132: Chapter 132 Hunting Team

Deep within the dense forest of the Wanshou Mountain Range.

Sunlight filtered through the overlapping canopies of ancient trees, casting mottled patches of light on the ground.

The forest was permeated with the scent of rotting leaves and damp soil, and occasionally, an unknown beast roar came from afar, startling a flock of birds into flight.

A six-member team was advancing along a stream, lotus crests embroidered on the hems of their garments. Behind them followed eight Puppets of various appearances, stepping lightly and calmly, not looking like they were traversing the treacherous Wanshou Mountain Range rampant with Yao Beasts, but rather strolling in their own backyard.

Wang Shouyi walked at the very front of the team, carrying on his shoulder the heavy sword he had not changed for ten years. The earth-yellow spiritual patterns on the sword body were a bit deeper than back then, faintly showing the embryonic form of Foundation Establishment.

Ten years of honing had turned him from a reckless youth who only knew how to charge forward blindly into a Qi Refining Perfection Cultivator capable of standing on his own.

He looked back at the youngest clan younger brother in the team. That brat was squatting by the stream filling his water skin, and before it was even full, he couldn't help teasing a spiritual deer nearby, getting his face splashed with water droplets from a flick of the deer's tail.

Wang Shouyi cursed with a smile, but there was not a trace of reprimand in his tone; it felt more like an elder brother watching his younger brother fool around in their own courtyard.

"Alright, alright, perk up. This trip out isn't for you guys to sightsee—the Armored Rhinoceros we bumped into in this forest last month has a horn worth quite a few Spirit Stones."

"Before going back, we must hunt at least three First-Rank Yao Beasts, otherwise I, as the captain, won't be able to hold my head up in front of that girl Qingcheng."

When he mentioned Wang Qingcheng's name, he deliberately accentuated his tone, provoking a burst of laughter from the crowd.

A Late Stage Qi Refining clan younger brother nearby, while wiping the Copper-Armored Scorpion Puppet in his hand, unhurriedly chimed in with a sarcastic remark.

Not long after, a low beast roar suddenly came from the bushes downstream of the stream.

Wang Shouyi raised his hand to signal everyone to keep quiet, and the six Wang family disciples restrained their smiles almost at the exact same instant.

The eight Puppets silently adjusted their formation. The Iron-Winged Bird ascended and hovered, the Puppet Wolves lowered their bodies and sneaked into the sides of the bushes, and the Copper-Armored Scorpions crawled close to the ground with their tail hooks raised high. The entire process was quiet and efficient, without a single superfluous word, as if it had been rehearsed a thousand times.

The bushes suddenly burst open, and an entirely pitch-black Armored Rhinoceros rushed out from the forest.

The rhinoceros was a size larger than an ordinary water buffalo, and the single horn on its forehead was a full two feet long, shimmering with a metallic cold light under the sunlight. When its four hooves stepped on the ground, they shook the stream water.

A Peak First-Rank Yao Beast, only a step away from the Second Rank. It had thick skin and dense flesh, and ordinary Spells would only leave a white mark when hitting it. Cultivators from the Three Counties always walked around this thing when they met it.

It was evidently disturbed by some commotion. Its eyes were scarlet, and two heavy puffs of white Qi spewed from its nostrils. The moment it saw the six people by the stream, it charged over like mad.

Not a single person on the Wang family side panicked.

Wang Shouyi's heavy sword met it first, the earth-yellow sword radiance transforming into a heavy curtain of swords that collided head-on with the Armored Rhinoceros's single horn.

The moment the blade and the rhinoceros horn collided, sparks flew everywhere. The sound of metal clashing shook the stream water, and Wang Shouyi was knocked back three or four steps by that barbarous impact, each step leaving a deep footprint on the stream stones.

The Armored Rhinoceros was also stunned for a moment by this sword strike, a shallow sword mark appearing on its single horn.

Right at this moment of stagnation, two venom-soaked vine nets shot out simultaneously from the left and right sides, precisely entangling its two hind legs.

The female Cultivator at the water position formed hand seals with both hands, and three water chains suddenly surged from the stream, wrapping around the Armored Rhinoceros's remaining front leg.

The Iron-Winged Bird swooped down, and the line of fire spewed from its beak precisely burned its eyes.

