Battle Against a Fierce Beast

"Roar—!"

Lin Yan let out an earth-shaking roar. Though he was merely a weak Earth Dragon, he was still an Earth Dragon with a temper.

The enemy had already come knocking at his doorstep. He could not remain indifferent.

Lin Yan revealed his body, which was nearly a hundred zhang long. The earthy yellow glow around him surged instantly, and the Earth Element Spiritual Qi within the valley seemed to have been summoned, wildly gathering toward him and forming a thick layer of Rock Armor over his body.

The Scorpion Demon Lion showed no weakness either. Dark red Malevolent Qi burned across its body like flames. It scraped at the ground with its limbs, opened its blood-filled maw, and pounced fiercely at Lin Yan.

Although Lin Yan was furious, he had not lost his reason. He knew that Fierce Beasts possessed powerful physical bodies, and that Malevolent Qi was extremely corrosive. He could not confront it head-on.

As the demon lion lunged at him, his enormous body displayed astonishing agility. He twisted sharply to one side, while his thick tail, carrying immense force like a massive steel whip, lashed viciously toward the demon lion's waist and abdomen.

"Bang!"

A muffled boom like thunder rang through the valley. Lin Yan's huge tail struck the demon lion squarely. The tremendous force sent it rolling far backward, and a clear crack appeared in its dark red scales.

But this blow completely awakened the demon lion's ferocity. It released a deafening roar that made the Earth Dragon subordinates watching from the side tremble in fear.

After flipping back onto its feet, the demon lion's massive scorpion tail shot out like a venomous snake leaving its burrow. Accompanied by a piercing whistle, it stabbed toward Lin Yan's head like lightning.

Lin Yan lowered his head to evade it. The venomous hook on the scorpion tail scraped past the scales atop his head, scattering sparks and making his scalp tingle. He did not dare slacken. Opening his mouth, he spat out an extremely condensed yellow beam of light—one of the Innate Divine Abilities he had learned from his Bloodline Inheritance: Wutu Divine Light.

The Wutu Divine Light was incomparably heavy and contained a suppressive force. It slammed into the demon lion's chest, sending it rolling away once more. Its huge body crushed a large swath of Spirit Plants and spirit herbs.

"Hiss!" The demon lion flipped over and leaped up, the violence in its three eyes growing even stronger. The Malevolent Qi around its body suddenly churned violently before it opened its mouth and spewed out a dense stream of Black Breath. Wherever the breath passed, grass and trees instantly withered, the soil sizzled, and all spirituality was lost.

Lin Yan opened his mouth again and released another Wutu Divine Light, striking directly at the Black Breath. The two forces collided in midair with hissing sounds. Though the yellow light continually dissolved the Black Malevolent Qi, it was clearly struggling, and the Malevolent Qi continued to advance slowly.

The gap in cultivation was now apparent. This juvenile Scorpion Demon Lion possessed strength comparable to an early Earth Immortal, while Lin Yan was only at Transformation Peak, making him slightly inferior in cultivation.

As the Malevolent Qi breath was about to overwhelm him, Lin Yan's thoughts raced. "Earth Collapse!"

The Earth Dragon Clan was naturally gifted in controlling the earth. So long as something was not too far from him, the soil beneath it could change shape according to his will.

The ground beneath the demon lion instantly collapsed. Caught off guard, its lower body immediately sank as though trapped in a swamp. With its body destabilized, the Malevolent Qi breath from its mouth faltered as well.

Lin Yan seized the opportunity and pushed the Wutu Divine Light with all his strength, finally completely canceling out the remaining Malevolent Qi breath.

Seeing the demon lion fall into the pit, the Earth Dragon subordinates watching nearby all Gathered Courage and activated their Bloodline Divine Abilities. For a time, earthen spikes, Stone Balls, and earth walls flew toward the demon lion as it prepared to escape the pit.

However, these attacks caused almost no damage to the demon lion's thick skin and flesh. Still, they effectively harassed it and left it exceedingly irritated.

"Roar!" The demon lion roared again and struggled free from the Earth Collapse. Ignoring the harassment of the other Earth Dragons, it once more charged madly at Lin Yan. Its scorpion tail, sharp claws, and Malevolent Qi breath all came at him at once.

