Deep in the Qinling Mountains.
Two silhouettes stood facing each other—one human, one peng.
The peng bird was draped in golden plumage, exuding immense majesty.
Golden radiance flowed across its body, and the mighty bloodline coursing within made it resemble an undisputed monarch. Every breath it drew sounded like rumbling thunder.
Each feather was distinct and sharply defined, resembling an indestructible golden divine sword capable of cleaving through anything.
Not far across from it stood Lu Yuan.
His posture was straight and tall, yet he appeared entirely ordinary. In contrast to the peng's overbearing aura, he looked as tiny as an ant.
Yet no trace of fear showed in his eyes.
Instead, they held only curiosity and amusement.
"Human, are you the one who wishes to make me your mount?" The Golden-Winged Great Peng glanced toward the slain Brown Bear King, though it paid the corpse little mind. Its golden pupils looked down from above, its voice dripping with disdain.
It possessed a bloodline rivaling that of legendary myths, ranking among the very finest in this world.
Within its territory, no mutated beast of the same caliber dared to trespass.
And now, a human wanted it as a mount?
To the Golden-Winged Great Peng, this was utterly laughable—a blatant insult.
"To be honest, becoming my mount might well be your good fortune," Lu Yuan said.
He could see the beast's pride, so he offered it no face.
Any creature blessed with a formidable bloodline possessed innate arrogance. To subdue it, a fight was inevitable.
If so, why bother with pleasantries?
Whoever had the harder fist held the truth.
"You are courting death!" Enraged, the Golden-Winged Great Peng found the human far too brazen, far too confident.
There was nothing more to say.
With hardly any hesitation, it flapped its wings, and thousands of golden beams shot forth across the air.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Wherever the radiant beams struck, boulders crumbled like tofu.
Clearly, the Golden-Winged Great Peng wielded methods far superior to ordinary mutated beast kings, resembling divine abilities.
Yet Lu Yuan only smiled. Stepping forward, he clenched his fists as blood-qi surged through his body.
He unleashed no profound powers, relying solely on his physical frame.
He knew very well that to thoroughly break the Golden-Winged Great Peng before him, no flashy maneuvers were needed—only a pair of fists.
Subduing it was far more difficult than killing it, but he possessed absolute confidence.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Moving with blinding speed, Lu Yuan struck each radiant golden beam with pinpoint accuracy, shattering them all to dust.
"Interesting." Seeing this, the Golden-Winged Great Peng closed the distance in an instant. Its wings and talons moved in tandem with an unusual, strikingly humanoid stance—reminiscent of ancient Huaxia martial arts, except that every strike carried glorious, crushing force wrapped in brilliant golden light.
It was a wondrous sight: a giant raptor pressing close, engaging in hand-to-hand combat just like a human.
Massive stones cracked underfoot as gusts of astral wind whipped across a hundred meters, pulverizing trees and vines until nothing remained.
This was an offensive art so formidable it transcended human comprehension.
"Rumor has it that beings with mythical bloodlines inherit ancestral memories. I suppose this is proof. Besides, certain ancient Huaxia martial arts evolved by imitating animals. Truly worthy of a Golden-Winged Great Peng!"
Excitement flared in Lu Yuan's eyes. His own movements remained straightforward, relying purely on absolute strength to strike.
Rumble!
Crash!
The two blurred as they clashed hundreds of times in a heartbeat.
The entire vicinity was engulfed in the shockwaves of their power, and the ground began to cave in.
The sheer destruction was terrifying; had this occurred in a human city, it would have left nothing but ruins.
The Golden-Winged Great Peng was undeniably formidable. It had broken only a single shackle, yet the combat prowess it displayed was astonishing—far superior to that of the Brown Bear King.
Its physique was equally terrifying, sturdy enough to withstand modern thermal weaponry.
Because of this, Lu Yuan grew more thrilled the longer they fought, gradually unleashing more of the strength within him. Previous opponents had crumbled before him like wet paper, but the Golden-Winged Great Peng was different. Its bloodline was so potent that it could genuinely take his blows.
