Chapter 1060: Can't Win, Can't Escape... Then Call for Backup

With a clang, the Jin Wu Ling dropped right in front of him.

At that moment, Jiang Buyi's face turned as red as coals in a campfire, the color spreading visibly to the naked eye.

"Impudent!"

He shouted sharply, his clothes billowing without any wind, as holy power materialized into a massive palm in the air, ready to strike the arrogant and disrespectful Teng Shanhai across the face.

"Impudent!"

Teng Shanhai's single eye narrowed sternly as he bellowed in response.

How could he not realize that this palm was merely an illusion manifested by Xu Xiaoshou?

Even though the holy power fluctuations were vividly realistic, Teng Shanhai endured the pressure and, despite the heartache, pulled out another drop of holy blood, preparing to swallow it and counter force with force.

He had been preparing for this for so long!

"Impudent!"

Before either of them could complete their actions, a sharp cry echoed from the distant sky.

A streak of light then whistled through the heavens, transforming into the divine sword Xuan Cang, which plunged down between the two men, separating them.

Teng Shanhai, who had been holding the holy blood and glaring defiantly at the world, and Jiang Buyi, who was seething with shame and anger, eager to teach his opponent a lesson—both froze in place after this sword strike, no longer daring to move.

"Rao Yaoyao?"

Xu Xiaoshou, who had vanished into the air, recognized the sword and knew he couldn't stay any longer.

He quickly started to move, cautiously watching Jiang Buyi to see if the man would react to his actions in this invisible state.

The answer was no.

Delighted, Xu Xiaoshou picked up his pace, desperate to escape.

The place had become extremely dangerous, with all three people holding grudges against him. If he were discovered, he'd be dead without knowing how.

Earlier, due to Teng Shanhai's personal issues, the plan had surprisingly looped back and was proceeding smoothly.

Xu Xiaoshou had wanted to leave then, letting those two fight it out.

But Teng Shanhai's moment of glory had held him back, and human curiosity and the spirit of gossip kept Xu Xiaoshou from budging, as he wanted to see how Teng Shanhai would meet his end.

Not anymore.

If he didn't leave now, his life would be at risk!

A hundred li away, the Void Servant was still deeply embedded in the space, relentlessly devouring the surrounding holy power in an attempt to break free from its restraints.

Xu Xiaoshou glanced at it once before turning away, focusing on his own escape.

However, when he reached a spot a hundred li from Jiang Buyi, the Sheng Di Dragon Scale suddenly accelerated, beating wildly at a frequency beyond that of the deep sea's sacred depths.

"Shocked, passive value, 1."

Xu Xiaoshou's heart tightened. What did this mean?

Could it be warning him that taking another step beyond this battlefield would alert Jiang Buyi, who otherwise couldn't detect him?

"Sheng..."

Thinking of Jiang Buyi's exalted status, and glancing back to see the Void Servant trapped just like him, exactly a hundred li away from Jiang Buyi, Xu Xiaoshou's heart sank abruptly.

He expanded his "perception" fully, gripping the Mimicker and switching to Ye Xiaotian, using the clearer spatial attributes to try to discern the distribution of spatial nodes in the area.

As expected!

Centered on Jiang Buyi, the space within a hundred li was filled with densely packed spatial nodes, forming a spherical domain that rivaled even Ye Xiaotian's boundary domain!

This invisible domain had been completely undetectable to Xu Xiaoshou earlier without using spatial attributes!

"Boundary domain?"

"No! Even just the power level of these spatial nodes far surpasses a boundary domain—it should be called... Sheng Yu!"

"Half-saints form their own realm... So, without the suppression of the deep sea's forbidden array, Jiang Buyi, upon arriving, instinctively divided the surrounding hundred li into an independent world?"

"If I'm in this world and have vanished, he can't detect me now, but if a vanished person leaves his world and returns to the Void Island realm..."

"This process would certainly cause ripples, no matter how small, and Jiang Buyi at the half-saint level would inevitably sense my existence, then lock onto my position with thunderous force, and... kill me?"

Gazing at the spatial nodes radiating holy power, Xu Xiaoshou pieced it all together in a flash.

He swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing, his face etched with thick dread.

Back at Bai Ku, the storyteller had used the "Heavenly Exile" method to narrow down the area and pin down his location through elimination, even when he couldn't be found.

That was the first time Xu Xiaoshou's vanishing technique had been countered.

It made him realize that the vanishing technique wasn't foolproof—use it too much, and someone would find a way to counter it.

