The second compressed flame drew a beautiful arc in the air as it fell toward Zhao Shu, who was charging at Xu Xiaoshou.

That was how things were with battles. The smallest of details could decide the outcome.

​​

Xu Xiaoshou's physical body was more resilient than Zhao Shu's, and he was further away from the eye of the storm. As such, he was able to retaliate as soon as he regained control of his body.

That flame was like a reaper's scythe as it shot straight at Zhao Shu's face.

Zhao Shu's body had been thoroughly scorched and mangled by the last explosion. Things would get really dire if he failed to deal with the incoming one.

Zhao Shu forced himself to turn in midair and performed a seal with his hand. Then, he bloated his cheeks with air like a balloon and blew hard.

Breath of the Ice Dragon!

Fuuuuu.

A flash of cold shot forth, a blizzard following it.

The specter of an ice dragon appeared in the air, spreading sparkling bits of ice all over the place like a shockwave, causing the entire place to freeze yet again.

That speeding bit of flame stopped right then and there, unable to move any further, looking like it'd just encountered the hands of a giant.

In addition to this, the layers from the burst of sparkling ice shaved down the flame's energy and actually managed to snuff it out altogether.

"D*mn!"

Xu Xiaoshou's eyes widened with disbelief. That man had actually managed to stop his "bullet."

Nope, it was normal that he'd managed to stop it. He was anything but an idiot, after all.

The sparkling bits of ice spread like waves in the ocean. Having his back against the Ice Crystal Barrier meant that Xu Xiaoshou had nowhere to run.

He wondered if he'd be able to survive being swept by that wave.

"Recoil" didn't seem to be working as well.

All four moves of his sword techniques—webbing, sticking, reversing, and drawing—flashed through his mind.

No way. None would be able to deal with a move dishing out such massive, indiscriminate AoE damage.

Lesser Fireball…

Couldn't do. Not enough time. Too close.

In the nick of time, just when frost was starting to cover his face, Xu Xiaoshou managed to come up with an idea. He took out that smaller bathtub that Elder Sang had given him earlier and hid inside it.

Good warriors know when to charge and when to back down.

Boooooooom…

The frosty waves swept over him. He held up one hand to support the top of the bathtub and used his other hand to conjure a compressed fire seed to ward off the cold.

"Holy sh**. This is freezing!"

The cauldron, being made of conductive material, immediately transferred the cold it had taken into his body. It was an extremely frustrating situation.

While the frost couldn't hit him directly, the impact from the frost hitting the bathtub was nothing to sneer at.

This was the first time he'd ever felt pain from his passive skills.

His Recoil was making his hand shake so hard that he felt his hand start to go numb.

Worse still, he couldn't afford to just let go, as doing so would probably end up getting him pummeled underground.

Gagagagagagagaga…

The rush from taking both heat and cold, as well as repeated shocks from Recoil, caused his entire body to shake like crazy and the color of his face to constantly change.

Attacked, Passive Points +1.

Attacked, Passive Points +1.

…

"It's all thanks to this turtle shell that Elder Sang got me that I'm not dead.

"That's something!"

He figured that he'd guessed right. The cauldrons of the Infernal lineage…

Was indeed meant for fights.

He struggled to keep his mind clear and alert but found doing so increasingly difficult.

"That guy's still not done with his attack?" he thought. "What the h*ll are his lungs made of!?" He gritted his teeth.

The cold seeping through the palm of his hand felt like it was about to freeze his mind over. He was only holding on through sheer willpower alone.

The "Breath of the Ice Dragon" attack kept going for over a dozen breaths and showed no signs of stopping. It felt like his entire body was turning into an ice sculpture. Only the part of his hand that conjured the fire seed still had a fleshy color to it.

Things were so dire that even his Eternal Vitality had been completely suppressed and was only able to regenerate at a very slow rate.

Worse still, this was just indirect cold.

"I'm so done."

He felt as if he was going to pass out soon, and struggled to keep himself awake.

…

Zhao Shu saw that half of his icy barrier had been filled by the cold ice, as he was no longer able to sense Xu Xiaoshou's vital signs or presence.

