Battle

One month later.

Above a dense forest somewhere in the Magical Beast Mountain Range, two figures, one large and one small, stood facing each other in the sky.

"Despicable human, you have gone too far in bullying magical beasts. Leave this place at once, and you may still keep your life. Otherwise, today you will die without even a burial place." A massive magical beast, golden-red from head to toe, roared fiercely at the figure ahead, who was wreathed in azure fire. It was none other than the overlord of this area of the Magical Beast Mountain Range, the Heavenly Fire Mad Lion.

The Heavenly Fire Mad Lion was born a Tier 3 Magical Beast, and upon adulthood, it could even become a Tier 6 Magical Beast. After becoming a Tier 6 Magical Beast, all of its fur would turn golden, and as its strength grew and its bloodline evolved, the fiery red patterns on its body would gradually increase.

As for the Heavenly Fire Mad Lion before him, its body was enormous, a full five or six meters long, with twin wings on its back. Its golden mane shone beneath the sunlight, and fiery red flame markings covered a third of its body, announcing that it already possessed strength comparable to a human Three-Star Dou Huang.

"Lion King, today, I came here deliberately to offend you. I want to borrow you to measure my current strength. As the magical beast king of this place, you cannot back down. If you want to live, then show everything you can and break through this Life-and-Death Tribulation of mine!" Opposite the Heavenly Fire Mad Lion, Lin Yuan spread his wings and stood with his hands behind his back in the void, azure fire coiling around him. His gaze was deep and dark as he provoked the Heavenly Fire Mad Lion with slightly contemptuous words, while his left hand, held behind his back, gathered energy that was almost tangible.

Hearing this, the Heavenly Fire Mad Lion let out a great roar. "Roar! Shameless boasting, arrogant human. Do you think wounding me with a sneak attack means you can defeat me? A mere human Dou Wang—watch as This Emperor destroys you."

With a furious roar, violent Energy Fluctuations Emanated from within the Heavenly Fire Mad Lion. Blazing flames ignited, dyeing half the sky crimson, and a savage might radiated from its entire body. But on closer inspection, there was a bloody hole roughly half a meter wide in the abdomen of its huge lion body, and golden-red blood flowed from it from time to time.

"Come on. Let me see your limit," Lin Yuan chuckled. Immediately, vast Dou Qi and flames surged from within his body. Unlike the energy released by the Heavenly Fire Mad Lion, the energy Lin Yuan released did not spread outward, but instead contracted back inward as it spun. Under Lin Yuan's superb control, the immense energy transformed into an oddly shaped azure spear. Azure fire coiled around the spear, and as the flames swayed, destructive fluctuations emanated from it.

Lin Yuan waved his hand, and the energy he had gathered behind his back earlier turned into several azure Flame Bullets that shot toward the Heavenly Fire Mad Lion, while he himself followed closely behind with the spear in hand.

Seeing this, the Heavenly Fire Mad Lion sprayed out even more scarlet Flame Bullets from its mouth, intercepting the incoming Flame Bullets and counterattacking toward Lin Yuan. But the Flame Bullets failed to hinder Lin Yuan's movements. His figure moved lightly through the air, nimbly dodging every Flame Bullet as he advanced. In the blink of an eye, he arrived beside the Heavenly Fire Mad Lion with his spear in hand and raised it to stab at the Heavenly Fire Mad Lion's heart.

The Heavenly Fire Mad Lion looked warily at the Azure Spear wrapped in azure fire. It could feel that the energy and high temperature on the spear were enough to break through the defenses of its powerful body. Its eyes turned sharp, and dense blood-red energy erupted from within it, protecting its entire body like armor.

The two collided, and two streams of energy clashed. Bursts of explosive sound rang through the air. With a bang, Lin Yuan flew backwards. Competing in strength against a massive Tier 6 Heavenly Fire Mad Lion truly was not favorable for him.

The Heavenly Fire Mad Lion seized the opportunity and pursued closely after him. Its sharp claws gathered immense energy as it swiped toward Lin Yuan, who was flying backwards, determined to tear the overconfident human before it to pieces with one strike.

Seeing this, a faint smile of everything going according to plan appeared on Lin Yuan's lips. His feet, which had long since gathered a small amount of Dou Qi, tapped lightly in the air in a marvelous manner.

"The moment one attacks is when one is most likely to reveal an opening, especially for a massive individual. Inertia will limit the body's agility."

"Now is the time. Cloud Dragon Reversal."

Cloud Dragon Reversal was one form of the Cloud Dragon Movement Technique, and the Cloud Dragon Movement Technique was also the movement technique Lin Yuan had initially created by combining his own circumstances with Instant Step, Roaming Dragon Steps, Cloud Dragon Dance, and many movement Dou Skills he had collected, discarding the dross and retaining the essence to make the movement technique most suited to himself. Although it had extremely high requirements for Dou Qi Control, Soul Perception, and the physical body, in terms of agility and speed, it far surpassed Mysterious Tier High Level movement Dou Skills.

