Chapter 52: King of Eagles
“Is it alive or dead?”
Su Wudeng squatted down and ran her fingers through the loose dirt. “Judging by the color and moisture, this soil was overturned very recently. It was still active here just a few days ago.”
“But now that all the high-tier healing plants are gone, its situation is probably critical.”
A heavy silence fell over the group.
Aihua tilted her head, her deep voice laced with concern. “I wonder what kind of pet it is, and how it could have sustained such catastrophic injuries.”
“According to Amber, there was a massive crack of thunder on that rainy night. Could it have been struck by lightning?”
Su Wudeng looked up. The valley was peaceful and serene, showing no signs of any lingering anomaly.
“I’m not entirely sure, but an animal in that state couldn’t have traveled far. It must be hiding somewhere nearby.”
“With injuries that severe, its mobility would be close to zero.”
“The worst-case scenario is that it has already lost consciousness.”
Aihua sighed. “It would be so much easier if it just came out on its own instead of making us hunt for it.”
But she knew that was a pipe dream.
Between herself and Amber, they had two terrifyingly powerful fighters on the field. Even if the mysterious pet were completely healthy, an ordinary beast wouldn’t be foolish enough to intentionally provoke them. Knowing it was outmatched and vulnerable, it was undoubtedly tucked away in the shadows, silently watching their every move.
“Let’s split up and track it,” Su Wudeng decided. “Now that we know it’s here, we can’t just abandon it. We save it if we can.”
The storm during the latter half of that night had been incredibly violent, the thunder deafening. If a flying creature had truly been struck by lightning mid-flight, it would be a miracle if it survived the fall.
The sea of flowers stretching across the basin was massive, so they began their sweep from the immediate quadrant.
Su Wudeng launched several micro-reconnaissance drones, programming them to hover across the upper canopy to scout for geological anomalies, hidden caverns, or natural rock shelters.
Meanwhile, Amber and Aihua projected their spiritual perception outward, meticulously scanning the terrain.
But the valley was simply too vast. They were essentially looking for a needle in a galactic haystack.
After hours of relentless searching, their sensors hadn’t picked up a single stable anomaly.
Having trekked along the rugged mountain trails for most of the morning, followed by a continuous sweep of the valley floor, Su Wudeng’s physical reserves hit absolute zero. She couldn’t force her legs to take another step. Wiping the heavy sweat from her face, she managed to find a cool, shaded patch beneath a large tree and collapsed against the trunk. “Amber! Aihua! Bring it in, let’s take a rest!”
While the two elite familiars possessed massive stamina pools, the continuous mental strain of the spiritual scans had left them visibly fatigued.
Su Wudeng sat paralyzed on the mossy ground. “We can’t keep burning daylight like this. The structural geography of this basin is too immense; a manual grid-by-grid sweep is entirely unrealistic.”
She forced her tired brain to methodically analyze the variables. “First, let’s establish our baselines: we know for a fact that a large avian familiar suffered a catastrophic impact during the storm, and it has managed to survive in this valley for several days.”
“It leveraged the native healing flora to stave off cellular collapse, but its current biological markers are unknown.”
“Put yourselves in its position. If you were critically wounded and hiding from an unseen threat, what would your behavioral matrix dictate?”
Amber thought for a moment, his ears flicking. I would identify a high-security tactical bottleneck. A coordinate that ordinary pets would entirely overlook or find physically inaccessible—somewhere deep underground or tucked inside a hidden cavern.
Aihua nodded in agreement. Or I would claim the highest canopy of a massive tree, ensuring I could rest my consciousness without worrying about an immediate terrestrial ambush.
“But we’re dealing with a bird,” Su Wudeng pointed out. “Wouldn’t its instinct drive it toward a sheer cliff face?”
That would be its absolute premier choice. It guarantees safety from land-bound predators who lack the capacity for flight.
“Exactly,” Su Wudeng concluded, her eyes brightening. “So its survival strategy relies on two core variables: absolute concealment from potential predators, and proximity to a secure recovery zone.”
“It is mathematically certain to still be within this valley, tucked away in an extreme hiding spot that our baseline scans have completely bypassed.”
