Chapter Sixteen: Watching the Sparrowhawk's Fight, Judging Human Nature

  It's unclear if Temujin sensed something, but he seemed to unintentionally glance in Ling Muyun's direction. Ling Muyun's heart skipped a beat, and his feet moved slightly as he discreetly blended into the crowd, while also tilting his head up to pretend to watch the eagles fighting in the sky like everyone else.

  Perhaps it was because he had heard too many legends about Temujin in his past life, Ling Muyun had a deep-seated fear of him. Although logically speaking, Temujin didn't even know who he was, and even if he was discovered, nothing would come of it, but he still instinctively chose to avoid him, because he preferred to quietly observe from the shadows this man who had left an indelible mark on history, rather than confront him openly.

  Perhaps even Ling Muyun himself did not realize that the reason he acted this way was because in his subconscious, he had placed himself in a weak position. Although with his current martial arts skills, it would be easy to kill Temujin in a face-to-face situation, due to the influence of his past life memories, Ling Muyun still subconsciously put Temujin in a high and mighty position, instinctively adopting the choice of avoidance as a weak person.

  Profiting from advantages and avoiding disadvantages is human nature, and the fear of the strong is a typical reaction to this instinct. When a weak person faces a strong person, especially when they are hostile towards each other, they usually choose to observe from the shadows rather than confronting them directly, because in situations where strength and weakness are clearly defined, only by hiding in the dark can the weak muster the courage and opportunity to oppose the strong. Once exposed to the strong person's gaze, the weak person loses the capital to compete with the strong and can only end up failing or even being destroyed. Because his subconscious mind placed himself in a weak position, Ling Yun chose to hide when he sensed Tie Mu's presence.

  In fact, this is also a reaction that Ling Muyun has not yet formed a strong mentality. If it were someone like the Five Absolutes of the world, they wouldn't just dare to face him with only a few guards, even if they led thousands of troops and horses, they would still be confident enough to face him head-on, this is the confidence of a strong person!

  The strong are strong not just because of their physical strength, but also because of their mental toughness!

  Ling Muyun's strength has increased greatly due to his practice of the Nine Yin and Nine Yang, two extraordinary skills that are rare in this world. In today's martial arts world, he can barely be considered a strong practitioner, but his power came too quickly and easily, without sufficient tempering, so his mental state hasn't kept up with the increase in his strength. Although he has already initially possessed the strength of a strong practitioner, he still hasn't formed the heart of a true strong practitioner. He still needs to be tempered if he wants to become a truly powerful person.

  Temujin's gaze swept over, but because of Ling Muyun's prior concealment and disguise, he didn't notice anything. In fact, Temujin wasn't even aware that there was anything unusual, it was just some kind of instinct that made him take a glance, since he didn't find anything out of the ordinary, he also put his mind at ease, turning to look up at the sky along with everyone else.

  What happened at this moment seemed to be just an insignificant trivial matter, and no one paid attention to it. Only Ling Muyun, hidden in the crowd, knew that he had already had a confrontation with Temujin, and the result of this confrontation ended with his defeat.

  "Guo Jing replied, 'Hua Zheng, you two are here as well.'"

  Just as Temujin was secretly regretting his own cowardice and retreat, a young and powerful voice rang out. He looked around to locate the source of the sound and found that it was a sixteen or seventeen year old boy standing beside Temujin.

  "Uh-huh."

  The young couple who had come riding a horse together nodded towards the young man and immediately shifted their gaze back to the sky, apparently they were all very concerned about the battle between the two groups of birds of prey in the air, not even having time to greet each other.

  After listening to the conversation between the three, Ling Yun's heart no longer had any doubts. The young couple who came earlier were indeed Guo Jing and Huang Rong, and the young man who followed Temujin and called Guo Jing "Anda" must be Tolui, Temujin's youngest son. As for the youth in his twenties who came with him, he was probably also one of Temujin's sons, but it was unclear whether he was Jochi, Chagatai or ?gedei.

  At this time, the fierce battle in the sky had been going on for a while. More than 20 black eagles had already lost three or four lives in the battle and fell to the ground. There were still 17 or 18 black eagles there, fiercely attacking that pair of white eagles. The two sides pecked and clawed at each other, tumbling up and down, only fighting until blood was splattered everywhere and feathers flew all over the place, it was extremely fierce.

  The white eagle's body was large, and its beak and claws were extremely sharp. A black eagle dodged slightly slower, and a white eagle pecked at the top of its head, killing it instantly, falling from mid-air to land right in front of Hua Jian's horse. The remaining black eagles immediately scattered to avoid the white eagle's edge, but soon flew back to surround and attack the white eagle.

