Chapter 1403: The Vast World Beneath the White Bones, The Hand of the Heavenly Ancestor Suppresses the Northern Hawthorn

"What in the world is this?!"

The sky of the Sixiang Secret Realm had been torn open with a massive rift, a remnant from when Shen Yi blasted Bei Huai out of the heterocosm world.

At that moment, nearly all the trial participants from the Zhu Que Pulse could see an enormous, white bone pillar streaked with gold dangling down from this vast hole in the sky.

The bone pillar hung down from the heavens, extending at its end into five forked fingers, clearly defined at the joints.

It looked just like…

"A human hand?"

"A giant's hand?!"

The trial participants clutched their heads, filled with utter disbelief.

Just the wrist and palm that had dipped into the Sixiang Secret Realm were of apocalyptic proportions.

It was hard to imagine how terrifying the full body of this owner of the golden-white bones must be.

"Why does this trial keep spawning these freaky things…"

"The Zhu Que Pulse spat out a giant like Shou Ye, and that was bad enough, then came the even larger Sheng Di Qilin, followed by the Ten Zun Seats, Shen Yi, Bei Huai, and now…"

"And now this white bone giant hand! Is this something humans can even fight? Even a Ban Sheng would get smashed to pieces with one swipe!"

"I just wanted to enter the Sheng Gong…"

Everyone gazing upon it began to speculate about the identity of the owner of the white bone hand.

After racking their brains, it seemed that apart from ghost beasts and Shen Yi, there were no other creatures in the vast world capable of manifesting such "immensity."

"Shou Ye?"

Some people thought of the golden giant that Xu Xiaoshou had summoned earlier.

But even that golden giant paled in comparison to this white bone hand, like a firefly against the bright moon—they were in completely different leagues.

"Crack!"

The white bone hand merely twitched a finger, and the surrounding space shattered with cracking sounds.

Soon, a surge of vitality flowed over it, adding a lively essence unique to living beings.

This enormous hand then withdrew from the Sixiang Secret Realm.

"It's gone!"

"It's pulled out!"

"I really want to follow and see what's happening…"

This heavenly anomaly was incredibly intriguing!

Coincidentally, the rift in the sky hadn't fully sealed itself yet, and the spacetime fragments had been shattered by Shen Yi's earlier strike, creating breaks.

The hazy, mirage-like images drifting in from various parts of the Sheng Shen Continent couldn't dampen the trial participants' curiosity.

"Heavenly Vision, activate!"

"Spying Mirror, emerge!"

The trial participants, who should have been the main focus of the Sheng Gong trial, had turned into excited spectators, each using their own methods to trace the events unfolding outside.

At the same time, the Tianzu combat channel buzzed with urgent reports:

"Array Eye 77, Zhou You in position, white bone hand sighted!"

"Array Eye 112, giant hand appears in Zhu Que Pulse—awaiting orders!"

"Array Eye 93…"

At the Zhu Que Gold Tower, Yu Zhiwen withdrew her gaze, her star-like pupils still lingering with shock.

She saw it more clearly than anyone: the sudden appearance of that white bone hand, with its circulating Dao patterns, belonged to a familiar yet strange person.

Familiar, as in Xu Xiaoshou.

Strange, because even Yu Zhiwen couldn't tell what had happened to Xu Xiaoshou to manifest such a white bone hand.

Most importantly…

It seemed everyone had overlooked this: if it was a hand, where was the flesh and blood on those white bones?

"A failed evolution?"

Worry clouded Yu Zhiwen's eyes.

She didn't care how strong Xu Xiaoshou had become.

What she saw was that under the pressure of Sheng Di Qilin, Xu Xiaoshou was gravely injured.

After hastily reporting in, Yu Zhiwen couldn't help but move her hands in a series of gestures, pulling open a curtain of heavenly secrets before her.

In the next second, she was stunned by the sight on it: the ruins of Bowang Mountain under a sky of dust, Sheng Di Qilin, and the massive white bone giant.

Those eerie white bones contained immense power, but the chunks of flesh struggling and writhing to grow between them looked stubborn yet pitiful.

"Xu Xiaoshou…"

Yu Zhiwen's eyelashes trembled lightly, her slender hands clenching the edge of her sleeve.

In the Tianzu combat channel, the voice of the Dao Hall Master came through, calm as ever:

"All Tianzu members, heed this order: Hold your positions in the Sixiang Secret Realm and do not exit for now. The heterocosm space is the best shield for this holy war."

"But remain vigilant: Closely monitor the Bowang Mountain battlefield and keep an eye on Xu Xiaoshou's condition."

"If he reverts to human form, await my command—then all Tianzu members drop everything in the Sixiang Secret Realm and exit to apprehend him."

In an instant, the previously confused Tianzu members felt a surge of resolve and responded in unison:

"Yes!"