“If we use a process of elimination to filter the topography, we can discard the vast majority of the map. We don’t need to waste time scanning open meadows, easily monitored clearings, or dead-end pockets with no escape routes.”
She activated her wrist console, projecting the real-time holographic map captured by her drones. “Which means we can officially clear this entire eastern quadrant and this lower basin from our search grid.”
After mapping out a handful of high-probability coordinates for Amber and Aihua, the team initialized a targeted secondary sweep.
But an hour later, the results were still completely negative.
Gathering back under the shade of a massive green canopy, Su Wudeng let out a defeated sigh. “This bird’s concealment matrix is terrifyingly absolute.”
“Forget it. Since we’ve hit a structural bottleneck, let’s get some food into our systems first.”
She pulled out a fresh pouch of dry-roasted pine nuts she had packed for the trek. The instant she unsealed the airlock container, the rich, buttery aroma exploded into the surrounding air.
Amber and Aihua’s eyes ignited instantly, and they wasted no time digging into the rations.
She also distributed several strips of dense, high-protein dried meat to replenish their physical stamina.
Su Wudeng popped a roasted pine nut into her mouth, a grim thought crossing her mind. If our next one-hour sweep yields zero results, we’re forcing a hard retreat back to the facility.
Once night fell over the outer-rim wilderness, the danger metrics would escalate exponentially. Countless nocturnal predators and aggressive wild familiars would emerge to hunt, and standing on an open field in the dark was an unacceptable risk.
Suddenly, the leaves directly above them rustled violently. A large, fluffy tail emerged from a gap in the branches, followed by a tiny squirrel slipping out of a tree hollow.
The squirrel perched on a low bough, its massive tail swaying rhythmically behind its back as its glittering black eyes locked onto the roasted pine nuts resting in Su Wudeng’s hand.
Su Wudeng froze, then a warm smile broke across her face. “Smells good, doesn’t it? Want a taste?”
Moving with slow, non-threatening gestures, she placed a small handful of the roasted nuts onto a clean patch of earth, before taking several deliberate steps back to signal that the food was unguarded.
The little squirrel struck a cautious, hands-on-hips pose on the branch, but the sheer gravity of the aroma completely overrode its defensive protocols. It leaned forward, taking a deep, dramatic sniff.
Incredible! The flavor density is spectacular! How is it possible for a pine nut to smell this heavenly?!
Su Wudeng remained perfectly still, keeping her voice soft and soothing. “You’re an incredibly cute little guy. Do you happen to know a squirrel named Bengbeng? I’m his primary human business partner. These are the exact pine nuts he traded to me. Would you like to try some?”
The squirrel’s tail gave a violent twitch, its black eyes widening with sudden, intelligent recognition. “Squeak! Squeak!”
You’re that human Bengbeng was raving about! The one who operates that massive postpartum care and pet rehabilitation facility down by the river basin!
Su Wudeng pressed a hand against her forehead. “…Yes, that’s me.”
She officially abandoned the struggle. If the local wildlife insists on calling it a postpartum care center, so be it.
The little squirrel didn’t waste another second, dropping down from the branch and scrambling over to the roasted nuts. It scooped one up, gave it a swift wipe against its chest fur, and shoved it into its mouth, crunching ecstatically.
Divine!
Sensing an opening, Su Wudeng poured a generous pile of nuts onto the dirt. Driven by pure gluttony, the squirrel abandoned all caution, comfortably settling onto its haunches right before her. It used its tiny paws to expertly shell the nuts with a speed and precision that completely outclassed human coordination.
Su Wudeng leaned in slightly, keeping her tone casual. “Hey, little friend, have you noticed a massive bird roaming this valley recently? It sustained a severe injury a few days ago, and it’s been coming down to harvest the high-tier flowers across the basin.”
“A giant bird? Digging up the flora?” The squirrel paused, its paws freezing mid-shell as it re-indexed its memory units.
“Oh!” It clapped its paws together with a sharp squeak. “I logged a visual on it early last week!”
It extended a tiny arm, pointing toward the deep interior of the valley. “Are you talking about the creature that cleared out all the premium beds?”
“Yes, exactly! That’s the one!” Su Wudeng nodded eagerly.
