Lin Ming continued walking forward. Suddenly, he heard the faint sounds of fighting coming from up ahead.
In the high grass of these forests, one had to watch out for more than vicious beasts, they also had to be wary of other martial artists. It was simply too easy to kill someone and steal all their possessions, leaving them here to rot away with no clue as to who did it.
However, Lin Ming didn’t worry about this. This was because the martial artists who hung around the base of Thundercrash Mountain were mostly below the Bone Forging stage.
Although it was said that not even Houtian realm martial artists would go more than halfway up the side of Thundercrash Mountain, the truth was that Houtian realm martial artists would almost never come here.
This was because the only value in coming to Thundercrash Mountain was Thundergrass. The martial artists that came here only came to pick Thundergrass. 100 year old Thundergrass sold for a bit more than 100 gold; it was a paltry amount that Pulse Condensation Period martial artists and above wouldn’t even glance at.
As Lin walked through the grass, he saw figures in front of him flashing around. The sounds of fighting were becoming increasingly clear, and he could clearly hear the sounds of swords clashing as well as the deep roars of beasts.
As Lin Ming spread out his soul force, he was able to sense that in a clearing not too far away, five martial artists were encircling a vicious beast. This vicious beast looked like a rhinoceros, but its back was covered in scales and its tail was thick and long, with a barbed tip.
From the aura it was exuding, it was no weaker than an Altering Muscle martial artist. Its skin was rough and its flesh was thick. Every time it whipped its long and spiked tail, it had a power behind it that was easily able to shatter stones.
The vicious beast was surrounded by five martial artists; three men and two women. They had a symbol shaped like a small black dragon covering the right area of their chest; it seemed as if they were from the same family or the same school. The two women were identical twins, and looked to be around 18 or 19 years old. The sisters’ cultivations were at the early Viscera Training stage, and they used longswords. The strikes lacked strength, and the sword wind from their blades only left superficial cuts on the iron armored rhinoceros’ body.
A young man whose age was about the same as the twins was also at the early Viscera Training stage. His strength was a bit less than the twins – at most he could serve as a distraction.
Finally, the last two were older martial artists, respectively at the early Altering Muscle stage and the peak Altering Muscle stage.
The man who was leading the assault was the peak Altering Muscle martial artist. He was wearing an impressive black outfit, and he used a black darksteel staff as his weapon. Against a vicious beast whose body was entirely covered in armored scales, it was difficult to use a sword. Instead, the long staff had the greatest effect. The black-clothed martial artist had quick reflexes, and every time that armored vicious beast would switch targets, the black-clothed man would take advantage of the opportunity and quickly suppress it with the staff.
He especially attacked between the eyes of the armored rhinoceros. This was where the central nervous system of the armored rhinoceros was, and also its point of greatest weakness.
Although the armored rhinoceros had formidable defensive capabilities, it couldn’t stop the black-clothed martial artist from smashing it with his staff. Slowly, its vision began to blur and its movements dulled until it started to bleed from its eyes and ears.
The black-clothed martial artist saw an opportunity, and his whole body erupted with a torrent of true essence. The black darksteel staff in his hands began to shine with a deep red light.
“Five Mountains Collapse!”
The black-clothed martial roared as he used his strongest martial skill. His staff struck the armored rhinoceros on the forehead, and with a loud cracking sound, the armored rhinoceros’ head caved in, its skull broken.
The iron rhinoceros gave a pitiful howl, swayed on its feet, and finally fell to the ground.
“Senior Apprentice Brother’s Five Mountains Collapse is truly fierce!” The not yet 20 year old youth hurriedly flattered the black-clothed martial artist after he beat the armored rhinoceros to death.
The black-clothed martial artist smiled and guffawed, enjoying this immensely. He said, “Little Long, go and cut off the rhinoceros’ horn, that thing can sell for a high price.”
“Okay.” The youth called Little Long nodded and, in high spirits, went to cut off the rhinoceros’ horn.
The two twin girls came over. They enviously said, “Senior Apprentice Brother’s Five Mountains Collapse is becoming fiercer every day. We sisters still haven’t learnt a martial skill yet…”