Black Flame Wild Bulls

The disciples divided into two groups, with men and women entering separate rooms.

Soft futons were laid out on the floor, and the air was filled with the calming and mind-soothing scent of sandalwood, a stark contrast to the rusty and scorched smell of the outside world.

The disciples each found a spot to sit or lie down and began to rest.

Two hours later.

Jun Mukong was the first to step out of the stone house. He was just about to gather the disciples of his team to leave the ancient battlefield ruins and head elsewhere to explore for serendipities.

Suddenly, he furrowed his brows slightly, feeling a faint tremor coming from the ground.

The vibration was extremely weak. An ordinary cultivator would not have noticed it at all, but possessing the Void Dao Body, he was incredibly sensitive to all fluctuations in his surroundings and captured this anomaly in an instant.

This tremor was not an earthquake, nor was it a natural disturbance of the secret realm. Rather, it was the resonance created by the footsteps of a massive number of creatures running simultaneously.

"We have a situation. Everyone, on guard!"

Jun Mukong's voice was not loud, but it reached the ears of every disciple in the two stone houses with absolute clarity.

The doors of the stone houses opened almost simultaneously. Thirty disciples filed out, their movements swift and unpanicked. In just a few breaths, they had already formed a battle array in front of the stone houses.

Four banners unfurled among the crowd. The disciples channeled their spiritual energy to activate the flags, and four colors of light—cyan, black, red, and white—lit up at the same time.

Everyone instantly felt their bodies become much lighter, brimming with power. The circulation of their spiritual energy grew smoother, and even their souls became much clearer.

Fully rested, their eyes were filled with battle intent. They stared intently at the place where the dust and smoke were billowing, ready to plunge into battle at any moment.

It didn't take long for the dust cloud to draw near. Jun Mukong could clearly see that in front of the dust, there was actually a group of cultivators sprinting wildly in their direction.

Behind them followed a herd of massive Black Flame Barbarian Bulls.

These Black Flame Barbarian Bulls were thickly built, more than three times the size of ordinary plow oxen. Their bodies were covered in hard, pitch-black scales, and faint black flames lingered over the armor.

Jun Mukong focused his gaze and realized that the group of frantically fleeing cultivators was actually the team led by Hou Tianqi of the Zichen Dynasty.

As they ran for their lives, they continuously released spiritual energy and activated their cultivation techniques to repel the Black Flame Barbarian Bulls that were about to catch up, yet they could never completely shake off the pursuing beast tide.

Seeing a team appear ahead, Hou Tianqi's eyes instantly lit up.

"Help—!"

Hou Tianqi's voice pierced through the dust, carrying the hope of a survivor and undisguised urgency:

"Fellow Daoists over there, please save us—!"

While her voice was still echoing in the air, she was already leading her team charging toward the Holy Land's group.

Jun Mukong looked at the approaching monsters and quickly made a judgment in his heart.

Most of these monsters had cultivation bases in the mid-to-late Soul Formation stage, with a few reaching the peak of Soul Formation.

Their individual combat power was not as strong as the four war generals they had encountered previously.

However, they won in sheer numbers, and the impact of their charge was incredibly strong. Once they built up their charging momentum, taking them head-on would put them in a very passive position.

If left alone, Hou Tianqi and her group would soon be swallowed by the barbarian bulls.

And once the barbarian bulls rushed over, his own team would also fall under attack.

"Attack."

Jun Mukong's voice was calm and decisive.

The moment his words fell, he had already dashed out. His figure was like an arrow leaving the bowstring, so fast that the disciples behind him only saw an afterimage.

The spatial perception of his Void Dao Body allowed him to know the monsters' positions, speeds, and attack trajectories like the back of his hand.

He weaved through the demonic beast herd, every step landing perfectly in the gaps between the monsters' attacks, and every sword strike accurately hitting their vital points.

A monster charged from the side, its head lowered, the bone plate on its head aiming right at Hou Tianqi's waist.

