"It’s actually them?"

Ling Feng squinted his eyes. Theoretically, with Ao Jue’s strength, plus Wang Qian and Yue HuaQing, dealing with a giant desert rat shouldn’t have been difficult.

However, this was the endless desert, and the desert rat had the home field advantage. Furthermore, with its near "Immortal Body" ability, even though Ao Jue’s team’s combined efforts weren’t weak, they couldn’t effectively hit the rat’s weak spot, making the battle exceptionally intense.

The desert rat couldn’t kill the three of them, but neither could they truly slay the desert rat.

Boom!

The giant desert rat was smashed into two halves by Ao Jue’s fist. Half of its body turned into endless yellow sand and exploded, shooting in all directions.

Yue HuaQing and Wang Qian quickly retreated.

At this moment, the other half of the desert rat’s body seemed completely unaffected. Its giant claw slapped down, fiercely striking towards Ao Jue’s head.

Ao Jue’s eyelids twitched wildly. He had just used "Nine Heavens Dragon Roar Shocking Sky Change" to launch his strongest attack, barely managing to blow up half of the desert rat’s body, but who would have thought that, even so, the fierce beast hadn’t suffered any injury and could counterattack.

Unprepared, Ao Jue couldn’t dodge at all, and it seemed he was about to die under the desert rat’s giant claw.

"Brother Ao Jue!"

Both Yue HuaQing and Wang Qian exclaimed in alarm. Ao Jue was the strongest among the three. If Ao Jue died, the other two might not be far from death either.

"Looks like I have to intervene."

Ling Feng shook his head, his figure flashing and instantly shooting out.

It wasn’t that Ao Jue’s group was too weak; it was that those desert rat’s abilities were too mysterious. Even Ling Feng relied on his "Emperor’s Eye" to see through the rat’s demon core at a glance to be able to kill these fierce beasts in one strike.

In the next instant, Ling Feng had already flown near and took action decisively.

With a sword strike, air ripples surged and spread out, immediately blowing apart the desert rat’s claw. Following this, a wave of sword pressure descended, directly subduing the desert rat, causing its entire body to disintegrate, leaving only a demon core suspended in the air, unable to reform in the sand.

Crack!

The Sword Intent surged, and the demon core shattered. The desert rat lost its source of strength and could no longer reconsolidate, as the yellow sand turned into a kind of dark green blood, seeping into the ground below.

This fierce beast that nearly wiped out Ao Jue’s team was finally completely dead.

Having narrowly escaped death, Ao Jue was first stunned, then delighted. Upon looking closely and realizing it was Ling Feng, he revealed an expression of sheer astonishment.

Although Ling Feng was indeed stronger than him, to eliminate a giant desert rat in one move, had his strength perhaps taken great strides forward?

Ling Feng, truly living up to his name!

"Brother Ao Jue!"

Ling Feng gave Ao Jue a fist salute. He had a relatively good impression of Ao Jue.

"Brother Ling!"

Ao Jue looked deeply at Ling Feng, feeling a strong sense of defeat in his heart: he was nowhere near Ling Feng!

Yue HuaQing and Wang Qian, who had flown far away, saw Ling Feng appear and kill the desert rat and immediately flew back.

Yue HuaQing, with a hint of delight on her face, looked at Ling Feng, and regaining her composure, said, "Junior Brother Ling, fortunately, you arrived in time this time."

Wang Qian, who had some minor conflict with Ling Feng before, showed a trace of embarrassment, clenched his fists, and still gritted his teeth, saying, "Thank you... Brother... Senior Brother Ling..."

In the Martial Arts World, the strong were respected. Although Wang Qian was much older than Ling Feng, Ling Feng’s strength far surpassed his.

Unless it was someone like Yue HuaQing who had relatively good relations with Ling Feng, otherwise, they really wouldn’t dare to call Ling Feng Junior Brother.

Ling Feng slightly nodded, not minding the little unpleasantness that happened before on Dragon Peak Holy Mountain.

Previously, everyone represented their own sect. Some conflicts were inevitable, and this Wang Qian hadn’t gone too far. Since he first lowered his head, Ling Feng certainly wouldn’t hold on to it.

In other words, with his current magnanimity, he wouldn’t bother to hold grudges against a small figure like Wang Qian.

"Brother Ling, your strength has improved a lot again."

Ao Jue took a deep breath, strongly feeling that the gap between himself and Ling Feng had widened significantly again.

"Just made some small progress."

Ling Feng gave a faint smile. For now, it was indeed just small progress. However, once he refined and absorbed those Sword Soul Crystals inside the Heaven Refining Ring and reached the Great Perfection level of Sword Intent, that would be true rapid advancement!

Ao Jue’s mouth twitched slightly, only feeling his throat dry. Thousands of words turned into a sigh.

Compared to Ling Feng, he was almost embarrassed to call himself a genius.

Especially since, after he moved from the 9th Floor of Sunset Ancient City to the 10th Floor, he encountered some geniuses from other domains and deeply felt the disparity between them.

Perhaps, only Ling Feng and Shi Haoxuan in the Eastern Spirit Domain could be considered true geniuses.

"By the way."

Ling Feng thought for a moment and glanced back at Yue HuaQing and the others, then asked casually, "Why are you all here?"

"It was the signal sent by Shi Haoxuan!"

Ao Jue’s expression became serious, and he looked at Ling Feng with some puzzlement, "Didn’t Brother Ling receive the message from Shi Haoxuan?"

"Uh..."

Ling Feng was slightly stunned, "When did this happen? I might have missed it while in an underground palace."

"I see."

Ao Jue nodded and slowly said, "Shi Haoxuan mentioned he found an entrance to a relic at a certain place on the 10th Floor, but he couldn’t enter it alone, so he sent out a message hoping to gather all the geniuses of Eastern Spirit Domain to act together. He also said that compared to the other domains, our Eastern Spirit Domain is the weakest, so we need to unite to avoid being overwhelmed by the experts of other domains."

"Yes, that’s indeed the case."

Ling Feng raised his hand to touch his nose. When he was in the Xuanjian Underground Palace, he was constantly squeezed by those strong in the West Sword Domain. It’s easy to imagine that the situation of other geniuses from Eastern Spirit Domain might also not be too good.

"The few of us received Shi Haoxuan’s message and hurried over, meeting halfway. Who knew that this mysterious desert is full of danger, and if not for Brother Ling’s timely arrival, we might have perished here."

Ao Jue sighed lightly. Originally, in the Eastern Spirit Domain, he was a high and mighty genius. Who knew that upon arriving at Sunset Ancient City, even a small desert rat almost took his life.

"Brother Ao Jue simply wasn’t familiar with the characteristics of such fierce beasts."

Ling Feng chuckled mildly and continued, "So, Brother Ao Jue should know the direction out of this vast desert?"

"Yes, the signal from Shi Haoxuan did point out a direction."

Ao Jue nodded and said.

"That’s good."

Ling Feng felt a surge of joy in his heart. It was fortunate he met Ao Jue and the rest. Otherwise, in the time ahead, he might have been trapped in this desert until the Sunset Ancient City closed.

Now, Ao Jue’s team had brought him good news. Shi Haoxuan found a relic, which meant another opportunity was waiting for him.