Chapter 16: Mist Eagle. The sun was positioned high in the sky, sending sweltering rays down upon the Cloud Wilderness. Despite the sweltering rays of the sun shining down, the Cloud Wilderness itself was dim and damp. The thick morning mist still lingered between the large trees, their canopy blocking out the sun and darkening the entire Cloud Wilderness. Yao Jun and his group carefully and slowly made their way through the Cloud Wilderness. No one talked, only a few scattered questions and orders broke the silence at times. They had already been walking for a few hours so their clothing was wet from the thick mist. The dark and damp forest, mixed with the ethereal mist gave the entire Cloud Wilderness an eerie feeling, raising the alertness of everyone in the group. Earlier in the morning, not long after they had gathered up their tents and started the days trek, they found a large gray feather stuck to a tree not far from the campsite. Gray feathers were found on very few bird type Demonic beasts, but the Mist Eagle was one of the few that had gray feathers. It's gray feathers were the sign that it had the bloodline of the Illusory Roc. The more it awakened it's bloodline, the grayer it's feathers would be. Legends had it that the Illusory Roc's feathers were as gray as the void itself, and that a single one of it's feathers, even after it was plucked, was still powerful enough to traverse the void and confuse your enemies. When they found the feather, instead of being overjoyed at finding traces of the Mist Eagle, they grew uneasy. Mist Eagles had intelligence, it was not at the level of a normal human yet, but it had enough intelligence to know who was an enemy, inspect it's enemy, and to make plans against it's enemy. Since the feather was so close to the camp, it was highly likely that the Mist Eagle had been watching them from a distance. They tightened up their formation, Yao Xiang and Peng Yi walked in front, Yao Qin, Peng Shi, Yao Jun, and Fang Xun's group walked in the middle. Peng Yan walked with them at the side, and Yao Min and Peng Dong walked at the back, bringing up the rear and keeping an eye out. As they walked deeper into the Cloud Wilderness, they also came upon more tracks left behind by the Mist Eagle. If there was anything comforting about their walk, it was that the feathers of the Mist Eagle all had traces of blood on them, showing that it had most likely been wounded. This would also explain why the Mist Eagle was only watching them, instead of attacking while they slept. The tracks left behind slowly turned from lost feathers to broken branches, upturned dirt, and streaks of blood on the leaves. The Mist Eagle was a strong bird type Demonic beast, but not even it could fly freely above the Cloud Wilderness., electing to spend a large amount of it's time either in the tree tops or on the ground. To fly freely above the Cloud Wilderness required the Demonic beast to either evolve into a Desolate beast, or become as strong as a Desolate beast. A weaker beast that could only absorb trace amounts of Raw Qi was called a Vicious beast. Once it absorbed enough Raw Qi and gained some rudimentary intelligence, it would evolve into a Demonic beast. After it cultivated itself further, either by absorbing Raw Qi or awakening it's bloodline, it could evolve into a Massacre beast. Evolving a step further would make it a Desolate beast. After Desolate beasts came Primordial beasts, but for a beast to evolve into a Desolate or Primordial beast required a massive amount of energy. This energy could either be absorbed as Raw Qi, gained from awakening it's bloodline, or gained by devouring cultivators and other beasts. Most documented Primordial beasts were beasts that had lived for a countless number of years, as evolving into one required passing a tribulation sent by the heavens, making it too hard to evolve for most beasts. After following the tracks for a short while longer, the group came upon an opening in the forest that gave way to a large hill. At the bottom of the hill was a large cave that seemed to have been dug out in haste, dried blood all around the cave entrance. There were scattered gray feathers spread around both within the cave and on the ground outside. The cave was too dark to see the end of it, but the group did not think about it for too long, quickly coming to a consensus that this was where the Mist Eagle was recuperating. “Let's stop here first, simply charging in can easily get us killed.” Peng Yi took the initiative to settle down at the edge of the clearing. The Mist Eagle might be injured, but caution sails a ship for ten thousand years, so having at least a semblance of a plan before they attacked would be wise. “If you don't mind, I might have a plan.” Fang Xun was the first one to raise an idea, her group was the one who had been following this Mist Eagle for the longest. “Little Lord, you are the weakest one here so if you