Chapter 529: The Struggle for Survival (Part 2)

Xiao Hei’s strike on the altar caused intense vibrations throughout the hall, and Su Che, even in the corridor, could feel it strongly. From this, Su Che deduced that the altar was likely the core of this space. If destroyed, it might trigger the collapse of the entire space.
Was space collapse good or bad? For a moment, Su Che was unsure. It would undoubtedly pose a great danger to those inside the space, but on the other hand, it might be the only way to obtain the survival token. To get that token, one had to break through the altar’s protective barrier, so it seemed inevitable to cause a collapse.
The violent shaking of the hall hadn’t stopped yet when the purple giant charged forward, wielding his purple crystal sword to stop Xiao Hei’s destruction. Undoubtedly, he would never allow Xiao Hei to do this—once this space collapsed, he might lose his home forever.
Bang!
The swords collided again with a loud crash. At the same time, frantic roars from two exotic beasts came from behind Su Che.
“What?”
Through the spiritual connection with his Yuan Ying subordinates, Su Che learned that the two beasts had turned around and started attacking the defensive barriers set up by his Yuan Ying servants.
Had the two beasts turned against him? After a brief pause, Su Che realized it—he had arranged for six Yuan Ying subordinates to use top-grade Dao artifacts to create impenetrable barriers, preventing anyone from passing through. Since the beasts couldn’t see him, they assumed their food provider had disappeared. In desperation, they turned back to break through these barriers and find him.
“I’m still here. Don’t worry,” Su Che shouted through the connection. His subordinates’ defensive barriers wouldn’t prevent sound from passing through.
Beasts had far better hearing and memory than humans. They immediately recognized Su Che’s voice and calmed down slightly.
At this critical moment, Su Che definitely couldn’t let his subordinates remove the barriers and let the beasts in. Otherwise, the invisible Ji Mu Lao Zu would also slip in. In fact, Su Che even planned to use the fierce combat skills of these two beasts to deal with Ji Mu Lao Zu.
So, Su Che shouted, “That invisible guy just tried to kill me. I can’t let him in… So, as long as he’s not dead, you can’t come in either.”

Alright, if they can understand this sentence, they surely know what to do next.
Ahh…
Wow…
The crocodile dragon and the strange bird turned around again and attacked the subordinates of Patriarch Ji Mu. Using their unique animal instincts, they carefully searched for Patriarch Ji Mu’s hidden traces.
It must be said that these exotic beasts are extremely combat-effective—each one is equivalent to four or five cultivators in the late Yuan Ying stage. Moreover, with their thick skin and strong defenses, the offensive spells of these late Yuan Ying cultivators can hardly cause direct damage to them, at most only minor injuries.
Therefore, if Su Che makes good use of these two beasts, it will bring him considerable help.
As expected, once these two beasts locked onto their targets, they caused great trouble for them.
The crocodile dragon spat out several patches of dark green mist, covering the magic barrier defenses of Patriarch Ji Mu’s three Yuan Ying subordinates. Immediately, a harsh, corrosive sound of “chichichichi” arose.
A deadly poison technique!
Clearly, this was not just ordinary poison mist but a powerful poison spell with unique and extraordinary effects.
Puff! Puff! Puff!
After spewing the poison mist, the crocodile dragon opened its mouth three more times, instantly firing three ice spears at those three people.
Chichichichi!
The three ice spears seemed to possess unparalleled penetration power, managing to pierce through the defense barriers of top-grade Dao artifacts.
Anyone with eyes could see that the ice spears’ penetration power wasn’t that exaggerated—it was actually the defense barriers weakening significantly due to the corrosion from the deadly poison technique that made them so easily pierced.
Snap! Snap! Snap!
The three Yuan Ying cultivators hit by the ice spears were fortunate to have their own protective auras. Additionally, since the ice spears that penetrated the barriers had reduced in size and power, they managed to avoid serious injury this time.
But the problem was, another wave of ice spears was coming!
The crocodile dragon’s ability to spit out poison mist and ice spears was as effortless as breathing—completely instantaneous, requiring no prior buildup of energy. Although its attack methods were simple, they were extremely effective, greatly undermining the defense barriers of human cultivators.
On the other side, the strange bird wasn’t to be outdone. In the relatively narrow passage, its pair of fleshy wings vibrated slightly but at a high frequency, capable of tens of thousands of vibrations in an instant.
Huhuhuhu…

