Chapter 506: Boy, Long Time No See

The heavens and earth were desolate.

The sky was filled with surging, gray-black energy of destruction.

Even the crimson light of the heavens could not illuminate the space near Lingrong Ze at this moment.

Yet, Xu Xiaoshou's first instinct was to turn his gaze toward A-Jie's shoulder.

“Blood…?”

Even without approaching, his perception revealed a clear image.

Although A-Jie's back had already healed, the large pool of blood still shocked the eye.

Xu Xiaoshou's eyes narrowed.

“A-Jie, you're bleeding…”

This seemed to be the first time he had seen A-Jie bleed.

In the past, no matter how powerful the enemy, A-Jie always appeared as an undefeated war god.

He would act weak against the weak and even stronger against the strong.

When he truly went all out in a frenzy, he was like a force that could slay gods and Buddhas alike!

But today,

This explosion had revealed another side of A-Jie.

He was not invincible.

This aligned closely with Xu Xiaoshou's speculations.

Without using Taixu Zhili, A-Jie's maximum combat power was probably on par with the Zhan Dao level.

In the earlier extreme conditions, combined with the explosive attack capable of annihilating ordinary Zhan Dao experts,

Even someone as strong as A-Jie had to pay a price to protect that small space where the Yuanfu was hidden.

“Mama?”

A-Jie's call carried a hint of confusion.

It seemed he didn't understand why, after their long reunion, his "mama" wasn't showing the same joy as he was.

Xu Xiaoshou fell silent.

From taking A-Jie out of Tianxuan Men and watching him grow step by step,

He could clearly sense that A-Jie's intelligence was growing rapidly.

What used to be emotionless calls now carried such clear joy and bewilderment!

“You've worked hard.”

Gently patting A-Jie's head, Xu Xiaoshou said no more and shifted his gaze to the distance.

The scenery was completely different from before he entered the underground.

It was as if the entire world had been turned upside down.

Aside from the pervasive blackness and some spaces that had already self-repaired, there was nothing else.

“Where's the fire seed?”

Standing in a relatively safe space, Xu Xiaoshou activated his perception to search for his target.

Soon, he spotted it.

The milky-white fire seed that had absorbed energy from underground and burst forth was not fleeing like most spiritual objects.

Instead, it stayed obediently in the high sky, silently releasing its power.

“It didn't run?”

Xu Xiaoshou was surprised.

The fire seed looked docile,

But considering the apocalyptic scene before him, it was clear that

This thing's dramatic emergence had nothing to do with being docile.

After all, Jinzhao Ningdan Shu couldn't have destroyed the entire Baiku.

It was merely a fuse.

What truly upheaved the heavens and earth was the fire seed's own terrifying power, and…

That icy force!

“Right, what about over there?”

Xu Xiaoshou suddenly looked in another direction.

He remembered that in the instant the fire seed emerged,

There had been an icy aura in the world that could rival the Jinzhao power.

Sure enough,

At a glance, he saw a cluster of ice-blue flames under the shadow of an ancient tree inverted in the shattered void.

“Sanri Dongjie?”

Xu Xiaoshou's pupils contracted as he realized.

This must be the supreme treasure that even Yu Zhiwen highly revered.

In fact, if he hadn't insisted on going underground,

Yu Zhiwen's target might have been this cold flame!

Sanri Dongjie was also silently suspended in the void.

It and the milky-white fire seed faced each other like adversaries, each releasing their power.

Surprisingly, neither made a move.

“They're locked in a standoff?”

Xu Xiaoshou's expression was odd.

He actually sensed this human-like emotion from these two treasures?

It was absurd!

“No.”

“Though these things have no humanity, their power is so terrifying that they might each have a spark of intelligence.”

“So, ice and fire treasures that are naturally opposed are holding each other in check, and neither wants to back down or leave…”

“Instead, they've both stayed here?”

Xu Xiaoshou was overjoyed.

What he feared most was that the fire seed would fly away freely upon emerging, like an unbound sword or a fleeing python.

If that happened,

Due to the delay from the explosion, when he emerged from the Yuanfu again, he might not even catch a glimpse of the fire seed.