“Yeah! It was a massive, pitch-black shadow. It executed a sudden, terrifying dive out of the upper atmosphere that nearly caused my cardiac arrays to fail! But it completely ignored me, targeting the healing plants right next to my tree instead.”
“What did it do after the harvest?”
“Well…” The squirrel thought it over. “I was paralyzed with fear, so I immediately dove into my hollow and sealed the entry. By the time I re-engaged my sensors and peeked back out, the shadow had vanished entirely from the sector.”
Su Wudeng cross-referenced their current coordinates on her interface. “Little friend, do you still retain the exact spatial trajectory of its dive vector?”
“And how many minutes did you remain inside your hollow?”
The squirrel eagerly relayed every piece of data it possessed. Su Wudeng mapped the variables onto her holographic display, a definitive tactical model forming in her mind.
“Correlating the time parameters and the directional entry vector, it had to be descending from this exact heading.”
“And given how swiftly it dropped off our long-range radar, it’s highly probable its secure sanctuary node is anchored within this specific perimeter.”
Across the holographic overlay, the targeted coordinate was pinned to the eastern jagged ridge of the valley—a sector defined by a sheer, vertical cliff face.
It’s hiding on the cliff!
They hadn’t scanned that vertical terrain yet. Su Wudeng immediately rose to her feet, her exhaustion forgotten. “Let’s move! Targeting the eastern ridge!”
She left the remaining pile of roasted nuts at the base of the trunk. “Thank you, little guy. Your data was invaluable!”
The squirrel let out a cheerful squeak, scooping up the prize before leaping back into the safety of the canopy.
You humans stay alert out there! That shadow bird possesses terrifying combat stats! It is absolutely gargantuan!
This specific sector of the valley was choked with dense, ancient trees. After cutting their way through layers of thick undergrowth, the team finally emerged before a towering, near-vertical wall of jagged stone.
“Good lord, the vertical scale is insane!” Amber stared up at the cliff face, his ears pinning back in dismay. Even with our tracking data, we lack the flight parameters to scale a cliff this sheer.
The rock face rose dozens of meters into the air, an impossible climb for any land-bound familiar.
Suddenly, a violent spike of spiritual energy shattered the atmosphere. Without a single second of environmental warning, a bolt of intense purple lightning cleaved the sky, tearing straight down toward Su Wudeng’s position!
“Sister, defensive posture!”
Aihua moved with explosive instinct, lunging forward to throw her massive, armor-plated body directly over Su Wudeng, encapsulating her within a wall of muscle and iron.
The lightning strike was blindingly fast, manifesting the exact millisecond it registered on their optical arrays. There was zero time to execute an evasion maneuver; they had to absorb the raw elemental damage.
CRACK!
A deafening detonation shattered the quiet of the valley. The purple lightning slammed violently against a dense shield of reinforced stalks that had erupted from the earth in a fraction of a millisecond. A sharp, sizzling sound rippled through the air as the elemental energy dispersed into the ground. It was Aihua’s ultimate defensive skill!
“Aihua! Are you hurt?!” Su Wudeng frantically scrambled out from beneath her, her hands flying over the panda’s silver armor. She let out a breath of intense relief—there was no blood, no structural breach, and zero scorch marks across her coat.
Aihua shook her massive head, her large claws remaining firmly planted over Su Wudeng to shield her from a consecutive strike, her eyes locking onto the upper ridge of the cliff with a lethal intensity.
“Our diagnostic model was accurate. The target is nested right above us!”
Witnessing his master being targeted by an ambush, Amber’s docility vanished instantly, his features contorting into pure, feral rage. “Woof! Woof!”
You absolute trash bird! How dare you initiate a hostile vector against my master!
I am neutralizing your core parameters right now!
The greatsword mounted to Amber’s mechanical harness unsheathed itself with a deafening, metallic ring!
A blinding streak of silver sword-light surged toward the upper cliff face, cutting through the air with a terrifying, kinetic shriek as it targeted the exact source of the lightning strike!
SCREECH!
A piercing, agonizing cry echoed down the stone wall. A massive black silhouette came tumbling out of a hidden cave mouth on the cliff face, falling in a helpless vertical drop!
