Boom!
A lightning strike landed on a large tree near Ning Beichen, splitting it into two halves. Smoke billowed, and it was less than twenty centimeters from Ning Beichen. The lightning was meant for Ning Beichen, but he used the tree to shield himself from the strike.
"Are you done yet, you bastard!"
Ning Beichen was enraged. Seizing the moment the tree blocked the lightning, he swung his sword at the golden lion.
The golden lion was startled and hastily dodged. However, after using its innate divine ability, it entered a period of weakness, a common occurrence for all beast kings. Thus, beast kings would only resort to their innate divine abilities when there was no other choice.
Even at its peak, the golden lion struggled to evade Ning Beichen's attack, let alone in its weakened state.
The bronze ancient sword struck the golden lion, leaving a three-meter-long gash. If the golden lion were not a beast king, Ning Beichen's sword strike would have cut it in half.
The golden lion let out a pained roar. Weakened, it dared not continue fighting Ning Beichen and fled in a panic. However, Ning Beichen would not let it escape. He decided to strike while it was down. Pushing off the ground, he shot towards the golden lion like a rocket, sword in hand.
The golden lion was terrified and quickly twisted its body to the left. Although it managed to dodge Ning Beichen's sword strike in time, its tail was severed. The golden lion was stunned. It didn't fear any injury, but what was a beast king without a tail?
"You human, you deserve to die!"
Enraged by the loss of its tail, the golden lion roared incessantly and swiped at Ning Beichen with its paw, seemingly intent on a mutual destruction. However, it was wishful thinking. Apart from its innate divine ability, Ning Beichen had never taken it seriously. Now, without its innate divine ability and injured, the idea of mutual destruction was nothing but a fantasy.
Ning Beichen didn't even use the Songshan Sword Art. Facing the golden lion's mountain-crushing claw, Ning Beichen roared and met it with a punch of Da Beng Mie.
With a deafening crash, the ground trembled where Ning Beichen and the golden lion stood. To the astonishment of Yang Qianrou and the others, they saw Ning Beichen overpowering the giant golden lion. What was a beast king to Ning Beichen? It was like a pathetic kitten, being beaten by Da Beng Mie to the point of questioning its existence.
"Do you want to die or live? If you want to die, I'll fulfill your wish and grill you into skewers."
Ning Beichen stood on the golden lion's head, relentlessly pounding it, eliciting a heart-wrenching scream.
"Da Beng Mie!"
"Hmm, still tough? Here's another Da Beng Mie!"
"Oh, not dead yet? Let me give you another one!"
Punch after punch, Ning Beichen beat the golden lion until it doubted its existence. Its head would turn to mush if this continued. With all its might, it finally let out a sound of surrender.
"Stop! I... I surrender, I admit defeat."
As a beast king, the golden lion was capable of speaking human languages. It was just that its arrogance and disdain for humans, whom it viewed as mere prey, prevented it from doing so.
"Oh, you can speak human language?" Ning Beichen stopped his attack and asked curiously.
The golden lion felt a pang of bitterness. What could it say to Ning Beichen's taunts? Should it ask him not to insult a beast king?
"It's best if you can speak human language. Order your subordinates to stop attacking and retreat." Ning Beichen commanded the golden lion.
The golden lion could only comply. It let out a loud, clear roar, ordering all its subordinates to cease their attack and return to their respective territories. Soon, the beast tide in the mountains subsided as the ferocious beasts retreated under the golden lion's command.
Satisfied, Ning Beichen patted the golden lion's head a few times.
"Esteemed human expert, I have surrendered. I apologize. I guarantee that the beasts in this domain will never attack you again. Can you spare my life?" the golden lion said subserviently to Ning Beichen.
"Ha, you wish. You surrender when you can't win. If apologies were useful, what would the police be for? If you want me to spare your life, you can become my mount." Ning Beichen told it.
The golden lion was dumbfounded and filled with anger. What was this "police"? This human actually wanted it, a beast king, to be his mount. It was utterly humiliating.
"You refuse?" Ning Beichen drew his bronze ancient sword and placed it at the golden lion's head, his expression menacing.
"It doesn't matter if you refuse. You want to refuse, but I don't want you. I've heard that beast king meat is very nourishing. I think it would be better to slaughter you and eat your flesh."
"No, I agree, I agree." The golden lion, sensing Ning Beichen's killing intent, shivered and came back to its senses. It quickly said to Ning Beichen. It was a beast king, but not a brainless one. This human's power was beyond its resistance. If it didn't want to become roasted meat, it had no choice but to endure humiliation. Compared to being roasted meat, the golden lion would rather be humiliated, at least it could stay alive. Perhaps serving a human expert as a mount wasn't so humiliating, the golden lion consoled itself.
"Very well. But how can I trust you?" Ning Beichen said with a murderous aura, clearly distrusting the golden lion's loyalty. Who knew if this creature would stab him in the back when he was careless? And Ning Beichen didn't know any beast taming arts.
Seeing Ning Beichen sharpening his knife, the golden lion's soul trembled. It quickly said.
"Wait, I can offer my soul to connect with you. If I dare to betray you, you can punish me at any time."
Ning Beichen looked towards Yang Qianrou and the others, as he was unsure if the golden lion's proposed method was reliable. However, Yang Qianrou and the others were excited and immediately explained the benefits of this soul connection to Ning Beichen. In short, once the golden lion's soul was connected to Ning Beichen, it would become Ning Beichen's complete slave. With a single thought from Ning Beichen, he could control the golden lion's life and death.
After hearing this, Ning Beichen became interested and instructed the lion to connect its soul with him. After the connection, Ning Beichen indeed saw a miniature golden lion soul in his sea of consciousness. With a mere thought, he could easily destroy it, effectively giving Ning Beichen a switch to control the golden lion's life and death.