Danger!

The moment Garuda saw Su Zhou draw his bow and gather his power, her expression changed drastically. Though she hadn’t suffered any real harm thus far, her life instincts screamed a premonition of ’critical danger’!

The Rigid Shooting Technique shouldn’t have been a particularly rare or powerful Martial Art, but in the hands of this extraordinary user, it instilled the fear of impending death!

SWOOSH!

In the next instant, with a deafening crack that tore through the atmosphere, a vacuum corridor appeared in midair. Su Zhou’s full-power shot broke the sound barrier, kicking up a gale from the sonic boom. The custom-made Armor-Piercing Arrowhead, shining like a shooting star, blazed toward Garuda like a reverse meteor, wreathed in flames from the friction!

’I can’t dodge this!’

With no other choice, the golden-haired, humanoid girl could only raise her arms and cross them in front of her chest, forming a barrier to protect her vitals. A moment later, the Armor-Piercing Long Arrow—powerful enough to pierce tank armor—slammed into Garuda’s arms like a small missile!

BOOM! The sound of a small rocket exploding echoed through the air. The violent impact of Spiritual Power blasted away all the dust within a several-hundred-meter radius. The chaotic, swirling gales collided and canceled each other out, even forming small Spiritual Power tornadoes in the vicinity.

The Evil Beasts that still lingered nearby were swept up by this violent wave of Spiritual Power. The ones that were already heavily injured had their wounds burst open, spewing blood as they died on the spot. Those who were lightly wounded, or not at all, simply felt their knees go weak and collapsed to the ground.

As for the target of the blast, Garuda, she heard a sickening CRACK from her arms. In an instant, her flesh was torn, and she heard the sound of her arm bones shattering. The ferocious power contained within the arrow sent her entire body flying into the air once more, tumbling hundreds of meters higher before she slowly came to a stop!

’So painful!’

DRIP. DROP. The sound of blood slowly dripping could be heard. This time, Garuda was truly injured. The arrow had pierced her left arm, and a pale golden fluid trickled from the wound, its edges seared by the intense heat.

’Incredible. If I hadn’t already finished forging my entire body with golden bones, that arrow would have pierced both my arms and gone straight into my heart!’

However, despite being wounded, the frowning Garuda did not fly into a rage. She calmly endured the pain, broke off the arrowhead, and pulled the shaft out of her arm. The wound began to slowly heal—while the Golden-winged Bird’s body was tough, its regeneration ability wasn’t particularly strong. What she was displaying now was just the normal recovery of a body enhanced with Spiritual Power Organs.

The reason she wasn’t angry was that she saw the longbow in Su Zhou’s hands turn to ash. He had lost his means of physical long-range attack. While the modern longbow was not a true Spiritual Artifact, and was in fact sturdier than some ancient ones, its ability to conduct Spiritual Qi was far inferior. In Su Zhou’s hands, one full-power Rigid Shot was its limit.

But just as Garuda thought that her opponent, having lost his ranged weapon and used so much Spiritual Power to unleash such a powerful strike, would surely need a moment to recover, she saw the Spiritual Light in Su Zhou’s eyes flare. He looked as if he had gone berserk, riding the Wind Aid and charging toward her with the Dragon Horn Long Spear in hand!

’How is that possible? Doesn’t his Spiritual Power need to recover?’

’And aren’t I the one who’s injured? Why does he look like the one who’s enraged and going berserk?!’

Garuda was completely baffled. By her own Spiritual Power calculations, Su Zhou’s one Thunder Spear, one Rigid Shot Arrow, and the earlier skirmishes should have consumed at least four-fifths of his Spiritual Power, even if he seemed to have the upper hand. Meanwhile, she still had three-fifths remaining. As long as she played it safe, victory was only a matter of time.

So why was he charging at her so recklessly?! Couldn’t he tell who had the advantage? What he should be doing now was stalling for time to recover his Spiritual Power!

"HUUFF—HUFF!"

Meanwhile, Su Zhou, whose Spiritual Power had just refilled completely, let out a heavy breath. He rode the Wind Aid, rapidly closing in on Garuda at eighty meters per second. The rich, fragrant aroma of her blood was truly invigorating to him, making his entire body surge with power.

It was hard to imagine just how fragrant a Spirit Bird with such a natural seasoning would be if it were roasted and eaten.

’But now isn’t the time to be thinking about roasting her,’ he thought. ’I still have questions to ask later.’

With that thought, Su Zhou suppressed his appetite. His heart pounded like thunder, and real thunder bloomed from within him. As he sped toward Garuda, he once again used the Dragon Horn Long Spear to channel lightning, forming a Celestial Thunder that crashed down on her. It struck the Gale Shield she had hastily thrown up—but this time, because it was so sudden, the shield wasn’t thick enough and was blasted apart instantly. Garuda, like a downed airplane, plummeted diagonally toward the earth below.

"How do you still have lightning?!"

Even as the electricity made her hair frizz and stand on end, tearing open her arm wound to bleed anew, Garuda couldn’t help but ask in shock, "Just how much Spiritual Power do you have left?"

"Pretty much full."

Closing in on her again, Su Zhou raised his Long Spear to gather a second Celestial Thunder. He answered honestly as he continued his bombardment, "The Spiritual Power here is pretty dense, so I recover quickly. Attacks like these barely consume any Spiritual Power at all."

Garuda, a native of the Kunlun Secret Realm, could only think, ’Huh? How come I don’t know that?’

But then, Su Zhou, who had now entered full bombardment mode, began to trash-talk. "By the way, Miss Great Roc Golden-winged Bird, have you ever heard of Pocket Monster?"