With a light movement of his steps, after Lin Yuan completed the force redirection, he Extremely Precisely dodged the incoming sharp claw by a hair's breadth. As he spun, he appeared at the side of the Heavenly Fire Mad Lion.

Lin Yuan swung his spear, striking the junction between the Heavenly Fire Mad Lion's side-back and the forelimb whose attack had missed. A nonhuman, surging force suddenly erupted, knocking the Heavenly Fire Mad Lion's normal flying posture out of shape.

Lin Yuan, who was extremely skilled at grasping battle opportunities, instantly seized this chance. Without waiting for the Heavenly Fire Mad Lion to adjust its movements, Lin Yuan continued to unleash swift, fierce attacks with his magical beast-like powerful physique and strength, paired with his vigorous Dou Qi, firmly suppressing the Heavenly Fire Mad Lion.

At the same time, Lin Yuan released his Soul Perception to sense and predict the Heavenly Fire Mad Lion's movements. The Heavenly Fire Mad Lion's disorderly counterattacks were dissolved into nothing by Lin Yuan's nimble movement technique and powerful perception. Thus, a rare state appeared on the battlefield: a human and a magical beast fighting in close quarters, yet the human was firmly suppressing the magical beast, a marvelous sight.

As the battle progressed, the Heavenly Fire Mad Lion's wounds grew more and more numerous, and the wound from the previous sneak attack, when Lin Yuan had struck it with "Heavenly Fire Tribulation, Setting Sun Divine Arrow," also continued to worsen.

Sensing that its injuries were growing increasingly severe in the close-quarters struggle while it had failed to injure the human before it, the Heavenly Fire Mad Lion hardened its heart. When Lin Yuan raised his spear to attack again, it gave up defending, allowing the spear to pierce into its body, then swung a claw at Lin Yuan, intending to trade injury for life.

However, Lin Yuan, who had long since been on guard, released the force in his spear-holding hand the instant the Azure Flame Spear stabbed in. He deliberately borrowed the force of the Heavenly Fire Mad Lion's swipe and flew backwards, giving a light shout from his mouth. "Explode."

The Azure Flame Spear stabbed into the Heavenly Fire Mad Lion exploded with a boom. Azure fire and Dou Qi rampaged, instantly covering the Heavenly Fire Mad Lion's form.

Lin Yuan, who had flown backwards into the distance, also gathered one high-speed rotating Azure Fire Cone after another, sending them shooting like Flying Stars toward the center of the explosion.

"Heavenly Fire Tribulation, Meteor Fall."

Under the guidance of Lin Yuan's Soul Power, the azure fire cones struck the Heavenly Fire Mad Lion within the firestorm in succession, and continuous explosions kept ringing out.

"Roar!" A heaven-shaking beast roar, accompanied by an eruption of energy, dispersed the firestorm. The Heavenly Fire Mad Lion's body, covered in wounds, was revealed as well, and its aura had weakened considerably.

"Damn human, today, even if I must pay a price, I will tear you to pieces!" After being wounded, the Heavenly Fire Mad Lion's killing intent became even denser. Looking at Lin Yuan before it, whose aura remained powerful, a flash of bloody light passed through its eyes. It began to stimulate the power of its own bloodline, and its originally weakened aura grew even stronger, frenzied, and brutal.

That was right. The Heavenly Fire Mad Lion also possessed a Berserk Bloodline similar to that of the Snow Demon Sky Ape. This was also the origin of the "Mad" in its name. After activating its bloodline, it could obtain explosive power for a short time, but it would also be affected and become frenzied, and after the berserk period passed, there would be a period of weakness.

"Oh? It stimulated its Berserk Bloodline? Interesting." Lin Yuan had no intention of interrupting it. Instead, he watched with great interest. When he said he wanted to use the Heavenly Fire Mad Lion to measure his own strength, it was no joke.

As the bloodline activated, the Heavenly Fire Mad Lion's aura reached a level comparable to a Six-Star Dou Huang.

"Good. This is the opponent I was expecting. Let the next round begin." As the words fell, Lin Yuan clenched his hand. Endless Dou Qi and azure fire compressed and gathered, forming an oddly shaped Azure Flame Spear. The most special part was that the spearhead was spiral-shaped, like a drill. Holding the spear, Lin Yuan charged without the slightest fear toward the berserk Heavenly Fire Mad Lion.

"Human, today you die."

How did I write this battle scene? Does it feel painful to read? If you have any suggestions, please let me know. I'm a newcomer setting sail, and there are still many things I don't understand. If you have opinions or suggestions, please bring them up in time, and I'll see whether I can improve.