Chapter 112: Swift Preparations for Battle

"Damn that monstrous eagle, where did it come from?" Ye Mo felt a surge of rage rising uncontrollably.

The Ye Clan’s Immortal Village had just been established and was yet to flourish. It seemed it might be destroyed entirely by the sudden attack of a fierce monstrous eagle.

After a struggle, he finally calmed himself. Getting angry wouldn’t help; the only thing to do was find a way to deal with the eagle.

“Brother Ye, Gao Jian has already taken a few men to pursue it. Unless this monstrous eagle came from another spirit island, we should be able to track it down,” Mo Ling said hastily.

“Why did the eagle suddenly attack the villagers? Beast spirits have a strong sense of territory. They usually don’t intrude on others’ lands or attack unless provoked, except during beast tides or hunting. How did you disturb it?” Lin Zhi frowned and questioned the lightly injured martial artists.

“We don’t know either,” one of the frightened warriors said bitterly. “We were transporting spirit wood when the eagle suddenly appeared. Luckily, a few of us were ahead and escaped quickly, taking refuge inside the village gate. Otherwise, we would have been killed.”

At that moment, a few cultivators from the Immortal Village came running from a distance.

“City Lord, Gao Jian and his brothers have tracked the eagle. We’ve confirmed its nest is on the opposite side of this mountain ridge, on a cliff facing the sea. The location is perilous and steep, and the nest is hidden in a very concealed crevice. We searched this area last time but didn’t find it. Please punish us, City Lord. Also, Captain Gao is still monitoring the nest and has ordered his men to report immediately if there’s any development,” a city guard knelt, his face filled with shame.

“This isn’t your fault. Our guard is understaffed and can’t meticulously search every corner of the spirit island. However, this nest so close to our Immortal Village is a great threat. Let’s go take a look,” Ye Mo said, helping the guard up and addressing the group.

He then led Mo Ling, Lin Zhi, Wang Hu, Yang You, Tu Nu, and several other cultivators, following the guards as they circled the valley and climbed the rugged mountain peaks.

They soon found Gao Jian and his team.

Gao Jian was lying prone in dense grass, surveying the cliff below.

“The nest is right down there, hidden in a rock crevice and invisible from afar. The injured monstrous eagle has been lingering here; this must be its home. I also heard the call of another eagle, probably the female, inside the nest,” Gao Jian said, pointing downward as Ye Mo and the others arrived.

Ye Mo immediately spotted the golden-feathered monstrous eagle circling near the cliffside, letting out sharp cries from time to time.

The spot where Ye Mo built the Immortal Village was less than ten miles from this cliff. Behind the valley was the mountain ridge, beyond which lay the sea. The cliff itself was right on the seaside cliff face.

This area was a blind spot for their view; if the eagle hadn’t revealed itself, they would never have discovered the hidden nest.

“Brother Ye, this monstrous eagle is ferocious and positioned behind the village. It could attack at any time, posing a severe threat. We must eliminate it as soon as possible,” Gao Jian’s eyes gleamed coldly, his tone full of murderous intent.

“Hm. We need to devise a way to kill it. Any ideas?” Ye Mo furrowed his brows.

“Ordinary methods won’t work. The best way is to attack the nest directly. The eagle will try to defend it, or even attack us in anger, which allows us to kill it up close,” Gao Jian explained quickly, having already prepared a plan.

“Brother Ye, I just thought—what if monstrous flying beasts appear during the future beast tides? We can handle the low-level sea beasts on the ground, but how do we deal with flying ones? We can’t find their nests, so the nest attack method won’t work,” Lin Zhi interjected after some thought.

“Well… there’s nothing much we can do. If flying beasts appear during a sea beast tide, we can only rely on the village’s few arrow towers at the gates. Elsewhere is too dangerous,” Gao Jian said, shaking his head.

“What about you all? Any opinions?” Ye Mo pondered and asked Mo Ling, Yang You, and others.

“It’s difficult,” came the reply.

“If a large number of flying monstrous beasts do appear during a beast tide, we may have to seek help from the Azure Cloud Main Immortal City,” someone said quietly.

The group fell silent for a moment before Mo Ling shook her head gently and spoke.

“I asked the teachers at the Immortal Academy. Only monstrous beasts above the fourth level of Foundation Establishment will prompt Azure Cloud Main Immortal City to send Foundation Establishment cultivators to assist, and the aid comes at a high cost. For those below third level Qi Refining stage, we have to handle them ourselves. The Main Immortal City won’t intervene—even if a village is destroyed by third-level monstrous beasts. Moreover, the Immortal City Alliance forbids high-level cultivators from interfering in village rivalries. So, under normal circumstances, no Foundation Establishment cultivators appear in the Ao Lai Archipelago’s Immortal Villages.”

Ye Mo shook his head. This Ao Lai sea area was clearly a place for Qi Refining stage city lords and their assistants to train.

“The Main Immortal City won’t step in against flying monstrous beasts?”