But now…

“Heh.”

“Ho ho!”

A sudden movement under his feet made Xu Xiaoshou jump.

Immediately, he heard several pained roars.

Even though they were roars, they made his scalp tingle.

Looking down, he saw the white skull struggling to lift its head.

“Passive value, +1 from resistance.”

With a sweep of perception, he saw that most of the white skull's body was buried in the spatial fragments, completely shattered.

The explosion had blasted its throne-like form to pieces.

But that wasn't the main reason it lost its combat power.

Essentially, because of its enormous size and lack of a safe space to shield it, it lay in the spatial fragments, constantly being cut by the shifting space.

Each cut was like a blade from space, ignoring physical defenses.

So, even with the white skull's strong body,

When space cracked, its form was sliced apart.

And with such a massive body…

A-Jie could find a sheltered spot in the explosion,

But the white skull clearly couldn't!

“Roar—”

The weak roar echoed.

Xu Xiaoshou quickly covered his ears.

He laughed.

Even with its head intact, the white skull could hardly fight back now.

The white flame had a powerful recovery speed,

But the white skull was too large.

The rate at which its body healed couldn't keep up with the increasing cracks over time.

“You little thing, you dared to chase me? This is what you get!”

Xu Xiaoshou burst into laughter, taunting wildly: “My one Jinzhao Ningdan Shu move blew you to bits—your parents wouldn't recognize you!”

He vaguely remembered glancing into the great array of heaven and earth back then,

And this big brute had charged out of the Bone Gate like a widow whose bath had been peeped on, chasing him around half of Lingrong Ze for several hours.

Several hours!

Who knew how Xu Xiaoshou had endured that?

Carrying Yu Zhiwen and fleeing through the dangers of Baiku was thrilling beyond words.

If not for the map of Baiku in his mind guiding him…

If not for Yu Zhiwen waking up at the last moment…

If not for the Zhang family elders arriving just in time…

Something bad might have happened, and he, Xu Xiaoshou, could have been done for!

“Keep roaring, quiet down!”

Xu Xiaoshou kicked down hard.

With a boom, the broken bones on the white skull turned to dust.

But for its massive body, it was insignificant.

“Good one.”

Xu Xiaoshou marveled.

Even as a grandmaster facing a throne-level body, even in this weakened state, it was hard to deal real damage.

“A-Jie, follow me!”

Xu Xiaoshou swiftly flew to the white skull's cranium.

Ignoring the scorching perception, he endured the intense pain in his mind and peered into its skull, spotting a spherical fire seed over a person's height.

“Jinzhao Great Fire Seed…”

Xu Xiaoshou clutched his head, his eyes widening.

So big!

This size was truly worthy of being called the “Jinzhao Great Fire Seed”!

In an instant, he was certain.

The fire seed in the white skull's head was the prerequisite for cultivating “White Flame” and “Longrong Realm.”

So, the question arose:

“If the one in the white skull's head is the ‘Jinzhao Great Fire Seed,’ then what is that?”

Xu Xiaoshou looked up again at the milky-white fire seed in the sky.

It was about the same size as the “Jinzhao Fire Seed,” but its power and temperature far surpassed the “Jinzhao Great Fire Seed” by several levels.

And the forces were of the same origin!

Such an existence would likely make even Sang Laotou's heart race!

“Now that's the real treasure…”

“Mama…”

A-Jie silently appeared behind Xu Xiaoshou.

Xu Xiaoshou waved his hand, his voice emotionless:

“Smash the skull and dig out the fire seed for me.”

He had no fondness for this mindless brute.

“Roar…”

Faced with A-Jie's raised fist, the white skull let out a frightened cry.

It shook its head, trying to move its body away from the shattered space.

But it was impossible.

It was too big,

And too injured.

Wherever its thoughts reached, its body couldn't respond at all.

All it could do was tilt its head back as much as possible before the fist fell.

“Roar roar roar!”

“Passive value, +1 from plea.”

The information bar flashed.

Xu Xiaoshou was slightly stunned.

The next second, his expression turned cold again.

He knew this thing had intelligence,

But so what?

