Chapter 360: 353: The Demon Bird That Can Instantly Kill in the Spirit Qi Realm_1
Because it was night, the scenes on the mountain peaks were not very clear.
As for discerning the people on the peaks, that was even more out of the question.
Atop the peak, Qin Niu had left behind some Termites.
Now that his Termites could be mass-produced, taking out a few in this kind of emergency situation was really nothing.
Leaving them on the mountain served mainly for surveillance.
It also allowed Qin Niu to experiment with using Termites to infiltrate the peak and gather intelligence to see if it was feasible.
If those Termites were wiped out, he could afford the loss.
“Bastard, dare to deceive me! I will not spare you!”
A mournful curse came from the peak.
Suddenly, a blaze of fire lit up at a position a few hundred meters from the near summit.
“Kill him!”
Qin Niu prayed in his heart, hoping the Demon Bird would kill that elder.
Screech!
The cry of the Demon Bird came again from the peak.
A figure enveloped in flames screamed as it shot down from the battle site towards the foot of the mountain in haste.
The elder seemed to be overpowered and was already fleeing down the peak at high speed.
judging by the situation, he seemed to have been set ablaze.
“What kind of Demon Bird is this? Even a Spirit Qi Realm expert seems to lose in mere seconds before it. Could it be that a Fire Phoenix really resides on Perching Phoenix Mountain?”
Qin Niu pondered in his heart.
The higher the mountain peak, the colder it is at the summit.
The Fire Phoenix should prefer a hot environment.
This mountain peak was not very tall, after all, it was only around three thousand meters. Perhaps this was why the Fire Phoenix chose to perch within it.
If it were peaks of four to five thousand meters in altitude, the snow at their summits would generally not melt year-round.
If over eight thousand meters, those mountains would almost belong to a world of ice and snow.
Nobody, not even those in the Innate Realm, could easily cross peaks that were eight thousand meters high.
And that’s without considering if there were beasts or Demon Birds blocking the way. Just the cold, the snow, and the strong winds on the peaks were enough to make them a natural barrier.
In the dark of night, the firelight on the mountain flared up again, accompanied by the cry of the Demon Bird.
And the elder’s screams of agony.
“Ah…”
In the silence of the deep mountains, it was especially clear.
Judging by the screams, his injuries were definitely not light.
But the elder was extremely tough and did not die. His body was already on fire; he didn’t bother with putting it out but instead turned into a fire person and ran for his life down the peak without a care for anything else.
Seeing how miserable the elder was, Qin Niu couldn’t help but feel fortunate that he hadn’t recklessly entered the mountain to investigate that day.
If he had been discovered by the Demon Bird, with his Innate Realm cultivation, he probably wouldn’t even have had the chance to run for his life.
“If this man escapes and recovers, he will surely come to settle the score with me. ‘Strike while the enemy is sick, take his life,’ I must use this opportunity to kill him outright.”
Qin Niu was also a ruthless man.
He rarely made a move.
But once his survival was threatened, he would take the risk and strike, striving to eliminate the threat.
Harboring a hope that strong enemies would not come after him was not his style.
He liked to hide his abilities but occasionally, when pushed into a corner, he would take an exciting route and face his opponent in a life-and-death struggle.
Poisonous Ants were a trump card he could currently use.
The elder was seriously injured right now. After escaping the pursuit of the Demon Bird, he would definitely find a place to extinguish the flames and rest for a while.
Qin Niu quickly calculated the elder’s escape route and set up Poisonous Ants in advance.
Despite the large setup, whether they would be able to bite the elder was still unknown.
As long as one successful bite from a Termite was achieved, its potent poison would immediately add injuries to the already injured elder.
The Demon Bird atop the mountain could fly and was extremely angry at the intrusion into its territory.
It pursued the elder fiercely.
Along the way, the elder must have used many life-saving methods.
Because apart from a single anguished scream he had let out earlier, there were no more sounds of agony.
A moment later, the old man fled down from the mountain peak.
His speed was astoundingly fast, far exceeding Qin Niu’s limit.
The Spirit Qi Realm, a deeply enviable state of being. Anyone who advances to the Spirit Qi Realm could become a high-level member of a martial sect.
Such beings are the top powers of every faction.
Of course, some super-powerful sects might have even higher beings at the Immortal Master level.
After all, in this dangerous world, there is no shortage of people like Qin Niu who know how to conceal their abilities well.
The flames on the old man’s body had not extinguished.
But for a strong person of the Spirit Qi Realm, such flames are unlikely to burn them to death, even causing burns is difficult.
Because they can condense a layer of protective qi on the surface of their bodies, firmly shielding them from the high temperature of the flames.
Additionally, the physical bodies of the Spirit Qi Realm powerhouses should be even more formidable than those in the Innate Realm.
Their natural defensive capabilities would also be considerably stronger.
Using the glow of the fire on the old man’s body, Qin Niu could clearly see that his right arm was gone.
It was cleanly severed about a third of the way down from the elbow joint.
The jagged wound was still visible.
Blood continuously dripped from the break, but there was no spurting of blood.
Such strong individuals already have the ability to stop their own bleeding.
The Demon Bird had chased the old man to the foot of the mountain but did not pursue further, to Qin Niu’s disappointment.
It would have been nice if it could have killed the old man in one fell swoop.
Blood hung from the corner of the old man’s mouth, and his back was bare of clothing and armor, which were completely ruined.
It was likely torn by the claws of the Demon Bird.
The old man’s back revealed a bloody, mangled mess, the wounds extensive.
“Son of a bitch, you better hope I don’t find you,” the old man cursed as he fled down the mountain peak, relieved to find the Demon Bird no longer pursuing him.
He barely managed to cling to life.
Qin Niu had lured him to the mountain, causing him to lose an arm and be left disabled, with severe injuries to his back, shoulders, and such. He had already cursed Qin Niu countless times.
Determined in his heart, he swore that if he caught Qin Niu, he would torture him to death with the cruelest tortures in the world.
The old man, still worried about the Demon Bird catching up and indeed frightened out of his wits, fled a distance further before stopping.
He began to extinguish the flames on his burning clothes.
Having just one hand left made it hard to put out the fire.
Finally, after great effort, he succeeded in smothering the flames on his body.
His hair was completely singed, and his face was covered in black soot, making him look even more disheveled than a street beggar.
“Curse those immortals, how could there be such a powerful Demon Bird on this mountain? Lucky for me I escaped quickly; else my old life would have been thoroughly forfeited.”
In the rush to save his life, the old man had given it his all.
Now, with the fire out and a momentary sense of safety, he sat down cross-legged on the ground and, with some difficulty, retrieved a white porcelain bottle from his bosom using his remaining left hand.
He bit open the cork with his mouth, poured out a dark red elixir, and swallowed it.
It was at this moment that several Termites silently crawled onto his body, their poisonous stingers launching a vicious sneak attack on the old man.
Under normal circumstances, the old man would certainly have noticed insects crawling on him immediately.
But now, with grave injuries and only half a life left,
plus the fact that he had just escaped from the pursuit of the Demon Bird, he was in a briefly relaxed state.
He never imagined that Qin Niu, bold as brass, not only hadn’t fled but had instead laid a trap with numerous Poisonous Ants waiting for him.
“Ugh!”
A layer of qi instantly lit up on the old man’s body, shattering all the Termites on his skin.
He sprang up and moved to a different spot.
Qin Niu inwardly cursed his luck.
Without Green Ox by his side, his only usable pets were these Termites.
Asking him to single-handedly take on a powerful person from the Spirit Qi Realm was beyond his confidence.
He could easily be turned around and killed with little effort.