CH 79

Chapter 79: Capturing the Flame Bird

"I agree with Qingyang's proposal," Lin Weiran looked at Xiao Qingyang with a hint of admiration in his eyes and smiled in agreement.

After some contemplation, the others also found Xiao Qingyang's analysis to be reasonable, and even Xu Kaiyang changed his stance.

"I also agree with Qingyang's proposal. Qingyang, you're really amazing," Xu Kaiyang now had the appearance of a devoted fan of Xiao Qingyang, deeply impressed by him.

Being skilled in alchemy, cooking, and analysis, Xiao Qingyang was truly versatile. Xu Kaiyang felt incredibly fortunate to have him as his roommate.

"Now that everyone has decided to go to the Flame Bird gathering spot, let's set off," Lin Weiran drew a straight line between their current location and the Flame Bird gathering spot to indicate the route they would take.

With the direction determined, the group hit the road.

Although their destination, the Flame Bird gathering spot, was still at least a hundred kilometers away from their current position, they decided not to waste time during the journey. If they encountered first or second-tier mutant beasts, they would have to hunt them for points.

As a result, the first and second-tier mutant beasts they encountered on the way suffered greatly. They had almost developed a habit of quickly fleeing upon seeing humans.

Of course, in addition to that, whenever they came across areas with spirit plants, the group would strip them bare. Except for immature ones, not a single plant was left.

The resources in the training forest were abundant, especially the spirit plants.

Because the spirit plants that could grow outside had no ranks, many low-level and above alchemists didn't value them at all.

Moreover, the students majoring in alchemy at the school had their own spirit plant fields and had no need for these plants, especially considering the danger they faced here.

Therefore, the spirit plants in the training forest were basically preserved. Over time, they accumulated, resulting in the current situation, which happened to benefit Xiao Qingyang.

Perhaps because no one had been picking them, the spirit plants grew extremely lush, and their quality was even better than the ones Xiao Qingyang had picked in the Number one Forest. It made Xiao Qingyang extremely happy.

After walking for about half a day, Team 619 had gained a considerable harvest. The point counter on their devices already showed a two-digit number of points, and they were not far from the Flame Bird gathering spot.

"We're almost at the Flame Bird gathering spot. Stay vigilant, everyone," Lin Weiran said to the group.

The entire training forest was vast, and both the Flame Bird and the Snowflake Rabbit were considered low-level mutant beasts. Therefore, there were numerous gathering spots, with at least a hundred marked on the map.

However, despite the abundance of target gathering spots, there were even more teams from the school embarking on the training. No one could guarantee that their chosen location would be free of other teams.

Therefore, everyone had to stay alert and maintain a high level of vigilance.

Xiao Qingyang quietly released his spiritual awareness once again. In this environment, his spiritual awareness was extremely useful. Not only could he use it to locate the Flame Birds for everyone, but he could also detect the presence of other teams in the vicinity to prevent ambushes.

But at least for now, there hadn't been a second team within the range of his spiritual awareness. So, all their energy could be focused on the battle with the Flame Birds.

"There should be Flame Birds in the southeast direction," Xiao Qingyang said as he explored with his spiritual awareness, addressing his teammates.

At this point, everyone basically had unwavering trust in Xiao Qingyang's words, even though they didn't know why his intuition was sharper than theirs.

However, given that Xiao Qingyang's information had always been accurate, they believed in his intuition without questioning and acted accordingly.

They slowly moved in the southeast direction, consciously concealing their presence, fearing that they might disturb the Flame Birds.

Flame Birds were naturally aggressive and hot-tempered. When encountering unfamiliar creatures, they would actively attack. Their beaks and claws were extremely sharp, capable of tearing chunks of flesh if they pecked or clawed at someone.

Therefore, there were hardly any other mutant beasts or wild animals near the Flame Birds. This made it more convenient for them to hunt the Flame Birds without worrying about attacks from other mutant beasts.

Additionally, Flame Birds were capable of spewing flames. Their entire bodies were fiery red, resembling burning flames, which is why they were given this name.

Everyone proceeded cautiously step by step towards the southeast direction and soon heard the chirping of birds.

When they looked at each other, they saw excitement and delight reflected in each other's eyes.

According to Lin Weiran's previous deployment, Xu Kaiyang and Liu Jiaming would advance from the front, while Lin Weiran, Gao Lingqi, and Shen Yu would flank from the side. Li Ying and Liu Jialiang would prepare to launch an aerial attack.

Because Flame Birds were birds with wings, the sky was their main battlefield. Fortunately, their team had Li Ying, who possessed the ability to transform into an eagle. Otherwise, it would have been even more challenging to deal with the Flame Birds.

Gu Xiatian and Zheng Kainan were logistic team members and couldn't contribute much in battle. Under Xiao Qingyang's leadership, they found a relatively safe place to hide and waited for their teammates to return victorious.

