High Martial Arts: Enlightenment after Practices-Chapter 131: Feathered People

The scene before his eyes twisted and reassembled once more. When Xu Wuyi’s perception returned, he found himself in a massive natural cavern.

The cavern’s interior was vast, dozens of meters high, with countless sharp stalactites hanging from the ceiling.

The ground was equally rugged and uneven, covered in rocks of various sizes.

The light source was unknown, a dim, eerie blue glow that barely illuminated the subterranean space. It cast countless twisting, swaying shadows, adding to the grim atmosphere.

A thick, strange odor permeated the air, like a mix of the foul stench of poultry and some kind of corrosive smell.

"Eighth Trial Challenge Target: Feathered People (1). Clearance Condition: Kill the Feathered People within ten minutes."

"Challenger’s Life Energy Level for this trial is fixed at: Level 20."

Just as the system’s voice faded, a sharp, piercing shriek that was neither human nor avian echoed from high up in the cavern.

Xu Wuyi snapped his head up to see a massive dark silhouette gliding silently downward. It landed on a huge boulder more than thirty meters away from him.

This was the Feathered People.

It stood about two and a half meters tall, largely maintaining a humanoid form, but a pair of enormous fleshy wings grew from its back. Covered in dark gray feathers, they were now slightly folded.

Its skin was not flesh and blood, but a layer of fine, hard, dark cyan scales that reflected a cold, metallic sheen under the eerie blue light.

Most eye-catching were its arms. The left arm was abnormally thick, ending not in a hand, but in a huge, fan-shaped shield of flesh and bone.

Its right arm, in contrast, was relatively slender, extending into a bone spike nearly two meters long, so sharp it was unnerving.

Its lidless, yellow, vertical pupils locked coldly onto Xu Wuyi, filled with the scrutinizing gaze of a predator.

’A Level 20’s strength, the ability to fly, and this integrated offensive and defensive form...’ Xu Wuyi’s heart sank. Just looking at its posture, he could already feel the pressure.

SKREEE!

The Feathered People shrieked again, its wings beating fiercely and stirring up a foul wind.

Its massive body lifted off the ground as if it were weightless, hovering five or six meters in the air.

This altitude was just beyond the reach of Xu Wuyi’s spear thrust, yet well within the effective attack range of its bone spike.

It held absolute air superiority.

Without any warning, the Feathered People suddenly flapped its wings and dove. Its right arm’s bone spike became a blurry gray shadow, stabbing straight for Xu Wuyi’s head!

The speed was astonishing! 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Xu Wuyi hastily executed the Instant Shadow Step, sliding diagonally backward in the nick of time.

CLANG!

The bone spike grazed his shoulder blade and plunged deep into the ground where he had just been standing. The hard rock was pierced as if it were tofu, sending stone fragments flying.

Missing its mark, the Feathered People didn’t pause. It followed through with a horizontal sweep of its massive shield-arm, smashing it toward Xu Wuyi’s waist like a heavy hammer.

Xu Wuyi blocked with his spear horizontally, the shaft slamming violently against the flesh shield.

THUD!

A muffled thud echoed. Xu Wuyi felt a colossal force slam into him. His arms trembled violently and his Qi and Blood roiled. He couldn’t stop himself from stumbling back three steps before finally managing to negate the force.

The Feathered People, meanwhile, used the recoil from the collision to lightly flap its wings and ascend again, reclaiming its advantageous position.

There was not a ripple in its yellow, vertical pupils, as if that earth-shattering blow had been nothing more than a casual flick of its wrist.

Xu Wuyi’s expression grew grim.

This Feathered People wasn’t just strong and fast; more importantly, its combat style was unique.

It used its flight for hit-and-run tactics, never getting drawn into a prolonged fight. This left him unable to effectively counterattack despite his strength, forced to passively take hits.

He tried to take the offensive. When the Feathered People dove again, he leaped up abruptly and thrust his spear straight at its chest and abdomen.

However, the creature’s reaction speed was beyond imagination. It precisely blocked the attack with its left-arm shield.

CLANG!

The spear tip struck the flesh shield, creating the sound of clashing metal. It left only a shallow white mark, failing to penetrate at all.

Simultaneously, the bone spike on its right arm stabbed toward an opening in Xu Wuyi’s defense, moving like a phantom.

Xu Wuyi had no choice but to land and dodge again.

After several exchanges, Xu Wuyi had accumulated a few scrapes. Though they weren’t serious, the consumption of his Qi and Blood was significant.

The Feathered People, in contrast, remained hovering in the air with its breathing steady, toying with its prey on the ground like a cat playing with a mouse.

’I can’t let this continue... I have to restrict its flight space, or winning is impossible!’

Xu Wuyi’s thoughts raced as his gaze swept over the rugged rocks and hanging stalactites around the cavern. A theory began to form in his mind.

The arenas for the first seven trials of the Star Beast Hunting Ground weren’t randomly designed. They were meant to leverage the environment to allow the Star Beasts to exert their maximum power.

For example, in the seventh trial against the Shadow Fang, if the setting had been a scorching desert under a blazing sun, the Shadow Fang’s combat power would have likely dropped by more than half.

But this trial was clearly different. The cavern’s design didn’t seem to enhance the Feathered People’s power. Instead, it felt more like a restriction, intended to help the challenger.

Otherwise, if the fight were on an open plain, the Feathered People could just soar dozens of meters into the air. How could anyone even fight that?

A Level 20 Martial Disciple still has no ability to fly. Surely this trial isn’t a test of archery, right?

It was precisely because the trial was set in a cavern that an ordinary challenger had a chance of winning. In other words, to succeed, he had to make good use of the cavern’s environment.

At this thought, Xu Wuyi’s gaze returned to the Feathered People in the air. The strand of crimson-gold Heart Fire inside him began to stir.

When the Feathered People dove down once more, Xu Wuyi didn’t dodge with all his might as before. Instead, he took a slight step to the side, and at the very instant the bone spike reached him, he activated his Heart Fire!

An essence imbued with his searing will traveled along the brief connection created by the creature’s attack. Like a red-hot branding iron, it seared itself deep into the creature’s consciousness!

SKREEEEEE!!

The Feathered People’s movements suddenly stiffened, and its dive faltered, veering noticeably off course.

For the first time, a violent fluctuation appeared in its cold, yellow, vertical pupils—an emotion woven from pain and startled fury!

Heart Fire did not burn the body, but the Spirit and the will!

Although the Feathered People’s Spiritual Strength was considerable, preventing the blow from causing serious damage, the searing pain that originated from the depths of its soul still made it let out an enraged shriek.

The gaze it fixed on Xu Wuyi was no longer purely cold; it was now tinged with a savage viciousness.

It worked!

Xu Wuyi’s spirits lifted.

He seized the moment its movements faltered and thrust his spear swiftly, aiming for the joint of its folded fleshy wing!

The Feathered People angrily swung its shield to block, but its reaction was half a beat too slow.

SHRIIIP!

The spear tip scraped across the edge of the fleshy wing, sending up a spray of gray feathers and a few scales, leaving behind a bloody gash.

Wounded and drawing blood, and constantly agitated by the lingering spiritual burn from the Heart Fire, the Feathered People’s rationality was slowly being consumed by frenzy.

It no longer strictly adhered to its hit-and-run tactics, beginning to attack with greater frenzy. Its shrieks also grew more piercing.