Chapter 500: I’m Your Boss, You Know
“Boss!” Ning Zhuo cried out in shock as he lunged toward Sun Lingtong’s side.
He immediately cast a spell to examine Sun Lingtong’s condition.
Very quickly, Ning Zhuo’s brows knitted tightly together, and panic appeared on his face.
Countless fine cracks gradually split open across the surface of Sun Lingtong’s body. These cracks crisscrossed all over him, and within the gaps faint specks of starlight could be seen.
Ning Zhuo immediately performed healing spells, but none of them worked.
He then took out a large number of medicinal pills and forced them into Sun Lingtong’s mouth while simultaneously pouring mana into his body, helping him instantly refine the medicinal effects so they could circulate throughout his entire body.
It was still useless!
Cold sweat appeared on Ning Zhuo’s forehead, and his face turned pale.
Although his Five Elements realm was profound, when faced with the void he felt utterly powerless!
“Boss, boss!”
Ning Zhuo began using all sorts of methods. He activated techniques such as Divine Ability—Life Hanging by a Thread, Stone-Forged Earth Treasure Divine Ability, and others, but none produced miraculous results.
Ning Zhuo’s body began to tremble as he watched helplessly while the cracks across Sun Lingtong’s body grew larger and larger.
He gasped for air, his entire body drenched in sweat. Seeing Sun Lingtong fall unconscious and hang by a thread of life, he completely lost the calmness he had earlier.
“Boss… boss…”
Ning Zhuo kept pulling out his entire fortune from his storage belt, trying everything like a madman.
Suddenly, his movements halted. His bloodshot eyes froze on the Fetal-Breath Spirit Vessel in his hand.
Ning Zhuo took a deep breath, and a faint glimmer of hope flashed in his eyes.
He immediately poured mana into it, restoring the Fetal-Breath Spirit Vessel to its normal size.
Then he placed Sun Lingtong inside the vessel.
Next, Ning Zhuo placed the Fetal-Breath Spirit Vessel inside the corpse of the stone monster, recreating the scene from before.
The Fetal-Breath Spirit Vessel was once again forced to release its formation restrictions, and the entire text of the Innate Nourishment Fetal Breath Grand Method appeared.
Stone garments began covering Sun Lingtong’s body.
However, the speed at which the stone garments spread was far slower than before.
Ning Zhuo watched anxiously and directed his gaze toward the Fetal-Breath Spirit Vessel, forcefully injecting mana into it.
As a result, the vessel’s formation restrictions vanished, and the stone garments on Sun Lingtong’s body began to recede instead!
Ning Zhuo’s heart shook. He slapped his own forehead hard, feeling extremely annoyed.
The reason the Fetal-Breath Spirit Vessel could activate its formation restrictions was for self-protection. It mobilized its full power and borrowed the power of heaven and earth to create the fetal-breath state.
Now that it had received Ning Zhuo’s powerful support, it naturally would not struggle on its own with all its strength. Without being pushed to the brink, the formation restrictions could not be triggered.
Without the fetal-breath state, Sun Lingtong could not maintain the stone garments. Their essence came from the “principle” of the Stone Dwelling Old Monster, and without the right environment they could not spread properly.
Ning Zhuo took a deep breath. His brows were tightly furrowed, and his eyes shone with sharp focus as he tried to stabilize his mind.
This frantic effort made him realize something about his condition—he was almost unable to think!
Gritting his teeth, Ning Zhuo immediately withdrew his mana. The Fetal-Breath Spirit Vessel trembled and once again fell into a helpless state. The small amount of newly born spirituality inside it once more pushed itself to the limit to save itself.
Sun Lingtong regained the fetal-breath state, and the stone garments began spreading again.
“It’s getting slower!” Ning Zhuo discovered that the speed of the stone garments had decreased. At this rate, they would not even cover Sun Lingtong’s head before stopping midway.