In truth, Xiao Qingyang really wanted to join the others in the fight. However, his current physical condition and combat abilities were not up to par. His spiritual power and magical energy had only partially recovered and were not enough for him to unleash a significant attack.

Therefore, he could only obediently stay behind with Gu Xiaotian and the others.

Fortunately, his teammates were very reliable. In their first battle, they achieved victory within just ten minutes, bringing back the first Flame Bird's plume.

"Is this the plume of the Flame Bird?" Xiao Qingyang couldn't help but ask as he looked at the vibrant, eye-catching red plume in Xu Kaiyang's hand.

"Yes," Xu Kaiyang replied, handing the Flame Bird's plume to Xiao Qingyang so he could get a closer look.

Although Flame Birds had a hot-tempered nature, it couldn't be denied that their appearance was beautiful. Many girls were particularly fond of them, and if they weren't mutant beasts, they might even want to capture one and keep it as a pet.

Xiao Qingyang held the solid red plume in his hand, devoid of any other colors, and examined it repeatedly. The more he looked at it, the more familiar it seemed, but he couldn't recall where he had seen something similar before.

"Let's go find the next Flame Bird quickly. Since no other teams have come here yet, we should seize the opportunity and complete this task in one go," Liu Jialiang exclaimed excitedly.

There couldn't possibly be only one gathering spot for Flame Birds. It was just that they were lucky enough to come across a lone one. If they were to encounter dozens of them all at once, even they would probably have to retreat.

"Qingyang, where is the next lone Flame Bird?" Xu Kaiyang asked directly.

In Xu Kaiyang's mind, Xiao Qingyang was nearly invincible, and his intuition was often accurate. So, he didn't bother exploring himself and went straight to Xiao Qingyang for answers.

And Xiao Qingyang had never disappointed him before. He closed his eyes as if sensing everything around him and opened them after a few seconds, saying, "There are no more lone Flame Birds, but there's a small group of three to five together."

"Three to five? That's manageable. In which direction?" Xu Kaiyang asked eagerly.

They could handle a group of three to five second-level Flame Birds.

"Over there," Xiao Qingyang pointed southwest and informed everyone.

Everyone trusted Xiao Qingyang's guidance and immediately set off in the direction he indicated.

Since they were unsure of the specific location and distance, this time Lin Weiran sent Li Ying to scout ahead.

Although Xiao Qingyang knew the exact location, he didn't want to expose himself too much, so he only provided a general direction without mentioning the specific distance.

After receiving the task, Li Ying immediately transformed into his beast form and flew above the forest to search for the exact location of the Flame Birds.

Xiao Qingyang had seen superhumans transform before, but he still found it astonishing every time.

Some people could transform into beasts, while some beasts could transform into humans. Superhumans were truly a miraculous existence.

Although this world lacked spiritual energy and cultivators, it had superhumans. Indeed, every world had its unique aspects.

With the existence of superhumans, Little Dragon's presence wouldn't seem so extraordinary. People would probably consider him as a superhuman, which explained how quickly he integrated into human life and seemed quite formidable.

It had been three days since he arrived here, and he hadn't contacted the butler and Little Dragon for three days. He wondered how they were doing now.

The teacher had said that after the freshmen's training ended, each student would be given a three-day break to go home. At that time, he would be able to see Little Dragon and Grandpa Du.

Xiao Qingyang eagerly anticipated the end of the freshmen's training so that he could return home a bit earlier.

Li Ying, who had gone ahead to scout, quickly returned with good news.

"The Flame Birds are just three kilometers ahead, as Qingyang said, there are five of them in total," Li Ying reported accurately.

Their team consisted of four superhumans and three mech warriors. Faced with five second-level mutant beasts, they needed to strategize properly, or they would risk losing combat effectiveness.

"It would be best if we can separate these five Flame Birds and take them down one by one. Otherwise, the difficulty will be too high," Shen Yuwei frowned and said.

"Our team's only flying-type superhuman is Li Ying. He will have to attract the attention of most Flame Birds ahead, leading them away. The rest of us will swiftly eliminate the remaining Flame Birds, and then we'll go support Li Ying," Lin Weiran analyzed.

Others chimed in with their opinions and suggestions, and the final consensus was for Li Ying to attract the attention of most Flame Birds while the others took the opportunity to eliminate the remaining ones. Afterwards, they would deal with the ones Li Ying had lured away.

"Li Ying, you have to be careful. There's no need to directly confront them. Just lead them away," Liu Jiaming cautioned.

Li Ying smiled confidently and said, "Don't worry, when it comes to flying speed, I've never lost to anyone. Besides, they are only second-level Flame Birds. I guarantee I'll complete the mission assigned by the team."