Chapter 585: The Realm of Ten Deaths and No Life

Chapter 586: Exile the Terror Storyteller

"Xiao Wenming, what will you do..."

The Shuoshuren's eyes were filled with anticipation and affection.

Xu Xiaoshou's achievements were far too impressive.

Even though he didn't want to admit it, earlier in the ancient texts space, he had indeed been completely outmaneuvered from start to finish.

Now, thinking back on it, the Shuoshuren felt an immense sense of shame.

But at his level, he clearly distinguished between priorities.

To deceive everyone in the ancient texts space with just the Innate realm, pulling off such a feat of hiding in plain sight...

The Shuoshuren knew full well just how vast Xu Xiaoshou's potential truly was.

He understood better than anyone the weight of his own status!

Across the entire continent, few dared to face him in battle.

Yet, even in such circumstances, Xu Xiaoshou had managed to achieve this...

It had to be said that what held back the Shuoshuren's shame and the urge to strike in anger was, at the soul level, his deep desire for outstanding youths and his love for talent.

"Wenming..."

"Xu Xiaoshou?"

"Not important!"

"At this moment, only extreme pressure can squeeze out a person's true potential!" the Shuoshuren thought to himself.

"Received expectation, passive value, 1."

In the distance, Luo Leilei was also watching the somewhat dazed Xu Xiaoshou.

It was the first time he had seen the young man before him in such a state.

Normally, no matter the dire situation, even when Tianxuan Men was on the verge of collapse, that guy always seemed unflappable.

But now...

"Received worry, passive value, 1."

"What to do, what to do?"

Xu Xiaoshou's heart was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.

Yet, on the surface, he showed no sign of it.

"Since the senior won't give me even a sliver of a chance..."

Xu Xiaoshou said solemnly, word by word, "Then I, Xu Xiaoshou, have no choice but to resist."

"Brother," the Shuoshuren smiled and corrected the young man's slip from afar.

Xu Xiaoshou dared not delay any longer.

Bai Ku couldn't be exploded.

He actually believed that even if he fully comprehended "Textile Mastery" and connected with the heavenly dao rules of this place, it would still be hard to detonate it quickly.

And in that time, the Shuoshuren could kill him several times over.

So, right now...

Since there was no way out, he had no choice but to play his trump card!

He clenched his fist.

The You Si Jian was gripped tightly once more.

On his body, the demonic patterns that had just receded surged back.

Gazing at the Shuoshuren's expectant eyes, Xu Xiaoshou slowly raised the fierce sword in his hand.

"Really going to fight?"

The Shuoshuren raised an eyebrow, unfazed.

In his eyes, Xu Xiaoshou could escape the Night Guardians' pursuit purely because they had their reservations.

But the power of Zhan Dao—was it really that simple?

Even if not, the Shuoshuren had no hesitations whatsoever!

A duck already cooked—could it still grow wings and fly away?

"Kill!"

Xu Xiaoshou roared and raised the You Si Jian to strike down with all his might.

The Shuoshuren's eyes narrowed.

Luo Leilei quickly retreated, clearing the battlefield.

But just as both were on edge with anticipation, Xu Xiaoshou's sword strike from afar created not a ripple.

The void hummed.

The Xu Xiaoshou who had seemed ready for a bloody battle suddenly vanished.

"Another disappearance technique?"

"Received suspicion, passive value, 1."

The Shuoshuren was stunned for a moment.

He immediately raised his hand, sealing off this entire space.

"Xiao Wenming, don't bother trying. Your technique is novel, but what about your Ling Yuan consumption?"

The Shuoshuren advised with a smile, "This space is unbreakable for you. Others might not see you now, but can you get out?"

Screw it, just run!

Xu Xiaoshou's only thought was to use Step to the Heavens to escape.

Fight?

What a joke!

Didn't he know his own limits?

As soon as the "disappearance technique" activated, he immediately followed with his next step.

But he suddenly realized that his teleportation, which should have covered nearly a li, only reached about ten zhang before it halted, as if hitting a barrier.

Abruptly stopped!

The atmosphere grew awkward and tense.

A drop of cold sweat slid down his brow.

Xu Xiaoshou's heart sank straight to the bottom.

"As expected... it won't work."

Though he had prepared for this, when the result came, Xu Xiaoshou still felt death approaching.

The Shuoshuren was right.

The "disappearance technique" was powerful, but not invincible.

When Ling Yuan was exhausted, that would be his end.

And now, this space had been exiled again?

No way out!

"No time to waste..."