The shriek was so full of raw pain it made Su Wudeng’s skin crawl.
The gargantuan black shadow descending through the air was large enough to completely blot out the sunlight over their heads. If a mass of that scale slammed into the rocky floor, the physical impact alone would cause catastrophic structural failure.
“Holy crap, its dimensions are monstrous!”
“Aihua, deployment capture grid!”
In a flash of pure coordination, Aihua’s wood-element magic flared. Hundreds of thick bamboo stalks erupted across the clearing, weaving themselves into a massive, multi-layered elastic cargo net to catch the falling bird!
THUD!
The gargantuan avian slammed heavily into the center of the bamboo structure. The thick stalks groaned under the kinetic weight, bending dangerously close to the dirt, but the structural integrity held, capturing the black shadow safely.
“Flawless execution, Aihua!”
Su Wudeng rushed to the edge of the net. The creature resting within the bamboo was in a truly horrific state. Its entire body was covered in jagged lacerations and dried, blackened blood. Its magnificent wings were a disaster; the left pinion was fractured at a unnatural angle, exposing a shocking, bloody wound.
Amber’s lightning-fast sword strike had entirely shattered its composure, forcing it to panic and bolt from its sanctuary cave. It hadn’t anticipated its wing mechanics were too degraded to sustain flight, causing it to lose aerodynamic control and plummet.
Staring down at the massive avian, Su Wudeng’s eyes widened in profound, clinical shock.
“This is…”
“The Sovereign of the Skies… a Saker Falcon!”
“The pureblood Saker Falcon—celebrated across the empire as the God of All Raptors!”
The specimen resting before her was an absolute titan, its plumage a deep, flawless midnight black. Even battered by war and caked in grime, its majestic, predatory silhouette remained undeniable.
No, ‘majestic’ didn’t fully capture its aura; it was devastatingly handsome.
Its wingspan was terrifyingly immense, its feathers like sheets of dark obsidian, its beak a razor-sharp calcium hook, and its talons like titanium spikes. Even with its eyes half-lidded in exhaustion, the intelligent fury within them blazed like stars.
Though its body was on the verge of collapse, she could easily visualize this magnificent creature ruling the upper atmosphere, soaring above the storm clouds as an undisputed king.
The Saker Falcon struggled through a brief moment of disorientation before its consciousness stabilized. It snapped its head around, its fierce eyes locking onto Su Wudeng with a lethal, predatory glare.
It strained to push itself upright, but its shattered wing structure refused to engage, and its physiological reserves had officially flatlined. It collapsed back onto the bamboo weave, panting heavily.
It kept its fierce gaze locked onto the intruders, but the purple lightning that had previously wreathed its claws had degraded into tiny, harmless static arcs that fizzled out against its talons. It had expended its final ounce of elemental energy on that single ambush.
Su Wudeng’s interface flashed a critical warning: Warning. Target life signs are in a state of rapid collapse. Internal hemorrhaging detected. If the creature continued to thrash and resist, the internal strain would end its life within minutes. Emergency medical intervention was required immediately!
However, the Saker Falcon was radiating an absolute, savage hostility toward them, refusing to drop its defensive posture for a single second.
She had no other choice. Su Wudeng unslung her tactical tranquilizer gun, lined up the reticle with the falcon’s shoulder muscle, and pulled the trigger.
The chemical agent delivered an immediate payload. The falcon’s fierce eyes glazed over, its massive head drooping as its nervous system surrendered to the sedation, falling completely unconscious.
But Su Wudeng didn’t relax her stance for a second. An elite predator of this caliber was highly intelligent; there was a distinct probability it was feigning total sedation to lure them into close-combat range. As one of the undisputed apex species of the familiar kingdom, a Saker Falcon’s strategic IQ and combat metrics were legendary.
This wasn’t a fragile, undeveloped newborn cub; this was a fully matured, battle-hardened, high-tier aerial sovereign!
Even in this broken state, if it chose to force a mutual destruction sequence, her squad would sustain severe casualties.
Su Wudeng fired three consecutive, high-yield sedative darts into its thigh muscle just to be absolutely certain. Her heart hammered against her ribs like a piston.
