Chapter 1212: Against Nine Heads  

The golden lion's nine heads all widened their jaws to reveal incisors over a meter long. Gleaming golden light shot right by Zhang Lie's face, scraping his skin and cutting off a few strands of hair. Far into the distance, where the light struck a mountain, the mountain crumbled.

Zhang Lie's heart thumped as he converted his pale-blue genetic energy into a pitch-black version.

"[Ninecarp Transformation]!"

A black serpent materialized behind Zhang Lie, by now so large and so developed that it resembled the world-swallowing serpent Jormungandr. It let out a threatening hiss as its scales clicked together.

His fist smashed into the golden lion's incisors with a tremendous clang, as though he had struck steel, or as though a heavenly drum was beating out a rhythm through the skies. The spectators' hearts thumped in sync.

The man and lion fought and fought and fought, summoning winds around them from nothing but the force of their blows. The unified world shook and trembled.

As they clashed again, the golden lion roared, sending a bombardment of sound waves at Zhang Lie. Gritting his teeth, Zhang Lie weathered the assault.

Struck by battle-frenzy, Zhang Lie was fighting as much like a beast as a man. Heated blood pumped through his body, and his eyes were those of a predator's.

As he punched forward, the black serpent behind him shot forth.

The special lifeform, surprised by the attack, reflexively dodged at extreme speed. It morphed into a bolt of golden light that pinballed through the air, dyeing the entire sky gold.

Despite how rapidly it moved, however, the serpent shot forward with destructive energy, cracking a mountain as it shot through its middle.

Dust billowed into the air as a cloud, revealing an ashen lion that had once been golden. Large patches of scales had fallen off its body, and one of its heads had almost been smashed open. A terrible wound marred its body, and flowing blood dyed one of its eyes red.

The lion's howls were like thunder. Shining brilliance drowned the sky in gold.

As Zhang Lie activated his blood ant and dragonwolf soulshards, he transformed into a dragonwolf with russet fur and limbs covered with dragons' scales. His aura became magnified as a hurricane of blood spawned around him.The next moment, Zhang Lie vanished from sight and appeared before the lifeform.

He couldn't help but be shocked by the monster he had cultivated.

The special lifeform was even more astounded than Zhang Lie. It had thought itself the strongest lifeform in the world; once it swallowed up the will of the realm from the heavens above, it would be invincible. Even so, despite its evolution, Zhang Lie was able to suppress it.

Smoke filled the air.

Zhang Lie launched his strongest attack. Within the clouds, lightning crackled. A huge burst of light dissipated the mist and smoke.

As expected of a lifeform beyond even monarch-grade... Although it hadn't yet truly broken through the threshold, its combat prowess was no laughing matter.

The spectators were shocked.

Despite Zhang Lie's ridiculous strength, even he was unable to seize a decisive victory against the golden lion, and they were tussling through the clouds.

This would be a dangerous close-combat fight.

Zhang Lie rode the lion, gripping its mane tightly as he launched attack after attack at the largest of its heads.

Just then, the golden lion howled again. A ball of light—a miniature golden lion—shot out toward Zhang Lie with devastating force.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Fade]!"magic

As Zhang Lie punched forward, a blood dragon roared in outrage and shot forward.

The blood dragon and miniature lion crashed into each other, and the frightening energy that lay dormant within the blood dragon's body surged out.

A wave of annihilation exploded around the dragon. Pitch-black energy swallowed everything in the vicinity like a storm at sea, covering up the sky.The explosion was like a black hole that sucked up everything in sight, land, sea, and sky alike.

The energy of annihilation was so intense that it even affected the multicolored dragon scale in the air, causing natural law to distort around it.

Zhu and the restored will were still in the process of solidifying their newfound strength and fixing the hole in the third realm; the energy of annihilation destabilized everything around it indiscriminately.

Zhang Lie hurriedly canceled the attack, causing the pitch-black energy of annihilation to be unable to finish off the special lifeform in one blow.

Even so, the golden lion was barely still alive.

Zhang Lie didn't want the golden lion to be destroyed completely, either—he wanted to consume its carcass for gene fragments.

The golden lion widened its maw and shot out another ray of golden light, resplendent with energy.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Hundred Dragons Soaring]!"

A horde of dragons launched out of Zhang Lie's left arm as he expended half his genetic energy in one supercharged attack.

Howling with the force of thunder, the hundred dragons soared through the air. They were fierce and domineering, and all hundred of them boasted the power of annihilation. The golden lion's might was suppressed head-on.

If not for Zhang Lie's fear of destroying the golden lion so completely that not even parts of its flesh remained, the golden lion would have been pulped.

Zhang Lie grabbed its mane with one hand and smashed a fist into its skull with another in an outpouring of genetic energy.

The golden lion howled, its skull caved in and almost cracked entirely open.

Its golden fur stood on end; one of its heads suddenly grew multiple times larger, like a golden millstone brimming with light.

It opened its maw, transforming the air before itself into a crackling ocean of lightning.

Zhang Lie unsheathed Guicang and split the ocean into two. In fear, the golden lion tried to run, but it was too late. The two heads to its left were chopped off in a fountain of blood.

The golden lion roared again. Fearful and unwilling to resign itself to its fate, it immediately retreated.

With another slash, two more of its heads on the right were chopped off. The golden lion howled in pain. Even so, despite the injuries it had sustained, the special lifeform was gradually growing stronger.

Fighting with Zhang Lie was like an extreme form of training, and its potential was now being squeezed out under life-threatening danger...