But he never imagined that Jiang Buyi, a complete stranger and in a situation where he was hidden in the shadows with his existence still unknown, could trap him so effortlessly through his innate saintly instincts.

Xu Xiaoshou was certain that Jiang Buyi's "Sheng Yu" wasn't deliberate—it was just what happened when a half-saint settled in, naturally forming its own realm.

Even so, he was utterly helpless...

"Damn it!"

In a moment of frustration, Xu Xiaoshou clutched the Sheng Di Dragon Scale, at a loss for what to do.

It was only thanks to the Water Ghost giving him this thing that he avoided a senseless disaster—and it was likely a fatal one at that!

Glancing back at the struggling Void Servant, Xu Xiaoshou gained even more insight.

Perhaps it wasn't that Jiang Buyi had pinpoint control over his power, which kept the Void Servant from being blasted thousands or tens of thousands of li away through a spatial rift.

It was simply that after Jiang Buyi's strike, the Void Servant had been hurled into this invisible Sheng Yu.

Sure enough, that massive Void Servant was still stuck on the unseen Sheng Yu barrier, struggling desperately and devouring the holy power—unknowingly drawn from the spatial nodes—in an attempt to consume it all and break free.

"The Sheng Yu is like a spider's web—if I try to cross it, even in my vanished state, I'll get stuck?"

"Or, even if I don't get stuck and can slip away smoothly, how could Jiang Buyi, the one who spun the web, not notice a fish slipping through the net?"

"Huff."

Xu Xiaoshou let out a heavy breath, suppressing his anxiety, and retracted his steps while clutching the Sheng Di Dragon Scale, silently concealing himself back into the surroundings.

For now, all he could do was hope that Rao Yaoyao's arrival would break the deadlock—perhaps, with her status as the red-clothed enforcer, she could force Jiang Buyi to retract the Sheng Yu.

But was that possible?

Gazing into the distance, Rao Yaoyao, dressed in a green skirt with shoulders as white as snow, descended gracefully from the nine heavens after the Xuan Cang divine sword had landed.

Xu Xiaoshou calculated the distance—she had come directly from beyond a hundred li.

That meant she knew about the Sheng Yu's existence, yet she wasn't afraid of being detected by Jiang Buyi, so she walked right into the battlefield.

If that was the case, she wouldn't need to order Jiang Buyi to retract the Sheng Yu to take Teng Shanhai away!

Relying on accidents or coincidences was simply unrealistic!

"I'm done for..."

Xu Xiaoshou once again felt the overwhelming power of a half-saint.

It was a kind of despair that left any spirit refiner below that level completely powerless—probably only the oblivious Teng Shanhai hadn't felt it yet.

Xu Xiaoshou's mind was in turmoil, but he quickly calmed himself down. The more critical the situation, the more he needed to stay composed.

"Jiang Buyi..."

"I really shouldn't have messed with this guy—I'm only at the master level..."

The wildly beating Sheng Di Dragon Scale began to slow as Xu Xiaoshou's thoughts steadied and his impulses faded.

Holding this ultimate danger-warning treasure, he felt a slight sense of security.

In that moment, the face of the Water Ghost flashed in his mind, along with the words the ghost had said deep in the sea about the "hand of the gods."

"Participating in the great dao struggle with master-level cultivation means seeking change in stability will lead to self-destruction. Only greed and ambition can sustain a spirit refiner's growth to the next stage."

Those words had fueled Xu Xiaoshou's ambitions, daring him to scheme against Jiang Buyi.

Now, faced with this trap...

"Opportunities and dangers coexist. A pawn only needs to shine brightly enough for the one holding the pieces to see its potential as the 'hand of the gods.' Then, the player will naturally handle what the other pawns can't."

Thinking about it in his current state, those words seemed utterly absurd.

After all, the people here were from the Holy Divine Palace and the Jiang clan—both his enemies.

Xu Xiaoshou was completely isolated, yet he didn't believe the Water Ghost's words were entirely nonsense or meant to deceive him.

He trusted Ba Zun An and knew that Ba Zun An valued him highly, aware that he was always stirring up trouble. So, Ba Zun An must have left him some backup for situations like this.

What could it be?

"Ba Zun An knows about my uniqueness and lets me act freely, but he wouldn't just leave me hanging."

"So, if I truly encounter something I can't handle on my own, he should step in."

"After all, Rao Yaoyao isn't foolish. As long as she negotiates with Teng Shanhai and Jiang Buyi, those two will realize they've been played by me, and I might still be hiding nearby, unable to escape..."

"But Ba Zun An can't come here right now!"

