Chapter 18

As an unique owl, Tianba knew from birth that she was destined to be the king of the sky.

At birth, it size was astonishing, once leading her father to suspect that it might be the offspring of the eagle next door. However, after a fierce debate, both her parents chose to raise her.

Although later because she was too greedy, her parents even had to go out hunting during the day, so that she was kicked out a month after it was born, forcing her to start learning to hunt in advance, but that didn’t matter! As a mouse catcher, Tianba, a juvenile owl, relied on excellent hunting skills to not only afford her own food, but also her parents’ food!

Despite this, her parents increasingly suspected she wasn’t their biological offspring.

But that didn’t matter!

The path of the strong is destined to be lonely!

After leaving her parents to live independently, Tianba’s life had been smooth sailing. Over the years, she had caught chickens, captured pigs, eaten rabbits, and killed deer, always emerging victorious. Until today, she met her lifelong enemy.

It was just an ordinary day. Relying on her extremely keen sense of smell, Tianba detected an incredibly sweet and delicious scent. This was the first time in nearly a year that she had the illusion that she could be full just by finding it.

Her intuition told her that as long as she ate the prey emanating this scent, she wouldn’t have to endure that indescribable hunger anymore.

She didn’t know what was happening, but starting from a certain day a year ago, a feeling of hunger had been constantly gnawing at her body. This feeling drove her to hunt frantically, preventing her from resting properly even during the day. Her hunting range had even spread from the deep mountains to the city, but despite this, the hunger remained relentless. Even after she risked hunting a python that he had never intended to kill before, it only slightly alleviated the hunger.

This feeling almost drove her mad. So, upon smelling that scent, Tianba abandoned her usual caution and eagerly wanted to devour the source of it.

Everything was perfect at first. She had easily caught her prey. But then, out of nowhere, an unexpected obstacle appeared.

Tianba knew that some species didn’t like to act alone. She had experienced being chased by adult deer when hunting fawns before. But she didn’t expect to encounter such a formidable opponent this time.

But it didn’t matter. Based on her extensive hunting experience, the other party is a race that is active during the day. As long as she ambushed them night after night, she would succeed one day. A mere enemy, only slightly larger than her. She was the king of the skies. After she ate that fragrant prey, she would take her revenge!

Her intuition told her that eating that fragrant prey would surely make her even stronger.

As for now…

Tianba lowered her head and dripped the juice of the chewed herbs on the wound, blinking her eyes in pain.

It must take revenge!

After applying the herbs, Tianba lay in the nest, staring at the sky outside the tree hole in a daze.

So hungry, so hungry, so hungry, so hungry…

Rustle.

The lush green trees were swaying in the wind. Tianba looked at the endless mountains in the distance and was annoyed by the sound.

Due to hunger, Tianba often went out to hunt even during the day. But such sounds usually meant that the wind would be strong today, unsuitable for hunting. However, she was injured and urgently needed food.

Rustle, rustle.

The wind grew stronger. Tianba looked up at the sky. Was it going to rain?

It liked to take a bath, but it hated the rain.

And once the wound was wet by the rain, it would be more difficult to heal.

Tianba hesitated, as she didn’t have the habit of storing food. She wasn’t sure whether she should take advantage of the still-good daylight to go hunting, or else she would have to go hungry if it really rained.

“Chirp, chirp!”

Tianba was still hesitating when she suddenly noticed two sparrows landing in front of her.

Tianba had always been too lazy to bother with these tiny birds, so she immediately turned her head away, not wanting to see them.

Her hostility towards some flocks of small birds was even greater than towards other large birds. This was because, when Tianba was young and inexperienced, they had caused her prey to detect danger and escape. In her anger, she had slapped several sparrows to the ground.

As a result, these little creatures turned out to be quite vengeful. After finding her nest, they would poop in it every day while she was out hunting, and this escalated with her retaliation, until finally, thousands of them came together to poop.

Tianba had no choice but to leave her parents’ territory and move here…

So now she has learned to be smart and ignores these flocks of birds.

But who knows, she let them go, but they didn’t let her go, and they even called their friends.

Tianba immediately stood up from the tree hollow in anger, spreading his wings to intimidate them to leave.

“Waaaahhh—!!!”

A desolate cry, akin to the piercing, desperate wail of a woman, spread out from Tianba’s position, immediately startling the birds surrounding the tree hollow into taking flight. Only a few bold ones lingered in place.

They followed Kong Bi’s call to find the owl’s figure, but they weren’t directly controlled. Their fear of the owl remained, and overcoming instinct was inherently difficult, especially for them, being just ordinary animals. It was simply too much for them.

“Chirp, chirp!”

The sparrows still lingered at the tree hollow’s entrance. Tianba couldn’t understand what they were chirping, after all, they weren’t the same species. But she knew she had to move again. Compared to other small birds, the ones still hovering around were clearly bolder and would undoubtedly hold a grudge more.

However, Tianba was puzzled. Why were they targeting her? Did they think she was injured and were coming to take advantage?

Tianba had encountered such things before. Every time she was injured, many animals would be attracted to her surroundings. But as she grew stronger, injuries had become rare occurrences for her. At this moment, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of grief and indignation.

If it weren’t for that lifelong nemesis, how could she be bullied by a few small birds she usually wouldn’t even look at?!

Tianba secretly held a grudge, before she moved, she must give them all a hard time to let them know that it is not so easy to get a bargain!

“So, you’re here…”

Tianba turned her head in confusion, suddenly noticing a featherless face extending from the tree hollow.

“Guh?!—”

She was immediately startled and retreated, her puffed-up feathers instantly flattening against her body.

What kind of monster was this? Why did its aura feel exactly the same as her lifelong nemesis?!

Having blocked the exit to prevent the other party’s escape, Kong Bi began to examine the owl.

This owl’s ear tufts formed a ‘V’ shape, resembling sharp black and white eyebrows. Combined with the pitch-black eyes beneath the ‘eyebrows’, it had a handsome and dashing appearance, setting it apart from the adorable image of other owls.

The only slight flaw was its large face, which was noticeable even with its feathers pressed close, diminishing the sharp feeling. It instantly transformed from Zhang Fei to Zhu Bajie. What surprised Kong Bi the most were the dark brown spots on the white feathers of its abdomen, which had strangely formed into heart shapes.

The dense heart-shaped spots made it look like a tough guy with a girlish heart.

Kong Bi stared blankly at this owl.

What species of owl was this?