The golden ox, a mere foot long, awoke from its daze, no longer fixated on the Great Luo Sword Embryo. Its piercing gaze swept over the crowd, pupils sharp as if two golden divine swords had shot forth.
“Retreat, now!” someone roared in warning.
No explanation was needed—everyone could feel the bone-chilling aura emanating from the creature as it stirred. But it was already too late. The golden ox had not been truly dormant; it had merely been momentarily distracted, yet it had heard every word of their discussions.
Especially those who had dared to consider it as mere forging material.
With a furious bellow—deep, thunderous, and tyrannical—ripples of force erupted from its mouth, while white smoke billowed from its nostrils. The shockwave of its roar, unleashed at such close range, brought catastrophic consequences.
A young cultivator from the foreign realm stood directly in its path. Before he could even scream, the ripples engulfed him, and his body exploded on the spot.
No corpse remained—only a mist of blood.
“Ah—!”
The others nearby screamed, faces pale with terror. In just one exchange, one of their own had been obliterated.
Many coughed up blood, unable to withstand the sheer force of the impact. It was as if a mountain-sized hammer had descended, crushing them alive.
And then, the golden ox roared again.
Bodies burst apart, flesh and spirit annihilated.
The scene was horrifying—a mere foot-long golden ox had shattered a group of experts with its voice alone. None could endure it.
Figures leaped into the air, desperate to flee. But the golden ox charged, catching one in an instant. With a brutal thrust of its horns, it tore the man apart.
*Thud!*
Another was trampled into a bloody pulp.
The difference between these creatures and Shi Hao was stark. Panic had seized them, and in their desperation to escape, they only hastened their deaths.
“Beast, how dare you?!” A powerful cultivator at the Dunyi Realm, who had been observing from a distance, bellowed in fury. He summoned a gleaming bronze pagoda and hurled it forward.
The golden ox ignored him, chasing down another victim and crushing them beneath its hooves.
“Seal!” the Dunyi Realm expert commanded. The bronze pagoda descended, enveloping the golden ox within.
The others exhaled in relief, drenched in cold sweat, nearly collapsing from exhaustion.
“Run! We can’t subdue it!”
Yet the Dunyi Realm expert suddenly paled, his voice trembling with dread.
*Crack!*
The pagoda shattered. A golden light burst forth, charging straight for the Dunyi expert. Along the way, it trampled several young cultivators to death.
The golden ox was enraged, its aura and divine power surging to terrifying heights.
“Fall back!” the Dunyi expert roared, desperately unleashing six supreme divine abilities in succession—foreign ancestral arts, Nine Heavens treasure techniques—each one earth-shaking in power.
But it was futile.
His sleeve-realm technique barely contained the ox before his sleeve exploded, nearly tearing his arm off.
A sword formation unleashed 9,999 slashes upon the golden ox, yet sparks flew, and not a single scratch was left.
Then—
The golden ox’s horns detached, transforming into streaks of golden light that appeared beside the Dunyi expert in an instant.
His ancestral arts shattered. His treasures broke.
*Splat!*
Both arms were severed. The golden horns gleamed like divine blades—unstoppable, unbreakable.
The Dunyi expert grunted, regenerating his limbs in an instant before turning to flee. He dared not stay another moment.
The younger cultivators had already scattered, but nearly twenty corpses remained behind—some reduced to nothing but blood mist.
In the next breath, the golden ox abandoned Shi Hao, pursuing the fleeing Dunyi expert instead.
Shi Hao coughed up blood. The battlefield had fallen silent. He quickly swallowed some Thunder Tribulation Liquid, his body glowing as he fled to recover.
His bones cracked, his steps unsteady. Blood trickled from his lips.
Unlike before, his recovery was slow. His foundation was wounded—his life hanging by a thread.
His body was like shattered porcelain, barely held together. One more misstep, and he would explode like the others.
But the true danger lay in his damaged foundation.
As he fled, his flesh and bones radiated light, yet his face remained pale. He needed to replenish his vitality, heal his core.
A wounded foundation could mean the collapse of his cultivation—death itself.
Shi Hao had always been extraordinary, but even he frowned now. This was torment. He had to endure.
Fortunately, his foundation was deep. With three strands of immortal energy and an inner sea within him, his body resonated with divine chants, light enveloping him.
“Where is Huang? He escaped—after him!”
Back at the battlefield, some of the foreign cultivators had returned, intent on finishing him off. They knew he was gravely injured.
Though the golden ox had driven them away, they hadn’t forgotten Shi Hao’s plight. The boldest among them had turned back for the kill.
A bloodhound-like beast, nearly divine in its tracking ability, quickly picked up Shi Hao’s trail.
“Huang, you cannot escape!”
Nine pursuers closed in—all fearless, all ruthless.
Among them was the horned warrior and the blue-haired youth with azure wings. Both had mocked Shi Hao before, their hatred palpable.
“Roar!”
The bloodhound struck first, its massive paw blotting out the sky.
“Scram!”
Shi Hao forced himself to retaliate, meeting the beast head-on.
*Boom!*
Despite its size and cultivation, the bloodhound howled as its paw shattered under Shi Hao’s fist.
“He’s weakened! Don’t let him escape!” the horned warrior shouted.
Shi Hao’s gaze was icy. Leaning on the Great Luo Sword Embryo like a cane, he sneered. “Even if my injuries doubled, you insects could never touch me.”
With that, he erupted in divine light, drawing the sword and charging forward.
“A plucked phoenix is less than a chicken—and you’re no phoenix!” the blue-haired youth taunted. “Just a descendant of slaves!”
The foreign realm had always looked down upon the Nine Heavens, a superiority complex ingrained in their psyche.
Shi Hao’s response was simple:
“Kill!”
He knew many from the foreign realm had come—young and old alike. This was his chance to temper himself.
To slaughter them all.
To ascend.
*Splat!*
The sword swept through, blood raining. Shi Hao channeled the Kun Peng’s power, targeting the bloodhound first.
One slash—and the beast was dead.
But Shi Hao coughed up blood, his foundation trembling.
“Finish him!” the horned warrior urged.
They had come for an easy kill, not to die.
“Activate the killing array!” the blue-haired youth commanded, his wings stirring a storm as he set the formation.
Shi Hao’s pupils contracted. Reluctantly, he forced his foundation to ignite.
A thunderous mark blazed on his forehead.
*Boom!*
Lightning descended from the heavens—a cataclysmic storm summoned by the Thunder Emperor’s supreme art.
This was no ordinary lightning.
It carried the aura of divine retribution.
“Retreat!”
Some fled immediately, sensing death.
But others stood their ground.
“He truly rivals the Imperial Clans!” one gasped. “No one can face him alone!”
“No one escapes,” Shi Hao declared coldly.
The lightning was relentless.
Bodies were pierced, charred, obliterated.
Shi Hao moved like a demon, sword in hand.
A massacre unfolded.
Nine lives extinguished.
The horned warrior’s skull was split.
The blue-haired youth’s wings were torn from his back before he was ripped apart.
Staggering away, Shi Hao muttered, “None who enter shall leave alive.”
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