Each egg was the size of a water bucket, though miniature compared to the massive frames of the Thunder-Wielding beasts. The shells were covered in a mosaic of blue-and-green snowflake patterns, though currently caked in sand and dust, dimming their brilliant beauty.
This was the prize for which the Wu beasts had spared no effort!
They had somehow learned that the Thunder-Wielding Behemoth was laying eggs and had rushed here to plunder them.
The Wu beast that had died inside the juvenile Thunder-Wielding beast had likely disguised itself as one of their kind to slip into the nest and steal an egg, only to be caught red-handed and executed on the spot.
Unfortunately, the egg it had stolen was smashed right then and there.
The remaining two eggs were the reason both sides were still locked in a fight to the death.
He Lingchuan keenly sensed that both sides were completely spent.
The Wu beasts were far inferior in numbers and couldn't match the Thunder-Wielding Lord in individual strength. Thus, they had driven the beast tide and weaponized the sandstorm to wear down and weaken the Thunder-Wielding clan, aiming to drag their opponents down to their level and then defeat them with experience.
No, that wasn't quite right. The Wu beasts' objective was never to defeat the Thunder-Wielding Behemoth, only to steal the eggs.
Yet the resilience and tenacity of the Thunder-Wielding beasts surpassed all expectations. Even after the beast tide surged through the rock maze, their defenses had not collapsed.
The beast tide and the sandstorm—the Wu beasts' two trump cards—had both passed. Now, raw strength would decide the outcome.
Still, the Thunder-Wielding beasts guarded their nest fiercely. The Wu beasts circled back and forth, probing several times, but were repelled every time.
Just then, two whirlwinds swept past, signaling another shift in the wind.
The Thunder-Wielding Behemoth, which had been roaring at the Wu beasts, snapped its head around.
He Lingchuan followed its gaze and spotted only the Jin family squad.
The Behemoth's small eyes grew bloodshot, and it let out a furious bellow.
Receiving the command, seven or eight Thunder-Wielding beasts behind it wheeled around and charged madly toward those people.
The Jin squad had been happily carving up beast carcasses, so hearing Captain Zhou's shout caught them flat-footed. Most of the hunters reacted quickly, turning to flee.
The soul-snatching mirror clicked its tongue. "Oho, what's going on here?"
While it gloated over their misfortune, He Lingchuan's mind raced.
What had the Jin squad done to make the Thunder-Wielding Behemoth suddenly turn its wrath on them while locked in combat with its enemies?
The hunters scattered in all directions, but the beasts singled out one man.
No matter how he swerved or climbed, it was useless.
Those beasts chased only him, singularly focused.
He Lingchuan recognized him at once—wasn't that the hunter who had butchered the Wu beast corpse?
What had he done to incur such beastly wrath?
With this sudden interruption, however, the beasts encircling the nest were down by seven or eight, tearing open a gap in their defensive perimeter.
The Wu beasts seized the opportunity instantly. Their leader gave a shrill hiss, and two of its subordinates lunged straight for the breach.
The Thunder-Wielding beasts scrambled to intercept, but they were stretched thin; plugging one gap only exposed another.
Two other Wu beasts focused on attacking the juvenile Thunder-Wielding beasts to divert the adults' attention.
They repeatedly spewed frost to slow their foes, though to little effect.
Then, the Wu beast leader made its move.
Leading two subordinates, it launched a direct assault from the east.
All the Thunder-Wielding beasts, including the Lord, concentrated their defenses on the eastern flank, leaving their rear wide open.
At that moment, the fastest Wu beast darted out from behind a pile of carcasses, zipped into the nest, scooped up an egg, and bolted!
The heist was executed with stunning agility. Before the Thunder-Wielding beasts could even react, one egg was gone, and the thief had already sprinted more than ten zhang away, feet barely seeming to touch the ground.
He Lingchuan almost felt like applauding.
The Thunder-Wielding Behemoth realized it had been duped and wheeled around with a furious roar.
A bolt of lightning crashed down from midair, striking the thief with pinpoint accuracy!
The bolt was massive, thicker across than the Wu beast itself. As it struck the unlucky creature, He Lingchuan saw blue-and-white sparks crackle all over its body, instantly charring it black.
A lord's wrath was nothing to take lightly.
Yet the Wu beast leader seized the opening to sink its fangs into the Behemoth's leg.
With tremendous force, it tore away a massive chunk of hide and flesh.
The Behemoth had no choice but to turn and deal with it. The Wu beast leader whipped its head and flung the meat aside.
This wasn't what it truly wanted to eat.
By sheer coincidence, the slab of hide flew thirty zhang and landed a mere seven feet in front of He Lingchuan.
A gift from the heavens—he accepted it without hesitation.
The Behemoth's hide was rock-hard, feeling like stone to the touch, with only a slight hint of elasticity.
He slipped it into his storage ring.
The egg thief convulsed a few times on the ground, yet it still clung tightly to the egg in its grasp. Seeing several Thunder-Wielding beasts bearing down on it, it scrambled to its feet and resumed fleeing.
Huh? It hadn't been electrocuted into oblivion?
The onlookers were all taken aback; that lightning strike had carried overwhelming might.
Yet He Lingchuan noticed that electric arcs still flickered across the surface of the egg. Had the egg absorbed most of the blast's power?
Truly worthy of the Thunder-Wielding Behemoth's offspring.
The egg thief fled like a streak of smoke, twitching every few paces, showing the lightning's aftershocks hadn't fully cleared.