No one could survive the onslaught of a spiritual technique nearing Master Level, even if the one taking it had an Innate Level Physique!

Furthermore, in order to amplify the output, he'd even extended the period of the attack by 50 percent. Such a terrifying spiritual technique had almost drained his entire spiritual source reserve.

"There's no way Xu Xiaoshou could survive this!" he thought. "I never thought someone at mere Spiritual Cultivation Level nine would be so difficult…"

Zhao Shu finally had time to take out several pills and focused on healing the scorched flesh all over his body.

An intense pain hit him. He was dumbfounded.

That very instant, a bit of flame ignited within the ice, immediately spreading outward in all directions. Sword will shot to the heavens like an unbridled stallion, breaking the ice as it shot forth.

Flashes that resembled starlight leaked out as the surface of the ice cracked. Zhao Shu couldn't even clearly make out the sword aura before he sensed pain in his left shoulder. Half of his body was cut away, and blood sprayed into the air.

Arrggghhhhh!

He shrieked at the top of his lungs. The sudden attack made him have a mental breakdown.

"Xu Xiaoshou is still alive!?" he thought.

"How did he survive that terrifying wave of attacks!? And, if he is still alive, how is he still able to fight like that?

"Even if he is still very much capable of fighting, how is he able to pinpoint my location so accurately through all those layers of ice?"

A tinge of fear appeared in Zhao Shu's eyes. "That brat…"

Booom!

A rumble came from above him before he was able to mull it over more. After the sword aura tore through the ice, the Ice Crystal Barrier was unable to hold any longer, and cracks spread everywhere before the entire construction exploded.

Swooop!

Yuan Tou, who was anxiously waiting outside, looked on with astonishment as the barrier beneath him shattered and a white beam from a sword shot out.

He was the only one who could clearly see the attack, not because he was all that powerful, but because he was very close to the battlefield.

A shrill, deafening shriek was heard shortly afterwards.

"How is this possible!"

That voice was none other than Zhao Shu's.

"He's one of the Inner Yard 33 and he's actually shrieking from pain fighting someone at mere Spiritual Cultivation Level nine from the Outer Yard?" he thought to himself.

Yuan Tou's eyes widened.

With him keeping watch and with the Icy Crystal Barrier covering the battlefield, their battle hadn't attracted any kind of attention. However, after that deafening shriek, that wouldn't stay the case for long.

What was even more terrifying was how the outcome of the battle had gone completely south.

"What the…"

…

Xiao Qixiu was probably the only one throughout the entire Tiansang Spirit Palace out of the many who had seen Xu Xiaoshou's battles who'd realized something.

Despite looking like a fool and anything but serious, the kid could seize any opening during a battle, which he would then take full advantage of to win.

Zhao Shu would never know that Xu Xiaoshou had let his own lifeforce be snuffed down to the very last bit without resisting while locking onto Zhao Shu with his Sense the whole time.

He'd done all that just so when Zhao Shu finally lowered his guard, he could immediately suck the fire seed and 10 Spiritual Cultivation Pills, dispel the cold and regain control of his body at the same time, and suppress the rush through intense pain just so he could pull off that one move.

Drugging Style, Blade-draw!

That move had once severed an arm off of Feng Kong back in their match at the Windcloud Competition. At this moment, the move had worked yet again to break through the ice and slice through the air straight at Zhao Shu, slicing off his arm.

Other than Mo Mo, who'd been well-guarded back then, no one else had been able to react in time to his move's incredible speed.

He was the kind of guy who was hard on himself yet harder on his enemies.

He'd suppressed all the pain in his body just to replicate that move he'd pulled off back then, only to find that he was now unable to move his arm.

He looked down and saw that his legs were glued to the ground by the hard ice surrounding him.

The surrounding ice had only been cut open and not melted. Furthermore, it looked like they had a will of their own, as they immediately crept over and immobilized Xu Xiaoshou where he was standing.

"Sh**!

"That control trick again?"

He looked up and saw a ferocious-looking man covered in blood and forcefully freezing half of his body as he performed seals with one hand.

"Go**damnit! Don't you know when to give up?"

Xu Xiaoshou had initially been in high spirits, but as soon as he saw this scene, his face turned ashen.