Chapter 530: The Struggle for Survival (Part 2)

Xiao Hei transformed into a three-inch-tall Yuan Ying state and slipped into the purple giant’s body. Su Che could imagine that Xiao Hei must have started devouring everything inside, crazily consuming the extremely dense purple energy currents within the giant.
“I feel like it’s only by driving him to desperation that Xiao Hei would resort to this method…” Su Che thought to himself. “Could there be some limitations to this method?”
“Probably,” Lao Hei agreed. “If there were no restrictions and it could be used freely, he would have used it already.”
The purple giant paced frantically around the hall, unable to think of any way to pull Xiao Hei out of his body. Seeing this, Su Che became curious again. “He was formed from those purple energy currents. If he can spread himself back into a massive flow of energy, he can resolve this situation. He should have enough intelligence for that. Could it be that after being possessed by Xiao Hei, he can no longer return to his energy-form?”
It seemed Su Che had guessed correctly. The purple giant kept circling around the altar in the hall, even hitting his chest in frustration, yet he still couldn’t spread himself into gas to pull Xiao Hei out.
After dozens of breaths passed, Su Che could clearly sense that the purple giant’s body had shrunk slightly—probably due to the massive energy loss from being devoured by Xiao Hei.
“Xiao Hei must be enjoying himself devouring him inside,” Su Che and Lao Hei guessed, both hoping that Xiao Hei would finish off this obstacle soon so they could break through the altar’s protective barrier and obtain the Survival Order.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh…
A large amount of purple energy currents emerged in the hall again, converging toward the purple giant, clearly to replenish the energy he had lost.
“The more he replenishes, the more Xiao Hei can devour!” Lao Hei chuckled. “I wonder how these special creatures think—they can’t even figure out such a simple logic.”
“It’s not that they can’t understand it,” Su Che analyzed. “Perhaps because there’s something inside the purple giant that’s extremely important to him. To protect that thing, he has to keep feeding Xiao Hei with purple energy currents, hoping to buy time or fully satiate Xiao Hei to avoid his own destruction.”
“Mm, that’s likely the reason,” Lao Hei nodded emphatically.

The energy of air currents within the purple giant was extremely abundant; it would take a long time for Xiao Hei to consume it all. It could be said that in this battle in the hall, thanks to Xiao Hei’s special abilities, he held a decisive advantage at present, while Su Che turned his attention back to behind him.

In the passage behind, two exotic beasts were causing quite a trouble for Patriarch Ji Mu. Left with no choice, he summoned four Yuan Ying subordinates just to withstand the special divine attacks of those two beasts.

Due to the limited space in the passage, having too many people was useless. If those at the back used their attack abilities carelessly, they would first harm their teammates in front. Unless, like Su Che’s group, ten subordinates lined up not to attack but to block the passage and prevent anyone from coming through, leaving the task of attacking to those two beasts.

Boom… Boom… Boom…

The roaring sounds of divine spells continued without causing any damage to the passage, showing just how sturdy the internal structure of this space was.

Su Che was almost certain that he had to destroy the altar in the hall to cause the space to collapse. Any other attempt would be ineffective.

For now, the situation in the passage was also quite favorable for him, but he still couldn’t locate where Patriarch Ji Mu, who was hiding in invisibility, was. Su Che constantly reminded himself that a Great Vehicle-stage powerhouse must not be underestimated. As long as he hadn’t been killed, he must not take him lightly.

Bang… Bang… Bang…

In the hall, the purple giant suddenly started pounding his own head frantically, as if driven mad. From his half-kneeling posture, it seemed he was in extreme pain. Su Che guessed that it must be his most vital core area that had been corrupted by Xiao Hei, causing such an extreme reaction.

Sure enough, just after a dozen breaths, he saw…

With a bang, the purple giant exploded entirely, turning into a swirling mass of purple air currents. Soon after, Xiao Hei’s giant frame, over ten zhang tall, could be seen emerging from the air currents. It was likely that he had grown larger inside the purple giant’s body, bursting him to death.

Whoosh… Whoosh… Whoosh…

With no opponent left, Xiao Hei stood in the hall, continuing to absorb the purple air currents that had lost control and turned into mist.

Su Che could clearly sense that Xiao Hei’s absorption speed had increased significantly, as if his devouring ability had also improved.

As the purple mist in the hall gradually thinned, Su Che could see that a purple crystal had appeared right in the center of Xiao Hei’s forehead, as if embedded there.

