Chapter 504: Song of Ice and Fire

Bai Ku.

Ling Rong Ze.

Outside the Bing Han Zhi Jing.

Shuo Shu Ren clenched his powdered fist and hammered it against the sealed domain, but his entire body froze in shock.

"The domain... it's cracked?"

He could hardly believe it.

The sealing power was extraordinarily mysterious.

Even though he could see that the Gui Shou's strength hadn't been fully unleashed yet,

The ordinary Dao-cutting level sealing force alone should have completely suppressed a Lian Ling Shi like him, who hadn't yet mastered the power of Taixu!

Therefore,

No matter how much he increased his attack intensity,

All he could do to this domain was cause it to shake more violently.

But now...

His ultimate move, "Yin Yang Sheng Si," hadn't even been released yet,

And this thing had cracked open on its own?

"No!"

Sensing that the surroundings had returned to normal temperature, Shuo Shu Ren sharply detected something was wrong.

Logically, even with the grand formation of heaven and earth isolating the Bing Han Zhi Jing,

Standing so close outside, he should still feel the penetrating chill from within.

Yet, after these punches,

The cold temperature inside had unknowingly receded.

"Perhaps, it's not receding..."

Shuo Shu Ren's mind raced, and he quickly turned around.

In horror, he extended his spiritual sense toward the rear.

Sure enough,

The farther away from the icy realm, the higher the temperature.

This meant that the area wasn't cooling down, but rather, the low temperature was being neutralized by extreme heat!

"This is..."

"Is the white lava over there starting to erupt again?"

"But that can't be right!"

Shuo Shu Ren glanced back, in disbelief.

Staring at the widening cracks on the sealed domain, his mind buzzed as everything clicked.

"Could it be..."

"The grand formation of the Bing Han Zhi Jing has been broken, and the grand formation of the hot region on the other side has also been broken?"

"So, the collision of these two forces has caused a temporary calm?"

"But if that's the case..."

"Then the impending eruption—how could my fragile external avatar withstand it?"

Realizing this, Shuo Shu Ren no longer cared about the minor issues at hand.

With a hiss, he tore open a spatial rift.

But then he thought again,

If these two forces erupt, the space will definitely become unstable!

Earlier, just one burst of white lava had created those black holes.

Now, with both forces emerging together, hiding in the spatial turbulence would be suicide!

Staying here...

"This external avatar can't handle it anyway!"

Pinching his orchid fingers, Shuo Shu Ren panicked and shot upward.

If these two extreme energies, each capable of countering Dao-cutting levels, erupt,

The gray mist figure has already hidden in the Bing Han Zhi Jing, perhaps using its icy energy to hold out a bit.

But if I stay in the eye of this storm,

Not escaping would mean certain death!

"Hiss, brother, save me—"

"Jin Zhao Ning Dan Shu, condense!"

Outside the underground cave, Xu Xiaoshou felt the white lava fully retracting into the milky-white fire seed, and his whole face lit up with excitement.

With a loud shout, he unleashed the super technique he had been practicing for over a month.

Jin Zhao Ning Dan Shu!

"Come out!"

Pressing his hands into the void, Xu Xiaoshou looked like a madman.

He channeled all his strength to mobilize the heavenly furnace, gathering the energy deep into the fire seed at the bottom.

"Buzz—"

The ground trembled.

Streams of gray-black gas formed above the fire seed.

Xu Xiaoshou sniffed the scorched odor and froze.

"Why does this smell like destructive power?"

"Another accident?"

"It can't be..."

Throughout the entire alchemy process, he had only encountered thirty-two accidents.

But this fire seed was incredibly resilient, with no real risk of the pill exploding.

So, Xu Xiaoshou went all out, giving it his everything.

Now, this gray-black gas, not belonging to the milky-white fire seed...

It was his thirty-third question.

"Who cares? Let's flip it!"

Xu Xiaoshou clasped his hands together, as if gripping a massive wok that could hold mountains and rivers. He gritted his teeth and tried to flip the fire seed out like a pill.

But,

Even as his muscles tore and blood vessels burst from his eyes,

The void showed nothing but thicker gray-black gas—no other movement.

"Not enough cultivation?"

Xu Xiaoshou realized that was the reason.

If he had reached the Zongshi level with a deeper insight into the heavenly Dao, he wouldn't be unable to manipulate this space.

