Chapter 174: The Power of Protection

Seeing Chen Xiao effortlessly catch Altai’s terrifying water arrow and throw it back, the supernatural beings gathered around showed strange expressions on their faces.
In an instant, the once noisy area fell silent as everyone stared at Chen Xiao in disbelief—except for Altai.
When Altai saw his water arrow reflected back, he slightly raised his right hand and pointed at its tip. A blue glow flashed around him, and the arrow vanished instantly, causing no harm to Altai at all.
“Not bad. No wonder you dared trouble me,” Altai said, giving Chen Xiao a slight finger gesture. “But that’s all there is to it. Your country of Huaxia has countless eighth-tier supernatural beings who have died at my hands. Today, you’re no exception.”
Chen Xiao’s heart stirred slightly. He had already attached his mental energy to the water arrow. When Altai pointed, Chen Xiao’s mental energy sensed a strange fluctuation emanating from him. But the fluctuation was too fast—so fast that Chen Xiao couldn’t even identify its source.
“There are too many people here. If we fight, it will inevitably cause unnecessary harm. Destroying the supernatural crystal would be a crime no one can afford. Let’s go deeper into the supernatural world.”
Altai was clearly used to such situations. His mind was now alert. Although Chen Xiao appeared to possess only the spiritual energy of a sixth-tier water-based sorcerer, Altai refused to believe that a sixth-tier sorcerer would dare challenge him.
Altai leaped into the air and flew deep into the supernatural world.
“That old guy is quite strong—probably between seventh and eighth tier. He must have a lot of wealth. Killing him and taking his crystal card will earn me a fortune. The supernatural beings of Huaxia are really rich.”
As Altai flew through the air, he kept thinking. He certainly didn’t believe he would lose.
Chen Xiao watched Altai leave with a cold laugh, then suddenly transformed into a blur of motion and followed after him.
The onlookers also wanted to see a higher-tier supernatural being in action, but the two were too fast—so fast that they had no chance to react.
“Hmph, that Altai guy is trying to take everything for himself again. When he returns, I’ll make sure to extract a hefty price from him.”
Inside the guardian building in the Liutuo Region, a middle-aged man in a light blue short-sleeved shirt watched Altai and Chen Xiao leave, showing a hint of dissatisfaction on his face.
The supernatural world of Feibin Country was extremely poor. Even the Liutuo Region, with its higher-tier supernatural beings, was considered one of the largest regions in Feibin Country’s world. But compared to Huaxia, it ranked at the bottom.
In the eyes of Feibin Country’s supernatural beings, every Huaxian supernatural being was a fat target. Countless Huaxian supernatural beings died each year at the hands of Feibin’s experts, their wealth plundered.
But most of those who died at Feibin’s hands were lone wolves without any backing, so their deaths went unavenged.

…
“This domain is truly extremely barren. After traveling such a long distance, not even a single low-level fierce spirit has been seen.”
Chen Xiao shook his head slightly, viewing the Abnormal Ability World of Feibin Country with even less respect. Yet he knew well that for the Abnormal Ability forces in Feibin Country to be able to establish themselves in this world, they must have the support of some mysterious forces behind them.
“Is there a will?” Altai asked, smiling as he looked at Chen Xiao in front of him.
“A will?” Chen Xiao shook his head and said, “I’m curious. Why are you immune to all attacks from water-based powers? Do you possess any magical artifacts or spiritual weapons?”
Chen Xiao pretended to be curious.
“It’s useless for a dead man to know so much,” Altai smiled. Suddenly, his body turned into a blur, and a battle sword appeared in his hand. He swung it straight at Chen Xiao’s head.
An Abnormal Ability user of the eighth rank, also known as a super-tier Abnormal Ability user, differs fundamentally from those of the seventh rank.
For a seventh-rank sorcerer, as long as both spiritual energy and mental power reach the seventh rank, they become a seventh-rank sorcerer. The same goes for martial warriors—only when both their physical body and spiritual energy reach the seventh rank do they become seventh-rank martial warriors.
But for super-tier Abnormal Ability users, whether they are sorcerers, martial warriors, or summoners/tamers, all four aspects—physical body, mental power, spiritual energy—must reach the eighth rank before they can be promoted as a whole.
This is considered extremely difficult among Abnormal Ability users. Martial warriors focus solely on cultivating their physical body and spiritual energy, while sorcerers prioritize mental power, leaving their physical bodies extremely weak.
Moreover, Abnormal Ability users below the seventh rank will never possess the mental power or physical strength of the eighth rank until they are promoted—there is absolutely no way around it. This is a huge gap, a massive barrier.
Now, Altai’s strength, mental power, physical body, and spiritual energy were all at the peak of the eighth rank, making him stand out even among those at the highest level of the eighth rank.
With a furious strike, Altai struck again unexpectedly, his terrifying power enveloping Chen Xiao’s body. Within a meter around Chen Xiao, it seemed as though the air itself had frozen and stopped flowing.
A strong sense of suffocation rose in Chen Xiao’s heart.
“So strong… Is this what an eighth-rank Abnormal Ability user is like?”
Chen Xiao’s eyes couldn’t discern Altai’s speed, but his mental power allowed him to observe everything about the opponent.
Suddenly, two pale blue lights shot out from Chen Xiao’s eyes, and an overwhelming divine power radiated from him.
Unprepared, Altai suddenly felt a sense of submission. His speed and strength dropped by two levels instantly.
Seizing the opportunity, Chen Xiao twisted his body and dodged his attack.
“The Wave Stacking Technique, Six Waves of the Sea!”
In an instant, Chen Xiao moved behind Altai and unleashed six terrifying waves at his back. These six waves were all formed from extremely heavy orange water, with power reaching the peak of the seventh rank and even approaching the eighth rank.
“Mental pressure?! Such intense mental pressure!” Altai was shocked. Another blue glow flashed across his body, dispelling that divine power.

