A rumble tore through the stone floor and rattled the formation barrier. Down in the valley, red dust parted around a wall of charging beasts, their eyes burning with blood-red Qi. At the center of the stampede came the Crimson Blood Hound, a lion and wolf hybrid shape, left trailing lava that hissed where it stepped onto the dry clay.
As the stampede surged closer, the temperature spiked rapidly, the sudden wall of heat washing over the defensive lines. Disciples below the Core Formation realm began to struggle, their skin blistering in the dry air and their lungs burning as they struggled to circulate their Qi. Many of them threw wind blades and ice arrows at the beast, but the spells turned to steam and vanished into dry smoke before even touching its hide. Even the standard attacks of Core Formation cultivators scorched and hissed into nothingness against that molten hide.
