392: Chapter 392 I was just kidding you!

It was like a red-hot branding iron, searing deep into the nine massive skulls of the Nine-Headed Golden Lion.

All nine brains fell into a deathly silence simultaneously. Thoughts stagnated, and it even forgot to roar.

"I was just tricking you!"

She repeated it, her voice crisp like ice jade striking against each other, clear and without a trace of Impurities. The crescent moons in her eyes curved, reflecting the light of the sky and the shadows of the clouds. "Otherwise, you keep running, when would I ever catch up to you?"

She paused, her gaze drifting lightly over the crimson-gold chains formed from pure Qi and Blood, which were trembling slightly due to the lion's violent struggle. Then, she raised her eyes, meeting those eighteen scarlet, cracked pupils that seemed ready to spew out fire that could burn the heavens.

Her tone was so sincere it was almost hypocritical, yet she lightly added:

"And you run so fast."

This "sincere" final blow became the last feather that crushed its sanity.

Within the Nine-Headed Golden Lion's spiritual platform, a string named "Patience" — snapped instantly.

It no longer sought mercy. It no longer fantasized that fleeing could exchange for a chance at life. It was an exotic beast flowing with the Bloodline of the primordial era, an overlord that had guarded the Secret Realm for hundreds of years without a single defeat!

Dignity was carved into its bones, pride branded into its Soul. It could be defeated, it could be annihilated, but it absolutely could not — be toyed with like this!

Like a ridiculous puppet, being played at the fingertips of this seemingly delicate girl from the Human Race!

"You — — are — — courting — — death — —!!!"

All nine heads roared up to the sky simultaneously!

This was no longer a lion's roar, but the roar of the primordial era — awakening from the deepest part of its Bloodline, piercing through the long river of time!

The sound waves condensed into tangible golden ripples, crushing mountains and crumbling rocks, the air twisting like boiling water!

Golden light exploded brilliantly!

This was not spiritual power, it was its Bloodline burning — the forbidden Legacy that had slept deep within its marrow and bones since its birth, its ultimate trump card that it had never truly activated.

Blood-Burning Secret Technique · Golden Divine Form!

Its golden fur stood on end, like a forest of needles, crazily devouring the spiritual power and life essence within its body, erupting with a glorious light as blinding as the true sun!

This light was so intense it was almost pale, actually forcing open hideous, spiderweb-like cracks in the Qi and Blood binding chains of Luo Xiaojiu that had seemed unshakable!

Its body surged by thirty percent, muscles knotting like rising mountains, every inch of its texture surging with explosive primordial power.

The pupils of all nine heads turned the color of molten gold — no whites, no irises, only pure, burning Battle Intent, and a resolution to fight to the death.

Escape? No longer needed. At this moment, only a fight to the death!

"Now that's more like it."

Luo Xiaojiu looked at the giant beast before her, whose aura was monstrous and who appeared like a golden Heavenly God descending upon the world. Not only was there no fear in her eyes, but they instead lit up with a brilliant radiance.

Like a child who had finally seen the most exciting mechanism of their favorite toy.

She loosened her five fingers. Under the impact of the blazing golden light, the nine crimson-gold binding chains shattered with a roar, turning into flowing fire that scattered across the sky — like a magnificent yet fleeting blood-colored firework.

Then, she took a step forward.

This step was completely different from before. Previously, it had been a leisurely stroll, a careless teasing.

At this moment — it was accepting the challenge.

It was the chess player finally lowering their eyes, facing the chess piece that dared to knock on the chessboard.

"Come."

Just one word. The voice was not loud, yet it clearly sliced through the deafening roar, reaching straight into the depths of the lion's Soul.

The Nine-Headed Golden Lion moved.

All nine heads simultaneously spat out attacks that could annihilate all things — the left three heads: Flame Burning Heavens, Profound Ice Frozen Prison, Thunder Splitting the Void!

The right three heads: Poison Mist Eroding the Soul, Demonic Sound Piercing the Brain, Golden Blade Slashing the God!

The back three heads: Rock Spikes Piercing the Heart, Wind Blades Strangling, and one — Breath of Annihilation — as pitch-black as eternal night, seemingly capable of swallowing the light of all heavens!

Nine completely different Law attributes, nine torrents of destruction capable of instantly killing a Golden Core Peak, intertwined into a web of the end that covered the heavens and earth, carrying an absolute will to crush everything — pouring down towards that slender figure in goose-yellow!

This was a desperate kill that burned out its Bloodline, the final chapter that bet everything. Nine heads attacking together, fighting to the death!

Luo Xiaojiu raised her head.

Then, she only performed two actions.

Raised her hand. Clenched her fist.

It was as simple as stretching out one's morning laziness — yet, the moment her fist pushed out, the world lost its voice.

The golden-red Qi and Blood that had been lingering around her was no longer a docile rosy light, but transformed into a bloody smoke that pierced through the heavens and earth!

Starting from that slender, glistening white fist, it fiercely crashed into the web of destruction intertwined by the nine Laws!

No technique. No Divine Ability. No maneuvering.

Only the most primitive, most barbaric, most indisputable — absolute power.

Flames shattered into fireflies before the fist wind, ice turned to powder the moment it was touched, thunder wailed and dissipated, poison mist recoiled and backfired, golden blades snapped, rock spikes pulverized, wind blades annihilated — even that pitch-black Breath of Annihilation which devoured all things, the moment it touched the fist radiance, melted away without a trace like snow meeting the sun!

Nine world-destroying Divine Abilities — were all shattered by this one punch!

