Ferocious Birds and the Amplified Sacred Flame

Evan Yang smiled. "Don't worry. If they were really looking for me, they would've found me long ago. The fact that they haven't just means the Star Lord I killed wasn't that important."

"Let's hope so. Go on, then." Reed Kong nodded and waved goodbye to Evan.

After parting ways with Reed Kong, Evan was on his own. Facing the upcoming month, he decided to first observe the savage beasts' strength and traits before making any plans.

This planet was enormous—even if tens or hundreds of thousands more people arrived, you might still rarely see anyone. At most, you'd occasionally sense someone far away with divine sense.

Evan had no interest in those people. After scanning around, he continued flying, searching for his own prey.

After flying for about half an hour, Evan arrived at a lakeside, where he saw a group of ferocious wild beasts chasing each other.

Ferocious meant they were abnormally brutal—even their own kind wasn't spared, biting and smashing each other before devouring the remains. Watching these mindless, slaughter-driven beasts, Evan could only shake his head helplessly.

That brutality actually made Evan want to act. Seeing only a few beasts left, he scanned them and found several matched his strength, while a few others had already surpassed it.

"Better start with something simple." After mumbling to himself, Evan flashed over to hover above the beasts that fit his strength.

He saw three beasts that looked like ducks, but each was as tall as a building. Their wings were incredibly strong—one flap sent a huge wave surging across the water.

The three duck-beasts also noticed Evan's presence. Instantly, all three glared at him, eyes blood-red, wings unfurled. They attacked together—a wild gale whipped up in front of them, rushing straight at Evan.

Evan relied on his Soaring Sky Dance Steps and Phantom Step Art to dodge quickly, then leaped down below. Facing the building-sized duck-beasts, he controlled his daggers.

Soon, several daggers were wildly slashing back and forth across the three ducks' bodies.

Finally, with a loud crash, the three savage beasts—only at early Out-of-Body Realm—fell just like that. Evan took out the ring prepared by the Genius Pavilion ahead of time and stored them away, to tally up later.

The commotion from Evan's fight drew the attention of the other nearby beasts, who charged at him in a frenzy.

Their momentum was even stronger than a mid-stage Out-of-Body Realm cultivator. Evan hurriedly retreated, then soared into the air.

But just as he took off, a shrill cry sounded from above. A giant bird, its eyes blood-red, stared straight at him, its sharp beak thrusting right toward him.

Evan cursed inwardly, but the bird was simply too fast.

Forced, Evan jumped and grabbed the bird's beak. Before he could get a proper hold, the bird flung him backward. Evan quickly reached out to grab its back.

He tried to stab its back with a dagger, but something unexpected happened—it wouldn't pierce.

Evan knew just how sharp his daggers were—even they couldn’t pierce the beast, which spoke volumes about its defense.

“Damn it.” Evan gritted his teeth and put away his dagger, but the bird was insanely fast, as if determined to ram him to death.

Forced to rely on his qi shield for protection, Evan searched for an opening to escape from its back.

Before he could escape, Evan was carried soaring through the air for a while, until finally the bird flung him off atop a tall mountain.

Its target was a cave. The bird moved so fast that Evan barely had time to steady himself before tumbling in. He plummeted straight down, as if some force was sucking him deeper. Not even his Soaring Sky Dance Steps could resist it; he had to brace his qi shield and was dragged all the way to the bottom.

“Hope I don’t run into some freakishly savage bird down here,” Evan cursed inwardly, still shaken by the previous bird’s ferocity.

That uneasy thought lingered until Evan finally stopped at the bottom—only to hear a sharp crack, like something breaking underfoot.

“No way!” Evan was startled, but after checking he realized his foot was fine. Staring down, his eyes widened: the ground—and all around—was littered with bones.

“So I stepped on a pile of remains!” Evan frowned, then glanced upward, hoping to fly out, but it felt like something was pressing down, blocking any escape.

“Weird… Is there some kind of treasure sealing the exit?” Evan muttered, still baffled by the cave’s irresistible pull.

Just as Evan was puzzling over the situation, his vision suddenly blurred—he could only see things up close. “What’s going on? Why is this happening here too?”

He remembered: back when he’d rescued Lynn Snowmoon in a deep cave, he’d found a strange Shimmerstone. After absorbing his blood, it entered his body and now lay hidden in a corner of his mind, once wrapping his Primordial Spirit, now protecting his soul.

He’d never figured out what the stone was, so he’d ignored it. But now, with his vision blurred again, he remembered and called out to the Shimmerstone guarding his soul.

At first, the stone simply shielded his soul, seemingly impervious to any attack, and no matter how Evan called, it wouldn’t come out.

Finally, when Evan tried to let his soul leave his body to investigate, the moment his soul stirred, the stone responded.

Urged by Evan, the Shimmerstone emerged and appeared in his hand. Gazing at the strange, glowing stone, Evan noticed his field of vision had widened considerably.

“What kind of stone is this, and just where am I?” Evan muttered suspiciously, realizing the stone could change his vision. He gripped it and moved forward.

The cave was pitch black, but the Shimmerstone radiated light, illuminating the area around him.

Suddenly, a series of shrill cries rang out. Fixing his gaze in that direction, Evan saw several more of the giant birds charging at him—just like before.

“Their nest?” That was Evan’s first thought.