Chapter 630: To Deep Emotions and Nature, A Shield

He first summoned two colossal white skeletons that blotted out the sky. In an instant, the sky was covered and turned dark. A-Bing and A-Huo only paused for a split second before simultaneously looking up to face the arrow in the sky.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

The Cinderglow White Skeleton, A-Huo, was the first to go berserk. Amidst its frantic, gibbering dance, white flames shot from its feet, launching a furious punch imbued with scorching power into the sky.

Meanwhile, the Ice-Blue White Skeleton, A-Bing, moved its hands so fast they became blurs. Beneath its towering body, the profound ice-element formation diagram lit up, instantly covering the entire Azure Silence Sword Realm. A biting north wind blew, bringing with it withering ice and snow.

"Crack!"

The swirling dust in the air froze solid, and the power of the Three-Day Frozen Tribulation was fully unleashed, with ice crystals replacing everything. At this moment, whether it was the warring mountain peak or the entire ground surface within the Eight Palaces' covered range, all became covered in ice crystals, and a chilling cold instantly permeated everything.

—The Ice Age!

Gou Wuyue and Elder Sang broke free the instant after they were encased in ice. Both were instantly horrified. Not a single person dared to believe that a mere Xiantian realm cultivator could unleash so many trump cards at such a life-or-death moment. Even Elder Sang felt that the normally unreliable Xu Xiaoshou had transformed into a completely different person.

But this wasn't the end!

While the two white skeletons were powerful, their strength was too limited. Even if they could contend with a Cutting Path cultivator at the Throne stage, a Void Realm expert could likely break through their defenses. A Half-Saint... how could they possibly withstand an attack from one?

Without hesitation, the Berserk Giant raised its hands high, mobilizing the fundamental powers of the "Cinderglow Fire Seed" and the "Three-Day Frozen Tribulation." At this moment, the power on the several-zhang-tall golden glowing giant was clearly divided into two halves. One half was blazing white flames, capable of incinerating half the sky. The other half was an ice sculpture covering its body, capable of freezing even black holes.

Both fundamental powers, each at least Cutting Path level and imbued with calamitous energy from supreme treasures, were extracted, yet the Berserk Giant still seemed unsatisfied. With a bang, it propelled itself into the sky with a powerful kick from its calf. Then, with a clap, the completely opposing fundamental powers between its palms were merged together.

"Boom—"

A muffled sound reverberated in mid-air. An nameless power surged, shattering the mountain peak and disintegrating the Silence Swords. With the momentum of a hundred-meter sprint, a javelin throw, and utter desperation, the Berserk Giant fiercely hurled the forcibly merged ultimate movements of ice and fire towards the arrow in the sky.

"Whoosh!"

Blue and white intertwined. Energy imbued with an endless gray destructive aura instantly bypassed the Cinderglow White Skeleton, A-Huo, who was first in its path, and directly met the arrow that had pierced two realms.

"Not enough!"

"Still not enough!"

"Nowhere near enough!"

The premonition of imminent death had not lifted, and Xu Xiaoshou felt numb. He seemed to have no other options left but to stand there and await death.

"Disappearance Art."

With a mental shout, the Berserk Giant instantly vanished under the gaze of Gou Wuyue and Elder Sang. But...

"Being pursued, passive value +1."

The information window still popped up. Xu Xiaoshou despaired. "Disappearance Art" was powerful, but it was merely an awakened ability of a master-level passive skill. How could it possibly withstand a Half-Saint's attack? Even if it could truly temporarily erase his existence from this world... just imagine, when Ai Cangsheng's arrow descends, not only would Xu Xiaoshou likely be erased, but the entire Eight Palaces would cease to exist!

"Mama..." A call emerged from his chest. Xu Xiaoshou's mind tensed.

"No!"

But A-Jie didn't hesitate for a moment, stepping forward. After leaving Xu Xiaoshou's cover, the disappearance effect lifted, and A-Jie appeared under Gou Wuyue's startled gaze. Its fists pulled back, one after the other, as Void power burst from its body, and it assumed a fighter's combat stance.

"Mama!"

"Being protected, passive value +1."

"A Heavenly Secret Puppet?" Gou Wuyue was stunned. This young man, Xu Xiaoshou, possesses a Heavenly Secret Puppet? Judging by its appearance, it couldn't be Dao Qiongcang's current creation; it could only be his original work. Which means... At that moment, he was lost in thought.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!!" Xu Xiaoshou's heart clenched. He had desperately protected A-Jie in the White Cave, daring not let it appear before the Red Clothes or White Clothes, precisely because he feared a great secret would be uncovered. Yet, right in front of Gou Wuyue, A-Jie, for the first time, disobeyed and directly stepped out. He was touched, but what about A-Jie afterward?

"No!"

"There might very well be no afterward..."

Even A-Jie was disobedient. Xu Xiaoshou realized that this very moment might truly be the last of his life. The Disappearance Art was ineffective, so he chose to disengage it immediately. Then, without hesitation, he immediately flung Mu Zixi from his spiritual abode, fiercely sending her towards Elder Sang.

