Chapter 436: Ignition, Starry Night, Nested Fire Seed 250

"Xu Xiaoshou, Zhang Taiying... he seems to have noticed something. He's probing," Xin Gugu's hushed voice transmitted.

Xu Xiaoshou nodded silently.

Zhang Taiying was too calm, too cautious. Even if his spiritual sense failed to detect any other clues, he hadn't given up on investigating the area. If spiritual sense wasn't effective, weren't there special perception spiritual skills?

For Zhang Taiying, Xu Xiaoshou leading him here was already highly unusual. If there were no other ambushes, could these two alone actually take him down? Zhang Taiying simply couldn't believe it. After all, this was Xu Xiaoshou, the man who had pulled off a grand deception and feigned ignorance even in front of the three Throned experts of the Zhang household! Would such a daring individual intentionally lead himself into a trap like this? Seeking his own demise? Impossible!

But... "There's truly no other movement?" The "Deep Sky Sound" he had secretly activated yielded no response, conclusively proving that, apart from Xu Xiaoshou and Xin Gugu, there were no other beings present.

Zhang Taiying furrowed his brow. "That little boy..." The straw-hatted boy who had repeatedly forced him back at the Zhang residence wasn't here? Zhang Taiying found it hard to believe, yet the evidence suggested it was true. He wasn't proficient in perception spiritual skills, and this was already his most powerful reconnaissance method. If Zhang Duoyu were present, perhaps more discoveries could be made. But now...

"So be it." Even if other variables might exist, Zhang Taiying couldn't let this golden opportunity slip away. Xu Xiaoshou *had* to die!

"Open!" With a lift of his sole arm, an illusory light barrier instantly enveloped the entire flower field.

"A domain!" Xu Xiaoshou's heart tightened. He had experienced Red Dog's power and knew how terrifying such a thing could be. Once a domain was established, its master became virtually a god within that space, nearly unstoppable. Yet, at this moment, he was no longer fighting alone.

"Blood Sea Summon!" As if on cue, a cold shout echoed from behind him.

Unlike conventional Throne domains, Xin Gugu's domain was not a closed spherical barrier. Instead, it manifested as a vast sea of blood that welled up directly from the ground.

"Pop, pop!" The crimson fluid spread across the earth. Boiling blood bubbles erupted as if on lava, each one bursting with a distinct pop. Zhang Taiying was equally surprised to see the sea of blood suddenly engulfing the entire landscape.

"A special domain?" Such a unique ability was beyond the grasp of ordinary cultivators. Even as an "Ancestral Bear Spirit Body," he had only managed to cultivate a standard barrier-type domain. However, at this moment, the difference in form didn't necessarily indicate a superior or inferior domain. On the contrary, against Xin Gugu's boundless sea of blood, at least his own barrier-type domain could contain all the screams that would inevitably follow. Including the death throes of the two individuals before him!

While Xu Xiaoshou was undoubtedly remarkable among the younger generation, when considering those of equal standing, his only truly notable feat, apart from severing the Zhang household's Scripture Pavilion with a single sword, was insufficient to truly command Zhang Taiying's attention. Thus, Zhang Taiying was perfectly clear: his opponent tonight could only be Xin Gugu, never Xu Xiaoshou!

"A Sea of Blood?" Zhang Taiying looked at Xin Gugu. "You are quite remarkable. It seems you didn't fully unleash your power that day." Zhang Taiying genuinely praised. Cultivating a special domain at such a young age clearly marked Xin Gugu as a genius. "But regrettably, you've chosen the wrong path," he sighed, shaking his head.

"Well, it's... passable, I suppose," Xin Gugu replied noncommittally. He too felt he had chosen the wrong path, but there was no turning back. What needed to be fought, still had to be fought; what needed to be refuted, still had to be refuted.

"Me, I used to never strike the disabled, but things are different now. Teaming up with someone to bully a one-armed man, this truly is a first!" Xin Gugu remarked, casting a glance at Zhang Taiying's empty, dangling sleeve.

Zhang Taiying's eyes immediately turned icy. He said nothing more. Prolonging the battle was not conducive to his plan. "If you find it so unbearable, then let us never meet again!"

With a flick of his sleeve, a magnificent aura descended, instantly suppressing the boiling blood sea below. In terms of cultivation, Zhang Taiying's deep foundation was far beyond what any other Throne could match. However, Xin Gugu was no pushover. His combat prowess, like Xu Xiaoshou's, could not be measured by his cultivation realm.

