Chapter 468: I Give You Ten Seconds to Run

"Are you up?" Xu Xiaoshou hung up the phone. Seeing Zhong Qu, who had just climbed out of a pile of rubble, he took a deep breath.

"Xiaoyu, run!" After shouting, he didn't look back, turning in the opposite direction and fleeing at light speed.

Yu Zhiwen was completely stunned. A moment ago, she had been squatting, unable to hold back her laughter as she admired Xu Xiaoshou's devastatingly sharp words. The next second, she was utterly shocked by his sudden burst of powerful combat strength. This terrifying explosion of power... anyone else would need a second life to withstand that absolute physical onslaught! The problem was, after unleashing this short burst of power, the guy didn't even check the opponent's injuries. "Run?" "Shouldn't he be finishing him off?"

Yu Zhiwen turned her head to look in Zhong Qu's direction. In an instant, her pupils constricted. She saw a dense black mist erupt, instantly filling the area with an eerie chill. The corrosive mist that sprayed outwards even dissolved the ground beneath Zhong Qu's feet upon contact. "Gh-ghost beast?" A shiver ran down Yu Zhiwen's spine. She now fully understood why Xu Xiaoshou had run. But how did this guy know the opponent was a ghost beast? Her own Star Pupils hadn't even detected this anomaly. Xu Xiaoshou had discerned it was a ghost beast just by looking with his bare eyes?

"Run!" A voice urged her from within. Yu Zhiwen didn't dare to delay. If it was a ghost beast, even with her Heavenly Secret Art assisting Xu Xiaoshou, they would be utterly crushed. With a whoosh, she intended to follow Xu Xiaoshou. But then she saw his retreating figure take a moment to wave his hand behind his back, signaling her. "This..." Yu Zhiwen immediately understood. "Run in the opposite direction?" "To protect me, he's drawing the ghost beast away by himself?" At this, Yu Zhiwen was overwhelmed with mixed emotions. Although only Xu Xiaoshou had attacked Zhong Qu, they were still a team. A teammate like Xu Xiaoshou, who prioritized her safety in a crisis, was incredibly reassuring. Gritting her teeth, Yu Zhiwen didn't hesitate, instantly unleashing her speed and heading in the opposite direction from Xu Xiaoshou. But after only two steps, she stopped. Watching the ghost beast Zhong Qu completely ignore her and relentlessly pursue Xu Xiaoshou, she instantly understood. "So, I was expendable."

"Why is it only chasing me?" Xu Xiaoshou was perplexed. After Xu Xiaoshou's beating, it was clear the ghost beast within Zhong Qu had been enraged. In its current ghost beast form, even Xu Xiaoshou's "Perception" couldn't fully discern its true shape. That mass of black mist was like an enhanced version of the Gray Mist People, instantly obscuring the sky. "Corrosion Man?" If he was touched by that, even a Grandmaster's body probably couldn't withstand such corrosive power, right? "But... why is it only chasing me? Xiaoyu is also human, right? It's a choice between two, so why me?" Complaining aside, it was clear that even as a ghost beast, Zhong Qu's hatred for him still lingered. Xu Xiaoshou wasn't flustered. His Grandmaster agility wasn't for show; he was fully prepared for fleeing. However, Zhong Qu's movement speed in his ghost beast form was no slower than Xu Xiaoshou's, perhaps even faster. Seeing the distance between them rapidly shrink from hundreds of zhang to mere dozens, Xu Xiaoshou turned and flicked his finger. "Whoosh whoosh!" Two small fireballs flew towards the face behind him. With two booming sounds, Zhong Qu's charge stalled, and the distance between them widened again.

"Roar!" Zhong Qu went mad. With his eyes completely bloodshot, his hatred for Xu Xiaoshou was utterly overwhelming. This guy, even moments before falling into the abyss of death, still had the audacity to use such petty tricks to taunt him? "Boom! Boom!" Two more explosions, and Zhong Qu was blown away again. To him, these explosions were utterly harmless, yet their concussive force was as irritating as Xu Xiaoshou's incessant chatter.

