The small oasis was now luxuriant. All the dead trees had turned into lush plants that almost covered the entire pond with their shadows. However, there was no vegetation except for those specific trees. There was a small isle of greenery in an ocean of blazing sand. Thanks to those trees, the pond had grown even larger. Soon, it would probably spread to their very trunks. Thus, there was no doubt at all that they had been the reason for that pond in the first place. Most likely, their roots had formed the bed of this pond. Maybe they had even helped the condensation of the water.
For an alchemist and a specialist of array formations such as Cao Yun, this phenomenon would have been obvious. Wood could strengthen Earth and Earth could contain Water which then nourished Wood. This was a very well known small cycle within the Five Elements. Of course, even demonic beasts could understand that to some extent. But there were many complexities within this apparent simplicity. Anyway, it wasn't important at all for this oasis.
As had become his habit, the Crimson Dune Lord was waiting under the shadows of the large leaves. He wasn't into the water but under the foliage that extended outward. On the other hand, all the other demonic beasts were waiting out in the sun. Each one was slowly walking toward the gigantic tyrant, bringing him gifts to avoid a terrible fate. Most of the demonic beasts could simply not leave this area. Few could fly. But even then, they were afraid of being eaten by other demonic beasts. And they would not find another water source so easily.
Even Hongyu who could more easily fly away had decided to stay despite this tyranny. So weaker demonic beasts had no incentive to leave at all. Better the tyrant they knew than the predator they hadn't met yet. One by one, they brought him gifts. Sometimes, they even gave him some of their blood essence. Thankfully, the Crimson Dune Lord wasn't expecting much from the lower demonic beasts. This day, he only killed two of them among several hundreds. Not a single one thought about protesting. Of course, if all the demonic beasts attacked him, even an 8-core demonic beasts wouldn't survive. But many demonic beasts would die in the process.
Even the Crimson Dune Lord was aware of that so he never went too far. He wanted the demonic beasts to be afraid but not to the point where they would throw their lives away to get rid of him. Besides, he was also a form of protection against other demonic beasts as powerful as he was. Another 8-core demonic beast could have been worse than he was.
Unfortunately, when it came to 5 or 6-core demonic beasts, he was much more ruthless. First of all, they were much more of a threat to him so he wanted to keep their number low. Moreover, they could get resources than weaker demonic beasts wouldn't dream of hoarding for themselves. So he was expecting rare and powerful gifts from them all. After he had killed an Earth-Shaking Elephant in a single strike, all the other demonic beasts had understood. Even the proud Silver Six-Tailed Fox was bending to his will. Hongyu too appeared submissive in his presence.
That day though, Hongyu's companion, the male Five Bloods Pheasant was full of terror. He was almost certain that his gift wouldn't be seen in a good way by the Crimson Dune Lord. But he had not found anything better. Recently, he had chanced upon a Dry Earthly Root. However, he had not found any good gift apart from that one. Thus, he generously gave it to Hongyu. This Dry Earthly Root was a 4-star Heaven ingredient extremely rich in Earth element. For the Crimson Dune Lord, this would be a kingly gift.
Hongyu wasn't aware of that. She was convinced that the Five Bloods Pheasant had found an even better gift for himself and had thus given her this one. Of course, she had been happy with his gesture. But she was also bitter because she knew that it would end up in the tyrant's stomach. At the very least, it would spare them for the time being. And it could even help them escape from his wrath and greed for the next few months. As such, she wasn't worried at all. However, she soon sensed that her companion was shaking with fear.
Since they had spent almost three years together, they had become extremely close. Fortunately, the Five Bloods Pheasant's attitude had changed overtime. After understanding that Hongyu didn't care about finding a mate, he had calmed down. With time, they had become very good friends. Although he clearly wanted more from her, he was happy to wait for now. Unlike humans, the Five Bloods Pheasant had specific breeding periods. So he didn't mind about the purely platonic relationship between them. However, he still hoped to get some offspring out of her someday.
At last, it was Hongyu's turn to come before the large tyrant. Like usual, she tried to be as quick as possible. Bending her neck in front of that creature wasn't pleasant at all. Her very blood was screaming to her. And she could feel both the Evil Core and the Wrath Core. Each one wanted to devour this Crimson Dune Lord alive. But she knew that she was simply too weak to do so. Thus, she accepted her situation and just tried to make it as bearable as possible. Obviously, the Crimson Dune Lord accepted her gift without any hesitation. He was extremely pleased. Behind her, the Five Bloods Pheasant was hopeful that his joy would reduce his anger.
When it was his turn though, the Five Bloods Pheasant showed much more subservience and respect than Hongyu, even more than usual. Then, he put a piece of Moon Sheltering Adansonia in front of the Crimson Dune Lord. Even though the Moon Sheltering Adansonia was a terrifying plant, it wasn't too precious. Besides, the Five Bloods Pheasant had only been able to find a small piece of bark from it. For an alchemist, this could have been valuable to use in the forging of pills. But, by itself, it wasn't too valuable apart from making a nest for some birds. When it came to a large armadillo, it was pretty much useless.
The joy in the Crimson Dune Lord turned to anger immediately. He felt even insulted by this 'gift'. Without any hesitation, he raised his claws and struck toward the Five Bloods Pheasant. Even the poor demonic beast was surprised. He had thought that he would get beaten or threatened. But no, the Crimson Dune Lord was striking to kill. His claws were directly aiming at his throat. Resigned, the male bird accepted his fate. After all, he could barely avoid this strike, and he would never escape another attack. In the end, it was better to die now rather than later. Besides, he didn't want to drag Hongyu in it with him. He had messed up...
