Cube-like Supernatural Powers: Longevity Begins with Qi Refining

Chapter 32 [Chain Mission 4: Breaking the SiegeEscape]

"This is a big problem."

"Senior Sister Zixuan, quickly activate your innate divine power to deduce the secrets of heaven and think of a solution..."

As Xiong Zhou was speaking, he suddenly felt something was off, and his voice grew softer and softer.

He immediately turned around again and looked at the location of the other members of the Mountain and River Squad.

The person has disappeared.

All around, whether it was Zi Xuan, Wu Kang, Duanmu Ning, or Li Tianqing, they all suddenly vanished without a trace.

Xiong Zhou felt a little numb, and his facial expression was a bit stiff.

"The dark place..."

Xiong Zhou muttered a few words and pouted.

"What exactly is this mechanism?"

"Wouldn't it be a good opportunity to divide and conquer when they want to separate the five of us Tai Li True Disciples and fight those towering divine corpses?"

"Now that we've just finished clearing out nearly a million giant corpses, and we've relaxed our vigilance a little, this is a good time to act."

"Why wait until I realized something was wrong before resorting to this method to separate the five of us, the true disciples of Tai Li?"

Before Xiong Zhou could finish muttering to himself, the death energy and corpse energy in this underground cavern suddenly became extremely dense.

These primordial energies of heaven and earth, capable of causing immense negative impacts on living beings, condensed in mid-air into a viscous, grayish-black liquid, falling continuously like raindrops, erasing all traces of "life," seemingly attempting to completely drag this lifeless land into the world of the dead.

The heavy, gray-black rain fell silently to the ground.

The bright yellow light source that Senior Sister Zixuan had previously created by mobilizing the earth's energy was quickly extinguished during this terrible downpour.

The magma sources that Xiong Zhou placed in the various depressions were cooled and frozen into square blocks one after another.

The underground environment, which was still slightly lit, suddenly plunged into deep darkness, so quiet that one could hear the flow of their own blood.

For no apparent reason, Xiong Zhou felt waves of intense discomfort, a strong sense of physiological rejection and extreme aversion.

A few breaths later, each drop of liquid Qi of heaven and earth that touched his body was like a tiny needle piercing his flesh and bones, causing Xiong Zhou to groan in pain.

"Splash..."

The spirituality of the earthen and wooden heavy armor on Xiong Zhou's body gradually became active, and it began to spontaneously absorb the Qi of heaven and earth from the inner world, supporting a warm light.

Strands of bright yellow light, imbued with a profound vitality, formed a barrier, blocking the gray-black raindrops that kept falling on him.

The power of the cunning bloodline, in the process of fighting against death energy and corpse energy, has its inherent laws further revived, constantly dispelling the power that extinguishes life.

"cough....."

Xiong Zhou coughed muffledly, and a wisp of gray-black Qi of heaven and earth emerged from his mouth, merging into the lightless underground cavern.

"This is terrible... what kind of hellish environment is this?"

"This is it, I'm doomed. Without guidance from Senior Sister Zixuan and Senior Brother Li Tianqing, which direction should I go to complete the third stage of the mission?"

"Am I going to be stuck here forever until the True Disciple Ranking Competition is over?"

Thinking of this, Xiong Zhou immediately took flight and charged straight in one direction, relying on the blessings bestowed upon him by heaven and earth as an auspicious beast and a primordial totem, to try his luck.

However, this idea quickly faded from my mind.

The current environment is like the underworld, but so far it is still bearable.

But if you wander around in this pitch-black environment and accidentally fall into some even more sinister trap, things will get even more complicated.

Perhaps the rating given to him by Taili Tianwang will be significantly reduced here.

However, doing nothing and just waiting is not a good idea either.

If he just waits like this, his score from the SkyNet system might be deducted.

Being single-minded leads to being blocked at both ends.

Xiong Zhou patted his head, his face contorted with bitterness, as if he had swallowed a bitter pill, amidst the clanging of the heavy armor clashing together.

"what?"

"Weren't those negative energies of heaven and earth cleared away? How come the power of my bloodline is still reviving, and at such a rapid pace?"

Xiong Zhou was a little stunned.

Just then, a slightly familiar feeling came over me.

The sound of the waves crashing against the dreamlike ocean in the interior gradually intensified, a special kind of excitement emerged in my mind, the intensity of inspiration began to rise rapidly, and the scenery in front of me gradually blurred.

On a whim!

On the slightly hazy, gray-black rain-soaked earth, he saw his senior brother Li Tianqing unfurl a ten-meter-long scroll, reflecting a corner of misty, towering green mountains, which became a barrier, blocking the torrential rain falling from the sky.

