‘The boy must be hiding something; why else would he try to escape!’ Xiao Jianming was so angry that even his teeth ached, but Fang Xing had fled well beyond the range of his iron sword and his steel eagle was temporarily blinded, preventing him from giving chase.

　　The only option he had was to use a bottle of spirit elixir on his eagle’s eyes to let the eagle see again. After a quick wash, the eagle released a loud cry before—without even being commanded—it spread its wings and began to chase after Fang Xing. Xiao Jianming and his eagle had needed only a small amount of time to react, but even within such a short ten breaths, Fang Xing had already traveled a good two miles away with only a small speck of his shadow visible from such a distance.

　　—

　　“F*ck! Why the hell did you throw that all over its eyes? You’re such a scumbag…” the golden crow screamed back at Fang Xing while flying as fast as he could go. “But I like it! Haha!”

　　Fang Xing quickly glanced at the crow before coldly replying, “What do you know? There’s only more to come. Watch me poke out that feathered beast’s eyes one day!” The words were filled with so much murderous intent that even the golden crow couldn’t help but to shiver, and Fang Xing laughed while patting the golden crow’s back. “Not talking about you, of course!”

　　The two hadn’t fled very far before they heard the loud cries of the eagle closing in from behind; Xiao Jianming and his steel eagle had already caught up in speed. “Damn it, how is that weird bird so fast?” the golden grow cried out, unintentionally looking back.

　　Fang Xing was just as surprised as the crow was. He also hadn’t expected Xiao Jianming to be so fast, and he began to quickly consider what he could do. There was no way he would hand his Purple Mist Orchid over to Xiao Jianming; he still had to avenge his uncles someday, and handing the orchid over to Xiao Jianming would be the same as handing over a large amount of resources to an enemy to improve their growth. Since it seemed that Xiao Jianming was determined to catch him, Fang Xing had to decide upon a course of action.

　　It was at this moment that the golden crow masked his voice with Demonic Qi and spoke to Fang Xing, “Uhh, I can’t seem to get rid of them. I say, instead of letting them catch you with the Purple Mist Orchid where he might kill you in a fit of rage, why don’t we do this instead? Feed it to me whole, and it’ll stay in my stomach before I poop it out. Even if they do catch up, there would be nothing they can do….”

　　Fang Xing had nearly decided upon a plan before he heard the surprising suggestion. “You can consume spirit herbs raw?” Beasts were similar to humans in some ways. If they were to eat raw spirit herbs that were well beyond their body’s capability to handle, they would explode much the same way.

　　Thinking that Fang Xing had possibly accepted his proposal, the golden crow proudly replied, “See, that’s the knowledge you lack. I have my own ways, so just feed it to me. Worst case, I may also be able to control the speed of digestion and throw up a couple of leaves for you later.”

　　Fang Xing laughed at this. “As long as you’re not scared of bloating up to death. If you eat my herb, you’d better stand on the same side I do, or else I’ll give you up to the guy behind us. Not to scare you or anything, but we Qing-Yun Sect have the secret methods of using live beasts directly in pellet crafting. Keep in mind that even though he can’t do much to me, he can still cook you alive in a cauldron until all of the herb’s medicinal properties are forced out.”

　　The golden crow did not take any of Fang Xing’s threats seriously. “Yes yes yes, with our relationship, of course we’re on the same side!”

　　Fang Xing snickered while taking the Purple Mist Orchid from the storage ring in his hair. Just as the golden crow had anticipated, Fang Xing pulled off two leaves and shoved it right into the crow’s mouth. The crow chewed a couple of times before suggesting, “You can give me the rest, now….”

　　“In your dreams!”

　　“Then at least another half a leaf….”

　　Keeping his promise from before, Fang Xing tore off another half of a leaf and fed it to the golden crow. Shortly thereafter, he hardened his heart and swallowed the remaining leaves whole himself.

　　The act was unexpectedly seen by the golden crow when he turned his head around at that exact moment. “Are you not afraid of dying from having your body explode?” he cried out.

　　Fang Xing smirked. “What about you? Are you not afraid of dying from having your body explode?”

　　Pausing shortly at the same question, the golden crow smirked as well. “I have my ways, of course!”

　　“Then I also have my ways!”

　　The human and bird exchanged looks. With the same uniform smirk on their faces, they both decided not to question the other’s secrets.

　　After eating the leaves, Fang Xing’s little face reddened to an unhealthy hue and steam began to rise up from his body. Once the herb reached his stomach, he could feel a huge rush of Jing while even more of it was leaked and wasted from delaying the conversion process. Resisting the pain and discomfort, Fang Xing took out a few round pellets from his storage ring and swallowed three at once and—with their aid—he was able to slowly regain control of the untamed flows of additional Jing and Qi.

　　It took a good hour until the pellets’ medicinal properties had dissolved completely, and it was at this time that Fang Xing’s flow of Qi had finally stabilized as well. He let out a long sigh of relief as the color of his face returned to its normal hue.

