Max took a deep breath. The Ye couple had done well by him and he was feeling guilty for lying to them now. But this was not the time to think about that, he needed to focus on the fight before him.

Now that he knew that the robe had some protective abilities and that last hit was not just a fluke, he felt a lot more confident. On top of that, he also had a hammer now. The Hawk seems to only have a crescent-shaped blade skill and maybe attacks with its spiritual body. He didn’t think the Hawk could launch the blade that often. Both times the Hawk had used that skill, its body had gotten more transparent.

‘Even if it did, I just need to make sure to block it with the robes.’

Slowly a plan formed in his mind.

He peeked his head out. Although this was dangerous, there was no other way for him to see what was going on. A couple of seconds had passed since the bird had ramped into the wall of the sphere. By now it had already recovered and was scanning the area for him. As soon as Max saw the Hawk, it had also spotted him.

“There you are, delicious human.”

The same predatory grin was plastered across its face. Max shuddered when he saw the look on the Hawk’s face.

As expected the Hawk started charging at him once again. But this time, he was ready for it. Most of his body was submerged in the cloud so the Hawk couldn’t see the hammer. Once it got close enough, he would throw the hammer as hard as he could at it. Hopefully, that would kill it in one strike. This was probably his safest bet. He had only started practicing Ye Zhong’s Martial Art so he wasn’t too familiar with the hammer. Plus, this was his spirit body, he wasn’t confident in executing any of the moves. With the lack of gravity, the hammer wouldn’t slow down or drop making it easier to aim. It could even generate more force than a simple smash.

When the Hawk had traveled two-thirds of the way, it suddenly launched a crescent blade at him. Max had almost missed it, but he noticed the Hawk was getting more transparent the closer it came and that gave him a feeling something was off. The attack came for his head, but he was able to dodge down and tilt his head in the nick of time. The blade still sliced off part of his ear.

Max was now back in the cloud and was unable to see what was going on outside. In the next second, the bird passed through the cloud so quickly that he almost didn’t see it. The Hawk’s outreached claws had scraped his right cheek, but that small contact had nearly taken half his face.

“AHHHHH!”

Max had just started to get over the pain in his wrist. But this felt worse. The wound might actually be bigger since he could feel it across his cheek all the way to the ear. He also felt the other half of the ear was likely completely sheared off now.

“Thump”

As he was trying to get his bearings, he heard something outside the cloud.

‘This is my chance!’

He quickly turned around to the direction the Hawk had flown in but was careful not to overturn. Sticking his head out one more time, he saw the bird sprawled out on the glass-like barrier. It had underestimated how large the space was and couldn’t stop in time. Max raised his hammer and threw it as hard as he could at the Hawk.

He was maybe fifteen or so feet away, but with the fresh pain on his face and this being his first time throwing the hammer, his aim wasn’t as true as it could have been. It smashed into the left side of the hawk’s body and continued its path through the walls of his spiritual space.

“Did I get it?”

The hawk was unmoving. Max slowly floated to the half-destroyed body. He kept his guard up in case it shot one last attack at him. When he arrived, he could see that the hole had already started closing itself off. The hammer was right outside it along with some of the smoky substances that were also leaking out of the hawk. Max quickly reached out and grabbed it, on the way back in, he ended up causing the hole to widen a bit. As he was doing this, another blade came for his face, but he was ready. Shielding his face with the robe, it dispersed the blade on contact. With one smooth motion like he practiced in Ye Zhong’s martial art, Max brought the hammer down on the other half of the Hawk. This time it completely broke down into smoke.

As soon as the bird turned into smoke, the lost connection with his hand reappeared. Slowly a part of the smoke separated itself from the rest and drifted to his hand. He could see that his severed hand started to regrow from the stump, but stopped when the palm had formed. He was missing all his fingers.

While his hand was regrowing, Max noticed very small chunks of memories that weren’t his. He had a good idea of whose memories it was since it had to do with flying. Even though the smoke that he had a connection with had already been fully absorbed, there was still a thin line of smoke that continued to stream into his hand. As it did, more and more memories appeared in his head. His fingers were slowly growing back as well.

“The hawk was able to absorb my hand, so it would be reasonable that I could also absorb whatever it left behind…”

Using his right hand, he cupped a small part of the smoke and brought it up to his face. When he tried using Analyze, nothing happened. The “Analyzing” prompt didn’t even show up.

