A gentle force suddenly touched the tip of Xiao Rou's telekinetic spear, which shone like a thousand-degree gas laser. Though gentle, it was continuous and vast, like a river flowing into the sea. The black flames on the spearhead were about to erupt violently, but they were immediately calmed down by this gentle force. The silver light kept meandering along the telekinetic spear, constantly dissipating the powerful force that could erupt at any moment. It was like walking a tightrope on a bottomless cliff. Every step could lead to a fatal fall, but she walked steadily, step by step, with unparalleled stability.
The astonishing power gradually subsided, and Xiao Rou's mind abruptly awoke from the profound world. Ling Yun's spiritual energy field instantly transformed into a warm, large hand, gently stroking the girl's hair. Xiao Rou immediately felt a refreshing and comfortable sensation, completely different from the immersive experience before the unleashing of her ultimate move. She had just withdrawn from a wondrous state of intense battle, without any transition, and immediately entered another extremely gentle and soothing realm. This instantaneous change gave Xiao Rou a strange feeling, as if she were experiencing the ever-changing seasons. Her eyes, as bright as stars, suddenly lit up, instantly understanding her lover's affection.
As the girl's eyes gradually changed from being filled with murderous intent to being hazy and confused, and then slowly turned into gentle tenderness, Ling Yun's heart finally settled down. He used his mental force field to summon Xiao Rou out of the strange realm where she was deeply immersed in the extreme thrust, not because he wanted to push his girlfriend to further challenge her own limits, but simply out of concern.
With his exceptionally sensitive senses, he naturally realized that Xiao Rou was not yet able to control this powerful force. If it were to erupt, even if it could kill the hybrid monster, she would definitely be seriously injured. Although the Holy Healing Technique could stop Xiao Rou's injuries in the shortest time, and the breakthrough would also be of greater benefit to Xiao Rou herself, Ling Yun considered it carefully and still stopped Xiao Rou's actions.
The main reason for the objection was concern, but Ling Yun also considered other factors. After all, the passageway was just the beginning, and who knew what they might encounter in the halls on the next steps, or perhaps even more powerful beings. If Xiao Rou was seriously injured at the beginning, the subsequent events would become unpredictable.
Of course, another major factor was Xiao Rou's rapid growth in power. While the Ultimate Thrust was undoubtedly a powerful technique, Ling Yun keenly perceived its inherent incompleteness. Extreme strength is easily broken; when growth is too rapid, it inevitably leads to stagnation in one's cultivation level or other aspects that complement power. These weaknesses wouldn't be obstacles during rapid power growth, but in the later stages of power advancement, they would become significant bottlenecks preventing further progress.
Only by progressing step by step can anything eventually break through its limits. For people with superpowers, steady growth in strength is the best choice. Xiao Rou's strength is growing too fast. In the short term, it is a good thing, but in the long term, it is actually detrimental. In a long-distance run, the fastest runner is often not the last one to arrive.
Seeing Ling Yun's concerned gaze, Xiao Rou suddenly understood what he meant. In fact, her experience was far richer than Ling Yun's. However, she was blinded by her own involvement. After immersing herself in the power, Xiao Rou forgot the key issue of power growth. Now that Ling Yun had stopped her, she immediately realized her mistake and smiled sweetly at her boyfriend, her smile blooming like countless beautiful flowers.
"How do we deal with it?" Xiao Rou stood beside Ling Yun, looking at the huge hybrid monster that had stood up again, and said softly. Ling Yun's actions obviously had another meaning. Since he stopped Xiao Rou from taking action, it meant that Ling Yun had already figured out a way to deal with the hybrid character. This introverted and quiet boy always calculated and planned everything in his mind, and only made his move when everything was foolproof.
Ling Yun smiled slightly, "Didn't you see the information I gave you? How was the civilization of the figure in the illustration destroyed?"
"The City of Death!" Xiao Rou's eyes widened in surprise, her voice tinged with shock. "Could it be that you possess the power of death?"
