The bull king must have spotted them from afar since he stood up from his resting position. His eyes glowing with a wild red aura that danced around in his pupils. His dominating gaze almost inspired fear into Wu Ming's heart but he had to remind himself how this was simply a tactic used by the bull king's kind to make their enemies submit. So, he kept his chin up and his head high since he had nothing to be afraid of as long as he used the dagger correctly.
"You guys know you're wanted criminals here, right?" The bull sneered
"We do, and we don't much care if I'm being honest." The Phoenix shot back
"Well in that case, you must have lost your minds, because everyone's going to want a piece of you both now." He snickered
He sensed some tension between the Phoenix and bull king, because they were locked in an intense staring contest until the Phoenix spoke up again, "It's a shame that you're choosing the path of the weak, you could join us instead. Since a change is coming, and I know your kind will not survive on its own."
"How dare you call me weak, when you yourself have become a low human flunky."
They were once again locked in an ultimate staring contest, which annoyed Wu Ming since he needed to get back to the hut before Zhang Jian returned. He attempted to break up their contest by speaking up
"Bull king, we're not here to mock you. All we require is two pounds of meat from you." Just as these words left the tip of his tongue, he realized how abnormally dumb he sounded by making a request like that. Though what was said, was said AND heard.
The bull king however, was dumbfounded by this comment and it was visible through the sudden change in his expressions. The aura in his pupils turned yellow for a second reflecting how he was amused by this entire situation.
"I will rip you apart instead." He declared, and suddenly charged towards Wu Ming, who panicked but quickly was able to jump out of the way. The Phoenix and his vassals were simply able to fly away to dodge the bull's attack. Looking at them he realized how a pair of wings would have been so useful for him, but he had an immediate problem at the moment, that the bull was charging towards him once again.
He decided to hold his ground right up until the bull was inches away from him. Ready in his fighting stance he held his ground right until the bull was inches away from him. It required him to put an immense amount of trust in himself to not freeze when the right moment arrived since he'd need to jump if he had to surprise the bull.
He started counting in his head, '1... 2... 3... 4...-' and before he knew it the bull was inches away from him, but he couldn't take an action fast enough at that moment. It was almost as if the world around him froze for a split second within which he was suddenly lifted off the ground. He felt the claws of the Phoenix clutching his back, who then dropped him right above the bull king. Now he was on the bull king's back and with one swift stroke he was able to bring he bull down.
Now, standing beside the bull that was on the ground, he noticed how he had been whinnying in pain. That surprised him as the bull king had been in many battles before, and had sustained injuries far worse, perhaps Wu Ming had underestimated the power of the dagger.
The bull king, simply agreed to their negotiation when he said, "Just take what you want and leave me alone."
Wu Ming looked at the Phoenix and asked him, "Will he live?"
"Yes, he's sustained injuries far worse." Replied the Black Phoenix. Wu Ming could almost see the concern in the Black Phoenix's eyes for the bull, since he figured that they both must've been friends before. Which was also the reason why Wu Ming hadn't attacked the bull king's neck, but had instead targeted his back.
Wu Ming started collecting the meat from the bull king's body, and once he was done, he ordered the vassals to collect meat from the different kinds of spirit animals residing nearby, but ordered them not to kill any of the animals.
Leaving the demon world now would bring great deterrents into it, a change was coming and he would be the cause of it. He was the one that had gone one on one with the most powerful demon of the demon world, and he had won. That all seemed like nonsense to him at the moment but he acknowledged the power of it so he left knowing he had achieved the one task he had to achieve, collecting different kinds of meat for his master.
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Cerberus knew that they had a long journey ahead of them, and since the weather was particularly sunny today, he felt thirstier than usual. The same went for Wang Yan as she was also panting while she walked alongside Zhang Jian. What surprised Cerberus was how his master seemed somewhat indefatigable, his strength honestly made him admire him even more.
"Senior-" Wang Yan panted, "Senior can we please rest for a few minutes."
He stopped and put his hands on his hips inspecting Wang Yan's condition, and after a few seconds decided it would be best for them to stop.
It had become somewhat windy, the weather seemed perfect for a picnic.
Senior seemed to have noticed the same thing as well, because he murmured, "Should've brough something to eat. Isn't that right Cerberus?" He asked.
After a short while when they had rested, Cerberus continued guiding them towards the cave, and within a few minutes they had finally reached the caves.
Cerberus knew simply how dangerous the bees were since they were the direct descendants of the queen bees of the demon world. Which meant that not only were they unreasonably bitchy, they were also incredibly poisonous. One sting could cause paralysis followed by inevitable death a low-level cultivator such as Wang Yan.
Their honey on the other hand, was something people simply craved since it was made up of the sweetest nectar of the rarest flowers that only bloomed once in a year for less than two months.
Low level cultivators that assumed they could steal the honey from the bees and would gather every year near the beehives. The result of this was predictable though, most of them would get stung and would die a horribly painful death, since the bees wouldn't stop stinging even after the cultivator had been paralyzed.
This was the reason why Cerberus had been so incredibly worried about the master's lady, so he had warned her to be careful back when they had stopped to rest.
"Tsk-" Cerberus called out to Wang Yan silently, "Tsk."
Wang Yan noticed and looked back at him with a confused expression
He then motioned her with his head to follow him, a bit further away from the master.
"This isn't going to be an easy task you know?" He warned her, but she seemed even more confused now, "You know what we're here to do right?" He asked her
"No? Nobody told me what was going on." She replied.
'This dumb mutt.' Cerberus thought to himself, and informed Wang Yan about their quest and warned her to stay behind.
Now the three of them stood at the entrance of the cave, knowing simply how dangerous this task would be. Or maybe not since Zhang Jian casually walked into the cave, he surely was the bravest man Cerberus had ever encountered.
Once they were inside the cave, Zhang Jian immediately started to unfold his plan in front of them. He took out a bunch of straws that he had packed neatly into a bundle in his bag, and wet them with the drinking water he had brought with himself.
"Fetch me a few rocks boy," He ordered Cerberus while arranging the straws who quickly got to work with Wang Yan. Both of them collected a few hands sized rocks and gave them to their master.