"Swoosh!" His staff suddenly spun in his hand, and Xin Gugu was about to launch himself forward. Just then, Xu Xiaoshou immediately shot him another glance.

"Just hold your ground and fight." Why was this guy always so impulsive? Couldn't he just quietly play the role of a mage? Xin Gugu's momentum faltered, but he clearly understood. At this critical juncture, whoever moved first might become the spiritual array's primary target.

"Lesser Blood Pillar Technique!" With a wave of his staff, a comically slow blood pillar leisurely broke through the suppression from below, then crept towards Zhang Taiying.

Xu Xiaoshou watched, dumbfounded. If this guy wanted to force movement, he didn't have to be so blatant!

Zhang Taiying was clearly no novice either. He had long sensed that something was slightly amiss in this area. Even though "Deep Sky Sound" had provided no feedback, the best response when an enemy wanted you to do something was often to do the opposite.

"Bang!" Without moving a muscle or shifting his position, with just a stern look, the climbing blood pillar below instantly burst.

"Haha, one-armed man, you fell for it!" Xin Gugu suddenly erupted into arrogant laughter. He tossed his staff, formed hand seals, and pointed a finger.

"Boom!" The shattered blood pillar astonishingly transformed into countless threads, instantly carving black spatial fissures in the air as they shot directly towards Zhang Taiying. "Bloodline Rend, activate!" Tens of thousands of blood threads, blooming like night-blooming cereus, suddenly converged on the central point in the sky. It was like tens of thousands of impossibly sharp filaments slicing through, akin to the maw of an ancient beast closing for the kill; even Xu Xiaoshou felt a prickle of dread. Such a fiercely sharp attack, even a Grandmaster's body might not be able to withstand it!

Zhang Taiying also recognized the gravity of the situation. He was no Grandmaster in terms of physical defense. If he were to forcibly endure it with his body, the only outcome would be being shredded into countless pieces by these blood threads.

"Roar!" Yet, even at this critical moment, he hadn't moved an inch. With just a roar, black fur began to sprout wildly across his body. A violent aura burst forth, Zhang Taiying's cold eyes turned crimson, and an illusory black light radiated from him.

"Heavenly Martial Vajra!" With a fierce cry, the black light enveloping him instantly transformed into a three-headed, six-armed Vajra phantom. This not only encased Zhang Taiying himself but also furiously swung its six arms to intercept the blood threads slashing from all directions.

"Boom, boom, boom!" Almost every incoming blood thread was met and caught by a Vajra arm in time. And with each powerful grip of its palm, hundreds of blood threads would directly shatter. Terrifying roars exploded, and the scattering airwaves caused shimmering ripples across the void.

"A spiritual array?" Only at this moment did Zhang Taiying finally detect that something was amiss. The spiritual array cluster, affected by the battle's aftershocks, could clearly no longer conceal itself and began to reveal its true form.

"Damn it!" The trap hadn't served its intended purpose, and Xu Xiaoshou immediately cursed. But he didn't dwell on it. The mechanism he had laid out earlier wasn't primarily meant to instantly kill Zhang Taiying; its detection now was merely an expected outcome. In fact, Xu Xiaoshou found it unbelievable that Zhang Taiying had taken so long to become aware of the grand array's presence. "You, a Throned expert, are rather slow to react, aren't you!"

Since the hidden spiritual array couldn't provide a surprise attack, then let him boldly walk into his death! Xu Xiaoshou's expression hardened.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!" Five volatile compressed fire seeds suddenly shot from his fingertips. Unlike during alchemy, these fire seeds, used in the heat of battle, required no suppression of their frenzied energy. In fact, under Xu Xiaoshou's deliberate guidance, they were even more terrifying than usual. "Move for me!" If Zhang Taiying wouldn't move, then Xu Xiaoshou would make him!

He flung the compressed fire seeds from his hand like a discus, then pulled his hand back. At that moment, accompanied by whistling winds, both Zhang Taiying and Xin Gugu clearly saw five spiritual threads extending from Xu Xiaoshou's hand, each guiding one of the five compressed fire seeds flying forward.

"What in the world?" Zhang Taiying was startled. Spiritual threads? This phenomenon, akin to spiritual patterns, was clearly a trick of a spiritual array master. Yet, Xu Xiaoshou wasn't using it to set up an array, but rather for real-time combat.

"What am I supposed to do?" Xin Gugu couldn't help but take Xu Xiaoshou's move seriously. Even though he knew the man before him possessed only Innate cultivation, his true combat power was absolutely not to be measured by his realm.