"I wouldn't say I've mastered it, but it's enough to deal with this monster. If we have a way to kill it, why waste our energy on other things? Your ultimate move will definitely come in handy someday." Ling Yun shook his head. He was indeed telling the truth. The power of the City of Death was too great. Even if it was only one ten-millionth of what it was, it was beyond Ling Yun's current grasp. However, after a long period of analysis, the replication ability had finally grasped some of the characteristics of the aura of death and formed a complete data model for Ling Yun. This data model could not allow Ling Yun to completely simulate the aura of death, but it could give him some of its characteristics.
Although these are just some characteristics, they are enough to deal with the hybrid monsters of the decorative figures. Ling Yun opened his palm, and as a thick, gloomy aura emanated from it, a black aura emanated from his palm and then condensed into a long, rope-like weapon. Surprisingly, the moment the spear solidified, all the aura of death suddenly disappeared.
The hybrid monster seemed unaware of its impending doom. Seeing its opponent inexplicably withdraw its offensive, which posed a deadly threat, it immediately realized that this was an excellent opportunity to counterattack.
Suddenly, dust billowed into the air, forming a thick cloud of smoke. The hybrid monster's enormous body flew through the air at a speed completely disproportionate to its size, seemingly transforming into an invisible form that clung to the dust. Countless sparks of electricity suddenly ignited within the smoke, instantly transforming into countless fine, thread-like silver lines that rained down on Ling Yun and Xiao Rou. The attack had no blind spots; clearly, it aimed to annihilate the two in an instant.
A gleaming black spear of death suddenly pierced through the swirling dust, like a black lightning bolt in a white haze, instantly piercing the cores of countless differentiated forms. As if possessing boundless infectious power, after the dust had solidified for a while, all the wispy silver threads suddenly and inexplicably froze in mid-air, then vanished completely in the blink of an eye. The frozen dust fell heavily to the ground, revealing the enormous body of the hybrid monster.
A deathly gray hue rapidly spread across the hybrid monster's body, transforming the parts it passed through into a wood-carved sculpture, until it became an abstract pattern composed entirely of deathly gray lines, before vanishing into thin air.
P.S.: Starting today, I will update three times a day, resuming updates at 8 PM tonight. Please continue to support me.
I recommend my friend's excellent work: "Hunting for Beauties in the City". You can check it out if you're interested.
Chapter 308 Sea of Lava
"Let's go." Ling Yun took Xiao Rou's hand and slowly walked out of the passageway. Behind them, the huge hybrid monster's form continued to shatter as it turned deathly gray.
With a loud bang, the thick dust was stirred up by the falling fragments of decorative figures, creating a huge crater. All the information that once represented the existence of that ancient and powerful civilization was completely wiped out. Apart from the copy that Ling Yun had made in his mind, no trace of another civilization would ever appear anywhere in this world.
The barrier structure above the passageway continued to move slowly along its normal route and speed, regardless of how intense the battle below the passageway became, or even when all the giant pillars turned to dust, it never affected its inherent laws.
Amidst the explosion of the totem creatures, comparable to a miniature nuclear bomb, the structural points seemed to be observing from another transparent world, completely unaffected. Moreover, regardless of whether Ling Yun was on the ground or at the top of the tunnel, the clearly visible structural points were always at the same distance. This made Ling Yun's heart skip a beat. Clearly, the structural points of this barrier were merely a virtual representation created by the barrier, or rather, a projection of the real structural points above the tunnel. No matter how he sensed them, what he perceived was still just an illusory image.
As the information energy of all the decorative figures truly disappeared, the images of the barrier structure points suddenly underwent strange changes. The originally slowly moving speed began to accelerate without warning. In the blink of an eye, the white structure points turned into tiny meteors with afterimage tails, frantically circling in the thousands of square meters of space within the passageway. The originally regular routes became randomly moving lines, and the white light even drew countless intricate patterns above the passageway.
As the structural points suddenly changed, a tremendous transformation slowly took place within the passageway. At the point where Ling Yun and Xiao Rou entered the barrier, a crack the thickness of a finger appeared without warning on the smooth, mirror-like black jade floor. The crack widened rapidly at a visible speed, quickly forming a deep and wide ravine. Deep within the ravine, magma, glowing with a blood-red light, surged upwards like a raging torrent. A scorching aura emanated from the beginning of the passageway, then quickly spread, filling most of the passageway's space in the blink of an eye.
