Sacred Radiance Luan

Along the way, he repeated the same routine several times. Mu Feng deliberately adopted the Holy Spirit Cult's methods of spreading doctrine, while fabricating an Angel Holy Church and packaging it with two slogans that at least sounded righteous and bright.

Although Xiao Hei and Little White did not understand why Mu Feng did not preach directly under the Holy Spirit Cult's name and instead went around the bend to invent an Angel Holy Church, they still followed his instructions and cooperated in performing the so-called miracles.

Of course, deception alone could only win over a small number of fanatics, but Mu Feng had his own tricks.

Mu Feng imitated the "free egg strategy" supermarkets had used during grand openings in his previous life—providing basic food and financial aid to vulnerable groups who had lost their ability to work.

In these small mountain villages, where the villagers struggled desperately yet still hovered on the edge of life and death, Mu Feng's extravagant handouts filled many of them with gratitude.

After all, a bag of grain could support a family for an entire month after its main hunter was injured. This undoubtedly greatly improved poor households' ability to withstand hardship.

In these small mountain villages, within just three or four days, the number of believers had already reached a respectable scale—at least several dozen people.

Sure enough, just as Mu Feng and Electrolux had discussed, the cluster of holy light energy within Mu Feng's mind had grown considerably stronger than before.

This increase was immensely beneficial both for nourishing his spiritual power and repairing Electrolux's soul.

Having tasted the benefits, Mu Feng had no intention of wrapping things up carelessly. Once he returned, he needed to carefully consider how to make the church bigger and stronger.

At the same time, to prevent the tragedy of "the eggs stop, and the people vanish," Mu Feng specifically ordered Xiao Hei and Little White to note down the locations of these villages. Once they returned, he would gather manpower and establish relief halls in the villages to ensure the work could continue.

To that end, Mu Feng also selected an apostle in every village to temporarily manage the believers' affairs there.

Perhaps Mu Feng had truly done too many good deeds these past few days, accumulating great virtue through countless acts of kindness. His level-forty bottleneck unexpectedly broke through naturally amid the villagers' repeated words of thanks.

With only one or two days left before his little vacation ended, Mu Feng hurriedly led his black-and-white reaper brothers in search of a suitable soul beast.

Along the way, Mu Feng continued planning how to develop and strengthen his sect. After all, his own energy was limited; if he relied solely on himself, he would surely be stretched too thin.

Just as Mu Feng was hesitating over where to find some recruits, Little White's hoarse voice sounded beside him. "Your Highness, what about that one in the distance?"

Mu Feng suddenly thought of a contingency plan. He gave the two brothers beside him a meaningful look, then temporarily buried his unusual idea in his heart. "We'll have to discuss this matter at length after we return."

Now that he was level forty, Mu Feng's physical strength had long surpassed that of ordinary people. Combined with his first three thousand-year soul rings—and especially the third, the Starwind Heavenly Feather Crane, whose strength was already extremely close to that of a ten-thousand-year soul ring—the combined effects meant the soul ring limit his body could currently withstand was around twenty thousand years.

Little White continued, "This soul beast's aura is roughly twenty-four thousand years old."

Mu Feng frowned slightly and looked toward the giant bird. Every light-element soul beast stood out among soul beasts because of its unique attribute, and this luan bird was no exception.

It was around thirty feet long from head to tail. Every feather seemed forged from molten gold, gradually shifting into blazing white at the wing tips. A crown of burning golden flames rose from its head, while its pair of holy golden pupils turned slowly, their brilliance impossible to conceal even beneath the scorching sunlight.

From its appearance alone, Mu Feng could tell this luan bird was no ordinary soul beast. Although its age exceeded his estimate somewhat, the powerful aura it gave off stirred his interest.

After considering it for a moment, Mu Feng made up his mind. "That's the one!"

The instant his words fell, Xiao Hei and Little White shot toward their target like twin bolts of lightning. Neither dared lower his guard. As Xiao Hei's seventh soul ring shone, he transformed into a massive gray-black owl, layers of dark black mist spreading beneath his wings.