"Squat down, cover your head!" Xu Xiaoshou instructed.

"Huh?" After a moment of surprise, Xin Gugu actually complied without a word. The next second, he watched with his spiritual sense as Xu Xiaoshou, with an utterly solemn expression, pulled his hand back. The high-speed compressed fire seeds immediately had their velocity clamped down.

"Thwack!" With a soft sound, the foremost compressed fire seed abruptly decelerated, then was enveloped by the subsequent fire seed, nesting within.

"Whoosh—" After this nesting, a terrifying, scorching aura immediately swept through the entire area.

"Thwack!" Another soft sound, and the third fire seed systematically "ate" the nested fire seed in front.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—" This time, the situation seemed on the verge of becoming uncontrollable.

"Double nesting?" Xin Gugu's face turned completely pale. The violent energy collision; being able to suppress it once was already impressive, but Xu Xiaoshou had performed a *second* nesting?

Zhang Taiying felt even more unnerved. What kind of trick was Xu Xiaoshou employing? At the Innate level, how could all his spiritual skills be so terrifying?

"Just double nesting... that's all?" Looking at this guy's intentions, it was clear he wasn't stopping there!

Xu Xiaoshou certainly wasn't stopping there. That day in the back alley of the Duojin Commercial Bank, he had indeed unleashed a "Nesting Fire Seed Technique." But the extremely high speed at the time, and the twofold unexpected outcome of the actual damage failing to hit the enemy, had led him to reflect deeply afterward. What good was a powerful spiritual skill if it didn't hit the enemy? Delivering it directly *onto* the enemy was the ultimate!

So, after leveling "Cooking Mastery" to Grandmaster status, and with his flame manipulation further upgraded, he was now facing the super-powerful Throne Zhang Taiying. At this moment, he unhesitatingly unleashed a technique that had only existed in his conceptualization: a multi-nested attack performed mid-flight, combining "cooking" and "weaving"...

"Nesting Fire Seed Lotus!" "Blast him!" With a bellow, the incredibly potent energy, now completely unleashed after the double nesting, produced two crisp successive sounds just as it neared Zhang Taiying's "Heavenly Martial Vajra."

"Thwack!" "Thwack!" The fourth fire seed swallowed the third. The fifth, in turn, swallowed all the others, transforming into a scorching, dazzling, incandescent sun!

At this moment, even shielded by the "Heavenly Martial Vajra," a top-tier Throne defensive spiritual skill, Zhang Taiying felt the chilling approach of death. His scalp tingled, and his calf muscles instinctively tensed... Then, he saw nothing. Absolutely nothing! A blinding white light obscured everything, instantly filling the entire domain. The utterly unrestrainable, terrifying scorching energy immediately incinerated Xu Xiaoshou's spiritual threads, then bloomed magnificently beneath the pure white radiance.

"Boom!" Within the dazzling white, an ink-black lotus unfurled, its emergence accompanied by a thunderous roar that threatened to shatter heaven and earth.

But it wasn't over. After being forcibly compressed, the nested fire seeds, which hadn't fully fused, exploded internally once their outer layers detonated.

"Boom, boom, boom!" The violently scattering spatial fragments left Xin Gugu utterly dumbfounded.

"This..." He slowly lowered his hands from his head, swiftly glanced at Xu Xiaoshou, and saw the man sprawled on the ground in a peculiar posture. It seemed he was merely trying to avoid triggering the spiritual array. At a time like this, he was still considering the array? What exactly was he planning?

"Is this guy insane?" "So he called me here just to have me sit idly by, holding down the fort?" Xin Gugu was utterly shocked. He couldn't fathom Xu Xiaoshou's intentions, yet this attack before him had unquestionably reached the level of a Throned expert. It had even far exceeded the attack capabilities of an ordinary Throne — it was lethal!

Originally, not only did Zhang Taiying consider Xin Gugu his true opponent tonight, but Xin Gugu himself also believed Xu Xiaoshou was, at best, an observer capable of slightly influencing the situation. He never anticipated that Xu Xiaoshou's sole purpose in bringing him along was simply to utilize his domain. And then, take his own revenge?

"He's lost it, he's absolutely lost it! Is this even a human being?" "You're the one who's a ghost beast host!" "This damage... are you truly just an Innate?"

