Chapter 99

It was a lizard over twenty meters long, with three heads!

Its aura radiated suffocating pressure—clearly reaching the threshold of Semi-Catastrophic rank!

“Three-Headed Lava Lizard! The records said it’s usually late Wang Jie stage—this aura…” Wang Teng’s voice trembled.

“It evolved outside!” Ling Zhantian’s face was grim.

The Three-Headed Lava Lizard, enraged by Akatsuki Jin’s squad’s earlier battle, suddenly opened its central head and unleashed a torrent of scorching lava breath toward Akatsuki Jin’s squad, still stabilizing!

“Form formation! Golden Crow Burning Heaven Array!” Akatsuki Jin roared; he and several disciples of the Burning Heaven Pavilion instantly formed a flame array to withstand the lava breath.

“BOOM!!!”

Lava clashed with golden flame, erupting in terrifying energy shockwaves—the formation’s light shield shook violently, and two disciples on the edge were directly blasted away, collapsing to the ground.

In a single strike, Akatsuki Jin’s squad suffered casualties!

“So strong!” Wang Shichen’s pupils contracted. “This lizard’s power has reached the absolute peak of Wang Jie!”

“Jiang Xia! Stop watching! Join forces!” Akatsuki Jin, barely holding back the attack, his face pale, shouted toward Jiang Xia.

He was arrogant, but he knew his squad alone couldn’t take down this mutated beast.

Jiang Xia’s eyes sharpened; he made an instant decision: “Shi Man, reinforce defense! Su Xiaorou, provide rear support—everyone else, follow me! Move!”

With a command, Jiang Xia surged forward first; his left Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan spun—“Susanoo!”

A half-body skeletal Susanoo materialized instantly, its massive bones slamming into one of the lava lizard’s heads!

“ROAR!” The lizard’s left head snapped toward the Susanoo’s fist and bit down!

“CLANG!”

The Susanoo’s bone fist was caught—the crushing bite force cracked several fissures across the fist.

“The Fat Master’s here! Hundred Ghosts Night March!”

Wang Teng swung the Soul Devouring Scythe; countless ghostly shadows surged toward the lizard, unable to inflict real damage but successfully disrupting its vision and perception.

Ling Zhantian activated his God of War Manifestation; his spectral form coalesced and clamped onto the lizard’s thick tail, roaring as he tried to flip it over!

“Xuan Ming—Extreme Cold Impact!” Ye Lingxi gathered all her cold energy and fired a beam of ice-blue aurora straight at the lizard’s central eye!

The central head sensed the threat and snapped its eyelids shut; its hardened face blocked the frost impact, but instantly became coated in a thick shell of ice.

“Now! Wang Shichen!” Jiang Xia ordered.

Wang Shichen formed hand seals; spatial energy rippled—“Spatial Lock! Distort!”

The lizard’s right head, mid-action to spew toxic mist, froze rigid—its surrounding space became wildly unstable, interrupting the attack.

Akatsuki Jin, already primed, struck: “Golden Crow Shatters the Sky!”

He transformed into a golden meteor, driving his entire strength into a single punch that slammed into the lizard’s ice-encased central head!

“CRACK!”

“ROAR!”

The ice shell shattered! The lizard’s central head let out a pained shriek, its eyes severely wounded, streaming twin trails of blood.

“We did it!” Wang Teng exclaimed in delight.

But wounded beasts are the most dangerous!

The Three-Headed Lava Lizard went utterly berserk! All three heads roared simultaneously; steam erupted from its scale gaps, and an even more terrifying energy coalesced within its body!

“No good! It’s going berserk!”

Jiang Xia’s face changed—the lizard’s body swelled, energy leaking out. “Everyone, retreat! Defend!”

“Rock Wall! Overlapping Ramparts!” Shi Man roared, pushing his defense to its limit; layers of thick stone walls rose one after another.

Su Xiaorou also unleashed all her healing energy to reinforce the defense.

Akatsuki Jin hastily retreated, raising a flame shield.

The next instant, centered on the lava lizard, a colossal energy wave surged outward like a tidal wave!

“BOOM—!!!!”

Where the energy wave passed, rocks melted, the earth cracked open—Shi Man’s stone walls shattered like paper, layer by layer!

“Susanoo!” Jiang Xia shifted Susanoo into its third form, holding up the Hachishaku Mirror before him to shield his teammates.

“Sacred Flame!” Akatsuki Jin also gathered golden flame, forming a massive fire shield.

The berserk energy surge lasted several seconds before gradually subsiding.

The dust cleared; the scene was a wasteland.

The makeshift defenses were almost entirely flattened.

Shi Man and Su Xiaorou were pale, clearly drained; two members of Akatsuki Jin’s squad were also injured by the shockwave.

The lava lizard, after unleashing that terrifying attack, had weakened considerably—its three heads hung low, panting heavily.

“It’s exhausted! Now’s the chance!” Jiang Xia’s eyes flashed with cold light—he knew this was the perfect moment.

He met Akatsuki Jin’s gaze; they instantly understood each other.

“Final strike!”

Jiang Xia concentrated power in his right Rinnegan—“Planet Crater!”

A black gravitational core shot upward above the lizard, its immense pull beginning to drag its massive body upward.

Akatsuki Jin once again became a golden meteor, targeting the lizard’s most severely wounded central head: “Burning Heaven Strike!”

Simultaneously, every member unleashed their ranged attacks without holding back!

“ROAR—!!!!”

At the center of the concentrated fire, the Three-Headed Lava Lizard let out its final, furious roar—then collapsed under the onslaught.

The battle ended; silence fell, broken only by the heavy breathing of the survivors.

Wang Teng plopped onto the ground, wiping sweat: “Damn… this outside battle… was too intense…”

Ling Zhantian stared at the lizard’s corpse, his eyes alight with excitement: “Now that’s a fight!”

Jiang Xia walked to the lizard’s corpse, sensing the lingering power still radiating from it, his heart heavy.

This was only at the canyon’s entrance—what kind of Catastrophic-level beast was causing all this chaos deep inside?

Akatsuki Jin also approached, looking at Jiang Xia, his tone complex: “Thanks.”

He was proud, but he admitted—if Jiang Xia’s squad hadn’t intervened, their losses would’ve been far worse.

“Just helping each other,” Jiang Xia said calmly. “This mission is harder than we thought. Want to team up?”

Akatsuki Jin fell silent, glanced at his squad’s condition, then at the unfathomable depths of the canyon, and finally nodded: “Fine. But in the core zone, each for themselves.”

Before Jiang Xia’s group could even rest, powerful auras surged from the distant horizon.

“Looks like we’re not the only ones drawn here by this beast,” Wang Shichen adjusted his glasses, gazing upward.

Several streaks of light shot toward them and landed on a nearby open patch of ground.

Members of other squads also sensed the commotion and arrived.

Leading them was Du Gu Yun, his squad members each carrying long swords.

Then came Cui Jue, Qin Hao, Li Jiuyuan—all Wang Hou cultivators—drawn by the noise.