Cultivation Begins From The Desert

The battle between Golden Core Stage cultivators and Purple Mansion Stage cultivators was not one Zhouyang could interfere with and he could only avoid it from afar.

He retreated two to three hundred miles from the battlefield before stopping.

It wasn't that he didn't want to escape farther; if he had the choice, he certainly would have preferred to flee directly to the edge of the oasis, far away from the dangerous battlefield behind.

Unfortunately, the task assigned by Cao Wenjin to these Foundation Establishment cultivators was to ambush and intercept those Tier Three demon beasts coming to reinforce the "Holy Mountain" from the outskirts of the battle zone.

This operation included not only these vassal clan cultivators but also cultivators from the Yellow Sand Sect, whose numbers were not vastly different, to supervise and execute the mission together.

At this time, anyone who dared to ignore the orders would face severe consequences later on.

Shortly after Zhouyang halted his sword light, Huang Yi also followed with his flying sword.

After following Zhouyang to land on a small hill no more than a hundred feet high and seeing there was no one around, he quietly transmitted a voice to Zhouyang asking, "Clan Leader, what should we do next? Do we really have to fight to the death for the Yellow Sand Sect?"

Upon hearing this, Zhouyang's face immediately darkened. He turned his head sharply and glared at Huang Yi, saying coldly, "Why? Do you think you're capable enough to survive in the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm after defying Elder Cao's orders?"

Huang Yi didn't expect such a fierce reaction and was initially stunned. He quickly waved his hands to explain, "No, Clan Leader, you've misunderstood me. I definitely didn't mean that, I just..."

"Say no more. Let me tell you, Huang Yi, if you dare use those loose cultivator tricks here, or if you dare to flee in battle, you won't need the Yellow Sand Sect to take action; I'll clean the house myself and cut you down!"

Zhouyang looked at Huang Yi with icy eyes, his words carrying a chilling killing intent that made Huang Yi feel cold all over.

He immediately knew that Zhouyang was definitely not bluffing. If he dared to go through the motions without putting in effort, Zhouyang would truly behead him as a show of loyalty to the Yellow Sand Sect.

"You damned fool, you want to die, why drag me along? You want to be a dog for the Yellow Sand Sect, and they might not even want you!"

Inwardly cursing Zhouyang, he repeatedly nodded submissively, saying, "The Clan Leader's teachings are right, Huang understands what to do."

Zhouyang's strength was something he had witnessed with his own eyes in the battle at New Oasis.

Even though his cultivation had improved significantly to the second layer of Foundation Establishment, if Zhouyang truly wanted to kill him, he probably wouldn't even need to use a second move.

Zhouyang did not have mind-reading skills, so he didn't know what Huang Yi was thinking. After warning him, his expression eased a little before ordering, "When the demon beast comes, stand in front of me and defend properly; leave the attacking to me."

Huang Yi's cultivation was only at the second layer of Foundation Establishment, and he practiced Earth Element techniques, inherently weaker in attack, while the various rhinoceros demon beasts on Rhino Horn Continent were known for their tough skin and strong defense.

In this situation, rather than letting him join the attack lineup, it was better to let him utilize the characteristics of an Earth Element cultivator to focus on defense and entrapment.

Being an experienced fighter, Huang Yi naturally understood his strengths and weaknesses, and hearing Zhouyang say this, he had no objections and immediately agreed fully.

While they were talking, the ground beneath them suddenly trembled slightly. Looking up, they saw two black "Iron Armor Rhinoceros" six to seven feet long charging quickly across the grassland twenty-some miles away.

"The demon beasts are coming, prepare for battle."

Zhouyang's spirit heightened as he waved his hand, releasing four flying swords to float in front of him, ready for combat.

As for Huang Yi, he immediately formed a hand seal, conjuring a yellowish shield about ten feet high in front of him and Zhouyang.

This was a magical technique, "Shield of Earth," attached to the "Earth Guarding Golden Body Technique" he practiced, with extremely strong defense capable of maintaining its existence by absorbing Earth Qi from the ground beneath, consuming very little magical power.

However, this magical technique required the caster to be in contact with the ground to exert this effect, and if the enemy's attack was too powerful and shattered the "Shield of Earth," the magic would dissipate.

Closer!

Even closer!

Despite their large size, the two "Iron Armor Rhinoceros" were not slow; they entered Zhouyang's attack range in no time.

Seeing this, Zhouyang naturally didn't hold back, immediately forming a sword seal, and using the four flying swords to form two "Liangyi Splitting Light Sword Arrays" that went to slice the two "Iron Armor Rhinoceros."

In Huang Yi's eyes, the four sword lights merged into pairs, forming two sword lights that circled around the charging "Iron Armor Rhinoceros." The two thick-skinned beasts, famous for their defense, let out miserable cries and toppled over.

Rumble!

The staggering fall of these two giants, together weighing over a hundred thousand pounds, caused the area for several miles around them to shake violently like an earthquake.

The two "Iron Armor Rhinoceros" of course weren't killed so easily; their Achilles' tendons were merely severed by Zhouyang.

But with their foot tendons severed, temporarily losing the ability to move, death wasn't far for them.