fight on the front lines, it will only get you killed faster. You see that small ledge located just above the cave entrance? You can hide there while we lure it out of the cave. It is wounded, so it is bound to jump at the chance to eat us to help it heal. Once we lure it out, you jump down and drive your sword into it's neck.” “Wait! Isn't that a bit too risky? The Mist Eagle's neck might be it's softest point, but it's back and wings are it's most reinforced parts, won't the entire attack become pointless if he hits it's back or it blocks?” Yao Qin interjected while Fang Xun was talking about her plan. He was the one who had the most theoretical knowledge about Demonic beasts, so he knew which part of the Mist Eagle were strong, and which were not. “Indeed it is very risky, but it is much better than having him fight on the front line and die immediately. We will simply need to have some trust in Little Lord.” Fang Xun responded with a sweet smile. Yao Qin knew that she was right, Yao Jun would have a much higher risk of death if he were to fight on the front lines, so he closed his mouth and continued to listen. “Me and the Zeng brothers will be responsible for luring it out of the cave, Yao Min, Peng Dong, and Yao Xiang should hide next to the cave entrance and cover us once we lure it out of the cave. Peng Yi and Peng Yan, you should hide here with Yao Qin and Peng Shi by the trees, once we have lured it out of the cave and Little Lord has stabbed it in the neck, you can charge out and cut off all paths of retreat. What do you think?” Fang Xun finished talking and swept her gaze around the group. The group pondered over the plan for a bit, especially Peng Yi. He wasn't too comfortable with having his little brother join Yao Min and the others to take part in the first attack. After giving it some thought, he realized that it would indeed be the best setup. His brother was slightly stronger than Peng Yan, not to mention Yao Qin or Peng Shi, so he would be more use in the first attack, if they put both Peng Yi and Peng Dong in the clearing to cut of it's retreat path, the first attack group might be too weak to even force it to head towards the retreat path. They all assented to the plan and proceeded to silently make their way towards their locations. Yao Jun climbed up the large hill from a location that was a good distance away from the cave, before slowly making his way sideways until he was on the small ledge above the cave. Peng Yi and Peng Yan took Yao Qin and Peng Shi to a small hiding spot that Fang Xun pointed out. Yao Min and Yao Xiang hid on the left side of the entrance while Fang Xun and the Zeng brothers hid on the right side, preparing to enter the cave and lure out the Mist Eagle. Yao Jun crouched down on the small ledge, his sword was already drawn and ready, he knew that he would most likely only be able to get in one proper attack. He still felt nervous as this would be his first proper fight against a stronger Demonic beast. A Mist Eagle that had yet to awaken it's bloodline could be considered as strong as a human cultivator who had reached the 4th level of the 1st grade. It was considered slightly weaker than Yao Min and Peng Yi, but it had enough strange abilities that it made it very hard to fight it. More than just nervousness, Yao Jun also felt uneasy. The Lightning Tiger within his Garden of Eden was on full alert, even seeming to be afraid of something. Yao Jun would not dismiss these feelings, so he silently activated part of his Garden of Eden, allowing the power of the Lightning Tiger to flow through him. As he circulated the Qi from the Garden of Eden, his black hair gained some purple hues as lightning crackled around in his veins. Even his eyes changed, taking on a more feral appearance, like a tiger, increasing the strength of his vision. As Yao Jun slowly strengthened his Garden of Eden with Qi, he slowly discovered more and more wondrous changes. After he reached the 6th level of the 0th grade, he found that the Lightning Tiger within the Garden of Eden had grown slightly, now almost reaching two meters in length, slowly maturing as he fed it Qi. It was also at that point that he noticed that when he channeled the power of the Lightning Tiger, that his hair and eyes would subtly change while also increasing his attributes. He never told anyone else this of course, they still believed that his power was only to control lightning. Everyone else quickly got into position so Fang Xun took the Zeng brothers and entered the cave, quickly disappearing into the darkness. After waiting in silence for an entire minute, a loud screech sounded from within the cave. The screech echoed throughout the cave before sounding out from the cave entrance. The screech seemed to dig into peoples ear canals, reverberating inside their heads. After the screech came the sound of shouting and running. Fang Xun and the Zeng brothers came sprinting out from the