“A pureblood Saker Falcon!”
“But given its apex tier, what entity in this sector could possibly inflict this level of physical destruction upon its frame?”
“And more importantly… it’s a pure Lightning-attribute familiar…”
“Which means it is biologically impossible for its injuries to have been caused by a standard lightning strike!”
Amber’s sharp mind quickly processed the variables. He looked down at the heavily sedated raptor, his tone turning grave. Master… could its injuries be the result of an ongoing territorial war against an external enemy?
It launched an immediate alpha-strike against us because its programming assumed its pursuers had finally tracked its coordinate to this valley!
Su Wudeng fell silent, the logic locking perfectly into place. “Amber’s deduction is highly probable.”
“But what level of creature possesses the raw combat output to dismantle a Saker Falcon this thoroughly?”
Aihua and Amber exchanged a grim, heavy glance, the realization settling into their eyes.
“The Saker Falcon is registered as a high-tier Commander-class familiar. For an entity to shatter its defenses this completely… the aggressor must be a King-class beast!”
A cold dread gripped Su Wudeng’s chest. Her voice shook slightly. “Are you telling me a King-class entity—an absolute sovereign of a species—is currently operating within our forest?!”
That was the absolute apex lord of a genetic line! Any creature that earned the ‘King’ classification possessed apocalyptic, world-altering combat metrics. And a monster of that caliber was currently lurking on her borders?
Amber offered a secondary hypothesis. There is a alternative statistical path—the falcon may have sustained the trauma in a distant sector, utilizing its high-speed flight mechanics to execute a desperate retreat to our coordinates to seek asylum.
But… damn it, if that’s the case, how immense must the enemy’s malice be to have pursued this falcon across multiple star systems, tracking it straight to our front door?!
Su Wudeng’s survival instincts went into high alert. “Our tactical safety margin has officially dropped to zero!”
“If this falcon is maintaining this level of hyper-vigilance, it knows for a fact that its pursuers are relentlessly hunting its signature. That means a terrifying King-class monster could drop out of warp over our heads at any second!”
“We must evacuate this coordinate immediately!”
Both Amber and Aihua recognized the existential threat. If a King-class sovereign materialized and found them harboring its primary target, it would systematically purge everyone on the field to ensure total elimination.
Su Wudeng’s expression turned stone-cold. “Initialize hard recall! We’re heading home!”
She refused to believe a wild King-class beast could bypass her planetary defense grid once she was securely behind her facilities.
Amber and Aihua lunged forward, securely lifting the massive, dead-weight form of the unconscious falcon between them. The raptor remained completely unresponsive under the heavy sedation.
“Execute!”
In a fraction of a millisecond, the group vanished from the clearing.
Back inside the main cabin, Yingying suddenly surged onto her feet, her hackles raising violently as a suffocating wave of heavy spiritual pressure rippled through her sensory arrays.
The leopard matriarch let out a sharp trill, instantly herding her cubs back into their secure enclosures.
The exact second her door sealed, Su Wudeng materialized in the center of the room. “Yingying, absolute lockdown! We’re logging out!”
She swiftly transferred the entire nursery inventory back to the primary pet center’s main grid.
Ten minutes later, a colossal, terrifying shadow that completely blacked out the sky swept silently over the forest canopy. Its piercing, golden eyes scanned the topography below with mathematical precision before it dissolved back into the clouds.
Down on the forest floor, every single wild creature paralyzed itself in terror, burying themselves deep within their burrows, praying they wouldn’t be registered by that cataclysmic presence.
The Pet Home, Medical Bay.
“Holy crap! Look at the size of that bird!”
Zhong Huihui stood frozen in the doorway, her mouth wide open. The avian familiar was so monstrously large its wingspan practically overflowed the dimensions of the primary surgical bay.
But as her eyes tracked down to Su Wudeng, she let out a sharp scream. “Ah! Governor! Why are you covered in so much blood?!”
“Did you take damage?!”
She frantically rushed forward to run a manual check over her employer.
Su Wudeng waved her hands dismissively, catching her breath. “Relax, the vitals are mine. This blood belongs entirely to the falcon.”
