Chương 40: Noo!!! Birdie!!!

!! Birdie!!!

All three individuals atop the giant birds wore black clothing similar to that of the other Martial Spirit Sect members. Since they are outside my [Scan]'s range, I couldn't determine their exact realm. However, the giant bird mounts will undoubtedly pose difficulties for Ren Qingquan and the others. After observing the enemies, I turned my attention to Ren Qingquan's side. It's been quite some time since their last fight, so Xiao Cai should have recovered to a certain degree.

That means the strongest combat power, not including the one-hit kill function, is ready to be deployed anytime. As they approached, I decided to warn Ren Qingquan before they entered the range of my [Scan]. [Host. Enemies are flying from your three o'clock direction.] Ren Qingquan quickly opened his System map, but no enemies appeared on the map.

'System, are you sure? I don't see any enemies on the map.' [100% certain. Prepare for combat quickly—they've detected your location and will soon be within the map's range.] Ren Qingquan immediately informed Xiao Cai, "There are enemies over there," and shifted his gaze toward the area I had pointed out. Xiao Cai looked at the sky, holding the reins of her horse. She focused on the spot Ren Qingquan indicated and immediately saw three large birds surrounded by numerous smaller black birds.

"Hold the reins and keep moving along the road," Xiao Cai told Ren Qingquan. Once Ren Qngquan held the horse's reins, Xiao Cai jumped from the horse. Through my [Scan], I saw her climbing a tall tree nearby, then jumping between trees and occasionally hiding among the leaves. She moved extremely quickly and soon went beyond the range of my [Scan]. Somehow, Xiao Cai's actions remind me of a ninja. Soon, the three giant birds appeared above Ren Qingquan's team.

By this point, they had entered the reach of my [Scan], allowing me to finally assess their power. Among the three birds, one is notably larger, containing the energy equal to that of someone in the Martial Lord realm, while the other two are in the Martial Saint realm. The three individuals seated above the birds are at the same level as their respective birds. One is at the Martial Lord realm, and the other two are at the Martial Saint realm.

The three followed Ren Qingquan's horse without taking any further action. While they were in flight, I heard the Martial Lord realm individual saying, "I've already informed Elden Yu. We should pressure them while waiting for the elder's arrival. Keep your distance because they have someone capable of killing a Martial Emperor among them." As they passed near a tall tree following the Ren Qingquan, Xiao Cai, who had already climbed the tree, immediately jumped onto the largest bird among the three.

The Martial Lord sitting on the bird was surprised but quickly patted the bird, which swiftly evaded Xiao Cai's sudden attack by flying higher. When everyone thought Xiao Cai would miss her landing, she suddenly performed a triple jump in mid air. I used [Scan] to observe the move and roughly understood that Xiao Cai generated some sort of propulsion using spirit qi. For those martial artists, Xiao Cai's ability must have been utterly shocking.

"What the fuck?" I could hear the Martial Lord's shocked voice as he tried to make the giant bird evade Xiao Cai's attack. The Martial Lord's decision is quick, but Xiao Cai is even faster. Once she got closer, Xiao Cai stepped on one of the crows circling the giant bird and arrived on top of the giant bird. Without any nonsense, Xiao Cai immediately smashed her palm on the Martial Lord. The Martial Lord successfully defended against Xiao Cai's initial attack. However, Xiao Cai isn't done yet.

She stomped heavily on the giant bird, channeling spirit qi into her leg, which created a large hole in the bird's back as it plummeted from the sky, bringing the Martial Lord with it. Using the momentum from her step, Xiao Cai then jumped toward the smaller birds. The panicked Martial Saint tried to move his bird away, but Xiao Cai reached him first, landing a punch that caused him to fall off the bird and die. She then grabbed the bird's feather to forcefully steer it toward the last Martial Saint.

Once close enough, Xiao Cai jumped and delivered a head kick, causing the Martial Saint to fall from the bird with a skull-shattering sound. Holding control of two birds, Xiao Cai somehow successfully made them fly down. On the ground, the Martial Lord looked at his injured giant bird with sadness. He soon saw Xiao Cai descending and prepared to attack her.

The moment Xiao Cai descended with the two giant birds, the Martial Lord launched his attack, which Xiao Cai had already expected as she prepared her arm to block the attack. While the two are in battle, Ren Qingquan tries to recall whatever small fragment of the original Ren Qingquan's horse-riding memory and halts his horse. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. The coachman who saw this also stopped his horse.

Ren Qingquan left the horse with the coachman and dismounted. He approached nearby trees to gather several insects, then killed them and used the corpse refining technique while channeling some of his divine sense to program the refined corpse's behavior. The reanimated insects quickly flew toward the battle between Xiao Cai and the Martial Lord. Soon, the Martial Lord sensed multiple insects entering his orifices.

He immediately expelled vital energy within his body to eliminate the insects trying to get into his ears, while using one hand to wipe his face and remove insects attempting to enter his nostrils and eyes. Because he was distracted by the insect Ren Qingquan sent into his orifices, the Martial Lord lost concentration. Xiao Cai took advantage of this moment to launch an attack, directly crushing the Martial Lord's skull.

