CHAPTER 131: CHAPTER 131: NO HOPE, JUST WAIT FOR DEATH (FIRST UPDATE)

The ice-winged eagle, previously eager to curry favor but now begging for help while crying, was stunned upon hearing these words.

The first solution was the most professional, clearly beyond the capabilities of the two elites; the second was the most injury-prone; only the third solution posed no harm to itself and could permanently eliminate the threat, so it cried out for Mr. Jiang to take charge and kill the culprit who cast the curse in the auction house.

"I don’t know whether to call you smart or stupid." Jiang Yuan laughed angrily after listening, "It’s Eagle Twenty-One who sold your lives, so why should I go to the auction house and kill someone for you, who are neither kin nor acquaintance? However, I’m curious how your lives could be sold off by him so easily?"

A few ice-winged eagles hopelessly explained the relationships formed among their tribe.

Bai Yunqi rolled his eyes and complained, "What did I say before? A bunch of fools who only fight among themselves, using all their cleverness for internal strife against their own kind."

Jiang Yuan was also perplexed, "Forming a bond is a matter of handing over your life, yet you didn’t even consider the character of your leader and easily recognized a new master?"

They looked at each other, crying even more sorrowfully.

"If King Yun Mo were still here, he would definitely do his utmost to save us!"

"My king! Where are you, my king, please save us!"

"The king would certainly crush the auction house for them!"

"Stop dreaming!" Bai Yunqi interrupted their wailing, glanced at the group of non-Foundation and injured Foundation realm eagles fighting fiercely in the circle he’d drawn, and said impatiently, "The auction house is not a charity, and it’s normal to use tricks if you can’t pay for something you’ve bid on. Even if Yun Mo were here, he wouldn’t kill people just to save you."

Casually pointing one out, he kicked the others into the circle to perform a live group fight for Wan Mingchuan, and lazily sat down, squinting, "Look, Venerable Family is kind-hearted and wants to try to lift the curse, so they can try. Anyway, I don’t have such keen perception to do such meticulous work."

Originally intending to vent for Yun Mo at Lushan and to seize the Spirit Stone Vein, Jiang Yuan unexpectedly encountered this lively affair. He was very curious about the curse and circled the ice-winged eagle exuding black demonic energy, observing it carefully.

"At midnight last night, did you feel anything unusual when you were cursed?"

Recalling the events of last night carefully, the trembling eagle said, "Yes! At that time, I was meditating and cultivating in the mine cave when I suddenly felt a cold chill on my back and a severe chill physically, as if being watched by an extremely terrifying and ferocious beast, but it disappeared quickly, probably when I got cursed."

So that’s what being cursed feels like, Jiang Yuan didn’t understand what Xiao Bai meant by perception, but he closed his eyes and relied on his feelings to find the source of the demonic energy, treating a dead horse as if it were alive.

And it worked! Wisps of demonic energy, carrying an indescribable chill, gradually formed in his mind — emitting from the internal organs!

"Damn? The curse can actually be branded on the internal organs?" After several attempts, Jiang Yuan sensed that all the demonic energy came from the lungs and guts of the ice-winged eagle. He used a jujube wood stick to pry open the fighting Eagle Twenty-One, "Tell me carefully about the process of selling your subordinates, how did the opposite party act and speak?"

With one eye left, his head nearly bald and wings missing feathers, he cried, slurring, "I don’t know how it was done; just a pair of hands with bones left wrote and drew on my wings. Uh, at the time they said they needed to pawn the heart, liver, and lungs..."

Sure enough, the internal organs!

Jiang Yuan felt proud of his perception while feeling troubled, "Obviously aiming to kill, with hearts, livers, and lungs pawned, I can’t possibly dig out their internal organs to burn out the curse, that would still be death, right?"

