At the mountain peak, surrounded by cliffs on all four sides, a man was bound with iron chains. The chains ran deep into the stone floor, pinning him firmly to the ground.
The man's abdomen was torn open, exposing his internal organs.
With an eagle's cry, an enormous eagle wheeled down and landed beside the man, continuously pecking and tearing at his liver. With every peck, the man let out an agonizing scream. In less than ten seconds, only a sliver of the liver remained. Sated, the eagle took flight and circled hundreds of meters above the cliff.
This eagle had a wingspan of 6.5 meters, stood 180 centimeters tall, and weighed 170 kilograms—far beyond what modern people understood an eagle to be.
Ding Shi and the others stood in the high safe zone, taking in the entire scene.
Ding Shi said, "The Bloodthirsty Eagle. Legend has it that after Prometheus stole the fire seed, Zeus told him that as long as he returned it, his crime could be pardoned. Little Pro refused, so Zeus chained him atop the cliff and sent the Bloodthirsty Eagle to peck at his liver without ceasing. After every feeding, Little Pro's liver miraculously regenerates."
As he spoke, Little Pro's liver had already completely grown back.
Ding Shi added, "That's why the liver is the only organ among all the viscera that can regenerate." A conclusion drawn from blending science with metaphysics.
Wang Meng looked skeptical. "How do you know that?"
Ding Shi rolled his eyes. "I went to high school."
From the side, Su Su chimed in, "Is the boss the eagle or Prometheus? And where's the fire seed?"
Ding Shi pointed a finger. "The liver."
The three looked closely and saw what appeared to be a bulging red dot inside the liver.
Before they could discuss it further, the eagle wheeled back down and resumed feeding, paying no heed to the three humans in the safe zone a hundred meters away.
Wang Meng said, "Ding Shi and Su Su keep the eagle busy. I'll dig out the fire seed."
Ding Shi argued out of habit, "Why should I be the one keeping the eagle busy?"
Wang Meng said, "Then you dig out the fire seed."
Ding Shi replied, "Why should I dig out the fire seed?"
"Then what do you propose?"
"Why should I be the one to propose what to do?"
Dark lines ran down Su Su's forehead. "I'm the team leader. What I say goes."
Ding Shi and Wang Meng stared at Su Su simultaneously: *When did you become team leader? By what right are you team leader? Did we agree to this?*
Thick-skinned and oblivious, Su Su brought out her fowling piece. "Ding Shi and I will pin down the eagle. Wang Meng, dig out the fire seed."
Wang Meng badly wanted to retort—*isn't that exactly what I suggested?*—but being a thirty-two-year-old man, he instinctively felt that bickering with them would make him look childish.
As the eagle took to the air, Su Su waved her fowling piece. "Charge!"
The three sprinted toward Little Pro. Having flown a hundred meters up, the eagle spotted the threat and immediately flipped over, diving from east to west toward the three tiny figures on the cliff.
Su Su raised the fowling piece in her left hand and slammed her right fist against the gunstock, shouting, "Universal Salvation!" The fowling piece shot out like an unsheathed sword, flying straight toward the eagle's chest.
Ding Shi wondered, *Why does she have to chant it out loud?* It was a question that had always puzzled him.
The piece struck the eagle's chest squarely, and with a screech of pain, the eagle crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. Su Su caught the rebounding fowling piece with an outstretched hand, looking extraordinarily valiant and imposing against the swirling dust.
Su Su said, "Ding Shi, I'm out."
Ding Shi asked, "Out of what?"
Su Su replied, "For the next ten minutes, I can't use Origin Force."
Wang Meng bellowed, "A blade! I don't have a knife!" He had already reached Little Pro's side.
Ding Shi drew a willow-leaf throwing knife and hurled it over. Wang Meng gasped—how was he supposed to intercept it? If he didn't, it would fly past. Without time to think, Wang Meng reached out to snatch the knife. Due to the distance, the knife's momentum was spent, yet it was still not something a bare hand could casually catch. In the end, the throwing knife plunged straight into Wang Meng's left arm.
Ding Shi said, "Don't mention it."
Wang Meng endured it! After all, it was his own fault. He had originally thought he could gouge out the fire seed with his bare hands, but he hadn't expected Little Pro's liver to be tougher than scavenger fish skin; blunt force couldn't breach the outer membrane.
