“It’s a Rotspirit Ox!” Hua Mu called out the Demon’s name after a brief glance at it. Apparently, he was familiar with this particular Demon’s origin, as well as its most formidable features.
On the other hand, Huang Fan from the Heaven Palace Sect stared at the Demon, which Hua Mu referred to as the Rotspirit Ox, his eyes wide and his face filled with confusion. “A Rotspirit Ox? What’s that?”
Shortly thereafter, Huang Fan seemed to have realized something. Staring at Hua Mu in a vigilant fas.h.i.+on, he asked, “Who are you?”
Hua Mu ignored him.
Upon hearing Hua Mu’s exclamation, Nie Tian realized that he should return to Hua Mu and Huang Fan’s side.
As soon as that thought appeared in his mind, the Flame Dragon Armor seemed to receive the message, and thus responded accordingly.
Wreathed in raging flames, the Flame Dragon Armor drew some more flame power from Nie Tian’s vortex of flame power, and carried the floating Nie Tian towards Hua Mu and Huang Fan
CRACKLE! CRACKLE!
Meanwhile, strange, matter-burning crackles echoed out around Nie Tian. He examined his surroundings with rapt attention, and discovered that there were substantial amounts of unknown impurities floating within the spatial tunnel.
From the look of it, those impurities would be very harmful to humans. Lucky for him, the Flame Dragon Armor had formed a ward of blazing flames around him, burning away the impurities and keeping him safe.
ROOOAARRRR!!
The Rotspirit Ox, which had left the misty river of demon Qi and was now lunging directly towards Nie Tian, once again roared and opened its huge, bottomless mouth.
As it did, its mouth seemed to instantly turn into an unfathomable abyss, attracting everything, including the flickering bright spots, streaking lights, and unknown impurities, towards it.
Nie Tian, who was still quiet some distance from the Rotspirit Ox, felt that an irresistible force was pulling him towards the Rotspirit Ox. The same went for Hua Mu and Huang Fan, who had just entered the spatial tunnel.
In spite of their own efforts, the three of them uncontrollably flew closer and closer towards the Rotspirit Ox’s huge mouth.
The Rotspirit Ox’s eyes, which looked like two purple suns, glittered with the light of brutality as broken, almost inarticulate words slowly came out from its wide-open mouth.
“I’m from the Astarte Clan in the Sixth Demon Realm. The Realm of Flame Heaven had been one of the Astarte Clan’s rangelands for centuries.
“I’m here upon the clan’s request to take it back from you human insects!
“You and every human in the Realm of Flame Heaven will die!”
As the Rotspirit Ox sucked everything in its surroundings towards its huge mouth, it unexpectedly spoke in an awkward-sounding human language.
“You’re nothing but a pet reared by the dark lords of the Astarte Clan. Don’t tell me that you actually want to take the Realm of Flame Heaven back by yourself! Wishful thinking!” Hua Mu let out a sarcastic harrumph. “If the Astarte Clan truly wants to seize the Realm of Flame Heaven from us, they should at least show their respect by sending some high-tier Demons.
“Even though you’re a Rotspirit Ox and you’re at the peak of the sixth grade, you’re still only a sixth grade pet monster!
“Does your dark master really think that there are no Soul realm Qi warriors in the Realm of Flame Heaven, and that a sixth grade Rotspirit Ox will be able to do whatever it wants? Simply laughable!!”
With these words, Hua Mu stopped resisting the attractive force and let himself drift towards the Rotspirit Ox’s huge, gloomy mouth like a leaf drifting in a creek. As he did, he even had the energy to rant against it.
“Who are you exactly? Why do you know so much about the Demons?” Huang Fan asked again, shock and confusion filling his eyes.
He constantly drew power from his rotating banners to stop himself from being pulled toward the Rotspirit Ox.
He was barely able to neutralize the Rotspirit Ox’s attractive force and remain in his original location.
Hua Mu, however, floated towards the Rotspirit Ox’s foul mouth in a seemingly uncontrollable fas.h.i.+on, just as Nie Tian did.