There were plenty of intelligent beings in the world,

But creatures that only rampaged with their power to vent emotions…

Their lives were as worthless as grass!

If he hadn't turned back, Qu Qing'er's group would have died long ago.

If not for him, Yu Zhiwen would have perished in that roar!

To step back,

It was true that he and his group had rashly entered the dangerous Lingrong Ze first, disturbing the white skull.

So, in a way, Xu Xiaoshou was also at fault.

But so what?

Survival of the fittest, only the strong endure!

In this harsh world, with Sang Laotou's constant influence, Xu Xiaoshou was no longer the hesitant person he once was.

Decide when needed, kill when required!

Dare to chase Xu Xiaoshou, and you must pay a heavy price!

“Bang!”

A-Jie's fist slammed into the white skull's head.

The air burst open.

Bone fragments flew everywhere.

Surprisingly, liquid-like Jinzhao White Flame also splattered out.

“Watch out!”

Xu Xiaoshou lunged forward, trying to suck away the white flame on A-Jie's hand.

But A-Jie clenched his palm,

And the white flame turned into light particles, directly absorbed into his body.

“Mama?”

“Uh…”

Xu Xiaoshou stopped in his tracks.

“Oh right, this kid fought the white skull for so long up there; he must have ways to counter the white flame.”

“But…”

Xu Xiaoshou examined A-Jie's hand, now slightly swollen after absorbing the energy, with some doubt.

What ability was this?

Jinzhao Heavenly Flame burned all things.

This was the first time he'd seen someone not dispel the flame by wrapping it in heavenly Dao but directly swallow it!

“Suction…”

A-Jie could absorb the demonic power from the bronze carving, Xu Xiaoshou knew.

But seeing this today, he was completely sure.

It wasn't just demonic power.

Any energy form—perhaps A-Jie could absorb it all!

Even Taixu Zhili…

“Hiss!”

Xu Xiaoshou didn't dare think further.

If even Taixu Zhili could be absorbed,

How powerful would A-Jie become?

“Shengshen Diantang…”

“Dao Hall Master…”

Xu Xiaoshou pondered.

Even something like A-Jie could be created, and besides the first generation, others could be mass-produced…

Just how terrifying was the power of Shengshen Diantang?

“Roar roar roar!”

The cry of pain came again.

“Passive value, +1 from plea.”

Xu Xiaoshou turned to look.

The white skull wasn't dead yet.

Its head had a huge hole,

But near the white flame, it was rapidly repairing itself.

“Good one, you're like a cockroach— A-Jie's punch in attack mode didn't kill you?”

“Go!”

Xu Xiaoshou gestured without mercy.

A-Jie vanished in a flash and reappeared, his fist now brimming with even more power, smashing heavily into the wound.

“Huff…”

At that moment, a sudden flash of light erupted in the distant sky.

The patterns of spiritual array mysteries appeared from the direction of Sanri Dongjie.

Following it was a wave of extremely cold wind.

“Damn!”

Xu Xiaoshou's entire body broke out in goosebumps.

In this scorching place, being swept by such extreme cold made him feel his spiritual energy was about to go berserk.

But the next second, the light of the spiritual array mysteries faded.

Where the cold wind passed, half of Lingrong Ze, including the shattered void, was covered in fierce frost.

“Crack crack crack—”

It was like an ice age.

The previously dark, shattered space was suddenly overlaid with ice-blue.

A-Jie's fist halted midway, and even the white skull below instantly turned into an ice sculpture.

Xu Xiaoshou was no exception.

As the piercing cold penetrated his skin, he realized he had been frozen solid!

“Spiritual array!”

“Is there someone over there?”

Xu Xiaoshou immediately thought of the gray mist figure he had seen in that direction earlier.

But he quickly dismissed it.

The gray mist figure couldn't use spiritual arrays, and it wasn't an ice-based power.

Besides, after that explosion, it would have fled for its life—how could it still be there?

So, who could it be?

With a probe of perception,

He saw that under Sanri Dongjie, in a space of frost, another white skull over a hundred meters tall suddenly stood up with cracking sounds!

“An ice-blue white skull?”

