"Mm."

Shen Yi dipped his chin lightly.

At the sight, Tang Yuan's confidence surged at once, and he resisted the chains on his body with all his strength.

Cruelty surfaced on the Gold-Eyed Lion Emperor's face, muscles slowly tensing across its formidable demon-body. That a demon emperor's physical strength could vie with the heaven-and-earth qi a Spirit-Transformation cultivator mobilized was enough to show how terrifying it was.

It gathered its momentum, and in the very instant it was about to strike, it heard a hoarse reminder come from behind.

"Don't be fooled by him — the one breaking the formation has nothing to do with him."

At this, the Gold-Eyed Lion Emperor finally noticed the furtive, dainty figure below.

"She's contending with me for control of the formation."

The ragged old man's ten fingers leapt with speed, his eyes deathly-still, but by his tone he'd plainly felt the pressure.

"Aren't you Xuanguang Cave's strongest formation-master? No match for a green melon?"

The Gold-Eyed Lion Emperor withdrew its gaze in disdain. Its several-zhang-tall sturdy figure vanished in an instant. Heaven-toppling demon qi shrouded the whole tall mountain in a flash!

Aqing's running figure stagnated in place — not from fright or any other emotion, but simply that under the crushing of a realm as vast as clouds above mud, she couldn't move a hair further.

"Hey!"

Xu Wanyun charged over without the slightest hesitation, the Spirit-Returning Formation on her body running at speed. Sword-light like a great river ran surging, stabbing straight at the empty space above Aqing. She'd actually anticipated the Lion Emperor's move — in the instant the sword-light came surging, the Gold-Eyed Lion Emperor happened to appear in exactly that spot. As an extreme-peak Mixed Origin Grandmaster, with a formation's blessing besides, this full-strength stroke even held a sliver of possibility of wounding an ordinary Spirit-Transformation cultivator. A pity the Lion Emperor was no ordinary Spirit-Transformation. It merely glanced sidelong and offhandedly swept a claw to smash the sword-light apart, the surging great river flowing backward, crashing entirely onto Xu Wanyun's body.

"Auntie..."

However clever Aqing was, she'd…