But at this moment, Chen Xiao’s six-layered waves also arrived.
Altai reacted extremely quickly. He turned around to face the massive waves formed by the six layers combined.
“All water-based attacks are ineffective against me.”
A scornful smirk appeared on Altai’s face. A blue glow flashed around him once again, and with a single slap of his hand, he tried to scatter the waves.
But the next moment, Altai’s expression changed.
Boom!
After a loud explosion, the blue glow around Altai was shattered by the orange waves, and his right hand hung limply, its bones completely broken.
“You rely too much on that blue power of yours.”
Chen Xiao slowly appeared, a faint smile on his face.
Ordinary six-layered waves would likely not be able to cause any harm to Altai at all and would simply be scattered by him. But what Chen Xiao used was the Water Control Art left by the Water Deity, summoning orange water.
Even the true divine artifact, the Sea God’s Protection, could not ignore the water-based attacks of this art.
Moreover, Chen Xiao was now certain that the Sea God’s Protection was not on Altai. Besides having immunity to water-based attacks, it also possessed strong defensive capabilities. If that artifact were truly on Altai, Chen Xiao would never be able to get close to him.
“How is this possible? You actually managed to break through my protective power?” Altai held his right hand with his left, his face turning slightly pale. He stared at Chen Xiao in disbelief. “Impossible! You can’t break through the protective power. It can withstand the attacks of ninth-tier water-based mutants without breaking. How can you, a mere sixth-tier water-based sorcerer, do it?”
A cruel look appeared on Altai’s face.
“There must be some secret hidden within you. Old man, today I must capture you and uncover your secrets.”
A stream of water energy slowly flowed through Altai’s right arm, rapidly repairing the broken bones and muscles. But the damage to his arm was too severe; it couldn’t be repaired in a short time. In fact, from now on, his right arm would be useless unless he reached the third level of Domain Mastery and understood the Law of Immortality, allowing his severed limb to regenerate.
Realizing the condition of his arm, Altai’s face turned utterly insane.
“To ruin my arm? I’ll take a hundred lives of Chinese mutants as compensation!”
Altai reached into his left hand, picked up the battle sword on the ground, and aimed it at Chen Xiao.
“Just for those words of yours, you’re dead today.” Chen Xiao sneered coldly. His right hand moved swiftly through the air, summoning one after another spiritual spells, which quickly combined into one.
“Sky River Starfall!”
The combined spiritual spell, Sky River Starfall, was unleashed in an instant.
“Break it!”
Holding the sword in his left hand, Altai gathered all his spiritual energy and swung it downward at the waters of the Sky River. The blade’s sharp light effortlessly shattered the waters.
“Cloud Dragon!”

Chen Xiao wasn’t surprised at all to see Tianhe Xingluo broken—after all, the other party was a super-tier supernatural being. With a wave of his hand, three ten-meter-long cloud dragons were summoned immediately.
At this point, Chen Xiao’s mental power had reached the peak of the sixth level, allowing him to summon three cloud dragons at full strength.
“Water Dragon Wave, Blade Slash!”
Altai wore a cruel smile as he leaped into the air. A dense array of blades covered his body, and in the next moment, a divine dragon made of blade light appeared.
This divine dragon lunged at the three cloud dragons, strangling them. After three agonized screams, the three cloud dragons were killed.
The blade-light dragon continued its onslaught, charging toward Chen Xiao’s body.
Instantly, a huge crisis arose in Chen Xiao’s heart. He forced himself to resist the urge to summon Sōhen. If he couldn’t overcome this crisis on his own, his chances of advancing would become extremely slim.
“Break through!”
Chen Xiao shouted loudly. He channeled all his strength, unleashing the pure power of the Water Supreme God. Without any fancy moves, he threw a punch—a massive ten-meter-long orange fist—that collided with the blade-light dragon in midair.
This time, Chen Xiao didn’t transform the Supreme God’s power into spiritual energy but instead used it to mobilize all his strength.
Boom!
The two immense forces collided in the air, causing the surrounding air to explode with sound and vibrate violently.
On the ground, tiny cracks began to spread slightly.