More than a dozen Flaming Rhinoceroses, having broken through to the Spirit Spring Realm (Mid-stage), charged about with blood-red eyes. They had become like giant, house-wrecking huskies, goring anyone in their path. The mournful cries of spirit beasts and the screams of disciples echoed one after another.
Several Green-Eyed Wind Wolves, attempting to flee, were caught in the flames spewed by the rhinos and instantly turned into charred corpses.
"Help! Someone, save us!"
A few outer sect disciples huddled behind a crumbling wall, their robes scorched black and their bodies covered in blood. They watched in horror as a Flaming Rhinoceros smashed through the stone pillar they had been hiding behind; its scorching breath was hot enough to singe their very eyebrows.
"Form the array! Cast the Water Spirit Array!"
An older disciple roared, just as he was about to weave the hand seals, the Flaming Rhinoceros stomped its front hooves, and flames erupting from a fissure in the ground swallowed his lower body whole.
"Ah—!"
Amidst the screams, the order of the Spirit Beast Garden completely collapsed.
"Roar—!"
The Flaming Rhinoceros at the Spirit Spring Realm (Late Stage) suddenly smashed through the barrier, leading several of its kin as it charged into the Inner Spirit Beast Garden.
Deacon Wang stood in the now-chaotic Flaming Rhinoceros Garden, pinching the stub of an incense stick between his fingertips, a sinister smile on his face. "Burn. The more chaotic it is, the better..."
With that, his figure flickered and vanished.
Zhou Muxue attempted to pursue him, but was intercepted by several Flaming Rhinoceroses. Helpless, she came to a halt, her long sword sweeping out in a horizontal arc. A flash of cold light forced the two lunging rhinos back. Frost crystals spread along their hooves, only to be instantly devoured by their flames.
"To think they could break through my ice spirit power..."
"Junior Brother Lu, quickly go and report to the sec—hm?"
Zhou Muxue frowned, casting a glance behind her, only to find the space empty. She let out a soft laugh and shifted her sword, unfurling a barrage of ice needles to fend off the charging rhinos.
"You certainly run fast."
"Lotus Ice across the Heavens!"
Her clear, sharp voice pierced through the sea of fire. Zhou Muxue hovered in mid-air, her white dress rustling in the heatwaves like an untainted snow lotus. She held her ice crystal sword before her chest; everywhere the blade passed, countless fine ice crystals condensed in the air, as if freezing the very atmosphere.
"Zheng—!"
The sword light cascaded like a waterfall. Countless ice needles erupted from the blade, transforming into a flurry of ice lotuses that poured down like a rainstorm. Where the ice lotuses passed, the flames of the Flaming Rhinoceroses were forcibly suppressed. Three of the rhinos at the Spirit Spring Realm (Initial Stage) were instantly encased in frost, frozen into crystal-clear statues.
However, the power of the rampaging rhinos’ flames surged. As the fire and ice collided violently, a "hissing" sound filled the air, and thick white fog began to billow.
Suddenly, a Flaming Rhinoceros at the Spirit Spring Realm (Mid-stage) burst through the ice barrier. Its horns ignited with blazing blood-red flames as it lunged straight for Zhou Muxue's chest!
"Thousand Mountains, Evening Snow!"
Zhou Muxue’s gaze sharpened. She turned her blade, and the phantom images of rolling, snowy mountains suddenly manifested in the void.
"Boom!"
The Flaming Rhinoceros crashed into the mountain phantoms. Blood-fire and frost clashed intensely. Ice crystals spread rapidly along the beast's horns, and in the blink of an eye, it was frozen into a crystalline statue.
However, before Zhou Muxue could catch her breath, a streak of blood-fire erupted from a crack in the ice sculpture, striking her left shoulder.
"Ugh!"
The blood-fire pierced through her protective spirit power. Zhou Muxue let out a muffled groan, the fabric on her shoulder scorched black, and blood began to drip from her fingertips. She gasped, wiping the blood from the corner of her lips, her eyes growing even colder.
Zhou Muxue lightly waved her hand, and an ice lotus artifact radiating biting cold flew from her storage bag.
A Yellow Grade Upper Tier artifact—The Profound Cold Ice Lotus!
The ice lotus expanded in the wind, its petals unfurling layer by layer.
"Hum—!"