"ROAR!!!" He roared again, raising his head to the sky. With this roar, the void rippled, and black mist began to seep out everywhere. Xu Xiaoshou was startled. A moment ago, he had been secretly pleased that his tactics were effective and that he wouldn't need to use "One Step to Heaven," thus conserving spiritual energy in case of emergencies. The next second, this guy activated area-of-effect damage? "Damn it? The Red Guard's support is too slow. By the time they get here, they won't even be able to collect warm corpses." "Hiss hiss." His muscles began to corrode from the black mist. As expected, a sharp pain struck, and even his Grandmaster body, which was like steel, began to decay. The information panel flashed rapidly, and Xu Xiaoshou knew he couldn't afford to be careless. He had to hold out until the Red Guard arrived. He casually pulled out a handful of pills and swallowed them all in one gulp. "One Step to Heaven!" His spiritual energy instantly bottomed out, but after the void rippled, Xu Xiaoshou's figure abruptly vanished.

"Hiss—" Zhong Qu paused, startled. The target suddenly vanished? "Still there!" His powerful hunter's perception allowed him to instantly locate Xu Xiaoshou, who had teleported out of the black mist's range but couldn't evade the gaze of a King. "You can't escape!" A low voice emerged from Zhong Qu's mouth. Clearly, at this moment, the ghost beast 'Corrosion Man' had completely taken over Zhong Qu's body.

"Run?" Xu Xiaoshou bent his back and lowered his head, holding 'Cang Ku' in both hands, positioned at his left hip. He murmured to himself, "Do I look like someone who would run?" He suddenly raised his hand as the figure in black mist, amidst the surging corrosive fog, rapidly approached. Five hundred zhang! Three hundred zhang! One hundred zhang! Fifty! Thirty... Just as the two were about to meet, a soaring Grandmaster sword intent exploded. "Boom!" A white sword energy burst forth from Zhong Qu, pausing him for less than a tenth of a millisecond, but Xu Xiaoshou had already drawn his sword. "Die!" With a whoosh, the sword parted the clouds, its aura dominating for ages. Amidst the sky-obscuring gray-black corrosive mist, a frosty sword light suddenly appeared, its sound echoing through the heavens. It was as if a rift in the void had suddenly opened between the two converging figures, and the surging black mist was directly sucked in, rushing towards the center. The sword light, striking from Zhong Qu's leg to his face, sliced upwards.

"Boom!" The ground several miles away was directly blown away by the force of the sword. Only then did Zhong Qu's face meet the sword intent, splitting him in two! "Huh?" Yu Zhiwen, watching from afar, was completely bewildered. This battle situation was an astonishing and unexpected reversal. The formidable ghost beast Zhong Qu, who had just unleashed a large-scale corrosive black mist, had taken Xu Xiaoshou's sword with its body? "No, this guy didn't even know that the person in front of him was actually a swordsman?!" At this, Yu Zhiwen felt an inexplicable surge of ecstasy, no less than if she had personally slain the ghost beast. "Xu Xiaoshou, won?"

"One sword strike?" Xu Xiaoshou also stared, numb, at the two halves of the body that flew back from his side. He knew how powerful the sloppy uncle's sword intent was. It was an attack that, even with the Night Guardian already on guard, could still forcefully draw blood from his face. But he never expected that, if used for a surprise attack, this sword technique could instantly turn the tide for him? "Whoosh!" A surge of joy filled his heart, but before he could ponder it further, the sword intent he had unleashed returned like a child returning home. Sure enough, it flew back and pierced into Xu Xiaoshou's body. "Pffft!" A mouthful of blood spurted out, and Xu Xiaoshou was even knocked back several steps. If only he could, he would wish for this annoying thing to gradually diminish with repeated use and eventually disappear. But this sword intent, with each "Viewing of the Sword," only grew stronger. And with that... it became even more attached!