Boom!
A punch broke the sound barrier, unleashing a howling tempest of fist-wind that instantly pulverized a multi-ton boulder a hundred meters away.
In contrast to Lu Yuan's growing exhilaration, the Golden-Winged Great Peng grew increasingly alarmed. Its body shuddered continuously, its internal organs subjected to immense strain. If this went on, it would suffer serious injury.
*Is this guy truly human? Why does it feel like I'm brawling with a true dragon?*
The peng was thoroughly shaken. It could not comprehend how a human could possess such a monstrous physique. The martial arts it wielded were divine techniques inherited from its lineage, purported to battle dragons on equal footing. Yet against this human, it could gain no advantage whatsoever.
"Exhilarating!" Lu Yuan roared.
The faint silhouette of the Blood-Qi Pagoda manifested around him, and his aura soared once more.
Without warning, he threw another punch, causing the air to shudder and wail.
The Golden-Winged Great Peng raised its wings to block, attempting to withstand the blow with its sturdiest plumage. It refused to believe a human could surpass it in raw physical toughness.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Squelch!
The clash rang out like striking metal, followed immediately by splatters of blood.
Broken golden feathers scattered in all directions.
Boom!
The Golden-Winged Great Peng fell back at high speed, cracks marring its frame as it slammed into a low hill, leveling it.
*Too savage! This human is far too savage!*
It was horrified.
A pair of bare human fists had actually shattered its feathers!
It was so absurd that upon retreating, the peng abandoned all thoughts of close combat. It knew that continuing would only lead to complete suppression and swift defeat.
Flapping its wings, it shot into the sky and circled above, golden radiance erupting across its body.
A miniature golden peng abruptly materialized, plummeting at extreme speed.
This was an ancestral divine ability unique to the Golden-Winged Great Peng, infused with immense energy and devastating lethality.
Yet Lu Yuan remained completely unfazed. His eyes flashed, and he brought two fingers of his right hand together.
"Jade Emperor Orthodox Heavenly Thunder Art."
Rumble!
A bolt of lightning thicker than a water barrel erupted from his hand the moment the words fell, shattering the miniature raptor in an instant.
*He knows lightning arts too?!*
The Golden-Winged Great Peng was stunned once more, though it did not panic. "Human, I admit you are strong, but so what? At your current evolutionary stage, you cannot take flight. Today, I will use my race's natural advantage to wear you down!"
With that, it beat its wings, conjuring thousands of golden sword-feathers that hovered like heavenly blades.
The radiant feathers shone brilliantly, bearing an overwhelming majesty capable of obliterating the entire area and leaving no living creature alive.
"You're not wrong," Lu Yuan conceded. Against a flying predator, options were indeed limited.
Yet a smile soon crept across his face.
That smile sent a tremor of mortal danger through the Golden-Winged Great Peng, making its very soul shiver.
In the next instant, a bow appeared in Lu Yuan's hand.
The Heaven-Shaking Bow!
Without hesitation, he drew the string taut.
Buzz!
Vast energy gathered from heaven and earth, coalescing into a golden arrow dripping with boundless killing intent.
A terrifying storm whipped up around Lu Yuan, tearing vines apart and uprooting trees.
At this moment, he stood like a fiendgod, his majesty towering to the absolute peak.
*Not good—if that hits me, I'll die!*
The peng flapped its wings frantically to flee, only to find itself locked on. The moment it made a move, the arrow would strike without mercy.
"Let's not compete with this! It would feel like taking unfair advantage of you. Let us return to hand-to-hand combat," it said, reading the situation and backing down even faster than the Brown Bear King. It dispersed its divine ability and descended.
Lu Yuan naturally had no intention of killing it; where else would he find such an exceptional mount?
He promptly stowed the Heaven-Shaking Bow, letting his aura recede.
Seeing its chance, the Golden-Winged Great Peng cast aside any notion of pride and struck in an instant.
Yet in the very next breath, it looked up to find an enormous palm descending, blotting out the heavens.
