"Screech!"
The Blood Vulture King swept aside two Blood Vultures blocking its path with its wings and soared into midair.
A pillar of blood-red light crashed downward, blasting a Shadow Servant that couldn't dodge in time to fragments. Bloodline treasures scattered all over the ground.
With its piercing, commanding cries, order was immediately restored to the entire flock of Blood Vultures. The formation shifted at once — numerous Blood Vultures soared high into the sky, circling like a net, occasionally swooping down to strike at the Shadow Servants.
Though the strategy proved effective and claimed a great many Shadow Servants, the remaining thieves were simply too fast. After paying a heavy toll in casualties, a portion of the Shadow Servants still broke through the encirclement.
"Screech! Screech!"
The Blood Vulture King roared in fury, leading the pursuing flock of Blood Vultures after them.
"I've found you!"
At that moment,
She was a witch with brownish-red hair, a curvaceous figure, a golden circlet on her forehead, and a pair of narrow eyes fixed intently on Leylin.
"My name is Leylin. Might I have the pleasure of the young lady's name?" Facing her gaze that seemed ready to erupt into flames, Leylin merely smiled and gave a flawless noble's bow, his movements impeccable.
"Tanascha!" The witch clearly hadn't expected Leylin to still have the composure for such pleasantries. Though her chest heaved with indignation, she maintained her composure and gave her name.
"Are you prepared to surrender?" Tanascha regarded the handsome young man before her. In the Central Continent, there was indeed a custom of ransoming captives. Moreover, this one hadn't caused significant casualties to her faction, they were both human, and he had the Ouroboros Ring backing him. It wasn't entirely out of the question.
"Oh! No, no! You've got it all wrong!" Leylin's smile was radiant. "I just want to ask one thing. Do you... like Blood Vultures?"
"What do you mean?" Tanascha's mind couldn't quite process the question.
Then she spotted numerous blood-red figures appearing along the horizon. A sense of dread immediately settled in her heart.
"Petrifying Gaze!" At that very moment, Leylin struck without warning.
His eyes transformed into a pair of amber-colored vertical pupils, shooting out mysterious rays of petrification.
Though it was merely a first-grade innate wizardry, bolstered by his gaseous Spiritual Power and bloodline, the power it unleashed was nothing to scoff at.
At the same time, Leylin rapidly chanted his incantation. Numerous shadows surged up from all directions, coalescing into a massive cage of darkness that temporarily trapped Tanaša within.
"Tempest!"
Tanaša's reaction was extraordinarily swift. Almost the instant the petrifying ray appeared, her eyes turned silvery-white, radiating a blinding brilliance that completely deflected the petrifying beam.
Simultaneously, an enormous storm materialized behind her, spiraling into a colossal tornado that tore the shadow cage to shreds.
However, because Leylin had launched a surprise attack, her body still involuntarily stuttered for a brief moment.
"Corrosive Spear!"
A dark emerald spear materialized in Leylin's hand. The tip carried a faint trace of white as it shot toward Tanaša, carving a straight white line of energy through the air.
"Who gave you the audacity to dare provoke a Crystalline
Tanaša's expression was blank, but it was already clear that she was genuinely furious.
*Tch!* Tanaša extended her fair, delicate hands, and now upon her smooth skin, a semi-transparent layer of keratin had faintly emerged.
The corrosive spear that Leylin had hurled with every ounce of his strength — she caught it effortlessly in her palms.
*Boom!* Tanaša's hands snapped together, and the corrosive spear instantly shattered into fragments. Leylin, his face deathly pale, staggered several steps backward.
But at that moment, a triumphant smile surfaced on his face.
"Hmm?" Tanaša's brow furrowed. Only now did she notice that after the corrosive spear had been destroyed, a single white feather had emerged from within it.
*Poof!* The white feather burst into powder, adhering to Tanaša's body with ease.
"This is a kind of aura? And a powerful tracking sigil…" Tanaša's brow creased deeper, then she sneered, "Something like this — I only need two minutes to…"
But immediately after, her expression changed completely.
Because she saw Leylin across from her give a casual wave, then activate a black magical artifact crown, and his entire figure vanished into thin air.
*Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!* Several dark figures emerged — the Shadow Servants from before. They lunged toward
But in the process, they managed to toss a number of bloodline crystals and bones to her feet, including a massive bird egg that had been cracked open by a rock, revealing the yolk and egg white inside.
"Tweeeet!"
A massive flock of Blood Vultures, led by the Blood Vulture King, arrived on the scene. The moment they spotted Tanasha, their eyes went red with fury.
The Blood Vulture King, in particular, caught the scent of its own feathers on her body — the downy plumage it had specially used to cradle the Snake Woman's finger bone. That material was extraordinarily precious, its aura utterly distinctive. There was no mistaking it!
