144: Chapter 144 Wounded Escape

At this moment, blades grew from Nie Ning's arms, and he stabbed down along the Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle's eyelid.

The Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle's eyeball, which was already under immense strain, burst open.

Nie Ning wanted to continue his attack, but the magic within the Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle's crystal core erupted, and the resulting magical shockwave sent Nie Ning flying back.

While in mid-air, Nie Ning used his Lightning Edge Blade to attack continuously, but they were all blocked by the Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle's hard wings.

The Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle, its eye injured, flapped its wings and flew high, seemingly wanting to escape.

But Nie Ning had finally found an opportunity; how could he let the Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle escape so easily?

Black branches grew from the ground, entangling the Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle's sharp claws while the thorns on the branches pierced into the eagle's injured abdomen.

However, it was a Tier 3 mutated beast after all, and its body structure was harder than steel.

A cold light flashed from the Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle's claws, severing all the black branches binding its legs. At the same time, green light quickly condensed in its mouth, and it spat a green beam toward Nie Ning.

The green light pillar was very fast. Even though Nie Ning tried his best to dodge, he was still hit in the waist, and a chunk of flesh was instantly blasted away.

The sweeping green light pillar seemed to want to cut Nie Ning in half at the waist.

At that moment, the Jerky Bear Head charged into the Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle's body.

In an instant, the Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle let out a miserable scream, and the green light pillar shooting from its mouth was forcibly interrupted.

It didn't last long, however, as the Jerky Bear Head was shaken out of the body by the Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle.

As a Tier 3 mutated beast, the Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle's soul was naturally not weak, and the Jerky Bear Head's illusory body indicated that it hadn't gained much of an advantage.

But the influence of the Power of Corruption didn't stop there; the wound on the Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle's abdomen rapidly worsened and began to fester.

By then, Nie Ning had once again unleashed the eight-fold elemental fusion.

Sensing the surging elemental fluctuations around it, the Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle knew it was injured and didn't dare to stay any longer, turning to flee.

Seeing this, Nie Ning pointed his staff at the Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle, and a streak of multicolored light quickly chased after it.

The magic in the Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle's crystal core erupted, propping up a green shield around its body.

Yet in an instant, the Eight-Fold Elemental Light Spear pierced through the green shield.

At that moment, the Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle suddenly turned around, its claws wrapped in green light as it snatched at the elemental light spear.

The two forces reached a stalemate in the air.

But this kind of competition was extremely disadvantageous for Nie Ning.

After all, he was only at the early Second Ring stage, and his mana reserves could not yet compare to such a Tier 3 mutated beast.

Furthermore, the disadvantage of fusion sorcery was high mana consumption, requiring a large amount of Spiritual Power to maintain control.

Seeing this, Nie Ning decisively detonated the Eight-Fold Elemental Light Spear.

'Boom!'

The sound of an explosion rang out.

The violent elemental impact shattered the Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle's claws, blasting the entire leg section until only white bone remained.

But this strike ultimately failed to hit the Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle's vital points.

The Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle screamed in pain and used the impact of the explosion to quickly flap its wings and flee the area.

Nie Ning remained in mid-air, watching the escaping Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle but unable to do anything.

Given the speed of the Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle, rashly chasing after it would only exhaust him to death.

"It really runs fast."

Nie Ning grumbled in a low voice while baring his teeth in pain.

He then shifted his gaze to his waist, where a palm-sized piece of flesh was missing, and bright red blood dripped onto the ground along his pant leg.

Even though his recovery ability was strong, it would take at least a day to fully heal.

Fortunately, it was only flesh that was missing; if it had been bone, it would probably take a long time to recover completely.

"How unlucky. It looks like I can only come back to explore another time."

Nie Ning shook his head helplessly and casually used ice to seal the wound.

Long-duration flight already consumed a lot of mana, and he hadn't dared to save any mana during the battle with the Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle, leaving him with only about twenty percent of his mana remaining.

If the Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle turned back now, it would be very difficult to fight it in his current state.

However, the Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle was also badly injured.

One eye had been blinded by him, one leg was gone, and the wound on its abdomen was being eroded by the Power of Corruption; it would be difficult for it to recover in the short term.

Just as Nie Ning was about to leave, he suddenly remembered the Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle's mangled leg.

Thinking of this, Nie Ning flew into the forest and began searching the surroundings.

Hard work paid off, and he indeed found the residual flesh of the Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle. A look of joy appeared on Nie Ning's face.

Whether he could obtain the Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle's traits was secondary; the main goal was to obtain its genes to raise his own upper limit.

Even if it could only be raised a little, it was a gain for Nie Ning.

...

Nie Ning returned along the path he came, thinking about that Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle along the way.

Normally, bloodline barriers are very difficult to break.

The original upper limit of most mutated beasts almost determined their entire lives.

Moreover, over time, bloodlines tend to degrade.

If a newborn mutated beast cannot reach the upper limit, then it itself becomes the new limit, and the next generation will likely take it as the bloodline standard.

To break through bloodline restrictions, one must either purify their own bloodline—which is atavism—and at most, they can only reach the strongest state of their ancestors.

Or they must rely on several times the effort to break through.

While effort is clearly the cheapest way, it is also the most difficult; out of thousands of mutated beasts, there might not even be one that can break the shackles of its bloodline.

Another way is through fortuitous opportunities—to put it bluntly, it depends on luck.

Just like the silver-colored hundred-flavor fruit Nie Ning encountered last time.

According to what Nie Ning knew, the upper limit for Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagles in the vicinity was Tier 1; even Tier 2 atavistic Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagles were rare.

As for Tier 3, Nie Ning had never even heard of it.

Furthermore, the upper limits of mutated beasts in the Wantai Forest were not high; he hadn't even seen a Tier 1 mutated beast there before.

It wasn't impossible to break through to Tier 1 by chance.

But rising three tiers in a row was a bit exaggerated; it was almost unthinkable without external help.

Not to mention that if it had improved step-by-step, it couldn't have remained unknown; there would more or less be some related rumors, rather than it appearing with Tier 3 strength right away.

"It seems there are quite a few treasures in the Wantai Forest."

Nie Ning glanced at the forest behind him, a sharp glint appearing in his eyes.

Last time, he had obtained a treasure like the silver-colored hundred-flavor fruit inside, and he had even seen the rumored extinct Lar Phantom Water Beast.

If his guess was correct, the Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle must have devoured some kind of natural treasure, which caused its bloodline to undergo a leap in evolution.

Otherwise, if it relied purely on hard cultivation, it likely wouldn't reach this level even if its lifespan reached its limit.

"The matter with the necklace will have to wait; I'll find an opportunity to see if I can kill that Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle first."

Compared to the slim hope of the guidance, Nie Ning cared more about the immediate benefits.

After all, he didn't know where the necklace was pointing right now, and finding the Ethereal Claw-Rending Eagle might lead to some kind of natural treasure.

Even if he didn't use it himself, it would be good to trade it with The Federation.