The explosion surged upward, distinctively forming a colossal black hole. Xu Xiaoshou endured the initial wave of damage, his body scarred by burns, but with "Endless Vigor," it was hardly an issue. While others might not know the battle's true state, his "Perception" allowed him to see it clearly. Zhang Taiying had just now had no intention of taking that hit! The instant the "Nesting Fire Seed Lotus" lunged at his face, the man didn't even attempt to block; he simply pushed off with his foot and shot away.

Of course, he only managed to gain a single step. The remaining blast damage, as expected, instantly incinerated his "Heavenly Martial Vajra" and propelled the one-armed middle-aged man directly into his own domain barrier.

"Sizzle, sizzle!" The all-encompassing domain barrier actually showed signs of melting under the force of that attack. Xu Xiaoshou was just about to tell Xin Gugu to follow up. He didn't want the sounds of battle to escape the domain. Yet, to his surprise, the melting domain began to rapidly repair itself.

"Xu Xiaoshou!" "Hahahahaha!" Zhang Taiying shot back, eyes wide with fury. "I thought you were just here to provide support, but I never expected you could firmly establish yourself as a damage dealer with merely Innate cultivation!" "But tell me, how many times can you unleash such damage?" "Your cultivation level and spiritual energy limitations are your absolute weaknesses!"

Zhang Taiying, roaring skyward, actually looked quite ragged. His body was pockmarked with injuries; even with the Ancestral Bear Spirit Body and Throne cultivation, this explosion had severely wounded him. Xu Xiaoshou was indeed an Innate, but any one of his moves could rival a Grandmaster's spiritual skill. And the most terrifying thing about this guy was his ability to, during battle, combine nesting techniques to forcibly elevate what were originally Grandmaster-level spiritual skills... to deal damage that completely surpassed the Throne level!

"Spiritual energy?" Xu Xiaoshou looked back at his qi sea. Indeed, this one attack had almost completely depleted 99% of his spiritual energy. Cultivation was truly a hard limitation; even with "Full of Vitality," there wasn't enough time to recover now.

But... "One-armed man, to deal with you, why would I need so many moves?" "The moment you retreated, you lost." Xu Xiaoshou turned his head, smiled faintly, and then calmly said, "You already sensed you couldn't move, couldn't move, but why were you afraid to take those five fire seeds?"

After speaking, he raised his hand, and the multi-nested spiritual arrays, ignited by the explosion and further activated by Zhang Taiying's retreat, could no longer suppress their own light.

"Bang, bang, bang!" The exploding sounds all around didn't make Zhang Taiying change his expression at all. Listening to these explosions, which were more than ten times weaker than before, he showed a mocking smile: "Is that all?"

Even Xin Gugu almost split open. He had seen Xu Xiaoji get blasted. But why were the explosions this time so weak?

"Is that all?" Xu Xiaoshou repeated, slowly spreading his hands. The next moment, dense threads connected to his fingertips instantly covered the endless sea of flowers. And after the spiritual array exploded, its hidden contents were revealed directly. There was nothing else. Purely. All compressed fire seeds! As far as the eye could see, no less than a thousand!

"Isn't it good to be alive?" "Why abandon the damage of five to take on so many?" Xu Xiaoshou joked.

Sweat poured down his face; he didn't have much spiritual energy left, but controlling these compressed fire seeds he had previously buried with "Weaving Art"... it was difficult! But certainly not impossible!

Xin Gugu, who was sprawled, saw the thousand-plus compressed fire seeds slowly floating in the air, and his entire face turned green.

"Damn!" "Holy crap!" "This guy, this must be a lunatic!" "Didn't you say you wouldn't use this spiritual array unless absolutely necessary?"

If he hadn't seen Xu Xiaoshou's nesting technique just now, these thousands of fire seeds exploding would just be... that. They could hurt people, but couldn't kill them! But if all these things could nest... That damage wouldn't be one thousand! It could very well be one thousand *exponentially*!

Xin Gugu's legs went soft. He wanted to ask Xu Xiaoshou to open the Yuan Mansion and let him go in first, but suddenly felt his foot being pulled by something. He looked down. A humble and pleading voice came.

"Pro-protect me..." "Or let me out first..."

Xu Xiaoji was originally playing dead, but the moment he saw these thousands of fire seeds, he almost died on the spot. He thought Ah Jie was already a terrifying existence. He never expected Xu Xiaoshou to be the true demon! Is he not afraid of dying? Does he really think opening a domain can stop all this? Do you think domains are omnipotent? I, Xu Xiaoji, tell you, based on the Throne domains I've mastered, if this thing explodes, let alone the sea of flowers, the City Lord's Mansion will be gone too!