　　The [Scripture of the Revered Spirit] he’d learned in his dreams was used for conversion and distribution within his meridians, and it allowed him to consume and digest things that required ten, or even a hundred times an ordinary cultivator’s spiritual capacity. Once he consumed any spiritual items, the scripture’s aid would cause his blood to boil while his body prepared to convert the rush of Jing that surged in like violent tides. When this happened, he had to focus all of his might on converting Jing to Qi without allowing anything to distract him, or else all of the Jing would dissipate and be completely wasted.

　　That being said, within the three years he spent training with Bai Qianzhang, he had eventually figured out a new method: Hibernation Pellets. These pellets would slow the flow of blood within his body, delaying the speed of conversion without extra waste. Ordinary cultivators would fall into a deep sleep after consuming these pellets, but Fang Xing was unique; in times like these; the pellets would only slow down his breathing and blood, helping him return his body and mind to normal. It allowed him to lower the speed he was forced to convert the Jing inside him during strenuous situations.

　　Fang Xing hadn’t swallowed the herb back in the cave because this method would have required time—an hour at least. With Xiao Jianming outside the cave, he would not have had enough time to wait for the Hibernation Pellets to kick in and keep his blood circulation from going completely out of his control. It would have wasted all of the herb’s medicinal properties and left nothing good behind.

　　Even using this method now wasn’t safe, but there was no other viable option. Handing over something he’d already gotten his hands on—especially when the other person was his enemy—was out of the question. With that, if they were going after him, he may as well just swallow it whole in advance!

　　—

　　Chasing behind, Xiao Jianming could see a very faint speck of purple that disappeared in a quick flash. This only caused him to become even more anxious, and he pushed Qi into his voice to send it off into the distance, “Stop fleeing now, Fang Xing! If you don’t, you’ll regret it….” The sound wave rolled towards Fang Xing, to the point that his eardrums were even left numbed by the volume.

　　Fang Xing wasn’t scared, and he jumped up while putting his hands on his hips and cursing from atop the golden crow’s back, “F*ck your uncle, pretty boy! How dare you want to touch me, do you really think I—your grandpa—am so easy? Watch me chop off your filthy claws if you bring them close!” Fang Xing’s voice was nowhere near as loud as Xiao Jianming’s, but it made its way to the latter’s ears loud and clear.

　　“You little bastard, I dare you to stop right now!” Xiao Jianming angrily cursed.

　　To which Fang Xing yelled back, “F*ck your uncle, I dare you to catch up to me!”

　　Xiao Jianming had never once believed that a Qing-Yun disciple would speak to him in such a manner, and it ignited his flames of rage. The grip on his black iron sword tightened and he ordered the steel eagle to speed up, but the golden crow in front of them wasn’t slow in the least. Even though Xiao Jianming flew as quickly as possible—to the point that he was like a stream of black lightning streaking across the sky—there were still over two miles left between the two and he was unable to close the distance.

　　Unable to hold back his temper, Xiao Jianming finally hardened his heart. “I’m sorry, Hei Yun. I will make this up to you later,” he muttered. Then, a few silver needles appeared in his palm before he stabbed them deeply into several acupoints on the steel eagle’s body. The steel eagle released a heaven-shaking cry of pain as the needles made their way into these acupoints, but it only took a short moment before its speed increased by thirty percent.

　　Xiao Jianming let out a sigh. This was a method to stimulate the steel eagle’s capabilities and increase its speed, but doing so decreased its lifespan and carried numerous other side effects. Xiao Jianming wouldn’t have used this on his precious eagle even during times of life-threatening danger, but to catch up to Fang Xing now, he had no other choice.

　　As the speed of the eagle behind them suddenly increased and the distance began to lessen, both Fang Xing and the golden crow noticed the bizarre event.

　　“Sh*t, how did that guy catch up?”

　　“Sh*t, that’s impossible! That feathered beast and I are both in the sixth tier, but I have the blood of the Three-Legged Golden Crow Clan while he’s just some ordinary beast! Logically speaking, there is no way he’d catch up to me! Why is he flying so fast, as if he’s been pumped chicken blood[1]?”

　　“Seems like there’s no way to escape, but I’ve got an idea!” Fang Xing thought of something and immediately took out a jade talisman, contacting Wu Xiangtong and hastily asking, “Where are you all? Is Shijie Linyun with you?” Once he’d confirmed their location, he directed the golden crow towards the same direction. He pushed the crow to fly as fast as possible towards where the Qing-Yun disciples were resting, and he quickly arrived at a large valley within view of the Qing-Yun disciples.

　　“Ahhh! Help!” Fang Xing suddenly began to scream at the top of his lungs as he pointed the golden crow to descend towards the disciples.

　　At this moment, Xiao Jianming was just slightly below a half-mile away.

　　—

　　[1] chicken blood: It is a pseudo-medical therapy apparently used back in the days where the blood of a rooster would be drawn and then injected into a human’s veins. It was claimed that the method had the ability to boost energy and strength.