Xu Xiaoshou was shocked.

He incredulously focused his perception on the Jinzhao White Skull.

“So, it's not single?”

It felt like a critical hit in his mind.

Xu Xiaoshou never imagined that a small place like Lingrong Ze could have such a pair of colossal beings.

And their powers were completely opposite.

“From this attack range, this ice-blue white skull is the real mage?”

“My heavens…”

Xu Xiaoshou was stunned.

“Ugh ugh ugh, ugh ugh…”

The next second, the cold broke through, and he started shivering.

It was too cold.

Just being sealed for a moment made him feel his muscles beginning to necrotize.

There was an indescribable ice-based tribulation force that didn't fear his own Jinzhao aura at all.

Instead, it carried a momentum to seal his energy sea, rushing from his meridians toward his dantian.

“Damn it!”

“Am I going to die from this unknown minor move?”

His body couldn't move at all.

He couldn't use his sword finger.

He couldn't draw the bronze carving, and “Frenzied Giant” was impossible.

Thus, Xu Xiaoshou had even less chance of breaking through this terrifying ice layer by changing his form.

“This ice power isn't right!”

Xu Xiaoshou was growing drowsy.

He felt like he was done for!

This sudden attack seemed casual, but the power it contained was too frightening, far beyond his tolerance.

After being hit, Xu Xiaoshou found that all his usual passive skills seemed completely ineffective…

Useless!

“No!”

“There's a way!”

Xu Xiaoshou struggled to keep his mind clear, and suddenly, golden light points appeared around him.

He wanted to use “Explosive Stance” to blast the ice layer open.

“Crack crack!”

But the golden light points appeared for less than a moment.

From afar, without the spiritual patterns reforming, just the residual cold froze his explosive golden light as well.

His face turned ashen!

Xu Xiaoshou's eyes filled with despair.

He couldn't believe he was being pushed into a dead end like this…

“But something's off.”

“Even if that ice-blue white skull is at most at the peak of the throne level, it couldn't have such absolute power to suppress all my passive skills…”

Xu Xiaoshou felt his mind slowing, his spirit about to scatter.

Suddenly, his gaze locked onto the ice-blue flower silently hanging in the void.

“Sanri Dongjie!”

Yes!

The ice-based tribulation force overwhelming his Jinzhao aura inside him must be from Sanri Dongjie.

With its enhancement, the ice-blue white skull's spiritual array could completely freeze him, and…

A-Jie!

“Crack crack…”

A-Jie's ice layer was cracking.

Clearly, he was struggling inside.

But as soon as it cracked, it was sealed again.

Xu Xiaoshou felt his eyelids growing heavy, but even his eyelids were frozen shut.

He couldn't even realize he was stiffening.

A-Jie… A-Jie couldn't break free?

This…

Forcing himself to focus, Xu Xiaoshou turned his attention back to Sanri Dongjie for the first time.

“Sanri Dongjie!”

This thing was definitely more than what Yu Zhiwen had described!

Just the fact that a trace of its power could completely seal A-Jie showed…

It was at least on a level far above the “Jinzhao Great Fire Seed,” perhaps equal to the milky-white fire seed in the sky!

“I can't counter the power, but someone can!”

Almost the instant he thought of the milky-white fire seed, Xu Xiaoshou forced his eyelids open and fixed his gaze on the fire seed still silently suspended in the void.

“They've already made a provocative move—why are you just standing there? Fight back!”

He roared in his mind.

Xu Xiaoshou's pupils dilated.

In this stretch of heaven and earth, it suddenly turned into an invisible furnace for him.

Including the snow-capped mountains blasted to pieces, and all the uneven terrain of Lingrong Ze…

At this moment, rivers, lakes, seas, wind, thunder, ice, and fire—all lost their substance.

In Xu Xiaoshou's eyes, there was nothing else.

Only the alchemy cauldron!

“The heavens as the furnace, creation as the worker…”

Vague chants echoed in his ears.

Xu Xiaoshou skipped the step of refining the elixir and roared in his heart:

“Jinzhao Ningdan Shu, condense for me!”

“Boom!”

The milky-white fire seed in the void could no longer stay calm.

