Chapter 192 Garuda (6200 Combined Chapters, A Third Update Today)

Thinking too much is meaningless. Whether one is a beast or a human is irrelevant for someone living alone in the Kunlun Secret Realm.

Although its many years of solitary peace were suddenly shattered by the arrival of outsiders, causing some inner turmoil, it also understood that the other party might be the true master, while it was just a tenant.

"Whether it's the remnants of the Immortal World or the beings from beyond the black giant cave, what they want is nothing more than the resources within this 'Kunlun Secret Realm'—or rather, the passage between the two worlds itself."

Staying near its most familiar and subconsciously cherished birthplace, it felt its mind gradually break free from the dark memories of two different origins. A glimmer of wisdom flashed in its golden eyes, and its expression was no longer confused: "Fratricide is common, whether among humans or beasts. It doesn't matter which side I'm on, but whether I have value."

The memories and wisdom inherited in its bloodline allowed the figure to possess basic thinking and logic, even without guidance. This was also an important method of the demon beast path, to maintain the ‘consensus’ within the clan.

Even though two different memories and inheritances often conflicted, the desire to increase its own strength never changed: "The value of life comes from strength. As long as I can guarantee my strength, my existence will have value."

Thinking this, the figure leaned against the giant cyan jewel. A warm power was constantly transmitted from its spine, allowing it to be easily converted for its own use.

The figure knew that it was born from the essence of this pure cyan glazed jewel. The jewel's damage was due to its birth consuming a vast amount of essence.

And the former master of this jewel, the demon god who formed this giant avian mountain, had many names in its bloodline inheritance, but its most famous name was 'Great Peng Golden-Winged Bird.'

Also known as 'Garuda'.

Garuda. This was also the name it chose for itself.

From the moment of Garuda's birth, it leaned against the jewel and survived the first three years without food.

From birth, Garuda could feel the ubiquitous but thin Qi (spiritual energy) around it. At the tender age of one, it could manipulate them to play, binding them into various shapes.

By the age of three, its instinct allowed it to fly in the air with spiritual energy. At that time, it felt as if the wind in the atmosphere was helping it, and since then, it had gained the power to move freely.

At the age of eight, with the help of the pure cyan jewel, it broke through a layer of separation, and its heart gradually transformed into the same pure cyan as the jewel, immersed in the jewel's spiritual energy.

To this day, with the help of the jewel's power and the increasingly rich spiritual energy of the surrounding world, Garuda's entire body had transformed into golden bones, and its strength had grown to an unimaginable level. In recent years, it had naturally been able to transform into a human form, picking and eating the wild peaches beside the giant lake called Yaochi to accelerate its cultivation.

Feeling the power and talent that even the voice from beyond the black giant cave praised, Garuda slowly stood up. It cleared its thoughts and plans: "The words from the black giant cave can't be fully trusted. According to them, the immortals and gods of the Immortal World and their descendants are all fierce, greedy, and all-devouring monsters—that's too exaggerated and false. It's like they're describing Taotie. Sounds like a lie."

"Moreover, according to my inherited memories, those spirits and giant beasts are just as ferocious. The voice from beyond the black hole is no exception. Everyone is a living thing, and there is no essential difference."

"I will borrow the power of the giant cave, but I will also find an opportunity to contact those remnants, to see what their attitude towards me is, and whether they know my true origin."

Thinking this, Garuda made a decision: "Time is short, and my wisdom awakened too late... I'll do it this way."

"I'll find a chance to contact those descendants of the immortals and gods."

Deep within the dilapidated palace, at the location of the black cave seal.

Muffled noises echoed from the black giant cave beneath the seal, the fluctuations of intertwined thoughts.

"Garuda doesn't completely trust us. To this day, it hasn't even tried to open the seal once. Even when summoning power from our world, it only summons some weak subordinate races, never attempting to summon anything even slightly stronger."

"That's normal. Whether they are born divine birds or human demon gods, neither are easy to deal with. We still clearly remember their power in our bloodlines. We can't underestimate any of them."

"What if Garuda never intends to side with us? Although it's wary of humans, it's equally wary of us."

"If the divine bird is willing to join us, then the clan will have another sacred bloodline. But if it's unwilling, then that's a pity... After all, we only want it. And the countless bloodlines hidden in this Kunlun Secret Realm."

Earth, around the Kunlun Mountains.

The night was deep, and the moonlight was shrouded by increasingly thick clouds. In the silent night sky, only large snowflakes fell. The wind swept across the undulating pasture on the plateau, frigid and cold.

In the northwest plateau, at a nomadic yak pasture, the lights in the tent in the snowy night had just been turned off. A gray-haired old man lulled his young grandson to sleep, but he had no intention of sleeping himself. Instead, he walked out of the tent, silently watching the hastily added shelters around the pasture, designed to protect against snow and cold, while smoking a cigarette.