Buddhist Sanskrit characters appeared across the palm like supreme scriptures, scattering in all directions. The surroundings shifted, conjuring rows of ancient temples where spectral Buddhas chanted sacred texts.
The Golden-Winged Great Peng felt utterly suppressed. No matter how hard it struggled, it could not escape this domain.
Across from it, Lu Yuan spread his fingers, radiating an air of profound compassion like an enlightened master delivering the world into a pure land.
His hand formed a canopy of heaven spanning hundreds of meters, firmly pinning the Golden-Winged Great Peng down.
The supreme Buddhist divine ability—the Buddha Kingdom in the Palm!
"Impossible! How can a human be this strong?!"
The peng was thoroughly terrified. As a mutated beast blessed with a mythical bloodline, its evolutionary pace should have far outstripped any human's, yet it was being suppressed so completely that it could not even resist.
"I will give you one choice: submit, or die!" Lu Yuan declared, pressing his palm slightly downward.
He carefully controlled his strength, of course, as he wanted the creature alive.
Crack! Crack!
The ground caved in.
The Golden-Winged Great Peng's formidable frame was crushed beneath the pressure, blood seeping from beneath its golden feathers.
It knew the human was not joking. If it persisted and exhausted his patience, death would be certain. What good was a mythical bloodline if it ended up dead?
Helpless and overwhelmed by despair, the peng prostrated itself on the ground and let out a sorrowful cry: "Master!"
Pride was one thing, but death was another.
With intelligence on par with a human's, it naturally knew what choice to make.
"Very good."
Lu Yuan withdrew his hand. The illusions vanished completely, restoring the landscape to its original state.
He looked upon the Golden-Winged Great Peng with keen amusement.
In ancient times, the Buddha attained enlightenment beneath the Bodhi tree and subdued the Peacock Great King.
Today, he displayed his divine might and brought the Golden-Winged Great Peng to its knees.
Not bad at all.
With the crushing pressure lifted, the peng stared at Lu Yuan with its golden eyes, harboring thoughts of flight.
Yet remembering the terrifying bow in his hands, it knew it would be shot down before it could get away.
After weighing its options, it dragged its battered body forward.
What else could it do?
It couldn't win, and it couldn't flee.
"I know you yield only in appearance, not in your heart. But that does not matter. I recall that certain contracts exist in this world. With your mythical bloodline, you should know of them, right?" Lu Yuan asked calmly.
He would not place blind trust in anyone, least of all a mutated beast. He needed an absolute guarantee that would allow him to keep it under control at all times.
"Yes, the Blood Contract," the peng replied readily, without dragging its feet.
The human's strength had thoroughly subdued it. Though resentful, it had no other choice.
It spat out a drop of essence blood, which formed an intricate pattern in the air resembling its own silhouette.
"Once the Blood Contract is sealed, I become your servant, and only you can release it," the peng explained.
In short, its life would be placed entirely in another's hands.
It was a bitter pill to swallow, but even without the contract, its situation was hardly any different.
Lu Yuan was pleased. The beast was clever enough not to resist at a critical juncture; mutated beasts truly were formidable adversaries for humanity.
Without hesitation, he nicked his finger and forced out a drop of essence blood, merging it with the mark.
An instant later, he felt a strange power fall under his control—the life force of the Golden-Winged Great Peng.
"Master," the peng called out again, lowering its head now that the deed was done.
"Do not worry. If you perform well in the future, I will release the contract. Along the way, you will receive corresponding benefits. As I said before, becoming my mount will be your good fortune."
Lu Yuan knew that relying solely on force was unsustainable; one had to offer promises to ensure smooth cooperation later. The peng remained silent, clearly unconvinced.
Lu Yuan did not bother explaining further. "Rest and recover. I recall there is a place called Luoxia Valley in the northern Qinling Mountains. Accompany me there in a bit."
"Luoxia Valley? I've heard of it, but there's nothing special there, nor are there any creatures as strong as me. Why go there?" the peng asked curiously. Yet as a mount, it had only to obey its master's commands.