“Huihui, initialize the master-level surgical console immediately! Contact Nuannuan through the priority channel and tell her to deliver every single healing spiritual plant she has harvested right now—unlimited quantities!”
“And ask if there is a member of the Lingnai Deer herd who specializes in clinical medicine who can join the surgical team as a support unit!”
“Move! We’re on a countdown!”
“Understood! Governor, get into the scrub bay! I’ll establish the connection and mobilize the resources immediately!” Huihui barked back, snapping into emergency mode.
The crimson ‘SURGERY IN PROGRESS’ warning light flared outside the suite, and the state-of-the-art diagnostic instruments immediately began compiling the falcon’s structural data.
[Diagnostic: Vital Signs – Critical. Heart rate highly irregular, arterial pressure continuing a linear decline…]
[Diagnostic: Skeletal Fractures – Severe. 17 displaced fractures logged across the right wing structure; 12 fractures logged across the left wing; 8 compound rib fractures; cervical vertebrae dislocated.]
[Diagnostic: Internal Trauma – Catastrophic. Hepatic rupture identified; pulmonary perforation; renal contusion.]
[Diagnostic: Neurological Array – Severe cranial trauma; acute concussion; intracranial pressure escalating.]
[Diagnostic: Total Blood Loss – 40%. Primary etiology: severe wing membrane lacerations. Multiple systemic complications looming… imminent immune system collapse…]
Su Wudeng’s scalp went completely numb as the data overlays flashed across her vision.
The physiological destruction was infinitely worse than her worst-case projections!
No wonder Amber had managed to break the falcon’s composure with a single unsheathed sword strike. The bird had likely been operating on pure adrenaline and sheer willpower; its consciousness had been right at the precipice of blacking out before they even arrived!
With the diagnostic phase complete, the operating room’s automated medical systems initialized their surgical protocols:
[System Note: Commencing Master-tier Medical Intervention. Priority mapping finalized, therapeutic sequence initialized.]Â
[System Note: Executing localized hemostasis; stabilizing arterial circulation… Projected duration: 5 minutes.]Â
[System Note: Administering nano-hemostatic matrix injection…]Â
[System Note: External bleeding halted.]Â
[System Note: Calibrating life-support parameters; stabilizing heart rate and baseline blood pressure… Projected duration: 10 minutes.]Â
[System Note: Initiating cellular repair of internal organs… Projected duration: 2 hours.]Â
[System Note: Reconstructing bone geometry; repairing compound fractures… Projected duration: 1 hour.]Â
[…]
Dozens of holographic telemetry screens hovered over the table, displaying the falcon’s fluctuating biological indicators, updating the metrics in real-time as the automated lasers went to work.
Su Wudeng stood watch by the console, her nerves taut. The creature that had radiated such majestic, terrifying power an hour ago now looked incredibly fragile.
It lay stretched across the metallic table, the soft blue light of the sterilization fields washing over its obsidian feathers, rendering the raw wounds in stark, painful contrast.
The fierce, piercing eyes that could once track prey through miles of cloud cover were tightly closed, its massive chest rising and falling in shallow, desperate gasps.
Countless micro-catheters and nutrient lines had been inserted into its veins, the network of tubes so dense it was physically distressing to look at.
Only now, with the mud washed away, did she realize that a massive percentage of its plumage had been violently blasted off, exposing patches of raw, blood-rimmed skin beneath.
“What a brutal beating…”
Five hours later, the automated locks hissed open, and Su Wudeng walked out of the operating theater, guiding the levitating recovery pod toward the intensive care wing.
The critical surgical restructuring had been successfully executed; the remaining phase relied entirely on biological cell recovery.
According to the medical AI’s recommendations, if a specialized healing-attribute familiar could provide continuous spiritual conditioning, the falcon’s cellular regeneration speed would escalate exponentially.
Currently, the only restoration breed in her directory was the Lingnai Deer clan. She needed to transport them to the facility immediately to act as a life-support anchor!
The second she stepped into the corridor, Zhong Huihui swarmed her. “Governor! The logistics are clear! Nuannuan has assembled a massive inventory of premium healing herbs and is ready to transfer them through the airlock instantly. And regarding the medical support request… she brought a volunteer!”
