"There's nothing else on this mountaintop besides them, right?"
An Chen fixed his eyes on the pride of lions ahead, his ears pricked as he listened for movement around them.
Yu Tianyao paused at the question, but still surveyed their surroundings. He found nothing unusual.
Big Ears, perched on An Chen's shoulder, seemed to understand him. The little fox spread its ears outward, carefully listening to the sounds around them.
After a while, Yu Tianyao shook his head and said, "No. What are you planning?"
Big Ears copied Yu Tianyao and shook its head too.
An Chen smiled, lifted Big Ears off his shoulder, and handed it to Yu Tianyao. "Didn't you want to know just how strong I am?"
Yu Tianyao frowned as he took Big Ears, then asked An Chen in a low voice, "What are you going to do?"
"Just watch."
With that, An Chen crouched down and placed both hands in the rock's shadow.
Then the Big Iron Pot appeared beside him, wreathed in gray fog, along with five soul rings pulsing in a steady rhythm.
Light shone from An Chen's eyes, veins bulged on his face, and his third soul ring erupted with dazzling purple light.
As though sensing something, the nearby lions all raised their heads and looked toward the rock where An Chen and the others were hiding.
At the sight of the purple glow and the fluctuations of soul power coming from behind the rock, the lion king rose from the stone where it had been resting and roared. Two lions stood in response and cautiously approached the rock.
But a moment later, they found themselves unable to lift their limbs, as though they had sunk into mud.
The two lions looked down and saw countless arms and tentacles stretching out of