Xu Xiaoshou was strong.

The white bone giant looked strong too.

Even the Dao Hall Master had acknowledged it as a holy war, meaning Xu Xiaoshou had reached at least the level of a Ban Sheng.

But for now, everything seemed under that person's control.

When Sheng Di Qilin and the white bone giant side exhausted themselves or ended in mutual destruction, they would understand what it meant to…

Sit in the sacred domain, deciding life and death.

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

"Who am I?"

At the ruins of Bowang Mountain, Xu Xiaoshou felt as if he had slept for a century, or perhaps just blinked and awakened.

When he opened his eyes, he saw the vast sea of clouds.

And beneath the clouds, the teeming masses of ants, the rise and fall of all things.

"This is…"

"The Qilin Realm?"

His various internal energies were still depleting wildly.

When spiritual energy ran low, mental power converted to replenish it; when mental power waned, soul power stepped in to compensate.

At the same time, Tianzu power and Longzu power joined the cycle of his own energies.

Under the foundations of "unceasing vitality" and "abundant energy," they fortified his "awakening."

This prevented Xu Xiaoshou from collapsing and dying right after activating both Shen Min Moment and Extreme Giant.

Once his consciousness fully returned, Xu Xiaoshou realized he had underestimated the power and consequences of dual activation.

This Shen Min Moment plus Extreme Giant far exceeded a simple one-plus-one, even surpassing his trials in the Apricot Realm.

At least in his current state, Xu Xiaoshou found his "perception" range had expanded to encompass nearly the entire Qilin Realm, capturing every stir.

And with a single thought, the vast realm fell within his basic attack range.

Even the previously formidable Sheng Di Qilin now seemed only knee-high in the eyes of the Extreme Giant, like a child.

The Apricot Realm and Sheng Shen Continent were worlds apart after all!

The "extreme" of the Extreme Giant meant something entirely different in the two places!

But…

The price of such power was severe!

Even with the two ancestral powers in his energy cycle, and having preemptively devoured Sheng Di Qilin's five elements power with Gluttony,

Xu Xiaoshou could only reach half of the "extreme" after activating Shen Min Moment and then Extreme Giant.

The Extreme Giant had only a skeleton, no flesh—turning into a white bone giant!

Even so, his energies were still plummeting wildly.

In roughly a few breaths, his state would drop to zero.

At that point, the backlash from dual activation… Xu Xiaoshou suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

He couldn't even guarantee if he'd remain conscious after the activation ended!

And right now, Sheng Di Qilin and Bei Huai were waiting.

After a brief moment of shock, without giving himself extra time to think or reinforce,

"Tianhuai Dharma Form…"

A sacred sound descended from the nine heavens.

Sheng Di Qilin pressed its claws forward, surging with overwhelming divine soul power.

Bei Huai was stunned.

He was truly impressed by Xu Xiaoshou's power.

A mere Wang Zuo Dao Realm cultivator could unleash strength rivaling a Ban Sheng and even subtly threatening a Sheng Di.

This earned the junior his respect.

However, after a pause, Bei Huai also noticed the white bone giant's unstable state.

Borrowing the body of Sheng Di Qilin, Bei Huai's wisp of Sheng Di intent as a remnant soul could harness a thread of his true power through the Sheng Di's five elements energy.

How could he let this prime opportunity slip and allow Xu Xiaoshou to fully unleash his abilities?

I was careless…

I shouldn't have waited earlier—Dao Qiong Cang has misled me…

Regret was useless now. Bei Huai dared not delay further. After forming the seals, sacred sounds echoed, and ghostly energy soared:

"Tianhuai Dharma Form: Senluo Realm!"

An eerie wail rang out as youqing power expanded outward, enveloping nearly half of the Qilin Realm.

At that moment, whether willing or not, half the inhabitants of the Qilin Realm sensed the abnormality descending.

They shivered all over, felt a chill at the back of their necks, and couldn't help but prostrate themselves, their souls trembling.

"What is this…"

"A tree? A ghost? Ahhh—"

In the Qilin Realm, as countless spiritual masters clutched their heads and cried out in terror,

Illusory, cold, translucent, dark-green huai trees appeared like ghosts, hanging shadows and spirits.

The semi-transparent divine soul power condensed into a barrier, sealing off the sky and enclosing the winding huai shadows, forming a dense forest of Senluo.

The huai trees were gnarled and ancient, like old men.

Their hungry branches thirsted for blood, yearning for eternal souls.

The tendrils dangled instinctively, ready to pierce into the souls of all living things for a feast.

"Hmph!"

Sheng Di Qilin snorted coldly.

The huai tree ghosts in the Senluo Realm trembled and halted, their branches turning instead to draw from the Great Dao, absorbing bland energy.

Even if Bei Huai wanted to deal with Xu Xiaoshou and seize the Greedy God, with only a wisp of remnant soul left, he wouldn't forget his true nature and unleash wanton slaughter.