Learning that there was no real hope for survival, a group of ice-winged eagles turned gray with despair, crying for their parents and joining the melee to beat Eagle Twenty-One to death. Despite having control over their lives while he was king because of the bond, when the subordinates were pawned away and he got beaten, he found himself unable to command them forcefully, having to fight desperately to avoid death.

Jiang Yuan took the opportunity to look into the mine. Although the massive ore mine had been excavated, the Earth Mirror Book skill still indicated a few scattered shining spots.

He instructed his disciple to practice killing the remaining Flame Rats, placed a few paper men in the mine to dig obediently for spirit stones, occasionally finding some raw Spirit Stones, which was better than nothing.

To observe the effect of the sinister curse, the three of them waited until midnight.

From when the first ice-winged eagle let out a tragic wail, the black demonic energy radiating from its entire body converged at the chest, gradually corroding a fist-sized hole, then it watched helplessly as its heart, liver, and lungs were consumed by demonic energy, forming a black hole, and then bit by bit absorbed the bones and flesh into it.

The whole process took about a minute, and the huge ice-winged eagle disappeared without a trace, not even a feather left.

"What a vicious curse!" Bai Yunqi watched in astonishment, touched his chest, and murmured, "A remote auction house managed to invite such a formidable sinister demon; the outside world must be more chaotic than before I fell asleep."

Nineteen ice-winged eagles were swallowed one by one, leaving only the badly beaten Eagle Twenty-One gasping for breath.

"Let’s take it back and hand it over to Yun Mo for punishment, consider it a trophy with our spoils." Jiang Yuan toyed with the looted storage bag, through the system appraisal, it was slightly worse than the Flame Rat leader’s, and just like it, would need to wait until the original owner died before opening it.

He was very interested in the fire attribute cultivation technique manual that Eagle Twenty-One had bid for, contemplating letting his disciple learn it first before risking losing it like the skill book in the Earth Mirror Book.

Yun Mo, fortunately a Foundation Establishment Realm fourth layer, robust in physique demon cultivator, was in much better condition after treatment, capable of meditation and cultivation. Even so, upon hearing that his former subordinates betrayed and were sold off by Eagle Twenty-One, doomed to a burial-free fate, he almost fainted from rage.

"I got deceived by a hypocritical scoundrel because of my lack of education!" Yun Mo angrily flapped his wings and slapped the other.

With spiritual power circulation still blocked and injuries limiting his skills, he could only advance and yank Eagle Twenty-One’s feathers, tearing them down, "Traitor! Wastrel! Fool..."

Listening to him berate endlessly without fresh insults, Jiang Yuan signaled his disciple with a glance, "When he spends his anger and can’t bear retribution, strike while the iron is hot; with Yun Mo in his current state, he can’t defeat you. Guard the house well, Xiao Bai and I will attend to more important business."

There’s still a Spirit Mist Stone to dig, and he planned to build the Alchemy Room tonight.

Tomorrow, the dungeon must be cleared without delay for the courtyard’s upgrade.

"Rest assured, Master, I’ll keep watch over them!" Having battled the disabled Flame Rat, Wan Mingchuan was no longer an inexperienced hothouse flower.

He now understood how blood splattered and how much force was needed to kill a demon beast. Eagle Twenty-One, half-dead, was a non-issue; he even felt confident challenging the gravely injured Yun Mo with the Heaven-Burning Flame.

Gathering herbs along the way, they reached the snowy mountain peak again, Bai Yunqi didn’t dare part from Venerable Home’s side. Fortunately, the hole Jiang Yuan had made before was still there, and together they expanded it and drilled inside, continuing to dig down in search of the Spirit Mist Stone.

The specialized tunneling paper pangolins were tireless, their speed far surpassing that of paper men with mining pickaxes; even Jiang Yuan, excavating stones for raw material collection, seemed a mere extra compared to them.

"Squeak squeak~ boom!"

After about half an hour’s digging, a huge echo suddenly came from the rock crevices. Below, light burst forth like a full moon stored in an icy realm, illuminating the ice with dazzling brilliance.