Capturing a Mount

"Deep in Wild Wolf Plain lies a Divine Cave. I intend to join forces with the Nine-Headed Golden Lion, the Feather King, the Silver-Blood Giant, and more than twenty other foreign prodigies to explore it. Would Junior Brother Shi Hao be interested?"

Ever since Huo Ling'er learned that Little Shi was not yet ten, she had refused to call him Dao Brother and started addressing him as Junior Brother instead.

Heh. Women!

"A Divine Cave deep in Wild Wolf Plain? I'll pass."

Shi Hao thought for a moment, then added, "It's the sleeping place of a wolf god. There's an unhatched egg left behind by the Wolf God inside, but ten thousand wolves guard the area. Be careful when you take the Wolf God's egg."

"The Wolf God's egg? Doesn't that mean it's an unborn Young God?!"

Huo Ling'er was clever enough not to ask where Little Shi had gotten the information. She quickly composed herself. "You really won't come with me? It's a Young God, a future deity. I'd be getting a huge advantage from you."

After being worshipped for countless years, a Young God might yet become a true deity, another ancient being to safeguard the foundations of the Fire Kingdom.

"By the way, you said there's a Golden Lion among the foreign prodigies you've allied with. I happen to be short a mount. Take me to it."

Shi Hao had been about to refuse, but suddenly smiled.

The Nine-Headed Golden Lion had once been one of the ten great mounts of the Primordial Era.

Its entire body looked as if it had been cast from gold. It had nine heads and a mighty, majestic bearing, and the gods had been so fond of it that they competed to capture one as a mount.

But its ancestors had possessed a powerful bloodline, with divine blood flowing through their veins. They had once been hailed as God Kings in the Primordial Era, and there had been countless cases of their descendants turning on the gods once their bloodline awakened.

"Fine. Consider it payment for the information you gave me."

The Fire Kingdom Princess bit her red lips, agreeing almost without hesitation. She felt not the slightest guilt about selling out her temporary allies.

"Don't worry. I won't put you in a difficult position. I'll take my mount and leave."

Shi Hao's smile grew brighter. The Golden Lion certainly looked like a fine mount.

Deep in the vast grasslands roamed by wild wolves, a towering mountain stood abruptly across the plain. A pitch-black cave halfway up its slope gaped like a demon's mouth, leading into the unknown.

At the foot of the mountain, a group of foreign beings with all kinds of appearances sat or stood.

Among them were a Golden Lion with nine heads, a Silver-Blood Giant more than ten meters tall, and a prodigy of the Feather Clan with a golden horn atop his head and a pair of five-colored wings on his back. They seemed to be waiting for someone.

"The Fire Kingdom's people have finally arrived."

The Nine-Headed Lion, its whole body seemingly cast from gold, rose to its feet. Its sleek mane shimmered with dazzling Golden Divine Radiance, while muscles like coiled dragons rippled beneath it, brimming with explosive strength and beauty. Majesty and grace blended perfectly in its form.

In the distance, more than forty human geniuses hurried over, escorting a distinctive crimson Phoenix Chariot. Several figures of the sealed ones surrounded them.

"Fire Kingdom Princess, you're late... Hm, and who are you?"

The winged humanoid had just begun to complain when a handsome young man with red lips and pearly teeth leapt down from the Phoenix Chariot. He abruptly stopped mid-sentence.

"Whoever I am, I'm not here for you. Move aside."

Shi Hao jumped down from the Phoenix Chariot, his gaze passing over the Feather King to land directly on the mighty, extraordinary Golden Lion. He beckoned. "Lion, come home with me."

"Lion? Do we know each other?"

A trace of confusion flashed through the Nine-Headed Golden Lion's eyes. The human youth's familiar manner made it rack its brains, trying to remember something.

"We don't, but starting today, you're my mount."

Shi Hao raised his chin as if granting the Golden Lion an immense honor.

"Human, you're asking for death!"

