"Shi Clan's Shi Hao, are you that child from back then?!"
Yu Wen, Yu Kun, and the other two sealed experts stepped forward, actively resisting the surging pressure. Their faces were ashen; clearly, they had remembered something.
"Indeed!"
The slender figure seated atop the Nine-Headed Golden Lion slowly raised his head, revealing a handsome face with sharp brows and bright eyes, possessing the bearing of a dragon and the grace of a phoenix.
"Shi Hao of the Martial King Manor, Little Shi of the Void God Realm. If my clan had hardened its heart and completely eliminated you back then, we would not be facing this calamity today."
The Rain Clan elder named Yu Kun spoke in a low voice. "Shi Hao, hand over my clan's Supreme One True Water. I can give you a quick death."
"Come to think of it, this isn't my first time dealing with old dogs from the Rain Clan. But whether it was Yu Meng or you lot, you're all equally bent on courting death."
Shi Hao rose to his feet. Countless runes wove across his body as he stepped into the air, one step at a time, his cold gaze looking down on Yu Kun and the others.
"So you were behind what happened in the Western Frontier, and the one who secretly attacked my clan!"
Yu Kun and the other three reacted swiftly, immediately connecting the dots to what had happened back then.
"You're not completely stupid. Face your judgment!"
A smile touched the corner of Shi Hao's mouth. He stamped hard into the air, instantly raising a sea of crimson heavenly flames. Centered on his body, they dyed half the Heavenly Domain red.
The temperature between heaven and earth surged rapidly, scorching and unbearable.
"Chirp!"
A clear bird cry rang through heaven and earth. A massive beast claw thrust out from the clouds, and the divine bird's true form crowded the sky like a dark cloud. It was a Primordial Vermilion Bird.
Primordial Vermilion Bird Four Strikes! First Strike!
"Damn it, the Vermilion Bird Precious Technique! Shi Hao is a member of the Stone Kingdom's imperial clan. Why does he know the Fire Kingdom's imperial clan's supreme ancestral technique?!"
Yu Kun's face turned deathly pale. He cursed inwardly, with no time to think, and immediately shouted, "Everyone, form the array!"
"Rain Art, Hundred Thousand Marsh Kingdom!"
The auras of forty or fifty Rain Clan experts linked tightly together. Every one of them glowed, releasing divine radiance as their spiritual essence transformed into countless runes that joined heaven and earth.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Layer upon layer of azure waves spread out from the void. In an instant, they turned this desert into an endless marsh kingdom, sweeping up boulders, strange trees, and every kind of plant and animal.
"Azure Shield!"
A nearly transparent curtain of water shot straight toward the Nine Heavens, transforming into an enormous azure shield suspended in midair. It firmly blocked the frigid beast claw.
"Naive!"
Before the Rain Clan experts could show their delight, a pair of Cloud-Drooping Wings swept down like crimson divine blades. With a thunderous boom, they shattered the azure water shield in an instant.
"Not good, change formation!"
Yu Kun, Yu Wen, and the other two elders howled hoarsely, leading their clan's experts in a hurried change of formation. As the marsh on the ground churned wildly, an azure beast burst from the water.
The azure beast looked like a lion, with a single horn and a body as mighty as a war beast. The moment it took shape, it swung its four hooves and charged into the air, its frigid horn pointed forward.
"Chirp!"
The Primordial Vermilion Bird, gravely provoked, let out an angry cry and beat its wings, unleashing a crimson storm that reached from heaven to earth and violently tore the beast apart.
"Numbers have never been the key to victory."
Shi Hao touched his toes to the air and landed atop the Primordial Vermilion Bird's savage head. His body flowed into it like water, and the divine bird's already sky-shading form swelled wildly once more.
"They never were!"
The Primordial Vermilion Bird spoke in a human voice, a trace of icy intent flashing in its eyes. Its crystalline beak, crimson as a blood-red diamond, opened slightly, and streaks of rosy light shot out with a howl.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Scarlet immortal swords, wreathed in surging divine flames, slashed down. They were terrifyingly sharp—this was an absolutely fearsome supreme precious technique!
