"Die!"
Zhu Yan's mockery shattered Yazi's last shred of pride, stripping away its pretense. It went berserk, attacking Zhu Yan with reckless abandon, no longer caring for its own life.
Yazi's frenzy wasn't without reason.
In the Lower Realm's Eight Domains, Venerables and Venerable-level pure-blood ferocious beasts faced a grim choice to survive without being harvested as "great medicine" for the Upper Realm's divine beings.
Either ascend to divinity and become a mount—
Or become the Upper Realm's dog, scraping by.
Yazi refused to be a mount, so it chose the latter. In its eyes, being a dog was slightly more bearable—it could still bite back. A mount, however, was bound by unbreakable shackles, body and soul.
It wasn't just Yazi.
Even the two great ancient nations of the Desolate Domain were under the Upper Realm's dominion. Humans, though, were less valuable as "medicine" compared to pure-blood ferocious beasts or ancient relics, and their individual strengths varied widely.
In short—
To the Upper Realm, the Lower Realm's beings were nothing but medicine or mounts, destined to be consumed or enslaved, with almost no chance of true freedom.
This stark darkness had loomed over the Lower Realm's Eight Domains for countless ages, so long that its inhabitants had come to accept it as the norm.
Boom!
The Vermilion Bird and Bi'an traded blows in a fierce back-and-forth, while Zhu Yan and Yazi fought with earth-shattering ferocity, splitting the wilderness into two battlegrounds.
Nearby, the two Human Emperors of the ancient nations pummeled the adult Pixiu. Every time it tried to flee, either the Fire Nation's Human Emperor or the Stone Nation's Human Emperor blocked its path.
The scene—
It set Shi Hao's blood ablaze. He glanced at Shi Yi beside him, hesitating to speak.
"If you want to join, go ahead. As long as you're not dead, I can pull you back," Shi Yi said, covering his face in exasperation. How can someone love fighting this much? I told you to stay put, and you're getting hyped up, itching to jump in?
"Gege, keep an eye on me. A Venerable-level battlefield—if I'm not careful, I'll be obliterated," Shi Hao said earnestly, entrusting Shi Yi with his safety. Unable to restrain the boiling passion in his chest, his nine Heavenly Passages flared to life. He stomped the ground and charged at the adult Pixiu.
"Where'd this mosquito come from?" the adult Pixiu muttered, noticing a tiny black dot zipping toward it. It swatted casually, sending the dot flying with an irresistible force.
Boom! The ground splintered.
Shi Yi calmly wiped the dirt and dust from his face, splattered from Shi Hao's crash. In the human-shaped crater, Shi Hao lay with a caved-in chest, coughing blood, barely clinging to life.
"Gege, save me!" Shi Hao gasped, struggling.
"You're hopeless!"
Shi Yi didn't waste words. With practiced ease, he channeled Liu Shen's Technique, conjuring a cluster of vibrant green light at his palm.
The life-infused green light, like scattered starlight, sank into Shi Hao's body, taking root and sprouting. In mere breaths, Shi Hao, who'd been at death's door, sprang back to full health.
Such was the essence of Liu Shen's Technique: Endless Vitality. Master its core, and as long as you grasped Endless Vitality, injuries were trivial. Death itself was hard to achieve—full recovery was nearly instantaneous.
This didn't mean Liu Shen's Technique made one invincible. If it did, Liu Shen wouldn't have fallen to such a state, her willow tree body withered, nearly perishing.
But one thing was certain: unless you exhausted every ounce of strength, reaching true depletion, as long as a sliver of power remained, injury or death was nearly impossible.
"Bi'an, I'm gonna beat you!" Shi Hao shouted, glancing at the adult Pixiu and deciding it wasn't his target. He turned and charged at Bi'an.
The next moment—
Boom! A heavy thud shook the earth.
This time, Shi Hao's injuries were worse—limbs broken, body mangled. Such wounds would've crippled anyone else for good.
"You don't even have the strength to fight back. Why are you jumping into the fray? Couldn't you just watch from the sidelines?" Shi Yi grumbled, but he didn't hesitate to unleash Endless Vitality again. A green light cluster fused into Shi Hao's ruined body.
The vibrant green light carried boundless vitality, like a spring breeze nurturing all life. Under the influence of Endless Vitality, Shi Hao's broken body was restored to its peak.
"I want revenge!" Shi Hao growled, struggling to his feet. The pain of losing loved ones burned in his heart. Even if his strength was feeble, even if he couldn't fight back, he'd tear a piece of his enemy's flesh with his teeth.
The next moment—
The bone in Shi Hao's chest quivered, and the sky itself trembled in resonance.
Soon—
A blinding light descended from the Ninth Heaven, coalescing into a hand that materialized before everyone's eyes, radiating the profound mysteries of the cosmos.
The hand, lustrous as jade, was covered in dense runes, exuding a terrifying power capable of annihilating all. It reached slowly toward Yazi.
Slow in appearance, but swift in truth—it covered the heavens.
"This technique… a Supreme Technique. Could it be the legendary Supreme Bone?" the Stone Nation's Human Emperor mused.
Though Shi Hao had used the Supreme Technique before at the Martial King's Manor, the manor's protective barrier had concealed it. Both the manor and the Stone Nation's capital had their own barriers, preventing outsiders from observing techniques used within unless the barrier was broken.
"Little Shi's no ordinary kid either," the Fire Nation's Human Emperor said, stroking his beard with a sigh.
He didn't recognize the Supreme Bone. Unlike the unmistakable Double Pupil, not everyone knew of the Supreme Bone. Even the Stone Nation's Human Emperor's knowledge was limited to fragments.
This wasn't to say the Supreme Bone outshone the Double Pupil. If the Supreme Bone was rare, the Double Pupil was rarer still, its traits far too distinctive.
As a child, at three or four years old, Shi Yi hadn't known to hide his Double Pupil. With those double pupils, it was impossible to go unnoticed.
Shi Hao was different. Without Shi Yi saying anything, even his mother, Qin Yining, didn't know her son possessed the Supreme Bone.
In a flash—
The jade-like hand descended from the Ninth Heaven, grasping at Yazi with a terrifying aura of annihilation.
"The power of this technique is impressive—enough to harm me. But the one wielding it is too weak. It doesn't even sting as much as Zhu Yan's stick," Yazi scoffed. Having endured Zhu Yan's earth-shaking blow to the head, it opened its gaping maw and bit down on the jade-like hand.
Crack! The sound of shattering glass rang out.
Under Yazi's jaws, the jade-like hand cracked almost instantly, splintering like glass and dissolving into nothingness.
On the other side—
With his Supreme Technique broken, Shi Hao spat blood, his spirit and body nearly collapsing. Shi Yi hurriedly pressed a hand to his head, channeling Liu Shen's Technique to let Endless Vitality nourish his soul and flesh.
He feared a second's delay would leave Shi Hao dead, and he'd have no face to return to Aunt Qin Yining.
"Little brother, stop fighting. You're not ready for a battlefield like this!" Shi Yi urged earnestly.
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