Chapter 74: Divine Arrow Pierces the Clouds!
As a mid-level martial artist responsible for keeping watch on the periphery sounded the alarm, Yue Yu looked up to see dozens of iron feathered eagles flying in from the horizon in a human-shaped formation. The sky, which had previously been home to many small, low-ranking demon birds, was now empty as they all flew far away to avoid this place.
Yue Yu held her breath and followed the others beside her, comforting the anxious Longlin horse while finding a dense thicket to hide in. About two minutes later, the iron-winged eagles flew over the area and immediately spotted the large yao beasts wailing on the empty ground. The entire flock began to circle above the forest, with one or two iron-winged eagles breaking away to dive down, but they would always swoop back up when they descended to about a hundred meters.
Due to the obstruction of the leaves above, Yue Yu couldn't see the specific situation in the air for a while. He could only vaguely distinguish their total number, which should be around 135 to 140, and could only be considered a small group of iron feather eagles. He thought that it was no wonder that Yue Yunjie dared to use these twenty Xuanjia heavy cavalry to hunt and kill this group of third-order demon birds.
The birds, although they had discovered the bait, only circled at an altitude of three hundred meters and refused to land. Although it was not within the range that human bows and arrows could reach, they were all in a region where it was extremely difficult to aim. It seems that on this Dongsheng continent, humans have learned to use bows and arrows to drive away birds, but these demonic birds have also gradually adapted to human weapons and found suitable countermeasures.
When the group of iron-winged eagles probed for the fourth time, they suddenly floated up more than 30 meters. At this time, Yue Yunjie and Yue Yunwen on the side both looked extremely ugly. Almost simultaneously, they drew their bows and shot arrows at the last iron-winged eagle that had ended its dive and was climbing upwards. Unfortunately, the giant bird's speed was too fast, and the distance was a bit too far. Although Yue Yunjie and Yue Yunwen brothers' archery skills were astonishing, they still missed by a hair's breadth, and the arrow passed close to the iron-winged eagle.
"How detestable! When did these beasts become so clever?"
When the arrow had just been determined to be a miss, Yue Yunwen had already walked out of his previous hiding place, staring at the sky with an extremely fierce gaze. "Brother! I think it's better to find another way, or else we'll have to wait until winter——"
Yue Yongjie let out a soft sigh, also walking out of the dense forest, with an even deeper look of worry in his eyes. "This group of Iron Winged Eagles return to their nest at midnight, wanting to find the nest is not easy? I did hire dozens of experienced old hunters to investigate and monitor everywhere yesterday, but the chances of finding it are really slim. Can only do our best and leave the rest to fate. As for waiting until winter——”
At this point, Yue Yunjie couldn't help but smile wryly and stopped there. But the look of difficulty on his face revealed his true feelings.
Yue Yu was also silent for a moment. In the winter, most of the demonic beasts hibernated, and other animals on the ground would also reduce their activities. Under the circumstances where food was scarce, the Iron Winged Eagle group's chances of taking risks would far exceed usual times. However, that also meant that Yuejia City would face an unprecedentedly huge loss this year. It might not be as exaggerated as the 500,000 mu he mentioned earlier, but a loss of 300,000 mu was almost certain. And that meant that next year's situation for Yuejia City would be even more dire.
"Hmph! If it weren't for someone causing trouble, our alliance between Yujia City and Dan Yun City would have already taken down that Cloud Valley in the south!"
Yue Yunwen hummed softly and cast a cold glance at Yue Yu. "With the 550,000 mu of good land that has been cultivated for over a hundred years in our possession, why should my family's city worry about this trivial Iron Winged Bird clan?"
Yue Yu knew that this uncle of his was just venting his anger. He didn't plan on paying attention, and simply leaned against the railing with his right hand, gazing up at the sky. The iron bird sculptures were still hovering in mid-air, circling around and emitting a series of shrill cries, as if mocking the clumsiness of the human traps set below.
"Uncle, must these iron-winged birds be shot and killed before autumn?"
"It would be best if they could be cleared away before autumn! This is not just for the sake of food, recently some elderly people in our village suspect that this group of iron-winged eagles may have started laying eggs on a large scale. In fact, a month ago, the number of eagles was even more than now, with over 200 birds. If the missing ones were shot by humans, then so be it, but if they are still in their nests incubating eggs, that would truly be worrisome!"
Yue Rongjie said with a worried expression, turning his head: "Yu'er, since you asked this, do you have another way?"
"Brother! Isn't this a pointless question? He's just a young child who still smells of his mother's milk, what method can he possibly come up with?" Yu Rongwen furrowed his brow again, and this time it wasn't intentionally directed at Yu Yu, but rather because he truly didn't think that a child who had never seen the world and had no hunting experience could be of any help to the clan.
Yue Yu smiled but didn't answer, instead taking out the Bichao bow from the quiver beside the dragon's saddle and half of the fifty red-browed eagle bone arrows that came with it. He inserted them evenly into the muddy ground in front of him before looking up at the sky again. The eagles still hadn't left, and he wasn't in a hurry, silently calculating the wind speed and the jet stream above. His auxiliary intelligent system was also rapidly operating, enlarging diagrams on the interface in his mind and providing predictions.
Until all the preparations were completed, Yue Yu took a light breath and with an extremely solemn expression, drew out another Red Browed Eagle Bone Arrow from the quiver behind him.
He drew the Bi Cui Bow to its maximum elevation, about 500 meters. Even the Iron Winged Eagle closest to the ground was over 400 meters away. At this distance, the fourteen stone arrows shot by the Bi Cui Bow could still maintain some killing power, but the threat they posed to the Iron Winged Eagles was extremely small. Therefore, this first strike was crucial.
"Kid! This is 1,200 steps away from the Iron Winged Eagle's Foot. Except for those with innate strength, even the ancient gods of archery can only sigh in admiration! You don't think you can really hit it, do you?"
Seeing Yue Yu's cautious appearance, Yue Yunwen first smiled mockingly. Before his words had fallen, Yue Yu had already loosened the bowstring. Yue Yunwen's gaze unconsciously followed the white long arrow shooting towards the sky like a meteor. The red eyebrow eagle bone arrow was like a white line breaking through the sky, and in an instant, it became a small dot in everyone's field of vision. Then, in the blink of an eye, a mournful cry came from the group of iron feathered eagles. A black eagle shadow suddenly fell to the ground.
It must be an accident! This kid's luck is pretty good anyway——
Yue Yunwen's internal breath cultivation was at the 8th level of Wushang, and among the people present, only he and Yue Yunjie could barely see the situation in the upper air. This arrow actually shot into the eye socket of the black-feathered eagle and then directly penetrated the skull.
Yue Yunwen now couldn't help but doubt his own eyes, and just as he made a judgment about this obviously eerie scene in his heart, Yue Yu suddenly drew out another long arrow from the ground with incredible speed, and once again bent his bow to shoot upwards.
When another mournful cry echoed through the sky, the crowd in the forest was suddenly silent.