A voice like a divine bell pealed out, making everyone's ears ring.

The Nine-Headed Golden Lion's gaze quickly turned cold. Now it understood that it had been made a fool of. Jin Hong had always been the one to take others as battle servants. What human genius would dare try to capture him as a mount? This one must be tired of living.

"Whether I'm asking for death or not, we'll settle it with a fight."

Shi Hao smiled and motioned for the Fire Kingdom party to step back.

The Silver-Blood Giant, the Feather King, and the other foreign prodigies watched with amusement, but did not come to the Nine-Headed Golden Lion's aid. Truthfully, they weren't close.

They had only formed a fragile, temporary alliance to explore the Divine Cave.

"Want to die? Then I'll grant your wish!"

The Nine-Headed Golden Lion sprang into the air. Light blazed around it as its qi and blood surged, radiating brilliant divine light. A massive claw wrapped in runes reached for Shi Hao.

A single swipe could shatter a boulder weighing more than a hundred thousand jin.

"Clang!"

The clash of metal rang out, setting the air roaring.

Myriad rays of light blazed. A divine-looking figure sat cross-legged in midair, a dazzling divine halo circling behind its head and shining with brilliant radiance as it blocked the enormous beast claw.

"That is..."

No matter how hard the Nine-Headed Golden Lion strained, it could not advance a single inch.

"Behold. This is my protective divine halo."

The figure seated in midair like a deity slowly raised its head, then thrust out a slender hand and struck with effortless ease. With a thunderous boom, it sent the Golden Lion tumbling away.

When the twelve Grotto-Heavens were held back from unfolding, they became a dazzling divine halo, a protective divine art.

When all twelve Grotto-Heavens roared in unison, they manifested a hazy Immortal Domain and carried their master aloft.

"What incredible physical strength. He must have surpassed the limits of the Cave Heaven Realm."

The Nine-Headed Golden Lion's blood and qi churned, but its gaze was fearsome. The more it fought, the fiercer it became, like an ancient deity descended into the mortal world.

"Roar!"

All nine of its savage heads opened their mouths at once, unleashing a heaven-shaking roar. Golden ripples, almost tangible, surged outward in endless waves, sweeping across the surroundings in ring after ring.

The world trembled, boulders shattered, and prodigies bowed their heads.

Lion's Roar!

"Another sound-killing art. A mere trifle."

The figure seated in midair like a deity unhurriedly formed an ancient seal.

"Roar!!!"

The phantom of a Purple-Gold True Hou appeared behind it, its entire body radiating blinding purple-gold divine light. It raised its head and roared, its endless majesty shaking the heavens.

True Hou Precious Technique!

In the Three Thousand Provinces of the Upper Realm, an ancestor of the True Hou Clan still lived.

During an ancient battle, this Primordial-era ferocious beast had opened its mouth and roared. Its cry had shaken the sun, moon, and stars from the sky and killed several ancient giants of sect-master rank. Its divine might had truly covered the heavens.

"True Dragon Precious Technique, True Phoenix Precious Technique, True Hou Precious Technique, Vermilion Bird Precious Technique, Bian Precious Technique, Suanni Precious Technique, Primordial Golden Crow Precious Technique... Just how many supreme arts does this fellow know?"

Huo Ling'er's eyes shimmered as her slender hands clasped tightly together and twisted.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The purple-gold sea of sound surged forward, crashing into the vast golden ripples. Waves of sound rapidly spread in every direction.

After interweaving and eroding one another, they silently faded away.

"Now it's my turn to attack!"

The figure seated in midair like a deity withdrew the dazzling divine halo behind its head and strode down from the sky. Its body swelled at a staggering speed, transforming into a Titan Giant God that stood with its head in the heavens and feet on the earth.

"If you refuse to submit, then die!"

Amid the shocked gazes of everyone present, the Titan Giant God lifted a leg like a pillar supporting the sky and stomped down with a crash, as if the end of the world had arrived.

Law of Heaven and Earth!