62: Crazy Beast King Palm Pet

The enormous beast-bone cage in the center of the camp, along with the bonfire stand next to it… everything was utterly reduced to dust by that pure, terrifyingly unreasonable power!

Smoke and dust billowed into the sky.

The moonlight finally struggled to tear through the curtain of smoke and dust, grudgingly casting a few rays.

In the center of the smoke and dust, a figure so tall as to be almost inhuman slowly straightened up.

He was too tall.

Every muscle line bulged with explosive power.

A thick neck connected to a sharply defined jawline, and above that… Wen Ci’s gaze met a pair of beast eyes without obstruction.

They were not crimson, nor pure dark gold.

Instead, they were molten gold, fiery red vertical pupils, burning to the extreme, as if all the lava of hell had been condensed within them!

Inside them surged pure, destructive rage, devoid of any reason, only a mad flame that sought to incinerate the entire world along with himself!

The moment their gazes met, Wen Ci felt a cold chill run up her spine to the top of her head, the most primal tremor a living being experiences when facing an absolute threat of death.

Lie Xiao.

The uncrowned king of the Northern Snow Region, the mad beast king who struck fear into the hearts of all beast tribes and humans.

He walked over a ground covered in bone dust and flesh remains, like a demon god emerging from the abyss of destruction.

His molten gold vertical pupils, like searchlights, carried a soul-freezing, icy killing intent, piercing through the lingering smoke and dust, instantly locking onto that slender figure, quiet as a phantom.

Wen Ci.

She had long, snow-white hair, breathtakingly beautiful.

From dozens of meters away, through the swirling smoke and blood, his gaze was precisely fixed on her, like an invisible shackle, so heavy it was suffocating.

Her attire indicated she was the next sacrifice.

More beautiful than any previous sacrifice.

But she, too, would ultimately try to escape.

He moved.

No roar, no bellow.

His massive, destructive body, with a speed utterly disproportionate to its size, swift as a ghost, tore through space!

One moment he was in the smoke-filled center of the camp, the next, a violent airflow, laden with the smell of sulfur and blood, slammed into Wen Ci!

A massive shadow instantly enveloped her completely, and cold, hard, steel-like black scales almost grazed her nose!

A giant beast claw, covered in fine scales, with five fingers like sharp hooks, came whistling through the air, tearing towards her slender, fragile neck!

The shadow of death coldly gripped her throat.

Wen Ci could even clearly see the fresh blood of the hyena beastmen on the beast claw and smell the intensely nauseating scent of blood.

The violent airflow ruffled her bangs, and her thin animal-skin skirt clung to her body, outlining a vulnerable silhouette.

The group of people escorting her all fell to their knees, screaming, begging for mercy in fear.

But Wen Ci did not scream, did not try to block the utterly unblockable force, nor did she retreat a single step.

In the thousandth of a second before the beast claw, capable of crushing her throat, was about to touch her skin.

She lifted her head.

Her clear eyes, like freshly melted snow in a forest, met those molten gold vertical pupils, burning with destructive lava, directly and without fear.

In her eyes, there was no fear, no fawning, no flattery, no despair, and no hatred.

Only a kind of… almost compassionate gentleness, and a strange, serene certainty.

As if she saw not a terrifying demon king about to tear her apart, but merely… a soul lost in boundless suffering.

Time seemed to stretch and freeze at this moment.

The beast claw, covered in hard scales and imbued with deadly power, abruptly stopped less than half an inch from the skin of her neck!

The violent airflow, as if hitting an invisible wall, ceased abruptly.

The cold scales on his fingertips could almost feel the faint pulsation of her carotid artery.

Lie Xiao’s molten gold vertical pupils constricted violently!

The destructive flames churning within them showed, for the first time, a tiny, almost imperceptible moment of stillness and… confusion, which he himself had not even noticed.

He had seen too many gazes.

Those paralyzed with fear to the point of incontinence, those hollow with despair, those twisted with hatred, those sickeningly fawning…

But he had never seen one like this.

Like the purest spring water under a winter sun, reflecting his fierce and violent appearance at this moment, yet strangely failing to stir any ripples, only a peace that almost pierced the soul and… understanding?

That gaze, like the finest, most resilient thread, unexpectedly, and very faintly, entwined itself around his furiously burning heart.

A tiny trace of hesitation, so subtle he didn’t even realize it, like a single ice crystal dropped into a lava lake, instantly vaporized, yet leaving behind an almost imperceptible ripple.

The next second, that hesitation was crushed by an even more violent rage!

“Roar––!”

A deeply suppressed growl, like rolling thunder exploding in his chest, erupted from the depths of Lie Xiao’s throat!

It carried the furious rage of being provoked and an irritation he himself could not understand.

The deadly claw aiming for her neck abruptly changed direction!

With equally terrifying force, it clamped down on Wen Ci’s slender, fragile shoulder!

If it were an ordinary person, they would likely be contorted in pain.

But Wen Ci felt nothing, for this time it was her true body that had passed through; even if a real fight broke out, she would certainly not be the one to get hurt.

Lie Xiao was too enraged to notice the abnormality of the woman before him.

Wen Ci was lifted to his eye level.

Right in front of him.

She looked up, her gaze meeting his molten gold vertical pupils.

The flames burning within them were still violent, the destructive aura undiminished, but deep within the churning lava, something seemed… different.

It was no longer the pure, world-burning madness, but mixed with a trace of… investigative desire, strongly aroused, which even Lie Xiao himself could not decipher?

And a deeper, more brutal irritation, sparked by that calm gaze!

Like a ferocious beast whose territory has been invaded by an unknown creature, wanting to tear apart the audacious intruder immediately, yet also drawn by some utterly unfamiliar aura from the other party, pacing restlessly.

Wen Ci’s gaze, however, maintained that strange serenity.

Even as those molten gold beast eyes locked onto her, her lips curved upward ever so slightly, yet clearly.

It wasn’t a smile.

It was more like… a confirmation that everything had settled, or perhaps, a silent invitation.

Lie Xiao’s molten gold pupils suddenly contracted into dangerous pinpricks!

“Another one…” A cold, hoarse voice, like grinding sand, emerged for the first time from the beast king’s mouth, carrying undisguised, ice-cold contempt and cruelty, “Who wants to escape?”

Every word was squeezed out through gritted teeth, laden with a heavy scent of blood and absolute killing intent.

He stared at her, as if at a struggling prey on a chopping block, waiting to enjoy the fear and breakdown that would appear on her face, just like all the other females, which had long since numbed and even annoyed him.

Unexpectedly, her voice was very soft, yet it strangely pierced through the suffocating pressure and aura of death, echoing clearly in the small space between them.

Like a warm stream, flowing unexpectedly through burning lava.

“No.”

Wen Ci looked directly into those soul-freezing molten gold vertical pupils, with no evasion in her eyes, only a clear, almost stubborn gentleness to the very bottom.

“I came to love you.”

Her voice was soft, yet it was like a clap of thunder, splitting the frozen air.

The wind, it seemed, even paused at this moment.

Lie Xiao’s body, covered in hard scales, stiffened for a very, very brief moment.

For the first time, confusion was clearly reflected in those fiery red vertical pupils, churning with destructive lava.

It was a pure bewilderment at a word outside his comprehension.

Like a ferocious beast that only understood killing and possession, suddenly handed a fragile flower, dewy with morning mist.

Love?

What was that?

A new, more cunning… way to beg for mercy?

The grip of the claw on her shoulder, unconsciously… loosened by an infinitesimally small margin.