How could Garuda, a hick country Divine Bird with no childhood and no experience playing games, have ever heard of something like Pocket Monster? She was naturally baffled. She continued to gather her Spiritual Power to block Su Zhou’s Celestial Thunder bombardment, then charged back at him. She refused to believe Su Zhou’s Spiritual Power and stamina were truly infinite. It was a battle of attrition now, and as a descendant of a Divine Beast, who was she to be afraid!

’Once Su Zhou runs out of Spiritual Power, we’ll fight up close again, and we’ll see who puts who in their place!’

Then, as the third Celestial Thunder mercilessly crashed down, she heard Su Zhou’s casual voice say, "The thing is, the Thunder Element is actually super effective against the Flying System. If you want to counter me, you should be using the Ice Attribute, Dragon Attribute, or maybe the Fairy System."

"What in the world are you talking about?!" Garuda couldn’t take it anymore. She was extremely close now—in the next second, she could smash her fist into this damn Dragon Race member’s face!

"Just some trash talk to mess with your head. Now, behold! My Thunderous Fist!"

As he spoke, facing the Golden-winged Bird who had endured the Thunder Strike to charge right in front of him, Su Zhou swept his spear out without hesitation. The searing Thunder Light turned into microwaves, heating the atmosphere. On the Dragon Horn Long Spear, the Dragon Horn itself, heated to an extreme temperature by electrical resistance, ignited with Spiritual Fire. With this deceptive strike that turned lightning into fire—completely different from what he’d just announced—Su Zhou forced back the naive Garuda, who had actually believed he was going to use a Thunderous Fist. He even managed to set a lock of her hair on fire.

The intensely hot aura from the Long Spear swept out for dozens of meters, roasting the Evil Beasts that had been injured by the aftershocks of Su Zhou and Garuda’s battle until they were half-cooked.

’It’s strange, though,’ Su Zhou wondered. ’What’s with these Evil Beasts? This isn’t a battle they can interfere in, so why are they refusing to retreat even when they’re covered in wounds?’

Su Zhou was watching Garuda’s expression. He noticed that after she hastily extinguished the flames on her head, she didn’t seem to care at all about whether the Evil Beasts lived or died. In fact, upon realizing that most of them were dead, she even looked somewhat relieved. ’Could it be that these Evil Beasts aren’t on her side? But she’s supposed to be the local emperor in the Kunlun Secret Realm, right? I haven’t seen any other factions around.’

’Then again, this Golden-winged Bird’s thoughts are just too easy to see through. Her intentions are written all over her face. It was the same earlier in the fight—wherever she wanted to attack, that’s where she’d look. It’s just too easy to predict.’

’She may have combat experience from her bloodline inheritance, but her actual combat awareness is still severely lacking.’

At this point, the advantage was obvious. However, considering his opponent had been fighting in human form the entire time and hadn’t used her true Golden-winged Bird form—the ultimate trump card of a Mimic Dao Cultivator—Su Zhou figured she wouldn’t concede defeat just yet.

So, he stopped his pursuit and offered a polite reminder, "Hey, Golden-winged Bird over there. I suggest you hurry up and revert to your original form. It’d be better if we continued our fight that way."

"Why? Do you really think you’ve won!?"

Su Zhou’s words only stirred up the Golden-winged Bird’s confusion and indignation. According to her inherited memories, when two demons fought, whichever one revealed their true form first was admitting they were at a disadvantage. And while she had been put in a difficult position, her injuries were fundamentally minor—a pierced left arm and slightly singed hair, both of which could be fully regenerated.

In contrast, Su Zhou had destroyed his own weapon and wasted a massive amount of Spiritual Power. It was hard to say who had actually suffered the greater loss!

"Because you’ll die."

At that, Su Zhou even retracted his Long Spear. With his hands behind his back, he said calmly, "I’m warning you in advance. I never joke about things like this."

Of course, the warning had no effect. Wearing an insulted expression, Garuda resumed her charge toward Su Zhou.

But in the next moment, in a flash of lightning, a burning shooting star lit up in the distance.

The shooting star was gone in a flash. Wreathed in searing Spiritual Light, it pierced through layers of air and Strong Wind, flying from afar with a piercing shriek!

BANG! A dull crack of shattering bone rang out. The look of confusion and fury on Garuda’s face froze, her eyes turning vacant. Right in the center of her forehead was a sunken, bloody hole! Her flesh was torn, and her skull was shattered to pieces!

A sniper shot!

It was Bai Canglang’s sniper shot!

"Finally got my chance... the fight was so flashy and fast before, there was no way I could get a lock on for Aiming."

On a distant mountain peak, Bai Canglang, who had only managed to fire after using Full Concentration, let out a shaky breath. "Did I get the target?"

A Spiritual Artifact Level anti-materiel sniper rifle, combined with a custom-made Spiritual Power Bullet, still wasn’t enough to completely pierce Garuda’s skull. But it was more than enough to punch a hole through it!

But as for whether that was enough to kill an Extraordinary Tier Great Demon...

The answer, of course, was no.

Across the utter silence of the Yaochi Lakefront, the piercing cry of a bird, filled with immense fury, suddenly rang out!

"SKREEEEEEE!!!!!"

The incomparably clear cry spread across the lakefront, shaking the very air.

As the golden-haired girl with the shattered skull dissolved into light, another brilliant flash erupted. The Spiritual Pressure suddenly intensified two- or threefold, and a Gale that seemed powerful enough to blow away the surrounding peach grove and the mist over the lake kicked up. Then, an enormous golden Roc Bird with a wingspan of nearly twenty meters appeared before Su Zhou, radiating an aura of pure fury!