Ashen egg

  Rush tonight, everyone help out, o(∩_∩)o..., all speeches are added to the essence!

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  Ye Qin secretly estimated the value in his heart, that small dewdrop on the leaf blade might be worth about one silver leaf. This value was enough to make him take a risk, and it would make his next few days much easier.

  Ye Qin quickly turned his head to scan the surrounding sky, finding a few eagles circling in the distant blue sky, without noticing his presence. He couldn't help but feel secretly delighted, as long as he descended two or three zhang, he would be able to land on that protruding rock.

  He loosened the thin rope around his waist. His hands tightly grasped the thick rope and slowly moved downwards.

  In a short moment, Ye Qin had already stepped onto the rock with one foot. He first picked some ordinary herbs nearby and put them into the small herb basket hanging from his waist. Then he crept to the edge of the rock, preparing to pick that dewdrop grass.

  At arm's length, gazing at this small blade of grass.

  A strange and eerie feeling arose in Ye Qin's heart, this small grass seemed to contain a mysterious spirit, causing him to involuntarily feel a sense of astonishment.

  He secretly smiled and quickly shook off his idle thoughts, focusing on digging herbs.

  Picking this rare little grass requires great care. Because the medicinal properties are unknown, it is unclear where its most valuable parts are located - on the leaves, stems or roots. So he prepares the whole plant, digging up everything including the roots and mud.

  Ye Qin skillfully pulled out a small knife tied to his right leg strap, carefully and cautiously digging along the roots of the small grass, little by little, to avoid damaging its fragile root system.

  Beyond his expectation, the stem and leaves of this small grass were only the size of his little finger, but its roots were nearly half a foot long. It took him a good half minute to dig it out with soil intact.

  Chirp!

  A sharp eagle cry came from the sky behind.

  Ye Qin was startled by the sound, and a bad feeling suddenly arose in his heart. He had been too focused on digging up this herb, spending too much time, and had actually forgotten that this was an eagle's nest. Just as he turned around to look, he caught a glimpse of a gray shadow swooping down from mid-air with a fierce gust of wind.

  Ye Qin didn't even think, his wrist flipped over, and the small knife for picking herbs swiftly stabbed towards that grey shadow. "Puchi", that grey shadow couldn't dodge, and it's unknown where it was stabbed, letting out a mournful cry, carrying Ye Qin's small knife as it fell headfirst down the cliff, landing in the dense and invisible deep mountain valley.

  Ye Qin also took a painful breath, almost tearing his mouth open. The gray shadow's final flap of its wings before dying hit him so hard that his entire right hand and forearm were almost fractured, with several deep gashes from the sharp claws.

  He endured the pain in his right hand, not daring to delay. His left hand grabbed a handful of green grass and stuffed it into the small grass medicine basket at his waist. Then he prepared to climb up immediately. There were several eagle nests here, but not just one old eagle. He had to leave as soon as possible.

  The grey hawk's temporary miserable cry had startled the surrounding grey hawks.

  Eagles cried out in the sky, and several gray shadows rushed towards his location.

  Ye Qin no longer had any illusions at this time, nor did he have the luxury of regret. He knew that it was impossible for him to climb to the top of the mountain under the siege of a group of grey eagles. He was already in a desperate situation and had to turn around and fight back; either he would die or the eagles would perish.

  He gritted his teeth, turned around and leaned against the rock wall, standing on the protruding rock, using a thick rope to tie himself tightly, and took out his last weapon - a small axe hanging from his waist.

  Facing those grey eagles head-on.

  Ye Qin's body was also silently operating, the thread of breath born from his dantian passed through his right forearm, dissolving more than half of the piercing pain in his right forearm. This set of internal skill techniques not only gave him a very strong physical recovery ability but also made his eyesight sharp, his movements agile, and he became many times stronger than before.

  Although he hadn't learned any powerful attacking moves, his basic chopping, stabbing and slashing movements were exceptionally skilled. Otherwise, he would have died in some unknown mountain forest or old ditch long ago.