Its speed was extremely fast. Hou Tianqi was dealing with two monsters from the front and completely failed to notice the threat from the side.

By the time she sensed the fierce gust of wind, it was already too late.

She instinctively turned sideways, wanting to block with the longsword in her hand, but the monster's impact force was too great; even if she blocked it, she would be sent flying.

She gritted her teeth, bracing herself for the collision, when a figure appeared by her side.

Jun Mukong swung his sword with his right hand, the blade colliding with the monster's skull. The edge cut into the bone plate, emitting an ear-piercing screech of friction as sparks flew everywhere.

The monster's charging momentum was forcibly halted. Its massive body rolled forward twice under the force of inertia, crashing into the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust. It twitched a few times before going completely still.

Hou Tianqi froze for a moment.

She looked at Jun Mukong standing beside her, looked at the longsword in his hand that was still dripping blood, and watched as he turned expressionlessly to charge at the next monster.

His side profile appeared exceptionally clear under the gloomy sky.

Her heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Hou Tianqi stood frozen in place, watching that figure weave, dodge, and thrust his sword through the monster herd. Every movement was clean and decisive, without a single wasted motion.

In the Zichen Dynasty, her talent was the highest among her generation.

At over sixty years old, she was already at the early stage of Soul Formation, pampered and held in the palms of everyone's hands.

Her innate sense of superiority made her look down on all other young men of her generation—she scoffed at those whose talent was inferior to hers.

As for those with talent equal to hers, there simply weren't any in the entire Zichen Dynasty; and as for those stronger than her, she had never met one.

Therefore, she had never been interested in romance. It wasn't that she deliberately avoided it, but rather she genuinely felt that those people were unworthy of her.

But Jun Mukong was different. Ever since leaving the Zichen Dynasty and participating in this Immortal Emperor's Secret Realm, she had truly witnessed what it meant that there is always someone better, and a sky beyond the sky.

Any random disciple brought out from the Celestial Holy Land might surpass her in talent.

And the Jun Mukong before her—was younger than her, had a higher cultivation base, possessed greater strength, and his appearance was not in the slightest bit inferior to any man she had ever seen.

Looking at Jun Mukong's figure, Hou Tianqi's heartbeat grew faster and faster.

She took a deep breath, forcing herself to look away, gripped her longsword tightly, and rejoined the battle.

The combat power of these Black Flame Barbarian Bulls was far inferior to the four war generals from before.

Coupled with the group buff from the four battle banners, the combat power of the Celestial Holy Land's disciples surged drastically.

Despite being at a numerical disadvantage, the battle presented a completely one-sided situation.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the battle was over.

The disciples, who still had plenty of energy to spare, immediately stepped forward to clean up the battlefield.

Jun Mukong turned to look at the people from the Zichen Dynasty.

Hou Zhiyu took a step forward and bowed deeply:

"Many thanks to everyone from the Celestial Holy Land for lending a helping hand. The Zichen Dynasty will engrave today's grace in our hearts."

Hou Tianqi stood behind her sister, her gaze darting away, not daring to look at Jun Mukong.

Jun Mukong nodded, not saying much else.

His gaze swept over the few injured disciples in the Zichen Dynasty's team, and he asked:

"If they are minor injuries, we have healing pills here and can give you some."

Hou Zhiyu quickly waved her hand:

"Please don't trouble yourself. We came prepared and have already given them to the injured disciples."

Jun Mukong nodded slightly and said no more.

Hou Tianqi stood to the side, secretly raising her eyes to peek at Jun Mukong.

There was not a single drop of blood on his body; his robes were perfectly clean, and his aura was steady, forming a stark contrast to their own battered and disheveled states.

She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but found that she could not utter a single word.

In the end, she simply lowered her head and softly said,

"...Thank you."

Her voice was so faint that it was almost swept away by the wind.

Jun Mukong glanced at her, gave a slight nod, and then turned to walk toward his own group.