Although they fell and then used their innate divine abilities to form a thick yellow-brown battle armor protecting every part of their bodies, they still couldn't escape the fate of being sliced by the sword light.

The old clan leader Zhou Minghan, using the Tier Three high-grade flying sword refined from the fangs of the "Gold-devouring Beast," was having an enormous impact at this time.

It was solely due to its sharpness comparable to a Tier Four flying sword that Zhouyang could easily penetrate the "Iron Armor Rhinoceros" defense and directly smash their hearts.

Otherwise, given the tenacious life force of these large creatures, regular external injuries would have almost negligible, close to no effect on them.

After hunting down two "Iron Armor Rhinoceroses," Zhouyang only used his flying sword to sever the heads of the two demon beasts, collected them, and took the thick rhino hides, a large spine bone, and tendons, without taking anything else.

From this type of demon beast, these few things on the "Iron Armor Rhinoceros" were the most valuable, while other demon beast meat and bones, although also valuable, were evidently impossible for him to carry away.

And the miserable howl sounded by these two "Iron Armor Rhinoceroses" just before their death, along with their bloody scent, soon spread out, catching the attention of other nearby demon beasts, and very soon, three Tier Three rhinoceros demon beasts arrived one after another.

This time, the three demon beasts that arrived were one "Iron Armor Rhinoceros" and two "Six-legged Demon Rhinoceroses."

The "Six-legged Demon Rhinoceros" is an anomaly among rhinoceros demon beasts, having six legs, with a generally larger build than a same-tier rhinoceros demon beast, and also possessing a talent divine ability called "Beast Blood Frenzy," similar to the Demon Dao's "Blood Boiling Technique."

These three demon beasts, upon sensing the blood scent and discovering the corpses of the two "Iron Armor Rhinoceroses," immediately roared and charged toward Zhouyang and his companion separately.

Zhouyang observed that in the black eyes of the two "Six-legged Demon Rhinoceroses," a red light flashed, and the aura of the two demon beasts suddenly surged by nearly half, directly activating their talent divine ability "Beast Blood Frenzy."

"Protect me well!"

Glancing at the tense face of Huang Yi beside him, he said this and then immediately released his flying sword towards the two "Six-legged Demon Rhinoceroses."

Sword lights danced, demon beasts roared, and such scenes quickly unfolded in many parts of Rhino Horn Continent.

The demon beasts, summoned by the high-tier demon beasts, desperately wanted to rush to the "Holy Mountain" to assist their kindred "King".

While the cultivators, under the constraint of high-tier cultivators' orders, did their utmost to intercept the arriving demon beasts to buy time for Cao Wenjin's beheading plan.

Every moment, demon beasts perished, and every moment, cultivators were knocked from the sky by angry demon beasts, trampled into the mud.

Zhouyang was considered experienced in such grand scenes; during the time in Zhenyue Immortal City, as many as dozens of Tier Three demon beasts had died under his sword, with Tier Two demon beasts beyond counting.

This Rhino Horn Continent battle, although perilous, for him, was merely experiencing another "Beast Tide" impact once more.

And compared to the situation during a "Beast Tide" city assault where retreat was not an option, his position this time was much better, at least this time there was no scenario of everyone dying after the city fell.

And the achievements he created were entirely sufficient for him to confidently face Cao Wenjin's questioning even if he decided to flee when encountering life-threatening danger.

So at the start, he was quite relaxed; seven or eight Tier Three demon beasts and dozens of Tier Two demon beasts came his way, and in the end, they all perished under his sword, none crossed his defense line.

However, this relaxed situation changed after the war had continued for over an hour.

Roughly an hour and two segments into the war, Zhouyang finally encountered a wave of formidable enemies forcing him to exert serious effort, two highly powerful Tier Three high-grade "Thunder Rhinoceros Beasts."

The "Thunder Rhinoceros Beast," as the name suggests, is a rare thunder-attribute rhinoceros demon beast.

Their blue horns can emit several types of thunder magic, possessing strong ranged attack capabilities.

In the face of a "Thunder Rhinoceros Beast," the advantage of cultivators using sword flight was no longer an advantage but rather a wasteful act depleting magical power.

The range of thunder magic attacks was extensive, and their speed was quick; Zhouyang's flying sword was swift, but not faster than lightning.

Under the continuous lightning attacks from the two "Thunder Rhinoceros Beasts," the sword light transformed from his flying sword often got scattered by lightning before reaching the two beasts, compelling him to retract it for re-refinement.

While the "Thunder Rhinoceros Beasts," simultaneously releasing thunder magic to attack, were also charging towards his position aggressively.

Seeing this, his eyes flashed with a cold light, and he immediately reached for the spirit beast bag at his waist, gave it a shake, and released the Eagle Lion Beast inside.

Then he looked seriously at Huang Yi and commanded, "You cooperate with the Eagle Lion Beast to hold off one Thunder Rhinoceros Beast, I'll come to assist after I finish off the other one."

After speaking, he tapped his storage bag again, releasing a fifth flying sword to directly form a "Five Elements Life and Death Sword Array," and charged toward one of the "Thunder Rhinoceros Beasts."