It was now crystal clear that this intruder who had ransacked Blood Vulture Mountain was none other than the thief who had stolen its treasure!
The Blood Vulture King was consumed with rage. Blood-red lightning crackled endlessly around its body.
"You… you… you—!"
Tanasha froze on the spot. She wasn't so dense that she couldn't figure out what Leylin had been planning.
"Wait! Noble King!" Tanasha sent a pulse of spiritual power directly into the Blood Vulture King's mind, making one last desperate attempt.
But would a king in the grip of such fury listen to her explanation? Of course not! It possessed the intelligence of an adult, yes, but it was currently in a state of blind wrath — a being that brooked no defiance on its own territory. Why would it entertain excuses from a human?
Massive bolts of blood-red lightning rained down, engulfing Tanasha almost instantly…
Meanwhile, Leylin had used the
*Thud!* A patch of soil was thrown open, revealing a large cache of bloodline-related items — blood-red crystals and ivory-white bones scattered in a disorganized heap, gleaming with a dazzling luster.
"A Blood Vulture egg too! What a haul!"
Leylin held the enormous egg in his hands, a look of delight spreading across his face. It was several sizes larger than an ostrich egg, streaked with blood-red patterns, and a tremendous radiance of Life Energy pulsed from within. He could even feel a faint, rhythmic throb against his palms through the shell.
A young Blood Vulture might no longer be tammable, but one still in its egg was absolutely worth trying.
Setting aside its innate ability to seek out bloodline-related items, a mature Blood Vulture could reach the third rank in strength — a feat that would make it highly sought after.
Of course, Leylin had no intention of selling it. He planned to tame it for himself.
The Central Continent was vast and boundless, with countless regions that even Wizards had yet to explore. A Blood Vulture's aerial capabilities would prove invaluable in those uncharted lands. If he could rely on it to continuously acquire bloodline items in the future — now that would be the real prize.
"What a haul!"
Leylin quickly stowed everything away.
He had already ordered his Shadow Servant to secretly plant the stolen items along the way earlier. What he had dropped at Tanasha's feet was only a small portion — the real prize had long since been transferred, and now it had all fallen into Leylin's hands.
After inspecting his gains, Leylin turned to look at Blood Vulture Mountain, his expression sinking into contemplation once more.
"The Blood Vulture King is currently leading the main force of blood vultures to hunt down Tanasha. She is a crystallised Wizard after all, so she can hold out for a while. Should I go back and raid the blood vultures' nest?"
But then Leylin shook his head, banishing the tempting thought from his mind.
"Forget it. What I've already obtained is more than enough. No need to end up losing myself in the process..."
"Besides, compared to those remaining bloodline items, that rank-three crystallised Wizard is the bigger prize!"
A vicious glint flickered through Leylin's eyes...
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! That wretched Wizard — I will kill him for sure, grind his flesh and bones into powder, and feed them to my man-eating flowers!"
Deep within a tropical rainforest, Tanasha was sprinting desperately.
But her condition was clearly terrible — not only were her clothes tattered and ragged, making her look like a beggar, but her entire right arm was missing. Her face was completely devoid of colour, and faint blue veins were visible beneath the skin.
The blood vulture flock had truly pursued her relentlessly this time. To shake them off, Tanasha had not only burned through secret techniques that stimulated her body's latent potential, but had even sacrificed a clone she had spent a long time nurturing — all to successfully lure the Blood Vulture King away.
Right now, Tanasha's hatred for Leylin was beyond description. She wanted nothing more than to tear him apart and eat him alive.
"Oh my, Miss Tanasha! You really are in a dreadful state, aren't you? Do you need healing?"
In the silent rainforest, a voice suddenly rang out, freezing Tanasha's body in place.
And then she saw the young man she would never forget for as long as she lived, standing right in her path.
"You... how did you catch up? I destroyed every last trace of my tracking aura!" Tanasha's mouth hung open, clearly unable to believe what she was seeing.
"That's not something you need to know. Right now, you only need to answer one question!"
Leylin drew his cross sword, black as ink, and pointed it at Tanasha. "Submit, or die!"
He had naturally caught up through the Chip's scanning and tracking. Although Tanasha had concealed her aura extremely well and destroyed the positioning marker Leylin had fired earlier, she was still unable to hide from the Chip.
Never mind the rest; even the subtle human traces left along the path—even those Tanasha had obscured—were no match for the Chip's atomic-level scanning.
It was only after Leylin had confirmed that Tanasha was seriously injured that he had pursued her.
Tanasha was a Level 3 Crystallisation Wizard, several tiers above Leylin. In the past, a Level 1 Vaporisation Wizard declaring his intent to kill a Crystallisation Wizard would have been an utter joke!
But now, Tanasha’s face was pale, and a sliver of fear had already surfaced in her heart. She had no choice but to admit that Leylin now possessed the strength to kill her.