“What can we do? If a flock of flying beasts attacks the village, how can we defend against them? Our village defenses are designed for ground attacks, with limited range and minimal anti-air capabilities.”

Everyone’s expressions darkened.

“By the way, can that monstrous eagle be tamed? If we capture and domesticate it as a spirit beast mount, wouldn’t that help against flying beasts?” Mo Ling suddenly suggested, eyes bright.

“That’s unlikely,” Lin Zhi immediately shook his head. “An adult monstrous beast is wild and nearly impossible to tame.”

The others nodded in agreement.

“Ah, if only we could tame that eagle, our village’s combat strength would increase tremendously,” Mo Ling lamented, voicing what all the cultivators and warriors felt. Having anti-airpower would naturally alleviate fears of flying beasts.

“Gao Jian, assign men to continue monitoring here. Report immediately if anything happens. The rest return to the village and prepare how to kill these two monstrous eagles,” Ye Mo said, his gaze fixed on the circling eagle, his expression growing graver.

Inside the City Lord’s mansion, in the council chamber...

All the cultivators gathered to discuss how to lure and exterminate the two monstrous eagles that threatened the Ye Clan Immortal Village.

Ye Mo found a moment to return to his bedroom, unrolling an ancient painting scroll, entering the dreamlike world of the ancient painted Immortal Village.

“A Li, if we capture an adult monstrous beast here, is there any way to tame it?” Ye Mo called to the little azure fox sleeping curled up in front of a thatched hut.

A Li’s refining skills had reached a bottleneck. Without new materials or new spirit artifacts to craft, further breakthroughs seemed unlikely. It had also stopped refining in the refining pavilion.

“An adult monstrous beast? Seems unlikely,” A Li said, stretching its small paws and rubbing its charming fox eyes, blinking at Ye Mo in confusion before shaking its head.

“Is there absolutely no way to tame it?”

Ye Mo was reluctant to give up. If there was any possible method, he intended to try it.

“Uh, let me think,” the little azure fox pondered.

“There is one way to tame an adult monstrous beast: forcibly imprinting a beast mark on its soul. But this requires the owner’s cultivation to be at least one level higher than the beast’s, to forcibly stamp a spiritual imprint in the beast’s sea of consciousness, enslaving the adult beast.”

“In other words, once the owner becomes a Foundation Establishment cultivator, they can brand Qi Refining stage beasts to forcibly control them. However, beasts enslaved this way have very low loyalty and will escape or rebel at any opportunity. They cannot compare to spirit beasts tamed from youth or share a mutual bond. Their usefulness is limited.”

A Li quickly came up with this solution.

“Become a Foundation Establishment cultivator?” Ye Mo smiled bitterly. “Forget it. If I had that level of cultivation, why enslave low-level beasts? I’d just kill them outright.”

“Master, what beast do you want to tame?” A Li asked eagerly.

Its intelligence was high, and having been confined in the Immortal Village for a long time with little to do recently, it was bored.

“The two monstrous eagles, second and third level, their nest is on the cliff behind my Immortal Village. I was hoping maybe I could use the power of the ancient painting to tame them and strengthen the village’s defense. Since that’s not possible, they must be eliminated,” Ye Mo said.

“Third level, huh? Master, you can’t defeat them now. Be careful. Want me and A Zhi to help you?” A Li offered enthusiastically.

“No need. I’ll take the little fire crow,” Ye Mo quickly refused.

He didn’t want to cause a huge stir in the Eastern Sea cultivation world by having a rare juvenile nine-tailed spirit fox and a young phoenix appear simultaneously in Ye Village. That would instantly attract many high-level cultivators to capture them as spirit beasts.

Compared to that, bringing along a little fire crow was unremarkable. The little fire crow was only a first-level flying creature, with high intelligence but nothing extraordinary.

A Li was somewhat disappointed.

Ye Mo then hurriedly exited the ancient painting and returned to the City Lord’s hall to discuss the plan to exterminate the monstrous eagles with everyone.

Lin Zhi, Gao Jian, and the others had already devised a preliminary plan.

They would attack the nest to enrage the two eagles. Generally, beasts value their nests highly—once attacked, they become frenzied and will actively defend rather than flee.

This tactic would lure the two eagles from the sky to the ground.

Then, all cultivators and warriors of Ye Clan Immortal Village would engage together, using heavy crossbows, spirit wood spears, and giant spirit wood arrows to kill them in one decisive strike.

If this failed to kill the eagles, the village would face daily attacks and retaliation, causing panic and making it impossible to live or grow stronger within or around the village.

With the plan set, everyone immediately split up to prepare.

Lin Zhi’s poison spirit liquid and poison pills were essential. Together with Wang Hu and Yang You, they began poisoning everyone’s black iron spirit swords, spirit wood spears, and giant spirit wood arrows.

The two monstrous eagles were second and third level, very powerful. They dared not take chances and used the most potent poison spirit liquid, soaking the weapons for several hours instead of merely brushing them on as before.