Jiang Ping'an strode forward, each step making the mountains shake and the earth tremble.
The Suanni quickly sensed his approach.
It did not flee.
As one of Unyielding Mountain's overlords, this adult Suanni had not encountered an opponent bold enough to provoke it of their own accord in countless years.
It leaped out from a shadowy valley, its four paws treading Purple Lightning as it landed steadily atop a mountain peak.
That peak stood two or three thousand zhang tall, yet beneath the Suanni's paws, it was like a tiny stone stool.
Only then did Jiang Ping'an see the divine beast in its entirety—
The Suanni resembled a male lion, yet was a hundred times more majestic. It stood three thousand zhang at the shoulder and five thousand zhang long, its entire body covered in thick purple-gold mane. Every strand of mane spat tiny sparks of lightning.
Its head was as huge as a small mountain. The moment it opened its mouth, it revealed gleaming white fangs. Its maw was wide enough to swallow an entire town whole.
Its limbs were as thick as heavenly pillars, its claws wreathed in sheets of purple arcs. With every breath, lightning surged from its nostrils.
It looked down upon Jiang Ping'an from above, its enormous bell-like eyes brimming with ferocity and disdain.
Roar—
The Suanni opened its huge maw and unleashed an earth-shaking roar.
The roar was like ten thousand thunderclaps sounding at once. Its soundwaves carried terrifying pressure in every direction; wherever they passed, rocks shattered, ancient trees snapped, and birds and beasts within several hundred li fled in panic.
More terrifying still, with that roar, countless dreadful bolts of Purple Lightning appeared out of thin air within a radius of ten thousand feet.
The lightning was dense as rain, woven into