"Wrong!"

"Wrong!"

When those branches and tendrils turned from their delicacies to the Great Dao, Bei Huai spoke again.

This time, as if given permission, all the tree shadows and ghost shadows in the Senluo Realm glowed with dark-green light, turning in unison toward the white bone giant.

The Qilin Realm was draped in a hazy green mist.

In the mist, countless ghostly eyes flickered with hungry ghost fire, emitting piercing wails.

"Woo—"

The Sheng Di's sound ravaged the realm.

Weaker spiritual masters were scared witless, fleeing in panic.

"Don't kill me…"

"Woo, spare me, I'm innocent, I have no sins… Ahhh, I do have sins! I shouldn't have, I shouldn't have…"

"Ugh."

Some even suffocated on the spot.

Even without being pierced by the tree shadows to drain their energy,

Once sunk into the ocean of emotions, some died of grief, some of fright, and even more were infected by others' emotions, dying in shared sorrow and terror!

In his white bone giant form, Xu Xiaoshou didn't even need "perception"—he could see from a god-like vantage that the Senluo Realm was aimed solely at him, not the spiritual masters of the Qilin Realm.

"This is bad!"

After getting Bei Huai's approval, the endless ghosts and tree shadows surged toward the white bone giant with lightning speed, piercing straight through it.

"Sizzle, sizzle…"

The rock-solid skeleton was defenseless against divine soul attacks.

As sounds of piercing and impalement filled his mind, Xu Xiaoshou felt his spirit blur.

"Under attack, passive value +9999."

"Under hypnosis, passive value +9999."

"Under influence, passive value +9999."

He couldn't escape!

Couldn't dodge at all!

Bei Huai had seized the moment when Xu Xiaoshou's consciousness was muddled and returning to clarity.

Even with Shen Min Moment enhancing his reactions, and the Ten Zun Seats' combat instincts, being struck first meant losing the initiative!

The Extreme Giant was too large—this seemed to be a weakness?

The tree branches and ghost shadows didn't even need to aim; they just charged in, and the white bone giant was pierced through.

When Xu Xiaoshou tried to pull away, his soul writhed and trembled, making him shudder involuntarily.

"Oh…"

The colossal white bone giant's first sound after the shock wasn't a roar or rage, but an utterly pleasurable groan.

It felt amazing!

Like being in heaven, bathed in spring breeze, with countless tender hands massaging every acupoint—it was indescribable bliss.

Spiritual awakening triggered suddenly.

Xu Xiaoshou snapped back to his senses and finally realized this was actually excruciating pain like needles in the soul, just disguised.

"These branches are draining my power? Oh…"

"But why does it feel so good, so incredibly good… No, I'm being hypnotized! These things turned the pain into pleasure, hiss…"

"Bei Huai can manipulate not just sadness, but this too? Uh! Ah! Wow!"

His internal energies drained wildly.

This was adding insult to injury in his post-dual-activation slump.

Fortunately, "spiritual awakening" was the strongest defense against emotional influences, so Xu Xiaoshou wouldn't drown in the sea of pleasure and die.

He was caught in the agony of ice and fire!

"I can still be saved…"

The Extreme Giant was too big, making it an oversized target with no way to evade; now pierced by the branches and ghosts, even retreating was tough.

The Extreme Giant was really too big—it was so vast that Bei Huai's Senluo Realm, boosted by Sheng Di Qilin's power and covering nearly half the Qilin Realm,

For the white bone giant…

Xu Xiaoshou only then noticed that his Extreme Giant form was in a crouched position.

When he controlled it to straighten up and looked down with the giant's eyes, he saw the dark-green barrier wall barely reaching his chest.

The white bone giant's lower body and chest were pierced by branches and ghosts; after straightening, his upper chest and head were untouched!

Xu Xiaoshou fell silent…

Bowing in fear? I thought the sky was too low!

Below, the knee-high Sheng Di Qilin lifted its gaze and realized this shocking fact—the white bone giant was too tall!

Bei Huai himself felt a twinge of astonishment.

A spiritual technique empowered by Sheng Di power, capable of overturning the entire Qilin Realm in a thought, yet it couldn't fully enclose Xu Xiaoshou?

How massive was that?

How towering?

Such an "accident" would normally not even be considered when launching a domain technique—did you need to worry if your domain could cover the enemy?

But now, this absurdity had happened!

"If Xu Xiaoshou knew some methods to retract his divine soul to his upper chest…"

Sheng Di Qilin's deep blue eyes trembled.

In Bei Huai's senses, the tree branches and ghosts in the Senluo Realm stalled at once, their draining halted.

Clearly, not only had he thought of a solution, but Xu Xiaoshou's exposed upper chest and head were still thinking clearly.