The Rain Clan had nowhere to run!
"Let's stake everything! Use that move! Slanted Wind, Fine Rain, Slash Stars and Moon!"
The Rain Clan experts, driven to the brink, roared in unison. With the Rain God's bloodline fueling them, the rain filling the sky condensed into countless razor-sharp blades that howled forth. Each raindrop turned to fine gold, piercing through every obstacle.
Unfortunately, this was a desert, where water was pitifully scarce—the worst possible battlefield for the Rain Clan. If it had been raining, this battle formation could likely have multiplied its power several times over.
"Boom!!!"
The two forces collided with a thunderous crash, and the roaring divine flames burned half the sky to nothing.
Even the golden desert below was burned into vast swathes of glasslike crystal, gleaming brilliantly beneath the sun.
The water vapor filling the sky slowly dispersed, but not a single figure remained where they had stood.
Not one member of the Rain Clan had survived!
High in the Nine Heavens, the Primordial Vermilion Bird's phantom, which had filled most of the sky, vanished. The slender figure returned to the back of the Nine-Headed Golden Lion.
"Tsk, what a tragedy. Truly awful—not even a single bone was left behind."
The Golden Lion, which had kept well away, shook its head and sighed.
"Golden Fur, find a quiet place. I'm going into seclusion to refine the Supreme One True Water."
Shi Hao patted the Qiankun Bag at his waist in satisfaction, then tightened the golden cord around its mouth. He couldn't let the prey he'd caught slip away.
In the original story, most of the Supreme One True Water in the pool escaped during Little Shi's struggle with the Rain Clan. Little Shi then had to share the portion he seized with Fire Cloud Sparrow Little Red and Xiao Tian of the Heaven Mending Pavilion.
Even so, after Little Shi swallowed a third of the Supreme One True Water, it successfully stimulated the initial revival of his Supreme Bone, forming a Void Bone.
Shi Hao refused to believe that even with a whole pool of Supreme One True Water this time—not a single drop having escaped—he still couldn't bring about the complete revival of his Supreme Bone.
"I'm not called Golden Fur!!"
The Golden Lion muttered resentfully, but its paws flew like the wind as it carried Shi Hao away, vanishing quickly into the Boundless Desert.
Beside a shimmering spirit lake, a figure sat cross-legged atop a boulder.
His fleshly body glowed and trembled like a divine furnace. Countless Bone Text runes interwove across his skin. It was Shi Hao, who had just swallowed the Supreme One True Water.
At the edge of the boulder, the Nine-Headed Golden Lion lay sprawled on the ground. Bored out of its mind, it would occasionally lift its heads to gaze at the figure for a moment, then lower them again.
"Damn it, the human brat's clearly gone into seclusion, but I never even thought about escaping. Am I beyond saving...?"
The Golden Lion stared blankly up into the void, like a damp, dried-out salted fish.
The corpses of the Primordial Golden Crow and Lunar Jade Rabbit kept rising and sinking in turn, as day and night alternated.
"Boom!!!"
Suddenly, a dazzling light burst from Shi Hao's chest, and an aura of peerless power filled the world in an instant. The winds and clouds shifted.
The Golden Lion had been catching Dragon Scale Fish at the edge of the spirit lake. Caught off guard, it was instantly flipped onto the ground and pinned there, unable to move.
"A Supreme... Supreme aura..."
Feeling the soul-crushing pressure from deep within its bloodline, the Golden Lion struggled to raise its nine savage heads and moaned out each word.
The Supreme One True Water held abundant divine energy. Even the ancient saints needed it to refine their weapons.
After several days of refining, most of the divine liquid had merged into Shi Hao's flesh and blood. At last, it reached his chest, stimulating the revival of the remnant Supreme blood.
Before you continue