Chapter 866: War Beast Ranch
Zhang Ruochen walked to the edge of a deep valley, closed his eyes, and released his powerful spiritual power, spreading it outward in all directions.
"This perverted madman's spiritual power is actually this strong."
Li Min stood not far away, sensing the spiritual power fluctuations emanating from Zhang Ruochen's body, staring at him in shock.
His spiritual power intensity was enough to rival the old ancestor of the Li family.
Could he also be a Half-Saint of spiritual power?
After about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, Zhang Ruochen withdrew his spiritual power. Then, he summoned the Devouring Elephant Rabbit, the Demon Ape, and Xiao Hei, all at once.
Zhang Ruochen's expression was solemn. "The nest of the Silver Moon Dragon Elephant is inside a mountain body to the northwest, about four hundred li from here."
"Just a mere Silver Moon Dragon Elephant, a sixth-rank lower-level savage beast. I'll go eat it right now," said the Devouring Elephant Rabbit.
The Devouring Elephant Rabbit's cultivation had reached the third-rank Half-Saint realm, comparable to the most top-tier sixth-rank lower-level savage beasts, so naturally, it didn't take a sixth-rank lower-level beast seriously.
"Who told you to eat it?" Zhang Ruochen's forehead showed black lines.
"Not eat?" The Devouring Elephant Rabbit was stunned.
"It's best if we can capture the Silver Moon Dragon Elephant alive. If it tries to escape, we can kill it. The most important point is, I need its blood."
"I see." The Devouring Elephant Rabbit nodded its large head.
Zhang Ruochen continued, "A single Silver Moon Dragon Elephant isn't hard to deal with. The key is that we must act quickly and absolutely not alert the other savage beasts in the Elephant King Ancient Forest. If we stir up something more powerful than the Silver Moon Dragon Elephant, then we'll be the ones in trouble."
"Are there creatures more powerful than the Silver Moon Dragon Elephant?" Xiao Hei asked.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Hard to say. It's better to be cautious; it won't hurt. For now, let's not disturb that Silver Moon Dragon Elephant. We'll wait until nightfall, when it comes out to absorb moonlight essence, and then take it down in one go."
The Devouring Elephant Rabbit said, "Master Chen, if we're waiting until night to act, why did you call us out now?"
Zhang Ruochen smiled. "The Elephant King Ancient Forest is home to a large number of savage elephants. Since we're here, why not capture a batch and bring them into the Scroll World?"
Savage elephants, known as war beasts, naturally have great value.
Capturing one elephant is equivalent to gaining a Heaven Extreme Realm martial artist. If they could capture tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, they could train an invincible elephant army.
The Devouring Elephant Rabbit, Demon Ape, and Xiao Hei were all formidable savage beasts, so capturing savage elephants was an easy task for them.
Xiao Hei was the most efficient, directly suppressing the king of an elephant clan and bringing nearly ten thousand elephants into the Scroll World in one go.
The Devouring Elephant Rabbit and Demon Ape also used their own methods, each bringing back several hundred elephants each time.
A whole day passed, and more than half of the savage elephants within a few thousand li were taken into the Scroll World, becoming the first batch of savage beast clans in that world.
The sky gradually darkened.
A faint crescent moon appeared in the sky, growing brighter and shedding soft light.
Xiao Hei, the Devouring Elephant Rabbit, and the Demon Ape stopped capturing elephants and moved closer to Zhang Ruochen, preparing to deal with the Silver Moon Dragon Elephant together.
During the day, the Silver Moon Dragon Elephant slept inside the mountain, only coming out at night to absorb moonlight essence and improve its cultivation.
They didn't wait long before a low sound came from underground.
The massive body of the Silver Moon Dragon Elephant slowly emerged from its cave. It was seventeen zhang long, covered in palm-sized silver scales, with the body of a wolf and the head of a dragon. On its head, it even had a pair of jade-white dragon horns.
A powerful aura radiated from its body, forming a gale that made the surrounding mountains seem to shake.
Seeing this scene, Li Min was already stunned speechless. Scenes that only appeared in myths and legends were now unfolding before her eyes.
The fierce aura emitted by the Silver Moon Dragon Elephant made Li Min tremble all over. She seriously doubted whether Zhang Ruochen could really deal with it.
Zhang Ruochen stared at the Silver Moon Dragon Elephant, slightly frowning, sensing something was off.
The body of this Silver Moon Dragon Elephant was two or three times larger than a normal one. Even the power fluctuations it emitted were stronger than what was recorded in books.
A normal Silver Moon Dragon Elephant would have about the combat power of a third-rank Half-Saint. The strength of this one was far beyond that.
Capturing it alive was no longer possible. They would have to go all out and kill it.
"Shua."
Zhang Ruochen used Spatial Displacement, crossing over ten li in an instant, appearing without warning above the Silver Moon Dragon Elephant's head.
"Die."
