Xia Fei turned on his communication device and announced to the five hundred Aurorean warriors in the ship’s cargo hold: “Everything is ready. In fifteen minutes’ time, the warship is going to land; we’ll begin our raid thereafter!”

This was a fairly simple statement, yet it sent the warriors of the Aurora Clan into a state of confusion. Each of their eyes was wide open in complete bewilderment.

Twenty minutes later, the warship landed on a planet covered in red valleys. The five hundred Aurorean warriors were in neat formation, fairly well organized. Xia Fei could not help but recall the pack of wolves from Skywing Clan, which were the exact opposite of these people; those madmen were not in the least bit concerned about structure or arrangement, with some joking around, others drinking, and the rest either sitting or lying down.

“Penny for your thoughts, Xia Fei?” Radix quietly brought him back to reality. Seeing these warriors had caused Xia Fei to think of his Skywing Clan comrades, and he was momentarily in a daze.

Xia Fei sighed. “Look at how neat and tidy they formed themselves and with completely serious demeanors, too. I just don’t feel comfortable seeing this.”

Radix shook his head. “It’s not bad. Warriors, of course, will have their own code, and given how well-trained the Aurora Clan has always been, it’s only natural for these people to be courteous and to strictly observe regulations.”

Xia Fei was unimpressed by this. “Regulations? Rules have always been the least I cared about in my life. The Aurora Clan is far too rigid, and none of these warriors has any personality to speak of. They’re no different from manufactured robots, devoid of any passion.”

Personality and passion were always the two things Xia Fei valued the most, and seeing all these warriors in front of him so far away from his ideals had only bolstered his resolve to remold them from the core!

With this thought in mind, Xia Fei’s lips curled into that strange smirk as an evil look crept into his face. Radix trembled from the sidelines, for reality had proven that, whenever Xia Fei showed this side of him, he was not far from assuming his crazed state.

“This here is the Fufeng Clan’s territory, where plenty of high-level exotic beasts like the Spirit Horned Rhinos can be found. Your task today is to hunt a hundred of those exotic beasts, with everyone forming up teams of five. Whoever finishes the task first shall report back to me; is that understood?!” Xia Fei bellowed.

Everyone was at first shocked but soon appeared to be extremely reluctant. An older warrior from the crowd made the move to become his fellows’ representative.

“Since this is someone else’s territory, it’s not right for us to set foot here without permission, not to mention slaying the exotic beasts around. It would be very rude of us to do that.”

Xia Fei laughed. He had already expected these dullards from the Aurora Clan to raise objections.

“Actually, I’m just like you; I detest violence,” Xia Fei swept his gaze across the people present before somberly speaking, “but for the sake of survival, violence is a must. As warriors, the most important thing we must be clear of is who our friend and who our foe are.”

“To my friends, I naturally show them all kinds of care, but to my foes, I can only kill them! I won’t talk about this further with you all, but I want you to remember this: ‘The greater the power, the heavier the responsibility.’ You’re elites of the Aurora Clan and shoulder the responsibility of protecting it! This is not just flippant commitmentbut something you must prove with your fists…”

…

*Whoosh*

All five hundred warriors spread out in teams of five, with each group moving independently as they hunted for the Spirit Horned Rhinoceroses. The hide of these exotic beasts made for the best material to create close-combat gloves with; Xia Fei needed a lot of this hide so that he could forge the aforementioned soul weapons for his Skywing comrades.

“Your encouragement appears to be effective. At the very least, they’re no longer showing that much resistance now.” Fuchen told Xia Fei this as he stood by his side.

Xia Fei sighed. “It’s really not easy getting these people to change completely, and I think that words alone aren’t enough; I need them to see blood first. Fortunately, they’ll soon be given this opportunity.”

Ulan chuckled. “Killing some exotic beasts won’t be a problem for these people. I suppose that you’re making them do this mainly to get them used to the smell of blood. Am I right?”

“Indeed, everything must be done step by step. These are people who have practically never really gotten mad at anyone before, nor have they seen just how terrifying war can be. I’m testing the waters by letting them experience combat and killing by a bit, and we’ll begin with these exotic beasts,” Xia Fei said.

The combat was nothing too intense, for these Aurorean warriors all had decent cultivation, with many even reaching the Founder tier and were capable of using Dark Energy. As such, they should have no trouble dealing with mere level 9 beasts.

Soon, dozens of Spirit Horned Rhinoceroses had been gathered in the area around the Silver Specter. Fuchen and Ulan were bored, so they returned to the ship to drink some tea, leaving Xia Fei alone to supervise the warriors who collected the spoils.

“I heard that Spirit Horned Rhinos are very decent ingredients. After skinning them, just wait till the evening and then one can roast their meat,” Xia Fei said with a smile.

Soon, the beasts were properly sorted out and stored in the Silver Specter’s cargo hold. Xia Fei still needed to organize the hides, and only then could they become suitable raw materials for soul weapons.

“Why are we still missing one team?” Xia Fei asked curiously after doing a headcount.

It had only been a little over two hours since they set off, and even the most foolish warriors would have accomplished their task by then. Could something have happened to them?

“Oh, yeah. Wistplume’s team still isn’t back.”

“I bumped into Wistplume’s team over valley yonder. They seem to be tracking an exotic beast. Their team probably went deeper into the valley on the beast’s trail.”

“I’m not getting a response from my communicator… We’ve lost contact with Wistplume’s team!”