With the defeat of the Martial Spirit Sect's Martial Lord and two Martial Saints, Ren Qingquan's group has acquired two Martial Saint giant birds and an injured Martial Lord giant bird. Additionally, beyond these, there is also the soul of the Martial Lord and Martial Saint, which I advised Ren Qingquan to devour. Now standing in front of the three giant birds, Xiao Cai said, "Let's change our transportation. It should be safer to use the bird than traveling by horse."

I sensed Ren Qingquan's excitement at the idea of sitting atop a giant bird, and I immediately agreed. The usually silent coachman suddenly suggested, "How about letting me fly to Burning Sky City? If the enemy can track these birds, they will mainly pursue me. Otherwise, when I successfully arrive in the city, I will ask the family to send reinforcements to rescue the young master."

It seems even the coachman understood that the main reason they were being followed was that the enemy feared the news of the rebellion in the capital might spread to other families. Xiao Cai looked at the coachman and nodded, saying, "While you're at it, send the horse and this injured bird away to further mislead the enemy." The coachman nodded and released their horses while gently brushing and whispering to them. Soon, both horses scattered in different directions.

While the coachman set the horses loose, Xiao Cai slightly healed the injured Martial Lord-level bird before sending it away. Eventually, the coachman mounted a Martial Saint-level giant bird heading toward Burning Sky City. Meanwhile, Xiao Cai sat on another Martial Saint-level giant bird alongside Fatty Zhang and Ren Qingquan. With three people sharing the large bird, it struggled to stay airborne. Especially due to Fatty Zhang. Not only that, but they also had to squeeze close together.

Especially thanks to Fatty Zhang The seat is extremely uncomfortable, particularly with Fatty Zhang taking up almost half of the space. Fatty Zhang taking a lot of space needs to be repeated several times to show how much space he actually takes. Squeezed between Xiao Cai and Fatty Zhang, Ren Qingquan grumbled, "This isn't what I imagined when I thought of flying on top of a giant bird." After complaining, he suddenly asked me, 'By the way, System, you can actually sense things beyond the reach of the system map?.

[Yes. The system map is a simplified version of the information System obtained from [Scan]. Actually, the information contained inside [Scan] is quite a lot. It includes light and sound that entered from outside the range. By processing lights that come from outside the range, System can see beyond the range. But it took a lot of computational resources. So, unless absolutely necessary, System isn't willing to use it.] I could feel Ren Qingquan get a bit curious about the unfiltered [Scan] I mentioned.

So, I asked. [Host, do you want to try using 'Scan' directly again? After all, you've grown stronger compared to the last time you used the 'Scan' directly.] Ren Qingquan lightly nodded, 'Yeah.' Through our connection from [Anchor], I sent the messy information from [Scan]. Instantly, Ren Qingquan's face paled, and he almost fainted. A few veins even appeared on his forehead. When I saw such an exaggerated change, I immediately stopped sharing the information.

Even after I stopped the information flow, Ren Qingquan still took a moment to regain his senses.

'Damn, that's crazy,' Ren Qingquan thought.

'As expected of a System. To think you're so powerful despite being defective.' I chose to ignore the last part and only hear his praise. [Now you understand just how powerful I am.] After our exchange, I checked on the other people I had anchored to assess the situation in the Capital City. After a short check, I am quite satisfied that nothing major was happening. So, I went back to studying some books and trying to figure out where the cultivators might be hiding. This peaceful period lasted for two full days.

Although I call it peaceful, it's only relative compared to the day Ren Qingquan escaped. During these two days, they also encountered some enemies who tracked their trail. Fortunately, the enemy isn't very strong. Moreover, their pursuit has finally eased today. From the [Scan] I anchored on the Female Martial Emperor, I gained some insight into why the pursuit has decreased in intensity. This morning, I saw the Female Martial Emperor receive a messenger bird.

From the message, I concluded that the Martial Spirit Sect has run into a problem or may be preparing for a final battle. They have gathered every Martial Emperor available in the Capital City, including the few responsible for tracking Ren Qingquan. As a result, Ren Qingquan, Xiao Cai, and Fatty Zhang safely arrived on Meteor Island. From above, Meteor Island appeared as a ruin, with remnants of building foundations visible on the ground.

It looked unremarkable from the outside, but records mention that beneath the ruins lies a massive secret passage. The entrance to that secret passage is usually hidden inside a building, beneath plants, or among other ordinary things on the island. Historical records indicate that these structures and underground passages once housed many valuable treasures and manuals. Even the passage itself is precious, often adorned with materials like jade and metal.

Because of their value, many visitors came to Meteor Island to take whatever they could. Over time, continuous looting depleted the island's treasures, and after a hundred years, it was stripped of most of its valuables. Now, hundreds of years later, Meteor Island is largely abandoned, or at least everyone thought so. Honestly, I still hold a faint hope that something valuable was missed by those early explorers.

Unlike them, Ren Qingquan has an advantage in the form of a super-awesome system that can scan everything within 100 meters. Additionally, there may be clues on the island about where cultivators like Ren Shiluo and Xiao Cai gathered. Although I can't get involved directly in this treasure hunting, I am eager to watch Ren Qingquan explore and uncover whatever secrets the island may hold.