"Run—"

A low, hoarse roar escaped him. Although no discernible sound of "run" could be heard, the urgent, anxious emotion was instantly received by Mu Zixi. She couldn't even process what was happening. Myriad Silence Swords stood in the void, and that swordsman... Master was rushing towards her with a black hand; what was he doing...? And Xu Xiaoshou... Mu Zixi was inexplicably terrified.

Xu Xiaoshou had already transformed into the golden giant that only appeared in moments of survival, standing resolutely to face the indescribable black speck on the horizon. This was a death trap!

"Death..." At the mere thought of that word, Mu Zixi's heart instantly clenched. She simply couldn't imagine what kind of crisis her senior brother, who would normally immediately put himself into his spiritual abode when facing danger, had encountered that made him no longer trust his own spiritual abode and instead throw her out.

Her figure, falling backward, clearly collided with Master's hands. Yet, within the void, there seemed to be an interlayer space, completely separating the world she was in from Master's world.

"God-Devil Eyes!"

With a mental shout, Mu Zixi's eyes instantly transformed, and she glared at the interlayer space. "Bang." Under Gou Wuyue's astonished gaze, she painfully slammed into Elder Sang's embrace.

"The space, it was broken open?" At this moment, even Gou Wuyue was startled. It was one thing for a Xiantian realm cultivator to possess such trump cards. But how could this casually tossed-out little girl, with a single glare, break open his "Luofu Sword Heaven?"

"Master..." Mu Zixi panicked. Her eyes stung, and to her surprise, everything before her went completely dark. She reached out and wiped her eyes; she wasn't crying, yet there was a viscous liquid in her palm.

"Don't be afraid, I'm here." Elder Sang held Mu Zixi. With a glance, he incinerated the blood in the girl's palm with white flames, without letting her notice a thing. The moment Mu Zixi broke through the space, he immediately flew towards the golden glowing giant.

"Run—" Xu Xiaoshou roared hoarsely again. Elder Sang... What could Elder Sang do against this! That was a Half-Saint's arrow. Even if the old man was formidable, how could he possibly block it?

"Stop yelling nonsense!" With a backhand, Elder Sang fed Mu Zixi a pill and flung her to the side. A spatial crack appeared, and with a whoosh, Mu Zixi vanished. Only then did Elder Sang rise again and rush towards the golden giant. In his eyes was absolute resolve!

"What kind of master lets his disciple take the lead when he himself is present?" Gou Wuyue watched from behind in silence. Admittedly, he was a righteous person. If this scene were to occur at another time, he might truly choose to stand by and not interfere. Whether they could withstand Ai Cangsheng's arrow would depend entirely on the fate of this master and disciple.

But today... The Sacred Temple's trial lay ahead, and the task of apprehending the Holy Slave was still to be completed. The bodies of White-Clothed comrades who died in the Eight Palaces were not yet cold, and hundreds of eyes were watching his every move. In a person's life, there are truly many actions forced by necessity. Honestly, Gou Wuyue didn't want to do this. But at this moment, he couldn't find a reason to convince himself otherwise! With opposing factions, how could he truly choose to stand by and do nothing?!

"Apologies, I might have to play the villain this time." Gou Wuyue's palm tightened, and with a sound like 'Nu Lan', he pointed forward.

"Three Lives Flow, Eliminate!"

"Buzz—"

Myriad Silence Swords trembled. Elder Sang's body suddenly burst with green sword energy as the Azure Silence Sword Array, having received its command, transformed into three torrents that pierced towards him.

"Get lost, you old man!!" Elder Sang flipped in mid-air, his sleeveless, burnt-red hands swishing horizontally. He forcibly used the momentum of the Three Lives Flow's impact to propel himself towards Xu Xiaoshou's direction.

Gou Wuyue's hand trembled, and his renowned sword paused. He heavily closed his eyes. "Sorry, I can't do that."

"Thwang—"

Green sword energy pierced through Elder Sang's body, fixing him in place. The hold lasted only for a brief, agonizing moment. But at this moment, the arrow piercing the air had already traversed two realms, carrying endless black and red light, and was plummeting from the sky.

"The arrow!" Elder Sang saw the arrowhead in his spiritual sense, and he went completely mad. "Gou Wuyue, you old dog!!!" He suddenly trembled, hateful cries erupting as white flames burst from his entire body, instantly incinerating the sword energy. Yet that brief pause, after all, was still a delay! How fast was an arrow that had crossed two realms? When Elder Sang tried to move again, it was simply too late.

"No—"

"Whoosh!"

With a "bang," the void first exploded with dazzling colors as the "Cinderglow Prime Seed" and "Three-Day Frozen Tribulation" collided head-on with Ai Cangsheng's arrow. The intricately interwoven gray power was instantly swept away. The two great primal forces, merged by the Berserk Giant, stalled the arrow for less than an instant before being broken through.

"Roar, roar, roar!"

The Cinderglow White Skeleton seemed to have gone mad, directly confronting the arrow head-on. This irritable creature didn't even show fear, launching a massive fist straight into the air.

"Thud!"