His thoughts raced wildly. At this moment, Xu Xiaoshou couldn't find any strategy from his own abilities to solve the problem at hand.

He finally pulled out the stone-like A Jie that he had been clutching tightly.

"A Jie, Mama might not make it through this time..."

"Mama..."

A Jie trembled in his hand, then burst into a red glow.

In the next second, it transformed into a small boy, appearing directly in front of Xu Xiaoshou.

A Jie, who was a full head shorter than his own Mama, suddenly spread his arms wide, as if opening up a whole new world between them.

"Received protection, passive value, 1."

Xu Xiaoshou felt no emotion of gratitude in his heart.

All he had was overwhelming guilt.

A Jie had Taixu power, but it was indeed too ethereal.

That unstable ability might not even activate again, and even if it did, could it withstand the Shuoshuren's power?

In the past, A Jie had always grown stronger against stronger foes.

But theoretically, that strength had limits.

If A Jie were truly a Tianji puppet capable of rivaling a Zhan Dao peak expert who had survived nine death tribulations...

Would it have been merely confined and neglected in Tianxuan Men?

Tian Sang Ling Gong wasn't full of fools.

Someone must have known A Jie's value.

If they couldn't bring it out, that pointed to two issues:

One, they didn't dare.

Two, it wasn't worthy.

And with Sang Lao around, what wouldn't they dare?

So...

"A Jie!"

Xu Xiaoshou reached out and placed his hand on A Jie's shoulder, his eyes filled with determination.

"Hold on for a bit, just a little while..."

"Mama's going to try something big."

At this moment, Xu Xiaoshou was consumed by sheer madness!

On the other side...

"Oh?"

Seeing a small boy in a straw hat and hemp clothes suddenly appear where Xu Xiaoshou had vanished, the Shuoshuren's eyes flashed with surprise.

"Did he transform into that?"

The thought barely crossed his mind before the Shuoshuren dismissed it.

The aura on this small boy...

There was no aura at all.

This was just a lifeless object!

"A Tianji puppet?"

After staring for a breath, shock surged in the Shuoshuren's pupils.

A Tianji puppet from Dao Qiong Cang—how could Xiao Wenming have one?

"Good one!"

At this moment, the Shuoshuren's desire for Wenming soared to an unparalleled height.

He licked his red lips. "Little brother, you're mine now!"

"Mama..."

A Jie murmured softly, a flash of red in his eyes, unwavering in his duty.

Whoosh.

In an instant, he vanished from the spot.

When he reappeared, he was already behind the Shuoshuren.

"So fast!"

The Shuoshuren instinctively ducked, and a gust of wind exploded above his head.

A Jie swung a leg down.

Seeing it miss, he twisted his body and followed with an elbow strike toward the lower air.

"Boom!"

The void was shattered outright.

But the Shuoshuren had already bent his legs and leaped high.

He even had the leisure to lean down, snatch A Jie's straw hat, and casually pat his smooth head.

"It has warmth?"

Slightly startled, the Shuoshuren was baffled.

This felt just like a living person, nothing like those mindless Tianji puppets he had encountered before.

"Mama!"

A Jie was furious.

The red light in his eyes shifted to a deep crimson.

In just these two exchanges, he realized the human before him was far too strong.

His once-unstoppable close-combat attacks had been completely dodged.

So, time for a change in tactics!

"Screech—"

His pores erupted.

An extremely piercing, high-decibel sonic blast suddenly spread in all directions.

Luo Leilei, who had retreated far back, couldn't react in time and was immediately pierced, his pores erupting and ears bleeding.

"What sound is that!"

He sealed his six senses on the spot, but the sonic attack infiltrated everywhere, seeping through his body.

His Qi Sea churned violently.

Even his soul seemed on the verge of being shattered.

Luo Leilei instantly wore a mask of pain.

"Heavenly Dao: Blockade!"

The Shuoshuren in mid-air was also slightly dazed by the pierce.

But he quickly reacted, waving his hand to isolate the heavenly dao in Luo Leilei's space, protecting him.

In that brief delay, A Jie's fist had already enlarged in the Shuoshuren's pupils.

"Quite strong..."

The Shuoshuren smirked.

He didn't evade; he merely distorted the space in front of him slightly, making his face appear to concave.

Then, the folded space in front of A Jie's fist slid right along the Shuoshuren's skin.

Not a scratch!

It looked like mere millimeters away, but in reality...

"Open."

The Shuoshuren parted his teeth lightly and smiled casually.

The folded space before his smooth cheeks unfolded, and A Jie's fist was instantly repelled several chi away.