Strange winds arose one after another. Calling them strange winds wasn’t just because of their extremely peculiar attacking properties; more importantly, within this narrow passage, only the three people hit by their attacks could feel these winds, while no one else could sense them at all. These winds possessed a highly bizarre pushing force that could lift opponents off the ground and force them away—what is commonly known as a repelling effect. Moreover, numerous tiny, invisible wind blades, like countless scrapers, gradually thinned out the opponents’ defensive barriers, leaving the three Yuan Ying cultivators, who were pushed back and suspended in mid-air, struggling to maintain their own barriers without being able to launch a counterattack. It wasn’t that human Yuan Ying cultivators were useless; rather, the attacks launched by these exotic beasts were extremely strange, something they had never encountered before. Their attack methods seemed simple, but their effects were extremely powerful, possessing incredible supernatural abilities. These exotic beasts had long been extinct in the Spirit Realm and the Cultivation Realm. Even those experienced Great Vehicle-stage powerhouses didn’t know their origins or true nature. When fighting them for the first time, they would inevitably suffer some disadvantages. “If Patriarch Ji Mu can’t come up with any powerful tactics, just these two exotic beasts will be enough to give him a headache. My Yuan Ying slaves just need to block off the passage.” Su Che was fairly at ease with the situation behind him. As long as the invisible Patriarch Ji Mu couldn’t get through, it wasn’t a major concern for now. Thus, Su Che’s attention turned back to the battle among the giants in the hall. In this way, Su Che found himself caught between two battlefields, having to find ways to resolve trouble wherever it arose… Boom! Xiao Hei once again pushed back the purple giant with a force comparable to splitting Mount Hua, then used the momentum to strike the protective barrier around the altar. With a loud rumble, the entire hall trembled violently once more. However, after a dozen breaths, it gradually calmed down. “The force isn’t enough. I don’t know how many more strikes it will take to cause spatial collapse…” Su Che watched anxiously. To be honest, he was both hoping that Xiao Hei would break through the protective barrier to give him a chance to obtain the Survival Order, and worried that the spatial collapse might pose too great a danger, leading to irreversible consequences. Next, the purple giant suddenly became smarter and came up with a good strategy to deal with Xiao Hei. While continuing to fight with him, it released waves of purple energy that spread around.

Upon seeing these air currents, Xiao Hei’s instinct to eat was reignited. Huhuuhu, it began to suck in those air currents greedily, instantly forgetting about attacking the altar. Although, aside from his eating instinct, he also had a combat instinct for self-protection, allowing him to fend off the purple giant’s fierce attacks to some extent, he still remained far too passive.
“That gluttonous guy!” Su Che cursed inwardly. “Xiao Hei only knows how to eat; he can’t distinguish priorities at all. His intelligence isn’t enough!” But no matter how much he cursed, Xiao Hei was just like that—always the same. He couldn’t be blamed too much for it.
Huh!
Seeing that this method worked, the purple giant spat out a particularly dense mass of purple air currents, deliberately aiming them at Xiao Hei’s feet. Such a dense mass of purple air currents made Xiao Hei subconsciously lower his head, wanting to suck it in. But in the midst of a fierce battle, this move was undoubtedly a fatal mistake.
“Oh no!” Su Che panicked and immediately shouted, “Xiao Hei, don’t lower your head!”
Swish!
The purple giant didn’t hesitate. It swung down with a blade, striking from an extremely tricky angle—right from Xiao Hei’s blind spot—toward his head.
“Oh no, oh no, oh no…” Lao Hei in the Immortal Prison almost covered his eyes, too horrified to watch. Although his detection ability was disabled, he could still observe the outside world through Su Che’s eyes.
Sssh!
The purple crystal sword sliced past Xiao Hei’s neck!
In that instant, Su Che was completely stunned. The next scene he imagined was either Xiao Hei’s huge head falling to the ground or his body disintegrating, his energy dissipating into a vast expanse of chaotic energy, only to be devoured by the purple giant.
To die from greed—what an irony, Xiao Hei…
Just as this thought arose, Su Che saw something that filled him with immense joy.
Xiao Hei wasn’t dead!
Hit in the neck, Xiao Hei neither lost his head nor had his energy dissipate. He was only stunned for a moment before taking three big steps back, dodging the purple giant’s next two attacks. Then he opened his mouth wide, as if letting out a silent roar.
“If Xiao Hei had the ability to make sounds, that roar would surely shake the heavens and the earth…” Su Che thought.
With a clang, the double-edged battle axe given by the Witch God was thrown to the ground by Xiao Hei. Then, his body suddenly shrank back to its original state—a three-inch-tall infant form…

Seeing this scene, Su Che thought that Xiao Hei must have been severely injured, to the point where he could no longer hold his battle axe and had to revert to his Yuan Ying form to hide back in his dantian. But then…
Whoosh!
The three-inch-tall Xiao Hei moved at lightning speed, shooting toward the purple giant.
The purple giant seemed greatly surprised and tried to dodge to the left, but still couldn’t keep up with Xiao Hei’s speed at that moment.
In just one swift motion, Xiao Hei disappeared inside the purple giant’s body.
“It’s actually…”
This scene immediately reminded Su Che of when he was cultivating his Yuan Ying form. Xiao Hei had also mysteriously entered his golden core to devour the divine talismans inside it, helping him achieve success in cultivating his Yuan Ying form ahead of time and doing something that seemed almost impossible.
Could it be the same today…