Ning Zhuo suddenly looked toward the Fetal-Breath Spirit Vessel.
His heart hardened. He cast a Metal-attribute spell, and in his palm gathered a mass of golden sharp light, as sharp as swords and needles.
Ning Zhuo placed his palm on the vessel and began rubbing it continuously.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle…
The golden light was incomparably sharp. As it stabbed into the vessel, countless sparks burst forth and scattered everywhere.
Under attack, the Fetal-Breath Spirit Vessel trembled lightly. It erupted with potential, causing its formation restrictions to shine several times brighter.
Sun Lingtong’s fetal-breath state deepened further!
Ning Zhuo watched in delight as the stone garments regained their previous speed, steadily spreading toward Sun Lingtong’s head until his entire body was wrapped.
“It works!”
Ning Zhuo’s spiritual sense remained fixed on Sun Lingtong, allowing him to sense that the stone garments were suppressing Sun Lingtong’s injuries.
However, the good situation did not last long.
Although the stone garments covered Sun Lingtong, the void cracks gradually began appearing on the stone layer.
The stone garments also began breaking.
“Based on what happened before, the stone garments should rapidly grow thicker and become stone skin.”
“But the power of the void is restraining them. The stone garments remain only a thin layer, and now the void cracks are even penetrating them!”
Ning Zhuo gritted his teeth and placed both hands on the Fetal-Breath Spirit Vessel.
Sizzle…
His Metal-attribute spell continuously pierced the hull, forcibly driving the vessel to unleash even stronger potential.
The vessel trembled violently. The entire set of formation restrictions emitted blinding light.
The fetal-breath state grew even stronger and was applied to Sun Lingtong.
Across Sun Lingtong’s entire body, stone skin slowly began growing.
The stone skin grew thicker and thicker, but once it reached three inches thick, it stopped.
“Hmm?” Ning Zhuo had just relaxed his brows, but now they furrowed again.
He stared at the vessel. “Little vessel, hold on!”
He sprayed out mana and cast even more spells, which revolved around the vessel’s hull.
Injured by the numerous spells, the Fetal-Breath Spirit Vessel shook violently. The entire formation text illuminated the surroundings, making the cabin as bright as daytime.
The stone skin on Sun Lingtong became thicker and thicker until his small body had turned into a stone fat man.
“Still not enough, still not enough!”
Through the infusion of his spiritual sense, Ning Zhuo discovered that although the void cracks were greatly suppressed, careful observation still showed them slowly strengthening thread by thread.
Ning Zhuo once again looked toward the Fetal-Breath Spirit Vessel.
“Little vessel.” He stroked the hull gently. “I believe you can do it. Come on!”
With a light shout, Ning Zhuo’s mana surged out, transforming into a mass of five-colored radiance.
Within that radiance, all kinds of Five Element spells appeared one after another, wrapping around the vessel from the outside.
This time the vessel was not merely trembling wildly—it began shaking violently, as though trying to break free from the five-colored radiance.
But Ning Zhuo pressed both hands firmly on the hull so it would not be shaken away.
The entire formation restrictions of the Fetal-Breath Spirit Vessel expanded to three times their previous size, filling the cabin with blinding brilliance. To ordinary sight, there was nothing but pure white light!
Ning Zhuo’s vision was obstructed, but his spiritual sense continuously monitored the states of both the vessel and the person.
“The Fetal-Breath Spirit Vessel has reached its limit!” Ning Zhuo sensed that numerous cracks had already appeared on the hull.
The void cracks had almost stopped.
Almost!
Ning Zhuo could not help grinding his teeth.
Suddenly, he thought of a certain Demon God.
The moment the thought arose, he spread out his spiritual sense and controlled the Wanli Dragon.
Cabin doors opened one after another. A bracelet was lifted by invisible force and delivered to Ning Zhuo.
After being subdued by Ning Zhuo, the Dicebone Demon God had transformed into a bracelet of dice.
