Er Meng, with his dark skin, grinned foolishly, nearly drooling as he hastily walked forth, saying, “This nest I just raided is the largest I have ever seen! This is the first time I have encountered eggs of such a colossal size!” “Haha, precisely! Only by plundering nests like this, one attains true accomplishment,” laughed Peihou in his raspy voice, truly resembling a mischievous mountain ape while chuckling.
“How beautiful!” exclaimed Little Rascal, his wide eyes fluttering, long lashes trembling, as he observed three eggs with a smooth, luminous luster radiating tiny sparks of light. He was simply the youngest, full of naivety and curiosity, yearning to hold and examine them more closely.
Er Meng approached the massive eggs with eagerness; yet just as he extended his hand to touch, he gasped in a hurry, feeling an uncomfortable numb tingling akin to the bite of an electric bolt.
“What happened to you!?” all of the children were instantly taken aback. The emerald, crystalline shells displayed specks and patterns aglow like constellations of stars—majestically glowing, radiating a strange, mysterious vitality.
“How powerful they are. Azure-Scaled Hawk—the bloodline even degraded, yet retains the fragmented legacy codes from its ancient malefic bird predecessor,” explained the tiny connoisseur expertly—ever studying glyph scripture—flaring wide his young eyes, his baby face bearing the solemnness befitting a wise elder offering rare insights.
Delight and marvel mingled amongst the others at his revelation; indeed an even more formidable offspring would rise from stronger eggshells such as this one—offspring more precious, its ancestry noble—prophesying future guardianship for their hamlet perhaps to rival even village spirit protectors.
“Careful now! Merely the glowing blemishes—avoid touching there and bag them swiftly.” Cued by elder brother’s practical authority, Shi Dazhuang—robust, towering and composed—added pragmatism urgently to the excited mood, insisting no moment be wasted for clearly expeditions like this needed forethought and planning. Swift were their movements accordingly as each lad produced beast-hide pouch they each earlier carried and opened wide, placing three massive green-twinned ovums of pot-like scale within those hide sacks—finally shouldering their loads with all save the diminutive Xiao Shi Hao bearing an egg of his own.
“Just great—we truly succeeded after all, hee-hee…” Glimpses of snot bubbles nearly emerging, such was Er Meng’s ecstatic enthusiasm.
Smiles widened from cheek-wrenching grins across their faces—peihou exclaiming jubilantly, “With a powerful guardian destined upon our hatching horizons, surely Chieftain Shi, and Lin Hu, uncle would regard us with fresh, elevated favor indeed!”
“Aaugh!” grunted Shi Da Zhuang, staggering backward as small stone slipped underfoot until support arrived with quick recovery, owing entirely to swift reaction from Xiao Shi Hao amidst slippered stumbles.
Within nestled grass lining this aerie softness lay hidden a scattering gleaming metallic scales, shimmering in the golden rays—a careless step had met cold steel, piercing his base’s leather barrier leaving a minor trail trickled by crimson.
“Sharp-edged indeed!” the smallest one murmured—lifting handfuls cold-splintered scales, each one matching a newborn child’s tiny palms in dimension, their reflective quality gleaming dangerously. “Indeed proof of a full-fledged fierce avian’s armor plate… quite impressive—I daresay an even five-hundred-jing sword would struggle to shatter them.”
They did waste precious extra time here; scaling cliffward passage they navigated deftly, lizard-fashion, until at last touching down ground safely at woodland clearing—finally free from the vertical confines having earned some brief reprieve.
“Back already? Any good haul?” Awaiting companions approached in excited inquiry swarmed closer as they opened hide sacks revealing three water-basin-sized eggs inside—a vision glittering ethereally under canopy glaze. Hushed exclamations spread like wind—“Great heavens! Victory! Such eggs of mighty wings!”
“They will fly for us—one day… Stonehamlet shall claim aerial might,” one murmured, the vision becoming shared reality within all minds. They departed swiftly with unrestrained glee—their exodus through thickets resembling bounding herd of forest spirits, nimble leaping past stone pillars, until clearing their perilous stone labyrinth just as timely, eluding any return home prior by Azure-Scaled guardian’s return.
“Favorable indeed—forward ho!” The woodland trail softened by layering detritus eased steps while towering giants sheltered sunrays beneath their ancient canopy; twisting tendrils coiled anciently—serpent-wooden in appearance entwined massive trunks, distant echoing howls occasionally resonating through hilly folds of this land.