It felt a vast surge of heavenly Dao power directly invading its body. After a massive shock, it sprayed out white magma in all directions.

Gray-black destructive energy spread from the magma.

As it flowed down from above, even before it got close, A-Jie's ice layer exploded with a bang.

Then, Xu Xiaoshou felt the external heat, and the frosty power trapping him began to melt step by step.

With a struggle, it shattered like thunder.

“Boom!”

Swinging his magic staff, he blasted the ice below his feet and flew out, still shaken.

“Clack clack…”

“Clack clack…”

His teeth chattered, his face pale and sallow.

Just being sealed for a moment left him with a completely drained weakness throughout his body.

If he didn't force himself to muster energy, he felt like even his physical form wasn't his own anymore.

With a heavy crash, he landed.

Only then did Xu Xiaoshou realize that his leg nerves had necrotized in that short time.

Even with the power of “Everlasting Life” restoring him,

That lingering trace of ice-based tribulation force at his energy sea blocked all self-healing processes, like the five declines of heaven and man forcibly attached.

“Good one…”

Xu Xiaoshou was truly startled by the power of Sanri Dongjie.

He was already this strong,

And that ice-blue white skull, merely channeling a bit of “Dongjie power,” could suppress him to this extent?

Xu Xiaoshou had seen the gray mist figure,

So he knew forces in the world could counter passive skills, and sealing attributes existed.

But through all his battles, only that kind had appeared.

Now, with Sanri Dongjie…

This thing could suppress him like this—if he obtained it,

In the future, against those immune to Jinzhao power, he could just release this ice flame…

“Damn it, you used ice flame against me, so you're mine now!”

Xu Xiaoshou didn't even look back, not even taking the “Jinzhao Great Fire Seed.”

With his spiritual sense covering it, he directly stored the defenseless Jinzhao White Skull—head and body—into his Yuanfu.

The next moment, he charged toward the direction of Sanri Dongjie.

“To claim the treasure, I must first deal with that long-range ice-blue white skull.”

“Otherwise, whether it's Sanri Dongjie or the fire seed, if it seals me with ice in the midst of claiming it, I'm done for…”

Xu Xiaoshou thought as he rushed forward without glancing back, locking onto his target.

“A-Jie, follow me!”

“Mama…”

A-Jie murmured, indicating he would never leave his side.

“Ho ho!”

The ice-blue white skull watched the two figures charging at it, let out two emotionless cries, and its hands blurred into countless afterimages.

Xu Xiaoshou's eyes widened.

Hands as big as small mountains could move that fast…

“My heavens, so you're not a pair after all?”

“How many years have you been single?”

He didn't dare be careless.

As he flew, he fully ignited his own Jinzhao power.

Usually, he feared fully unleashing Jinzhao Heavenly Flame would incinerate the enemy.

Now, he was afraid that if he was too slow, he wouldn't even start heating up before turning into an ice sculpture.

“Buzz buzz buzz—”

Still some distance away, Xu Xiaoshou despaired to see ten spiritual array mystery patterns fully form in front of the ice-blue white skull.

Yes.

Not incomplete ones.

But complete!

This thing's sealing speed was too fast.

They had just set off, and it had already combined ten arrays.

The next second, the Sanri Dongjie hanging in the void trembled slightly, as if about to release its terrifying ice energy over all of Lingrong Ze again.

“Swoosh!”

At that moment,

Thick gray mist surged from the void, instantly enveloping the ice-blue white skull's massive body and the Sanri Dongjie about to unleash its power.

The world fell silent.

With the sealing power emerging, dragons had to coil, and tigers had to lie down!

Knowing the attack ahead had stopped, making it the perfect time to seize the treasure, Xu Xiaoshou was on high alert.

“Stop!”

His pupils shrank, and he halted, desperately holding back A-Jie.

Sure enough,

The next second,

“Zan zan zan…”

The gray mist figure staggered out of the void step by step.

It seemed a bit weak, but not significantly.

It stepped directly onto the ice-blue white skull's head and looked down at the familiar figure below.

“Zan zan zan…”

“Kid, long time no see?”