  After a fierce battle, many Mongolian men and women from the grasslands also came to watch, gathering at the foot of the cliff with six or seven hundred people, pointing and discussing in the sky. Even Temujin and others were quite interested, occasionally stroking their beards and nodding secretly.

  Guo Jing, Tuo Lei and Huazheng shouted loudly to cheer on the White Eagle: "White Eagle pecks! Enemy coming from the left! Quickly turn around! Good, good, chase after them, chase after them!"

  Originally, Guo Jing and Tuo Lei, Hua Zheng often played under the cliff, almost every day saw this pair of white eagles flying back and forth, sometimes watching the pair of eagles catch birds and beasts for food, sometimes throwing large pieces of beef and mutton into the air, the white eagles flew down to receive them, not missing a single one, so they had already developed feelings for the white eagles, at this time seeing the white eagles outnumbered, they were also anxious, wishing they could fly up to help.

  Ling Yun saw this and couldn't help but shake his head secretly. He knew that these two white eagles would eventually die, otherwise Guo Jing and Huang Rong wouldn't have obtained the two small white eaglets to raise, which later became Guo Jing's trademark. The three of them shouting their lungs out couldn't change this outcome.

  The two sides continued to fight fiercely in the air, and two more black eagles died. The two white eagles were also covered in wounds, with fresh blood staining their white feathers. A particularly large black eagle suddenly let out a few loud cries, and over ten black eagles immediately turned around and flew away, disappearing into the clouds in an instant, leaving only four black eagles still struggling desperately.

  Everyone cheered as the white eagle won, and Guo Jing and the other two were overjoyed, dancing with joy. Only Ling Zhu Yun shook his head secretly in the crowd.

  After a while, three black eagles also turned their heads and flew hastily to the east, one white eagle reluctant to give up, chased after them, in an instant they all flew away without a trace. Only one black eagle was left, flying high and low in escape, being forced by the remaining white eagle into a desperate state.

  Seeing that the black eagle was hard to escape with its life, a strange and urgent cry suddenly came from the sky. The dozen or so black eagles that had escaped earlier somehow returned and, under the leadership of the large black eagle, swooped down fiercely from the clouds, surrounding the remaining white eagle in unison.

  Genghis Khan, who was watching with his head raised, suddenly shouted in loud approval: "Good military tactics!"

  Ling Muyun couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart, and when he looked at Tie Mu's gaze again, he added a few more points of apprehension. Even watching beasts fight can make one think of the art of war; how could someone who is so skilled in the art of war not be precise? Being proficient in military strategy and also enthusiastic about conquering and enslaving other nations, what kind of threat would such a person pose to other nations?

  Ling Muyun felt a strong murderous intent towards Temujin at this moment. Although he was not a person of this world, his previous life was a true descendant of the Huaxia people, a child of Yan and Huang. As soon as he thought that the Southern Song would be destroyed by the Mongols in the near future, his own clan or even ancestors might be killed or enslaved by the Mongols, Ling Muyun couldn't help but surge with murderous intent.

  But thinking of his purpose for this trip, Ling Muyun still forcibly suppressed the killing intent, completing the task and preserving his life was what he should consider now, everything else had to wait until after the task was completed. Even his own life might not be guaranteed, let alone other things? The killing intent, although suppressed by Ling Muyun, did not mean it would disappear completely. He just hid it in his heart for the time being, once the seed was planted, it would take root and wait for the right conditions to sprout again!

  Not to mention the turmoil in Ling Muyun's heart, the battle between the black and white eagles in the sky had also reached its final stage. At this time, the white eagle was alone, unable to withstand the attack of more than a dozen black eagles. Although it pecked another black eagle to death, it was finally seriously injured and could no longer stabilize its body shape, plummeting headfirst onto the cliff. The black eagles suddenly cheered and rushed up to grab and peck at the injured white eagle, wanting to put it to death.

  Seeing the white eagle about to die, Guo Jing, Tuo Lei and Huazheng were all very anxious. Huazheng even cried out, calling out to Temujin: "Father, quickly shoot the black eagle, quickly shoot the black eagle..."

  At this time, Temujin was only thinking about the logic of the black eagle's surprise victory and did not respond to Hua Jian's plea. He turned to his two sons, Ogedei and Tolui, saying: "The black eagle won a great victory, this is a very clever military strategy, you must remember it."

  The two men saw Temujin's teachings and hastily nodded in agreement. The generals and guards who followed Temujin, although they saw Hua Shuang crying with tears in her eyes and had a mind to help, did not dare to take action without Temujin's order. Ling Mu Yun on the side was willing to rescue, but he was not proficient in the art of hidden weapons, even if he wanted to save, it was helpless.

  Delayed like this, the seriously injured white eagle could no longer hold on and let out a mournful cry as it was pecked to death by those black eagles atop the high cliff.