Since Ning Zhuo had not completely confirmed its loyalty, when he had been impersonating the Stone Dwelling Old Monster, he had already placed the bracelet inside an empty cabin of the Wanli Dragon.
“Dicebone Demon God, immediately deploy your Dao-Field and accept us within it,” Ning Zhuo commanded.
The bracelet immediately changed, restoring itself into the Dicebone Demon God.
It prostrated itself on the ground. “Before my master, this old servant dares not call himself a demon or a god. Master, rest assured—this old servant will give everything he has!”
In the next moment, the Dice Dao-Field spread outward, enveloping Sun Lingtong, Ning Zhuo, the Fetal-Breath Spirit Vessel, and the stone sphere.
A die appeared above Sun Lingtong’s head. After spinning, it turned into a six.
The dice in the Dicebone Demon God’s eyes rolled two ones.
“This?!” The Demon God was completely stunned.
How could such a thing happen after submitting to Ning Zhuo?
But fortunately, the die above Ning Zhuo’s head was also a six.
Thus six plus one plus one equaled eight—greater than Sun Lingtong’s six.
The void cracks on Sun Lingtong’s body were suppressed, and the stone skin continued thickening, its speed increasing slightly.
Although the increase was only slight, it created a true qualitative change!
The void cracks finally stopped eroding and expanding—they completely halted.
Ning Zhuo was finally satisfied and stopped harming the Fetal-Breath Spirit Vessel.
Crack, crack.
The vessel’s hull was covered with fractures.
The Dicebone Demon God was also half-kneeling on the ground. Cracks had appeared across its skeletal body, and even one of the dice serving as its eyeballs had shattered.
Its strength had suffered great damage!
“Old Dice, you did well,” Ning Zhuo said reassuringly.
The Dicebone Demon God immediately declared that serving Ning Zhuo was worth even death and destruction.
“Return.”
With Ning Zhuo’s command, the Dicebone Demon God transformed again into a bracelet and voluntarily wrapped itself around Ning Zhuo’s wrist.
Ning Zhuo’s spiritual sense covered Sun Lingtong once more, confirming that the latter’s injuries had stabilized.
All the void cracks had been suppressed. They would no longer spread or grow.
“Boss absorbed that marrow and needs time to digest it.”
“In that regard, it’s difficult for me to help.”
“But as long as his body doesn’t collapse, there is hope!”
After confirming Sun Lingtong’s condition was stable, Ning Zhuo collapsed onto the ground.
His whole body was exhausted. His clothes were soaked with sweat, and he felt weak all over.
For a moment he sat there, completely unwilling to move.
Woodwheel Town.
Shuang Ling also collapsed onto her ritual altar, her hair disheveled and her eyes blazing with fury.
“He didn’t die!”
“The Stone Dwelling Old Monster was struck by my divine ability ritual… yet he didn’t die!”
“He’s still alive.”
“This is impossible!”
“This time, to ensure a killing strike, I invested at least ten National Strength Bricks!”
Shuang Ling could still sense her storage bag.
But the location was unstable and chaotic. The more carefully she tried to sense it, the more her sense of direction became confused.
She was familiar with this situation.
“The Stone Dwelling Old Monster is in the void. In the void there are no directions such as front, back, east, west, north, or south. Distance has no meaning either. That’s why it feels like this.”
“The Stone Dwelling Old Monster could resist my Starfall Heavenly Punishment Technique and even cross the void with his physical body…”
“In that case… he is a Soul Formation-level being?!”
A trace of shock appeared on Shuang Ling’s face.
If Thousand Peaks Forest gained a second Soul Formation-level powerhouse, it would strongly affect the entire war situation.
With such critical military intelligence, Shuang Ling naturally did not dare delay.
Suppressing her resentment and fury, she stepped down from the ritual altar and hurried to the central army command tent, where she met Marshal Du.