It was precisely because of this additional purple crystal that Xiao Hei’s ability to absorb the purple mist increased several times over. Now, instead of using his mouth, he absorbed those purple air currents through the purple crystal on his forehead.
Huhuhu…
The purple air currents kept flowing into the crystal, giving a sense of smoothness, as if rivers flowing into the sea—perfectly natural.
“This time, Xiao Hei must have gained a huge advantage, right?” Although Lao Hei’s tone sounded low, it was actually a pretentious way of showing his excitement.
Su Che also thought that Xiao Hei had definitely gained something significant—this was likely to be an opportunity for him to advance in strength. These purple air currents might even replace the Witch God’s True Blood, allowing Xiao Hei to leap straight into the Divine Transformation stage…
In just a few dozen breaths, all the intensely dense purple air currents in the hall were absorbed by Xiao Hei. Or rather, they were temporarily stored in the crystal on his forehead. With such an enormous amount of energy, it was likely that Xiao Hei wouldn’t be able to digest and absorb it in a short time.
Boom boom boom—satisfied, Xiao Hei’s steps became heavier and more forceful. He bent down to pick up his double-edged axe. Without any orders from Su Che, he went to the altar, raised his battle axe high, and delivered a powerful downward strike.
Boom!
The entire hall trembled violently once again, even more intensely than before.
Boom!
Another strike followed.
Boom boom boom…
Xiao Hei completely ignored the earth-shaking vibrations and kept slashing at the protective barrier surrounding the altar, time after time.
The intense tremors in the hall and corridors grew worse. Any ordinary person would surely lie on the ground, rolling around helplessly, unable to stand steady.
“Tian Yu, what’s going on in there? What are you doing?”
The cry of Patriarch Ji Mu, muffled by several layers of defensive barriers, sounded rather unclear: “Tian Yu, don’t be reckless! If you cause this space to collapse, none of us will be able to escape—we’ll all die!”
With his rich life experience, Patriarch Ji Mu could easily guess that Su Che was trying to obtain that Survival Order by risking the destruction of this space.
“What, scared?”
Su Che sneered in reply, “If you’re scared, get out now. I guess this place won’t collapse anytime soon. If you move fast enough, you might still make it.”
“Fine, Tian Yu, wait for it!”

The Ancestor of Extreme Wood was furious but utterly helpless; he was trapped in the passage and unable to pass through. In front of him, not only were there the fierce attacks of two powerful exotic beasts, but also ten top-tier defensive barriers that had to be broken before he could reach the hall.

Boom… Boom…

Before long, the trembling of space seemed to reach its peak, unable to intensify any further. It seemed that only one more push was needed before complete collapse.

Creation and Destruction!

Xiao Hei’s unstoppable, most powerful strike appeared once again—a swift diagonal cut, extremely fierce!

Bang!

The protective barrier around the altar shattered into pieces.

Whoosh!

The altar, over thirty feet tall, also collapsed completely and exploded.

Boom!

Su Che and the others felt an invisible, immense pressure suddenly pressing down on them, realizing that the space here was also collapsing, and its terrifying spatial force would tear everything inside to pieces.

“The Survival Token!”

At this moment, Su Che couldn’t care about anything else; all he saw was the Survival Token.

The altar where the Survival Token was placed exploded into fragments, with countless stones flying everywhere, including the crimson Survival Token.

Logically, Xiao Hei was the closest to the Survival Token, but his intelligence was limited. Apart from his instincts for eating and fighting, his reaction speed was rather slow. Moreover, he hadn’t expected that the altar would explode after the protective barrier shattered.

So, Xiao Hei hesitated for a moment before stretching out his giant hand to grab the Survival Token floating among the flying stones.

However, the kinetic energy from the explosion was too great, the Survival Token flew too fast, and with the obstruction of countless stones, it narrowly missed Xiao Hei’s hand and flew away.

He failed to catch it!

At this moment, Su Che certainly wouldn’t just stand by. He immediately rushed toward the Survival Token. But at this critical moment, he still couldn’t forget the rule of “not lifting feet off the ground.” Even though the space was shattered and the concept of a ground was blurred, he had to step on a sufficiently large stone, pretending his feet weren’t off the ground.

Unfortunately, the Survival Token wasn’t flying in Su Che’s direction. To catch up instantly, walking speed was definitely not enough. He could only pray that it wouldn’t fall into a spatial rift and hope it would hit some huge rock and drop down…

Boom… Boom…

The entire hall had broken into more than a dozen pieces. It was as if a planet in the sky had been smashed into pieces by a single punch, drifting apart in the endless void, growing further and further apart.

Su Che rushed forward dozens of feet. In such utter chaos and urgency, he still had to carefully choose where to step. Either way, one foot must land on some broken stone—there must never be nothing beneath his feet, and he must never violate the rules set by the mysterious old man. Otherwise, even if he obtained the Survival Order, it would be a dead end.
Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Su Che saw a translucent, illusory figure overtaking him and chasing after the Survival Order.
“Ancestor Ji Mu!”
Su Che’s heart skipped a beat, and he was extremely surprised: “How could he get here so fast?”