On the other side, the eagle stood ready for battle, watching the two people ten meters away. Ding Shi wondered, *Could it be planning to fight on foot? Airborne Marines?*
The eagle retracted its talons, flapped its wings, and lunged headlong at Ding Shi. Ding Shi dodged behind a boulder on his left, a rock that was part of the mountain itself. The eagle's talons raked across the stone, leaving three gouges of varying depth. Without altering course, the eagle flew westward, gained altitude, wheeled around, and dove toward Ding Shi and Su Su.
Wang Meng bellowed, "I don't have a container!"
Ding Shi shouted back, "Use whatever!" Given the distance between them, communication relied entirely on shouting.
Wang Meng roared, "What the hell is whatever?!" The fire seed had been extracted, but its temperature was scorching. In the mere second it took to set the fire seed on the ground with his hand, Wang Meng's left hand had already been blistered.
Ding Shi shouted, "Toss it into your shorts!" The shorts possessed the indestructible property.
Wang Meng roared back, "Screw you!"
Hiding behind the stone, Ding Shi dodged another strike from the eagle, which flew forward. Repeating its routine, it pulled up, wheeled around, and swooped down. This time, however, its target wasn't Ding Shi and Su Su, but Wang Meng, who was at a loss with the fire seed.
"Dodge, you idiot!" Ding Shi couldn't help but yell a warning.
With no rock cover near Wang Meng, he could only gather his strength and sprint wildly. The eagle adjusted its flight path in midair, keeping its eyes fixed on its prey, Wang Meng. Just as its talons were about to strike, a throwing knife struck the eagle's wing.
Wang Meng looked at Ding Shi in despair. "Thanks for the flying knife."
The next second, a web-like bolt of lightning struck the eagle's body, paralyzing it for 0.5 seconds. The eagle went limp, crashing down beside Wang Meng and tumbling through the dust for a dozen meters. A Metal Thunder Talisman had been affixed to the throwing knife, and its electrical conductivity was top-notch.
Like a baseball player sliding into base, Ding Shi sprinted and slid up to the eagle. With his right hand, two fingers jabbed into the eagle's right eye; with his left, he pulled a rolled-up talisman paper from the hollow vine at his waist, flicked it out, and slapped it onto the eagle's neck.
Blood spurted from the eagle's right eye. In agonizing pain, it beat its wings with all its might, swatting Ding Shi several meters sideways.
Taking the opportunity, the eagle tried to take flight, but Ding Shi formed a hand seal with his left hand and detonated the Metal Thunder Talisman, sending the eagle crashing to the ground once more.
Ding Shi ran toward the eagle and yelled, "Stop gawking and help!"
Ding Shi slid forward, grabbed the eagle's head with both hands, and spun his entire body through the air. This move was called the death roll—originating from crocodiles, used for show in freestyle wrestling, and later adapted into grappling. This move could snap an opponent's arm. However, the eagle's neck was remarkably resilient; even after a full 360-degree twist, it refused to snap, and the eagle managed to whip its neck and fling Ding Shi away.
The next second, Wang Meng slammed into the eagle's body like a young bull, sending the bird tumbling nearly ten meters across the ground. Wang Meng got to his feet and gave chase, but the eagle took to the air first.
Ding Shi held a Metal Thunder Talisman in his left hand and a throwing knife in his right. Slapping the Metal Thunder Talisman onto the knife, he hurled it at the eagle fifteen meters away.
Flustered and fleeing haphazardly, the eagle failed to notice the throwing knife. The knife failed to break its defense and couldn't pierce the eagle's chest skin, but the lightning arrived right on schedule, blasting the eagle back down to the ground.
Wang Meng had already arrived. He leaped into the air and brought an elbow crashing down onto the eagle. If an ordinary person took such a blow, who knew how many ribs would break, but the eagle's body remained remarkably tough.
Pinning the neck just below the eagle's head with his left hand, Wang Meng smashed his iron right fist into the creature's head, inducing a stun effect. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction; blood promptly seeped from Wang Meng's fist.
Wang Meng let out a roar, pushing through the pain to rain down punch after punch. "Get over here and help!"
Ding Shi had already arrived at the scene of the fight. Raising a boulder high with both hands, he converted his Origin Force into Strength.
Chapter 71