After hearing her report, Marshal Du’s face became extremely grave.
“A Soul Formation-level!”
“Judging from the Stone Dwelling Old Monster’s performance, he must indeed be Soul Formation-level.”
“Princess, you’ve made great contributions this time. Discovering such intelligence is extremely important to our army.”
Shuang Ling’s face was pale, and she showed little pride.
“The Stone Dwelling Old Monster took my work platform and treasure materials. Most of my wealth is in his hands now.”
“I sensed his final stopping point—it was here.”
Using the Thousand Peaks Forest map in the command tent, she pointed to a location.
Marshal Du looked at it. “Azure Sky Mountain?”
“The Golden Halberd Army will soon arrive there. I will immediately send them this intelligence and warn them to guard against the Stone Dwelling Old Monster!”
Then Marshal Du stared at Shuang Ling.
“Princess, are you certain that once the Stone Dwelling Old Monster leaves the void, you will be able to sense him?”
Shuang Ling replied, “As long as I perform the ritual, as long as he has not broken my method, and as long as he has not left Liangzhu Kingdom, I can sense him.”
“To be precise, I can sense my work platforms.”
Wanli Dragon.
Sun Lingtong contacted Ning Zhuo through spiritual sense.
Ning Zhuo rushed excitedly to the front of the Fetal-Breath Spirit Vessel.
Perhaps it was an illusion, but when the battered vessel “saw” Ning Zhuo, its hull trembled slightly.
Ning Zhuo transmitted with his spiritual sense, “Boss, you’re awake? How are you recovering? How do you feel?”
Sun Lingtong had already inspected himself with spiritual sense. After a moment of thought, he guessed that Ning Zhuo had saved him.
But he said no words of thanks.
Given their relationship, there was no need.
Sun Lingtong said, “Right now I feel very bored!”
“Hurry and let me out, Little Zhuo.”
“Boss, but your injuries…” Ning Zhuo scanned Sun Lingtong with his spiritual sense and discovered with surprise that all his injuries were gone!
“Hahaha!” Sun Lingtong transmitted. “Who do you think I am?! I’m Sun Lingtong—your boss!”
“This little injury doesn’t count for anything.”
Ning Zhuo nodded repeatedly and gave a thumbs-up. “Boss, you truly deserve to be my boss!”
Not a single word was mentioned about Sun Lingtong vomiting blood and falling unconscious earlier.
Sun Lingtong’s recovery was unbelievably good—far beyond Ning Zhuo’s expectations.
“From this it’s clear that Boss’s comprehension and talent regarding the void are extremely astonishing.”
“After all, he only cultivates the Boy Technique, yet he even possesses the Empty-Empty Mark.”
“No wonder his master valued him so highly!”
While thinking, Ning Zhuo acted, removing the thick stone skin covering Sun Lingtong and restoring his freedom.
Sun Lingtong stood on the floor tiles, stretched his limbs, bounced on his toes, and then began laughing mischievously.
“Little Zhuo, look at this!”
He stretched out his hand and aimed his palm toward Ning Zhuo’s storage bag.
The bag had been constantly emitting faint starlight.
But in the next moment, as Sun Lingtong used his theft technique, the storage bag became dull and dim, and the starlight completely vanished.
“Boss!” Ning Zhuo exclaimed in delight.
Sun Lingtong placed both hands on his hips and burst into laughter.
“Did you see that? Did you see that?!”
“I absorbed the marrow of the Void Evil God—well, to be precise, the Empty-Empty Mark in my Sea of Consciousness absorbed it.”
“That mark has undergone mutation and qualitative change, allowing me to use many methods now.”
“Theft techniques, spells, martial arts—anything related to space has been greatly enhanced!”
“I’m ridiculously powerful now!”
At the end, Sun Lingtong spread his five fingers and then clenched them tightly into a small fist. His mouth pressed firmly together, and his little face turned red as he tried his best to look fierce.