Let me explain, it's not what you think.

But Lu Chen's actions were meaningless in Yue Qinglan's eyes.

She knew all too well the strength of that lion king; it only needed one claw to easily destroy Lu Chen and his formation.

Her eyes suddenly felt a little sore.

She, a cultivator at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage and an invincible figure in the Great Li Kingdom, was now being blocked behind a young man at the seventh level of the Golden Core stage.

He used his meager cultivation and a tattered array plate, while she could only sit here, like a protected porcelain doll.

"Lu Chen," she called his name.

He didn't turn around.

"You should leave now, don't worry about me. You're no match for that monster; it's at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage, and its combat power surpasses that of a human!"

Yue Qinglan's voice trembled. She had lived for so many years and seen so much life and death that she shouldn't be afraid.

But she was truly afraid now, afraid that this young man would lose his life because of her playful and willful behavior.

Lu Chen still did not turn around.

"Shut up, you go back to your own thing."

Yue Qinglan opened her mouth, but ultimately closed her eyes, focusing all her attention on her body and desperately circulating the meager medicinal power.

She began to hate herself, hate her playfulness, hate her willfulness, hate how her cultivated composure over the years crumbled so completely in front of this person.

But it's too late to regret it now. All she can do is hurry, and hurry even faster.

The footsteps outside grew closer, each step accompanied by the tremors of the mountain and the sound of falling rocks.

Then, Lu Chen saw a giant golden beast.

Its body was almost as tall as the cave, its entire body was covered with golden scales, its mane burned like flames, and its eyes were amber with vertical pupils like knives.

This is the Golden-Maned Mountain-Splitting Lion, an ancient mythical beast with the bloodline of a Nascent Soul cultivator. It is renowned for its power, capable of splitting mountains and severing rivers.

Standing at the cave entrance, looking down at the tiny figure blocking Yue Qinglan's path, its vertical pupils held neither contempt nor anger.

It didn't even look at him, but passed over his shoulder and landed on Yue Qinglan behind him.

Then, it moved.

Just as Yue Qinglan had predicted, the lion's claw had completely wiped out all of Lu Chen's plans.

Furthermore, Lu Chen also suffered a backlash, flying backward with his meridians and spiritual energy in disarray, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

This was his first injury, and he felt extremely uncomfortable.

At this moment, the one who sang the opposite tune shone. In just an instant, the spiritual energy in his body had returned to normal, and at the same time, the discomfort of vomiting blood was also rapidly easing.

But Lu Chen, who was under great tension at the moment, did not notice this, and only felt that the recovery ability of the Golden Core stage was very fast.

Then, he stood in front of Yue Qinglan again.

"Lu Chen, get out of here!"

Yue Qinglan cried. She hated her own powerlessness at this moment, only able to watch helplessly as Lu Chen got hurt.

But Lu Chen didn't say much. Instead, he came to Yue Qinglan's side and grabbed her shoulder.

The magic runes on the back of his hand were flashing.

"Stop harming my friend!"

However, at that moment, a figure flew in from the side, as fast as lightning, and crashed into the golden beast.

The Golden-Maned Mountain-Splitting Lion was pushed backward for several meters before finally coming to a stop.

It's Li Fei.

Lu Chen stared in disbelief at the back of the figure blocking his way.

But I quickly came to terms with it.

In this kind of scenario, the main character usually arrives at the most crucial moment. Since Lin Tian isn't there, Li Fei is practically a main character.

Another plotline involves the female lead being almost bullied by the villain, and then the protagonist arrives at the most crucial moment. This is the most heart-wrenching for readers because they almost met their end.

Li Fei's current situation is likely due to the old man inside the ring taking over his body and temporarily pushing his cultivation to a level he cannot reach for the time being.

Looking at Li Fei, the Golden-Maned Mountain-Splitting Lion's vertical pupils contracted, finally revealing its first serious expression since entering the cave.

"Lion King, retreat. You cannot harm the people here."

The Golden-Maned Mountain-Splitting Lion would naturally not back down. With such a good opportunity right in front of him, how could he possibly retreat?

Seeing that it remained obstinate, Li Fei made a move.

His figure vanished from the spot, and the next instant he appeared on the lion king's head, smashing down with a punch.

That punch was enveloped in a pale golden spiritual light, as if the weight of the entire mountain range had been condensed into his fist.

The Lion King raised its head, its mane billowing like flames, and spewed out a golden beam of light from its mouth. Its fist collided with the beam, creating a deafening roar that cracked the mountainside, sending rocks flying.

The two figures were locked in combat, fighting from the cave entrance to the mountain peak, and from the mountain peak to the clouds.

Before Lu Chen could see clearly, he felt something bump into his arms.

His arms instinctively tightened, embracing a warm, slightly trembling body.

It was Tantai Qingxue and the others who caught up with them.

Her face was buried in his chest, and her arms were wrapped tightly around his waist, as if she was afraid he would disappear.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt? Let me see..." Her voice was choked with sobs.

Lu Chen lowered his head, resting his chin on the top of her head.

"I'm fine, perfectly fine. Why are you so worried!"

Tantai Qingxue buried her face even deeper, her shoulders trembling.

She is really scared.

The cave fell silent.

Li Fei, who was fighting in the distance, saw Tantai Qingxue tightly embracing Lu Chen. Suddenly, he felt something tearing open in his chest, and the pain made it hard for him to breathe.

However, it was this carelessness that caused him to be struck by the lion king's claw, and his body flew backward like a kite with a broken string.

If it weren't for the intervention of Daoist Cangxuan at the crucial moment, he would have been killed instantly by that blow.

However, the situation is not that critical at the moment.

Behind Tantai Qingxue were several elders of the Li Huo Sect.

Upon seeing Li Fei's defeat, they instantly formed a combined attack formation and charged forward.

In an instant, various colors of spiritual light shot into the sky, weaving together to form a huge net that enveloped the Golden Mane Mountain-Splitting Lion.

The lion king roared and charged left and right, its sharp claws tearing through beams of spiritual light. But these elders were all at the Nascent Soul stage, and even if they couldn't kill it, they could hold it off with their combined strength.

Lu Chen stopped looking at the battle in the sky.

He turned and ran in the direction where Li Fei had fallen.

Li Fei crashed into a pile of rubble, covered in blood, his left arm twisted at an impossible angle.

"Brother... are you alright?"

"Cough cough, he's not dead yet!"

Lu Chen squatted down, took out a healing pill from his storage bag, pried open his mouth, and stuffed it into his mouth.

Then he took out a few more pills, crushed them, and applied them to the wound on his left arm.

"Brother, I was distracted just now, it's no one else's fault."

Lu Chen was stunned for a moment.

He knew why Li Fei was distracted.

He saw Tantai Qingxue rush into his arms, and he saw her shoulders trembling slightly as she hugged him tightly.

That's why he specifically said he didn't blame anyone else.

"I can only blame myself."

Li Fei closed his eyes, it was unclear whether he was referring to what had just happened or to pushing Tantai Qingxue to Lu Chen.

Lu Chen remained silent.

What could he say? Sorry? He did nothing wrong.

He only refrained from pushing Tantai Qingxue away when she lunged at him. She was his woman, why should he push her away?

If it weren't for Li Fei's impulsive decision to push people onto me, I wouldn't have had to deal with all this trouble.

Later, he presented the emperor with a rare hat, which, in essence, was also something Li Fei had created.