Xu Xiaoshou pondered, his thoughts growing frantic again. The situation was too unique.

Calm down! Calm down!

He kept reminding himself, needing even more composure.

His "perception," which enhanced his memory, began searching for any "support." Xu Xiaoshou quickly realized that, given his special nature, Ba Zun An couldn't monitor him constantly and intervene in time.

But he must have left something behind for...

"For me to contact him in reverse?"

Yes...

"The communication bead!"

Xu Xiaoshou immediately pulled out the communication bead and tried to contact Ba Zun An. Maybe he was on Void Island right now?

But it failed...

The communication bead showed no response—Void Island was its own realm, unconnected to the Holy Divine Continent.

"The Ba Zi Order!"

Xu Xiaoshou then took out the Ba Zi Order and quickly infused it with spiritual energy.

"Save me, save me, I'm in danger right now..."

Hidden in his vanished state, he whispered desperately into the order, not caring about his dignity. It was just a pawn using the player's tools.

But it still failed...

The Ba Zi Order clearly had no communication function.

"Damn it..."

Xu Xiaoshou was getting desperate. He didn't even dare listen to the exchanges among the three on the field, fearing he'd be discovered and dragged out to die the next second.

"What could it be, what could it be..."

Scratching his head in utter confusion, Xu Xiaoshou wished he could crack his skull open and examine every detail he might have overlooked.

Suddenly, his thoughts cleared, and his eyes lit up.

"Yes, I still have one thing I haven't used!"

With a flip of his hand, he retrieved the two spiritual talismans from the Yun Lun Mountains, brought by Lei Shuangxing and Luo Leilei. Xu Xiaoshou saw them as a lifeline.

Back then, those two hadn't explained what the talismans did.

But with Ba Zun An's capabilities, he knew no one below half-saint could put him in a deadly situation, so having Lei Shuangxing and Luo Leilei bring these talismans was likely for exactly this kind of scenario!

"Tong Fu, Si Fu..."

Weighing the two talismans with unknown functions, Xu Xiaoshou chose the Tong Fu.

He didn't think the Si Fu would be useful here—if throwing it out could kill a half-saint, he wouldn't believe it for a second.

But the Tong Fu was different.

"Connection? Or communication?"

"Hope it's a connection that directly summons Ba Zun An..."

Xu Xiaoshou clasped his hands together and hurriedly infused spiritual energy into the Tong Fu, only to find...

Still no reaction!

"Shit!"

Xu Xiaoshou was breaking down.

Had he guessed wrong?

Was Ba Zun An really just letting him fend for himself, without any backup, even in a situation like this?

"I don't believe it!"

With bloodshot eyes, Xu Xiaoshou refused to give up.

He even drew on the holy power in his energy sea, pouring it desperately into the Tong Fu.

"Buzz!"

The talisman trembled.

Xu Xiaoshou's hand jerked, and joy spread across his face.

It worked! It really worked!

But...

"Why does this talisman need holy power to activate? If I hadn't gotten the Sheng Ji Fruit, what then?" Xu Xiaoshou's eyes widened in disbelief, cursing internally.

On second thought, he probably only considered using this Tong Fu after consuming holy blood and still being outmatched.

Or perhaps, this Tong Fu could be used to block an enemy's holy power strike and trigger passively?

"You bastard! Making things so complicated for a mere pawn—if I die, what then?"

Xu Xiaoshou had no energy to complain; he just hoped the Tong Fu would summon some powerful help. If it only brought the storyteller, it might not be enough for this situation.

"Drip, drip, drip..."

The Tong Fu vibrated, emitting a faint dripping sound. It had no communication or summoning function—it just rang steadily, like a signal transmitter.

Xu Xiaoshou was stunned, looking around.

Summoning help was taking so long—if this were in battle, the person would arrive after everything was over!

"Drip, drip, drip..."

But the Tong Fu just kept ringing, with no other signs.

"Not ready yet?" Xu Xiaoshou felt his teeth ache as he clutched the lifesaving talisman, anxiously scanning the area.

Unable to wait any longer, he turned his gaze back to the three figures in the field.

After Rao Yaoyao entered, she had already defused the tense standoff between Jiang Buyi and Teng Shanhai. She positioned herself in front of her ally and narrowed her eyes at Jiang Buyi.

Before she could say more, Teng Shanhai, seeing his own people arrive, excitedly pointed at the opponent and shouted:

"Rao Yaoyao, he's Xu Xiaoshou! Let's team up and take him down here. We can't let him escape this time!"