Suddenly, a bright flame burst into flames above the ravine, and as if infected, the air seemed to fill with flammable gases such as ether. The flames grew rapidly, turning into a blazing sea of fire in the blink of an eye, illuminating the already dark space.
If Ling Yun hadn't suddenly sensed a warning and instantly generated a clear image behind him in the panoramic view, the sea of fire would have reached less than a meter behind them in an instant, engulfing them in less than half a second. At the edge of the flames, the red flames suddenly transformed into a gigantic, monstrous shadow. The shadow extended a massive hand formed entirely of fire, raised it high, and then, accompanied by an incredibly intense blast of hot air, slammed it down fiercely towards Ling Yun and Xiao Rou.
Suddenly, the panoramic view began to shrink automatically, with all the images on the view shrinking accordingly, then turning into a bright dot of light at an extremely fast speed, and disappearing in a flash.
"Xiao Rou, run!" Ling Yun's expression changed drastically, and the panoramic view was forced to shut down automatically. This was something Ling Yun had never encountered since he began using the Mirror Technique. It meant that an overwhelming force had annihilated all detections as if they were attacks. If the Mirror Technique hadn't been just a simple image, Ling Yun would have already suffered a severe backlash and been seriously injured.
Xiao Rou didn't turn around, but she knew something was wrong just from the sweltering heat behind her. After hearing Ling Yun's shout, the girl suddenly bit her lip, her small hand still tightly clasped with Ling Yun's. He was the most important person in the girl's life, and even if she died, Xiao Rou would not let go of Ling Yun's hand.
A tangible silver light emanated from the girl's body. Xiao Rou's body seemed to pause for a moment, then suddenly shot towards the stairs without warning. Her speed in an instant surpassed all previous limits. Countless vortexes suddenly formed around her, then slowly disappeared—a phenomenon caused by the intense friction of thin air. A hazy black void formed beneath Xiao Rou's feet, then continuously vanished and regenerated. With each step, the immense force carved a bottomless, collapsed crater into the hard ground.
The power of the ultimate thrust wasn't used for attack, but the girl readily incorporated it into her charge. Ling Yun didn't even have time to be surprised before his body flew away as if riding the clouds. A sharp, slicing wind grazed his cheek, and Ling Yun even felt a burning pain. The surrounding scenery transformed into a black background tinged with countless disillusioning colors, then rapidly receded. The sensation brought by this instantaneous speed was completely abstract and lonely. Ling Yun felt as if he were standing in the starry sky, watching countless stars drift away from him. Apart from the still warm and smooth feeling on his hands, he could feel nothing else.
With a deafening roar, a thunderous sound echoed behind them. Just a hair's breadth away, the giant fiery hand slammed into the tunnel floor, causing the entire ground to collapse. Suddenly, crimson magma formed a blood-red dragon, turning the ground into a sea of fire. Countless shattered bricks and stones shot out in all directions like powerful cannonballs, some even reaching the backs of Ling Yun and Xiao Rou as they raced forward, only to be shattered by the protective force of their mental energy field.
The ground had become scorching hot. From the end of the tunnel to Xiao Rou's feet, who was hurtling forward under the extreme force of her thrust, it had completely transformed into a world of magma. Above the scorching liquid were patches of deep red sea of fire, and all sorts of fire creatures were joyfully generating above the sea of fire. Each one was full of infinite power and extreme heat. The air was extremely distorted under the high temperature, even changing the course of light, making the entire tunnel look like it was filled with a bizarre and mesmerizing atmosphere.
The ground beneath Xiaorou's feet kept collapsing and cracking. If Xiaorou slowed down for even a second, she would immediately fall into the bottomless abyss of lava and be reduced to nothingness. However, the girl's speed never slowed down. Despite carrying Lingyun on her back, Xiaorou's feet still stepped firmly on the solid black stone ground, and then she used the momentum to fly forward. If you were to look from a distance on the other side of the barrier, you would see that Xiaorou had become a blur, stepping on a bridge that was constantly collapsing forward. Below the bridge was the bottomless abyss.
A low groan suddenly came from the magma, followed by a giant over a thousand meters tall slowly rising from the sea of lava. He had an extremely ferocious head, and fiery red flames formed long, pulsating hair that reached his waist. All the fire creatures that had been dancing and gesturing joyfully suddenly trembled, as if they had encountered something terrifying. But before they could react, a giant magma hand swept across the bodies of all the fire creatures, gathering all their cries of agony into the rising flames.
