Under the immense pressure, Shao Xuan felt the torment of two opposing conditions. Externally, he suffered the heat and flames. Internally, his blood was frozen cold.
Nothing else mattered. First, he must activate the powers within that seemed to be frozen.
This was different from the real world. A world of spirit, consciousness.
Spirit, consciousness...
That bright spot!
The white light in his sea of consciousness was what allowed Shao Xuan to be here!
Shao Xuan controlled the thread-like white energy that was different from Flaming Horn’s fire seed, trying to ‘break the ice’.
One round, two rounds...
When the white energy started to awaken, Shao Xuan felt the ice throughout his body start to thaw.
However, the activated energy would quickly stagnate once again, like how melted water could re-freeze under low temperatures once more.
Again!
There was no time for rest, he must melt all the ice at once. Any waiting resulted in his powers freezing over once more.
Controlling the white energy, the wisps of white circled around the burning white spot, which represented the core of his soul, flowing slowly. Some of the frozen white energy started to flow. One round, two rounds, three rounds... The ‘ice’ around the white spot melted once again.
This white energy was similar to his fire seed energy. He felt his body warm up, his strength returning.
Hurry!
Hurry up!
Fireballs of all sizes flew in his direction like meteors, hitting Shao Xuan directly and exploding in a firework show. Did it hurt? Well, he was already numb to everything.
He gritted his teeth to hold against the oppression. If there was solid ground, his legs would have sunken into the ground. However, beneath him were flames acting as boundaries of the sealed realm. If this carried on, he would merely be squashed.
There was not enough time for ‘thawing’. His body was at its limits and if he could not activate enough power to hold against the external forces, he would die.
He willed the white energy to spread warmth across his body.
At this moment, within the Yi camp. Yi Tuan did not have the capacity to worry about Shao Xuan, even forgetting about him. Perhaps he thought Shao Xuan was already dead from the shockwaves.
He had only one thought- to find a gap.
This was his plan. First, he would use his ancestor’s shell not just to stop the approaching wall but also to break this sealed boundary through the impact of the collision. All he needed was a sliver of a crack!
Yi Xiang’s trap was like a cage. If the impact could crack the boundaries, they would be able to escape the cage through the crack. They did not need much, just a small gap and it would no longer be a sealed system. That was enough to escape.
Gap!
Where is the gap?
Yi Tuan searched frantically for the gap, terrified of missing something.
But he was left disappointed.
The boundaries were good as new, no cracks could be found!
How is that possible?!
He had already used his ancestral heirloom, this was one of the most powerful artefacts in the family. But there was not even a crack!
What did that mean?
It meant Yi Xiang’s abilities far exceeded their estimations!
The giant tortoise holding back the fire wall was just a temporary solution. Yi Tuan did not know how long it could hold. After so many disappointments, the usually calm Yi Tuan finally plunged into panic.
If even the shell left behind by their ancestors did not give them a chance to escape, what could they do to avoid death?
Yi Tuan’s mind raced for solutions. The Yi people were sharp people so he came up with many ideas in a short moment. Despite that, none of them were satisfactory. Not just Yi Tuan- the two other elders were also thinking. This was the hardest they had ever thought in their lives.
What now?!
As they thought bitterly, another strange wave of power appeared.
Huh?
Yi Tuan had to stop his train of thought to look over. What he saw made his heart pound.
An immense wave of oppression spread out in all directions.
Activating all the powers he could control in his body, Shao Xuan started to aggregate them in his body until they surged like a tsunami! He did not hold back.
In this burning, orange-red world of flames, a contrasting bright-red flame erupted like a strike of lightning, forcing its way through the realm.
A giant figure emerged from the core of the red flame like a war machine engulfed in flames, a tornado of currents forming in its presence threatening to shatter everything in its path!
Amidst the twisting, crisscrossing red and orange-red flames, the giant figure expanded again. Around the figure, flames shot out and collided violently with the surrounding fire like a ferocious beast manically expanding its territory.
Within this territory that supposedly belonged to the Yi family, this foreign giant appeared like a monster that crawled its way out of fiery hell.
Not just the Yi family, even Yi Xiang took notice. Well actually, Yi Xiang had been staring in Shao Xuan’s direction since the beginning, completely ignoring Yi Tuan’s army. He did not look shocked, as if he had completely anticipated this event.
“A Bone Reading Beast?! Why would he have one?!” cried someone in the totem.
“Didn’t he only master Grass Reading? Why would he know Bone Reading?!”
“THAT!” shouted Yi Cong,” THAT APPEARED WHEN FLAMING HORN LEFT!” However, this was larger than the flame giant he previously saw. This giant was as large as the giant tortoise now!
Years ago, when Yi Cong and King City’s army pursued the Flaming Horn’s migratory party, they had seen this flame giant too. They were stopped by that giant and could not catch up. In the end, the Flaming Horns got away.
“So this is the... flame giant you mentioned?” Yi Tuan was astonished. Didn’t Yi Cong see it in the real world? Why would it appear in this realm?
Solidification?!
A Bone Reading Beast’s energy could solidify to be used in the real world too but both techniques were different and required more energy.
To the Yi family, using a solidified Bone Reading Beast was a waste. They only need to attack a person in the realm of consciousness, not in reality.
The Yi family recalled the time Yi Cong mentioned the flame giant after Yi Cong returned with the army. Some people also suspected it to be similar to their Bone Reading Beast but no one thought a barbaric tribesman could master such a thing. Especially not something that belonged to the Yi family.
That was why...
“Is that a giant?!”
How did he do it? This tribesman’s own silhouette was so blurry when he first arrived, how could he have the ability to control such a giant?
What kind of human bone did they use to make such a terrifying thing? Were there real giants in this world?
“No, it’s not Bone Reading! It’s a different technique!” Yi Tuan had multiple guesses when he studied the giant.
After he calmed down, he recognized that it was not from Bone Reading.
Bone Reading had its own unique energy ripple and it could not be sensed here.
Then what was it?!
Even the Yi family had to carefully preserve their family heirlooms across generations for the shell to function at its best capacity. BUt this... tribesman. What did he have?! What right did he have to do this?!
The tortoise blocking the fire wall looked up and roared, then a deep rumble came from its front limbs colliding with the wall once more. A blast of fire exploded from the fiery boundaries below and the wall, bringing along shockwaves that almost shattered their skeletons.
On the Yi family’s side, their totem protected them from the shockwaves so only Shao Xuan bore the brunt of the shockwaves. However, Shao Xuan’s silhouette within this flame giant remained standing tall.
Now that the oppression on his body was gone, he still did not have time to rest. Yi Xiang did not give him time to recuperate, immediately flicking an arm in Shao Xuan’s direction.
The portion of the initially stationary firewall not blocked by the giant tortoise rushed towards Shao Xuan. It looked like an avalanche of fire bursting out of a dam.
Shao Xuan could feel the oppression coming from this wave. He had no choice but to stand tall!
He was cornered, there was nowhere to run!
The bright red flaming giant faced the wave of fire head-on, in the beginning taking several steps back before slowly finding its footing again. Then, step by step, the giant started to walk forward. Roaring flames engulfed the flame giant, every step forward was an immense struggle to push back the great wave, like it was wading against a water current.