cave, the loud sound of claws scraping against ground coming from behind them. Yao Jun and the others all tightened the grip on their weapons, sweat dripping from their foreheads. After Fang Xun and the Zeng brothers got a small distance away from the cave, the Mist Eagle came out after them. The Mist Eagle was much larger than Yao Jun first anticipated, reaching a little over two meters in length and over one meter wide. It's massive wings were tucked at it's side, he did not doubt that if it spread it's wings, it would have a wingspan of over four meters. It had long, sharp claws on it's legs, a large white beak hanging beneath two amber eyes. All it's feathers were a light gray and seemed to shimmer beneath the little light that came down from above the trees. The Mist Eagle was indeed wounded, a large scar that was still bleeding going from it's right chest to it's right thigh. The Mist Eagle had just moved most of it's body out of the cave as Yao Jun moved forward, plunging himself downwards. He was a little over a meter above the Mist Eagle, so he would reach it in less than two seconds. He had just hopped down from the ledge when his heart suddenly dropped in his chest. He saw the Mist Eagle raise it's wings, covering it's neck, only giving Yao Jun room to attack it's most reinforced parts. Yao Min and the others also saw this and charged out, hoping to distract the Mist Eagle and make it lower it's wings. To their dismay, the Mist Eagle simply ignored their charge. Yao Jun didn't have too much time to think as he saw the Mist Eagle raise it's head and look at him, so he simply allowed the Lightning Tiger's instincts to take over. He held onto his sword with one hand, channeling his lightning through the blade as he swung at the Mist Eagles head, aiming directly for it's eyes. The Mist Eagle evidently did not want to suffer damage to it's eyes, so it slightly tilted it's head to the side, forcing the blade to hit it's wings and bounce away, giving up the chance to bite at Yao Jun. Yao Jun took this chance. As his blade hit the wing, he used his other arm to grab hold of the wing, and before the Mist Eagle got the chance to shake him of, he swung himself at the Mist Eagle's chest. He grit his teeth and ignored the pain and numbness in his right hand and stabbed forward with the sword, driving it directly into the bleeding scar. He wasn't stupid enough to think that he would be able to slice open it's chest with his little power, so he aimed for the wound that was already there. As his sword stabbed into the wound, he circulated the Lightning Tiger's power, driving as much lightning as he could into the Mist Eagle's chest. The Mist Eagle let loose a loud screech as it howled in pain, before shaking it's body and throwing Yao Jun off, sending him crashing into the side of the cave entrance. Yao Jun spat out some blood as his back crashed into the wall and he slid down. The Mist Eagle wanted to finish him off, but at this time Yao Min, Peng Dong, and Yao Xiang had arrived to take it's attention. Peng Yi brought the others with him as he regrouped with Fang Xun and the Zeng brothers and headed towards the rear of the Mist Eagle, aiming for a pincer attack. Yao Jun shook his head a little as he swallowed down a mouthful of blood and tried to clear his head. He unsteadily stood up and just so happened to throw a glance into the cave. The others were unable to see into the cave, but as he circulated the power of the Lightning Tiger, gaining it's outstanding vision, he managed to see everything that was inside the cave. As he peered into the depths of the cave, he felt a cold shiver creep up his back as his heart started beating fiercely. He threw his head and shouted to the others. “Peng Yi, get away from her! The plan is a trick! She's not real!” Yao Jun shouted at the top of his lungs, warning Peng Yi. As he peered into the depths of the cave, he saw four corpses. Two of them were pecked apart and mostly eaten, but he could still make out the corpse of Fang Xun. If Fang Xun was already dead, and they had already seen signs that the Mist Eagle was watching them, that could only mean that the Fang Xun they were traveling with was an illusion. The Mist Eagle had been plotting against them all along. Peng Yi and the others were shocked at his words, even the Mist Eagle slightly stopped in it's tracks. The Fang Xun next to Peng Yi only gave a light laugh before she slowly turned ethereal and disappeared, leaving behind a stunned Peng Yi. The Mist Eagle took this chance, quickly turning it's body and opening it's beak, clamping down on Yao Qin. Yao Qin didn't even have time to scream as the beak clamped shut, directly crushing Yao Qin into two halves. The Mist Eagle threw it's head backwards as the top half of Yao Qin's body slid down it's throat. The Mist Eagle threw it's gaze at the rest of the people present, and Yao Jun could swear that it's beak emulated a mocking sneer.