Heaven Mending Pavilion

But this was no time to dwell on those questions, not with the Red-Horned Rhino charging toward them in a fury.

Li Dao swiftly suppressed his doubts. His body gave a slight shudder, and a savage, primordial might erupted from him.

The Five-Colored Pheasant's feet blurred as he scurried behind Li Dao in a flash.

When the Red-Horned Rhino saw that the little thief who had eaten its Spirit-Communicating Flower was actually hiding behind a human cub,

two thick jets of white vapor burst from its nostrils, and the fury in its eyes surged.

It charged up to Li Dao and raised its two enormous, mountainlike forehooves high, metallic light flashing from them.

It meant to crush this reckless fool into bloody pulp with a single blow!

Li Dao remained utterly calm as the sudden shadow swallowed him.

Watching the forehooves descend like collapsing pillars that held up heaven and earth, he slowly raised one hand. Divine patterns flickered across it, bursting with layer upon layer of divine light.

The Red-Horned Rhino thought Li Dao had been frightened out of his wits, and a flicker of contempt flashed through its eyes.

Hiding behind Li Dao, the Five-Colored Pheasant heard the howling overhead and squeezed his golden eyes shut.

He could not help mourning inwardly:

I'm done for!

Yet in the next instant, a deafening metallic clash rang out.

The Five-Colored Pheasant felt the ground shift beneath his feet. Looking down, he saw deep fissures spreading into the distance from beneath him like a spiderweb.

The surging shock wave struck the towering ancient trees behind them, instantly shearing them in half.

Rumble-

The terrifying sound rolled outward from their position, startling birds into flight and sending beasts scattering.

A party from the Heaven Mending Pavilion, traveling through the Great Wilderness aboard a Blue-Feathered Sparrow, heard the tremendous commotion and could not help slowing down.

Xia Youyu stood at the front of the group. Behind her, several Heaven Mending Pavilion disciples who had accompanied her to invite the Great Wilderness's prodigies, along with an Inscription Realm elder, all looked toward the source of the sound.

"Senior Sister, that sounds like two Spirit Transformation Realm ferocious beasts fighting. Should we go take a look?"

"Are we really that lucky? When two tigers fight, one is bound to get hurt. Isn't this prey being delivered right to our doorstep?"

"Senior Sister, let's go have a look. We might even pick up a bargain."

Listening to her junior brothers, Xia Youyu's expression also took on a hint of interest.

Judging by the earlier burst of noise, it should indeed have been two Spirit Transformation Realm ferocious beasts.

She glanced at the old woman sitting cross-legged behind the group with her eyes closed, and felt reassured.

With an Inscription Realm elder protecting them, she had little cause to worry about this unexpected incident.

She told the others behind her:

"All right, we'll take a look. Just don't rustle the grass and startle the snake."

Seeing Xia Youyu agree, they hastily nodded.

As though understanding their words, the Blue-Feathered Sparrow immediately changed course and sped toward the source of the sound.

Meanwhile, the Five-Colored Pheasant realized that he had survived the blow unscathed.

He immediately raised his head, only to be stunned by the sight before him.

A faint halo suffused Li Dao's body. He looked like an exiled immortal descended to the mortal world, ethereal and wondrous.

His palm, pale as white jade and gleaming with a glasslike luster, was raised high as though holding up the collapsing vault of heaven. His expression remained utterly calm.

Above that little hand, the Red-Horned Rhino's forehooves bore down with crushing force, as though intent on trampling everything to pieces.

Those forehooves alone loomed like a divine mountain, engulfing Li Dao's figure.

Yet this small child held up the heavens with one hand, bracing it against the beast's forehooves and stopping its attack.

Hum-

Strange ripples washed outward from the point where boy and beast clashed, while the cracks beneath Li Dao's feet continued to spread.

Moo-

The Red-Horned Rhino felt the might radiating from Li Dao and was startled, but boundless rage followed close behind.

Its proudest attack had been blocked so easily. Red light burst from its entire body as it immediately exerted even greater strength.

It wanted to crush Li Dao straight into a bloody paste.

But Li Dao gave it no such opportunity. Holding the Red-Horned Rhino back with his right hand, he clenched his left into a fist and swung forward.

His fist drove inexorably ahead, carrying the force of wind and thunder as it slammed into the Red-Horned Rhino.

-Bang!

The Red-Horned Rhino felt a terrifying force strike its body, and it was instantly hurled backward.

Crack, crack, crack-

Its four limbs struck the ground heavily, instantly plowing two deep furrows through the earth.

The Heaven Mending Pavilion party arrived at the battlefield just in time to witness this explosive sight, and their mouths fell open.

They stared at Li Dao standing amid the crisscrossing fissures as though looking at some terrifying monster.

"Could that be a primordial pure-blooded creature wearing human skin?"

"He knocked back a Spirit Transformation Realm ferocious beast with one punch? Are we sure we're not seeing things?"

"With such terrifying strength, he feels even stronger than that utterly vicious Little Devil King in the Void God Realm!"

"How did so many monstrous prodigies suddenly appear in the Great Wilderness?"

Even from far away, Li Dao's earlier punch had sent a tremor of dread through them.

Before that fist, they had felt like mortals watching the heavens collapse, their entire bodies flooded with helplessness.

Even Elder Liu Yun, who had been sitting cross-legged with her eyes closed, opened them.

As she looked toward Li Dao, it was as though a pebble had been dropped into the still lake of her heart, sending ripples across its surface.

Although this ferocious beast was no pure-blooded creature, merely an ordinary Spirit Transformation Realm ferocious beast, that alone was shocking enough!

Xia Youyu and the others, with their lower cultivation, had only seen the outward spectacle, but she sensed something unusual.

She felt an unfathomably profound aura of the Dao permeating the space around Li Dao. Looking at him was like gazing up at a lofty mountain, inspiring involuntary awe.

"What is that? Could it be some special divine ability or treasure art?"

Li Dao had naturally sensed Xia Youyu and her fellow uninvited guests as well. But since he detected no hostility from them, he paid them no further attention.

Instead, he focused entirely on the staggering Red-Horned Rhino, murderous intent flashing in his eyes.

In an instant, a chilling aura of slaughter spread across the entire battlefield.

"Heaven and earth follow

"the movements of his heart. A single thought arises, and heaven and earth change color?!"

"Isn't that something only the Venerable Realm can accomplish?"

"How can this be?"

As Liu Yun felt the temperature suddenly drop around her and the murderous chill filling the air, the ripples in her heart became towering waves.

When did this brat become so powerful?

Even the Five-Colored Pheasant behind Li Dao felt uneasy at the chill that had suddenly risen around them.

Looking at the young yet unwaveringly upright figure before him, he could not help feeling an urge to submit.

As for the Red-Horned Rhino itself, when it felt the might radiating from Li Dao pressing down upon it,

its body involuntarily sank, and an inexplicable sense of death welled up, enveloping it completely.