The old man, named Bala, had left his hometown in his youth, taking his young son and daughter to struggle and develop in the big city, where he laid a little foundation.

But when his children grew up and gained a foothold in the big city, he followed national policies, taking a large sum of money back to his hometown, receiving subsidies, and opening this yak pasture.

Now, more than ten years had passed. The once small pasture had grown in scale, and he had hired some old hometown helpers. Now, the production of yak milk and beef alone was enough to keep the pasture going, allowing him to retire and live out his old age in peace.

Originally, winter was approaching, and Bala wanted to move from the summer-autumn pasture to the winter-spring pasture, but recently, a large group of officials had come to the mountains to build a camp, supposedly to observe some spiritual energy fluctuations. The surrounding labor force had been hired to help, causing the transfer process to be delayed again and again.

"Sigh, spiritual energy is recovering. I'm old, but such a big change has come."

Even though he had lived in the mountains for many years, it wasn't as if the plateau had no signal. Bala still maintained the habit of watching the news every day, and naturally knew what spiritual energy recovery was all about. He smoked his cigarette, full of distress: "My grandson is almost kindergarten age. The academies here in the old home aren't very good. It seems I'll have to sell some yaks and send him to study and cultivate in the big city."

"But the snow is so heavy and so urgent this year. It's been snowing all day today. There's no time to move the pasture. There's not enough pasture here, and it's almost eaten up."

For nomadic pastures, the consequences of not being able to move the pasture in time were severe. Livestock that lacked food would lose weight and no longer produce milk, greatly reducing their asset value.

But these were all small matters. What worried Bala even more was that this snowfall was abnormal, and it looked like it would continue to fall. Although yaks were cold-resistant, they hadn't had time to prepare. If this snow didn't stop, who knew how many would die.

So many years of effort. It was heartbreaking!

The snow did not change with human wishes, at least not now. After wandering for so many years, Bala naturally understood this principle. He smoked his cigarette, suppressing the anxiety in his heart.

But suddenly, he heard a gust of wind not far away, and the wail of a yak.

The sound was loud, like the cry of a pig being slaughtered—that was the sound of a yak. This startled Bala, who subconsciously wanted to put out his cigarette, then fumble for a flashlight from his waist to check the situation.

But before he could act, an invisible tremor and pressure spread from his soul, making it difficult for him to move, or even breathe deeply.

Spiritual pressure... It was the spiritual pressure of abnormally dangerous creatures that had been introduced on television!

The old man held his breath. He retreated little by little towards the tent, then narrowed his eyes and cautiously looked in the direction of the sound.

Then, he stifled the exclamation he was about to make.

Because, in the wind and snow, a giant golden eagle was crushing a yak's head with one claw, and was now disemboweling the yak, feasting on its organs.

A normal golden eagle was usually only about two meters wide. Forget killing a cow, it couldn't even kill an antelope. On normal days, it would hunt at most some plateau wolves and other small animals.

But this golden eagle was a bit too big. Its wings spanned at least seven meters, and its height was almost one story high, and its whole body was covered in feathers as bright as gold—and this gold was not just beautiful, but one could feel that this gold shone with a hint of hard metallic cold light.

The giant golden eagle came with a gust of evil wind. Its eyes flashed with a dark red color, its developed muscles bulged, and its two claws shattered the yak's skull and spine, respectively, then it easily leaned down to eat ravenously. The surrounding yaks didn't even dare to move. Except for the one that was killed and initially let out a scream, they didn't even dare to make a sound, but could only lie down, allowing the other party to hunt them as food, offering up their flesh and blood.

"What kind of monster is this..."

There was a tradition of worshiping golden eagles on the plateau. This was the divine bird of the plateau, but Bala knew that the golden eagle was different from the giant monster bird in front of him. At least the golden eagle wasn't really golden—one could see that the monster bird's giant beak opened and closed, and with a flick of its head, it directly pulled out the yak's spine with flesh and blood, then crushed and sucked the marrow.

With such power, even hiding in a stone house would be meaningless.

Just then, the giant golden eagle turned its eyes and looked towards the area where the old man Bala was, and made eye contact with him—and in the moment of eye contact with the golden eagle, an extreme, soul-invading fear came over him. Bala could only force himself to move with his tenacious spirit, hobbling behind the tent, trembling like an ostrich.

But fortunately, this golden eagle didn't seem to care about Bala, who didn't seem to have much meat—how could a bony, tooth-jarring human be as delicious as a cow? Humans should be humble in this regard. It continued to quietly eat its ‘prey’, and one head seemed not to be enough. After eating one yak to the point of being almost completely consumed, it killed another yak and continued to eat.

"No, I can't just wait for it to eat its fill. If it gets used to eating, it will come over to eat every day in the future!"

