Versatile Mage: Lord of Space

After several detours, the group arrived at an eagle's nest in the Tianshan Mountains, taking advantage of the eagles' absence from the nest.

Lin Lan slipped into the shadows. Some sections of the cave were extremely narrow, and the passageways were deep and long. Lin Lan moved stealthily using his shadow for a long time before finally arriving at an open area.

This spacious area resembles an ice cellar, where a ray of sunlight, refracted countless times through the ice, faintly illuminates the ice cave within the mountain.

“Eeeee——”

“Eeeee——”

The ice cellar's dome is high and wide, and in the refracted beams of light, many tiny figures can be seen fluttering and dancing, emitting delicate chirps that sound cheerful and lively.

Lin Lan looked closely and discovered that the underground ice cellar was full of fledgling eagles whose wings had not yet fully grown.

Although they can fly, their posture is as unsteady as a toddler learning to walk. These eaglets are even more immature than the eaglet that was called home for dinner earlier. Some of them are quite plump, and they flap their wings frantically but only stomp their feet and jump around in place, looking rather comical.

"It seems like we've wandered into someone's kindergarten," Mo Fan whispered.

"It seems that the tunnel we've crawled into was a secret passage dug by some greedy and mischievous little guys themselves," Apas chuckled.

"Apas, look over there—" Lin Lan pointed to a low-lying area in the ice cellar, covered with a thin layer of ice, "Is that an eagle egg?"

"It really is!" Apas's eyes lit up.

Above the ice cellar was a light-transmitting area, and higher up must have been the main eagle's nest, with the true entrance guarded by powerful adult ancient eagles. Those adult eagles probably never imagined that someone would sneak into their sanctuary from the kitchen through a tunnel dug by the eaglets.

Unlike the hatched eaglets, the eagle eggs were neatly arranged in the low-lying area, covered with a thin layer of ice, like pebbles sealed in clear lake water.

Nan Jue once said that the incubation of the ancient eagles in extreme cold requires both darkness and extreme cold. In this cellar, sunlight only shines on the upper part, while the low-lying egg-laying pool is shrouded in shadow...

“Strange, there’s an unusual aura about it.” Apas suddenly frowned.

"Stop worrying about the mother eagle's private affairs, we need to hurry." Lin Lan had a look of delight on her face. "The adult eagles may come to patrol at any time, to give these little guys checkups and feed them."

As Apas was about to walk towards the egg storage pool, she suddenly pointed alertly to a certain spot: "Look over there, isn't there something shiny moving? Like a stone."

Lin Lan looked in the direction she pointed and indeed saw a glowing "stone" moving rapidly, bouncing up and down. The thing sensed their presence and actually hopped towards them, startling Mo Fan.

As the ball of light drew closer, Mo Fan finally saw it clearly in the dim light:
It wasn't a stone that had come to life; it was clearly a little furry ball carrying this crystal.

Due to the interplay of light and shadow, the small creature's silhouette almost blended into its surroundings, making it difficult to discern. Following the deafening roar, one could see a majestic creature, its body radiating a magnificent white light, standing atop a towering ice peak. Its long, pure white fur flew wildly in the howling wind, and with a second, earth-shattering roar, it soared into the sky, as if proclaiming that all living things should bow down in submission.

"A pure white demonic tiger... its bloodline purity is extraordinary!" Mo Fan took a deep breath and muttered to himself.

The Tian Shan demon tigers I had previously seen in the high mountains only had a few white tiger stripes and markings on their bodies, but this demon tiger before me was pure white without any impurities. Its pristine fur exuded an indescribable majesty and nobility, while its robust physique showcased ultimate power and wildness!
"It's a Heavenly Ridge White Tiger!" Lingling's eyes flashed with amazement. "This is probably a true descendant of the Sacred Tiger bloodline!"

"As expected of the Tianshan Mark, we were able to witness such a rare Heavenly Ridge White Tiger in person." Nan Jue couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

Mo Fan eagerly pressed on, "Lingling, what is the connection between this Heavenly Ridge White Tiger, the totem we're looking for, and the Heavenly Mountain Sacred Tiger?"

Lingling gazed at the white tiger in the distance and explained, "The ancestor of the powerful Tianshan Demon Tiger race was an ancient totem sacred beast. The Demon Tiger race places great importance on bloodline inheritance. The legendary Tianshan Sacred Tiger, which can bestow special honors upon humans, should be one of the sacred beast totems we are looking for, with a status comparable to the Xuan Snake, Baxia, and Divine Deer. However, according to records, the Tianshan Sacred Tiger's strength far surpasses most ancient totems, making it an existence infinitely close to the emperor level—"

"Could the Heavenly Mountain Sacred Tiger be one of the Four Sacred Totems?" Zhao Manyan interjected.

“That’s not the case.” Jiang Shaoxu shook his head decisively. “The Tianshan Sacred Tiger should only be a sub-totem of the four sacred totems. Its relationship with the Kunlun Ancestral Tiger is roughly like that of the Xuan Snake and Baxia, which are of the same origin but different branches.”

"What about the other side?" Mo Fan hurriedly asked.

"In terms of bloodline, it should be one level lower than the Heavenly Mountain Sacred Tiger. But even so, judging from its whiskers, it must be a powerful white tiger that has cultivated in the Heavenly Mountain Scar for hundreds of years. It's just a mystery why it suddenly appeared near the nest of the Extreme Cold Ancient Eagle."

The majestic white tiger of the ridge was roaring defiantly at the nest of the ancient eagle of extreme cold, and the sound wave caused several relatively thin, hanging ice clouds to collapse with a bang.

Earlier, when observing from a distance, everyone thought that the eagle's nest in the icy cloud contained at most a dozen or so ancient eagles. However, when the icy cloud collapsed, and countless ancient eagles swarmed out like startled wasps, all the mages couldn't help but gasp—that seemingly small icy cloud actually concealed over a hundred ancient eagles! Then what terrifying number must reside in those other enormous, sky-covering icy clouds?

Although not all Arctic Eagles are commander-level creatures, for some reason, these birds of prey possess exceptionally terrifying combat power. The mid-level mages from the mercenary group they encountered earlier were like chicks waiting to be slaughtered in their presence.

“They went toward the White Tiger on the Sky Ridge,” Lingling said softly.

Enraged by the destruction of their nest, the ancient frigid eagles went berserk, swarming towards the icy peak where the Sky Ridge White Tiger resided. In an instant, a deathly vortex of dark gray, metallic feathers formed beneath the Ice Cloud Cave, completely engulfing the Sky Ridge White Tiger.

However, the Sky Ridge White Tiger did not linger in battle. It nimbly leaped along the undulating glacial mountain range. It deliberately maintained an exposed posture, constantly moving between high points such as ridges and peaks, ensuring that its figure was always exposed to the sight of the eagles.

Its speed was astonishing, and its leaping ability was beyond imagination; it could leap across mountain peaks hundreds of meters apart in a single bound. Before long, the Skyridge White Tiger disappeared into the depths of the layered glacial mountains, while the enraged army of ancient Arctic eagles pursued relentlessly, flying further and further away…

"Could this Heavenly Ridge White Tiger be here to help us?" Zhao Manyan exclaimed with delight. "They're practically the best allies!" (End of Chapter)