Since cultivation wasn't enough,

He'd make up for it with brute force!

"Up—"

The word squeezed through his teeth as his blood-soaked body suddenly burst with golden light.

"Explosive Stance!"

The golden light formed, manifesting as a thought that actually condensed a huge wok in the void.

Xu Xiaoshou was going mad.

He felt like his bones were about to shatter, yet he still couldn't flip the wok.

Without flipping it, how would this thing come out?

After all, this cave, refined by the heavenly furnace for so long, was like an infinitely enlarged inner alchemy cauldron.

The temperature was so high that even getting close now made Xu Xiaoshou feel like he'd melt instantly.

He couldn't enter it!

Moreover,

As a ninth-grade alchemist, Xu Xiaoshou had his pride.

He could only succeed in blasting the pill out of the furnace.

He wouldn't stoop to entering the cauldron himself to retrieve it.

"Come out, damn it!"

His bones cracked loudly, but the void remained unmoved.

Xu Xiaoshou was on the verge of losing control.

He couldn't use "Raging Giant," since he was still in alchemy mode.

Losing consciousness, even for a split second, would likely ruin all his efforts.

The fire seed was too powerful.

Even with many accidents during alchemy, its self-circulating energy loops kept the heavenly furnace from exploding.

But now, with no other options,

Jin Zhao Ning Dan Shu was too low-level; it only produced this unknown gray-black gas, and the pill wouldn't budge.

When alchemists faced such extreme situations...

Xu Xiaoshou didn't know what others did,

But if his pill was stuck in the cauldron,

The only way to save it was to smash the cauldron!

"Not coming out, huh?"

Xu Xiaoshou muttered, then suddenly roared,

"I'll blow you up!"

With that,

He separated his hands and raised them high.

In the next second, the "Explosive Stance," which had never been fully released before, was activated at full power for the first time.

The golden wok dissipated,

Transforming into countless energy beads.

But that wasn't enough.

Xu Xiaoshou felt it wasn't sufficient for this powerful fire seed. A few dozen beads wouldn't cut it.

He swallowed a handful of pills and madly channeled his spiritual energy.

More golden beads formed, condensing one by one in the void.

Space began to distort.

The underground shook even more.

The scorched gray-black gas intertwined with the golden beads in the void, starting to merge.

"What the hell..."

Xu Xiaoshou sensed something was wrong.

He felt the energy in the beads amplify tenfold in an instant, realizing that the gas mist from the condensed fire seed pill might not be ordinary at all.

But so what?

If the furnace was going to explode, he'd make it explode thoroughly and finish it once and for all.

"Condense!"

The beads multiplied in the void.

Rapidly.

One hundred...

Three hundred...

Five hundred...

Until the fire seed became unstable, as if white flames were about to spill out again,

Xu Xiaoshou realized time was running out.

If those white flames overflowed,

All the time spent on juice retrieval would be wasted.

Though he hadn't reached his mental target of a thousand,

With about six or seven hundred beads of energy, he figured it should be enough.

"Good..."

"Blow it up!"

He pressed his hands down.

The beads were instantly forced into the underground cave—that is, the heavenly furnace.

"Sizzle!"

The terrifying heat distorted the beads in an instant.

Xu Xiaoshou's face changed.

He found he couldn't control them at all!

"Can't suppress them?"

Watching the hundreds of beads melt under the high temperature,

The golden and gray-black energies mixed.

They sank less than halfway into the furnace before the underground rumbled with a terrifying shock.

"Rumble—"

Xu Xiaoshou's legs gave way.

In his "perception," even though it hadn't exploded yet, the surrounding hundreds of zhang of land turned to dust in an instant.

That rumbling was from the ground collapsing!

"Holy crap..."

"This, this, this!"

Xu Xiaoshou knew his beads couldn't have such a terrifying effect.

So...

"What the hell is that gray-black gas?"

He didn't dare think further.

The underground cave began to shake violently.

It was like the stubborn resistance of a small bathtub under Jin Zhao Ning Dan Shu during normal alchemy.

This was the prelude to an explosion!

"Run!"

Xu Xiaoshou didn't hesitate and bolted upward, familiar with the escape.

The path back was blocked, so he drew Yan Mang and used sword energy to clear the way.

"Rumble—"

The underground tremors grew crazier.