“Hm…”

Max dropped the smoke back with the rest of it.

By now the hole in the sphere that was caused by the hammer had completely closed.

The new memories didn’t seem to be that intrusive and he didn’t feel anything was off. If anything the pain from his face had also slowly started to fade. Little by little, he let this energy flow into him, and at the same time, he was learning more about this hawk.

It was named Ying Hou, and she was the one true apex predator of this forest. She had been in secluded meditation for the past month in order to break through to the 4th stage of Chi Condensation.

“Holy fucking shittttt… That is one whole realm higher than me.”

Just two days ago, she had finally punched through the bottleneck. When she had called her family to celebrate, her youngest daughter was missing from the gathering. After a round of questioning, one of her sons admitted that he had an argument with his youngest sister and in a fit of rage had cut off one of her talons.

Hearing this, Ying Hou didn’t think too much of it. A lost talon could be regrown and it was in their nature to fight so she couldn’t fault him for what he did. She just gave him a light punishment for hurting a family member and flew off to see her youngest.

When she had arrived at her youngest’s nest, it was emptied, and from the look of it hadn’t been used for a few days. Fearing the worst, she had surveyed the nearby land. She remembered that this was the area of the forest that was dominated by wolf packs and a few families of bears.

Her original plan was to go to the wolves and bears to assert her dominance, asking for the whereabouts of her youngest. Instead, she was met with the corpse of her daughter. In a fit of rage, she stormed the home of the wolves. When she asked the “pack leader” what had happened, he just said he didn’t know and his son was also missing. Not believing the wolf, she had slaughtered the entire pack. With the difference in cultivation, it was the definition of simplicity for her.

Ying Hou was on a warpath to eradicate all the wolves in the forest. But after getting to her third pack, she was met with a formidable enemy. The wolf that was in front of her was old, but he was in the same realm as her, in the Chi Condensation stage. She did have the advantage since she was in the 4th stage and the wolf was only in the 1st. After a short fight, it was clear she was going to win. The wolf made a seemingly suicidal move and latched on her and didn’t let go even after she tore open his belly.

At their stage, they were able to use their Chi to attack from a distance so she was confused why the old wolf would come this close. It had to have more Chi but instead made this suicidal move. But then she heard it. From behind, a massive black bear pulverized one of her wings with a Chi-infused attack.

The tables had turned so quickly, but she had one last ace up her wings. None of her enemies knew that she had an inherited skill that had to do with the soul. It was a soul attack that could pierce through the natural defense of someone at the Chi Condensation level. But it came with a cost, and that was it would weaken her soul. At this point, she was as good as dead if she didn’t do anything.

Ying Hou launched two consecutive soul attacks at the bear sealing its fate. The wolf was soon taken care of after. Seeing their leader fall, she had expected the pack to scatter but they did the opposite and mobbed her. Already injured and tired from her fight, she was barely able to fend them off. After killing the last one it was already night. She had to quickly retreat before another group showed up.

With a pulverized wing and a multitude of injuries, she didn’t get far before having to stop. Luckily she had found a cliff that gave her a vantage point in case anything attacked her. Ying Hou's wounds were not healing but were getting worse. Either the old wolf or the bear also had a hidden ace that got to her.

She was going to despair and was ready to die when there was movement from the cave on the cliff. She noticed it last night but didn’t have the strength to investigate it. Out came a human. Equally surprised and ecstatic, she mustered up the energy to use another soul attack, but this time only enough to punch through the protective spirit membrane. Her spirit voluntarily left her body and was ready to body snatch this human.

“And the rest is history.”

Max let out a soft breath. There was no way for him to know that the first Hawk he had killed would have such a ripple effect that caused the deaths of so many beasts in the forest. The memories of the Hawk’s past were very hazy. It looked like he was only able to glimpse the most recent memories.

“Or it was possible that those memories were the ones that were currently floating outside my spiritual space.”

By now, the injuries on his spirit body had completely healed, and the soul smoke that was left behind by Ying Hou had also been used up. Max floated up the cloud that he was hiding in and fished out a few small pieces of his spirit body that he had lost in that last charge by the hawk. It seamlessly remerged with him.

Looking at the hammer, Max wondered if he could put it back on the brand that Teacher Mao left.

‘This would be a good hidden surprise the next time someone came knocking.’

As the thought passed, the hammer shrunk down and went back to his shoulder.