At the top of Qiuqiu, a long chirping sound echoed outside the cave to silence Xingyun. Yan's whole body trembled suddenly. At first glance, the sound sounded a bit like a mountain eagle, but it was obviously louder and louder than the mountain eagle. The cry made people tremble with fear. The young man first said After being stunned for a moment, he immediately stood up from the corpse on the ground and hurriedly protected Ning Yue and retreated out of the cave:
"The words of the witch woman are not entirely false - there is really something perched on the top of the hill! But it may not be the god in the hearts of the villagers, but some kind of man-eating raptor!"
"How can there be any raptor in the world that can hunt a living person?"
Ning Yue was frightened by her companion's appearance and asked tremblingly. But Jiang Yan refused to stop at all:
"Yue'er, you don't know something. Birds of prey usually swallow their prey directly and then spit out the indigestible bones and hair. There are a lot of hairs attached to the bones in the cave. They are swallowed and then spit out. , Otherwise, how could the bones be so tightly bonded one by one!"
Hearing the other party's explanation, the last trace of doubt in Ning Yue's heart was completely dispelled. She did not dare to ask any more questions and just stumbled out of the cave and ran down the mountain along the way. But still She didn't run very far when she realized that her companion had suddenly disappeared behind her.
"Little stutterer, what are you doing?!"
Ning Yue turned around and saw Jiang Yan taking off the bow and arrow from his back and looking around cautiously. He immediately understood and went back to pull the other person to persuade him, "Don't be stupid. Now we can't even see the man-eating thing." It’s not clear what it is, but what if it’s not a raptor, but some other more dangerous animal?”
"Then I have to fight it! Uncle You has been so kind to me, and I have to avenge him!"
Ning Yue knew that Jiang Yan had been overwhelmed by grief and anger, and wanted to open her mouth to persuade her again. However, the little white fox in her arms struggled to jump out and burrowed into the grass growing under the rocks. He disappeared immediately.
Immediately afterwards, a harsh chirping sounded in the air again. Before the two of them could react, a huge black shadow pounced directly on their heads!
It was truly a gigantic bird of prey! It had been standing on the top of the mountain, disguising itself as motionless as a rock. Now it found an opportunity, and finally launched an attack on the two living people who dared to enter its nest!
The wingspan of the man-eating bird was more than two feet, and its huge body was like a giant net from the sky. In an instant, the young man's opportunity to attack was lost.
Seeing this, Jiang Yan also understood that continuing to linger on the unprotected hillside at this time was tantamount to seeking death, so he yelled to be careful, stretched out his hand, and pushed Ning Yuezhong, who was already stunned, into the cave.
After only a moment's delay, the sharp claws of the raptor grabbed the young man's Tianling Cap. He had no choice but to take advantage of the situation and roll on the spot, then he bent his bow and drew the arrow, turned around and shot.
With a "swish" sound, the feather arrow flew straight in front of the strange bird, but at the last moment it was blown off target by the strong wind from the bird's wings. But this gave Jiang Yan enough time to crawl from the ground. He got up and dove into the bird's nest.
The raptor landed on the ground confidently. It was only then that the boy and the girl finally saw its appearance clearly - the body of the bird was not much different from that of an ordinary mountain eagle, but the feathers on its body seemed to have lost color. It's a pale gray with dots of copper coin-like spots on it.
There is only a short layer of down from the neck up to the bird's head, exposing the bright red skin underneath. What's even more creepy is that the ferocious bird's head has nothing but a sharp beak for pecking bones and tearing flesh. It even has a long barb-shaped horn that is as long as an adult’s forearm!
"This is the Gu Eagle!"
Jiang Yan couldn't help but screamed, and then he shot another arrow at the head of the strange bird outside the cave. This time, the feather arrow had no interference and hit the Gu Eagle's left eye firmly. He could only hear its shrill scream. He let out a scream, then realized that the prey was not so easy to catch, and hurriedly dodged to the side.
"What is Gu Eagle?" asked Ning Yue, who was still in shock.
"It's a strange beast preserved from ancient times."
"How do you know me?"
"Now is not the time to talk!"
Jiang Yan suddenly stopped the conversation - the injured Gu Eagle did not hide away, but quickly flashed past the entrance of the cave from time to time, tilting his head and staring viciously into the cave with his only remaining pale yellow eagle eye. The two of them relentlessly looked for every opportunity to attack.
The young man knew clearly that continuing to hide would not be a long-term solution. He looked down at his quiver and saw that there were only three arrows left in it. He must come up with an escape plan as soon as possible.