Several hundred breaths had passed. Li Tianqing, who was already quite exhausted and in poor condition, had turned as pale as paper.

The hand that held up the green mountain painting high trembled uncontrollably, and the Qi of Heaven and Earth surging from the inner world was intermittent and difficult to maintain.

"Clatter..."

Senior Brother Li Tianqing collapsed in an extremely disheveled state. The materialized green mountain scroll curled up and retreated into the paper fan that served as his companion, transforming into a stream of ink-colored light that flowed back into the inner world.

The gray-black rain poured down without any hindrance, corroding Senior Brother Li Tianqing's body, defiling his inner world, and extinguishing his vitality.

In just a few dozen breaths, his body was washed away by the materialized death energy and corpse energy, turning him into a corpse, which then disintegrated into translucent fragments, leaving no trace of his existence.

The perspective blurred again, and the scene shifted, revealing Xiong Zhou to his senior brother Wu Kang.

On the same dark earth, two companion artifacts, their roars echoing like dragons, resonated with a vast and righteous energy originating from heaven and earth, forcefully resisting the gray-black rain that continuously fell from mid-air.

However, even with a special physique that excels in prolonged battles, after nearly half an hour, the Qi of the inner world was completely exhausted. Exhausted, the creature collapsed, and after a dozen breaths, its life force dissipated, and it died completely. Its body disintegrated into pieces of semi-transparent fragments, disappearing without a trace.

With his vision blurring for the third time, Xiong Zhou saw Senior Sister Zi Xuan sitting cross-legged on the dark earth.

She would occasionally wave her companion weapon, mobilizing the earth's energy that could be found everywhere deep within the earth, transforming it into miniature earth vein formations to resist the gray-black raindrops falling from the sky.

In this situation, she not only withstood the corrosive effects of the gray-black raindrops, but her condition also began to improve with the replenishment of thick earth vein energy.

During this time, Senior Sister Zixuan's fingers were still intermittently making hand seals, seemingly having found some key information and was making deductions, trying to break the deadlock.

Xiong Zhou's spirits lifted; his hope of escaping his predicament seemed within reach.

About half an hour later, Senior Sister Zixuan suddenly stopped her clenching fingers. The veins on her fingertips bulged, and black lines spread across her cheeks and palms. Her body collapsed backward, black blood flowed from her seven orifices, and her life force dissipated.

In the blink of an eye, terrifying black blood gushed from every part of the body, turning the corpse into a mangled remains with exposed white bones.

A moment later, the corpse disintegrated into translucent fragments, leaving only miniature earth vein arrays composed of earth vein energy, which were still in operation.

"The toxicity contained within the Qi of Heaven and Earth..."

Seeing Zixuan's miserable state, Xiong Zhou immediately recalled what Duanmu had mentioned before: the poison hidden within the Qi of Heaven and Earth.

"The more Qi of heaven and earth one refines, the more potent the poison becomes, until one day it erupts suddenly, causing immediate death."

Xiong Zhou was horrified. He couldn't even imagine the intense pain that Senior Sister Zi Xuan must have endured when she died from the poison.

My vision began to blur for the fourth time.

Senior Sister Duanmu Ning appeared before my eyes.

As soon as Senior Sister Duanmu noticed the abnormal situation and the disappearance of the team members, before the death energy and corpse energy began to increase violently, she suddenly tore off the wooden box she was carrying and threw it in front of her.

One by one, the wooden blocks fell from the wooden box and were reassembled in an extremely orderly manner, transforming into a wooden door.

With a gentle pull of the doorknob, a small world, its laws incomplete, instantly appeared before one's eyes.

Just before the gray-black raindrops fell and were about to touch her body, Senior Sister Duanmu stepped into this small world, avoiding the torrential rain.

The wooden door closed automatically and disappeared without a trace.

"Holy crap!"

Such a smooth survival maneuver left Xiong Zhou speechless.

He believed that his ability to survive was already the best among all the Tai Li disciples who had reached the first level of Qi Refining.

As it turned out, there was always someone stronger than the strongest, and Master Gou Dao was actually in the team.

He really hadn't expected this move.

"Having a small world of one's own for protection is the ultimate way to survive, unless there is a crisis that could shatter the entire world."

"This method of surviving, even at the sixth level of Qi Refining, could still be quite useful, right?"

Xiong Zhou thought to himself that he had learned a lot.

At this moment, his vision became blurry again.

In this subtle experience, Xiong Zhou felt as if he were being lifted up into the sky by countless hands.

Looking down, you can see the complete shape of the shady area.

In the very center of the yin land stands a towering nine-story altar, exuding a vast and boundless aura.