As Xiao Hei swept over the luan bird, a thick curtain of black fog descended. Sensing danger, the Sacred Radiance Luan let out a cry. Its piercing shriek stung Mu Feng's eardrums even from far away.

From that simple sound-wave attack alone, Mu Feng could sense the soul beast's power. By his estimate, its strength had already reached the Soul King level in terms of Soul Power Level.

Feeling the danger within the black fog above, the Sacred Radiance Luan hurriedly dove from the tree, attempting to fly close to the ground and evade the encroaching mist.

At that moment, Little White, who had been absent for some time, finally appeared. His martial soul was the Duskshadow Black Rhinoceros, and heavy dark-black horned armor covered his entire body. He had been lurking in the shadows from the start, having predicted the Sacred Radiance Luan's next path of movement.

Then, like a cannonball, he abruptly emerged from the shadows. With a leap, he slammed viciously into the Sacred Radiance Luan's chest.

At the instant of impact, the tremendous force sent the Sacred Radiance Luan soaring into the sky. The tacit understanding Xiao Hei and Little White had developed through years of fighting side by side meant Xiao Hei had long been circling overhead, waiting for this very moment.

Like a swift, he turned into a blade descending from the heavens. His powerful hands tore apart the luan bird's wings, then precisely hurled the already heavily wounded bird before Mu Feng.

The entire battle was clean and decisive, without the slightest waste of movement. Although this Sacred Radiance Luan possessed strength far beyond others of the same age, it had no chance whatsoever to resist against the flawless cooperation of two Soul Sages. Even though Mu Feng had seen the brothers' perfect coordination in battle many times, he could not help praising them inwardly.

Only after approaching did Mu Feng truly sense this luan bird's attributes. It did not possess merely a holy attribute; it also contained intense fire-element power. The two attributes had fused within this soul beast with remarkable harmony.

The twenty-thousand-year-old Burning Heaven Sacred Radiance Luan had long since developed intelligence. Now, heavily wounded and lying on the ground, it saw the young man before it and finally understood why those two powerful humans had suddenly attacked it.

Weak flames spilled from its beak. It wanted to seize the chance to ambush Mu Feng, only to discover that its strength had become as thick and sluggish as rice paste, making it impossible to act.

When Xiao Hei had torn apart its wings, he had injected black mist into the luan bird's body. It was meant to prevent prey from making a final desperate counterattack. Usually it was merely a precautionary measure, but unexpectedly, it proved useful now.

Naturally, Mu Feng did not know of the luan bird's attempted ambush. Seeing it repeatedly try and fail to flap its wings and rise, he released his martial soul and prepared to deliver the fatal blow. Then the luan bird suddenly rolled over.

Mu Feng saw a dark golden pattern across its chest. As the luan bird's breathing rose and fell violently, the mark flickered on and off.

The more high-level soul beasts cultivated in their later stages, the more they focused on condensing the source power within their bodies. Just like the Light-Splitting Colt's horn, different soul beasts simply stored their source power in different places.

The Burning Heaven Sacred Radiance Luan's source power was undoubtedly stored within that dark golden pattern, which contained extraordinarily pure light and fire elements.

Lying on its side, it released a harsh cry like tearing silk. As the pattern on its chest flashed, Mu Feng suddenly felt a bad premonition.

The luan bird exhausted all of its source power, forcibly gathering it in its throat. A ray that carried both purification and annihilation burst from its mouth.

Sensing that destructive aura, Mu Feng's eyelids twitched wildly. Without hesitation, he unleashed his third soul skill, greatly enhancing his speed and strength while bending his legs and kicking hard against the ground.

But that was still not enough to evade the beam. Looking at the scattered Sacred Radiance around him, Mu Feng gritted his teeth and, with the same resolve he had shown when facing three evil soul masters years ago, detonated every mark.