Chapter 124: Backbone
Thud.
Three severed heads hit the ground.
The Nine-Headed Golden Lion couldn't evade in time. Its first divine artifact—the Nine Golden Fangs, forged from flying swords—had been locked down by Shi Hao's Heavenly Radiance Mirror.
Its second artifact, the Nine Orbs of Prayer, met its match in the Golden Flood Dragon Bone Scissors. The moment the beads clashed with the scissor, they were shattered, and three lion heads were instantly severed.
Boom!
The Nine-Headed Golden Lion's gaze turned cold. A furious roar burst from its throat as a radiant golden light erupted from its mouth.
A miniature golden lion emerged—flawlessly sculpted, alive with divine essence.
"The Fearless Lion Seal!" gasped the crowd.
Especially those from the Divine Mending Pavilion. Their expressions tightened, their hearts dropping as they looked toward Shi Hao with deep concern.
This was no ordinary technique. The Fearless Lion Seal was the ancestral divine ability of the Golden Lion Clan—their strongest, most sacred technique. Only those of the royal line could hope to wield it… and even then, not until full maturity.
Yet this young lion, still in its adolescence, had summoned it.
Finally, a challenge worth facing.
Shi Hao waved his hand, recalling the Golden Flood Dragon Bone Scissors back into his Inner World, allowing it to continue nurturing its spiritual power. He understood—this divine ability was on another level. Not even his sacred weapon could contest it yet.
"You contemptible human! You'll die today—even your brother can't save you!"
The Nine-Headed Golden Lion—now down to six heads—roared in fury. The golden seal floating before it blazed into full brilliance.
The Fearless Lion Seal erupted. Light poured forth like divine flame, shattering the earth, hurling boulders, and ripping the air itself as it surged forward.
This wasn't merely a show of strength—it was a phenomenon that stirred the world. Mountains could be moved. Oceans parted. Storms summoned. Even the clouds of the Ninth Heaven would tremble before it.
Even though incomplete, even though the lion was too young to truly master it, the technique was still apocalyptic in scope. The entire grassland shook, tearing apart as if the world itself had been split.
"Dragon Form: Intent and Essence."
Shi Hao's Ten Heavenly Passages flared to life. His body became a conduit, drawing in heaven and earth's energy like a bloodthirsty vortex.
Behind him, a titanic phantom began to emerge—a thousand-meter-long Dragon Form, veiled in mist and light.
No one could make out its full form. But its presence was undeniable.
And then…
The Fearless Lion Seal, so overwhelming just moments ago, suddenly faltered. It quivered… shrank… softened into a mere golden kitten in the face of this emerging presence.
Buzz.
A deep, ancient growl rippled out from the Dragon Form. The battlefield went still.
One by one, spectators fell to their knees without realizing it.
This was not something they could defy.
The audience had come to watch a duel. Instead, they found themselves swallowed by it. That growl alone contained a True Dragon's Divine Might, enough to make any soul cower.
"What… what is that?"
"This has to be a joke…"
"Impossible! Shi Hao hasn't even stepped into the Inner World Realm. He's only at the peak of the Spirit Transformation Realm, and he's not even eighteen!"
"He'd have to start cultivating from the womb and still wouldn't be this fast!"
"It's terrifying. If Shi Hao is already this strong, then how strong is Shi Yi?! Two Prodigies… both from the Human Clan!"
"Hahaha! The Human Clan is rising! Shi Yi. Shi Hao. Two monsters from the same lineage. The era of the Human Clan dominating the Eight Lower Regions is coming!"
Fierce Beasts still resisted, trembling, unwilling to kneel.
But the humans knelt willingly. To them, bowing before their own kind was no shame.
Boom!
The Dragon Form phantom sneezed disdainfully.
And the Fearless Lion Seal—so grand, so overwhelming—shattered like brittle glass.
Divine ability: broken.
The Nine-Headed Golden Lion, now reduced to six heads, swayed in place. Blood spilled from its mouth. Its eyes dimmed.
That sacred technique had drained its essence, its spirit, its will. It was a move meant only for mature lions of royal blood—and it had cost everything to unleash.
Its arrogance evaporated. It turned, trying to flee.
"Running, are you?"
Shi Hao leapt forward, dispelling the Dragon Form, and vaulted onto the lion's back.
He began punching.
Again. And again. Relentlessly.
"Filthy human! If you want to kill me, then kill me. But don't humiliate me!"
The lion thrashed wildly, golden light flaring from its body as it activated a new technique to shake him off.
But Shi Hao didn't stop.
"Submit!" Shi Hao shouted.
"I will not!" it roared back.
"Then I'll beat you until you do!"
Punches rained down like thunder.
A Little White Tiger? Already his.
A Little Stone Lion? Might as well collect one too.
Why not?
Thinking this, Shi Hao struck even harder. He looked like a young War God, mounted atop a divine beast, punishing it into obedience.
The crowd was stunned.
The awe-inspiring Nine-Headed Golden Lion… reduced to a mount?
"C'mon, just give in! How majestic would it be to ride a Golden Lion around the Lower Realm? What a waste to eat something so pretty."
He was in a hurry.
In the ancient era, the Nine-Headed Golden Lion was ranked among the top ten divine mounts. Even True Gods sought them out. Shimmering with golden radiance, nine heads roaring in unison—it was the definition of glory.
But this lion? This mangy, battered, six-headed thing? Still refused to bow.
"To die is better than to serve the Human Clan!"
Its roar echoed across the battlefield.
Most Fierce Beasts would've already surrendered. The strong dominated the weak. That was the law of the wild.
But not this lion. Its pride was stronger than its fear.
"Now that's backbone."
Shi Hao didn't get angry. If the lion had submitted too quickly, what use would it be? It'd likely abandon him the moment danger came.
This kind of stubbornness—this refusal to break—was exactly what made a worthy companion.
Elsewhere: The Hundred Broken Mountains
A silver-skinned, humanoid creature—hundreds of meters tall—collapsed with a deafening crash. Its body was shredded, limbs severed. Its wide eyes stared up at the sky in disbelief.
"How could this be… killed by humans?! I refuse… I refuse…"
This was an Ancient Descendant, a rare and fearsome race with bloodlines from the Mythic Age.
"So what if it's an Ancient Descendant?" one of the Shi Village youths said. "It tried to enslave us. It should've made sure it had the strength for that first."
"Pi Houzi! It looks humanoid—what now?"
"What now? We cut it up."
"It's not Human Clan. No organs. No soul flame. Just a human-like shell."
"I remember the Old Village Chief saying… back in the darkest days, some ancient tribes would trade children for food. So what's the problem with chopping up something humanoid?"
"Right. Let's not waste it. This is high-grade medicinal flesh."
And so they began the dismemberment.
This was just the beginning—their first true battle since entering the Hundred Broken Mountains.
They didn't follow Shi Yi. That was by choice.
To grow stronger, they had to walk their own path.
Not all humans were born monsters like Shi Yi or Shi Hao.
But they would fight.
Together.