Ash gritted his teeth when his body was being torn apart by the wind once he entered the jetstream. Struggling to battle the chaotic turbulence, Ash instinctually mustered every drop of his strength to spread his wings to catch the wind.
Notwithstanding the hellish pain in every strand of his muscle, Ash finally able to stabilize his stance in mid air. In the meantime, the sounds of swords clashed against Tienxing's talons rang behind him, Ash fixated his gaze frontward.
"I am sorry, uncle. I will avenge you someday! I promise!" Ash muttered, his eyes were teary, heart filled with anguish and desperation.
"That's right, little one. Ride the wind. Don't fight it, feel it with every fiber of your feather." Tienxing said. If Tienxing has a pair of lips, anybody could tell that he was smiling proudly seeing the fledgling phoenix spread his wings for the first time.
"Enter the jetstream! Don't let that little bird get away!" Elder Zhang commanded angrily.
Before Zhang Wei's disciples could after the little phoenix, however, Tienxing has already shifted into his human form, waylaying the enemies in a flash.
"Forgetting someone?" Tienxing said with a smug face, crossing his arms before his chest while standing imposingly.
Zhang Wei and the disciples halted abruptly in mid air. They were stunned when they saw Tienxing had reached the Transcendence Rank and attained his human form. Soon, Zhang Wei was aware that Tienxing would only need to pass Heavenly Tribulation and become a Celestial Rank Immortal Beast.
Zhang Wei couldn't help but to end the pursuit for the fledgling phoenix. If Tienxing was left alone and became Celestial Rank Immortal Beast, the human's realm would face great danger.
Yes, Celestial Rank Immortal Beast was far more dangerous than a young master whose libido was so high and only cared for his morning cock, women, and saying 'courting death' wherever they met someone they dislike.
Celestial Rank Immortal Beast was a godly being that could alter a planetary landscape with a single blow, wiping every civilization and rewriting history.
At that moment, Zhang Wei realized that Tienxing has the requirements to become a Beast King, also. He couldn't let Tienxing
ascend the throne and unite the Immortal Beast under the same banner, otherwise, the human's colonization that had lasted for thousands of years upon the Immortal Beast Realm would crumble by the time the Immortal Beasts were united. Cultivators need almost unlimited amount of resources, and Immortal Beast Realm has what they needed to strengthen themselves.
"Tienxing!" Zhang Wei roared, pointing two fingers. "Your life ends here!"
The two of them went against each other's throats the moment a massive lightning struck the earth. Skies split apart, mountains collapsed from its slope, the landscape scorched, the once pristine forest turned into a wasteland in no time.
After a brutal fight that lasted almost a week long, Zhang Wei, unfortunately, won the fight. Standing firmly in the sky, he has Tienxing's Beast Core in his right hand. However, his victory cost him so much. He lost an arm, thousands of treasures, and hundreds of thousands High-Grade Primal Stones to sustain his Internal Qi during the fight.
On top those invaluable treasures, Zhang Wei had to use nine of his elite disciples as pawns in order to defeat Tienxing.
"Elder Zhang…" Said the most senior disciple. "We need to address your wound immediately."
"I know… Let's return to Kunlun Mountain, for now."
*****
Hundreds of thousands of miles to the east, the most remote region of the Immortal Beast Realm.
Ash's gradually regain his sense. After a while he found himself drifting slowly amidst a calm river. Had him landed on earth, his body would have turned into a meat paste by now.
"I am… still alive?" Ash muttered, still in disbelief. Still feeling sore because of the emergency landing, Ash did a quick check on his body by summoning the system with a swipe.
[Ash Flameheart] [Hatchling Phoenix LV.2]
[HP: 10/70]
[MP: 40/40]
[EXP:0/200]
His health bar was blinking red, on the side of the screen, Ash's avatar shows where the critical injuries in his body. Luckily, the water was cold enough to numb the pain and stopped the internal bleeding.
"Fractured ribs, dislocated spine, my left femur bone is broken also. Damn it! It'd need months to heal my body! Arhhh, it's so painful. I need to get off from the water before hypothermia gets me…"
Just when Ash thought about swimming to the river bank, he saw a gleam of a shadow beneath him. Looking at the sky, the full moon bathed the valley radiantly. Soon, the chill ran through his spine when a sharp killing intent projected toward him.
"Stay calm, stay calm…" Ash muttered inwardly like he was chanting a magic spell. "That beast under me must be still studying whether I am a prey or other thing. If I move now, I would become his dinner instead."
The more he stayed on the frigid water, Ash tried his best to resist his body's natural reaction to not shivering lest he would make ripples on the calm water.
Alas, his body began to shiver the longer he's awake. By the time Ash looked backward, he spotted a huge shadow lurking beneath the surface, approaching slowly.
As his consciousness ebb in and out multiple times, the sound of a huge waterfall echoes from the front. A hope shone in his heart once again.
"Hehehe! Let's see if you can fly, stupid fish!"
Once the waterfall's rapid was not so far away within his reach, Ash dove into the water agily, swimming like a dolphin as to minimize the drag. As soon as the creature felt the micro electromagnetic signal from Ash's movement, it swam voraciously with a wide open mouth.
"Urgh! Almost there! Almost there! Please hold on, my spine!"
Even though he couldn't feel any pain due to being numbed by the freezing water, Ash could tell that his spine would break the more he forced his body.
Soon, the refreshing air welcomed his lungs by the time he swam out of the waterfall, soaring high while seeing the fish beast's annoyed face.
"Hahaha! Stupid fish! You think you'd get me?!" Ash cawed mockingly.
Feeling triumphant, Ash landed onto a huge branch, taking a short refuge after a long night under the tree's canopy. However, he was far too exhausted to even walk firmly with just one foot. Inevitably, Ash's right foot slipped, his limp body fell from the height.
"Really? Am I going to die like this? Falling from the tree like a hatchling bird? Tsk! It's so uncool."