I admit there's an element of gambling in it.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Tonight, the Magical Beast Mountain Range was extraordinarily lively. The roar of explosions echoed through the sky, and raging flames could be seen everywhere. Two white figures continuously shuttled through the forest, rampaging and leaving nothing alive in their wake.

They looked human, but their bodies were as pale as paper.

Inhuman colors flickered in their eyes.

They looked as fragile as pretty boys.

Bang!

Ye Shu, who was running for his life in the front, turned his head just in time to see a Tier-3 Demonic Horned Ape that had come out to forage being forcibly smashed into minced meat by them, its blood dyeing the sky.

"Holy crap! Is this really a Foundation Establishment dungeon?!"

Ye Shu let out a weird cry, moving like the wind, wishing his mother had given birth to him with three extra legs.

"You big idiot!!!"

"Why on earth did you kick their corpse!!!"

"According to the original plot, you were supposed to respectfully bow to them, kowtow, and then receive the three secret manuals."

Xiaobai wrapped her arms around his neck, her two short legs fluttering in the air like a kite due to the extreme speed, while she continued to complain loudly.

"Now look what you've done! You've angered the guards!"

"I told you so, but it went in one ear and out the other."

Ye Shu retorted while running.

"With such a huge skeleton standing there, could you really resist kicking it? Anyone who could resist should be punished by standing in a canola field with a 1.5-meter wooden stick and not being allowed to hit the flowers."

"Didn't you also say you were an archaeologist?!"

Xiaobai scolded angrily.

"I am an archaeologist! Look, didn't I rescue the cultural relics?"

Ye Shu waved the secret manual in his hand.

"You're still thinking about that!!!"

Xiaobai grew even angrier. "You better think about how to save your life first! These Golden Core stage puppets can crush you as easily as crushing an ant."

"Bullshit!"

Ye Shu cursed.

"An ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator being chased by peak Golden Core puppets would definitely die in less than three seconds."

"But me!"

"I can at least run for half an hour before dying."

"Should I praise you then?" Xiaobai gritted her teeth, wishing she could take a vicious bite out of this idiot. At a time like this, he was still being a smartass!

"Don't be afraid, they can't catch me."

Ye Shu moved like the wind, and starlight began to shine around his body. The starlight connected, using the Tianxuan star as the array core to form the Tianxuan Swift Light Array, which could massively increase his fleeing speed.

The price was that the spiritual energy in his body was being consumed at the rate of one acupoint every five breaths. Even counting the Qi Recovery Pills he had saved up, he could maintain the array for an hour at most.

But!

It didn't matter. In the next second, he would summon a powerful backup.

Whoosh!

A burst of purple fire bloomed in front of Ye Shu.

The flame flickered in midair, its sparks swaying with the wind, magnificent and brilliant.

Phew~

The wind rose and the fire moved.

The flame drifted toward a certain direction.

"This way!"

Ye Shu's expression lit up with joy, and he sped toward the direction the flame pointed.

"You aren't trying to find the Lion King, are you?"

Danxia in the ring was a bit worried. "This place is quite far from the Amethyst Winged Lion King's territory. Why don't you let me..."

Before she could finish, Ye Shu waved his hand to interrupt her.

"No need, I know what I'm doing."

"Then be careful." Seeing his insistence, Danxia said no more, but she silently began accumulating soul power in her heart, ready to forcefully take over his body at any moment.

Swish, swish, swish—

A bizarre scene appeared in the depths of the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

A glass-colored ghost fire floated in the front.

A youth in linen clothes ran after it.

Two peak Golden Core puppets chased relentlessly.

If the puppets could speak, they would have cursed out loud long ago. Was this a Foundation Establishment cultivator? He was running almost as fast as a Nascent Soul expert.

Finally, a massive mountain ridge loomed ahead.

In front of the ridge was a winding stream. Across the stream, there was a cave at the cliff face of the mountain, and the Myriad Beast Flame headed straight for the cave.

"This is the place!"

Ye Shu's eyes flashed, and his right hand formed a hand seal.

The star acupoints around his body quietly shifted, changing the array core from Tianxuan to Taiyin. A dark moon slowly emerged above his head, shrouding Ye Shu in shadows.

Heavenly Star Array—Taiyin Concealment.

In an instant, Ye Shu's aura completely vanished, making him seem like nothing more than a small pebble on the side of the road.