Yet despite its wilderness proximity remained manageable. No deeper into forest heart they strayed past safe fringes of the more formidable predators lurking further still where uninvited exploreres never survived. Still—excitement coursed their chests; and a tinge of concern crept beneath exhilarated laughter. Afterward—did indeed they steal successfully—egg hoard from none other than the mighty Azure-Scaled Falcon herself—an enormity feared in full-grown stature by men grown strongest among the village—yet the daring had succeeded, the entire clutch taken intact from her domain.
Suddenly—piercing cries resound across heaven, cleaving atmosphere as piercing screeches echoed across woodland expanse—an ear piercing scream causing collective cringes.
“It’s back! Definitely caught its return—it’s noticed their vanished clutch—we’re doomed!” Cried panic within younger throes—an alert immediately heeded as cries erupted—”Scatter!”
Xiao Shi Hao eyes glowed brightly despite dread; peering through crisscross lattice created by overhanging leafage above, his vision confirmed an overhead mass—a growing aerial eclipse looming from altitude where sunlight met shade.
High above—whirling gales heralds the plummeting shadow of a gargantuan eagle. Racing toward them at speed terrifying—streamed waves undiminished cobalt brilliance over scales. The killing air palpable from its descending wings caused the entire party to witness for themselves—this approaching titan.
“Gracious gods—did something like *that* lay inside those eggs?? Sprint!!” Yelling, they burst through brushwood terrain, racing against terror itself—countless feet thrashing undergrowth with the practiced skill borne only from youth raised amidst such dense undergrowths; evading by weaving into even thorneir groves than ever.
“Kaboom!” Trunk upon ancient trunk exploded outward with a mere flap from wings like war-fan castor forged—shards of broken timber raining alongside cascades of severed leaves—a body shaped more like steel-plated death machine—uttering not a peep amidst destruction unleashed, obliterating entire forest sections in singular strikes of wrath, reducing trees into broken wreckage of splinter and pulp.
It struck with such unstoppable fury—the terrorizing power evident beyond dispute. Entire sections laid in ruins behind this titan avian—a single dive carving up forest floor like a tidal destruction wave. Neither timber trunk nor undergrowth hindered its aerial conquest.
Eagles shaped wings yet not plumed, instead sheathed scales reflecting ambient light with cold detachment—an almost artistic perfection rendered from natural battle forged beauty—each individual scute possessing its own metallic sheen—an aura unbreakable and imperviously resilient.
Beak black, curved, and of half-meter length—gleaming sharpness marred only slightly by residue of crimson viscera upon jaggedly torn cutting ridges—the mark of newly acquired sustenance from previous hunting sortie.
Those gripping talons bore similarly deadly elegance—shining in frigid menace over half-span measures length—each poised poised to shear through elephant hides, effortlessly rendering internal contents.
Crowning this monstrosity—backhead bore rows bone-spined ridges instead natural plumage—razor-fanged ornamentation akin to antelope crowned with malevolent horn crest rows. These too, ready at a moment’s notice—piercing flesh and splintering bone, a formidable tool of disembowelment to even great beasts.
Emerald-Scaled Avian!—Each scale exuding chill indifference in polished perfection. Its body exuding limitless strength, hewn from steel by gods—an unstoppable force—tearing indiscriminately through woodland obstacles like paper.
“KRRRRAAACCKK!!!” The sound rumbled—tree after tree succumbed in cascades—some requiring a dozen arms interlacing to merely encircle—seemingly as thin sticks when encountered by its wings—blown into shattered kindling amid flying woodchips like deadly blizzard.
The explosion of force from sheer flight alone had even a cliff collapse before the avain behemoth—its wingspan cleaving mountain face asunder—causing flaming sparks with each shard splintering loose. Tons shattered from cliffsides crashed like falling meteorites upon the woods—crunching trees flat in a storm wave—a single moment of such devastation would’ve erased every lifeform below but for the sudden detour by obstructing crag’s unexpected rise.
Children gasped at fate’s cruel proximity—they could’ve tasted death itself if fate granted that mountainous boulder slightly slower ascent.
After razing its path, the creature of destruction retook height—aerial vigil re-established, glowing eyes fixed piercingly over the fleeing crowd—its silhouette casting looming darkness below.
It prepared…to once more descend in killing strike.
“Just ahead! Our village lies straight ahead!! RUNNN!!!” shrieked all frantic as a single voice urged flight forward like a thousand stampeding hoofbeats, echoing through forest passage.
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