Chapter 14: Golden-Horned Flame Ox

In Mount Fangluo, Qu Yi, Qing Wu Gui, Bai Man, and Wu Yuan were hunting monsters together.
There were likely only a few more monsters at the Golden Core stage left.
The four of them searched the entire Mount Fangluo before finally finding the last one—a Golden Core mid-stage monster, the Golden-Horned Flame Ox.
The Golden-Horned Flame Ox was about three meters long, its body covered in bright red skin, as if it had been roasted by fire. On its head were a pair of golden horns, each a foot long; judging from their golden glow, their sharpness was undeniable.
“Who wants to fight this ox?” Qu Yi asked lightly with a smile.
Qing Wu Gui shook his head. At the early Yuan Ying stage, although he could only exert the strength of a late Golden Core stage, he felt too ashamed to challenge this mid-stage Golden Core monster.
Bai Man was eager to try, but seeing the worried look in Qu Yi’s eyes as he stared at her, she hesitated to fly down and attack the ox.
Woof!
Wu Yuan was excited. It tapped its hooves, ready to fly down and torment the Golden-Horned Flame Ox.
“Go!” Qu Yi grabbed Wu Yuan’s head and threw it behind him, then flew down himself.
After devouring Golden Cores and Monster Cores, his strength had increased further. Having finally found a monster, he wouldn’t let Wu Yuan kill it easily—he wanted to test his own skills.
Qu Yi didn’t bring out the Red Nan Sword or the Fire Scaled Knife, as they were lower-grade treasures and somewhat excessive for dealing with the Golden-Horned Flame Ox. As for the high-grade magic weapon, the Yellow Sand Ruler, he also didn’t want to use it—it was meant to trap opponents, not to attack.
So, Qu Yi took out the Green Python Sword, a high-grade magic weapon, determined to kill the Golden-Horned Flame Ox fairly this time.
Roar!
The Golden-Horned Flame Ox watched Qu Yi nervously. Although it sensed that Qu Yi was only at the early Golden Core stage, seeing two experts at the late Golden Core stage in the air, it felt an overwhelming sense of danger.
“Golden-Horned Flame Ox, stay alert. If I don’t kill you, then congratulations—you won’t be killed by my friends either,” Qu Yi said encouragingly, as if worried that the ox wouldn’t give it its all.
Before he finished speaking, Qu Yi had already flown forward, aiming straight at the Golden-Horned Flame Ox.
The ox was surprised by Qu Yi’s speed. It hadn’t expected him to be so fast; it knew it could never keep up and gave up on escaping. Thus, it decided to fight with all its might.
“Cloud Parting Style!” Qu Yi called out, activating the Cloud Parting Style from the “Eight Cloud Sword Styles.”

One after another, golden energy blades flew out and in an instant reached the Golden-Horned Flame Ox. With such intensity, they were more than enough to pierce and wound the ox.

Seeing Qu Yi’s fierce attack, the Golden-Horned Flame Ox roared in anger and immediately spat out a flame, forming a large fireball to shield itself.

Rows of energy blades struck the fireball, causing it to fluctuate wildly and spew flames in all directions, yet it still remained intact, blocking Qu Yi’s attacks.

With just one fireball, the Golden-Horned Flame Ox extinguished all of Qu Yi’s energy blades.

Then, snorting angrily, it charged straight at Qu Yi, its golden horns glowing brightly—as if intent on running him over.

“You little ox think you can kill me like that?” Qu Yi laughed heartily before swiftly dodging.

Without using his speed secret technique, his speed was comparable to that of a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator; with it, it approached the speed of an early-stage Yuan Ying cultivator.

The Golden-Horned Flame Ox charged violently but found nothing but air, as Qu Yi had already moved behind it, his Green Python Sword aiming at its rear.

An insult!

Furious, the ox thought if Qu Yi really managed to strike it, it would either die instantly or never dare live in the world again—preferring to dig a hole and bury itself alive.

Its tail swished quickly, wrapping around the Green Python Sword. Then, the ox twisted sharply and charged at Qu Yi once more.

Qu Yi simply slashed lightly, cutting off the entire tail, before quickly moving behind the ox again, his sword aiming at its rear once more.

It seemed Qu Yi intended to cause the ox severe pain.

This time, without its tail, the ox, in desperation, twisted sideways and lay flat on the ground, barely avoiding Qu Yi’s attack.

Qu Yi laughed loudly and swung his Green Python Sword, activating the Green Python Formation within it. A large green python flew out and attacked the Golden-Horned Flame Ox.

Lying on the ground, the ox had no time to dodge and could only rely on its innate defensive power from its demon core. A layer of flames surrounded its body to resist the green python.

After all, these flames were the true fire of the Golden-Horned Flame Ox’s demon core. The green python was instantly burned, emitting smoke before disappearing quickly. However, the ox’s vital energy was greatly depleted.

