Proofreader & Editor: Lotas
At the brink of disaster, the wild goose flapped its wings and soared six meters into the air, narrowly avoiding the wolf's attack. After struggling forward for another thirty meters, it plummeted to the ground.
A gleam of cunning shone in the wolf's eyes. This turtle brat is injured!
A rare opportunity, kill!
It's just a consciousness-transformed beast, not his true body. At every Dragon God Festival, Divine Beasts fight to the death in their transformed states, but shattering a consciousness form once doesn't harm the true body. It won't lead to a clash between the two clans.
The same transformed state, if you can't beat me, that's your own stupidity!
The Flame Crow suddenly pounced, and the wild goose frantically dodged with its wings, but it seemed to have been injured in the fall, only managing to fly six meters up and then dropping back to the ground after thirty meters.
Such a flying speed could barely evade its attacks.
After several attempts, the wild goose grew increasingly weak, nearly getting caught several times, and the wolf now had two feathers from the wild goose in its mouth.
Su He struggled more and more, finding it harder to fly, while the Flame Crow chased with growing excitement. Faster! Even faster! After chasing for over ten miles, the bird was at its limit, it couldn't dodge anymore!
As the distance closed, a cold light flashed in the wolf's eyes, and it pounced suddenly.
Die! Your potential ends here at this Dragon God Festival!
The Flame Crow exerted force with all four paws, diving towards the wild goose ahead. Just as it was about to succeed, the wild goose flapped its wings against the wind and took flight, spiraling upwards and flying away…
The Flame Crow was momentarily stunned. When it came to its senses, a sense of crisis washed over it. Looking down, it saw three wolves about ten meters away, watching it ominously.
A cold wind blew, carrying the scent of wolves. There were more on both sides.
It glanced hurriedly and saw six wolves had encircled it.
The wild goose had feigned injury to lure it into another pack's territory! Among these six wolves, it recognized three from a fight over territory that morning.
The other pack had the advantage in numbers, and it lost, licking its wounds all day before trying to sneak away westward under the cover of night, only to encounter Su He.
And then Su He had led it into this pack.
The Flame Crow, filled with indignation, roared, "Dragon Turtle! You only know despicable tricks! Fight me if you dare!" It howled in anger, vowing to one day kill This Turtle! The six wolves pounced at once.
The language of ordinary beasts is simple, but they understood the lone wolf's challenge.
"Fight me if you dare!"
In a distant village, a dozen stray dogs, hearing the howls and fight carried by the wind, gathered once more, barking loudly.
Su He circled in the sky, watching the battle below.
It must be said, the Flame Crow's fighting instincts were impressive. From bird to wolf, it had mastered the essence of wolf combat in just half a month.
Facing six wolves alone, it was only chased around in panic. It even managed to retaliate a few times.
But an ordinary wild wolf is just that, ordinary. No matter how high its combat awareness, its body couldn't keep up. It was outnumbered in the end.
Blood sprayed.
The Flame Crow left behind chunks of flesh, howling as it fled.
The six wolves chased it out of their territory and stood at the boundary, howling at the full moon, venting the frustration of being chased out of the village.
Su He sighed in the air. Things don't always go as one wishes, the Flame Crow wasn't dead…
Time to give it another push!
Su He dove, picking up a large piece of flesh the Flame Crow had dropped, and headed towards the heart of the wolf pack's territory.
Circling in the sky, he had a clear view. There was a mother wolf who had recently given birth, and due to malnutrition, only one pup had survived.
The mother wolf wasn't in the territory, not in the cave, making it the perfect opportunity.
The wolf pup had just opened its eyes. Su He slipped into the den, rubbed the Flame Crow's scent all over, then grabbed the pup and flew out of the cave.
Flying at a very low altitude, he headed in the direction the Flame Crow had fled.
The wolf pup was heavy and struggled, and the wild goose's claws weren't good at grasping, making the flight extremely difficult.
About twelve or thirteen miles away, in a cave, the Flame Crow was shivering, with two large pieces of flesh torn from its back. In this food-scarce and increasingly damp season, it was uncertain if it could survive.
But as a consciousness-transformed beast, the longer it lived, the greater its potential. Even if it had to struggle, it would keep going.
The outcast of the Dragon Turtle clan, too cowardly for a real duel!
It bared its teeth, whether in pain or anger, blood staining its fur, pooling in the cave.
As the moon set behind the mountains, the Flame Crow lay motionless, only shivering intermittently. The sun rose, bringing a hint of warmth, relaxing it slightly, but at that moment, a shadow pounced.
It was the Wolf King of that pack, suddenly rushing in and biting the Flame Crow's neck, ignoring the prick of the mane, dragging it out of the cave. The other two wolves that came with it immediately pounced.
One bit into its belly, tearing it apart!
The Flame Crow had some fight left before, but now, after losing two chunks of flesh and bleeding too much on the way back, it was dizzy. The wolves came in anger, each attack lethal.
In less than half an hour, it lay paralyzed on the ground, unable to control its body.