Everyone panicked immediately, only for Xia Fei to swing an arm out to silence everyone. “Don’t panic. I refuse to believe that the formidable warriors from the Aurora Clan will have trouble dealing with a mere Spirit Horned Rhino. Hold on a bit. No one is allowed to go search for them! As warriors, they must learn to depend on their own strength!”

Seeing Xia Fei’s seriousness, no one made another comment and could only worry about Wistplume’s team in silence. It was normal for people to spread out given how large the planet was, but the fact that the communicator had not gotten a response did not bode well for them.

All of a sudden—

The shrill cry could be heard from somewhere deep in a valley, far out where the sun was setting.

As Xia Fei’s companion Holy Beast, Furball immediately jumped to his paws while he was in the middle of a napand let out a roar in that direction!

This was a confrontation! A contest between exotic beasts!

Furball was also a Holy Beast! For a cry to elicit such a reaction from him meant that the other must be a high-level Divine Beast. Other beasts could only lay spreadeagled on the ground in fear otherwise.

*Whoosh*

Xia Fei lifted an eyebrow. Grabbing hold of Furball, he went dashing toward that valley in the direction of the setting sun!

He moved at lightspeed, covering several hundred kilometers in a second!

As the valley came into view, a terrible battlefield appeared before him. Hundred-year-old trees had been uprooted, the entire length of the valley looking like it had been dug repeatedly, with smoke billowing from several places.

Xia Fei somersaulted into the valley with a tap of his foot and followed the traces of battle left behind.

He lifted his wrist and checked his communicator; sure enough, he had lost signal the moment he entered the valley, almost as if something weird was interfering with it.

*Tap*

Xia Fei hid behind a large boulder and kept an eye out for danger. In front of him were the missing five Aurorean warriors; they were currently engaged in a fight with a Spirit Horned Rhinoceros.

This Spirit Horned Rhinoceros was a mutation. It was very skinny and small, resembling a household cat; there was this pink, half-carrot horn on its head, too.

Its skin was translucent, so Xia Fei could clearly make out its internal organs, its skeletal structure, and its bloodstream.

Xia Fei found this to be very curious, for the creature was giving off a killing intent far greater than a normal Spirit Horned Rhinoceros. Its two eyes, which were scarlet red, took up half of its head. Like a tiger that had gone mad, this Spirit Horned Rhinoceros made anyone who saw it shudder involuntarily.

*Rumble*

This strange Spirit Horned Rhinoceros launched an attack on those Aurorean warriors. Its style of attack was fairly savage, throwing itself straight at the enemy like a cannonball and with great explosive power! It looked very similar to Furball whenever he went wild.

“Why aren’t you going up to help them?” Radix urged.

Xia Fei shook his head and pointed at the leader of the team, Wistplume. “That woman is rather intriguing. I want to see what she’s going to do.”

Xia Fei’s eyes deserved praise for even being able to tell that Wistplume was a woman, for she was rather beefy. She was not too old and had no curves, owning a big and inelegant head like Zhang Fei’s. Her voice was also loud and booming, which was hardly lady-like.

However, it was precisely because of Wistplume’s uniqueness that she left quite an impression on Xia Fei, able to be recognized at a glance.

“Block this b*st*rd off for this old lady! Don’t let it run away!” Wistplume hollered.

Radix and Xia Fei broke out in a cold sweat. According to the information they had, Wistplume was merely nineteen years old, yet she was already calling herself an old lady? How was this appropriate?

The four warriors, who teamed up with Wistplume, got busy following her command. Xia Fei discovered that Wistplume was very talented as a commander, and the key was her loud voice, which was thunderous enough to leave people stunned.

Leadership required one to have profound wisdom and to be capable of remaining clearheaded while giving an air of dependability. In this way, they could hold down the fort and prevent the people under them from panicking.

*Bang*

That strange Spirit Horned Rhinoceros, which was currently surrounded, slowly went crazy.

Xia Fei saw the beast make a crazed charge to a warrior at its side with its horn in an attempt to bore a hole in that person’s chest.

“Careful!”

The situation was dire. Xia Fei was about to intercept from where he hid when Wistplume came rushing in, pushing away that frozen warrior and letting its horn pierce her arm, instead!

*Crunch*

The sound of breaking bones!

The heartrending pain caused Wistplume to sweat profusely, but the woman gave a low grunt and got herself upright, continuing to battle despite the pain!

“Now that’s some stout-hearted manliness!” Radix could not help but gasp.

Radix felt that his words were off immediately after uttering them because Wistplume was clearly a woman! Should it be ‘a stout-hearted woman’? That did not sound right, either.

“Forget me! Just this much isn’t enough to kill this old lady!

“Use your soul weapons to blow it up for me!” Wistplume boomed.

Xia Fei frowned. It was clear that this Spirit Horned Rhinoceros was different, and using it to forge soul weapons would be perfect. Would it not be a waste if it got ruined just like this?

ROAR~

This was when that translucent Spirit Horned Rhinoceros let out a thunderous roar, then a single figure came landing from the sky.

*Boom*

The figure landed with a ringing explosion, which blew up the valley directly!

Once the dust and flying rocks had settled, everyone present saw the Spirit Horned Rhinoceros leaning close to a warrior in silver war armor while looking proud. It seemed that this creature’s owner had arrived.

“Who are you people? To think that you dared to make a move against the Fufeng Clan’s Colorless Sky Cow?!” That warrior raised one hand to Wistplume and coldly asked this question.