Two eagles flew together, circling in the air as if communicating, while the male eagle released its talons, dropping the person it had grabbed.
Li Qing stared wide-eyed in surprise at the person who had fallen.
This person is from the Black Wind Tribe!
"Why were the Black Wind Tribe people captured too? Ah, wait, could it be..."
When Li Qing saw that the captured people were not from the Red Flower Tribe, he breathed a sigh of relief. But then he realized that he had overlooked something: the Black Wind Tribe had also been captured here. This meant that his guess before he set off was correct. The Black Wind Tribe had indeed followed the Red Flower Tribe's hunting party across the Liangmeng River and arrived at their hunting grounds, guided by that traitor!
In Li Qing's memory, this person was named Duanhe. He was a genius warrior in the Black Wind Tribe. At a young age, he had already broken through to become a level three warrior. He was warlike by nature but not reckless. He showed no mercy to his enemies and was an outstanding warrior in the Black Wind Tribe.
Moreover, Duanhe also participated in the operation at Moonstone to wipe out Yong and his group.
"The hunting party is in danger!"
Duanhe landed beside Li Qing. His strong physique meant he wasn't injured. He saw that the person sitting next to him was an old acquaintance and couldn't help but sneer, "Maizi?"
Li Qing was on high alert. His opponent was very strong, and the battlefield was extremely disadvantageous to him. He had to be careful that his opponent might suddenly launch an attack.
Just then, the cubs of the Rebellious Eagles, who had previously shown no reaction upon seeing the person who had suddenly appeared, suddenly became agitated, emitting a series of piercing, sharp cries and displaying great unease.
What happened?
They were so quiet just now, why are they so agitated this time?
Could it be because the river has dried up?
Duanhe was initially puzzled, but he quickly remembered something and muttered to himself, "These beasts are really..."
He deliberately dragged out the tone, and suddenly, he pushed Li Qing hard with both hands!
That bastard!
Li Qing clasped his hands together, trying to block the force.
Duanhe placed both hands on Li Qing's shoulders, a cruel smile playing on his lips. "They only stole an eagle egg, but I didn't expect them to remember it all this time... But Maizi, I never thought you'd have the guts to steal a cub. Looks like I underestimated you."
"Stealing the cubs?"
Under the force of Duanhe's two hands, Li Qing's arms had lost sensation due to the pain. He desperately gripped Duanhe's shoulders with both hands and pushed him backward.
He knew very well that whoever backed down now would lose.
But Li Qing finally understood why Ni Tianying had brought Duanhe here as well.
Generally, ferocious beasts have a very low reproduction rate. The probability of this pair of Heavenly Eagles successfully producing three cubs is extremely low among all ferocious beasts.
The eagles are harsh and strict with their offspring, even letting them die because they cannot adapt to nature without feeling any pity. But this does not mean that they do not love their offspring, especially their unborn children!
Li Qing could easily imagine the fury the Rebel Eagle would feel when it discovered its offspring had been eaten.
Three eagle chicks, defying the odds, excitedly formed a circle around the broken river.
Duanhe looked down at the three cubs, a glint of greed flashing in his eyes:
“Wheat, you be the judge. How can you blame me? Their parents took them to a warm place to incubate the eggs. Their father went out to hunt, while the mother took care of the chicks and the egg. This division of labor was reasonable. But the fact that they lost the egg is only because their mother wasn't smart enough. We just used a little trick to lure her away and steal the egg. Heh, those two rebellious eagles really deserve it.”
"Unfortunately, we were too cautious at the time and overthought things. We didn't touch the three cubs. Otherwise, we would have killed them and taken them back to the tribe to the warriors that the chiefs highly regarded. That way, our tribe would have had six totem warriors."
Totem warriors are warriors who are several times stronger than ordinary warriors.
The conditions for becoming a totem warrior are simple: kill a ferocious beast, drink all its blood, and with the blessing of a shaman, endure the excruciating pain caused by the beast's blood.
Becoming a totem warrior not only means greater strength, but also more respect from ordinary warriors in the tribe. The totem warrior himself will also have a tattoo of a ferocious beast from his neck to his chest. For example, if the warriors drink the blood flowing from the body of the eagle, then the pattern tattooed on his chest after he awakens as a totem warrior will be the eagle.
The conditions are very simple, but totem warriors are very rare in this world. This is because the ferocious beasts are generally very powerful and have intelligence that is no less than that of humans. Moreover, apart from some naturally warlike ferocious beasts, most ferocious beasts will immediately run away when they sense that they may be in danger, not giving people a chance to kill them.
More importantly, even if someone successfully kills a ferocious beast and drinks all its blood, he may still die from the excruciating pain.
And this ratio... is probably over 80%!
This is why Duanhe chose this relatively "easy" route.
only……
“I will soon be a totem warrior, Wheat… Next, I will kill you, then kill these three little beasts, and then the people of our tribe will come here to find me and take me away from here. Don’t worry, we made an agreement long ago, I will definitely find a way to leave! As long as I return to the tribe, the shaman will help me awaken as a true totem warrior, and at that time,” Duanhe’s expression gradually became more and more frenzied, “the Red Flower Tribe will perish!”
"Judging by the time, your hunting teams should be almost all dead by now," Duanhe sneered. "Yong's group, the ones with any real strength, are already dead at Moonstone. The strongest members of your newly formed hunting teams are just a few useless trash like Li and Chu; there's no way they could escape our ambush!"
After listening to Duan He's long speech, Li Qing's expression remained unreadable. He said calmly, "To become a totem warrior, you must go through the final and most crucial step: the guidance of a shaman. Without this step, you're just an ordinary warrior. You came to this place for these three cubs. Do you really think that with your level three warrior physique, you can handle everything and leave safely? Moreover, since ancient times, there has never been a case of someone becoming a totem warrior through the guidance of a shaman after eating a ferocious beast egg. Duan He, don't you think you're overconfident to the point of arrogance?"
Upon hearing this, Duanhe burst into laughter: "Maizi, you're still too naive. It's precisely because there are too many foolish and inflexible guys like you that totem warriors are so rare! I may not be a totem warrior now, but I'm confident I can take down those two annoying, heaven-defying eagles!"
"oh?"
"For me, whether I am a totem warrior or not is completely irrelevant! Because I already have the blood of the Heaven-Defying Eagle in my veins, in the bloodline, I am the 'Emperor' of the Heaven-Defying Eagle. Therefore, among all the ferocious beasts, the one I fear the least is the Heaven-Defying Eagle. This has nothing to do with whether I am a totem warrior or not!"
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