"Little brother, you want to touch me too?"

The Shuoshuren extended his hand with a charming smile and flicked A Jie's forehead.

"Bang!"

Space exploded directly.

The terrifying explosive force slammed straight toward A Jie's brow.

With a boom, A Jie's hemp clothes shattered, and his body flipped through the air, shooting out dozens of zhang.

"So tough..."

The Shuoshuren looked at his middle finger in shock.

The nail there was completely bruised.

From his experiences dealing with the white-clothed figures, the Shuoshuren had encountered many Tianji puppets and knew they generally had bodies as durable as a Wangzuo's.

But he had aimed this forehead flick not at A Jie's body, but at the space!

Yet!

The rebounding force still injured him...

"You've angered me!"

Seeing the cracked nail and the ruined nail polish pattern, the Shuoshuren's eyes turned angry.

Without pausing, he drew out "Yin Yang Sheng Si," turned, and whipped it fiercely toward the air behind him.

"Bang!"

A Jie, who had instantly appeared behind the Shuoshuren for a downward punch, didn't even have time to react before being struck skyward.

"A peak One Realm combat awareness... impressive."

The Shuoshuren clicked his tongue in admiration, then shifted his tone. "But I'm at Two Realm; your reactions and speed are nothing in my eyes!"

His gaze sharpened as he formed a finger seal.

"Shh, shh, shh..."

"Yin Yang Sheng Si" floated in the air, its pages flipping on their own with a rustling sound echoing through the desolate void.

"Nether Dragon Head!"

The Shuoshuren pointed with his finger, and the pages stopped, settling on a blank one.

In the next moment, glittering golden hieroglyphs appeared on it.

The characters converged, forming a ferocious dragon head that leaped off the page.

The heavens darkened instantly, as if something massive was blocking out the crimson sky of Bai Ku.

"Roar—"

A resounding dragon roar erupted from above, shaking the clouds.

Even the continuous rain curtains on the horizon seemed to be interrupted.

"Bind!"

The Shuoshuren pulled his hand, and the massive, shadowy dragon head descending from the sky opened its maw wide, clamping down.

"Bang!"

A Jie's flying body couldn't resist and landed right between the dragon's steel teeth.

The space around them, which had just been restored, exploded in an instant.

Heavenly dao rules manifested, and Bai Ku trembled violently.

The Shuoshuren flipped another page and pointed his slender finger.

"Con solidify!"

Golden hieroglyphs leaped from the page and, with a flick of his sleeve, merged into this realm.

Bai Ku's tremors stabilized immediately.

But A Jie, trapped in the dragon head's bind, struggled futilely and couldn't escape.

"Damn it..."

The high-intensity, compressed form of "Ice Fire Song" that Xu Xiaoshou had refined was still forming when he saw this scene—his heart nearly shattered.

"Mama!"

A Jie wasn't crying for help; he was just struggling loudly.

But to Xu Xiaoshou, it sounded like his child was being bullied.

"Die for me!"

Unable to hold back, Xu Xiaoshou stepped into the heavens, raising the compressed light point of ice and fire energy. While desperately controlling its balance to keep it from exploding, he thrust the You Si Jian fiercely into the shadowy dragon head.

"Roar!"

The dragon head shook violently.

The Shuoshuren's eyes shifted.

What did he see?

The invincible azure Nether Dragon Head had been tainted black by those patterns in an instant?

He couldn't see Xu Xiaoshou under the disappearance technique.

But from the scene before him, it was clear Xu Xiaoshou had struck—and with the You Si Jian, no less!

"Bind!"

A slight curl at the corner of his mouth, and without another word, the Shuoshuren shrank the spatial bind's range, locking down the area within dozens of zhang around the Nether Dragon Head to just over ten zhang.

"Step to the Heavens!"

After his strike, Xu Xiaoshou tried to escape, but found it useless.

The "disappearance technique" had penetrating properties.

But the Shuoshuren's bind wasn't just control of space—it was exiling a section entirely from the heavenly dao.

This left Xu Xiaoshou in the exiled space, trapped as before... with nowhere to go!

"From dozens of zhang... to over ten zhang..."

"Then to a few zhang, a few chi..."

Xu Xiaoshou's mind raced, instantly grasping the Shuoshuren's intent.

Every move he made allowed the other to compress the range further.

Move too many times, and when the exiled space shrank to just a few zhang or chi...

"The disappearance technique would indirectly fail!"

Realizing everything, Xu Xiaoshou's heart churned with massive waves.