Chapter 177: Moonlit Chase (2/2)

Without much thought, she placed it within her ring and crept back towards the rest of the group. As she passed by the crow, she looked at it only to find it staring at her. It's shining black eyes looked at her as the crow stood up. Its head twitched to one side so that only its right eye stared at her.

Anqing and Xukun watched in horror as the beast towered over their friend.

Why did it awaken?

Was it because of the flower?

Without it, that gentle aura was gone. The crow must've sensed that something was amiss when that gentleness was gone.

After looking at Ming Yue, it started to scan the area before its eyes landed on the upturned soil where the flower it has been guarding for hundreds of years was gone. A moment of thought was all it took to realize that it had been stolen by the girl before it. Only she was long gone, sprinting as quickly as she could.

Now that she has been found, her only choice was to run.

”Let's run!” she yelled loudly, waking the others form their shock.

Everyone took off, running through the tall grass and back towards the pavilion.

The crow cawed at them as the black ink on its body shimmered before splitting into two and coating its wings. The ink covered them like armor and even lengthened the wingspan by a full foot.

Three times the height of Ming Yue and with a wingspan that could blot out the moon, it spread its wings and took flight.

The Luminous Ink Crow waved its wings and swung them together. From the tips of the wings, the black ink formed sharp nails which shot forth and rained on ground. Even though they were made of ink, these nails could not be less dangerous, piercing through the thick trunk of trees and digging into the ground.

There was destruction everywhere as bits of wood and dirt scattered in the air.

”Why did you have to get the flower?! There were plenty of other things we could've found!” Xukun shouted out, panic and concern was written across his face.

”This was probably the best one!” Ming Yue yelled back at him, ”Why else would there be a Rank 6 guarding it?”

”But still, what are we going to do now?”

”Can the both of you stop talking and focus on running? Don't forget this thing can kill us in pretty much one move!”

Anqing retorted angrily and even overtook them.

”Follow me! We're going back to the Violet Cassia Tree!”

After speaking, she ran even further ahead.

”The tree? What can it do for us? The crow practically treated those other trees like nothing.”

”She must have a plan. Let's just get there first.”

They stopped speaking and focused on escaping the crow above them. Being almost covered by the tall grass, it would be difficult to find them. Even with the crow's spiritual senses, there was so much in the way that the attacks it sent would just barely miss them.

But it was not flustered and knew that eventually, it would kill them and take back its treasure.

The group used whatever methods they needed to survive this ordeal. Ming Yue even launched an attack back at the crow. Several wind lances that flew up at the sky to which the ink on the crow's body churned and covered its belly. Much to its surprise, those lances were made in mere seconds and barely had any power to it. It just turned into a puff of hair on impact.

The crow seemed to sneer as the ink moved towards its claws. Then it dove down with its wings tucked in. Ming Yue looked behind to find the crow flying towards them.

”Watch out!”