Nine-Headed Xiang Liu

"This must be the Poison Nether Swamp the Amethyst Winged Lion King mentioned! I've been here before, but I've never seen any sixth-tier magical beasts. Could that Amethyst Winged Lion King have been lying to us?"

Yun Yun scanned the swamp below. Beneath the sea of poisonous fog, she couldn't see any sixth-tier magical beast at all.

"Impossible. That lion knows I won't let it go, so it would definitely find a magical 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 rising tide.

Xiao Lei spoke with absolute certainty, but Yun Yun could only sigh helplessly.

"You just said the Amethyst Winged Lion King thinks this magical beast can kill you. So why are you here to throw your life away?"

At her words, Xiao Lei smiled. The Amethyst Winged Lion King couldn't possibly have known he possessed the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils.

"Would you believe me if I said that in a moment, that magical beast would obediently bow its head and acknowledge me as its master?"

Yun Yun didn't argue. After all, a few days ago she had seen how docile the fifth-tier Mystic Ice Python had been in Xiao Lei's presence. She had assumed Xiao Lei had struck some sort of deal with it, or beaten it into submission.

From the looks of it, that probably wasn't the case!

"There's nothing here! How is that possible?"

Xiao Lei withdrew his soul power in surprise, but the result made his heart sink. The Poison Nether Swamp was indeed teeming with magical beasts, including Mud Swamp Crabs and many poisonous beasts, but there was no sign of the sixth-tier magical beast the Amethyst Winged Lion King had mentioned.

Noticing Xiao Lei's reaction, Yun Yun became even more certain she was right.

"I told you long ago: I can't speak for every other magical beast in the Magical Beast Mountain Range, but the sixth-tier ones are almost all renowned. Even their territories are recorded by the various adventurers who come here to train."

Xiao Lei frowned, but didn't take Yun Yun's words to heart. Instead, he quickly found the best solution.

"Wouldn't we find out if we just drew it out?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Xiao Lei drew Xuan Yi and raised it above his head.

A vast, tangible aura rapidly gathered around him.

"Flame Extremity—Setting Sun Radiance!"

A streak of saber light shot out, rampaging through the Poison Nether Swamp. The entire swamp boiled in an instant.

"Attack! Force it out! I refuse to believe it!"

Though Yun Yun still firmly believed she was right, she didn't hesitate. She thrust out both hands, sending several tornadoes crashing into the swamp.

The blue-green tornadoes clawed through the air, sweeping away all the poisonous fog above the ground. Their view widened at once.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The violent impacts thundered deep underground. A huge snake's eye slowly opened.

The snake head slowly lifted. It gazed thoughtfully toward the surface, where the previously tranquil cavern now rang with the sharp crack of breaking stone, as if its walls were crumbling.

Shattered rocks and dust rained down together, many of them striking the snake's head.

"Hiss!"

"Could that foolish lion have come back again? No, its strength hasn't improved much. It wouldn't dare challenge me!"

Magical beasts lived long lives, and Xiang Liu couldn't remember how many years ago it had happened. Back then, they had both been peak fifth-tier magical beasts, fighting fiercely over a flame.

The Amethyst Winged Lion King was a fire-type magical beast. It had pursued the flame relentlessly, tangling with Xiang Liu for a long time, until Xiang Liu became a sixth-tier magical beast and everything finally fell quiet.

For years, Xiang Liu had been striving toward one goal: to subdue that flame with its poison-type body!

Under Xiao Lei's relentless assault, the underground cavern was in danger of collapsing at any moment. All nine of Xiang Liu's heads woke at once.

Each head had its own consciousness, but they all shared one body. When all nine heads were present, Xiang Liu was at its least intelligent.

The more heads it lost, the smarter it became. As long as even one head escaped, the others could grow back.

Xiang Liu coiled its tail around the blood-red flame at the center of its body and lifted it up. The flames flickered, as if about to burst forth, but the poison gas surrounding them interrupted their surging.

The blood-red flame fell silent, as if it had gone out.

Outside, Xiao Lei continued wreaking destruction, never lowering the long saber in his hand.

Suddenly—

"Get out of the way!"

Xiao Lei's soul power was exceptionally strong. As if sensing something in advance, he hurriedly dodged, pulling Yun Yun along with him.

"Ah!"

Xiao Lei suddenly swept Yun Yun off her feet, making her cry out in alarm. She was just about to complain, but the next instant, the water below them exploded.

"Boom!"

A huge blue-green snake head burst out of the ground. Its gaping jaws were so wide they looked as though the creature had dislocated its mouth, and they shot straight toward the spot where Yun Yun and Xiao Lei had been standing.

Boom!

The enormous jaws missed them, and the snake's body plunged back down, crashing into the water.

Still shaken, Yun Yun realized she hadn't noticed anything moving below them. Without Xiao Lei's intervention, she couldn't imagine what might have happened to her.

"Careful. Its soul power is very strong. I was almost blocked by it too!"

Generally speaking, magical beasts didn't have soul power as strong as that of humans at the same level, much less that of an alchemist. But the magical beast before them seemed to be an exception.

After warning Yun Yun, Xiao Lei released her and immediately activated his Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils.

Like the Woe Poison Body, the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils also manifested on Xiao Lei's body as a special transformation state.

"Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils!"

A strange, brilliant emerald-green pattern suddenly appeared over Xiao Lei's originally pitch-black pupils.

The snake's body surged out of the water again, charging straight at Xiao Lei. Its gaze met his, and an identical pattern suddenly surfaced in its previously cold, cruel eyes.

"Did it work?"

Xiao Lei wondered. But Xiang Liu's body didn't slow down in the slightest. It kept charging straight at him, then opened its huge mouth and spat out a viscous stream of water.

"You've got to be kidding me! How could any snake-type magical beast resist the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils of someone at the same level?"

Xiao Lei looked utterly incredulous. He was about as shocked as he would be if he heard that the national soccer team had won the World Cup!

After all, in the original story, Qing Lin had been able to control the Double-Headed Fire Spirit Snake—a magical beast at the peak of Dou Ling—even before she'd become a Dou Zhe! And he, Xiao Lei, was a Dou Emperor, yet he couldn't control a sixth-tier magical beast!

Despite his disbelief, Xiao Lei dodged before the stream of water could hit him.

He sensed that the stream was primarily a poison attack, but the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils hadn't controlled his opponent. Xiao Lei was now as jumpy as a bird startled by the mere twang of a bowstring, afraid that even his Woe Poison Body might not work.

"Could it be... the legendary Nine-Headed Xiang Liu?"

Xiao Lei retreated to Yun Yun's side, only to see her cry out in shock. Her usual cool composure had vanished, leaving nothing but alarm in its wake.

"We need to leave! Each head of the Nine-Headed Xiang Liu has its own independent consciousness. Even if we were lucky enough to cut off one of its heads, we still wouldn't be able to kill it. And this magical beast is a rare variant, with tremendous fighting strength!"

Yun Yun no longer cared about propriety between men and women. She grabbed Xiao Lei and tried to flee with him.

But Xiao Lei quickly picked up on the information in her words. He had been ready to run too, but suddenly stopped, his mind struck by a bolt of thunder!

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