It was like a sleeping giant suddenly struck by nine heavenly thunder tribulations, convulsing wildly!

Hearing the sound that was already nearly bursting his eardrums just from the prelude, Xu Xiaoshou panicked even more.

He knew he might have overdone it.

But now, his only option was to escape early!

Whoosh!

He shot upward at light speed.

Even with the famous sword, the underground conditions still hindered his movement.

"No good, I can't outrun it..."

"A Jie!"

Xu Xiaoshou called out, but he couldn't sense A Jie's presence at all.

That guy wouldn't have run away.

But right now, finding him by luck was nearly impossible.

It was like they were completely cut off!

Xu Xiaoshou glanced back.

By now, the cave was entirely enveloped in gray-black gas.

The destructive energy within was extremely frightening.

Just one look made Xu Xiaoshou's scalp tingle.

"Damn, how is this so exaggerated? Just a small fire seed..."

Xu Xiaoshou pulled out his Yuan Fu.

He wanted to hide inside.

But could the Yuan Fu withstand it?

Well, it could!

But the space might not...

"Once it explodes, if I go in, when I come out, I'll be facing spatial turbulence, not the underground..."

Xu Xiaoshou shuddered.

"Don't panic, it hasn't exploded yet..."

He clutched the Yuan Fu and kept flying upward.

"A Jie—"

"Jie Bao, save me—"

He needed A Jie.

Needed this person with a powerful body to protect him.

Needed A Jie to hold the Yuan Fu in his warm palm, so it wouldn't fall into the spatial turbulence when space shattered.

Whoosh!

In his frantic escape, his "perception" detected a golden light approaching.

Xu Xiaoshou was stunned.

This little monk charging toward him—was he coming to die?

"Amitabha."

Bu Le rushed in front of Xu Xiaoshou and, seeing a person for the first time, grinned excitedly.

He had entered Ling Rong Ze and drifted toward the Bing Han Zhi Jing to search,

But that place had no trace of the person he was looking for.

Vaguely, the scent of "Yu Kong Mo Zhang" led in another direction.

Following his intuition, he sneaked into the underground.

Unexpectedly, there really was someone here!

"Amitabha."

He immediately pressed his palms together and asked eagerly, "This benefactor, have you seen a female benefactor about this tall..."

"Amitabha my ass!"

Xu Xiaoshou was amused and angry.

"What time is it? You're still going on about that? Are you here to die?"

"Who the hell are you!"

He grabbed the guy's slippery head and yanked him upward, dragging him toward the surface.

"Damn!"

Bu Le's head was squeezed, feeling like his skull might crack.

He quickly covered himself with spiritual energy and realized his mistake.

"No, no, this benefactor, you're grabbing my—uh, the poor monk's head... Hmm, let go!"

"I'll let go of your ass!"

Xu Xiaoshou didn't look back. "Take a look at what's happening below!"

Bu Le froze.

He extended his spiritual sense downward.

Although the ground blocked his perception,

That dangerous aura he had been worried about seemed to come from the same direction as "Yu Kong Mo Zhang"—right from here?

"The person the poor monk is looking for must be here. Let go..."

Bu Le struggled, but found he couldn't resist the hand that didn't seem to be using much force.

He was shocked.

And awestruck.

A Zongshi body!

This was a rare Zongshi body, even he hadn't achieved it yet?

He could easily shake it off with "wish power," but this young man clearly meant no harm.

So, he couldn't choose to hurt others.

"You're looking for a ghost!"

Xu Xiaoshou shot back, "On your way here, did you see a big guy and a little one?"

"Um."

"If not, shut—"

"Um?"

Xu Xiaoshou had asked casually, but this little monk had actually seen them?

"Where are they?"

Still holding the head, Xu Xiaoshou pulled him up and asked.

"In that direction..."

Bu Le pursed his lips and pointed sideways upward, hesitating. "Can you let go of my head first? You can hold the poor monk's hand to fly."

Xu Xiaoshou didn't say a word and dashed straight there.

"Amitabha."

"Received curse, passive value, 1."

"Thump."

Like a heartbeat,

The underground fire seed, after absorbing enough gray-black energy, finally completed a tremor Xu Xiaoshou had never seen in the entire alchemy process.

With that tremor, the ground became even more violent.

"Rumble—"

Suddenly, the fire seed jumped again.