"Ha ha ha ha, didn't expect that, did you, Bei Huai!"

A wild laugh exploded from the high sky.

In the next instant, the white bone giant's chest glowed with a brilliant red-gold light.

Thousands of radiances converged on one body, turning the giant's chest cavity into a dazzling sun.

That was…

"A Dragon Pearl?"

Sheng Di Qilin's eyes shook.

When Xu Xiaoshou discovered the power stored in the Dragon Pearl wasn't being drained, he went berserk, giving Bei Huai no chance.

He was the type to strike while the iron was hot, turning the tables instantly, releasing all the undigested Tianzu inheritance power in the Dragon Pearl.

"You insignificant Qilin, you pitiful Sheng Di, how dare you lift your eyes to a god?!"

With that supremely arrogant cry, the heavens boomed and trembled.

The toy-like barrier around the white bone giant shuddered under the overwhelming ancestral power, on the verge of shattering.

"This is the feeling!"

Xu Xiaoshou suddenly had an epiphany, finally understanding why he couldn't digest the Tianzu inheritance.

This power was meant for giants like the Void Servant; in his human form, so small, how could he digest it quickly?

But when he tried touching this forbidden power in his white bone giant form, it flowed naturally.

—The Tianzu inheritance power rapidly merged into him, becoming one!

"Roar!!!"

The white bone giant roared in release, the sound ripping through clouds and shaking the Qilin Realm.

"Tianzu inheritance, integrate!"

In just a few breaths, the Tianzu inheritance that might take half a month to absorb in human form was fully digested.

Radiant patterns flowed over the white bone giant, flesh regenerating at incredible speed.

The branches and ghosts embedded in it not only stopped draining but, at Xu Xiaoshou's will, began to drain in reverse!

"Tianzu inheritance…"

"He obtained it?"

True shock finally colored Sheng Di Qilin's deep blue eyes.

Bei Huai watched the white bone giant transform and evolve, as if seeing the Void General on Void Island reviving and breaking free.

It might even surpass that!

And the traits of the Void Clan…

Bei Huai's divine soul fluctuated wildly.

He realized things were going south.

Void Servant ignored energy attacks and even absorbed them to nourish itself.

With Xu Xiaoshou having fully received the Tianzu inheritance…

"Uh!"

Sheng Di Qilin grunted, his thoughts halting.

At that moment, the people of the Qilin Realm looked around and saw the endless ghosts and huai shadows, plump from absorbed energy, suddenly turn skeletal and withered.

It was as if, in an instant, not only what they'd absorbed was returned, but even their own essence was stolen.

And the thief…

No! The great thief!

Countless people looked up, suddenly enlightened.

That sky-high white bone giant, with its ancestral power, perfectly countered Bei Huai's Sheng Di spiritual technique—Senluo Realm.

"Come!"

"If you want it, then fight!"

The white bone giant embodied what it meant to press an advantage without mercy, wild and unrestrained.

It extended a hand, and under the astonished gaze of all, an array diagram rich with life energy unfolded at its feet.

"What kind of array diagram is this?" The people of the Qilin Realm were stunned.

Even Bei Huai's remnant soul inside Sheng Di Qilin was amazed by Xu Xiaoshou's endless array diagrams.

—Life Dao Disk!

For Xu Xiaoshou, this was just one of many in his Great Dao Disk, and not even one he used often.

He brought it out now solely to accelerate the repair of the white bone giant's flesh.

Stepping on the Life Dao Disk, drawing in life rules, absorbing heavenly energy, and entering a state of harmony with the heavens,

Surrounded by the Senluo Realm's power being devoured by the Tianzu body to feed itself,

With heaven's timing, the surrounding terrain's advantage, and his own righteousness,

Victory was all but assured.

Thus…

As the white bone giant raised its arm, flesh spiraled from the shoulder, wrapped around the elbow, extended to the fingertips, and finally formed knotted muscles gleaming with treasure light—the Tianzu Arm.

This arm, like flawless white jade, started to char and wither from the fingertips, the Dao principles burning away; as blackness spread past the elbow to the shoulder, the right arm was completely scorched and decayed.

Yet its power reached ultimate sublimation!

Ancestral power, Tianzu Arm!

Penetrating divine intent, Sleeveless Tianzu Charred Arm!

In that instant, the white bone giant stood on the array diagram, hand covering the sky.

Xu Xiaoshou's heart was filled with wild ambition, reaching for the heavens; he had become the supreme giant from that illusion, not just swallowing mountains and rivers, but even the Sheng Di!

In the eyes of Sheng Di Qilin, in Bei Huai's gaze…

That strike, that arm, was like the world being forcibly compressed, accompanied by the madman's boasts, expanding infinitely in his pupils.

"Bei Huai!!!"

"Let me, Xu Xiaoshou, see just how much you, the current Sheng Di, are worth!"