"Yue'er, do you still have the strength to run?"
After thinking for a moment, he asked Ning Yue, who was beside him and was too frightened to speak. However, he still pulled the bow to half full, not daring to relax at all.
The red-haired girl then loosened the corner of Jiang Yan's clothes that she had been holding tightly, her voice still trembling: "Yes, I should, it's OK."
"I know you are scared now, but you must listen carefully and remember everything I say next. Only in this way can you survive! Can you do it?"
Looking at the young man in front of her, Ning Yue suddenly forgot to answer - although the other man was just a child of the same age as herself, he showed a calmness that was inconsistent with his age in the face of danger. It was as if he had innate courage and courage. Guo Gang was inspired by the powerful threat outside the cave at this moment.
"Yue'er, did you hear what I said?"
Seeing that his companion did not respond, Jiang Yan raised his voice and asked again.
The red-haired girl came back to her senses and nodded hesitantly.
"Going down the road up the mountain, you can run into the forest in about half a cup of tea. The bird is too big to spread its wings among the trees, so it can no longer launch a top-down attack. After running into the forest, you immediately continue down the mountain in the northwest direction. There is a mountain spring about five miles away on the mountainside, which is easy to find. If you get separated halfway, wait for me in the bushes near the spring. I will definitely find you! Now that the clouds have cleared and the mist has cleared, as long as you keep Twin Moon directly in front of you, you won’t lose your way easily! Remember?"
"Remember!" From the decisive tone of the other party, Ning Yuezhong felt the desire for survival again, and also saw a new hope from the desperate situation. Under the influence of her companions, she was surprised to find that her body actually It also gradually stopped shaking.
"Now, take off your cloak."
Jiang Yan said, raising his finger and pointing at the opponent, "I will take an arrow and tie it to my cloak later, shoot it under the cliff, and lure the Gu Eagle to chase me. No matter what happens, don't look back. You can't stop until your breath reaches the spring."
Ning Yue obediently took off the tattered cloak with a big cut from her shoulders. However, the moment she handed it out, she suddenly realized that the young man did not seem to tell her the complete plan, and immediately slapped her stimulating spirit:
"Wait, what about you?"
"Of course I want to stay as a queen."
"Don't you still want to find a chance to kill that strange bird outside?"
"You just have to take care of yourself!"
Jiang Yan, who had seen through the other party's thoughts, knew that talking any more would only waste time, so he tied Ning Yue's cloak to the cluster of arrows in his hand.
"This is too dangerous! Let's go back to the village first. Wouldn't it be better to find more people to win?"
"Those selfish people in the village will never put themselves in danger because of you, me or Uncle You. Telling them will be in vain! You only have one chance, so be prepared!"
Ning Yue wanted to continue to dissuade him, but Jiang Yan had already used all his strength to pull the bow string, and in the blink of an eye he had shot the arrow tied with a cloak towards the cliff outside the cave.
In the dim night, the cloak that flew out with the arrow seemed to the Gu hawk to be a prey that suddenly jumped out of the cave. Hearing a scream, it immediately waved its huge wings and chased after it. Seeing that the plan was successful, the cave hawk The two people inside also quickly got out, seizing this hard-won opportunity and rushing into the dense forest hundreds of steps away.
Jiang Yan originally did not intend to fight head-on with the Gu Eagle on the top of the mountain. He only wanted to wait until he rushed near the tree line and then fight with it, waiting for an opportunity to kill it. However, he did not expect that the arrow he shot earlier was due to the The cloak greatly reduced his speed, and he was caught in mid-air by the Gu Eagle before he could fly far.
The raptor soon realized that the so-called prey in its mouth was just a bait used only to attack in the east and west. It angrily flew up from the cliff again, and in the blink of an eye it caught up with the boy and the girl again.
Ning Yue was unaware of the murderous intention behind her, and Jiang Yan was afraid that his warning would slow down his companions, so he had no choice but to draw the full bow with his backhand and shoot an arrow blindly behind him without even taking aim.
Although the arrow was completely missed, it was still so frightening that the Gu Eagle, which had just been blinded by one of its eyes, slowed down its pursuit. In this way, Ning Yue finally ran to the tree line smoothly and dodged to hide. Behind a big tree.
Jiang Yan's worried heart was immediately relieved. He took out the last feather arrow from the quiver, ran forward a few steps, turned around and squatted down in front of the tree line.
The arrow shot out, and before the Gu Eagle on the opposite side could react, its wide right wing was pierced by the iron arrow whizzing out!