But this was useless against the puppets that had already locked onto him.

Seeing him slow down, the puppets formed hand seals without hesitation. With a wave of their large hands, crimson flames dyed half the sky red, transforming into a giant palm that descended from the heavens.

However, Ye Shu showed no fear.

He leaned against the stone cave, completely motionless, his eyes as serene as a dead man.

Just as Danxia couldn't help but want to intervene.

Roar!!!!

A deafening roar came from inside the cave. Immediately after, a black shadow appeared like lightning, throwing a punch right at the flaming palm.

Bang—

The palm formed of flames instantly exploded.

"Is... is this a Golden Lion?"

Xiaobai stared blankly at the figure blocking their way, her small mouth slightly open, unable to speak for a long time.

"This is your backup?"

"Exactly."

Ye Shu leaned against the stone cave, panting heavily. While recovering his spiritual energy and maintaining the array, he explained, "Under normal circumstances, my concealment array might not be able to evade the detection of a Tier-4 magical beast. But when there are other intruders, the probability of being ignored greatly increases."

"I admit there was a gamble involved, but clearly..."

Ye Shu looked at the Golden Lion, which was glaring angrily ahead and ignoring him, and smiled slightly.

"I won the bet."

Golden Lion, a Tier-4 magical beast.

Thirty feet tall, it had twin horns on its head and was covered in a black, silky mane. It had two long fangs in its mouth, and its entire body bulged with muscles, especially its highly developed back muscles. Behind it, a tail resembling a cow's swung back and forth.

It was extremely aggressive and highly territorial.

Its mane was black in its normal state, but when it entered an enraged state, all its fur would turn golden.

Golden Lions were an extremely proud species.

Belligerent throughout their lives, they even dared to clash with Ancient Dragons.

It was said that for every Golden Lion's coming-of-age ceremony, it had to independently kill a Jade Qilin and bite off its single horn to activate the enraged form.

This combative, ferocious beast was clearly very unhappy right now.

It raised its head and looked at the two puppets high in the sky, heavy panting sounds coming from its large nostrils.

Ye Shu silently regulated his breathing, preparing to take the opportunity to run away when they started fighting.

However, in the next second—

In midair, the hands of the two puppets flew in a blur.

A burst of bizarre runes rose into the air from behind them. In an instant, countless Dao patterns flowed, covering the entire sky as radiant light bloomed.

Then, an unbelievable scene occurred.

Thunder rumbled in the sky, the sound of rushing water howled, and flames scattered. It was as if a phoenix was dancing in the highest heavens, accompanied by the roar of a true dragon. A phantom of a fire phoenix spiraled down from midair, while a lightning flood dragon rode the clouds and mist, and a black tortoise crawled, suppressing the mountains and seas.

One move, just one move.

In that instant, the puppets had simultaneously unleashed three different grand divine abilities.

Something even humans couldn't do, they actually managed to achieve?

You've got to be kidding me!

The three divine abilities merged in the sky, transforming into a boundless palm print that stretched for miles. It pressed down with infinite momentum, causing all the surrounding birds and beasts to scatter and flee in panic.

Even the Golden Lion felt this tremendous pressure.

It reared up on its hind legs, violently pounding its chest as a roar that shook the entire forest erupted from its throat. Then, it flexed its arms outward in a muscle-tearing pose. At the same time, every strand of its black mane stood on end. With a crackle of lightning, its pitch-black fur transformed into a brilliant golden-yellow, and its arms began to emit steam like red-hot branding irons.

"ROAR!!!!"

The massive palm print ruthlessly pressed down.

The Golden Lion raised its arms as if lifting a massive cauldron, its fists fiercely colliding with the surface of the palm!

BOOM!!!!

The two forces clashed, locked in a bitter stalemate.

Ye Shu lay flat on his back against the earth, the indomitable silhouette of the Golden Lion reflected in his pupils. He was completely dumbfounded.

Are these really freaking Golden Core stage puppets?

Why does it feel like the Golden Lion is the one at the Golden Core stage, while these two puppets are at the Nascent Soul stage?

Thank goodness that when the sky falls, there is a tall guy to hold it up.

Just as that thought crossed his mind.

BANG!

The Golden Lion suddenly dropped to one knee, its arms failing to support the immense weight. The palm print crushed down mercilessly like a hydraulic press.

BOOM—

Dust and smoke blotted out the sky as birds and beasts scattered in all directions.