"Are you... are you kidding me?" Zhang Taiying looked at the compressed fire seeds surrounding him like a vast starry sky, and for a moment, his mind felt hazy.

"Just this?" He originally only wanted to mock Xu Xiaoshou with one sentence. But he never expected that this one mockery would lead to such a result? Is this the number a single person can summon? Even if I, Zhang Taiying, used all my spiritual energy, I probably couldn't condense even a tenth of the fire seeds here! At this moment, he finally understood why he had felt a vague unease earlier, even when he hadn't detected anyone. If these things nested...

"Escape!" Zhang Taiying couldn't believe that he would have such a thought when facing a small innate-level practitioner. But...

Just like Xu Xiaoshou's thoughts when he saw the array disk in Li Qi's ring. When a spiritual array master is prepared, nothing can be measured by common sense. He certainly only used a little less than half an hour to repair the spiritual array. But the flower sea spiritual array itself was the result of three to four years of preparation by a Grandmaster Spiritual Array Master. Xu Xiaoshou merely added the finishing touch, subtly utilizing it, and then sealing away the compressed fire seeds he had slowly refined after consuming countless elixirs.

Yes. His most fundamental idea wasn't to detonate the spiritual arrays here. Not to mention he couldn't comprehend so many spiritual arrays in a short time, the highest nesting here was only seven or eight layers, which was not enough to kill a Throne. Thus, everything here was naturally converted into a hidden spiritual array. For nothing else, just to hide these thousand-plus compressed fire seeds, and... Ah Jie!

"Trying to run?" Xu Xiaoshou had long anticipated it. He glanced at Ah Jie, who still stood in the void, letting the explosions roar around him, unmoving. Tilted his head. No need to speak. But the meaning had already been conveyed. "Don't hug yourself, hug Zhang Taiying!"

Just as Zhang Taiying was about to move, a cold gust of wind brushed past his ear. This ghost-like speed immediately made the figure of the little boy appear in his mind. Sure enough, the next second, a pair of small hands wrapped around his stout chest.

"Mama..." Ah Jie's low whisper was like Death's gentle confession.

Seeing the two successfully "holding hands," Xu Xiaoshou's expression immediately became twisted. His chest suddenly shook, and elixirs flew out. After a gentle inhale, his qi sea spiritual energy surged, and the dense spiritual threads in his hand instantly became very thick. After thickening, came the double nesting of fire seeds, merging with each other.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—" The thousand-plus number sharply decreased by half, leaving only five hundred. Zhang Taiying's face, however, turned utterly pale. He struggled a bit. But Ah Jie's arms, even stronger than Xu Xiaoshou's, were not something a mere one-armed Zhang Taiying could break free from.

"You're crazy?" "Holding me, you'll die too!" Zhang Taiying glared back.

"Mama..." Ah Jie tilted his head, red light still in his eyes.

"Are you sick?!" "Let go, or we'll both die!"

Zhang Taiying was furious. But even at his limit, his single arm still couldn't break free from Ah Jie.

"Mama..."

"Damn!" Zhang Taiying closed his eyes tightly. No other way. It seems he could only use *that*! As he thought, a drop of golden blood shot from his finger towards his mouth.

"Mama?" Red light flared in Ah Jie's eyes, and his tone rose a bit. In Xu Xiaoshou's past experiments, the cold and merciless Ah Jie's only reaction to external things was to blood! At this moment, facing the flying golden blood, Ah Jie directly opened his mouth. The next second, his tongue suddenly elongated like a snake, coiling to snatch the golden blood.

Zhang Taiying: ???

His legs went soft, and at this moment, his heart felt utterly empty.

"Boom, boom, boom—" The five hundred compressed fire seeds surrounding Zhang Taiying converged again, forming a beautiful number, double nested.

"Damn, I can't hold it anymore!" Xu Xiaoshou's expression instantly became distorted. With such a large quantity, it was nothing like the previous four-fold nesting. Of course, the current double-nesting was built upon each individual fire seed already having double nesting. In terms of individual power, it might not be much weaker than the previous four-fold nesting of a single fire seed.

Without much hesitation, Xu Xiaoshou twisted his hand, and the 250 nested fire seeds performed one last fusion on their trajectory, landing squarely on Zhang Taiying's face.

"Nesting Fire Seed of Two Hundred and Fifty!" "Die!"