"Yo, a little one showed up. Not bad, your strength’s decent, but pity... without stepping into the Saint Realm, you’re still just an ant." The gaunt man stared at Taishan and said.

"Fox Girl, what do you think, could the guy who understands Formations be this little brat?" the big man with twin axes said.

The fox girl sized Taishan up for a moment, her hands pinching and calculating, then finally shook her head. "Among us ancient beasts, those who understand Formations are even fewer than those who reach the Heavenly Realm. I think it’s someone else."

The fox clan walks the path of peeking at Tian Ji, skilled in divination and calculation. Some masters of the fox clan can even see through the future and glimpse a corner of what’s to come.

This foxy enchantress couldn’t reach that level, but with her Saint Realm cultivation, her divinations on certain matters were still extremely accurate.

"So that means the one who used a Formation to trap Brother Chi Hu is someone else?" The twin-axe brute revealed a trace of interest.

Speaking of Formations, they were still quite rare on the lands of the Southern Wilderness. In the big man’s heart, he very much wanted to witness the power of a grand Formation, to see whether the Formation was more formidable, or his two axes were fiercer.

"Forget him for now. Let’s first break that Formation and rescue Brother Chi Hu." The gaunt man said.

However, just as that decision was made, Taishan suddenly stepped sideways into the middle, blocking the three in front of him. He had heard every word of their conversation; they had completely ignored him, Taishan.

Although these three did have the qualifications to ignore him, that feeling still made Taishan very upset. In his view, his own talent wasn’t weak. The only reason they were stronger than him was that they’d just cultivated longer.

Ye Qiu was in seclusion. If Ye Qiu didn’t come out on his own, Taishan would not disturb him to solve the problem in front of him.

These past few days, his strength had greatly improved through his bouts with Chi Hu. He had long since reached the peak of the late Return-to-Ruins stage, the same as Ye Qiu, just one step away from the Saint Realm.

However, there was still a fundamental difference between Taishan and Ye Qiu. After all, one was a human Martial Artist, the other an ancient beast; the shackles of the Saint Realm were different for the two.

Taishan had his own ideas about stepping into the Saint Realm. For ancient beasts, when they improve their strength, it is essentially the evolution and enhancement of their bloodline. The stronger they are, the higher the level of their bloodline evolution.

The Void-Breaking Realm is a watershed, and the Saint Realm is also a watershed.

As long as one steps into the Saint Realm, an ancient beast’s bloodline undergoes a fundamental transformation, gaining a trace of divine beast bloodline.

Taishan not disturbing Ye Qiu actually had another thought at the bottom of his heart: to see whether, by borrowing the pressure of facing strong enemies this time, he could help himself break through and transcend into sainthood.

Taishan stood in front of the three and also cut off their path toward the grand Formation trapping Chi Hu. Because of the concealment Formation, the Formation trapping Chi Hu looked like an open stretch of ground, but once you stepped into it, you would discover it was different.

If he allowed these three to enter the Formation, Taishan truly feared that the three of them together might break the grand Formation and rescue Chi Hu.

"Kid, you’re being naughty. If you keep blocking the way, the two axes on my back will get angry. Once they’re angry, you’ll go ka-cha..." The twin-axe brute chuckled. "Guess what happens then? Hahaha... you’ll be cut in two, believe it?"

"Black Bull, don’t scare the poor thing." The gaunt man teased.

"Haha... youngsters these days aren’t that timid. I’m just giving him some pressure. What if it helps him break through?" The twin-axe brute laughed loudly.

Taishan stood where he was, staring at Black Bull. "If you want to pass, step over my corpse first."

"Oh ho..." Black Bull exclaimed, then said, "Interesting, interesting. Are you serious, little guy?"

The foxy girl at the side covered her mouth and laughed. "Brother Black Bull, he doesn’t seem to be afraid of you."

The gaunt man also laughed wildly at the side. "Big Black Bull, you’re looking like a fox borrowing a tiger’s might here. How about you show a bit of your divine beast bloodline?"

"To deal with a Return-to-Ruins brat, I need to use my divine beast bloodline? That would be a joke." Black Bull suddenly put away his playful look, his aura withdrawing into his body. But him turning serious made him ten times more frightening than before—an eerie calm kind of terrifying.

"Let me get rid of him first, then we’ll go rescue Brother Chi Hu." Black Bull struck, ramming straight forward in an instant.

Seeing this, Taishan had just started to dodge, but he was half a beat too slow and was sent flying with a single hit.

His body felt like it had been slammed by a speeding train; Taishan felt as if his bones were about to shatter.

When Black Bull saw Taishan staggering back to his feet, he was slightly surprised. "Not bad, your defensive power is decent. I just wonder how many of my charges you can withstand."

With that, Black Bull disappeared on the spot again.

In the next instant, with a boom in the air, Taishan was sent flying once more.

Yet at this moment, Taishan was like a cockroach that wouldn’t die. He again propped himself up and walked to stand before Black Bull. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Black Bull showed a hint of anger. He, a堂堂 Saint-level existence, had failed to finish off a Return-to-Ruins junior after several hits. Wasn’t that too humiliating, letting those two on the side watch a joke unfold?

"I’ll ram you to death!"

Black Bull’s clothes suddenly tore apart in places, the muscles on his body bulging like huge steamed buns, even more terrifying than those world-class bodybuilding champions.

Every muscle swelled and shone with a yellow-brown luster.

Dong!

This time, the impact was like beating a drum, the sound deep and heavy. Taishan was blasted far away, spewing several mouthfuls of blood in midair.

When he hit the ground, he smashed out a deep pit. The half-beast subordinates around them were all trembling, watching their officer wounded, feeling utterly powerless.

Under the oppression of a Saint, they didn’t even have the courage to make a move.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to, it was that the suppression from bloodline alone made them unable to move.

Seeing that Taishan didn’t stand up again this time, Black Bull clapped his hands, smiled at the foxy girl and the gaunt man. "That’s that, the little problem’s solved."

However, Black Bull did not see the expression he wanted on the faces of the other two. Instead, both of them were signaling with their eyes toward the space behind him.

Hm?

Black Bull slowly turned around, his expression hardening. That Return-to-Ruins brat had somehow stood up again without him noticing.

The gaunt man’s laughter drifted over. "Black Bull, if you can’t beat a Return-to-Ruins junior, how about you let me handle it?"

Every word was dripping with mockery. Black Bull was furious. Did they really think his Saint Realm cultivation was fake?

"Fine, fine, fine... I truly underestimated you." Black Bull didn’t bother refuting the gaunt man. Instead, he let killing intent surge as he stared at Taishan.

Up till now, he had only been playing around, thinking that with just a bit of strength he could ram a Return-to-Ruins realm to death, then go break the Formation and rescue Chi Hu. Yet Taishan was this tough, getting blasted away again and again and still able to stand.

Was this brat trying to challenge his dignity as a Saint Realm ancient beast?

Black Bull shouted loudly, "Saints are not to be insulted. Junior, die!"

Black Bull turned into a black whirlwind, and in an instant swept Taishan up into the sky.

Whoosh...

All they saw was a black storm vortex rising into the sky. High above, Black Bull grabbed Taishan’s head with one hand and dove down, smashing him fiercely into the ground.

Bang...

Big Black Bull leaped out in one smooth motion, covered in dust.

Now it was done; the small obstruction had been cleared.