"Rhino Emperor, as the first Dan Formation expert to die by my hands, you should feel honored! I will chop you into pieces and personally sample you, before I then let my family members taste your flesh."

Shweeeiinnn! ​​

Another sword abruptly appeared in Hong's right hand. He was now holding a sword in each hand.

"Twin swords? So, it seems your swordplay is just average. In this area around the Soaring Cloud forest, there's no one who uses twin swords with good techniques!" the Rhino Emperor stared at Hong with its enormous eyes, and then with a casual stomp on the ground, the entire area began to shake. And then, like a mountain, it came crashing towards Hong. "Die!"

Wham!

A massive hoof, so large that several men would need to wrap their arms around, came crashing down from up high, stamping down towards Hong.

The air itself exploded with a, desolate, ear-wrecking boom, and a blast of energy punched a deep hole in the frozen ground. Hong already knew how powerful this hoof was, long before it touched him.

"Swish!" Hong first branded his sword, which hummed like a fast sword slicing through a silent wind which cut a thin line across the enormous hoof. After just penetrating the hoof's skin, it lost its penetrating power. Hong instantly side stepped and ghosted away from his current position.

Bang!!!

The earth quaked, and a giant crater of about 10 feet appeared, but Hong himself was about 20 metres from the crater.

"You won't escape me!" The Rhino Emperor raged as it charged towards Hong. Although its movement looked mediocre due to its massive size, he still covered a wide distance with each step.

Its enormous hooves created giant craters on the ground, and soon, it chased Hong from the Marshlands all the way into the forest.

This part of the forest was about a square kilometre in size. "These trees won't be able to stop me in the slightest" the Rhino Emperor raged on as it stepped on these trees as if it were walking on blades of grass.

"He really lives up to his reputation of being a Rhino Emperor. His physical strength alone is on another level compared to other spirit beasts." Hong mumbled to himself. "And its skin is very tough. Just relying on my internal Qi energy and martial arts won't be enough to break through its skin. I guess it's time to let loose."

Fwoosh!

With a step, Hong appeared atop the crown of a massive tree, standing on the tree's topmost leaf, he didn't even sink an inch, staring down to meet the gaze of the Rhino Emperor.

"Unh?" the Rhino Emperor came to a halt. He could sense a dramatic change in the aura of this youngster, it was only slightly weaker than its own. "Body refining technique?"

"Your senses are right." Hong's skin was beginning to bulge, several movements noticeable underneath his skin, the golden crow tattoo on his back came to life as well as the moon rabbit's. They fused together and the Yuan Qi stored within him, erupted!

Several dragon roars echoed within him as thirty dragon tattoos appeared all over his body and all his energy merged together, that of a 2 Star King stage and a 9 Star Qi Creation stage and his strength rose to their absolute maximum.

If he could breakthrough and reach the Qi Sea stage, he would be able to dominate this 3 Star Dan Formation Rhino Emperor

"Haha, you're but a Qi Creation stage expert, even if you're also in the King stage of body refining, you're still inferior to me." The Rhino Emperor charged ferociously, trampling all the trees he came across, and the trees all went 'Crackackcka' as they snapped and fell, not slowing it down in any way.

"About now!" Hong murmured to himself before releasing his dragon aura. Boom! Like a shockwave, the aura spread for over a kilometre radius and every beast or human which was not of a dragon's bloodline had their cultivation substantially reduced.

This was the benefit of awakening an aura in the King stage. Aura works to reduce the combat abilities of any opponent, depending on the power gap and aura type.

The type of beast aura released by two experts would determine who would suffer the reduction in combat power. For instance, if one expert releases the aura of a 'wolf' and the other released the aura of a 'lion', the expert with the wolf aura would see a decrease in his combat abilities due to the gap in bloodline rankings of both beasts.

The extent of this power reduction is dependent on the cultivation difference between the two experts. If they're both in the same cultivation plane, then the 'wolf' expert would have his power reduced by 3 Stars. If there was only one plane difference it would reduce by 2 stars.

If there was a 2-plane difference, it would reduce by one star. But if it was a 3-plane difference then it would have no effect. So, in the fight between Min Hong and the Rhino Emperor, the Rhino Emperor saw a 2 star drop in battle power, because the dragon is the king of the beast kingdom.

This was the reason why the Rhino Emperor was shocked when Hong's energy soared to a point just below himself. "Hmph!" still atop the tree, Hong stared coldly at the charging Rhino Emperor, two swords in hand.

The Rhino Emperor was physically massive. Only a freakishly powerful spirit beast such as the Queen Boa would be able to battle it head on. But, as an expert swordsman, Hong would not do such a reckless thing.

Swoosh!

At that moment of contact, Hong used his 'One with World' level 'Chaotic Shadow Steps' to its peak, and dodged the Rhino Emperor's charge, just in the nick of time. Compared to Hong…the Rhino Emperor was far less agile.

Whilst dodging the Rhino Emperor's charge, Hong's swords slashed towards the Rhino Emperor's flank.

