Chapter 137: The Grandmaster's Body

Under attack, passive value: 1.

Under attack, passive value: 1.

Passive value: 100861.

Passive value: 200404.

Xu Xiaoshou was feeling ecstatic, thrilled from dodging and fleeing like a scurrying rat.

He had only left a faint trace of spiritual sense in the information bar, devoting everything else to the game of hide-and-seek.

In less than a quarter of an hour, his passive value had already surged past two hundred thousand, though he wondered why it stopped there...

The white sword qi hovering above his head was like it had been fueled by some frenzy, launching savage attacks the moment it locked onto him. The frequency had easily exceeded five hundred strikes per second and was still climbing.

If that were all, Xu Xiaoshou would have been over the moon, but the oversized white sword qi kept multiplying, with several blasts hitting every second.

At times, it sealed off every escape route, leaving him no choice but to take hits and temporarily retreat from Heilu Pubu to dodge.

"Jiayou, Xu Xiaoshou!"

"Hold on a little longer, and we'll have enough for the powder money!"

Xu Xiaoshou's eyes burned with determination; these terrifying attacks couldn't break him. If not for avoiding a bigger loss over minor gains, he could have maxed out "Qiangzhuang," but that would be foolish.

Sizzle!

Two more massive gashes were slashed open, making Xu Xiaoshou wince in pain.

Before he could escape Heilu Pubu, the white sword qi overhead suddenly vanished entirely, leaving him stunned.

"What's going on? Lost your edge?"

"Oh no! You need to keep it up!"

Xu Xiaoshou panicked on the spot. Just then, a violent tremor ran through him as his spiritual sense blared a death warning.

He jerked his head up and saw the top of the black waterfall completely engulfed in white, unleashing an endless barrage of oversized white sword qi.

Xu Xiaoshou nearly wet himself. His "Perception" skill confirmed it—he wasn't imagining things.

— It wasn't ordinary white sword qi; it was all oversized white sword qi!

"What's the deal? Can't handle a fair fight?"

There was no time to leap out of the waterfall. In that split second of crisis, Xu Xiaoshou hurriedly maxed out his core passive skill.

"Qiangzhuang."

"It's really at the Zongshi level..." He stared at the information bar, momentarily dazed.

His joy didn't last; in the next instant, the fearsome oversized white sword qi slammed him into the depths of the black pool, sending up several zhang of splashing water.

Everything around was pitch-black, with visibility at zero.

Xu Xiaoshou twisted his neck back into place, realizing he was deeply embedded in the pool bottom.

Touching his neck, he was still reeling in shock.

"A bit painful..." Despite the horrific sword qi onslaught, he was completely unscathed except for his head being slightly knocked askew.

"The power of Zongshi?"

Xu Xiaoshou thought of Sang Lao's Jin Zhao Tian Fen. In the past, he hadn't seen much in that torturous spiritual technique, but now that he'd entered this realm...

This was absolutely a divine skill!

Compared to breaking through the continental shackles and stepping into Zongshi, the pain endured beforehand was almost trivial.

Suffer briefly, and gain toughness for life—who wouldn't want that?

With such insane defense, even tenth-grade or ninth-grade spiritual weapons probably couldn't scratch the surface!

"A bit too overpowered..."

After recklessly using skill points to reach Zongshi, Xu Xiaoshou felt only deep respect for those who truly broke through the shackles on their own to attain this level.

"Real men!"

The leap from Xiantian to Zongshi was nothing short of extraordinary.

Even under a storm of oversized white sword qi, he emerged unharmed. He could only imagine the agony others endured before their metamorphosis.

A fishy stench hit his nose, and Xu Xiaoshou instantly knew he was expelling impurities again.

Even his nearly perfect Xiantian body had this foul odor... He couldn't tolerate it.

In a flash, he bounded up like a nimble spirit monkey, rebounding from the deep pool and soaring into the air.

Sure enough, a layer of black grime coated his skin!

A quick rinse in the waterfall left him completely refreshed from head to toe.

His muscles were rock-solid, faintly glowing with spiritual light and carrying a subtle fragrance—utterly mystical.

Xu Xiaoshou nodded in satisfaction.

"Hmm? That's not right?"

"Why did it stop attacking?"

He glanced upward; the white sword qi was no longer targeting him, simply raining down on its own, as if that final barrage had erased all interest in Xu Xiaoshou.

"Don't stop! I haven't died yet—keep going!"

Xu Xiaoshou checked the information bar below:

"Passive value: 288666."

Not even three hundred thousand!

He was still far from the 450,000 needed for powder money!

But no matter how he shouted or unleashed his sword intent wildly, there was no response from above—it was as if the whole thing had ended.

Xu Xiaoshou gritted his teeth in frustration; this was just too unreliable!

Since it wouldn't respond, he couldn't farm passive value anymore.

Leaping out of the waterfall and landing on the nearby ground, Xu Xiaoshou felt a bit down, but overall, he was still thrilled.

Sure, it hadn't hit three hundred thousand, but hitting this milestone for the first time was a small victory.

If it were for his old lottery draws...

Nearly three hundred pulls!

Doing the math, Xu Xiaoshou was taken aback and found some comfort in it.

"Not bad. I never planned to use it just for farming passive value anyway—that's not my Xu Xiaoshou style. Entering Heilu Pubu was mainly for cultivation... Farming value was just a side thing."

He waved it off casually and remembered something, turning his attention to the special passive skill:

"Beidong zhi quan."

What was the situation?

After all that beating, it only had 2.11 charge value?

He felt his head spinning; the cap on "Beidong zhi quan" was terrifying. Would he have to nearly kill himself to reach 10?

He was tempted to test the skill's power but restrained himself.

Even at just 2.11, he was convinced the energy built up from those relentless thrashings was extraordinarily potent and shouldn't be wasted.

The ideal scenario would be landing one punch right in Zhang Xin Xiong's face and seeing the results—that would be epic!

"Let me tally up the gains!"

With Heilu Pubu finally taking a break, Xu Xiaoshou was exhausted. Armed with nearly three hundred thousand passive value, he boldly eyed the red interface.

Not every passive skill needed to be fully upgraded right now—the path ahead was long, so no rush.

As long as he picked the best ones to enhance, this three hundred thousand should suffice.

"Regardless, first set aside ten thousand for the 'Awakening Pool'—ten awakenings... Well, even if they don't succeed, I have to test the new feature."

"So, that leaves eighteen thousand..."

"Qiangzhuang" was already maxed, so he skipped it. That left eight major passive skills.

"The three basic passive skills are tempting, but they don't offer much; let's go with 'Shengshengbuxi' first—this is a divine skill."

Life and death were the ultimate priorities, so Xu Xiaoshou upgraded it without hesitation.

This was a lifesaving passive skill; no attack power could compare to staying alive.

"Shengshengbuxi."

A surge of vigorous life force blossomed within him; his precious body glowed even brighter with spiritual light, and Xu Xiaoshou let out a contented groan.

But just like that, five thousand was gone...

He twitched his mouth; after all the fights, his resources were flowing away like water!