Closing his eyes, the Five Bloods Pheasant waited for a death that never came. At the last moment, he felt something crash into him. When he opened his eyes, he had been sent in the distance and beside him was Hongyu. With her incredible speed, she had pushed him out of the way. However, her back had been lacerated by the Crimson Dune Lord's claws. A thick odor of blood and poison spread around her. For now, she was alive, but she had been severely injured. Even if she wanted to fly away, she couldn't.
Without thinking, the Five Bloods Pheasant grabbed her in his claws and tried to fly away. Even alone he wouldn't have been fast enough, but while carrying someone else, he was just too slow. From the Crimson Dune Lord, several pikes were thrown. They left his shell armor and whistled in the air. The two birds were punctured several times and fell back to the ground. All the other demonic beasts were moving out of the way. They didn't want to get involved in it. Only the Silver Six-Tailed Fox was looking with great interest. He was trying to see if there were any openings. But there were none...
If he could kill the tyrant, he would. Looking around, he realized that even the 6-core demonic beasts like him weren't moving at all. In their eyes, he only saw resignation. This was useless. Maybe he would be better off trying to leave this place after all... The Crimson Dune Lord wouldn't let any of the 6-core demonic beasts develop a seventh, it was obvious. No more what kind of gifts they brought to him, he would probably kill them as long as they became too much of a threat to his reign. And in time, he would develop a ninth core and things would get even more hopeless.
Enraged, the Crimson Dune Lord wanted to kill the two renegades with his bare claws. Thus, he got out of the shadow of the trees and walked toward them. He wasn't in any hurry. Even if he had been, he wasn't fast at all. On the other hand, his armor was almost impenetrable. As such, he wasn't afraid of any attack from above. And below, his claws would slice anything trying to sneak in. Moving away, the demonic beasts looked as the tyrant was about to slice the two birds apart.
The Five Bloods Pheasant moved around and protected Hongyu with his body. This time, he didn't escape death. His body was literally cut in half, covering Hongyu with his own blood. Losing it, the mutated Raging Blood Fenghuang lashed out. Since she was about to die anyway, she summoned all the strength of her Evil Core and Wrath Core. All of a sudden, she was surrounded by black flames and the odor of blood spread farther and farther. Even the lush trees were agitated. After all, her blood had helped them much more than anything else. As such, the rustling of the leaves echoed all around the oasis.
The blood from the Five Bloods Pheasant was still covering her when she charged toward her enemy. Since she was injured, she wouldn't be able to fly very high or very fast. Still, she was much faster than that large beast. Considering how resistant his body was, she tried to take out his eyes first. In an instant, her flames engulfed the head of the armadillo. Unfortunately, his head simply moved forward within the flames, uninjured. His hair was a bit burned but that was it.
Hongyu was able to avoid two strikes. But the air pressure caused by those hit her and she fell back toward the ground. This time, the impact was even worse. The Crimson Dune Lord trampled her friend's body as he was coming for her. She might not even be able to harm him at all. Seeing her, the other demonic beasts realized that she was stronger than most of them. In fact, she might even be able to contend with a 7-core demonic beast. However, she had been injured from the get go. Without her ability to fly with ease, the fight had become absolutely one-sided. And even if she had been in perfect condition, she would never have won. At the very least, she would have been able to escape though. And if they had all fought together, the Silver Six-Tailed Fox was convinced that they might have won with only a handful of deaths.
Anyway, it was too late now. Hongyu was about to die. The Silver Six-Tailed Fox didn't have the heart to watch. He would really need to get away after that. This area was great but he would have to settle for somewhere else.
The sound of flesh being teared apart echoed throughout the oasis. But after that, there was absolute silence for quite some time. Finally, a large thud resounded and the entire oasis shook. The Silver Six-Tailed Fox was surprised and opened his eyes once more. What he saw was beyond his wildest expectations and even dreams.
-
Cao Yun was flying on a sword when he found where his spatial ring was. Within a rocky formation, he detected its presence. After making sure that there was no demonic beast or no threat whatsoever around him, he split one of the rocks in two and got his spatial ring. It didn't take him long to open it. All the seals were intact. No one had even tried to access his spatial ring. Delighted, the young man found all of his belongings. He was glad to get the paintings of his family back of course, but he was also happy to get his weapons and his artifacts.
Besides, there was also the calligraphy by the Weaver of Souls that was of great interest to him, especially after his time in the Blood Abyss.
Without waiting, he took out his spear, 'Tainted Heavenly Pillar'. Just by touching it, he felt a deep sense of familiarity. Now that he had fully developed his Spear Intent, he felt closer to his weapons. He could probably push it further than before.
He didn't take his time to enjoy it though. After all, he was now worried about Hongyu. Indeed, she was nowhere to be seen. However, he could tell that she had come here frequently as he could sense her aura. Considering that they shared so much together, it was easy for him to detect her presence. Thus, it didn't take him long to notice that she was in the oasis he had seen nearby. Using his stealth, he flew toward that place without a moment's delay.
While he was flying, he felt her aura flicker. Something was happening to her. Cao Yun didn't completely throw caution to the wind, but he sped up as much as he could. The young man was ready for almost anything. He was certain of one thing, Hongyu would not die!
Before his eyes could see it, his spiritual senses had understood what was happening. He could feel the presence of the Crimson Dune Lord, a powerful 8-core demonic beast. It was on an equal footing with a 6th-grade Accomplished Demon while Cao Yun was only a 4th-grade Accomplished Demon. But it was busy dealing with Hongyu and didn't notice Cao Yun's approach at all.
'Fish in the Galaxy'!
Cao Yun threw his spear in the weakest spot of the large demonic beast. It went through and through, completely ripping apart his soft tissues before flying back into Cao Yun's hands. The demonic beast had no time to understand what had happened as Cao Yun had unleashed all of his strength in a mere instant, pushing his Spear Intent to the limit.