The sword flashed and glittered in the sunlight, translucent line of light…as though it was a line created by a thread of wind. The line sliced through the Rhino emperor's flank.

[Song of the Wind Spirit] – Wind Blade! 'One with World' level swordplay!

Like the earlier attack he had used to block the Rhino Emperor's stomp, this attack was also activated with the world essence of the sword.

However, last time, Hong had only used his internal Qi energy with the attack, but this time…the Yuan Qi in Hong's body erupted outward like a volcano that had been stifled for hundreds of years.

Using the body refining Yuan Qi and dragon aura meant that the damage of the attack increased by more than twenty-fold!

"Splurt!" The tough hide of the Rhino Emperor, under the sharp slice of the two Royal rank weapons, was slit open and an enormous wound.

Fresh blood erupted forth as if a pressure pipe had been slit. Blurt! Massive amount of blood flooded everywhere, and shattered intestines could faintly be seen amongst them.

Shua! Hong landed on the ground and turned.

The Rhino Emperor, which had been charging at high speed, came to an abrupt stop whilst belching a roar of extreme rage and intense pain. His muscles and flesh were wriggling, and the massive wound on its body began to heal and rapidly shrink, but Hong's attack was simply too vicious and the wound were massive.

Despite trying its hardest to suppress the blood gushing out and close the wound, blood still kept spilling out. The Rhino Emperor had made a tragic mistake of underestimating Min Hong. It no longer looked and acted as boastful as it had been earlier.

"Rhino Emperor, the day of your death has arrived." Hong left an afterimage, as he travelled at speed so fast one could only see a black blur, towards the Rhino Emperor.

"Roar!" the Rhino Emperor let out a fierce roar, and then began to charge crazily…in the opposite direction. It was fleeing for its dear life.

"Fleeing? Are you going to just run away, just like that?" Hong was stupefied. But he quickly realized something. His grandfather had previously told him that spirit beasts were extremely cunning. Once they sense any form of danger, they flee first and ask questions later.

Clearly, this Rhino Emperor had tragically discovered that its hide, which it was so boastful of…could be broken through like hot knife through butter, by this young boy that looked about ten years. This meant that its greatest defence system was now useless!

Hong's movement far surpassed the Rhino Emperor. After all, even the spirit beast, Queen Boa, which had a 20 percent bloodline purity hadn't been able to break past the Rhino Emperor's defence for a period of time. The Rhino Emperor had always relied majorly on its thick armour of hide. It had thought the youngster in front of it couldn't break past it, while all it had to do was keep charging.

If it were to even graze the youngster, the youngster would have been critically injured, if not die. But now, the youngster had split open his flank with one strike! How could this be allowed to go on? The Rhino Emperor was so frightened the only thought in its head was to flee!

But, how could he flee? Hong, when using his 'One with World' footwork, was only slightly slower than the Queen Boa itself. He was far superior to the Rhino Emperor in footwork.

Swoosh! Fwoosh! Swish! Hong had already caught up to the Rhino Emperor.

"I serve the Azure Queen Boa. You can't kill me!" the Rhino Emperor galloped wildly while bellowing as loud as it could, before releasing a heart-wrenching scream, "King! Save me!"

The scream travelled an extremely long distance.

Swish! Hong charged forwards and stabbed both swords upwards at the Rhino Emperor's neck. With a 'Chu' sound, the Rhino Emperor's skull was split open. Then a shadow solidified into a human form. It was of course Min Hong.

"Ugh…" the Rhino Emperor's eyes bulged. It hadn't thought his life would end in the hands of this human youth. Although spirit beasts possess strong life force, and might not die if stabbed in the heart, but Hong at stabbed it at its weak spot! Forget the spirit beast, even an Emperor stage body refiner would die if stabbed in the head.

Boom! The massive corpse of the Rhino Emperor collapsed to the ground, crushing many trees underneath it. Min Hong landed gracefully from mid-air, not a single blood staining his body. "The Shadow part of the 'Chaotic Shadow Steps' really does live up to its name."

"Spirit Beast!" Hong looked at the mountain-like corpse of the Rhino Emperor. He couldn't help but reveal a hint of relief in his eyes. "This is the very first Dan Formation level spirit beast I have ever killed. But before didn't he say something about being the servant of some 'Azure Queen Boa'? Hmmnn, I best leave quickly before anything out of the ordinary occur."

Swish! Hong appeared next to the Rhino Emperor's corpse. His sword flashed and he quickly chopped open its thick skin and retrieved a palm-sized object that faintly exuded a fragrant scent.

This was the most precious item contained within the Rhino Emperor's body; the sod. It was said to be a potent antidote to poisons. The value of this sod alone would be enough to acquire a Low-grade Royal rank weapon.

"Time to leave." Hong vanished on the spot and reappeared on a lake 30 metres away, running on the surface of the water. Vanishing and reappearing, three kilometres away.

Hualala! The spot on the lake water he just crossed swirled, as a whirlpool began to form.