"Alright then, if it has one-hit kill power, and resisting it is useless, I might as well accept it." After witnessing the power of this sword intent, Xu Xiaoshou felt he could completely accept its presence in his spiritual sea. At the very least, to get rid of it, he'd probably need his own strength to rival that sloppy uncle! "One sword, and the ghost beast is gone..." This battle, which had a lot of bluster but little substance, left Xu Xiaoshou on edge, yet its outcome was so absurd. He was just about to look in Yu Zhiwen's direction to share the good news.

"Being watched, passive value +1." At this, goosebumps instantly rose all over his body. Xu Xiaoshou's spiritual sense couldn't see it, but his "Perception" vaguely saw the two halves of Zhong Qu's body completely dissipate after shedding a large amount of blood. Then, another Zhong Qu slowly walked out from the void above. "Clone?" "Substitution Jutsu?" "Or teleportation?" Xu Xiaoshou was terrified. Since it was "being watched," it meant this guy had been observing him for a while. But he had clearly just died by his sword... "So, I hit nothing?"

A strange, low laugh came from behind him. Xu Xiaoshou immediately understood: this guy, having been played earlier, wanted to get his revenge! Such a childish thought shouldn't normally be part of assessing an enemy. But Xu Xiaoshou felt that this deduction, based on Zhong Qu's personality, was absolutely correct! He forced himself to calm down. If nothing went wrong, a single turn might lead him directly into the opponent's long-prepared killing blow. No matter what, he couldn't move! Forcing down his terrified heart and panicked soul, Xu Xiaoshou gently exhaled and slowly said in a very calm tone, "Is that fun?"

"Huh?" The strange laugh behind him choked, and an incredulous voice said, "You... you knew I was here all along?" "Being doubted, passive value +1." "Got it." As long as the other side was willing to talk, he had a chance! Xu Xiaoshou checked his spiritual sea. After using "One Step to Heaven," his spiritual energy had been completely depleted; the small amount remaining had been quickly replenished by the pills. So at this moment, he couldn't teleport at all. Slowly sheathing his sword, Xu Xiaoshou straightened his back and lightly brushed his messy fringe. "Isn't it obvious?" Only then did he slowly turn around, looking at the opponent's face, which was obscured by a thick black mist, making it impossible to discern. His gaze dropped. Sure enough, a mass of black energy, emitting a strong scent of death, was compressed there. Xu Xiaoshou estimated that if it were unleashed, he probably wouldn't have much chance of withstanding it. But he didn't flinch, only slowly saying, "You're at death's door, yet you still try to struggle?"

The opponent was amused. Two crimson eyes peered out from the black mist, and it cackled, "Kid, you don't really think your attacks can actually harm me, do you?" Xu Xiaoshou didn't reply. His pupils widened slightly, focusing on the distance, and his gaze landed behind the Corrosion Man. He slightly bowed. "Senior Red Guard, it's your turn."

At this, even with the naked eye, it was clear that the black mist in front of him distinctly trembled. Immediately after, the Corrosion Man turned at light speed, not even stopping to think, and hurled the black energy ball from his hand straight forward. "Shadowed Heavenly Annihilation!" The compressed black energy ball pushed a black line through the void, then exploded violently upon reaching its zenith. "Boom!" The black energy ball, blooming like a dark ghostly lotus, was only a fleeting sight. The next second, it pulled all surrounding void matter, including spatial fragments, and then contracted inwards. "Hiss hiss." There was no explosion, no roar. Only a few hissing sounds. Everything pulled into the black energy ball was instantly annihilated, leaving not even a speck, and vanished with the spatial currents. "No one?" Everything had indeed been annihilated. But among everything, aside from shattered stones, grass, and wood, there was no human figure involved. The Corrosion Man froze. The black mist enveloping its entire body trembled violently, and only then did it realize that it had been tricked by Xu Xiaoshou again!