The Profound Cold Ice Lotus suddenly swelled, transforming into a ten-foot-tall ice prison that trapped the remaining five Flaming Rhinoceroses tightly inside. Within the prison, the cold was like a blade, freezing even the air into ice crystals.
The rhinos struggled frantically, their blood-fire clashing violently against the ice. Cracks appeared on the surface of the prison, but it remained unbroken.
Standing atop the ice lotus, Zhou Muxue wove a hand seal. The cold inside the prison grew increasingly piercing, eventually freezing all the trapped rhinos solid.
However, deafening roars echoed from the distance; even more Flaming Rhinoceroses were causing destruction everywhere. Zhou Muxue caught her breath for a moment before setting off without delay, pursuing the direction in which Deacon Wang had fled. Someone going to such great lengths to incite the rhinos into a frenzy surely had a more significant motive behind it.
...
At this very moment, our protagonist, Lu Lei, was crouching as he bolted toward the exit of the Spirit Beast Garden.
"Sorry, Senior Sister, but if I stay, I'm just offering myself up as a snack!"
He muttered to himself, his feet moving like the wind. His body at the peak of the Bronze Skin Realm made him as fast as a galloping horse, and in a few leaps, he neared the edge of the exit. Given his strength, remaining there would only be a burden; it was better to hurry and inform the sect to bring reinforcements. In any case, with Senior Sister Zhou’s cultivation at the Spirit Spring Realm (Mid-stage), she would certainly have no trouble escaping a group of crazed rhinos.
However, just as he caught sight of the exit, a gust of eerie wind swept past.
Ten men in black descended silently from the sky, heading straight toward the Inner Spirit Beast Garden. Lu Lei quickly hid behind a large tree, but he was still discovered.
"A rat, eh? Number 10, go kill him."
A hoarse voice spoke, and one of the men in black broke away from the group, charging toward Lu Lei's position. A cold glint appeared in his sleeve—it was a short blade wreathed in black flames.
"Damn it!"
The short blade pierced directly through the tree. Fortunately, Lu Lei performed a desperate roll, narrowly dodging the lethal strike. The blade grazed past him, carving a three-foot-long charred trench into the ground.
The man in black sneered, "So, just an ant at the Spirit Breath Realm."
He wove hand seals, and purple-black flames rose around him. "Yellow Grade Mid-Tier Spirit Skill: Ghost Claw!"
Five claw shadows burning with ghost fire tore through the air, flying toward Lu Lei; where they passed, the vegetation withered instantly.
Lu Lei had nowhere to hide. He had no choice but to cross his arms and take the hit head-on. His bronze skin instantly cracked, and blood sprayed outward.
"Pfft!"
Lu Lei coughed up blood, using the force of the impact to fly backward. He tumbled repeatedly along the ground, which allowed him to put some distance between himself and the man in black.
"A body cultivator at the peak of the Bronze Skin Realm? No wonder you survived my blow."
A hint of surprise flashed in the man’s eyes, but he didn't take it to heart.
"Still, you aren't escaping."
The man’s hoarse voice hung on like a festering sore. His sleeves billowed, and several bone chains erupted from the ground, instantly lashing toward Lu Lei’s ankles.
"Mountain-Crushing Fist!"
Lu Lei roared, throwing a punch. His bronze-colored fist slammed into the bone chains, knocking them away. But this brief delay allowed the man in black to close the distance, and a skull formed of ghost fire lunged for his throat!
At this critical moment, the wall behind Lu Lei collapsed with a boom. A Flaming Rhinoceros with blood-fire burning on its horns burst through the debris—it was none other than Yanxin, the jealous beast who was "particularly fond" of Lu Lei!
"Big Sister! Don't make things worse right now!"
Lu Lei shrieked, thinking he was about to be caught between the man in black and the rampaging rhino.
Unexpectedly, though Yanxin’s beast eyes were scarlet, she didn't attack Lu Lei. Instead, she stomped a hoof down, shattering the ghost-fire skull and saving his life.
As it turned out, ever since being rejected by Lu Lei multiple times, Yanxin had been so lovelorn that she hadn't touched any of the Blazing Sun Fruit, and thus, had not been affected by them. Though her bloodline potential had been stimulated by the madness-inducing incense, she hadn't fallen into a state of total frenzy—a blessing in disguise.