"My grandson's future tuition fees are all on these cows!"

Thinking this, perhaps because of his property, or perhaps because he had finally recovered from the spiritual pressure, a little courage swelled in the old man Bala's heart. He trembled and pulled out his cell phone, then entered a number—the emergency rescue signal left by those officials who had come to warn him recently.

Five minutes later.

Accompanied by the rapid throbbing of a helicopter, it roared closer at a speed of nearly three hundred kilometers per hour. The golden eagle, which was rarely enjoying a big meal, vigilantly raised its head and looked at the ‘steel kind’ rapidly approaching in the sky. It flapped its wings and soared straight into the sky at a starting speed of nearly fifty meters per second, letting out a shrill cry, seemingly intending to declare that this was its territory.

It was indeed very strong.

Therefore, what greeted it was a blinding flashlight with a beam of light at a speed of three hundred thousand kilometers per second, a high-powered sniper crossbow that shot from afar, a series of spiritual energy bullets that covered it with strong firepower, and a muscular strongman who jumped straight down from the helicopter, like an iron tower!

Buzz! In the first instant, the golden eagle's overly sensitive eyes were dazzled by the blinding flashlight containing strong spiritual light, and its entire bird body fell straight down. The high-powered crossbow bolt that followed shot through the golden eagle's wings, which were comparable to steel, nailing its wing bones, and although the series of firepower sweeps did not penetrate the golden eagle's skin and flesh, the continuous impact was like a series of heavy punches, making it dizzy and unable to move.

The series of cooperation was so exquisite and well-coordinated that the golden eagle had not even begun to feel the reality of the battle before it was completely knocked unconscious: it didn't even know who was attacking it, because it had been blinded from the beginning.

In nature, there was no such attack mode.

And the final killing blow, the shield-wielding strongman who descended from the sky, shouted an angry slogan of 'Who kicked me down!?', and in the response of his teammates 'It was your own slip, don't try to blame others!', he solidly slammed his shield on the top of the giant beast's head, completely knocking it out and rendering it completely unconscious.

Soon, under the stunned gaze of the old man Bala on the plateau, the helicopter landed, and the other three fully armed operatives quickly rushed out. They pulled out a large net with barbed stun guns and tied the unconscious, miserable giant eagle firmly, then tied it under the helicopter's pod. One of the young men, who had a very friendly smile, noticed his presence and quickly approached him, then handed out a rating form.

"The No. 1 Emergency Response Team of Xijing Qin Xing Academy is at your service. The losses incurred this time due to the spiritual energy beast attack can be compensated according to the market price by going to the official department with this certificate. Are you satisfied with this service? If you are satisfied, please check the box here. Thank you for your cooperation~"

The old man Bala was unable to transition from the bloody monster scene to the scene of a good online store review. Looking at the handsome young man's enthusiastic smile, the stunned old man could only open his mouth and nod silently. He took the pen and subconsciously checked all the options that represented full marks with a red checkmark.

Credits obtained! The young man's smile was even more sincere.

"The surrounding mountains are not peaceful. If possible, please don't stay around for long—if you encounter an attack again, don't provoke the wild animals. Hide and call our emergency number. An emergency response team will definitely arrive within 3-10 minutes—remember, life is the most important thing."

After confirming that the rating was completed, the handsome young man breathed a sigh of relief. He smiled and warned him, then returned to the team, leaving the old man, who hadn't figured out what had happened, and boarded the helicopter, dragging the unconscious giant bird away.

One could vaguely hear the complaints coming from the team.

"How many is this? All the avian spiritual beasts in the entire Northwest Plateau have run over here, right?" This was the voice of the iron tower-like strongman: "I really believed the academy's words, what 'you can cultivate in peace for a period of time', it's never been idle since the first day, right?"

"Counting this one, it's the fifth one. Take it easy, this is at least five credits! And these spiritual beasts fly all the way towards the ruins, and they don't hurt people." That was the young man's voice: "And it's rare to be able to capture so many spiritual birds, which can also deepen our team cooperation ability... Most importantly, there are credits!"

And the other two people in the team didn't speak, extremely cold and full of temperament.

……

Inside the Kunlun camp, the sounds were noisy.

"The students' enthusiasm for labor is very high. With credit rewards, even those who are usually a little lazy have shown action ability far beyond usual."

"The enthusiasm of the student days. Back then, my tutor also used exam bonus points to trick us into doing voluntary labor. This time it's finally my turn."

"Don't talk nonsense. This is called testing the mind! Can testing the mind be called tricking people into labor?"

