The Black-Winged Great Peng Bird let out a howl that shook heaven and earth. It flapped its wings desperately to rise into the air, shot off explosively, trailed rolling black qi, and vanished at the top of the cloud layer. Xiao Kun had no golden dragon and could no longer pursue it. When he turned back, he looked toward the ground and saw that after Xiang Xian’s all-out strike, the golden light had faded, and he was plummeting toward the earth.
“Xiang Xian!”
Xiao Kun had no choice but to fly back abruptly and catch Xiang Xian. He was smashed toward the ground by Xiang Xian’s heavy body, and the two crashed solidly with a loud thud.
Xiang Xian lay on top of Xiao Kun. Xiao Kun struggled to breathe and finally pushed him off with effort.
“It still didn’t work.” Xiang Xian recalled the brief moments before and realized he had once again lost part of his memory.
“You lost consciousness again?” Xiao Kun asked.
Xiang Xian replied, “I’ve been trying to awaken myself, but I couldn’t do it.”
“It’s fine.” Xiao Kun patted him, sat on the ground, endured the intense pain in his chest and abdomen, panted heavily, and adjusted his broken ribs.
“What just happened?” Xiang Xian asked again.
Xiang Xian had nearly smashed his head open on impact, but Xiao Kun had caught him and become his cushion. Stars burst before Xiao Kun’s eyes, and it took him a good while to recover.
“You almost took it down.” Xiao Kun recalled the previous scene and realized Xiang Xian’s strength was truly extraordinary. With the Wisdom Sword in hand, he was practically above all demons and monsters between heaven and earth—he was almost a god! If not for the lack of endurance, he could even fight the Demon King directly.
“Next time, you don’t have to catch me with your own body.” Xiang Xian sat amid the ruins and said sincerely.
Xiao Kun gestured for him to stay quiet for a moment so he could catch his breath. He coughed a few times before slowly standing up.
“What exactly was that?” Xiang Xian asked.
Wu Yingzong arrived with Chaosheng, who was stunned. “How could the Black-Winged Great Peng Bird be here?”
Xiang Xian’s head throbbed with pain.
“That was the Black-Winged Great Peng?” Xiao Kun vaguely remembered reading about it in ancient books.
“Yes.” Chaosheng stared in shock. “An ancient great demon! The Kun and Peng were once one! It was the Demon King of the previous generation!”
“Oh, really?” Xiang Xian was still a bit dizzy.
Chaosheng said, “That’s incredible! You two actually defeated the Black-Winged Great Peng! That’s a great demon even Yuzhou wouldn’t dare provoke!”
“We got beaten black and blue by it.” Xiao Kun appreciated Chaosheng’s comfort, but it didn’t sound much like praise. He said, “In your eyes, big brothers are always great.”
“No! That’s not it!” Chaosheng immediately replied. “That’s a demon on the same level as the Phoenix. How could it be here?”
“Oh, really?” Xiang Xian turned to A Huang and asked, “You’re both birds. Do you know it?”
“No.” A Huang answered, “I heard nearby birds mention it, so I came right away to notify you.”
“Your idea of ‘right away,’” Xiang Xian said weakly, “was truly timely.”
Xiao Kun and Xiang Xian sat for a moment to regulate their breathing and restore their mobility. Though they were exorcists, they had never had the chance to battle such a powerful ancient demon. Chaosheng, however, roughly knew its level, as Yuzhou and Pi Changge had told him many stories of the world’s mighty demons.
“The Black-Winged Great Peng is a great demon that even the strongest exorcist in mortal history couldn’t subdue,” Chaosheng said seriously. “It shares a life with the Kun, and it was once Zhuangzi’s mount!”
Xiang Xian nodded. In that light, he and Xiao Kun weren’t too weak.
“But why was it here?” Chaosheng usually showed no interest in demon capture, but this time he seemed unusually concerned.
“I don’t know.” Xiang Xian was at a loss. He said, “You care about it a lot? Is it… a friend from Kunlun Mountain?”
Chaosheng stood in place, thought for a moment, and said, “The Great Peng Bird, like the Phoenix and the Peacock Great Bright King, is tied to Shenzhou’s destiny. Lord Jumang’s branches turning black is partly due to this.”
Xiang Xian and Xiao Kun exchanged a glance. Chaosheng clearly struggled to explain it clearly—in fact, even he only half-understood it.
“In any case,” Chaosheng said, “you can think of the Kun and Peng as part of heaven and earth. Its fall to demonic corruption represents the decay of Shenzhou’s great land.”
Xiao Kun replied, “Got it. Don’t worry—we’ll find it in the end and purify it.”
They looked toward the direction the Great Peng Bird had fled—it had completely vanished.
Wu Yingzong suddenly said, “Lord Xiao, didn’t you cut something off its body earlier?”
“Right!” Xiao Kun immediately remembered. He leaped forward in two strides instead of three and rushed into the depths of the Daming Palace.
Xiang Xian had no memory of defeating the Black-Winged Great Peng and never credited himself much for exorcisms. Leaning on Chaosheng’s shoulder, he followed Xiao Kun and casually said, “Chaosheng, your spells are truly impressive. You could probably revive most of the dead.”
Chaosheng smiled embarrassedly and said, “I can’t revive the dead, but as long as the soul hasn’t left the body and entered Heavenly Veins Reincarnation, I can save even the gravest wounds.”
