Inside an enormous eagle's nest, the Eagle King was pinned in place by a locking spell Yang Kai had cast. Beams of beast-taming light bloomed from his hands and shrouded the Eagle King, but they had no effect whatsoever. The Eagle King screeched without cease, its scarlet eyes brimming with defiance.
Around the nest, dozens upon dozens of giant eagles launched fearless attacks, hurling themselves toward the nest in a desperate bid to rescue their king.
Die hovered in midair. As she channeled her shamanic power, a Shield of Shamanism enveloped the entire nest, turning aside every diving eagle. Even their gusts of wind-blades could do no more than send ripples across the shield's surface.
Moments earlier, Yang Kai and Die had charged straight into the Eagle King's nest. Yang Kai had just managed to pin it down and hadn't yet begun the beast-taming process when the Eagle King let out a piercing shriek. At that signal, all the surrounding eagles descended at once as if answering a battle cry.
If not for Die holding the line, Yang Kai would never have had the time to deal with the Eagle King.
These giant eagles weren't terribly powerful individually, but neither were they weak. If Die had been willing to go all out, she could have slaughtered them all in short order. However, Yang Kai hadn't come here to kill — he had come to tame. So Die could only block the eagles' rescue attempts without harming them, which left her with all the ability of a Great Shaman and no way to use it. The situation was deeply frustrating.
"A Niu, hurry up! I can't hold this much longer," Die said. Fine beads of sweat had broken out across her forehead. Blocking the eagles' repeated dives and wind-blades for this long was draining her significantly.
"I'm trying!" Yang Kai called back, sending yet another burst of beast-taming light into the Eagle King's body. Still no expected effect.
In fact, his repeated attempts were inflicting real damage on the creature. The Beast-Taming Art was an inherently domineering shamanic technique. With the Eagle King refusing to submit, the spell's power couldn't take hold, and the rebounding shamanic force was already making blood stream from every orifice.
If not for the fact that it was an Eagle King — far sturdier than an ordinary giant eagle — it would already be dead.
But even now, it wouldn't last much longer.
Eagles are proud creatures. They belong to the sky. No chain can truly hold their freedom.
Yang Kai stared into those scarlet eyes and spoke in a cold voice: "You should be able to understand me. Even if you can't understand my words, you understand my meaning. You have two choices — submit, or die. I don't have much time, and you don't have many chances. Choose wisely."
The words had barely left his mouth when another beam of beast-taming light shot forth. This time, however, it failed to penetrate the Eagle King's body at all. Instead, the bird's powerful will deflected it straight back.
Yang Kai cursed under his breath. A savage expression crossed his face, his eyes darting about. He raised a hand and sent a crescent moon-blade slicing outward. It struck a giant eagle mid-flight, cleaving it cleanly in two.
The eagle's shrill scream cut short. Blood and viscors sprayed across the open air as both halves plummeted into the gorge below.
Die turned her head and stared at Yang Kai, bewildered by his sudden outburst.
Yang Kai fixed the Eagle King with a predatory grin: "Every time you refuse, I kill one of your companions. Let's see how many times you can refuse!"
With that, he unleashed the Beast-Taming Art once more.
This time the light wasn't deflected, but the Eagle King was still resisting, refusing to cooperate.
Yang Kai didn't hesitate. With a flick of his hand, another giant eagle was sliced apart and tumbled from the sky.
"Screee!" The Eagle King's cry turned shrill with fury. If not for the shamanic chains binding it in place, it would have lunged at Yang Kai immediately, fighting to the death.
Rather than being alarmed, Yang Kai was delighted. He nodded repeatedly: "Good, good, good! Anger is good! If you don't want them all dead, lower your head and submit!"
The art of beast-taming dated back to the primordial era and would endure far into the future. In the Star Realm, there existed a Beast-Taming Sect of legendary fame, a school that built its entire legacy on subduing demon beasts. Every disciple in the sect kept several battle beasts, giving them an overwhelming advantage in combat.
Yet the Beast-Taming Sect's methods were comparatively gentle — and far more complex, requiring far more time.
Yang Kai didn't know the finer points of their techniques, but he imagined they were descended from this ancient art of beast-taming. No matter how underhanded or ruthless the methods, the goal was always the same: make the demon beast submit and serve.
So long as the end was achieved, the means didn't matter.
With Yang Kai's current strength, taming an Eagle King like this wouldn't be difficult if he had enough time. The problem was that he didn't. He needed to return to the royal city as quickly as possible, lest some crisis had erupted in his absence.
The Eagle King was too defiant for gentle methods. It was time for stronger medicine.
The bird might not care about its own life — preferring to shatter like jade rather than survive as a shard of tile. But as king of its kind, failing to protect its subjects was the gravest dereliction of duty. For any proud creature, that was an unbearable shame.
With every giant eagle Yang Kai killed, the Eagle King grew more frantic and agitated. The shamanic chains holding it were visibly straining and warping from its struggles.
Yang Kai's expression never changed. He cut down ten eagles in rapid succession before the thrashing Eagle King suddenly went still, a look of pleading flickering in its eyes.
It had finally understood. If it truly refused to submit, Yang Kai would slaughter every last one of its people.
Yang Kai read the look and knew the moment had come. He sent out another beam of beast-taming light. This time it was neither deflected nor resisted. It slipped past the Eagle King's defenses with ease and branded itself deep within its body.
Yang Kai's body shuddered as he felt a new bond form between himself and the giant eagle — as though he could end its life at any moment he chose.
And the once-proud Eagle King, at last, grew docile. It lowered its noble head.