The Thunder Eagle's appearance silenced the entire area. Everyone stared fixedly at the creature, which was as large as a high-rise building, its entire body wreathed in arcs of cyan lightning.
"A flying mount!" Yu Ye gaped at the Thunder Eagle sitting docilely beside Shi Feng, his mind completely blank, unable to believe what he was seeing. "Could he be the person who appeared on Ice Prison Island?"
Boats might be precious — especially medium-sized vessels like sailing ships, which were treasures worth a fortune — but compared to a flying mount, they were laughably inferior.
Flying mounts were what every major superpower had been frantically searching for. Some had even offered bounties of ten thousand gold just for a lead on how to obtain one.
Yet in the end, they had all come up empty — which only showed how rare and valuable flying mounts truly were.
The only known flying mount was the one that had appeared on Ice Prison Island. Beyond that, there had been no leads or information whatsoever.
At this moment, not only was Yu Ye slack-jawed, but even Qin Yin, Long You Tianxia, Siyu Qingxuan, and Qingzhu — the four standing right beside Shi Feng — were utterly dumbfounded.
They had only ever heard about flying mounts. To them, such a thing was nothing but a daydream, something they could only imagine in their heads. After all, even the major superpowers didn't have one — how could they possibly get their hands on one?
"Qingxuan, look… a flying mount… it's a flying mount!" Qingzhu grabbed Siyu Qingxuan's arm, trembling with excitement beyond words.
Among everyone present, only Yi Yun remained calm, though she still looked at the Thunder Eagle with undisguised envy.
She had only told Guild Master Li Hen about the Thunder Eagle. To prevent the news from leaking, Li Hen had immediately sealed the information and told no one else, secretly having people collect entry slots to the Thunder Mystery Land in preparation for their assault on the Thunderhall.
"Let's go."
With that, Shi Feng leaped onto the Thunder Eagle's back without bothering with Yu Ye any further. As for the fact that the Thunder Eagle would be exposed, he no longer cared.
Zero Wing today was not the Zero Wing of the past. Since Zero Wing intended to develop on Dragon Heart Island going forward, the Thunder Eagle could serve as a perfect way to boost the guild's reputation there.
Qin Yin and the others, hearing his words, followed Shi Feng and jumped onto the Thunder Eagle's back under the watchful eyes of the crowd.
Once they had all boarded, the Thunder Eagle let out a low cry, spread its wings, and instantly soared dozens of meters into the air. With another powerful beat of its wings, it broke the sound barrier and vanished over the horizon in the blink of an eye, leaving behind only the dumbfounded experts of the various factions standing at the docking port, staring after it.
The news spread like wildfire, quickly reaching every major superpower.
"So the little fellow had this kind of trump card up his sleeve. No wonder he was confident about securing a spot in the Tower of Four Gods," said a man beside Elder Wu — his level and information completely hidden, his face shrouded in black fog — as he watched the video of Shi Feng riding the Thunder Eagle away. He couldn't help but smile.
"So what if he has a flying mount? Does he really think it's that easy to approach that King-tier Sea Beast? It's not like we haven't suffered losses from that creature before," scoffed a woman beside him, also shrouded in black fog, her voice dripping with contempt.
A flying mount might have the advantage of speed, but in naval combat, ships were still king.
"That's enough!" Elder Wu said in a low voice. "None of this matters. Our goal this time is to obtain as many teleportation stones from the Tower of Four Gods as possible and secure that item."
Shi Feng possessing a flying mount had indeed caught him slightly off guard, but it was nothing more than a minor sideshow — hardly worth wasting time and attention over.
"Yes!"
The two heard Elder Wu's reprimand and immediately lowered their heads, leaving the hall to begin the final preparations for their assault on the King-tier Sea Beast.
Meanwhile, aboard one of the Star Ring Fleet's Bronze Rank sailing ships.
"What? The flying mount that appeared on Ice Prison Island belongs to Black Fire?" Lu Xingluo's eyes flashed with a hint of jealousy as he heard his subordinate's report.
A flying mount!
For someone like him who could traverse between two Divine Realm continents, he understood all too well just how precious and useful a flying mount was.
On the Eastern Continent, information about flying mounts was scarce, but on the Western Continent, there was already quite a bit of knowledge about them — even some leads on how to obtain one.
A flying mount was not only an incredible tool for leveling up but also a small artifact for rapidly boosting a team's strength. Especially at sea, where transportation was extremely inconvenient and everything depended on ships to get around. A flying mount could carry quite a few people at once, meaning a small team could travel freely between the major islands, which was an enormous advantage for dungeon exploration and field operations.
But despite having gathered considerable information, no one on the entire Western Continent actually owned a flying mount. And now Shi Feng had one — the very thing he had always wanted.
"Guild Master, why don't we shoot it down? If a flying mount dies, it's not as hard to resurrect as an NPC guard, but it'll be unusable for at least a while." Chen Hui, standing beside him, made a slashing gesture.
He absolutely despised Shi Feng!
A flying mount might have some combat ability and be far stronger than land mounts, but it was completely incomparable to the speedboats and sailing ships used at sea.
They couldn't destroy Shi Feng's flying mount entirely, but at the very least they could vent their frustration.
"No need," Lu Xingluo shook his head and sneered. "If Black Fire thinks he can use a flying mount to approach the King-tier Sea Beast, he's far too naive!"
The creature they were dealing with was a Level 91 Legendary King-tier Sea Beast. A single casual strike carried the power of Tier Four. Their only strategy against this beast was to rely on the ships' exceptional defense and take turns enduring its attacks head-on. A Level 100 flying mount facing a Level 91 Legendary King-tier Sea Beast? That was nothing short of a joke. It would probably be swatted out of the sky the moment it got close.
And somewhere within a storm zone of the Sea of Death, Shi Feng rode the Thunder Eagle through the raging tempest.