"Shriek…"

Followed by an ear-piercing cry, the goshawk soared and glided in the blue sky.

Multi-armed King Kong let out a discontent roar on the ground. It exerted force through its legs and turned into a massive strong wind to follow closely behind the spirit bird. Nonetheless, it could not overtake the tiny black spot above its head no matter how hard it tried.

On the other hand, Wu Hanning and Bai Shixue seemed rather lonely on the wall.

"Your Highness, I'm going to return to the capital. Would you like to travel together?" Bai Shixue asked leisurely.

They met several times before the Humans' disaster, but they only shared a nodding acquaintance. Now that they had traveled long distances together, there was a more harmonious relationship between them regardless of their thoughts for each other.

Wu Hanning hesitated for a while before she answered, "Thanks for your good intention, Young Pavilion Master, but I can't keep you company because I have something urgent to attend to."

Bai Shixue did not force the princess, hence she nodded and left the wall.

Before long, a well-prepared convoy left Changlong City and headed to the capital.

Within the convoy, a little maid defended her young lady against injustice because she was outraged. "Young Lady, Master Ou is being too unreasonable. You treated him like that, yet he…"

Bai Shixue gently waved her hand and smiled sweetly as though she was not concerned at all. "Lil' girl, how is Master Ou an ordinary person? Hehe, it doesn't matter if I suffer a setback now because he'll think of me one day."

The little maid could not help but widen her eyes when she looked at the confident young lady, who seemed to be entirely different from how she was at the top of the wall.

'Young Lady is Young Lady indeed; she had a well-thought-out plan long ago.'

※※※※

Wu Hanning turned and left the wall, then she returned to her residence in the city.

She halted as soon as she entered her room, then she ordered softly, "I'm going to rest, so please leave."

With that, her servants and palace maids retreated without any delay. Afterward, Wu Hanning uttered softly with a stern look in her eyes, "Greetings, Great Ancestor."

She would only address one person in the entire imperial family like that.

Sure enough, the space rippled a little as a black-robed elder walked out as if he went from nothing to something. This was the Camouflage Technique secretly passed on in the imperial family, and it could not be pried by common people.

The elder was none other than Wu Yuanwei, who was the Humans' greatest powerhouse and always kept guard in the imperial family's secret realm.

He looked at Wu Hanning and nodded. "Ning'er, did you have a fortuitous encounter? Your mental power has become so great that even I will have to humble myself before you."

Wu Yuanwei was glad. He was undoubtedly happiest about the fact that the imperial family had a worthy successor.

"Great Ancestor, I unexpectedly gained some benefits when I traveled with Master Ou and eliminated parasites," Wu Hanning explained with a gloomy look in her eyes.

She did not state explicitly what happened because even she could not understand how her mental power improved so much. Nevertheless, she firmly believed that Ou Yangming would not harm her.

"Ou Yangming." Wu Yuanwei instantly had a serious look on his face, and he looked worried as he frowned.

"Great Ancestor, what are you worried about?" Wu Hanning's heart tensed up a little.

Wu Yuanwei sighed helplessly. "The Humans' disaster is supposedly a catastrophe for the entire human race, but the young fellow resolved it and even subdued spirit beasts. He's fully-fledged now."

The princess could sense something dangerous from his tone, thus she quickly expressed, "Great Ancestor, Brother Ou isn't an ungrateful person, so he won't make things difficult for the imperial family for sure."

"Hehe, I won't be worried if he's on his own, but it'll be hard to say if someone's instigating him from behind." Wu Yuanwei shook his head and furrowed his eyebrows. "Due to the interspatial disorder this time, the spirit beasts that descended are of a higher level than before, and it's also an opportunity for a huge change for the Humans. In this case, those few clans won't let go of this chance for sure."

Wu Hanning's face changed. She kept quiet for a while before she noted without a doubt, "Great Ancestor, I… Trust him."

The elder was startled, but he sighed and commented, "One has to compromise in this world, unless…"

"Unless what?"

"Unless that thing is really workable."

With that, the elder and the young lady fell silent and had different thoughts but were thinking about the same person.

※※※※

A black figure drifted across the sky. It was a gigantic goshawk, and it somehow carried a noble aura when its vigorous figure sailed in the sky.

There were only three people, a dog… And a little red bird on the goshawk's back.

Ou Yangming immediately sensed something different during this flight. The goshawk had actively released its power, which transformed into a sharp cone-shaped air wall to separate the incoming air. As such, they were not affected by the airflow at all.

He previously never got to enjoy such treatment.

The young fellow felt that his ride on the goshawk's back was as comfortable as sitting on a carpet. He glanced at the birdcage next to him and thought, 'It's indeed the right choice to bring this little fella along.'