The inscriptions on the Abyssal Ancient Sword quickly surfaced, emitting a powerful sacred artifact might. He swung it downward, striking at the Silver Moon Dragon Elephant's neck.
This strike was extremely fast. Zhang Ruochen aimed for a one-hit kill.
The Silver Moon Dragon Elephant sensed the danger and immediately stopped absorbing moonlight, shrinking its body to the size of an ox.
"Boom."
The Abyssal Ancient Sword grazed the edge of the Silver Moon Dragon Elephant's neck and struck the ground with a loud crash. The powerful sword energy condensed into a line, shooting straight down, splitting the mountain beneath the Silver Moon Dragon Elephant in two.
Although the Silver Moon Dragon Elephant reacted quickly, it was still hit by the sword energy, leaving a deep bloody wound on its neck.
At this moment, the Silver Moon Dragon Elephant was naturally furious.
"Roar!"
It let out a long howl, a sound like a mix of wolf and dragon.
Then, the Silver Moon Dragon Elephant's body grew back to over ten zhang long. A dazzling silver light appeared in its abdomen, and it opened its mouth wide, spitting out a silver light pillar aimed at Zhang Ruochen.
"This should be a mutated Silver Moon Dragon Elephant. Its strength is probably not much weaker than a sixth-rank mid-level savage elephant."
Zhang Ruochen didn't clash head-on with the Silver Moon Dragon Elephant. Instead, he used his speed advantage to pass through the silver light pillar and appear beneath the Silver Moon Dragon Elephant's head.
"Sword One."
The Abyssal Ancient Sword flew from Zhang Ruochen's hand, shooting upward, piercing through the Silver Moon Dragon Elephant's head, bringing out a large splash of blood, and flying out from the top, leaving a gaping hole the size of a plate.
The Silver Moon Dragon Elephant let out a mournful cry and immediately turned around, fleeing into the distance.
That strike had wounded it severely, and it realized that this human was a ruthless character. If it didn't escape, it might die by his sword.
"Roar."
The Demon Ape let out a roar, charging out from the forest, its body wreathed in black demonic aura, blocking the fleeing Silver Moon Dragon Elephant.
The Silver Moon Dragon Elephant immediately turned its head and fled in another direction, but it ran into Xiao Hei, who had been waiting ahead.
Finally, Zhang Ruochen caught up from behind and swung his sword, cutting off the Silver Moon Dragon Elephant's massive head.
Witnessing this one-sided hunting battle, Li Min truly felt Zhang Ruochen's power. "No wonder the Ministry of War dispatched ten top experts to deal with him. This guy's strength... is really quite monstrous..."
Without realizing it, Li Min's attitude toward Zhang Ruochen had begun to change.
Before, he was just a perverted madman following a young girl with ill intentions. Now, in Li Min's eyes, Zhang Ruochen had become a terrifying prodigy.
Zhang Ruochen wasn't much older than her, yet his strength was so formidable. If that wasn't a prodigy, what was?
"Who is so bold as to enter the Ministry of War's War Beast Ranch and kill a Silver Moon Dragon Elephant?" A dignified voice came from the eastern horizon, hundreds of li away.
Then, a patch of black clouds surged over quickly, covering the entire sky, bringing with it an extremely powerful pressure.
Vaguely, a figure in armor could be seen standing in the center of the clouds.
"War Beast Ranch?"
Zhang Ruochen was momentarily stunned, then suddenly understood.
The Elephant King Ancient Forest occupied half of the Ten Thousand Elephant Commandery and was home to over ten million savage elephants. How could it be a barren wasteland?
So, the Elephant King Ancient Forest was a ranch of the Ministry of War, and those savage elephants were all raised as war beasts and mounts.
It wasn't Li Min's fault. After all, everything she knew came from books, and she had no idea about the true situation of the Elephant King Ancient Forest.
Thus, she only knew that the Elephant King Ancient Forest had many savage elephants, but not that it had been designated a restricted area a hundred years ago.
Zhang Ruochen looked up.
In his pupils, two divine marks appeared, transforming into Divine Mark Eyes. His gaze pierced through the clouds, finally making out the figure of that Ministry of War Half-Saint.
At the same time, that Ministry of War Half-Saint also saw Zhang Ruochen's face, letting out a soft exclamation of surprise. "Zhang Ruochen?"
Then, he immediately took out an octagonal sacred eye, holding it in his palm, observing its changes.
Sure enough, the figure of the young man below appeared on the surface of one of the octagonal sacred eye's mirrors.
"Heaven has a road you refuse to take; hell has no door, yet you barge in. Zhang Ruochen, since you've come to my territory tonight, there's no need for you to leave." That Ministry of War Half-Saint laughed heartily, clearly very excited.
Capturing Zhang Ruochen would surely be a great achievement.
This man was titled "Ten Thousand Elephant King," serving as both the governor of the Ten Thousand Elephant Commandery and the commander guarding the War Beast Ranch. His sacred dao cultivation was naturally very profound.