Chapter 49
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Chapter 49: The Thunder Has Arrived
The thunderstorm had come.
The gloomy sky hung low, suffocating the world beneath it.
The wind howled, swirling leaves into the air.
The rain arrived, as expected.
It started as a light drizzle but quickly intensified into a torrential downpour.
Then came the thunder.
A deep rumble echoed from the distant horizon, rolling across the land like a roaring beast.
A sudden explosion split the sky.
A blinding bolt of lightning tore through the clouds, illuminating the world in an instant.
“Hahaha, I’m here!”
Zhang Yang laughed wildly, like a bird finally freed from its cage.
Activating One Step of Mountains and Rivers, he soared forward, leaping three to five hundred meters at a time. Bounding from branch to branch, he raced through the lush canopy of a towering phoenix tree.
He wanted to charge straight into the lightning.
His excitement was uncontrollable—he had waited too long for this moment. The thought of breaking through and overpowering the weak sent a thrill through his veins.
However, he soon realized a problem.
The lightning, though it seemed near, was actually far beyond his reach.
Even when bolts struck down, seemingly touching the ground, they remained high above him.
Feeling frustrated, Zhang Yang scanned his surroundings—and then he saw them.
A flock of birds.
Upon closer inspection, he recognized them as purple-eyed spirit birds, thousands in number, perching on the branches and seemingly unfazed by the storm.
"The Demon Slayer Team’s air force is here."
Zhang Yang knew that the Demon Slayer Team had an elite air force made up of purple-eyed spirit birds.
While cultivators at the Ascending to Heaven Realm could normally fly freely, the unique energy of the Vast Forest made independent flight impossible. Assistance was necessary, making the air force invaluable.
Moreover, riding a spirit bird consumed no energy, whereas flying on one’s own drained reserves quickly.
Zhang Yang made his decision.
If he could catch one, he could ride it straight into the lightning.
If he missed this chance, who knew when the next thunderstorm would come? If it took another three to five months, he might go insane.
The air force leader of the Demon Slayer Team was Ding Yunpeng.
He had participated in the battle at the Divine Forbidden Gate but had never faced Zhang Yang directly.
Later, during the ambush in the southwest, he had been present again, yet Zhang Yang had never encountered him, thanks to his terrible sense of direction.
But this time, they would finally meet head-on.
Just seeing Zhang Yang charging toward him made Ding Yunpeng tense with alarm.
Without hesitation, he pulled out a flute and blew a sharp, piercing note.
Instantly, over a thousand purple-eyed spirit birds let out fierce cries, flapping their wings and soaring into the storm, their piercing screeches echoing through the sky.
Ding Yunpeng put away the flute and drew his long knife, rushing forward.
His flute’s sharp cry carried through the storm, reaching the ears of the Arrow Battle Team stationed nearby—especially Ning Feixiao, the team’s sharpshooter who often coordinated with the air force.
“Fire all arrows! Shoot him down!”
Ning Feixiao’s command rang out.
With swift precision, he nocked ten arrows onto his longbow at once.
The other archers of the Arrow Battle Team followed suit, each drawing back their bows to the maximum tension.
Some shot three arrows at a time.
Others managed up to eight.
“Shoot!”
Ning Feixiao howled, releasing his arrows.
A storm of bowstrings twanged in unison.
Then, the sky was filled with a rain of arrows, soaring toward Zhang Yang like a relentless wave.
In the distance, over a thousand purple-eyed spirit birds rushed in fiercely.
Zhang Yang, caught in the midst of it all, laughed wildly, completely unafraid, and took a bold step forward.
Amidst the chaos of Ning Feixiao and the Arrow Battle Team’s cries, he leaped high into the air, just before the rain of arrows descended.
The arrows whistled through the storm, piercing raindrops as if cheering for him.
Zhang Yang collided with the incoming purple-eyed spirit birds. He grabbed the neck of the fastest bird and swung it around.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The other spirit birds were flung backward, their formation thrown into disarray.