Then, as if awakening with sentience,

All the gray-black gas in the heavenly furnace was swallowed straight into the fire seed's core.

At the same time, a thunderous boom echoed from the nine heavens above.

Following it, a beam of light shot down from the sky, directly covering the fire seed, as if to suppress it.

"Thud!"

Upon contact with the beam, the fire seed could no longer hold back.

Fully absorbing the power, it seemed ignited with drive.

With a light sound, it burst through the earth's layers and shot straight upward.

As the fire seed moved, the surrounding land couldn't withstand it.

The "rumble" faded, replaced by sounds of space shattering.

"Boom boom boom—"

Xu Xiaoshou was flying when he saw a massive spatial black hole being torn open from the underground right below.

He was completely dumbfounded.

But when he saw his long-coveted fire seed rising with the beam's guidance,

He couldn't help himself.

"It didn't explode?"

The underground hadn't exploded; it just pulled out this black hole—an outcome he never expected.

So...

"Follow it!"

Still grabbing the little monk's head, he immediately trailed far behind, recovering his spiritual energy while chasing.

"Roar—"

Crossing the middle underground layer, Xu Xiaoshou could barely keep up with the fire seed's speed.

Just then, a roar beside his ear made him turn.

"White Kuku?"

Buried under the earth with A Jie suppressing it—that bulky figure could only be White Kuku.

"Roar roar roar!"

White Kuku went berserk.

The moment it saw Xu Xiaoshou, its hatred maxed out.

And seeing this guy emerging with the treasure it had dreamed of, it understood completely.

That thing it couldn't obtain...

This ant had dug it out?

"Mama..."

A Jie murmured softly.

Xu Xiaoshou waved. "Quick, follow it, take me flying. Don't let it get away."

Whoosh!

A Jie appeared at his side, looking at Xu Xiaoshou flying with the little monk's head in hand, a thoughtful glint in its eyes.

Xu Xiaoshou panicked.

"Damn, I didn't mean that kind of flying..."

His head hurt.

Xu Xiaoshou instantly felt mud and whistling wind pouring into his features.

"Pfft!"

"Mmm mmm mmm!"

"A Jie... Mmm!"

The little monk below silently lifted his gaze through the mud gaps and, seeing the guy grabbing him suffer the same fate, finally smiled and closed his eyes.

Meanwhile,

The unshackled White Kuku exploded with white flames all over.

Amid roars, it kicked the ground fiercely and shot upward.

"Roar roar roar—"

"Heavenly anomaly?"

Shuo Shu Ren flew higher and higher.

The higher he went, the more wrong it felt.

The sudden surge of heat had vanished in an instant.

The next second, that punitive beam shot from the sky.

If he hadn't dodged quickly,

The beam might have engulfed him directly.

"If it's a heavenly anomaly, something must be emerging from the underground."

"From the looks of it..."

Shuo Shu Ren glanced at the other direction below.

That sealed domain had cracked and couldn't hold anymore.

Even with that brief moment of temperature retraction,

If the fire treasure emerged and triggered another energy burst,

What domain could withstand it?

"But what if this thing is containing its energy without erupting?"

Shuo Shu Ren hesitated.

If he guessed right, the treasure in the Bing Han Zhi Jing was "San Ri Dong Jie."

Then, this extremely hot area must have a fire treasure that could help his second one recover.

"If I can withstand this possible energy attack and grab it, then go deal with the sealed Gui Shou..."

Shuo Shu Ren paused his raised foot.

In the end, he chose to stand beside the beam and observe.

"Bang bang bang!"

At the Xue Shan peak, the gray mist figure dodged endlessly under the infinite heavenly frost ice blades.

He was going insane.

This ice-blue White Kuku, enhanced by "San Ri Dong Jie," was like a forbidden-level ice Lian Ling Shi.

The endless icy advantage from the Xue Shan gave it an inexhaustible energy source.

Amid the dense ice blades raining down and shaving layers off the Xue Shan,

Even his sealing energy couldn't keep up with the pace.

"This thing's gone mad!"

He had planned to pull back when the domain cracked to stabilize the seal and prevent the red-skirted freak from entering.

But as soon as he retreated, the gray mist figure realized he was wrong.

Dead wrong!

This ice-blue White Kuku gave him no chance to breathe.

Forget fighting back,

He couldn't even repair the domain's cracks.