“Excellent!” Su Wudeng decided to execute the transfer immediately. “Maintain high-alert surveillance over this pod, Huihui!”
Su Wudeng sprinted back toward the shuttle pad. The remaining staff gathered outside the intensive care viewing glass.
They could only clasp their hands and pray, hoping this legendary sovereign of the skies possessed the genetic resilience to pull through the night.
Su Yulan stood pressed against the glass, staring at the majestic titan lying inside the pod, wreathed in medical lines. Its massive wings were wrapped in thick layers of compression gauze, a somber testament to the apocalyptic violence it had survived.
You have to survive…
For some inexplicable reason, a sudden mental image of Lufeng flashed through her mind. Could his unique, analytical healing magic bridge the falcon’s cellular deficit?
Luming Valley
Nuannuan and several mature deer were in the middle of executing a priority harvest of medical flora when a sudden, terrifying wave of spiritual energy rippled through the valley.
The sheer mass of the pressure petrified the herd. They immediately dropped into the thick brush, burying their heads in the grass and not daring to track the sky.
Only Lufeng maintained his absolute composure, lifting his proud head to calmly analyze the upper atmosphere.
The young stags were shivering violently. What kind of nightmare entity is hunting above the canopy? A spiritual frequency of that magnitude… it has to be a Monarch-tier sovereign or higher! Terrifying. Pray to the ancestors it’s merely passing through our sector.
Fortunately, the oppressive energy wave swept past their coordinates within seconds, allowing Nuannuan and the gatherers to let out a collective breath of relief.
“Accelerate the harvest,” Nuannuan commanded, shaking off the tension. “Governor Su requires these medical materials urgently.”
Just then, the communication terminal tucked inside her satchel began to chime. She immediately accepted the connection.
“What?! A high-tier avian has sustained catastrophic trauma? You require our herd to provide immediate clinical life-support?!”
“Understood, understood! I will mobilize immediately!”
“The spiritual flora? We’ve already cleared a massive batch. I will bring the entire inventory!”
“Roger that! I will await your transport at the primary valley gates!”
Lufeng’s ears pinned forward, his analytical mind processing the details. A critically wounded giant bird? Could it be the exact aerial signature I tracked on the night of the typhoon?
If his deduction was correct…
An avian sovereign of that magnificent, terrifying scale…
An intense curiosity ignited within his spirit. He had to evaluate this entity firsthand!
“Auntie Nuannuan, I request authorization to join the medical detachment.”
Nuannuan blinked in surprise. “Lufeng, are you certain? The human facilities don’t trigger your anxiety?”
“Of course you can join! With your precise analytical magic on the team, our recovery efficiency will double!”
Ultimately, Nuannuan and Lufeng cleared the transport protocols, returning to the primary pet center alongside Su Wudeng.
The exact second the two deer stepped into the intensive care suite and laid eyes on the Saker Falcon, they froze solid on the deck.
Its dimensions are monumental!
If the creature chose to fully extend its wingspan, the physical layout of the room wouldn’t even be wide enough to contain its feathers!
Nuannuan shifted her hooves nervously. Honestly… it’s slightly intimidating…
Lufeng, however, stared at the sleeping titan with a gaze full of intense, scientific fascination. It really is her!
But how could an entity commanding such absolute, unrestricted aerial dominance be reduced to this broken state?
Su Wudeng looked at them pleadingly. “Please run a diagnostic sweep. See if your magic can stabilize its cellular recovery.”
Lufeng and Nuannuan stepped up to the edge of the pod, initializing their healing fields. The moment Nuannuan’s magic touched the falcon’s skin, her brow furrowed in deep disapproval.
“Why is its internal system saturated with a chaotic cocktail of conflicting spiritual herb frequencies?”
“It’s as if it randomly gorged itself on every single plant it could reach without analyzing the chemistry!”
“Yes,” Su Wudeng explained quickly. “Before my team intercepted its location, it had been entirely dependent on the valley’s wild healing flora to keep its life bar from hitting zero.”
