomed.

What its wings stirred up were not air currents but flowers of lightning.

The abyssal cocoon was enveloped by lightning flowers, transforming into dazzling stardust and scattering.

"Clang—!"

The lightning stirred up materialized sound waves, and the bizarre changes on the mutated pet beasts were actually twisted and deformed by the unrestrainedly blooming lightning.

There were faint signs of regression.

Golden Yuanbao did not continue its attack; these things, neither fully transcendent nor fully monster, were not enough to harm it.

Its blood-red pupils seemed to intertwine with the Milky Way and the abyss.

The moment the vertical pupil on its forehead opened, it transformed into threads of fate.

"Those parasites in the intelligence department!"

The silver-robed leader coughed up a mouthful of blood mixed with organ fragments.

"Didn't they say this Flying Owl clan only had one King-level Golden Shining Owl? Then where in the hell did this Emperor-level Transcendent creature pop out from?? Are they trying to deliberately get me killed?"

He was furious and filled with hatred.

The strongest in their small team was him, but he only had A-rank strength.

Even with the divine staff bestowed by the Lord in his hand, which could allow his pet beasts to undergo exclusive evolution at any time, he wasn't 100% confident he could deal with a clan with an Emperor-level Transcendent creature presiding over it.

What's more, he had just used the divine staff's ultimate move 【Divine Mercy】 for the sake of showing off!

But the moment this Transcendent creature appeared, even Darkrai and the others in their divine transformation state were clearly suppressed.

"...Boss, this seems a bit off. Why do I feel like this Flying Owl is... Yuanshi Demon Phoenix?"

A silver-robed man next to the leader spoke with stiff eyes and a trembling voice.

The leader froze for a moment, "What Yuanshi Demon Phoenix? An evolution path of the Golden Feather Finch? Why haven't I heard of it before?"

"No, ah, yes, Yuanshi Demon Phoenix indeed evolved from the Golden Feather Finch, but it's different from ordinary Flying Owls... It's a bit special, no, it's extremely special."

The man's face beneath his mask inexplicably turned pale, and his voice was wavering.

The leader frowned, "Either it is, or it isn't, what's all this nonsense!"

At this moment, another person also stammered, "Boss, there's only one Yuanshi Demon Phoenix in the world! It's an evolved form of the Thunder Demon Bird, and it's unlike any other Flying Owl!"

"Holy crap! I remember now, Yuanshi Demon Phoenix is Mingxi's pet beast!"

"Could that Mingxi also be in Shadow Abyss?"

"No way? Our luck..."

The five looked at each other, feeling their heartbeats inexplicably quicken!

"...Is it possible that Yuanshi Demon Phoenix was never unique? That this one in front of us belongs to this clan?"

Although the leader was a chuunibyou pervert, he was also a chuunibyou pervert who kept up with current events. He clearly understood the meaning represented by the name Mingxi.

Meeting her might be a great thing for other Miracle Squads, but for their peripheral cleanup squad, it was absolutely a disaster!

So he tried to deceive himself.

"Vacuum Domain."

"Death Entanglement."

The girl's clear voice sounded neither light nor heavy, shattering everyone's last shred of hope.

The absolute Vacuum Domain mercilessly suppressed all the mutated pet beasts to the ground.

For some reason, unable to breathe, the unreasonable changes on their bodies uncontrollably began to recede, slowly reverting to their original forms.

At the same time, countless black vines burst from the ground, binding the hands and feet of the five silver-robed men.

"Ah oh!"

Emerald Green's binding technique was learned from who knows where.

It was quite... confusing.

*(๑•₃•๑)*

"Cough, Little Silver Flower, go help heal the Flying Owls."

... ...

PS: It's worse today, woke up directly dizzy and lightheaded, really regret taking leave yesterday, should have taken it today.

So today I typed on my phone in a dazed state, if there are typos or grammatical errors please @ Huabai, thank you darlings.