He Lingchuan wasn't far away. With a flick of his wrist, he hurled a small object that struck the creature dead-on and shattered.
It dealt no damage.
A companion broke off to escort the thief, while the remaining Wu beasts continued their siege of the nest.
Their division of labor was impeccably clear, their minds sharp.
If they all retreated, the Behemoth would give chase. But with the leader staying behind, the Behemoth had to protect the final egg in the nest and couldn't spare the effort.
He Lingchuan even glimpsed a flicker of greed in the Wu beast leader's eyes.
It wanted to steal the last egg too!
In He Lingchuan's view, that was hardly a wise move.
The Behemoth seemed to realize this as well. Past the peak of its fury, it had actually grown shrewder, letting out a roar toward the rear. A female beast complied, retreating into the nest and crouching flat over the remaining egg.
It was a standard brooding posture.
Hunters familiar with Thunder-Wielding beasts knew females didn't incubate eggs like hens. Hatching relied mainly on the adults spewing lightning over the eggs once every three shichen. Kept up for half a month, the hatchling would break free of the shell.
At present, however, this brooding posture was undoubtedly the ultimate defense. For the Wu beasts to steal the egg now, they would have to drag away a female weighing thousands of jin and dig it out from beneath her belly.
He Lingchuan scanned the battlefield. Certain there was no immediate opportunity left here, he pulled back, using the boulders and heaps of carcasses for cover as he gave chase to the two fleeing Wu beasts.
He kept his true objective firmly in mind: the frost pellet.
He could only hope the Wu beasts yielded them as well.
The biggest problem was that the two beasts were fleeing southwest—the very direction the sandstorm and beast tide had gone.
He Lingchuan had barely taken two steps when a soft call came from behind: "Lord He, you can't go that way!"
Heading southwest meant the chances of finding cleansing beads were practically nonexistent. How was that any different from seeking death?
"The Wu beasts might have what I need." He Lingchuan popped a cleansing bead into his mouth and told him, "Scavenge for another quarter of an hour and then leave. Don't wait for me."
"This..." The teammate hesitated, then pulled a pouch from his chest and poured out three cleansing beads for him. "Take these, Lord He! They might save your life at a critical moment!"
Three beads meant three quarters of an hour of life. Moved, He Lingchuan accepted them and said solemnly, "Thank you. You're Di Lun, right?"
The teammate nodded. "Best of luck to you. I'm leaving now—see you at the southern camp or back in the mortal realm!"
"Take care!" He Lingchuan clapped hands with him, and they parted ways.
***
Pushing southwest meant leaving the plains behind and entering the mountains.
The terrain rose steadily. He Lingchuan darted among the ridges, never forgetting to pace his breathing and conserve his stamina.
He also tucked an elixir under his tongue, letting its medicinal efficacy slowly diffuse.
In the Fu Realm, cleansing beads, elixirs, and water were the three essentials for survival for visitors from the mortal realm.
After running less than two li, He Lingchuan seemed to realize something and abruptly checked his stride.
The mirror asked in surprise, "What is it?" Weren't they pressed for time?
He Lingchuan started running again, shrugging off his leather armor as he went. He examined it closely in his hands and even brought it to his nose to sniff.
He asked the mirror, "That fellow surnamed Hu touched me—do you remember?"
"Touch? You mean physical contact?" With its extraordinary memory, how could it forget? "Earlier, when leaving camp! Yes, yes, I remember—he patted you on the shoulder."
"The shoulder, was it?" He Lingchuan sniffed the shoulder of the armor twice, smelling nothing out of the ordinary. A human's sense of smell was limited after all; if only Fu Shanyue were here.
At the very least, Jiao Yu would have done.
Watching his actions, the mirror caught on. "You suspect he planted something on you?"
"Why else would that Wu beast leader have charged straight at me earlier?" He Lingchuan had been turning the incident over in his mind. "Chances are, something on me attracted it. Fortunately, it was clever enough not to be entirely blinded by its sense of smell.
"He might have set up tracking methods too, or how else could he keep popping up near me?" Stowing the leather armor into his storage ring, he pressed forward. "These Donao beasts have a keen sense of smell. I reckon the Thunder-Wielding beasts went after that unlucky fellow from the Jin squad because he stepped in egg fluid. He really should have kicked off his boots before running."
Leaving a scent trail with every step like that, the beasts would never let him go.
"That man won't meet a good end."
Normally, he would have found a place nearby to hide and see if Hu Bin followed him.
Right now, though, time was the most precious commodity; he couldn't afford to waste it on experiments.
The limited supply of cleansing beads hung over everyone's head like a sharp sword.
The two Wu beasts were cunning, consistently picking the most treacherous routes, likely to shake off any Thunder-Wielding beasts. The lumbering frames of those behemoths were ill-suited for scaling steep peaks.
He Lingchuan trailed behind them, steadily closing the distance.
Though the Wu beasts were agile, he was no slouch either, especially now that he had largely acclimated to the Fu Realm's gravity.
Many cultivators from the Beijia Kingdom entered the Fu Realm not solely for floatstone, but to temper their physiques against this brutal environment.
For him, this counted as passive cultivation.
He needed suitable terrain for an ambush; a fight on the open plains would be troublesome.
After tracking them for over two quarters of an hour, the gap between him and the Wu beasts shrank to barely a hundred zhang.
Earlier, he had crushed a Tracking Bee pupa against the Wu beast, and had since been relying on his compass to locate his quarry, saving time, effort, and unnecessary detours.
Chapter 652