The Gu Eagle, which was stretching out its claws to pounce, screamed and fell heavily to the ground from mid-air. Its body slid far along the steep hillside before coming to a stop. Although its vital parts were not injured, the long feathers on its wings were instantly damaged. It's broken by half and it's hard to fly anymore.
The injured raptor was completely enraged. It screamed and climbed up, stretched out its two thick and powerful legs, stretched its neck and continued to peck at the young man at the bottom of the mountain, as if it would not accept the injured prey. Once it's taken down, it looks like it won't give up.
Fortunately, it was not good at running, and the speed of chasing it after landing was greatly reduced. It became much easier to get rid of it in the forest. Jiangyan dodged and escaped into the dense forest, but he understood that it was still too early to talk about escape at this time. .Because he clearly saw Ning Yue running slower and slower not far in front of him, her steps also became staggering, and her physical strength was about to be exhausted.
After thinking about it, the dark-eyed young man actually slowed down and decided to attack instead of defend. He glanced back at Gu Ying who was following him step by step, and suddenly changed his direction and headed towards Twin Moon.
Run in the opposite direction.
After walking for about two miles, Jiang Yan, who always kept his body shape in front of the man-eating bird, suddenly accelerated at the edge of a forest clearing and completely disappeared from its sight.
The menacing raptor was instantly put into a dilemma. It tilted its head and hesitated for a moment, not knowing whether it should continue to search for traces of prey or let it go. However, when it walked to the center of the open space, it suddenly
There was a soft "pop" sound, and a black shadow flew out from the top of the treetops without any warning.
The speed of that thing was quite fast. Between the lightning and flint, the Gu Eagle, who had no time to react, was hit in the chest without any bias and let out a scream. Then it was carried by the thing and flew up, and fell heavily on the ground.
On the ground.
What injured the raptor was a sharpened branch, which was straight and strong. This time the young man bent the bow with such great force that even the recently repaired bow arm was stretched to pieces and broke again.
Two pieces.
The steaming bird's blood swelled among the dead branches and leaves of the forest. The suffering Gu eagle flapped its wings crazily, trying to escape back to the top of the mountain, but it was no longer able to do so. The feathers on its body were no longer as good as before.
It was flat and turned up unevenly. The remaining one eye also lost its ferocious murderous intent, leaving only the panic before death.
Jiang Yan walked to the side of the raptor, pulled out Baipi and swung the knife to cut off its neck without hesitation. With a pair of wide-eyed eyes full of anger, he stared at the food that had the upper hand just a moment ago.
People and strange birds.
Gradually, Gu Ying, whose throat was cut, finally stopped struggling. Jiang Yan lost control of his emotions immediately, fell to his knees with a splash on the ground with red eyes, and roared heartbreakingly:
"Beast! It's not good to catch anyone, but I have to catch Uncle You! Give Uncle You back to me!"
The young man was so sad and angry, but could not shed a single tear. It was as if he had shed all his tears long ago.
At some point, the figure of the red-haired girl who should have run away reappeared under the tree more than ten steps away. Looking at the grief-stricken young man in front of her, Ning Yue didn't know how to comfort her, and she wasn't even sure herself.
Should I go forward and persuade?
Many years later, Ning Yue would still feel uncontrollable heartache when she thought of the figure kneeling on the ground wrapped in wolf skin, with her back constantly twitching. She would occasionally feel a little lucky that her fate allowed her to live in that carefree place.
During the fortified years, I got to see the real and fragile side of this boy with ink-eyed eyes.
After a long time, Jiang Yan stood up straight again. As soon as he turned around, he saw Ning Yue hiding behind the tree. He immediately turned away in a panic and rubbed his face that was distorted by sadness:
"Yue'er, why are you here?"
"I saw you after a long time, so I followed the cry of the strange bird to find you." Ning Yue smiled, pretending not to see anything, not wanting to make the other party feel embarrassed, and sighing that she and her companions were still alive.
He got up and said, "But you are so awesome, little Stutter, you actually killed this strange bird by yourself! We can finally go back!"
But the young man waved his hand: "No, we can't leave now. I have to go to the top of the mountain again. Uncle You's remains are still there, and I have to take him back for burial!"
As he spoke, Jiang Yan raised his knife and cut off the ugly head of the Gu Eagle, tied it around his waist, and returned to the bird's nest on the top of the mountain. He took off the wolf skin from his body and solemnly collected Uncle You's scattered bones.
Together, they were wrapped up carefully, but their hands couldn't help but tremble.