Nine-Headed Xiang Liu

"This is the Poison Nether Swamp that the Amethyst Winged Lion King spoke of! I have been here before, yet I have never seen any Tier 6 Magical Beast. Could that Amethyst Winged Lion King be deceiving you and me?"

Yun Yun scanned the swamp below. Beneath the sky-filling toxic mist, she saw absolutely no sign of a Tier 6 Magical Beast.

"That won't happen. That lion knows I won't let it off easily; it would definitely find a beast that meets my requirements and has the strength to kill me!"

As he spoke, Xiao Lei released his soul power, probing the Poison Nether Swamp below like a surging tide.

Xiao Lei spoke with absolute certainty, but Yun Yun felt somewhat helpless.

"You said yourself that the Amethyst Winged Lion King believes this beast has the ability to kill you, yet you still come here to throw your life away!"

Hearing this, Xiao Lei smiled. The Amethyst Winged Lion King could never have anticipated that he possessed the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils.

"Do you believe me if I say that in a moment, that beast will obediently lower its head and acknowledge me as its master?"

Yun Yun did not refute him. After all, she had seen that Tier 5 Mystic Ice Python acting docile in front of Xiao Lei just a few days ago. She had assumed Xiao Lei had made some sort of deal with it or had beaten it into submission.

It seemed that was not the case!

"It's actually not here! How is this possible!"

Xiao Lei retracted his soul power, feeling somewhat surprised. The result made his heart sink. The entire Poison Nether Swamp indeed contained a large number of magical beasts, such as Mud Swamp Crabs, and many were even poison-attributed, but there was no sign of the Tier 6 beast the Amethyst Winged Lion King had mentioned.

Seeming to sense Xiao Lei's reaction, Yun Yun became even more convinced of her own assessment.

"I told you long ago, I wouldn't dare speak for other beasts in the Magical Beast Mountain Range, but those at Tier 6 are almost all famous; even their territories are recorded by various adventurers."

Xiao Lei frowned, but instead of taking Yun Yun's words to heart, he quickly found the best solution.

"Whether it's here or not, won't we know if we just test it out?"

As his voice fell, Xiao Lei drew Xuan Yi and raised it high above his head.

A vast aura rapidly condensed, becoming as tangible as reality.

"Flame Extremity—Setting Sun Radiance!"

The blade light shot out, wreaking havoc within the Poison Nether Swamp, causing the entire swamp to boil over in an instant.

"Attack! Force it out! I don't believe it's not here!"

Hearing this, although Yun Yun still firmly held to her own opinion, she did not hesitate. Pushing with both hands, she unleashed several tornadoes into the swamp.

The cyan tornadoes clawed and swiped, instantly sweeping away all the toxic mist on the ground, clearing the line of sight for both of them.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The violent sounds of impact traveled straight into the underground, and a massive snake eye slowly opened.

The snake head rose slowly, looking toward the surface as if in deep thought. The originally calm cave emitted a crisp cracking sound, as if the walls were collapsing.

Debris and dust fell, with quite a bit landing on the snake's head.

"Hiss!"

"Could it be that foolish lion has returned? No, its strength hasn't improved much over the years; it would never dare to come and challenge me!"

Magical beasts have long lifespans, and Xiang Liu could not remember how many years ago that had been. Back then, they were both only at the peak of Tier 5, fighting fiercely over a flame.

The Amethyst Winged Lion King was a fire-attributed beast, relentless and persistent, entangling him for a long time until Xiang Liu reached Tier 6, at which point everything finally settled.

For many years, Xiang Liu had been striving for one thing: to subdue that flame with his poison-attributed body!

Under Xiao Lei's frantic assault, the underground cave was at constant risk of collapse, and all nine of Xiang Liu's heads awakened at once.

The nine heads each possessed their own consciousness while sharing one body; when all nine existed simultaneously, Xiang Liu's intelligence was at its lowest.

If a head were severed, the more heads lost, the smarter Xiang Liu would become, and as long as one head escaped, the others could regrow.

With a coil of its snake tail, the blood-red flame that Xiang Liu had been coiled around was lifted. The flame flickered as if it were about to splash out, yet the toxic gas surrounding it suppressed the fire.

The blood-red flame suddenly seemed to misfire, falling into silence.

Outside, Xiao Lei continued his destruction, never once lowering the long blade in his hand.

Suddenly—

"Dodge!"

Xiao Lei's soul power was formidable, and having sensed something in advance, he dodged immediately, not forgetting to pull Yun Yun along with him.

"Ah!"

Yun Yun let out a cry of surprise as she was suddenly yanked into the air by Xiao Lei. She was just about to complain to him when the water surface beneath them suddenly exploded.

"Bang!"

A massive cyan snake head burst from the ground, its blood-red maw opened so wide it looked as if the jaw had been dislocated, charging straight toward the spot where Yun Yun and Xiao Lei had been standing.

Bang!

The giant mouth failed to swallow the two of them, and the snake body plummeted, crashing into the water.

Still shaken, Yun Yun realized she hadn't detected any movement below at all. If Xiao Lei hadn't acted, she dared not imagine her fate.

"Be careful, its soul power is very strong. I was almost blocked by its soul power as well!"

Generally speaking, the soul power of a magical beast is not as high as that of a human of the same cultivation level, let alone an alchemist, but the beast appearing before them now did not seem to be the case.

Xiao Lei offered Yun Yun a word of warning before releasing her, simultaneously hastening to activate his Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils.

Much like the Woe Poison Body, the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils existed within Xiao Lei's body as a unique transformation state.

"Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils!"

Suddenly, a strange, brilliant emerald pattern manifested over Xiao Lei's originally pitch-black pupils.

The serpent's body vaulted out of the water once more, lunging straight for Xiao Lei. Its gaze locked with his, and within those cold, cruel snake eyes, an identical pattern abruptly surfaced.

Did it work?

Xiao Lei wondered, yet the body of the Xiang Liu did not falter in the slightest. It continued its charge, opening its massive maw to spew forth a viscous column of water.

"Are you kidding me! How could any serpentine Magical Beast resist the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils of the same rank!"

Xiao Lei's face was a mask of disbelief; his shock was no less than if he had heard the national football team had won the World Cup!

One had to know that in the original story, Qing Lin could control the Double-Headed Fire Spirit Snake, which was at the peak of the Dou Ling realm, even before she had reached the level of a Dou Practitioner! And yet, he, a Dou Emperor, had failed to control a Tier 6 Magical Beast!

Despite his utter disbelief, Xiao Lei still managed to dodge before the water column struck.

Although his senses told him the attack was primarily toxic, Xiao Lei, having failed to control the beast with his pupils, was now like a bird startled by the mere twang of a bow, terrified that his Woe Poison Body might also prove ineffective.

"This is? Could it be the legendary Nine-Headed Xiang Liu!"

Xiao Lei retreated to Yun Yun's side, only to hear her cry out in sudden alarm, her usual cool and aloof demeanor vanished, replaced entirely by horror.

"We must leave at once! Each head of the Nine-Headed Xiang Liu possesses its own independent consciousness. Even if we were lucky enough to sever one, we could not kill it. Furthermore, this beast is a variant with immense combat power!"

Yun Yun no longer cared about the proprieties between men and women; she grabbed Xiao Lei and prepared to flee.

However, Xiao Lei had swiftly captured the information in her words. He, who had also been preparing to escape, suddenly froze, a thunderclap of realization exploding in his mind!

Nine heads! Independent consciousness? Could it be...