# Chapter 867: Beast Taming Master
The sudden turn of events left Li Min stunned on the spot.
The Ministry of War's Beast War Beast Ranch?
Li Min had been well-versed in various books and records since childhood, knowledgeable about astronomy, geography, ancient and modern history, and the laws of the imperial court. Naturally, she understood the magnitude of the disaster she had caused. If she were captured by the Ministry of War's Half-Saint, it might implicate the entire Li family.
Li Min felt panicked and finally understood why the sages said, "Read ten thousand books, travel ten thousand miles." The knowledge in books was indeed quite rich, yet not entirely correct. Only by going out and moving about, personally seeing the vast world, could one correctly understand the world, rather than being confined to one's study and engaging in armchair strategizing.
Her gaze turned toward Zhang Ruochen, only to find that he showed no sign of panic at all, remaining quite calm instead.
Facing the Ten Thousand Elephant King, he could still be so composed?
The Ten Thousand Elephant King was the governor of Ten Thousand Elephant Commandery, a renowned figure throughout the entire Yuan Prefecture. Although Li Min had never seen him in person before, she had heard of his name and knew many stories about him.
"Zhang... Zhang Ruochen..."
Li Min was somewhat nervous, her voice trembling as she called out.
Zhang Ruochen stored the corpse of the Silver Moon Dragon Elephant into his space ring. Then, he turned his gaze and glanced at Li Min. After a moment's hesitation, he instructed the Devouring Elephant Rabbit: "Guoguo, take her and leave first."
Since Zhang Ruochen had brought Li Min out, he couldn't just abandon her. Now that he had brought her into the Elephant King Ancient Forest, he naturally had to take her back alive.
"Whoosh——"
The Devouring Elephant Rabbit crouched on the ground, its furry body expanding like a balloon, eventually transforming into a red rabbit as large as a wild elephant.
Carrying Li Min on its back, it turned into a crimson streak of light, rushing rapidly toward the outside of the Elephant King Ancient Forest.
"No one can escape the Elephant King Ancient Forest."
Standing within the black clouds, the Ten Thousand Elephant King took out a cyan banner, infused holy qi into its pole, and hurled it forward with force.
"Boom."
The pole grew longer and thicker, becoming like a heavenly pillar a zhang in diameter, landing and embedding itself into the top of a mountain.
The banner's inscriptions connected with the underground formations, causing pillars of light to surge up from the surrounding mountains and river channels, completely sealing off this area.
The Devouring Elephant Rabbit crashed into an invisible wall, distorting the void slightly upon impact. Fortunately, its cultivation was formidable, so it wasn't injured by the rebound force, quickly stabilizing itself.
"Within these towering mountains and ridges, formations have actually been arranged. Escaping will likely be as difficult as reaching the heavens." The Devouring Elephant Rabbit had an ominous premonition, its round eyes turning to look at Zhang Ruochen.
Since the Ministry of War had designated the Elephant King Ancient Forest as a beast war ranch, they had naturally made adjustments to the geographical structure of the ancient forest, arranging many natural grand formations.
These formations could leverage the power of the terrain, absorbing the spiritual qi of heaven and earth to unleash extremely formidable might.
There had once been a group of evil path Half-Saints who broke into the Elephant King Ancient Forest, using poison techniques to try to kill the wild elephants in the ranch, thereby weakening the Ministry of War's strength. Unfortunately, those Half-Saints all went in but never returned, dying within the formations.
Within the black cloud layer in the sky, streaks of lightning appeared, accompanied by rumbling thunder.
"Now you're all trapped like turtles in a jar. Where else can you flee?"
The Ten Thousand Elephant King extended his large hand, and the black cloud vapor intertwined with electric light, forming a hand several dozen zhang long, reaching out to seize the Devouring Elephant Rabbit.
On the Devouring Elephant Rabbit's back, Li Min felt a suffocating force pressing down, as if the sky were collapsing and the earth were splitting apart, her internal organs feeling as though they were about to shatter.
The Devouring Elephant Rabbit was extremely fast, suddenly charging forward, dodging the Ten Thousand Elephant King's grasp.
"Sizzle sizzle!"
The Ten Thousand Elephant King's palm struck the ground, reducing the surrounding rocks and vegetation to ashes, tearing apart a large portion of a hill.
Zhang Ruochen's eyes darkened. He immediately mobilized space power, slashing toward one direction, and growled: "Break!"
The power of space tore a rift over thirty meters long in the formation's air wall. The spiritual qi of heaven and earth from all directions surged into the space rift like tidal waves.
As the spiritual qi of heaven and earth gradually weakened, the formation's power also rapidly declined.
Seizing this opportunity, Zhang Ruochen struck out a palm print from afar, unleashing a massive fire dragon phantom that emitted a deafening dragon roar, crashing into the banner's pole.
"Bang."
The banner's pole snapped in two in an instant, falling to the ground.
With the formation's suppression lost, the Devouring Elephant Rabbit's speed fully erupted as it charged forward. Its speed shocked even the Ten Thousand Elephant King, for even with his cultivation, he would likely find it difficult to catch up to that rabbit.
However, the Elephant King Ancient Forest was an important site of the Ministry of War. Entering was easy, but escaping was nothing but wishful thinking.
Just then, the melodious sound of a flute emerged, transforming into ripples of sound waves that resonated with certain rules between heaven and earth, spreading hundreds of miles away, even thousands of miles away...
