Before long, Zhang Ling arrived at the area he was responsible for. He took out a token, cast a spell on it, and waited on a hilltop. Soon after, Lin Yan arrived with ten disciples.
"Greetings, Martial Uncle," they said, bowing respectfully upon seeing him.
Zhang Ling glanced at them and said,
"In the next few days, all of you must be vigilant. The sect has received news that a beast tide will spread here in a few days. Don't lose your lives when the time comes. Go, continue in your usual pairs and patrol this area."
Naturally, none of the Lin Yan's group opposed his order, and they dispersed in pairs. Watching them leave, Zhang Ling also rose and transformed into a streak of light, patrolling another area.
His team consisted of Foundation Establishment cultivators, half of whom were sect disciples and half were members of the Hu family.
After a day and night of patrol duty, nothing happened.
Until the early morning of the third day, Zhang Ling patrolled the vicinity as usual. Just after finishing his patrol of the surrounding hundred miles, the token at his waist began to vibrate rapidly.
His expression changed slightly. He cast a spell on the token, and several words appeared: "Fifth Uncle, save me."
From those four short words, Zhang Ling realized what was happening. He cast another spell on the token, and a simple map outlined by lines appeared. He identified the direction and flew south according to the token's guidance.
Two hundred miles away, above a valley, the sound of rushing wind was constant. A bald-headed monster bird with green feathers was chasing a middle-aged man and a woman in a red dress.
The monster bird spread its wings, which spanned three to four zhang, and shot out wind blades, instantly trapping the two.
The middle-aged man was none other than Lin Yan, the disciple of Crimson Flame Old Freak. He was surrounded by blue and red spiritual light that protected them, at the critical moment when the wind blades were about to engulf them.
Lin Yan crushed a crimson bead in his hand, and a fire spiritual force transformed into red light, gathering in his hand to form a crimson banner about ten zhang long.
Lin Yan vigorously waved the crimson banner, and the sound of wind rose as the banner transformed into a thick cloud of fire, enveloping him and the woman.
The two withstood the impact of the wind blades, forcefully breaking through the encirclement and speeding away.
A cawing sound came from the green bird's mouth, like a child's cry. The monster bird seemed enraged, flapping its massive wings a few times and transforming into a stream of light, chasing after them.
In the blink of an eye, it closed the distance with Lin Yan and the woman. The bird's abdomen suddenly extended two black iron claws, fiercely grabbing at the red cloud below.
The dark bird claws, like sword-like magical artifacts, emitted a cold light. They instantly shattered the red cloud. With a loud bang, the red cloud exploded, turning into a layer of fire, pushing the monster bird back a short distance.
At the same time, two figures sped away from within the fire.
"Husband, how are you?" The woman asked anxiously, seeing Lin Yan covered in blood.
"Go quickly. We only need to hold on for a moment, and Fifth Uncle will arrive." Lin Yan's breath churned, and he spat out a mouthful of blood, already injured.
The beautiful woman beside him was his Dao companion, Hu Shang'er. Not daring to delay, the woman controlled a white ribbon, wrapping it around the two of them as they desperately fled.
But the bald-headed monster bird behind them, naturally wouldn't let them go after being hit by the fire wave. With an angry cry, its body became entwined with streaks of cyan wind pressure. It flapped its wings forcefully, and two huge wind blades shot out.
Lin Yan and the woman noticed the huge fluctuations coming from behind, but the wind blades were too fast. Before they could react, the attack was upon them.
Seeing that they were about to be cut to pieces by the two wind blades, Lin Yan closed his eyes. Today, he and his wife would die here.
But the pain of being dismembered by the wind blades that he had imagined did not come. Instead, he heard a loud bang, and the two were pushed back a distance by a wave of air, almost falling from the sky.
Lin Yan came back to his senses and saw a white cloud blocking in front of them, shielding them from the attack.
This was naturally Zhang Ling, disguised as the White Cloud Hermit, who had arrived. He had seen Lin Yan and the woman in danger from afar. An jade scepter appeared in his hand, using the treasure to summon a cloud of mist to save them.
On the other side, two black flying swords struck towards the bald-headed bird from the left and right. The demon bird also used its claws to attack extremely fiercely.
But immediately, a miserable cry was heard, and the bird's two iron claws were cut off by the sword light. The demon bird flapped its wings, seemingly trying to avoid the attack.
Zhang Ling had already appeared above the bald-headed bird, pressing down with one hand, and a yellow light was cast down, covering the beast. The bald-headed bird flapped its wings desperately, but could not break free.
In Lin Yan and the woman's eyes, the bird that almost killed them was now moving slowly, as if trapped in mud.
Then, a streak of cyan light flashed, and the bird's neck was instantly cut into two pieces. The five-stage bald-headed bird was killed.
Zhang Ling flicked his finger, and the cyan sword light flashed, disappearing into his sleeve. Then, with a wave of his hand, the corpse of the bald-headed vulture was collected, and finally he looked at Lin Yan and the woman.
"What happened? How did you encounter a five-stage wild beast?"
Hearing Zhang Ling's question, Lin Yan and the woman came back to their senses and realized that they were out of danger. The two quickly thanked Zhang Ling.
"Thank you, Fifth Uncle, for saving us. Otherwise, we would have lost our lives today."
Then Lin Yan roughly explained their encounter. Actually, Zhang Ling was just asking casually. After receiving the message, he roughly guessed the situation of the two.
Their encounter was also very simple. They were patrolling this area as a matter of routine, and halfway through the patrol, they encountered the attack of this wild beast.
Lin Yan and the woman were only Foundation Establishment cultivators and could not deal with a five-stage wild beast. They used the sect token to send him a message for help and quickly fled.
If Lin Yan hadn't been the closed-door disciple of the Crimson Flame Old Freak, and had a few life-saving objects given to him by his master, they wouldn't have been able to hold out until his arrival.
After listening to their story, Zhang Ling waved his hand and took the two to a nearby stronghold to rest. At the same time, he used the token to send a message to the other members of the team, asking them to return.
Zhang Ling quickly patrolled the vicinity alone, and did not encounter any other wild beasts. However, he sent a voice transmission talisman to the sect, reporting today's encounter.
Before long, the sect sent him a reply. It was a message personally sent by Headmaster Sun, saying that other teams had also been attacked by high-level wild beasts today, and several Foundation Establishment cultivators had been killed or injured.
They had only encountered a few scattered high-level wild beasts, and they were all demon birds. This situation indicated that the beast tide was very close to them.
