Demon Sword Sect’s Undercover
Chapter 467 - 467 466 Hou Niao Carrying a Bird

467: Chapter 466: Hou Niao Carrying a Bird 467: Chapter 466: Hou Niao Carrying a Bird The Red Kestrel was struck by a streak of azure light, realizing its situation was dire.

Not knowing the realm of cultivation the Daoist below possessed, nor the means he had used, one thing was for certain—the disparity was too great, and there was no capacity for resistance.

“If we must fight, can’t you do it quietly?

What’s with all this commotion?

Wouldn’t it be better to just shut up?”

Hou Niao sighed, that beam of azure light wasn’t aimed at him; it wasn’t sparing him because they were both human, but rather because the noise made by this foolish bird was simply too great, too clamorous.

Watching as the Red Kestrel’s life force faded and it could no longer control its body, feeling a pity for the loss of its feathers, he reached out and grabbed the bird by its neck.

Upon touching it, he found the silly bird wasn’t quite dead yet—its robustness as a Demon Beast allowed it to cling to a thread of life, even after such a severe injury; however, instinctively, all external consciousness had shut down, leaving only its inner secrets battling against the force of the azure light.

If he were now to put the Red Kestrel into a Spiritual Beast Bag, isolating it from the world outside, it would undoubtedly die.

Shaking his head, holding the Red Kestrel in indecision, wouldn’t it be better to see if it could recover?

Having spent several months together, despite their daily conflicts, he had gained a new understanding of the Red Kestrel; it was not an ordinary Red Kestrel, but a special kind within the species, the “Thunder Kestrel,” with an innate intuition for the levin forces of heaven and earth.

That is to say, the Thunder Kestrel’s sense of territory did not only pertain to a single spot but embraced the range of the Thunder Force that had moved with the Thunder Triangle—considering it all as its own territory.

As long as Hou Niao moved along with the Thunder Force, he would never be able to shake this creature off; the Thunder Kestrel viewed him as an adversary vying for opportunities.

All beings possess spirit, so why draw distinctions among them?

He had some feelings about pursuing the thunder this time, as if the thunder of the Thunder Triangle was somewhat different from before, but he wasn’t sure; only when he noticed that a creature like the Thunder Kestrel reacted in the same way, did he confirm his intuition was right.

Since they could be considered Daoist companions on the same path, he didn’t want to see the creature die mysteriously like this.

Holding the Thunder Kestrel, he left the area of the island, and fortunately, the Daoist on the island did not make any further moves.

All he could do for this Thunder Kestrel was to prevent it from falling into the sea and becoming food for the demons; how it would heal was its own business.

Unlike mortals accustomed to using Elixirs, Demon Beasts rely purely on instinct, following a different path altogether.

After ten days, the Thunder Kestrel opened its eyes, but was still unable to fly; it was clearly struggling, humiliated by being held by the neck by a person…

A month later, it finally could fly on its own, even though it was still labored.

Several months later, under a swath of thunderclouds, a man and a Kestrel moved in sync through the clouds; after the Thunder Kestrel had healed, there had been no more battles between them, a fact which Hou Niao somewhat regretted.

It seemed that the creature had finally accepted him as a companion, no longer hostile, but still aloof.

What was he truly seeking?

He couldn’t really explain himself; such is the nature of the Dao.

Over the course of half a year, he had attempted numerous times to breach the barrier in his Sea of Consciousness, failing just as many times; he knew the timing was not right, but he had no idea where or when that moment would come.

He now had two concerns.

One was the issue of distance; according to his estimate, his current position was about eight thousand li from the continental coastline.

If the Thunder Force continued to advance, would he still have the ability to follow it?

Entering the deep sea meant entering the realm of Nascent Transformation Monsters, where one could die without ever knowing how they died if luck wasn’t on their side—like the time the blue light struck Thunder Hawk.

He definitely didn’t have the Demon Beast’s robust ability to heal.

Another issue was time.

If this was a cycle, then the Thunder Force would soon turn back toward the Thunder Triangle; therefore, the likelihood of returning from this trip empty-handed was quite high.

Just as he was wrestling with his concerns, he suddenly felt a bit heavy as he flew.

Could it be that he had carelessly entered a forbidden airspace?

The Mana around him was depleting a tiny bit more than usual, but for a Cultivator, even such an insignificant amount was enough to put him on alert.

Gradually, he furrowed his brow.

This slight weakening felt familiar, and then it hit him where he had ended up!

The direction of the moving Thunder Force was unswervingly shifting toward Blue Island.

The problem was, the closer he got to Blue Island, the more immobile he became in flight—surely he couldn’t just swim in the sea in pursuit of the thunder clouds?

This situation worsened with each passing day, and he knew it was because he was getting closer and closer to the Yuan Magnetic Mountain on Blue Island; he understood this, but there was nothing he could do about it.

He was falling behind in speed and his altitude was dropping lower and lower.

If a Cultivator couldn’t use his Mana normally, there was hardly any difference between him and an ordinary Mortal.

The thunder clouds had already vanished from his line of sight, and although he could still feel the existence of the Thunder Force, if this continued, he would inevitably lose track of the thunder clouds.

He wasn’t unaware of Blue Island’s location, but the question was, when he reached Blue Island, would the thunder clouds have shifted again?

After toiling for half a year, had he really lost track of the thunder clouds?

Above the Lizhi Sea, the Thunder Force didn’t only originate from the Thunder Triangle; during his half-year-long pursuit, he had encountered many different Thunder Traces.

Considering the vastness of the entire sea, one could imagine there were many such Thunder Traces, all independent and unrelated.

Theoretically, he should have persisted with tracking this particular Thunder Trace and become involved in every phase of its cycle, instead of indiscriminately chasing after any he encountered, thus losing the meaning of comprehension.

If he lost sight of this Thunder Trace, to find it again in the vast sea would be a fool’s dream.

The key was that the Thunder Trace wasn’t fixed; it constantly changed direction as it moved.

Several days passed, and the Thunder Force became weaker and more indistinct in his perception, while the sea’s surface grew closer.

Even though his Cultivation Realm was incomparable to his Tongxuan days, without Mana, he would have to swim there.

He had never considered finding himself in such an embarrassing situation.

Hours later, when the hem of his robe was already wet with sea water and his Cultivation, now less than a hundredth of his normal strength, he was about to dive into the sea when he felt a tight grip at the back of his neck, and he was barbarically hoisted back up into the sky to chase after the thunder clouds again.

“Do you really have to hold such a grudge?

Couldn’t you have chosen a slightly more dignified way?” Hou Niao laughed and cursed.

It was Thunder Hawk, who had lifted him up in the final moments, albeit in a rough manner as revenge, not caring whether he was comfortable or had any dignity.

This was the opportunity he had been waiting for, only that the proud creature had waited until he was almost hitting the sea’s surface before reaching out its talons.

It was pure revenge.