Chapter 316 So what if you can fly?

The sky was completely obscured by a huge shadow.

It's not a dark cloud.

It is a giant bird with a wingspan of over thirty meters, resembling an eagle, but its feathers have an eerie gray color.

Its two sharp claws gleamed with a chilling light, and its cold, golden vertical pupils locked onto Zhou Jue.

The next second, it moved.

There was no unnecessary circling, no probing.

The giant bird folded its wings, and its massive body transformed into a gray lightning bolt, swooping down vertically with a piercing shriek that tore through the air!

The target is Zhou Jue, who is standing by the river!

Here we go again!

Zhou Jue cursed angrily, his feet burst with spiritual energy, and he retreated rapidly into the jungle behind him.

She dared not engage in a prolonged battle with this aerial overlord on the open riverbank.

"boom--!"

The moment she stepped away, those enormous claws slammed down on the spot where she had just been standing.

Two trenches, each more than half a meter deep, were dug into the ground, with gravel and dirt flying everywhere.

Having missed its target, the giant bird let out an angry cry and flapped its wings violently.

A fierce wind arose, and countless broken branches and stones, like cannonballs, rained down on Zhou Jue.

Zhou Jue rolled and dodged awkwardly in the forest, and soon several cuts appeared on his body.

"Damn, we can't shoot on open ground, we're just sitting ducks!"

She knew in her heart that if things continued like this, she would be worn down to death.

Let's give it our all!

Zhou Jue gritted her teeth and stopped running. She stopped and turned to face the giant bird circling in the air. Her spiritual energy circulated wildly in her dantian and gathered at her feet.

She pushed off the ground with a sudden burst of energy, and her whole body shot into the sky like a cannonball!

The giant bird seemed surprised that this tiny prey dared to take to the air on its own initiative, and a hint of astonishment flashed in its golden vertical pupils.

Immediately, that surprise turned into an even stronger killing intent.

It let out a high-pitched cry, spread its wings, and charged forward at a speed several times faster than Zhou Jue!

"Damn it! I got ganged up on on the ground, drowned in the water, and chased in the sky!"

While Zhou Jue was using his spiritual energy to dodge the giant bird's claws, he cursed Sun Jiuchou a hundred times in his mind.

"Sun Jiuchou, you just wait!"

The air is not her domain. Although she can take to the air, it consumes spiritual energy, and she is not as agile as it is.

Several times, the sharp wings grazed her body, and the strong wind they generated made her cheeks sting.

This can't go on!

A resolute glint flashed in Zhou Jue's eyes.

She can't compete with it in terms of speed and agility; she has to change the rules!

While dodging, she pulled out a handful of leaf-shaped talismans that she had drawn beforehand from her pocket.

She was waiting for an opportunity.

The giant bird seemed to have lost patience. It opened its huge mouth, and a cyan light blade of wind element shot towards Zhou Jue!

Now!

Zhou Jue didn't take the wind blade head-on. Instead, she channeled her spiritual energy into her feet, twisted her body in mid-air, and narrowly avoided it.

At the same time, she scattered the dozen or so leaf-shaped talismans in her hand, like a celestial maiden scattering flowers, along the flight path of the giant bird.

"Dui, Gen, Li, Kan..."

She quickly recited several directions, her fingertips flashing with inspiration.

The flying talismans lit up instantly in the air, connecting in mid-air to form miniature arrays composed of golden runes.

Trapped Formation! The most basic application of the Bagua (Eight Trigrams) orientation.

The giant bird had never seen such a tactic before. Relying on its speed, it charged forward without thinking.

The moment its body entered the range of the rune array, the air seemed to suddenly become viscous.

An invisible force pulled at its body from all directions, causing its speed to suddenly stop.

"Now!"

Zhou Jue's eyes flashed with divine light, and instead of retreating, he advanced, pouring all his spiritual power into the Boundary-Breaking Shovel in his hand!

