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After he found a place to hide, he had waited for the groups to arrive. A group of four reached the place first. As they saw the rock, they scoffed at the message. It was unlikely that they would kill each other. But a minute later, another group appeared and as this group saw the rock, they began to glare at the first one.

Both groups spaced themselves from the other and refrained from any other form of interactions except eye contact. He flew away to check on the other two groups. One of them was heading towards the rock but the other…would not. Apparently, they didn't bite.

Did they think it was a trap? Or someone's joke? Had they already been baited by pranksters in the past few months? He didn't know and he didn't care since it didn't matter. He was a little disappointed for sure though. There would only be three groups.

Well, it was good enough.

He flew back to his cover near the big rock and soon, the third group arrived. All the players were finally here. He decided to wait for the opportune moment. He didn't have to wait for long. One of the cultivators began a speech about peace and cooperation.

It was perfect and as he expected.

He sent two bolts of spiritual energy, controlling them to make it seem like they came from someone belonging to the other groups and they hit the peace lover heavily. It sent him flying away.

Needless to say, what came after was a bloodshed between the three groups. They fought each other to the death. And he played the sniper from behind. He sent bolts of spiritual energy whenever he found an opportunity and ended the lives of the cultivators one by one until one was left.

Wait, no, he killed that one too before he went down. There was no need to show himself to someone that would die.

None of those cultivators had a bag. Having reached the spiritual accumulation stage, they could use spatial rings. And they wouldn't shy away from that right. All of them had a ring at one of their fingers.

Unfortunately for him, he wasn't the most dexterous animal race. It would take too long to take the rings away from every fingers so, he cut their fingers with the rings and grabbed the ten fingers before flying away. He was short on time.

Just as he feared and expected, they reacted fast. Some kind of spiritual energy cage began to form on top of his head. It grew to encompass an entire region, effectively trapping him. He was just like a bird in a cage. Screw that, he was a bird in a cage.

But he had expected it.

He flew towards the edge of the cage with a smirk on his owl face. And that didn't look any different from his usual face.

…

Inside the Devouring Heavens Sect, one Elder and one Senior Elder were anxiously waiting in the hall of lives. It was where all the tokens linked to the life signals of their own were stored. Since they put on the bounty, they had been waiting at this hall, waiting for disciples to die so that they could close in on the trespasser.

Some would be sacrificed to find its location and make it easier for the others to capture it. It couldn't be helped since after close to four months, they had yet to find even a trace of him. Without much of a choice, they waited for a sign.

If they were unable to provide the Grand Elder with a victorious disciple, they would be the ones screwed. The disciples would only lose an opportunity but they might lose their skins after being punished by the Grand Elder. Who knew how this old man would react to a failure?

And, as if their prayers had been heard, a stone tablet broke. They hurriedly checked it. It belonged to one of the disciples who went hunting in the forest. They had smiles on their faces. It was disrespectful alright but they couldn't help it. This might be what they had been waiting for. It might be a sign of it appearing.

And sure enough, moments later, another tablet broke followed by more. The Senior Elder hurried his comrade to grab them and find out the location.

In a matter of minutes, they had pinpointed the place the disciples died at and the Grand Elder began to cast a spiritual array. He didn't know how far the being might have fled so he didn't take any chances.

He used half of his entire pool of spiritual energy to create a giant spiritual cage. It would trap the being inside. Now, they only needed to send their disciples in there as well and someone would eventually come back to claim the prize.

As they looked at the cage, they both smirked.

The Senior Elder said: "Go tell the kids, I need to stay here to keep the formation up and running. We have already spent far too long on this! The Grand Elder might already be displeased with us!"

The Elder furiously nodded before rushing back to the sect on his flying sword. As he did so, the Senior Elder couldn't help smirking at the cage under him and whisper: "Finally got you, little trash"

The Elder had rushed back as fast as he could and began to scream the news all over the place. Every disciple who heard him began to rush out of the sect, giving up whatever they were doing. The opportunity they thought was a scam had been real and it was still up to the grabbing. They didn't need to think twice.

The place was soon going to be stormed by the disciples.

…

He reached the edge of the cage and grinned at the sight. It was exactly as he expected it to be like. They were still underestimating him, considering his intellect no different from a beast.

That cage indeed a powerful array. It effectively stopped him from flying away. Being honest, he would never be able to crack it and escape from it with his actual strength. Even if he was given an eternity, it wouldn't be enough.

However, just like anything else, this array had a weakness. It was that it didn't trap the underground. As long as he dug a tunnel, he would be able to escape. And that was exactly what he planned to do. He placed himself a meter away from the edge and used his spiritual energy to start digging a tunnel wide enough for him to move through it with his wings folded and him bending over.

The smaller the hole, the faster it would be dug and he needed it to be fast. While he had a chance to escape due to them underestimating him, he would still be fucked if disciples began to swarm him en masse.

So, he dug.

And he managed to create a tunnel under the spiritual cage, leading outside of it. He had been a bird in a cage but he no longer was. He crossed over.

And as he looked back, he smirked. While those fools were chasing a ghost inside their cage, he would leave far away.

He wasn't stupid. He knew he could no longer stay around here. He made a fool out of them twice, they wouldn't let him do it thrice. The next time would be his downfall if he overstayed. Greedy as he might be, he was treasuring his life much more. He grabbed the dozen fingers and flew away at top speed, far from the cage, towards the opposite direction from which disciples came from.

He obviously knew that the sect was located west to his position due to the higher concentration of disciples there. He saw it while he searched for groups to scam. So, he flew east. He wouldn't stop until he left this forest and went even further away.

This area was now too dangerous, only death awaited him if he remained. Or enslavement as a tamed beast. Wasn't much better.

It was truly time to unfurl his wings and take flight towards freedom!

As he flew away, he couldn't help but laugh. It had gone so smoothly it was hilarious.

…

Meanwhile, back at the big rock, a cultivator had actually survived. It was purely out of luck. He was on the brink of death but was hung on through sheer will. He moved his hand with everything he had towards a secret pocket inside his robe and took out a pellet that he ate right away.

He could feel the medicinal properties already taking effect and healing him at a quick pace. This was a panacea he had bought for a heavy price but seeing as it was saving his life now, it was worth it.

As he looked far ahead, beyond the cage, and beyond the sky, he swore to himself that he would never again be tricked so easily. And he also swore that he would roast this bird who dared humiliate him in such a way.