There wasn't even half a breath of stalemate; the arrow instantly pierced through its fist, then, with momentum, tore through and exited from its right shoulder.

"Screech, screech, screech..."

The Cinderglow White Skeleton howled in pain and thrashed wildly. But after the arrow pierced its body, in less than three breaths of time, the residual Sin power from the arrow immediately swept over its entire being. Xu Xiaoshou stared blankly as A-Huo's body suddenly turned black, the entire skeleton transforming into a state of demonic corruption, before exploding with a bang into festering decay.

"A-Huo..." He stared wide-eyed, completely stunned. Everything outside the immediate battle seemed to suddenly fall silent at this moment.

The Sin Bow: one arrow, even a mere graze, could instantly ignite the desires of all living beings, destroying their sanity and corrupting their souls. Xu Xiaoshou knew this. But he had never imagined that A-Huo, with its mere flicker of sentience, barely even qualifying as sentient, would also suffer such a calamity and be affected by the Sin Bow's negative effects. From this, it seemed that A-Bing, A-Jie...

"Get out of the way!" Xu Xiaoshou went mad and, with a crash, rushed to the front. But at this moment, A-Bing stood at the very front. The arrow, with "thump, thump, thump," tore through layers of impregnable ice walls as if piercing a sponge. Then, amidst A-Bing's rapidly blurring hand gestures and incantations, it abruptly pierced through its skull.

Time seemed to freeze.

"Bang!"

The blackened A-Bing exploded.

"Roar—"

Xu Xiaoshou went utterly mad. He lunged forward, about to stop A-Jie. But with a whoosh, A-Jie had already appeared in front of the Sin Bow's arrow, fearlessly grabbing it with both palms, clamping down on it tightly.

"Hiss, hiss, hiss..."

The earthy yellow Void power on its body was rapidly eroding.

"Mama!" A-Jie was resolute. But how could an arrow that had broken through two realms possibly be held by it?

"Rip!"

Its palm was worn through, with a soft sound. A-Jie's limbs swung outwards, its body bent like a bow, and it was knocked back by the sheer force. Swirling Sin Devil energy burst forth, and the moment the arrow pierced its body, A-Jie's body instantly swelled up like a balloon. A portion of the devil energy was absorbed, rapidly repairing its body. But the Sin power was too potent. Forcibly absorbing it would only cause it to burst.

"Bang!" One arm exploded.

"Bang!" Then another leg.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

Like a machine falling apart, pieces of A-Jie's body were blown off, and it completely lost its power to resist. It finally twisted its remaining head, and in its crimson eyes, there was a profound emotional expression.

"Mama..."

"Dead?"

"All dead..."

Xu Xiaoshou mumbled unconsciously, watching all this helplessly. The berserk power in his Berserk Giant form should have been capable of destroying and rampaging over everything. Yet before the Half-Saint's immense power, he couldn't even parry or protect. He could only watch helplessly as those precious ones who followed him, one by one, chose to sacrifice themselves to protect him.

"The arrow!" Intense hatred flared in Xu Xiaoshou's eyes. The Sin Bow's arrow, now unhindered, came straight for him, and his emotions spiraled completely out of control. His spiritual sense probed within his spiritual abode. Suddenly, a pulsating life aura was detected. Xu Xiaoshou yanked it out. He looked closely, and his crimson eyes froze in surprise.

"Yu Zhiwen?"

Yes. Yu Zhiwen!

At that time in the White Cave, everyone was trapped in the Storyteller's ancient book space. At the last moment, Yu Zhiwen had shouted "run," and Xu Xiaoshou, wrapping her in white flames, successfully smuggled her into his spiritual abode, making everyone else believe she was dead. In reality, she was only slightly better off than the ice sculpture Lu Ke. Trapped in the spiritual abode, she could move freely but had lost the ability to pursue the Four Swords.

"Xu Xiaoshou?" Yu Zhiwen, yanked out by the golden palm, felt as if her bones were about to shatter. But as soon as she appeared, she saw the golden giant. And then she looked back...

An arrow!

"Lord Cangsheng!" Yu Zhiwen's starry eyes trembled, and her mind went blank. Ai Cangsheng's arrow... How could it be shooting at Xu Xiaoshou? Her pretty face instantly turned pale. Facing this sudden and completely out-of-control battle, she lost all judgment. The chill of death descended!

Yet, in her mind, the scenes from the White Cave were vivid, and a similar memory resurfaced. That was when the renowned sword Yanmang had emerged. Lava, roaring up from underground like the apocalypse, destroyed the earth and void with an indescribable momentum, piercing into the sky. Yu Zhiwen had even thought she died at that moment. But when she awoke again... How similar was that scene to the present moment? The same golden giant, the same glimpse of doom through his fingers, the same life-or-death crisis...

Just as back then in the ancient book space, she completely disregarded her faction's stance and shouted that single word: "Run." She turned her head back at light speed. Yu Zhiwen looked at the Berserk Giant, whose crimson eyes were filled with hatred, and without a moment's thought, blurted out, "Xu Xiaoshou, quick, grab me..."

"...A human shield!!!"