Golden Lion

Zhang Shouzhong fell through the air, enduring another round of attacks from the cloud layers. Just as he was about to hit the ground, Zhang Ping caught the Storage Contract.

"How was it?" Zhang Ping asked with a smile.

Still shaken, Zhang Shouzhong said, "I feel like I went through an entire lifetime—birth, aging, sickness, death. Then I went through it all again on the way down. I'm about to attain enlightenment and see through all worldly attachments."

"Quit joking. What's it like up there?" Liu Sishan asked sternly.

Zhang Shouzhong immediately told everyone what he had seen. "I didn't see it," he said gravely, "but as I was falling, I thought I heard a monster roaring near the clouds. Just the sound frightened me."

Everyone frowned. Fortunately, Zhang Ping hadn't stubbornly kept climbing. If he had, who knew how many dangers he would have encountered?

The cloud layers were one danger. The Mutated Beasts living among them were another.

Any monsters capable of living in those clouds surely had powerful bodies. They might even possess terrifying superpowers.

Until he had fought one, even Zhang Ping wouldn't dare claim he could win. The Metal Eater had its weaknesses, after all. It wasn't truly invincible.

Against an ability that countered it, the Metal Eater was little different from any other ability.

For all he knew, a caterpillar living in the clouds might have just such an ability. One tiny bristle could pierce the Metallic Coating formed by the Metal Eater and puncture Zhang Ping's heart.

In a world of superpowers, anything was possible.

"Let's try Zhang Ping's method first," Liu Sishan said thoughtfully. "If it works, we'll save a lot of time and avoid plenty of unnecessary danger."

Zhang Shouzhong agreed. "Yeah, let's try it. Though... I'm so scared!"

"You're a