The giant twisted its enormous body, its ferocious head turning arbitrarily on its shoulders, even rotating over a 360-degree range. After sweeping away all the fire creatures, it finally spotted two tiny human ants less than a kilometer away from the white marble steps. These two ants were rushing towards the bottom of the steps at a speed that even surprised the giant.
The giant was enraged. How could such a weak being dare to run away from him? He roared to the sky, then reached into the sea of lava and scooped it up. Instantly, a lava fireball nearly a hundred meters in diameter condensed in his two large hands. He raised it high above his head and hurled it fiercely at Ling Yun and Xiao Rou.
The enormous magma fireball flew thousands of meters in an instant. The huge sphere, nearly a hundred meters in diameter, was like a cloud burning with fire, and in a moment it enveloped the two small figures of Lingyun and Xiaorou.
The giant smiled with satisfaction. He couldn't bear to see such lowly creatures escape unscathed before him. If he didn't destroy them, the giant would feel very sad, and might even shed long strings of burning tears, liquids hotter than magma.
A giant claw, almost as tall as the giant, suddenly emerged from the sea of lava and gripped the giant's head. The overwhelming force almost forced the giant to his knees. He angrily grabbed the giant claw on his head, wanting to see what kind of being dared to desecrate his supreme dignity.
Instantly, the magma giant's angry face turned into boundless fear. A colossal fire creature, tens of thousands of meters tall, was looking down at him. Its fiery wings, poised to take flight, stirred up towering waves of lava across the entire magma sea. It was a monster with three ferocious heads and six fiery claws. Even just one of these claws was enough to easily grab the magma giant.
When a powerful creature encounters an even more powerful one, it has no choice but to retreat and submit. However, the magma giant didn't even have time to escape before it was grabbed by the three-headed monster and stuffed into the mouth of its middle head. Because it was being eaten upside down by the three-headed monster, the magma giant could still see the outside world for a moment when its head was being swallowed.
Suddenly, a pair of eyes formed purely of flames and lava opened wide. In his world of only fiery red vision, the two tiny ants actually emerged from the lava ball with a diameter of over a hundred meters and stepped onto the bottom of the white marble staircase.
"Impossible!" Just as the magma giant was about to let out a final, unwilling roar, it immediately lost its last consciousness. Its magma-formed body was completely swallowed by the three-headed monster, instantly becoming a chaotic mass of lava liquid.
The three-headed monster let out a satisfied burp, and after exhaling a series of high-temperature fiery gases, it suddenly seemed to sense something, turned its head to look to the side, and then saw an eye formed entirely of magma, a fiery red eye the same size as its body, which suddenly blinked at it...
Lingyun and Xiaorou finally stopped. The moment they stepped onto the white marble steps, a magical force suddenly emanated from above, as if an invisible protective shield had enveloped the entire staircase. As the ground collapsed at an unstoppable speed to the edge of the steps, it was like waves crashing against rocks. After stirring up towering waves of lava, it finally had no choice but to stop its collapse. From the beginning of the passageway to the bottom of the steps, the solid black ground had completely disappeared. In the distance, there was an endless sea of lava, with countless bubbles bursting and forming on the surface of the magma.
The mere few thousand meters of running seemed to have exhausted all their energy. Xiao Rou leaned against Ling Yun's chest, panting slightly. Recalling the moment she had gone from life to death and back again, it felt like a nightmare. In that short distance of three thousand meters, she had used her ultimate thrust twice in succession, just in time to step onto the last step as the ground collapsed. Otherwise, the two of them would have fallen into the sea of lava. Thinking of this, Xiao Rou still couldn't help but feel a lingering fear.
Ling Yun's face was somewhat pale, a sign of exhaustion from using his supernatural abilities to the maximum in an instant. How could he avoid a magma fireball with a diameter of 100 meters? His instantaneous reaction allowed Ling Yun to instinctively cast a mental field around the two of them while simultaneously casting an ice spell. This ordinary supernatural ability, learned from his girlfriend, once again became their life-saving treasure. Due to his excellent telekinetic control, Ling Yun could even freeze temperatures down to minus two hundred degrees Celsius.