Hearing the flute sound, all the wild elephants became agitated, charging toward the direction guided by the flute, forming a beast tide.
The ground shook violently, startling the birds in the forest, all fleeing in the same direction. Zhang Ruochen stood at the center of the jungle, his black long hair swaying in the wind. Looking up, the sky was filled with dense black dots, accompanied by "caw caw" cries.
The person playing the flute was an old man in hemp clothing, standing atop a steep cliff. He was only about one meter thirty tall, withered and thin like a dwarf, yet his eyes were bright and piercing, exuding a fierce aura.
This man was called Master Haimin, the chief beast taming master under the Ten Thousand Elephant King. His spiritual power intensity had already reached the forty-sixth level.
It could be said that the Ten Thousand Elephant King spent most of his time managing the affairs of Ten Thousand Elephant Commandery and training the army. The true controller of the Elephant King Ancient Forest was actually Master Haimin.
"Charge out together."
Zhang Ruochen leaped up, landing on top of the demon ape, and sent the Abyssal Ancient Sword flying, suspending it in midair. It manifested into thousands upon thousands of sword qi, like a rain of swords, flying into the beast tide.
"Pfft."
Under the sword qi attack, the wild elephants on the ground fell in large numbers.
The Devouring Elephant Rabbit charged at the forefront, demonic qi surging from its body, carrying a cold, chilling force, leaving patches of ice on the ground.
"Bang bang."
Those wild elephants couldn't withstand the powerful force emitted by the Devouring Elephant Rabbit, all sent flying backward upon impact.
Moreover, most of the wild elephants' bodies were frozen by the cold, falling to the ground and becoming stiff, unable to stand up again.
Li Min sat on the Devouring Elephant Rabbit's back, her delicate jade hands tightly gripping the blood-red rabbit fur. She felt a surge of blood boiling with excitement, wishing she could transform into a powerful spiritual power master, unleashing mighty spells to annihilate all enemies blocking the way with a flick of her finger.
Just as she was thinking this, Zhang Ruochen, standing atop the demon ape's head, held the Thunder Pearl. His powerful spiritual power radiated outward, condensing hundreds of lightning bolts around his body, forming a sea of thunder.
His finger extended forward, pointing toward Master Haimin's location.
"Sizzle sizzle."
Dozens of lightning bolts shot out simultaneously, intertwining with each other, forming a thick pillar of thunder that pierced through the void, flying a hundred miles away.
Seeing the incoming lightning, Master Haimin stopped playing his flute, secretly startled. "He is also a spiritual power Half-Saint, and the power he controls is actually the destructive force of lightning."
At that moment, Master Haimin extended his left hand and pointed out: "Wind Sweeping Remnant Clouds."
Master Haimin was not only a beast taming master but also a spiritual power Half-Saint who could control wind-attribute power.
Wind Sweeping Remnant Clouds was a sixth-level spell, one that only spiritual power Half-Saints could successfully cultivate.
Throughout the entire heaven and earth, fierce cold winds surged from all directions. The power of the wind was extremely strong, forming a rapidly spinning tornado.
The tornado was formed by the convergence of wind blades, extending from Master Haimin's fingertip, growing thicker and thicker, colliding with the incoming thunder pillar.
"Boom rumble."
The two forces clashed in midair, throwing the spiritual qi of heaven and earth into chaos. At the same time, electric light and wind blades continuously fell, striking the ground and leaving craters.
"So that's the power of a spiritual power Half-Saint."
Li Min raised her eyes, staring at the dazzling thunder pillar and the wind dragon dozens of miles long above her head, biting her lip, feeling quite envious.
"How is Zhang Ruochen that freak so abnormal, having cultivated his spiritual power to such a formidable level? If only I were that strong." Li Min thought to herself.
Although both of them had a spiritual power intensity of the forty-sixth level, Zhang Ruochen had only just reached the forty-sixth level, so he was still slightly weaker than Master Haimin.
Moreover, Master Haimin specialized in spiritual power cultivation. The spells he cast were of higher grade and greater power, quickly suppressing the lightning power Zhang Ruochen had unleashed.
"Sword One."
Zhang Ruochen multitasked, activating his powerful sword intent, controlling the Abyssal Ancient Sword to transform into a meteor-like sword path, following the Thunder Pearl, piercing through the wind dragon, and striking at Master Haimin.
Sensing the powerful sword qi approaching, Master Haimin's expression changed drastically. He immediately withdrew the wind dragon, mobilized his spiritual power, and cast another spell.
A half-zhang-thick wind shield quickly condensed, blocking in front of him.
Unfortunately, Master Haimin still underestimated Zhang Ruochen's attainments in the sword path and the power of the Abyssal Ancient Sword.
That wind shield only blocked the Abyssal Ancient Sword for an instant before shattering, breaking apart.
"Pfft!"
The Abyssal Ancient Sword struck Master Haimin's chest. Even though he had protective treasures, Master Haimin was still sent flying, crashing into the mountain behind him.
The physical body of a spiritual power Half-Saint was inherently weak. After such a collision, Master Haimin directly lost half his life, falling to the ground with blood flowing from his seven orifices, unable to get up again.
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(I'll just do two chapters today! There will be another chapter later, very late. I suggest all readers wait until tomorrow morning to read it.)
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