Like a shooting star flying backwards, she appeared instantly beside the giant bird, aimed at the joint where its wing connected to its body, and slammed down hard!

"Crack—!"

A crisp sound of bones breaking rang out clearly in the air.

"唳——!!!"

The giant bird let out an extremely shrill scream, its massive body writhing wildly in the air from the intense pain.

Its right wing drooped at an odd angle, clearly broken.

The balance was broken, and its flight became erratic, no longer as graceful as before.

Zhou Jue struck successfully and immediately retreated, watching it warily.

Wounded wild animals are the most dangerous.

Sure enough, the excruciating pain fully unleashed the giant bird's ferocity.

It abandoned all its skills, its golden vertical pupils turned blood red, and it charged towards Zhou Jue like a madman.

Countless tiny wind blades were fired haphazardly from its body, forming a barrage of attacks that left no blind spots.

Zhou Jue slapped all the remaining Vajra Talismans onto his body, forming a thin golden shield, while wielding the Boundary-Breaking Shovel to desperately defend himself.

"Bang bang bang!"

The protective shield quickly became covered with cracks and was on the verge of collapse.

"Hold on! You have to hold on!"

Zhou Jue gritted his teeth, staring intently at the berserk beast.

"It's almost gone too!"

Each attack from the giant bird exacerbated the injury to its wings, and dark red blood had already stained half of its body.

This is a contest of willpower and endurance.

Let's see who gives up first!

The giant bird once again conjured a massive wind blade, which slashed fiercely at Zhou Jue.

This was its final act of madness.

Zhou Jue took a deep breath and squeezed out the last bit of spiritual energy in his dantian, along with the crystal core energy he had just absorbed but which was not yet fully refined.

She neither dodged nor defended herself.

She saw the giant beast stiffen briefly after it unleashed its attack, due to exhaustion.

The only, and last, chance!

Zhou Jue's figure vanished the moment the wind blade touched his body.

The next second, she appeared on top of the giant bird's head.

She poured all her strength and will into the boundary-breaking shovel in her hand.

"Die!"

She gripped the shovel handle with both hands and, with all her might, plunged it deep into the giant bird's vulnerable nape from top to bottom!

"Pfft—!"

The boundary-breaking shovel penetrates even without the handle!

The giant bird's mournful cry abruptly ceased.

The madness faded from its blood-red eyes, replaced by a deep disbelief.

Its massive body, having lost all its strength, plummeted straight down into the jungle below, like a kite with a broken string.

"BOOM—!!!"

The earth trembled.

Zhou Jue also exhausted his last bit of strength, his body went limp, and he fell down.

She crashed heavily onto the thick layer of fallen leaves, feeling completely disoriented.

Ignoring the pain, she struggled to get up from the ground and walked to the huge pit.

The giant bird's carcass smashed a crater tens of meters in diameter into the ground, and many trees around it fell down.

Zhou Jue was panting heavily, looking at his masterpiece, but there was no joy on his face.

Exhausted, she jumped into the pit, pulled out the shovel, and skillfully cleaved open the giant bird's head.

She dug out a crystal core the size of a pigeon egg, entirely blue, emitting a gentle breeze.

Without hesitation, she grasped the crystal core and sat down cross-legged.

Pure wind energy surged into her parched meridians.

This time, instead of immediately converting the energy into spiritual power, she guided it to circulate within her body along a specific path.

She is trying to understand this energy and control it.

Soon, Zhou Jue slowly opened his eyes and murmured to himself.

“Sun Jiuchou…you old bastard, you’ve forced me to learn something real.”

She stood up and felt that her ability to use her strength had reached a new level.

The sky had completely darkened.

Night falls.

This jungle was not silent as usual.

"roar--!"

"Awooo—!"

The roars of strange beasts echoed from all directions one after another.

It was more intense and louder than any other night.

It was as if all the wild beasts in the entire jungle had awakened tonight.