The Art of Chaotic Divinity

"It's actually them?"

Ling Feng narrowed his eyes.

In theory, with Ao Jue's strength combined with Wang Qian and Yue Huaqing, dealing with a Desert Sand Rat should not have been difficult.

Unfortunately, this was the Endless Desert. The Desert Sand Rat possessed the advantage of fighting on its home ground, and its nearly immortal ability made matters even worse. Although the three of them were powerful together, they had no way of effectively striking the beast's weakness.

As a result, the battle had become extremely intense.

The Desert Sand Rat could not kill the three of them, but they could not truly kill it either.

Boom!

Ao Jue's punch blasted the gigantic Desert Sand Rat in half. One side of its body exploded into countless grains of yellow sand that shot in every direction.

Yue Huaqing and Wang Qian immediately retreated.

At that very moment, however, the other half of the Desert Sand Rat's body seemed completely unaffected. Its enormous claw slammed down toward Ao Jue's head.

Ao Jue's eyelids twitched violently.

He had just unleashed his strongest move, Nine Heavens Dragon Roar Shocking Heaven Transformation, and had barely managed to destroy half of the beast's body. Who could have imagined that even after taking such an attack, the monster would remain unharmed and still be able to retaliate?

Caught completely off guard, Ao Jue had no time to evade.

He could only watch helplessly as the giant claw descended toward him.

"Senior Brother Ao Jue!"

Yue Huaqing and Wang Qian both cried out.

Ao Jue was the strongest among the three of them. If he died, the two of them would not be far from death either.

"Looks like I have no choice but to step in."

Ling Feng shook his head and shot forward in a flash.

It was not that Ao Jue and the others were weak. The Desert Sand Rat's abilities were simply too bizarre. Even Ling Feng had only been able to kill these beasts instantly because his Eye of the Emperor could see through their disguises and pinpoint the location of their demonic cores.

In the next instant, Ling Feng arrived.

He attacked without hesitation.

A single sword strike slashed out.

Ripples spread through the air, and the Desert Sand Rat's claw exploded on the spot. Immediately afterward, an overwhelming sword pressure descended and directly suppressed the beast, causing its entire body to collapse.

Only a single demonic core remained floating in midair, unable to gather the yellow sand back together.

Crack!

Sword will surged forth, and the demonic core shattered.

Having lost its source of power, the Desert Sand Rat could no longer reform. The sand scattered across the ground turned into an ink-green liquid that seeped into the earth below.

The ferocious beast that had nearly wiped out all three of them was finally and completely dead.

Having narrowly escaped with his life, Ao Jue first stared in shock, then in delight. When he got a clear look at the newcomer and realized it was Ling Feng, his expression turned to one of utter astonishment.

Ling Feng had indeed been stronger than him before, but to kill a gigantic Desert Sand Rat in a single move...

Had his strength improved again?

Ling Feng truly lived up to his name.

"Brother Ao Jue."

Ling Feng cupped his fists in greeting. He had always held a fairly good impression of Ao Jue.

"Brother Ling!"

Ao Jue looked deeply at Ling Feng, and a strong sense of defeat rose in his heart.

I am far inferior to him.

Yue Huaqing and Wang Qian, who had already retreated far away, saw Ling Feng kill the Desert Sand Rat and immediately flew back.

A trace of delight appeared on Yue Huaqing's face. Still shaken, she looked at Ling Feng and said, "Junior Brother Ling, it's a good thing you arrived in time."

Wang Qian had once had a few minor conflicts with Ling Feng. A look of embarrassment appeared on his face. He clenched his fists, then gritted his teeth and said, "Thank you, Senior Brother Ling..."

In the martial world, strength was everything.

Although Wang Qian was much older than Ling Feng, Ling Feng's strength far surpassed his own.

Unless one had a fairly close relationship with Ling Feng, like Yue Huaqing did, very few people still dared to call him Junior Brother.

Ling Feng nodded slightly and did not dwell on the small unpleasantness that had occurred atop Long Xiao Sacred Mountain.

At the time, they had each represented their respective sects, so a few conflicts had been inevitable. Besides, Wang Qian had not gone too far, and since he had taken the initiative to lower his head and apologize, Ling Feng naturally had no intention of holding a grudge.

To put it simply, with his current temperament and broad-mindedness, he had no interest in arguing with someone like Wang Qian.

"Brother Ling, your strength has improved yet again."

Ao Jue took a deep breath. He could clearly feel that the gap between himself and Ling Feng had widened even further.

"I've only made a little progress."

Ling Feng smiled faintly.

For now, it truly was only a little progress. Once he refined and absorbed all those Sword Soul Crystals inside the Forging Heaven Ring and raised his sword will to the Great Perfection level, that would be a genuine leap in strength.

The corners of Ao Jue's mouth twitched slightly.

His throat felt dry, and in the end, the countless thoughts in his heart could only become a long sigh.

Compared to Ling Feng, he was almost too embarrassed to call himself a genius.

Especially after entering the tenth layer of the Sunset Ancient City from the ninth, he had encountered geniuses from other regions and had deeply felt the enormous gap between them.

Perhaps, in the entire Dongling Region, only Ling Feng and Shi Haoxuan could truly be called geniuses.

"Right."

After thinking for a moment, Ling Feng turned toward Yue Huaqing and the others and asked casually, "How did you all end up here?"

"It was a signal from Shi Haoxuan."

Ao Jue's expression became serious. He looked at Ling Feng with some confusion.

"Didn't you receive his message, Brother Ling?"

"Uh..."

Ling Feng paused.

"When did that happen? I was inside an underground palace before, so I probably missed it."

"I see."

Ao Jue nodded and slowly explained, "Shi Haoxuan said he discovered the entrance to some ruins somewhere on the tenth layer, but he can't enter it by himself. That's why he sent out a message, hoping to gather all the geniuses from the Dongling Region and act together."

"He also said that our Dongling Region is the weakest compared to the other regions, so we need to unite. Otherwise, we'll be suppressed by the experts of the other regions until we don't even have room to breathe."

"Mhmm, that's true."

Ling Feng rubbed the bridge of his nose.

Back in the Profound Sword Underground Palace, he had constantly been excluded by the experts of the Xijian Region. It was easy to imagine that the situation faced by the other geniuses of the Dongling Region was probably no better.

"The three of us only started heading here after receiving Shi Haoxuan's message, and we happened to meet on the way. Who would've thought that this strange desert would be filled with dangers everywhere? If you hadn't arrived just now, Brother Ling, the three of us would probably have perished here."

Ao Jue let out a soft sigh.

Back in the Dongling Region, he had been an exalted genius. Yet here in the Sunset Ancient City, even a mere Desert Sand Rat had nearly taken his life.

"It's only because you weren't familiar with this beast's abilities, Brother Ao Jue."

Ling Feng smiled faintly before asking, "In that case, you should know the direction out of this desert, right?"

"Mhmm. Shi Haoxuan included directions in the message he sent us."

Ao Jue nodded.

"That's good."

Ling Feng was delighted.

Fortunately, he had run into Ao Jue and the others. Otherwise, he might have ended up trapped in this desert until the Sunset Ancient City closed.

And now, they had brought him another piece of good news.

Shi Haoxuan had discovered some ruins.

Which meant another opportunity was waiting for him.