Feeling the pain, the Armored Rhinoceros let out a deafening roar to the sky, violently shaking its head to break free from the flames. However, its four legs were already firmly locked, and its massive body struggled desperately in the stream but could not move.

Wang Shouyi did not give it a chance to breathe, slashing out with his heavy sword once more, this time precisely cleaving onto the previous sword mark.

The single horn snapped in response, and the heavy sword's momentum did not diminish, embedding deeply into the Armored Rhinoceros's skull.

The earth-yellow spiritual light on the sword body suddenly burst open, blasting a bowl-sized hole into the Armored Rhinoceros's skull. The Armored Rhinoceros's roar abruptly stopped, and its massive body crashed down into the stream, splashing up water dozens of feet high.

Wang Shouyi pulled out the heavy sword, shook off the blood on the blade, and looked back at a Puppet Wolf smashed to pieces by the Armored Rhinoceros, clicking his tongue with a pang of heartache.

That Puppet Wolf had its chest pierced through by the rhinoceros horn, its copper bones broken, and most of its array patterns shattered. Repairing it would cost at least several dozen Spirit Stones.

But he quickly let it go; trading a First-Rank Puppet Wolf for a Peak First-Rank Armored Rhinoceros meant this deal wasn't a loss.

Before everyone had time to rejoice, a heaven-shaking roar suddenly came from deep within the dense forest downstream of the stream.

That roar was deeper, duller, and more violent than the roar of the Armored Rhinoceros just now, as if the entire mountain had shaken from this single roar.

Immediately afterwards, a massive dark shadow, larger by a full two circles than the Armored Rhinoceros from just now, rushed out from the forest. Every step it took crushed the stream stones to pieces, and ancient trees broke in half wherever it passed.

Second-Rank Yao Beast, adult Armored Rhinoceros King.

It lowered its head to glance at the juvenile rhinoceros in the stream with a large hole blown through its head. Its scarlet eyes suddenly locked onto the six tiny humans, and it let out an angry roar more harrowing than before towards the sky. Its four hooves pushed off fiercely, charging towards the six people with a speed completely disproportionate to its massive body.

"Scatter! Hurry and scatter!" Wang Shouyi shouted sternly.

Six figures flew back in six directions simultaneously, and the eight Puppets charged towards the Armored Rhinoceros King without hesitation.

The Iron-Winged Bird's venomous flying needles couldn't even pierce its scales when hitting it, and the Puppet Wolves' fangs were utterly useless. The Copper-Armored Scorpion's tail hook managed to pierce into the joint gap of its hind leg with great difficulty, but with a flick of its leg, it sent the scorpion and hook flying together to smash against an ancient pine tree.

In less than three breaths, more than half of the eight Puppets were damaged, while the Armored Rhinoceros King's momentum of charge suffered almost no obstruction.

It locked onto Wang Shouyi—it was the heavy sword in this human's hand stained with the juvenile rhinoceros's blood, and the strong stench of the juvenile rhinoceros's blood on his body drove it mad.

"Form the array!"

Wang Shouyi shouted explosively, propping his heavy sword against the ground as an earthen wall rose from the earth.

The remaining five formed hand seals simultaneously, five-colored spiritual light intertwining into an array, but the Armored Rhinoceros King's speed was too fast, and the earthen wall was smashed to pieces by a single charge before it could fully rise.

Wang Shouyi was sent flying backward by that impact, his back heavily slamming against an ancient pine tree, a trace of blood overflowing from the corner of his mouth.

The Armored Rhinoceros King did not pursue. It suddenly turned around and charged towards the wood-position Cultivator who had used the vine net to entangle the juvenile rhinoceros's hind legs earlier, obviously intending to crush these murderers who killed its child one by one.

Wang Shouyi gritted his teeth and crushed a crimson jade talisman.

The secret technique was activated, and the earth-yellow spiritual light around his entire body suddenly surged violently. His whole person was enveloped by a layer of heavy rock armor, and dense earth spirit patterns emerged on the surface of his skin.

This was a body-guarding secret technique he activated using his vital blood as a guide, which could elevate his body-guarding Spell to the standard of the Early Stage Foundation Establishment within the time it takes to burn an incense stick. The price was that his Meridians would ache intensely for several days after the secret technique ended.

Without a moment of hesitation, a circle of air waves burst beneath his feet, and his entire body crashed into the side of the Armored Rhinoceros King like a cannonball.