  A dozen grey eagles swooped down on him.

  Ye Qin almost instantly saw their gliding trajectory in mid-air. Two of them flew the fastest, and were already less than thirty steps away from him, while the other three were a bit slower.

  One by one!

  This was an idea that jumped out of his mind with almost no hesitation.

  In that instant, Ye Qin took aim and swung the axe in his hand fiercely towards the front. With a "thud" and a "crack", the two grey eagles were split in half by his axe and fell down the cliff.

  He was also hit by two grey eagles' fierce impact, and he was slapped hard on the rock wall. His whole body was like being hit by two huge iron hammers, the impact was even harder than his senior brother's fist. A mouthful of blood spurted out from his throat, and with a thud, he knelt down on one knee on the rocky ground, his head spinning dizzily. If it weren't for the rope still tied around him, he might have fallen off the cliff.

  The remaining three grey eagles, seeing their companions die in the blink of an eye, were suddenly stunned and let out a series of mournful and desolate cries as they circled in mid-air. These grey eagles had blood-red eyes, furious and impatient, glaring angrily at the culprit who had invaded their nest and killed their companions.

  After a few gasps, Ye Qin caught his breath, his eyes were filled with bloodshot, and a chilling killing intent appeared in his gaze. With one hand grasping the axe, he faced off against the three grey eagles.

  Before the age of ten, Ye Qin followed his father into the deep mountains to hunt dozens of times, and in the deep mountains, he understood a very superficial truth: only the most ferocious beasts can survive in the mountains, and those who turn around and run away have only one dead end. Three years ago, when he was wandering in the wilderness with Big Cow, he dared to fight with greedy old wild dogs at midnight without regard for his life. Now that he is fourteen years old, his physique has increased by several times compared to before, so why would he be afraid of these three gray eagles?

  Ye Qin had just suffered a severe impact, his whole body almost numb. If these three gray eagles launched a fierce attack now, he was afraid that he would be torn to pieces by their powerful iron claws in an instant.

  However, the three grey eagles were intimidated by his ferocity and failed to seize the opportunity to launch an attack. The three grey eagles did not dare to attack, but only circled outside the eagle's nest.

  Ye Qin didn't dare climb up either, exposing his back to these few grey eagles.

  He seized the time, half-kneeling on the protruding rock, silently operating his inner skill, relaxing his stiff muscles and bones, and recovering his ability to fight.

  Confrontation lasted for several hours, the sun slowly set, and a chilling wind blew on the cliff. The three gray eagles finally lost their patience, let out a mournful cry again, seemingly knowing they couldn't defeat this enemy occupying their nest, flapped their gray wings, turned around, and flew towards the distant mountain peaks.

  Ye Qin finally let out a breath of relief, loosening his tight grip on the axe handle and hanging it back on his waist. He touched the dry bloodstains at the corner of his mouth. He looked down at himself again, with at least seven or eight gashes left by the eagle's claws, already congealed in the strong wind.

  A bitter smile in his heart.

  Damn it, I almost died here today. For the sake of picking that rare little grass, I almost lost my life, I really don't know if it's worth it.

  Ye Qin occupied the eagle's nest in this area, startling all the gray eagles here and temporarily ensuring safety. Then he sat cross-legged on the rock to rest for a while, recovering enough physical strength, preparing to climb to the top of the mountain before nightfall.

  Relaxing a bit, it was inevitable that his nose caught a whiff of the eagle nest's foul odor.

  Thinking of those gray eagles almost taking his life, Ye Qin's hateful heart arose, and he stretched out his hand to dig up all the eagle nests, preparing to destroy them. What surprised him was that one of the eagle nests actually had a gray egg inside.

  "Hmm, this egg is a bit strange, it's all grey and dull. Well, I was worried about what to eat for dinner anyway, might as well use it as an appetizer."

  He casually put the egg into a small grass basket at his waist.