What Hua Mu had just said and his surprising familiarity with the Demons’ realms deeply shocked Huang Fan.
After all, as a senior member of the Heaven Palace Sect, Huang Fan should be considered well-informed, yet he hadn’t known anything that Hua Mu had just said about Demons.
“How come you know so much about our race and our clan?” Even the Rotspirit Ox was taken aback.
The same went for Nie Tian.
He had an increasingly strong feeling that the more he came to know about Hua Mu, the more mysterious Hua Mu seemed to become.
All of a sudden, Hua Mu said, “Remember what this Rotspirit Ox looks like, Nie Tian.”
While flying towards the Rotspirit Ox uncontrollably, Nie Tian widened his eyes and observed it closely, imprinting its deformed and sinister appearance in his mind.
“This Rotspirit Ox is only a low-tier Demon,” Hua Mu explained calmly. “In those high-tier Demons’ eyes, low-tier Demons like this Rotspirit Ox are no more than beasts they rear as pets.
“Rotspirit Oxes can rot the spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth we rely on, a.s.similate it using their bizarre bloodline power, and gradually turn it into demon Qi.
“The Astarte Clan must be unhappy with the speed at which the demon Qi is filling the Realm of Flame Heaven, and thus secretly sent it here before the main force to accelerate the process.
“Fortunately, you came back in time, activated the spell formation left by the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace, and stopped it from entering the Realm of Flame Heaven.
“If it did enter the Realm of Flame Heaven and we failed to discover it at the first moment, it would greatly increase the speed at which the demon Qi rotted and transformed the spiritual Qi in the Realm of Flame Heaven.
“Perhaps it would have only needed six months for the entire Realm of Flame Heaven to be drowned in demon Qi.
“As for Rotspirit Oxes, when they fight human Qi warriors, their most commonly attack technique is to open their mouths wide and pull us towards them.
“Once we’re within a certain distance from it, its bizarre bloodline power will take effect and secretly alter the attributes of our spiritual power without us knowing.
“This is their most commonly-seen battle technique.”
As Hua Mu kept floating towards the Rotspirit Ox, he went on to explain to Nie Tian the kind of damage the Rotspirit Ox would have inflicted upon the Realm of Flame Heaven, along with its fighting techniques.
It seemed as if he had fought Rotspirit Oxes many years ago.
Huang Fan and Nie Tian listened to his narration about the Rotspirit Ox attentively, their faces filled with astonishment.
The Rotspirit Ox seemed to have sensed danger as it asked, “W-who the h.e.l.l are you?!”
SHEW!
All of a sudden, Hua Mu accelerated, raising the speed at which he flew by ten times!
He blurred into a streak of light and shot towards the Rotspirit Ox’s wide-open mouth.
In a split second, he arrived by Nie Tian’s side.
“You go back with Huang Fan first!” With these words, he pressed his hand on Nie Tian’s back and unleashed a gentle yet vigorous thrust, which caused Nie Tian to fly directly towards Huang Fan.
“Take him back to the Realm of Flame Heaven!” Hua Mu exclaimed.
After receiving Hua Mu’s incredibly strong push, Nie Tian felt as if he was no longer affected by the Rotspirit Ox’s attraction, and arrived by Huang Fan’s side in the blink of an eye.
As Huang Fan grabbed Nie Tian with a vigorous move, he witnessed Hua Mu let out a snort and burst into a cl.u.s.ter of ghostly, green fire.
In the next moment, he shot straight towards the Rotspirit Ox’s enormous, wide-open mouth.
Surprised, the Rotspirit Ox hastily closed its mouth.
That was when Huang Fan and Nie Tian discovered that they were no longer affected by its attractive force.
“Have him finish the sealing process in the Realm of Flame Heaven as quickly as possible. Then, you need to hurry to the Realm of Mystic Heaven and the Realm of a Thousand Devastations and use the same method to seal their spatial rifts!” Hua Mu shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Got it!!” Huang Fan shouted back.