"Roar!" With a furious roar, the Corrosion Man's body suddenly swelled, bursting forth from the black mist. Its completely inhuman, grotesque form was revealed to the world for the first time. A ten-zhang body, lion's head, human torso, terrifying bull horns, four claws, and four feet. Black liquid, like demonic ichor, slowly dripped from the Corrosion Man's dark red Nether Armor, directly seeping into the ground and corroding countless deep holes. However, even such a sky-obscuring figure couldn't hide its body trembling from uncontainable rage. Even the ground frequently vibrated from its shaking movements. "You tricked me!!" It turned and roared, bending down. With a resounding boom, the ground cracked open again, and rubble flew everywhere. However, Xu Xiaoshou was nowhere to be seen.

"He... ran away?" The Corrosion Man felt its intelligence had been crushed once more. It had actually been stopped by this guy's shouting, foolishly using the "Shadowed Heavenly Annihilation," which was more than enough to kill Xu Xiaoshou, to defend against a non-existent attack from the Red Guard. And now, this guy ran away? The Corrosion Man laughed uproariously, looking up at the sky. "Yes!" How could he not run? He was a fraud; he couldn't possibly harm it. If he didn't run, was he waiting to die? However!

"Can you escape?" Looking at the figure that seemed to have completely vanished from the edge of its vision. The Corrosion Man raised its four claws, and the black mist realm that had only covered a few hundred zhang instantly expanded to several miles. Suddenly, Xu Xiaoshou had nowhere to hide! "Netherworld Domain, Void Evasion." With a whoosh, a figure still cackling was left behind, and the Corrosion Man's true form appeared directly above Xu Xiaoshou. "Domain, omnipotent!"

The information panel flashed wildly. Xu Xiaoshou stopped. Feeling the intense corrosive power emanating from his body, his muscles rapidly melted away. "Is this... the true power of a sentient ghost beast?" Xu Xiaoshou forced a bitter smile. He felt that his understanding of ghost beasts had been skewed due to some special circumstances. The first time, the Gray Mist Man was suppressed by the Heavenly Xuan Gate's small world, and he could only sense power slightly beyond that of a Grandmaster. The second time, Xin Gugu's ghost beast form had no consciousness, only brute force in its attacks. And the opponent was the illusory image behind Zhang Taiying. Finally, that illusion was shattered by A'Jie's kick. So, Xu Xiaoshou thought he was capable. Facing ghost beasts, he was wary, yes. But inwardly, he felt that if a real fight broke out, with all his passive abilities and formidable sword intent, even if he lost, running shouldn't be a big problem. "A miscalculation." "This is completely beyond the scope of a mere innate realm cultivator like me!" True, Elder Sang's letter said, "White Cave, no rules." But that statement wasn't just for him. Ghost beasts here were also unsuppressed! And a sentient ghost beast, free from the suppression of world power, had strength that couldn't be calculated by simple addition. "Damn it, every casual move is a killing blow!"

"Run?" When the Corrosion Man reappeared, it had already teleported in front of Xu Xiaoshou. It coldly eyed the man who had frozen before it, its body suddenly rippled, and another Corrosion Man solidified. "Run?" The two Corrosion Men looked at Xu Xiaoshou, then rippled again, becoming four. "Run? Go on, run!" "Hiss, cackle, cackle... Go on, run!" "Even if you had four legs today, even if you could teleport, run!" "Can you escape my domain?" The four Corrosion Men roared, bending down as if mad. Xu Xiaoshou's body instantly cracked under the force of the roars. The corrosive power was constantly eroding his defenses; even with "Endless Life," he couldn't withstand the opponent's power, which far surpassed that of a King. This roar left him no escape. Gritting his teeth, Xu Xiaoshou remained silent. He conceded defeat. Loose golden light particles exploded from his body. Xu Xiaoshou pulled out the bronze carving and slowly shook his head. "I won't run."