Zhang Yang landed on a branch and swiftly dripped a drop of blood onto the bird’s head. He recalled the moment Xue Feishuang had helped him sign a Blood Contract with the Ironback Blue Bull—every detail vivid in his mind. He had memorized every movement, and now, he performed it flawlessly, his spirit surging with energy.
He forcibly established the Blood Contract with the purple-eyed spirit bird.
At that instant, the bird let out a long cry, its black feathers bristling, as if exploding with power. Each feather gleamed, and a deep, resonant roar echoed from within its body. A fierce black light pulsed from its head, while its purple eyes darkened into a deep, magnificent violet.
The Blood Contract also meant that the owner’s blood could bring transformation to their beast companion. The extent of this transformation depended on the strength of the owner’s bloodline.
It was clear that Zhang Yang’s bloodline was extraordinary.
Even without awakening, it had caused a tremendous transformation in the Ironback Blue Bull. It was easy to imagine the powerful changes it would bring to the purple-eyed spirit bird.
In the blink of an eye, the bird underwent a rebirth. Only its head continued glowing, but its intelligence soared, reaching a level where it could think like a human.
Zhang Yang couldn’t wait any longer.
He stood atop the purple-eyed spirit bird and shouted,
“Let’s go!”
The bond between them was indescribable. With a resounding cry, the bird spread its wings and soared into the sky.
"Stop shooting!"
Ding Yunpeng waved frantically at Ning Feixiao, his excitement barely contained.
“Zhang Yang has left the Vast Forest! He’s in the open sky—there are no more restrictions! We can kill him now!”
Ning Feixiao’s eyes flashed with determination.
“Notify Lu Fang, Leng Jiu’ou, and everyone else! Surround him! Kill him!”
“I’m here.”
Lu Fang had arrived, watching Zhang Yang soar into the clouds. His own excitement was hard to suppress.
He quickly issued orders:
“You two chase him down—fast! I’ll take my team, along with Leng Jiu’ou’s assassins from the Black Cloak Pavilion, to stop the Howling Wolf Palace from interfering.”
His voice turned cold and ruthless:
“This is our best chance! We must kill him!”
Ding Yunpeng and Ning Feixiao did not hesitate.
Ning Feixiao’s team mounted the purple-eyed spirit birds.
Ding Yunpeng gathered his forces, and they too took flight.
With over a thousand spirit birds available, they had more than enough to launch a full-scale aerial assault.
As the purple-eyed spirit birds flapped their wings, the phoenix trees below swayed violently. The downpour struggled to fall against the sheer force of the wind, creating a terrifyingly surreal scene.
Lu Fang took a deep breath and declared:
“Move out! Target: Howling Wolf Palace!”
He led the Demon Slayer Team into action from the ground.
In recent days, aside from the thirty battle teams led by Jin Yuguan, which had been eliminated first, the following one hundred and twenty battle teams had already arrived, totaling over ten thousand fighters.
They relied on sheer numbers to overwhelm the Howling Wolf Palace forces, preventing them from aiding Zhang Yang.
This was a strict order Lu Fang had given himself.
A large-scale war had begun.
And at the center of it all, the spark that ignited the conflict, was Zhang Yang—now soaring through the sky on a purple-eyed spirit bird, heading straight into the roiling dark clouds.
Lightning danced like silver serpents, and thunder crashed like a stormy war drum.
Upon reaching the thunderclouds, Zhang Yang felt an overwhelming hunger for the lightning.
His spirit surged with anticipation.
This thunder could satisfy his craving.
However, the purple-eyed spirit birds trembled. Their instinctive fear of lightning made them restless, their bodies shuddering with anxiety.
“Charge in! I’ll handle everything!”
Zhang Yang roared with fierce determination.
Under the absolute authority of their master’s command, the spirit birds screeched and plunged into the storm, crashing into the swirling dark clouds.