Qu Yi smirked, shrugged, and looked apologetically at Qing Wu Gui, Bai Man, and Wu Yuan in the air.
“Ah, I might as well just finish you off with one move.” Seeing the three of them laughing at him, Qu Yi could only sneer at the Golden-Horned Flame Ox.
At that moment, the Golden-Horned Flame Ox stood up. Its expression changed upon seeing Qu Yi, and its aura became even more dangerous than before. It immediately started running away in panic.
Ten thousand miles worth of gold!
Qu Yi used his gold-based speed technique to reach the Golden-Horned Flame Ox at a speed close to that of the early Yuan Ying stage. Before it could react, he swung his Qing Mang Sword and severed its head.
The body of the Golden-Horned Flame Ox continued to run fiercely for over a hundred meters before finally falling.
Qu Yi quickly found a Fire-Type Demon Pill inside the ox’s head and took off its golden horns before flying back into the air.
“I’m sorry it took a bit longer,” Qu Yi said apologetically, dissatisfied with the battle just now.
“Ugh!” Wu Yuan voiced his opinion immediately. From the tone, it was clear he was looking down on Qu Yi.
Qing Wu Gui remained silent, but his indifferent expression made it even clearer that Qu Yi’s battle was utterly insignificant.
Bai Man smiled at Qu Yi, blinking without saying a word.
Qu Yi immediately lowered his head, too ashamed to face the three of them.
Just then, the voice of the Artifact God suddenly rang out, “Qu Yi, three people in the early stage of leaving their bodies are flying over. Hurry and enter the Dimension Ball.”
Hearing this, Qu Yi immediately said, “Everyone, don’t resist. Come with me into the Dimension Ball.”
Without time to explain, Qu Yi pulled Qing Wu Gui, Bai Man, and Wu Yuan into the Dimension Ball.
The next moment, Ling Huo Shang Ren, Xuan Gu Shang Ren, and Ling Ji Shang Ren suddenly appeared in the air where Qu Yi and the others had been standing.
“Huh? There were four Golden Dan-stage auras here just now. How did they disappear so quickly?” Ling Huo Shang Ren exclaimed in surprise.
The spiritual awareness of the Artifact God was only at the early stage of leaving the body. When it detected the three of Ling Huo Shang Ren, Ling Huo Shang Ren naturally also sensed the auras of Qu Yi and the others.
“That’s right. I also sensed it—three humans and one beast. They disappeared in just a short while,” Xuan Gu Shang Ren said unhappily, his spiritual awareness searching frantically around.
Obviously, Xuan Gu Shang Ren could never find Qu Yi, Qing Wu Gui, Bai Man, and Wu Yuan hiding inside the Dimension Ball.
“Have you seen the corpse of the flame ox on the ground? A battle was going on here just now, so it probably didn’t stop for long,” Ling Ji Shang Ren said after spotting the body of the Golden-Horned Flame Ox.

The corpse of the Golden-Horned Flame Ox still retained a strong presence of true energy, which was slowly dissipating—something that couldn’t be hidden from those three cultivators in the early stage of exiting their bodies. Linghuo Shangren, Xuan Gu Shangren, and Lingji Shangren all fell silent, each pondering various possibilities. “It seems your guesses are correct, my friends. This must be Qu Yi’s doing. I wonder what method he used to detect our presence and how he managed to hide it?” Linghuo Shangren asked gloomily. This question had troubled him for a long time—since the destruction of the Xianyun Sect, which allowed Qu Yi to escape, and now his sudden disappearance—it was all far too inexplicable. “If my guess is right, Qu Yi must possess some spirit talismans, including concealment talismans and teleportation talismans, which can explain everything,” Xuan Gu Shangren said softly. Concealment talismans, if crafted by someone at the Yuan Ying stage, could even evade the spiritual detection of cultivators in the early stage of exiting their bodies. Teleportation talismans, on the other hand, were spirit talismans that allowed for long-distance travel. Lingji Shangren immediately nodded and said darkly, “It seems Qu Yi has many secrets—powerful formations, methods for crafting spirit talismans, and even the ability to devour demon pills. It will be very difficult to find him.” These words enraged Linghuo Shangren even more. If Qu Yi truly had so many magical treasures, capturing him would indeed be extremely hard. Meanwhile, inside the Tiny Realm Sphere, Qu Yi had heard everything they said. “Besides Linghuo Shangren, there are two others outside—apparently helpers brought by the Xuanyang Temple and the Yusu Sect. If I’m right, one comes from the Black Bone Sect and the other from the White Moon Palace,” Qu Yi said outright. Huai Wugui, who had already heard Qu Yi explain the origins of the four major sects on Cui Mu Star, nodded in agreement with his analysis. “So what should we do now? Those three experts in the early stage of exiting their bodies will probably capture us as soon as we go out,” Bai Man said worriedly. Wu Yuan, however, wasn’t worried at all and lay quietly on the grass. Now that Qu Yi’s cultivation had reached the early stage of the Golden Dan phase, the space he could move around in the Tiny Realm Sphere was nearly ten meters wide, enough for Wu Yuan’s large body to lie down. “Next, we’ll go to the seabed and hunt the sea monsters. After I reach the middle stage of the Golden Dan phase, I’ll go to those three sects and deal with them properly,” Qu Yi suddenly smiled.

The monstrous beasts on Fanglao Mountain had all been killed by Qu Yi. He originally intended to head to the ocean, and now that he saw three people in the early stages of leaving their bodies, he took the opportunity to leave as well. He left those three there while he went to the seabed to kill monstrous beasts and seize their magic pills.