A pair of wolf eyes filled with confusion. It didn't understand why this pack had chased it here, or how they had found it.
In its hesitation, it was flung by a mother wolf biting its armpit, its head swinging wildly, and its gaze happened to sweep across the treetops. There, a wild goose perched on a branch, holding a small wolf under its wing, only a tiny wolf head visible, trembling.
Traitor! You've betrayed me!
The Flame Crow suddenly understood.
With a pitiful cry, the Wolf King charged up and bit down on its neck.
Crack!
The Flame Crow's eyes gradually lost focus, but in its dying moments, it didn't look at the wolf that killed it, only at Su He, filled with hatred.
If given the chance, it would strike down his true body, as cunning as that Bai Ling, such a Dragon Turtle must never be allowed to exist again!
As the thought flashed by, the wolf's eyes fell into eternal silence.
Su He quietly landed beneath the tree, set down the wolf pup, and took off with the sunlight, flying westward.
The February sky was warm with the sun, and flying was a pleasure.
Dongyun was far, and Yunmeng Marsh even farther. But as long as one had wings, one could always reach it.
Flying and contemplating, having been a human, a turtle, and now a bird for the first time, experiencing life from different perspectives was quite intriguing.
Su He had little research on birds, his most contact with them being when he was a child in the orphanage, following the older kids…
In flight, Su He paused. He couldn't remember what he had done with the older kids!
This wasn't normal forgetfulness; it was the effect of the Elixir beginning to seal his memories.
Dragon Turtles don't forget. In fact, high-level cultivators don't forget unless their souls are damaged.
From the moment of Tribulation Crossing to become a Dragon Turtle, all memories were restored, even birth, full moon, and bedwetting from his past life!
Anything that had happened, experienced, or recited, regardless of importance, was remembered clearly. With a soul so powerful, never forgetting was just basic!
With the Dragon Turtle's soul and body united, passing the heavenly tribulation greatly enhanced the body's quality, and the soul as well.
Memory sealing, truly stepping onto the path.
Su He tried hard to remember, but he found he couldn't recall anything before the age of fifteen from his past life!
Memory is such a strange thing; when it quietly slips away, you don't notice. It's only when you suddenly need it that you realize you've forgotten many things.
Half a month after taking the Soul-Departing Elixir, fifteen years of memories were lost.
One day per year!
With only a little over twenty years of memories from two lifetimes, if he hadn't noticed today, the Soul-Departing Elixir might have made him lose all his memories unknowingly, becoming an ordinary wild goose.
Perhaps by the end of the Dragon God Festival, with his consciousness returned, he would have sired thousands of offspring with the body of a wild goose, forming a large clan.
Everything is fine, except for this!
Su He took flight again, heading west. With his memories about to be completely sealed, he didn't know what the outcome of opening the heavens would be.
He knew that even if he flew back, he couldn't do anything, but subconsciously felt he should return.
***
In Yunmeng Marsh, a flame flickered on the Flame Crow's body, then extinguished. It slowly opened its eyes and immediately looked in the direction of the Dragon Turtle.
There, surrounded by several people, were Ji Feixue and the Orient Loong God, with even the Azure Dragon from Xuantian Gate lowering its head to watch.
Whispers filled the surroundings.
"This aura, could this Dragon Turtle be about to open the heavens?"
"It looks like it, but it doesn't make sense! It's only been half a year since its tribulation!" someone said in disbelief.
Another voice chimed in: "Not necessarily, on the day of the tribulation, Gu Luo had said this Dragon Turtle had supreme talent, achieving Dragon Turtle status in just one year—you see, it's been able to suppress both the Flame Crow and Zhu Yan after just half a year, which means its half a year is worth their twenty thousand years."
The Flame Crow glanced deeply at that person.
"Right!" The previous person paused, then nodded in agreement: "Such a monstrous talent is beyond our imagination. If we were to compare, taking twenty thousand years to open the heavens is already too slow!"
A chorus of agreement followed.
The Flame Crow: "……"
Just a group of human cultivator disciples who had come to watch, ignorant, yet spouting nonsense.
It sneered at Su He, opening the heavens during the Dragon God Festival was just for show, a love for ostentation…
Cursing Su He in its heart, the Flame Crow suddenly froze.
The human cultivators didn't understand, they were just there for the spectacle. It had undergone two openings of the heavens and knew that the Dragon Turtle was indeed in the process of opening the heavens.
That aura, that essence of the Dao, was the implication of opening the heavens.
That wasn't the point, though. There were always freaks of nature, and the Dragon Turtle had just taken advantage of the right time and place. Anyone favored by the tribulation in the Two Realms Battlefield and protected by Dragon Turtle elders could probably open the heavens in half a year too. It's just that no one else had their own Two Realms Battlefield!
What made the Flame Crow stunned was that the Dragon Turtle was currently a consciousness-transformed beast, still fighting with it just now. And looking at the aura of opening the heavens here, it must have been brewing for a while.
The Dragon Turtle was multitasking, opening the heavens while playing with it like it was nothing.
And what is the point of my existence?