If he didn't go all out to defend,

Just the trace of "San Ri Dong Jie" in the ice blades could freeze his spiritual energy completely.

"Bad miscalculation..."

The seal could indeed dissolve the frost,

But if the frost's quality and quantity were top-tier, it could totally freeze even his non-peak sealing attribute!

"Don't push me!"

The gray mist figure, with no way out, dodged and roared.

He could feel that this ice-blue White Kuku had low intelligence.

The "Black Death Mark" was already etched on it in many patterns, and it hadn't noticed.

Detonating it would kill it for sure.

That was a backup for the red-skirted freak.

Only one chance to use.

If he used it on this big guy now and the domain cracked, letting that one in,

He'd really be done for!

"Run!"

Reluctantly glancing at the ice-blue flame of "San Ri Dong Jie," shaped like a frozen flower, the gray mist figure chose to temporarily withdraw.

But before he could step off the ice mountain to escape,

The heavens and earth suddenly disrupted.

This disruption wasn't related to the Bing Han Zhi Jing; it seemed to come from outside.

"What's happening..."

Not just the gray mist figure, even the ice-blue White Kuku, in the midst of casting, seemed interrupted.

It turned its head to look.

In the void, the sealed domain covering the sky shattered with a "crack" and vanished.

The gray mist figure's pupils shrank.

With the domain broken, he could see the outside!

"This is..."

Whoosh!

The milky-white fire seed broke through the surface, tearing a black hole in the void as it shot toward the sky.

"Sizzle sizzle sizzle..."

Under the crimson light, the moment the fire seed appeared, the ground dried and cracked instantly.

All life withered.

No vitality remained.

The air erupted with intense heat.

Even Shuo Shu Ren high in the nine heavens felt like he was melting.

But staring at it shooting right at his face, he didn't dare use any spiritual energy.

"It's over!"

Shuo Shu Ren panicked and turned his head.

Relying on luck was a mistake!

On the other side, just as he imagined, the situation was equally extreme and opposite.

When the sealed domain cracked,

When the heat destroyed the Bing Han Zhi Jing's grand formation,

Snowflakes scattered everywhere.

The ground froze.

Frost rose.

Ice-blue crystals spread like ink, one side extending toward Ling Rong Ze and beyond,

The other side...

"Run!"

Shuo Shu Ren and the gray mist figure turned and fled simultaneously.

They saw that at the instant the ice crystals met the parched ground, a wall of mist formed.

The wall was thin, only a finger wide.

But its height and length...

If you overlooked Ling Rong Ze from above, you'd see

That in the clash of ultimate ice and fire, the world had changed.

Blue and red mist energies instantly filled all of Ling Rong Ze.

The wall of mist's energy expanded...

Expanded further!

Then swelled violently!

Whoosh!

Xu Xiaoshou clearly heard the sound of breaking through the earth.

But midway through that sound, he felt like he had intermittent deafness, and the world became eerily quiet.

Time seemed to slow.

Wiping off the mud,

He saw the little fish diving headfirst from the sky.

Her red lips moved anxiously, her hands constantly crossing and uncrossing...

She seemed to be saying something.

But he heard nothing...

Pulling back his focus,

There was a figure in a red skirt—a woman? A man?

Hovering in the sky, clutching the skirt and fleeing desperately...

"Who is that?"

A chill in his "perception" made Xu Xiaoshou turn.

In the distance, on the ice mountain, an ice-blue White Kuku stared in his direction.

Behind it, vaguely...

"Gray mist figure?"

Xu Xiaoshou's pupils shrank.

He suddenly realized something.

"Mo Mo is here?"

"And the gray mist figure is out—what level of battle happened on the ground?"

"Now, what's the situation now?"

Xu Xiaoshou panicked, looking at this completely changed world.

"Even the gray mist figure is fleeing in panic..."

"The Song of Ice and Fire..."

"Vacuum..."

His pupils contracted sharply as he thought of something and shouted desperately,

"Get down!!!"

But he knew the little fish couldn't hear, so he threw the head in his hand and leaped, tackling the girl still waiting foolishly.

Darkness enveloped his vision.

In such a short distance, he saw nothing.

In his sight, only the blades in the spatial turbulence remained!

This meant that all of Ling Rong Ze...

Was gone!

Sure enough,

In the next breath, hearing returned for half a second.

"BOOM!!!"

Rumble!