For a time, the camp was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

Since the Kunlun Secret Realm opened a gap, the relevant observers of spiritual energy in the Northwest region of Zheng Country discovered that all the raptor spiritual beasts in the entire northwestern part of the country, and even in the surrounding countries, were flying towards the Kunlun Secret Realm. At the same time, other spiritual beasts were also approaching the Kunlun ruins, but they couldn't fly and had poor maneuverability, so they had not yet reached the warning range.

This overly obvious sign had lost the value of speculation and analysis. Anyone who wasn't blind knew that at least one 'avian demon god's' inheritance in the Kunlun Secret Realm had been activated.

"The fastest birds to come are basically golden eagles, or birds with golden-winged characteristics—according to ancient books... Actually, you don't need ancient books. Anyone who knows a little common sense can see that there should be a long-lost 'Golden-Winged Great Peng Bird Inheritance' in the secret realm."

In the big camp, Bai Canglang's tone was full of joy: "And according to the types of other spiritual beasts that are approaching, it can basically be determined that there are many demon god inheritances in the Kunlun Secret Realm! The Rebirth of Imitation is in this day!"

"But it is also certain that there are other life forms inside, Canglang, don't be too happy too soon." An old, bald old man said slowly. He was from the Xuanwu lineage, the head of the Xuan family in this generation: "Think carefully, the inheritance has been activated to this extent, there may already be a living Golden-Winged Great Peng Bird inside, and its strength is at least Extraordinary. As for the example, isn't Professor Su one?"

When he said this, all the researchers in the big camp subconsciously turned their heads to look at Su Zhou, who was eating roast chicken next to him.

"What do you mean?" After all, it was Su Zhou. Even if he was stared at by a dozen people at the same time, he could still eat. He didn't stop eating, but just vibrated the air with spiritual energy to make a sound: "Why are you all turning to look at me?"

He dripped a drop of blood to open the ruins before, so today he had to eat several times the amount to make up for it—anyway, the official provided the ingredients, so it would be a waste not to eat.

I have to say, this time the cook was indeed good. The chicken was delicious, juicy, refreshing and not greasy. He could eat another 10!

"The Golden-Winged Bird eats five hundred dragons a day, and one Dragon King..." Bai Canglang coughed. The long-haired youth from the Baihu family explained: "Although that is the legend from the Tianzhu (Indian) Country, the dragons there are snakes, and also Nagas, it's a translation problem... But the Golden-Winged Great Peng Bird is the Garuda that has been localized in Zheng Country, and may really have a certain restraint against dragons."

"And when you advanced to Extraordinary before, didn't you also attract a lot of dragon species? In the South China Sea, you even gathered a large number of sea beasts, it's just like the Dragon King... The phenomenon of the opening of the Kunlun ruins this time is probably a similar situation, which shows that this Golden-Winged Great Peng Bird has at least the strength of the Extraordinary rank, even... it is not impossible to be at the High rank of Extraordinary."

"Or, Professor Su, how about adjusting the order of entering the ruins a little later?" This was Bai Canglang's euphemistic suggestion.

"Are you looking down on me?" This was a feigned angry response.

Although everyone knew that this was Su Zhou's joking response, they also knew what Su Zhou meant—obviously, he was still determined to enter the secret realm for exploration in the first batch.

It also fit Su Zhou's youthful, vigorous, and extremely confident persona. If he didn't do this, it wouldn't be like him.

However, at this time, Su Zhou asked in his heart with great interest: "Yala Yala~ You said that your bloodline is the source of dragons and snakes, does that mean that you are affected by the dragon-restraining attribute, and you are also affected by the snake-restraining attribute?"

"So what?" Yala coiled into a ball and replied a little unhappily: "Don't put this kind of restraining attribute on me—which avatar of a great being has not suffered a loss? Look at the avatar of the World Tree, Jianmu was cut down, and the Nine Realms Tree was gnawed by a dragon. These are all very normal evolutions."

And Su Zhou's leisurely voice sounded: "But I remember, in the legends of all the realms, there are legends of giant birds catching snakes—have you really been beaten badly?"

"..."

Yala closed herself off, but Su Zhou also got the news he wanted—it seemed that if there was a Golden-Winged Great Peng Bird in the ruins, it might really restrain him in terms of attributes.

"It's not a big problem, after all, I am just a human with Yala's blood, not really a dragon."

Thinking this, Su Zhou didn't have any burden in his heart: "Compared to this, it's better to think more about how I can seize the opportunity to see where the 'Pan Tao (Immortal Peach)' or 'Jianmu (World Tree)' are when I enter the Kunlun Secret Realm in a few days."

A few days later.

October 3, 2015, 9:15 am.

A total of eight teams in the first batch to enter the secret realm were ready and waiting quietly in front of the secret realm entrance on the top of the mountain.

And the image of another world, faintly visible above the sky, was now almost real, gradually approaching the Earth side, seemingly about to completely connect.

The Kunlun Secret Realm was right in front of them.