It agreed without further argument and stepped aside to rest.
Several of its bones had been fractured during the battle, and its internal organs were bruised. Had it not possessed an extraordinary bloodline, these would have been grievous injuries. Even so, it would need at least a night of recuperation.
*This human is far too terrifying!*
Time ticked away.
Early the next morning, Lu Yuan mounted the Golden-Winged Great Peng's back and soared straight into the clouds.
Flight had always been a human dream. Even after the global upheaval, airborne travel remained exceedingly difficult for humans, impossible even upon reaching the Golden Body Realm unless one advanced further or inherently possessed the ability to fly.
Soaring through the clouds, Lu Yuan felt an indescribable exhilaration—a sense of boundless freedom, untethered by earthly constraints.
Possessing supreme speed, the Golden-Winged Great Peng turned into a bolt of golden lightning, shooting across the distant horizon.
Luoxia Valley lay deeper within the Qinling Mountains, a considerable distance away. Yet beneath the peng's wings, it was nothing; they would arrive within a day at most.
With such a mount, Lu Yuan could cover far more ground in far less time.
Shortly after he departed the area...
Deep in another part of the Qinling Mountains, an immense clearing was packed with an endless sea of mutated beasts.
Their strengths varied, ranging from the first to ninth ranks of the Initial Realm, with many in the Awakening Realm.
A few had even attained the Shackle Realm.
Among them was a colossal white python.
Its body coiled like a small mountain, its head as large as a building. Densely packed scales gleamed like silver armor over every inch of its form, and each breath it drew stirred up minor storms.
It had broken ten shackles, making it the undisputed sovereign of this region!
"White King, the Brown Bear King and the Tiger-Leopard King have been notified, but they have yet to arrive," reported a black-furred gibbon.
Though not particularly massive, the gibbon was also in the Shackle Realm, boasting extraordinary strength as one of the ten kings of the region.
"They haven't arrived?" The White King flicked its enormous tongue upon hearing the news.
"Forget them, then. We do not need the two of them; the plan proceeds as scheduled. For countless years, we have been hunted and slaughtered, our numbers winnowed down until we became meat on their tables. Such hatred cannot be washed away!
"Now is the time for them to pay in blood. Move out! Leave the Qinling Mountains and march upon the human megacity!"
A fierce murderous intent burned within the White King's lantern-sized eyes.
In its early years, many of its serpentine kin had perished at human hands. Now that it possessed power, vengeance was its foremost priority.
In truth, the White King was capable of traveling alone, but human thermal weapons posed a genuine threat. Leading a beast tide would slow their pace to several days, but the destructive force would be far greater, allowing them to slaughter far more humans.
Roar!
Howl!
Below, tens of thousands of mutated beasts bellowed in frenzy.
Excited by the command, they set out toward Chang'an without hesitation.
The White King led the remaining eight mutated beast kings at the head of the charge.
Dust billowed into the sky as the earth trembled underfoot.
This was an army of mutated beasts, each wielding extraordinary power, carving a path through the Qinling Mountains with staggering momentum.
At the same time, as the beasts set out, Dean Zheng, Commander-in-Chief Xu, and the leadership in Chang'an detected the commotion.
They knew this crisis was dire and demanded an all-out defense.
Upon confirming the anomaly, orders were issued immediately.
Every Awakened in Chang'an was mobilized, including Zhu Qingyu, the Northern Emperor, and the other students of Zhendan Academy.
Concurrently, the Defense Army deployed, readying tanks, combat vehicles, and various military units without delay.
Against a beast tide, the ideal strategy was to halt the enemy outside the walls. Should even a single beast slip inside, it would spell catastrophe for the ordinary populace.
Super cities had been constructed precisely to protect those people.
Dean Zheng and the others stood resolute, fully aware of the stakes. Awakened from other regions were already en route as reinforcements, and the entire internet turned its attention toward the impending clash.
A grand war between humans and mutated beasts was at hand.
Before long, the super city of Chang'an would plunge into a tremendous crisis—war was right before their eyes!
Chapter 64