"Hiss, cackle, cackle, come on, what trump cards do you have? Show them!" The Corrosion Man straightened its body, completely unafraid of Xu Xiaoshou's minor movements. Four colossal bodies, like righteous giants, positioned themselves to the north, south, east, and west, surrounding the ant-like figure within, and cackled wildly: "Didn't you say your physical body was strong enough to kick me around like a ball?" "Come on, try it again!" Xu Xiaoshou fell silent. He knew that even if he transformed into a "Raging Giant," at his current strength, reaching three zhang was already quite good. At this point, if he jumped, he'd probably only reach the opponent's knees, right? Holding the bronze carving, Xu Xiaoshou's fingers trembled slightly. To be honest, not fearing death was impossible. But no matter how much fear he felt, he couldn't lose his momentum. He raised his head, then leaned back slightly, finally seeing the opponent's face, and corrected, "You're mistaken. What I kicked just now wasn't a playball, it was a football."

"Hmm?" Even a mere hum from the opponent was enough to disorient Xu Xiaoshou, whose muscles were now completely rotting. The Corrosion Man seemed to greatly enjoy slowly tormenting its most hated enemy until they rotted away and died. It chuckled coldly twice and sneered, "Don't you have elixirs? Eat them, replenish yourself! Your body is almost completely rotten. If you don't eat them soon, you won't get to enjoy anything." "Oh, right, and your little girlfriend, isn't she?" All four massive heads simultaneously turned, looking at Yu Zhiwen, who was far away and completely out of the battlefield. "Don't worry, after you die, her fate won't be any better than yours."

Xu Xiaoshou tightened his grip on the bronze carving. The opponent instinctively turned its head back. "Your trump card?" "Use it!" "Hmph..." Xu Xiaoshou wasn't provoked at all and simply put away the bronze carving. "What's wrong?" "Not using it?" "Giving up?" The Corrosion Man's grotesque laughter intensified, "Living is truly suffering, isn't it? Enjoying the pleasure of death is also quite delightful, isn't it?" "Not bad." Xu Xiaoshou's anxious heart settled. He put down the bronze carving simply because he no longer needed it. "Senior Red Guard, it's your turn." He once again focused his gaze behind one of the Corrosion Men and bowed slightly.

"Ah, cackle, cackle! The same trick, and you think it'll work a second time?" The Corrosion Man wasn't falling for it this time. All four figures, with sixteen claws, simultaneously raised their hands, and a black energy orb instantly formed above their heads. Xu Xiaoshou's words had reminded it. The attack it had wasted earlier would ultimately land on this guy's head. "Heavenly Annihilation..." "Black Nether?" A slightly hoarse voice gently drifted from behind the battle.

At this, the trembling energy orb in the void ceased its movement. The black mist stopped churning. The Corrosion Man's body completely froze. Even the gentle breeze, drawn into the open space created by the battle, was infinitely amplified, becoming piercingly loud. "Click-click." One of the Corrosion Men twisted its head, looking away, but saw no one. It wasn't until another Corrosion Man across from it seemed to remember something and shifted its body that the terrifying figure appeared before them. Dressed in red. A gust of wind. Nothing else. The Night Guardian stood in mid-air, even unarmed, just standing there with bare hands. The black mist surging between heaven and earth couldn't harm him at all; it didn't even touch him. It was as if this person had stood there since ancient times, completely merged with the Dao of Heaven and this White Cave world, undetectable by anyone.

"Hiss," "Cackle," "Cackle-cackle." "Night Guardian?" Corrosion Man Heiming seemed to have difficulty speaking. It looked at the figure in red before it, perhaps unable to even properly see such a tiny body, yet it had already begun to tremble. "Boom! Boom!" The ground rumbled as Heiming took two steps back, shielding Xu Xiaoshou behind it. "I have a hostage..."

The Night Guardian coldly glanced at Xu Xiaoshou, who showed no awareness of being a hostage, even grinning at him. Wasn't he worried at all? Or was it that this guy trusted him so completely? But even if Xu Xiaoshou was at ease, he couldn't ignore this young man who might inherit his mantle. "Let him go, and I'll give you ten breaths to run." "Impossible!" Heiming hissed, making as if to throw the black energy orb in its hand. The Night Guardian remained unmoving, completely indifferent, and simply raised a single finger. "Ten..." At this instant, it didn't even care about the black energy orb anymore. The four Corrosion Men split into four, darting off in four different directions, vanishing in an instant.