“Absolute madness!” Nuannuan shook her head, her maternal instincts kicking in. “How can a high-tier beast blend conflicting medical properties so carelessly?!”
“Consuming a single target can preserve your life, but hoarding different variants simultaneously causes the biochemical properties to violently clash inside your system, devouring your internal organs from within!”
“Strict dietary lockdown initialized. It is forbidden from consuming another herb. It must fully digest and clear the residual chemical toxins in its bloodstream first.”
The Saker Falcon couldn’t have anticipated the biochemical consequences. Had it not consumed everything it could reach during its desperation phase, its life bar would have flatlined days ago. It had chosen immediate survival over long-term complications. But now, it was paying the price, its system locked down by severe secondary complications that required careful, systematic treatment to clear.
An hour into the session, Nuannuan collapsed onto the floor from sheer exhaustion, her breathing ragged as she looked up at the falcon. “The internal trauma is too deep. This is the absolute limit of my current output.”
“The primary bottleneck is the immense disparity between our evolutionary tiers. My low-tier magic only delivers a marginal percentage of optimization against a Commander-class system. But my analytics confirm that if we maintain a consistent, long-term conditioning routine, its cells will eventually achieve total restoration.”
“Uh… the truth is… based on my current genetic tier… I’m merely classified as a baseline common pet…” she admitted sheepishly, her ears drooping. “At this rate, it may require an entire calendar year to clear the pathology.”
The vast majority of the Lingnai Deer clan belonged to the common tier, their restorative output strictly limited by their genetic caps. But if a member of their line could successfully trigger a breakthrough to the Elite tier, their medical output would double, exponentially compressing the recovery timeline.
Suddenly, Lufeng’s posture wavered, his front legs buckling. Su Yulan, who had been monitoring the charts nearby, reacted instantly, catching the stag’s heavy head before he could impact the deck. She smoothed down his velvet ears, her features knotted with worry. “Lulu!”
The stag leaned weakly against her shoulder, his telepathic voice faint. Do not… panic… Vitals are nominal… Merely a temporary depletion of my spiritual reservoir…
“You call this nominal?! You literally fainted mid-cast!”
Yulan looked up at her sister, her eyes wide with anxiety. “Sister, run a scan on him! Quick!”
Su Wudeng swiftly guided Lufeng onto a diagnostic bed, running the scanning arrays over his frame. The monitors returned a safe green profile. “To state it plainly: Lufeng’s biological indicators are perfectly healthy. He’s just hit absolute physical exhaustion from over-channeling his magic.”
Yulan let out a long, ragged breath, her shoulders relaxing as she cradled the tired stag. “You scared the absolute life out of me!”
Su Wudeng watched the display with a quiet, analytical focus. When did Yulan’s psychological alignment with Lufeng reach this level of intimacy?
A realization struck her: Is Yulan genuinely preparing to finalize a life-contract with Lufeng?
She let out a silent, internal sigh. This structural choice was going to hit some massive real-world friction.
By nature, the Lingnai Deer clan was a profoundly pacifist, non-competitive species with zero desire for conflict or glory. Nuannuan and Nana’s ultimate life objectives were beautifully simple—secure a peaceful territory with zero predators and an infinite supply of gourmet treats. That was their absolute ceiling.
But Yulan’s trajectory was entirely different. She was returning to the elite arenas of the supreme Beastmaster Academy. Her future was defined by high-stakes trials, brutal tournament cycles, and constant exposure to extreme frontline threats to push her limits.
A reclusive, peace-loving stag like Lufeng would likely find a life of constant warfare and high-intensity combat entirely hostile to his nature, right?
Su Wudeng turned her gaze back toward the resting titan inside the recovery pod. This was an equally monumental operational crisis.
The Saker Falcon wouldn’t be capable of returning to the wild forest anytime soon. With an apocalyptic King-class executioner actively patrolling the regional airspace to hunt its signature, the falcon’s only hope of survival was to remain hidden behind the permanent spatial wards of her facility.
She lacked the context to decode the history behind their blood feud, but a far more dangerous variable loomed over her roadmap: an apex sovereign like the Saker Falcon was biologically incapable of letting a grudge slide. The moment its wings healed, it would undoubtedly seek vengeance.