Lin Yan had almost no experience in battle. Seeing the enemy attack, his blood surged, and he threw caution to the wind. Relying on his powerful physical body, he engaged the Scorpion Demon Lion in a brutal close-quarters fight.

The valley rang with constant explosions. Earth and stone flew everywhere, while Spirit Plants were destroyed in swaths. Their once fairyland-like home had now become a savage battlefield.

Though Lin Yan had scales and stone armor protecting him, wounds began appearing across his body under the demon lion's attacks. In some places, his scales had been shattered, and blood dyed the yellow earth beneath him red.

The demon lion was not faring well either. Though his cultivation was higher, his intelligence was very low. He could only fight by instinct and barely knew how to defend himself. After Lin Yan repeatedly struck the same area of his body with Wutu Divine Light, a large hole had appeared in his enormous body, black blood gushing from it like water.

The battle entered its most brutal war of attrition. It had become a contest of who could endure more punishment; whoever could no longer hold on would lose first.

By the time Lin Yan had nearly exhausted all the Spirit Power stored in the eighty-one nodes within his body, the Scorpion-tailed Demon Lion finally could not endure any longer. He staggered to his feet, intending to withdraw from the battle and flee when the chance arose.

But after paying such a huge price, how could Lin Yan possibly let it go so easily? He frantically poured all the remaining power within his body, along with a portion of his Life Essence, into his mouthparts.

A massive yellow beam, flashing with dazzling light, shot from his mouth. The heavy Wutu Divine Light streaked toward the demon lion's third eye like a comet striking the moon.

"Pfft!"

The Wutu Divine Light pierced precisely into the demon lion's eye socket and burrowed deep into its brain.

"Aoo—!"

The already exhausted Scorpion-tailed Demon Lion let out a shrill, dying wail. His massive body convulsed violently, and destructive Malevolent Qi erupted from within him, flattening everything within dozens of zhang.

Lin Yan was blasted away by the Malevolent Qi as well, crashing heavily to the ground in the distance. Blood continuously poured from the wounds on his body, and his consciousness had nearly faded away.

Only after seeing the once-arrogant Innate Fierce Beast collapse with a thunderous crash in the distance, its aura completely dissipating, did he finally lose consciousness in relief.

Lin Yan did not know how long he had been unconscious. When he awoke, the first thing he saw was nine miniature earthworm heads staring uniformly at him. Lin Yan could actually see worry on their faces.

"Don't worry. Your boss isn't dead yet." Enduring the intense pain coursing through his body, Lin Yan reluctantly transmitted his thoughts to the nine little earthworms.

Upon hearing that their boss was fine, the little earthworms immediately livened up. They all conveyed their admiration for Lin Yan and eagerly expressed how brave they had been in the battle just now and how much they had contributed, despite not having injured the Fierce Beast even once.

After praising his subordinates for their performance, Lin Yan turned to look at the battlefield.

The valley, once lush and full of life force, was now a complete mess. The Spirit Fields had been destroyed, spirit herbs had withered, the spirit spring had turned murky, and the Earth Veins had been severely shaken by the battle. The flow of Spirit Qi had become utterly chaotic, while the air was filled with dense Malevolent Qi and the stench of blood.

Years of hard work had been destroyed in a single day.

Lin Yan felt as though a heavy hammer had struck his heart, sending waves of pain through him. He had known from his Bloodline Inheritance that the Primordial World was cruel, but ever since his birth, he had remained hidden in the valley and developed peacefully. He had never truly experienced that cruelty.

Now, a mere juvenile Innate Fierce Beast had reduced his home to this state. It made him deeply understand that in this Prehistoric World, where the strong devoured the weak, without sufficient strength, even the finest home could not be protected, and even the hardest efforts could vanish in an instant.

"A strong fist is what truly matters. This was only a weak little Fierce Beast, yet it caused me such terrible losses. If I encounter those powerful Fierce Beasts and Great Gods in the future, would I not be left with nothing but a beating? No. I didn't come to the Prehistoric World to live by your moods."