Although the goshawk's owner was Ou Yangming, he realized that there was a subtle change in the spirit bird's attitude when he brought the little red bird along as compared to when he did not do so.

The change could not be easily noticed and described, but how could it hide from Ou Yangming's eyes?

"Elder Brother, what's the Aquatics' spirit beast in Canghai County?" Jiang Jiumei asked curiously.

She was looking in all directions curiously from the goshawk's back but after the novelty wore off, the similar sceneries along the way were not that attractive anymore.

Ou Yangming was stunned, but he answered with a smile, "I have no idea either but regardless of the type of spirit beast, it won't have the chance to go back."

He sounded extremely confident as if the Aquatics' spirit beast was already executed by him. Even so, he was indeed qualified to be boastful because the Insects' three spirit beasts were all killed outside Changlong City, so how big of a deal would one from the Aquatics be?

Jiang Jiumei nodded and blurted all of a sudden, "Elder Brother, for the Aquatics' spirit beast this time, can…"

Seeing as she was hesitant to complete her sentence, Ou Yangming said with a smile, "No."

"Huh? Why…" Jiang Jiumei was rather discontent. "I'm not planning to fight alone; I'd like to join hands with Elder Sister Ying."

Ou Yangming was dumbfounded, and he turned to look at Ni Yinghong.

"Lil' Ming, my mental power has been increased to the maximum, so I'd like to test its power." Ni Yinghong nodded slowly and looked determined. "You're improving very fast, and I'd like to catch up to you."

She openly expressed her wild ambition because she did not want to be a lady that had to be protected by the young fellow.

The sleeping little red bird in the birdcage opened its eyes and looked at the young ladies scornfully. Despite that, the ladies were focused on Ou Yangming, thus they did not notice it.

"Okay, you may attack if we encounter the Aquatics' spirit beast, but I won't sit by idly if you're in danger," Ou Yangming responded after some thought.

Jiang Jiumei cheered. "Elder Brother, you're the best."

Ou Yangming scoffed and said, "There's no point for you to flatter me. The period you're able to hold on in the fight totally depends on your hard work. All in all, I won't let you risk your lives."

Ni Yinghong and Jiang Jiumei exchanged glances and nodded. Following that, they got together to quietly discuss how they would go against the Aquatics' spirit beast.

The little bird found it boring, hence it flapped its wings and landed on Ou Yangming's shoulder. It turned its beak to his ear and asked, "Why go through the trouble to deal with the Aquatics' spirit beast? Can't you just catch it and eat it?"

Its words were chirps to the young ladies, but they were in human language to Ou Yangming.

Ou Yangming looked lovingly at the young ladies and smiled as he replied to the bird softly, "It's good to let them have something to do."

Ni Yinghong had just received bad news about Elder Universe's passing while Jiang Jiumei decided to cut off her past and start again. They might feel suppressed during this period so if they were distracted by something else and gave their all for it, it would greatly benefit them.

The little bird was impatient, and it despised the young ladies because it did not have favorable impressions of them.

Ou Yangming laughed and added, "Lil' Red, I only agreed to this because you're here. If the Aquatics really sent an irresistible powerhouse, we'll have to rely on you."

Lil' Red was struck dumb, but it soon lifted its head and stuck out its chest to show its heroic side.

'What can the Aquatics do? As long as I'm here, there won't be any issues.'

The goshawk seemed to be paying full attention to controlling the direction, but it was observant and alert, thus it noticed how everyone acted.

It could tell from Ou Yangming's expression that he deceived the little red bird.

However, the goshawk dared not reveal the truth when it saw how Sir Phoenix was enjoying the moment. This was because the spirit bird did not know how it would end if it said too much.

It finally calmed down when it looked down at Multi-armed King Kong, which was hurrying on with its journey by tramping over mountains and ravines.

'I'm a proud bird, so I'll let that silly big thing follow me.'

As they continued with their journey, there were lesser hills and roads but more waters.

They had entered Canghai County, which was known as the Land of Waters. Places with water could be seen everywhere as rivers or streams could constantly be seen. That said, they looked like small drains when Multi-armed King Kong stepped on them.

Some people were seen along the way, but they dispersed as they were appalled by Multi-armed King Kong, and they did not intend to resist the beast at all. As a result, Ou Yangming was frustrated because he could not find anyone to inquire about the situation here.

Needless to say, Ou Yangming did not blame the people.

If he was in their shoes, he probably would have run faster than them.

At the spur of the moment, the goshawk let out a long cry. Ou Yangming was taken aback, but his eyes gleamed when he looked in the direction it was pointing at.

Far away, there was an average-sized stockaded village where a river flowed below. The river was surging abnormally at the moment, causing water to continuously crash the village. It was evident that the Aquatics were causing trouble.