"How could you call this betrayal?
"Isn't this what you wanted most?
"I still remember how confidently you said you wanted to hunt a few more Hundred-Year Soul Beasts. You even went out of your way to find one of the larger Flame Lion prides in the Primary Spirit Ascension Platform to help you fulfill your wish.
"How are you repaying my kindness with ingratitude and turning around to blame me?"
More than ten meters ahead of Gu Yue, Lan Kai nimbly leaped from tree to tree, with plenty of room to spare. He even had time to look back at Gu Yue—she was using the wind element to lighten herself, yet still couldn't shake the pack of Flame Lions pursuing her. She glared at him in mounting fury..
When he'd used Ultra X-Ray Vision to spot the Flame Lions, a bad memory from some game had started attacking his brain. Fortunately, these Flame Lions didn't have Power of Earth, so they couldn't lock onto someone in the air and attack from far away.
Still, Lan Kai had an idea. This seemed like the perfect way to deal with Gu Yue right now.
Since she was inexplicably fired up and wanted to prove her strength by killing a large number of Hundred-Year Soul Beasts, then he'd let her deal with this pack of Flame Lions.
So Lan Kai decisively led Gu Yue straight into the pack, then immediately put some distance between them and silently watched her from behind a tree.
At first, Gu Yue really was impressively brave. She fought four or five female Flame Lions without falling behind, and even seized an opening to kill one.
But then the pack's leader appeared: a male lion whose cultivation was already close to a thousand years. At its roar, the whole pack sprang into action. Gu Yue immediately turned and ran, with even more decisiveness than the Qiao Family.
Give me a break. Although the leader, the Lion King, hadn't broken through to a thousand years, he was close. And there were more than fifty Flame Lions in the pack. Without drawing on more of the Silver Dragon King's power, Gu Yue had no choice but to turn and run.
The problem was that Gu Yue only had one ring right now. Even though she could use the wind element to increase her speed, the boost was very limited.
On top of that, she'd started out far too close to the pack. It was hard to put enough distance between herself and the Flame Lions.
And so, the world-famous scene of the Master of Soul Beasts being chased by a pack of Flame Lions unfolded.
As for Lan Kai, he could easily have escaped or fought the Flame Lions. But since this battle had been prepared for Gu Yue, he wouldn't interfere unless she asked.
Outside the screen, Leng Yaozhu found the sight almost too much to bear. But with Juggler laughing uproariously, she couldn't help laughing, too.
Gu Yue looked pretty miserable, but with her abilities, if she really wanted to run at full speed, she could shake off the Flame Lions in just five minutes. Instead, she was running in a panic and questioning Lan Kai at the same time.
And Lan Kai was clearly at ease. Judging from the physical strength he'd shown before, as well as Gu Yue's account of how he'd taken a fireball to the face during the Class Promotion Tournament, dealing with this pack of Flame Lions obviously wouldn't be difficult for him.
So this tense-looking scene was really just two children playfully bickering. It wasn't a big deal.
"Juggler's disciple really is a kindred spirit, just like you," Leng Yaozhu couldn't help remarking after she'd finished laughing.
Recalling how she and Juggler had first met, Leng Yaozhu was overcome with emotion.
"Like me? You mean me? Well... that's certainly interesting."
Juggler's smile faltered for a moment, then took on a more playful edge.
If Lan Kai really did become a little like Juggler, he wondered what kind of expression Kurenai Gai and that other fellow would wear when they saw him.
On the screen, Gu Yue seemed to be losing her temper. She glared furiously at Lan Kai, who was maintaining a fairly constant distance ahead of her, but couldn't find anything to say.
Using the earth element again, she created several pits in the places she'd just passed, making a few Flame Lions tumble in. Then a conflicted look appeared on her face, as if she were wrestling with something.
At last, she made up her mind. She boosted the wind element's effect on her speed and shouted to Lan Kai up ahead:
"I was wrong. Please, help me!"
Lan Kai froze for a moment. Gu Yue had actually asked him for help?
But now that Gu Yue had asked, it wouldn't do for Lan Kai to keep playing Senior Tachibana.
He immediately planted his feet on the trunk of a large tree and sprang back the way they'd come. At the same time, he crossed his hands in front of him and fired a Specium Ray. Like clearing a map, he blasted fifteen or sixteen Flame Lions in one go. The trees among them were caught in the blast, too.
"All right, your turn's over."
The Flame Lions came to an abrupt halt, and a few even bumped into one another.
This human before them made them feel threatened—their entire race was in danger of being wiped out.
In memories that shouldn't have existed in their minds, not even a human with three purple Soul Rings had ever made them feel such overwhelming pressure.
This human only had two purple Soul Rings. How could he kill fifteen or sixteen Flame Lions so easily, and show no signs of exhaustion?
Gu Yue leaned against a tree, panting heavily. Her gaze at Lan Kai now held a hint of shock and wariness.
Lan Kai had obviously held back a great deal in their previous battles. He'd never shown that he could blow up an entire pack of Flame Lions in one go. And that beam didn't seem to take much out of him. He probably wouldn't look any more tired even if he used it repeatedly.
But before Gu Yue could think any further, a purple Soul Ring appeared beside Lan Kai again. He casually took one of them in his hand, and then the Soul Ring transformed into...
...a purple Ultra Slash?
"Sperion Ring!"
Lan Kai hurled the Sperion Ring formed from the Soul Ring at the Flame Lions. The first few tried to resist with their flames, but they and their fire didn't even count as a speed bump. The Sperion Ring cut them straight in half, though not evenly.
Some Flame Lions saw this and charged instead of running. They all got to experience being sliced in half—not evenly.
A few Flame Lions had their leader right behind them, but their fear of death still outweighed everything else. They turned and ran, wishing they'd mutated and grown a pair of wings.
But just like the others, they hadn't gotten far before they were cut in half.
The leader Flame Lion saw this and was about to roar to steady the others. The next instant, a beam shot straight into its mouth, and its body exploded on the spot.
"Phew. Beams really are better for finishing things off."
Lan Kai wiped the nonexistent sweat from his forehead and smiled.
Before you continue