Chapter 141: Armored Eagle of Steel

After practicing his newly comprehended divine ability, Yang Xiao appeared extremely satisfied. By this time, he had already reached the very depths of the Beast Sea. There were likely many top-tier intermediate spiritual beasts lingering here, which were comparable in strength to late-stage Qi Condensation cultivators, possessing considerable might.

Indeed, quite a few top-tier intermediate spiritual beasts were far more troublesome to deal with than late-stage Qi Condensation cultivators. This was because these creatures possessed thick hides and rich combat experience, making capturing and slaying them an extremely difficult endeavor.

Naturally, Yang Xiao had no desire to clash with such spiritual beasts unnecessarily, but his current mission made encountering them a distinct possibility. Avoiding them if possible would be best, but if avoidance failed, a fierce battle would be inevitable.

Activating his Concealment Pearl, Yang Xiao sensed the surrounding spiritual beast auras and could clearly perceive the presence of a powerful top-tier intermediate spiritual beast nearby.

With a try-your-luck attitude, he headed toward the region where the spiritual beast aura was most concentrated, which logically should be the lair of the beast.

Before long, he indeed found the beast's lair. Built into a cave halfway up a sheer cliff, the cavern measured several zhang across, clearly belonging to a massive spiritual beast. Furthermore, judging by its location, it was likely an avian spiritual beast, as ordinary terrestrial beasts could never climb such a steep mountainside.

Yang Xiao tested the cave with his spiritual sense and discovered that no spiritual beast resided within; it was an empty nest. The cave was not deep, allowing his spiritual sense to easily probe all the way to the back. Since the beast was absent, Yang Xiao could safely focus his attention on the surroundings of the lair.

Scattered vegetation grew around the nest; some plants possessed no spiritual properties at all, while others were simple spiritual herbs. When Yang Xiao spotted a plant bearing deep red fruits, his face finally broke into a wide smile.

"This is the Beast-Prolonging Fruit, and one of them has already ripened." Yang Xiao finally laid eyes on his desired object. The spiritual fruit grew on a modest sapling-like spiritual tree bearing four or five square-shaped fruits. Only one of them turned red, indicating it was fully ripe, while the others remained green and unripe.

He had not expected to find the Beast-Prolonging Fruit the moment he penetrated deep into the Beast Sea. Initially, he had come merely on a whim, yet he had actually found it—and with astonishing ease. Even more fortuitously, the spiritual beast guarding the adjacent cave was absent, allowing him to bypass a conflict entirely. Of course, Yang Xiao was not afraid of such a beast, but deep within the Beast Sea, no one knew how many top-tier intermediate spiritual beasts roamed about. If their numbers were too high, becoming trapped in their encirclement would be perilous indeed.

The beast inhabiting the lair had most likely gone out, but Yang Xiao cared little for that. Once he plucked the Beast-Prolonging Fruit, he intended to leave immediately, thus fulfilling the objective of his trip into the Beast Sea.

However, just as Yang Xiao turned to depart, he ran right into the returning spiritual beast. A terrifying aura rushed toward him, making it obvious that this creature was extraordinary. Escaping at this moment was out of the question, so Yang Xiao simply stood his ground, waiting for the beast to arrive.

The spiritual beast was a hawk-like creature covered entirely in iron armor. Its physique was towering, fierce, and unusually majestic; with its wings fully spread, it could easily blanket a radius of dozens to nearly a hundred zhang—truly a formidable spiritual beast.

Seeing that there was only a single beast, Yang Xiao finally set his mind at ease.

The spiritual beast also spotted Yang Xiao and, with a furious cry, swooped down to slash at him with its talons. Having undoubtedly realized that Yang Xiao had taken the Beast-Prolonging Fruit from beside its dwelling, its rage flared. The Beast-Prolonging Fruit bore fruit only once every few decades and required several more years to ripen, making it immensely precious. The beast had intended to consume it itself, yet Yang Xiao had reaped the benefits; naturally, it had no intention of letting the matter rest.

Yang Xiao had long since prepared for a battle against the beast. Channeling his Nine-Turn Golden Body, his skin took on a faint golden hue, signaling his intent to engage the iron-armored hawk in close-quarters hand-to-hand combat.

A series of deafening explosions rang out as the beast's talons crashed repeatedly against Yang Xiao's arms. The impacts shook the heavens and earth, yet the two combatants appeared evenly matched, locked in a deadlock where neither could gain the upper hand.

At this point, the iron-armored hawk grew increasingly frantic. Its pair of talons had been tempered through countless years, sharp enough to tear through gold and sever iron without the slightest effort. They could shatter medium-grade spirit treasures and leave high-grade ones marred and incomplete. Yet against Yang Xiao's physical body, those talons proved utterly useless—a sight the creature had never witnessed before. In its eyes, ordinary human cultivators, unless they had reached the Zhou Tian Realm, were mere ants. Yet the human cultivator before it defied the heavens, actually daring to fight it tooth and nail using raw physical strength alone.

Unlike low-level spiritual beasts lacking intelligence, the iron-armored hawk possessed a degree of sentience. It now understood that the human before it could not be defeated by its talons alone. If not for its wings and the inherent advantage of flight, its talons might not even have been a match for Yang Xiao's arms.

It was solely by exploiting its explosive speed that the iron-armored hawk managed to maintain a stalemate with Yang Xiao. Its velocity was astonishing; darting this way and that, it would exchange blows with Yang Xiao before swiftly retreating, only to dive down again from the heights, thereby maintaining an absolute topographical advantage.

Yet no matter how fiercely the iron-armored hawk dived, it could not inflict the slightest harm on Yang Xiao, nor could it force him to retreat even half a step. After hundreds of rounds of intense combat, the two remained inextricably locked in battle.

By now, however, the iron-armored hawk began to show signs of exhaustion. It had never imagined encountering such a freakish human who could fight it to a standstill purely through physical prowess.

Meanwhile, Yang Xiao grew more and more valiant with every exchange. Such grueling exercise proved immensely beneficial for refining his Nine-Turn Golden Body. Ordinarily, lesser spiritual beasts could be crushed to powder by Yang Xiao with a flick of his hand, and he had not encountered an opponent with such formidable physical resilience at the same cultivation realm in a long time. Seizing this rare opportunity for tempering, Yang Xiao had no intention of letting it go. Moreover, amidst this strenuous exercise, his Nine-Turn Golden Body showed clear signs of improvement. Initially, he had barely managed to block the iron-armored hawk's attacks, but as his Golden Body advanced, he became fully capable of trading blows evenly with the creature. Eventually, the hardness of his physical body even surpassed the iron-armored hawk's razor-sharp talons. Under such circumstances, Yang Xiao grew even more thrilled and ferocious as the battle raged on.