Beside this altar were towering corpses, their heads bowed to the earth, their faces earnest and fanatical.

But in those decaying pupils, Xiong Zhou could vaguely see a wisp of extremely faint, extremely deep, extremely cruel... despair.

He couldn't imagine what he had encountered to produce such a bizarre mix of sincerity, fanaticism, and despair.

Suddenly, Xiong Zhou saw the towering, divine corpses begin to move.

They all rushed in one direction, roaring and bloodthirsty in their eyes, until they turned into handfuls of ashes and vanished into nothingness.

Xiong Zhou's thoughts sharpened, and he focused his gaze on the nine-story altar.

Here lies a colorless crystal, flowing with a dark golden hue and possessing 108 asymmetrical facets of varying sizes, slowly rotating. It appears both sacred and strangely mysterious.

It is flowing out wisps of death energy and corpse energy, seemingly without ceasing or enduring.

Xiong Zhou tried again to concentrate his thoughts more clearly, to see this thing more clearly.

Suddenly, Xiong Zhou's vision blurred, and he felt as if he were falling from the sky.

"ha......"

"call......"

Taking a deep breath, Xiong Zhou's vision returned to normal.

Before them, there were still drops of gray-black rain falling from the sky, striking the light screen emanating from the heavy armor and splashing up patterns like water ripples.

He muttered to himself, "Senior Sister Zixuan, Senior Brother Wu Kang, and Senior Brother Li Tianqing, have they been eliminated?"

Seemingly sensing Xiong Zhou's confusion, some of the gray-black raindrops falling from the sky showed a very obvious change in their trailing marks.

Heaven and earth seemed to turn gray at the same moment, like an unfolded scroll, which made Xiong Zhou feel uncomfortable.

The raindrops condensed into lines of text, which were displayed before Xiong Zhou's eyes.

[Note: In this ranking competition for the first level of Qi Refining, the True Disciple of Tai Li, the Mountain and River Team, and Li Tianqing's True Disciple have been eliminated; their scores and evaluations have been terminated.]

[Note: In this ranking competition for the first level of Qi Refining, the Mountain and River Team and Wu Kang's disciple have been eliminated, and their scores and evaluations have been terminated.]

[Note: In this ranking competition for the first level of Qi Refining, the Mountain and River Team and the Zi Xuan True Disciple have been eliminated, and their corresponding scores and evaluations have been terminated.]

Then, a string of text and information that Xiong Zhou had not anticipated appeared.

[Chain Mission 3, Completed]

[The performance of the members of the Mountain and River Squad has been uploaded to the Tai Li Sky Network, and they have received the 3th round of mission score.]

[Task Review:]

After encountering the Yindi Trap, Li Tianqing's True Disciple, Wu Kang's True Disciple, and Zi Xuan's True Disciple were eliminated. Duanmu Ning's True Disciple temporarily took refuge in the small world, while Xiong Zhou's True Disciple successfully withstood the attack.

Subsequently, the power of Xiong Zhou's true bloodline was passively activated, and his impulsive ability was also activated, allowing him to glimpse a hidden corner of the Yin Land and pinpoint the source of the death energy and corpse energy in the Azure Sky Realm.

[The Mountain and Rivers team has suffered a sharp decline in members, and its captain has been eliminated. Based on the team's current highest overall score, Yi Shun will take his place.]

[Current Mountain and River Squad Leader: Xiong Zhouzhen]

The words before Xiong Zhou were rearranged, faintly revealing a terrifying crimson hue.

[Chain Mission 4: Break the Heist/Escape]

[Task Description: Xiong Zhouzhen's impulsive act of forcibly probing the source of death energy and corpse energy in the Azure Sky Realm has aroused the ancient remnant soul that is dormant.]

Now, the ancient remnant soul, resurrected through the body of that fallen, immortal holy being, has awakened.

[Breakthrough: Annihilate this resurrected ancient remnant soul (0/1)]

[Escape: Survive for sixty days while being pursued by this resurrected ancient remnant soul (0/60)]

[Task, Start]

The sky and the earth returned to their normal colors.

The words formed from those raindrops seem to have never appeared.

However, Xiong Zhou was so nervous that he stopped breathing, and large beads of sweat kept appearing on his forehead.

Before him, a semi-transparent, illusory afterimage silently appeared.

Those scarlet eyes were filled with cruelty, bloodlust, chaos, madness, and a hatred that seemed destined to last forever.

A hideous, translucent hand covered in black blood stretched out seemingly slowly but actually swiftly, striking directly at Xiong Zhou's crown chakra.

"An unexpected variable from the sky..."

"Your vitality, your body, everything about you..."

"It's mine now."