The fist's momentum did not end.

This golden-red Qi wave, condensed as if tangible, after crushing all obstacles, lost none of its remaining power. With an unstoppable ferocity, it slammed solidly into the central head of the Nine-Headed Golden Lion — the most majestic, most proud one, whose pupils were now shrinking rapidly.

Bang — —!!!

A muffled sound, like a giant hammer striking the earth.

That massive head, along with half its neck, was smashed fiercely into the ground like a meteorite thrown by a Heavenly God!

Earth and stone exploded, smoke and dust shot into the sky, a giant pit several zhang deep suddenly bloomed, and spiderweb-like cracks spread crazily.

Amidst the swirling dust, the other eight heads were completely frozen.

Forgetting to roar, forgetting to counterattack, they just stared blankly at the head in the deep pit that was slowly struggling to climb out, covered in dust, mud, and blood, and at the goose-yellow figure at the edge of the pit, lightly shaking her hand.

Luo Xiaojiu shook her wrist, her knuckles emitting a crisp sound.

She looked down at her slightly reddened fist, frowned slightly, and muttered in a low voice, her tone even carrying a hint of complaining disdain:

"Quite hard, actually."

Eight heads shivered simultaneously.

This chill did not come from their skin, but from the depths of their Souls.

The head in the pit finally pulled its face out of the soil.

Its golden hair was stained with mud and grass, its nose bridge was visibly collapsed, its skin was split, and blood mixed with dust slid down the corner of its mouth — all dignity lost, as disheveled as a stray dog.

It did not roar.

It just stared blankly at Luo Xiaojiu, and for the first time, an almost unfamiliar emotion arose in its eighteen eyes — not fear, not awe.

It was bewilderment.

It was the bewilderment of an abyss — after exhausting everything, burning out its Bloodline, and betting everything, it discovered that the height of its opponent was something it could not reach even by exhausting its imagination.

This kind of despair was colder and more bone-chilling than death.

"You..." It opened its mouth, its voice hoarse and broken, carrying blood foam, "What exactly are you..."

Luo Xiaojiu did not answer.

She took a step forward.

The lion instinctively wanted to retreat, but its limbs felt as if they were suppressed by a ten-thousand-zhang mountain, unable to move.

She took another step.

The lion still did not move. Not because it didn't want to, but because it could not.

The Qi and Blood pressure, as vast as a capsizing star sea, was no longer the unintentional leakage from before after Luo Xiaojiu became slightly serious, but had transformed into a tangible cage of heaven and earth — every wisp of wind, every inch of light, had become chains, digging into flesh and crushing bones.

The nine heads slowly lowered. Not in submission, but because even the strength to support its body had been completely stripped away.

Luo Xiaojiu walked up to it and stood still.

She lowered her eyes, looking at this giant beast, limp as mud, its nine heads hanging low, panting like a broken bellows, and watched it quietly for a long time. The long wind swept past her skirt and hair tips, making a hunting sound.

Then, she squatted down.

Her line of sight leveled with that head with the collapsed nose bridge and mottled bloodstains.

She spoke, her tone as calm as the water in a deep pool, without mockery, without triumph, and without even a ripple of emotion:

"Oh, you can't beat me!"

The lion was silent, only heavy panting rising and falling in the deathly silence.

"You burned your Bloodline, used your Legacy, and exhausted everything —" Her voice was very light, yet every word was clear, "But you didn't even have the qualifications to make me throw a second punch."

The lion remained silent. Eight heads hung lower, and the central one also hung down powerlessly.

Unable to refute.

Every inch of agonizing bone, every trace of exhausted strength, was the cruelest proof.

Luo Xiaojiu looked at it, and suddenly, the corners of her lips curved very faintly.

It was not sweet, not satisfied, but a... curve that seemed to pass through a long stretch of time, carrying a hint of complex meaning.

Like gazing at an old item, or perhaps recalling some dusty past.

"However," she paused, her gaze sweeping over those nine drooping heads, "you are a bit stronger — than those pieces of trash who flee the moment they see me and don't even dare to look back."

This sentence was like a thunderbolt striking into its chaotic spiritual platform.

The lion's whole body shuddered violently!

Nine heads, eighteen eyes, suddenly raised, staring fixedly at her!

Their eyes churned with astonishment, bewilderment, shock, and a hint of... a tremor of being recognized by a supreme powerhouse that it hadn't even realized itself.

In this instant, even the shadow of death seemed to fade a little, replaced by an extremely absurd, almost burning palpitation.

Luo Xiaojiu stood up.

She lowered her eyes, looking down at this giant beast that had been completely defeated at her feet, her voice as light as a feather brushing against the heart of a lake, yet clearly branded into every strand of its Divine Soul:

"I won't eat you."

The lion's nine brains simultaneously stagnated.

"...What?"

"Hehe — —"

Luo Xiaojiu turned around, her goose-yellow skirt blossoming into a light arc in the air.

With her back to it, she waved her hand casually, her voice carrying a hint of careless amusement:

"I need a mount."

She turned half her face, her peripheral vision sweeping over its stiff body, and added the final sentence:

"Looking at you, you seem quite suitable."

"A mount?! "

The nine giant mouths of the Nine-Headed Golden Lion simultaneously erupted in an incredulous roar.

This was not a roar, but nine thunderclaps layered together, almost tearing its Divine Soul apart!

The sound waves surged crazily in the valley, shaking the rock walls until they cracked, and gravel rolled down like rain.

In this sound churned a bone-deep fury and monstrous humiliation — as if it had heard the most absurd joke since the primordial era.