Qian didn’t need to think — his body automatically made the choice for him. He countered the barrage of snowballs with a volley of fireballs. As two opposing forces collided, an explosion was heard throughout the stadium, injuring some of the less fortunate bystanders.

Flying through the thick fog of smoke, Qian ignored the glacial arrow heading for him. These arrows were locked down on their targets. The only way to shake them off was to destroy them and he couldn’t afford the extra time to do so. Every single second counted in his quest to prevent the other menacing arrow from reaching his monkey girl.

As a result, he tanked the glacial arrow as it pierced through one of his wings. His sacred flames immediately vaporized the ice and mended his wound with fire. Although it hurt like shit, Qian ignored the pain. He was still the mighty phoenix from the divine race, how could he cry over a battle wound in front of his enemies?

Knowing the origin of his opponent really gave Qian a headache that was quickly turning into a throbbing migraine. A fucking mermaid! Although not one of the divine races, mermaids were still one of the rarest aquatic sea creatures and a few of them possessed the same mythical powers to travel between realms and dimensions; however, they were not known for submitting to humans or forming contracts with them.

Usually, mermaids hid themselves in a separate dimension deep under water. They almost never show themselves to humans. Not to mention this one was a warrior snow mermaid, bred for combat and the fiercest among the mermaid race.

How the fuck did his monkey girl’s perverted ape-breed brother get his hands on one? Qian swiftly concluded that anyone remotely related to that girl was nothing but a load of trouble. If only he had his seals fully released, then this fight would have been a breeze, but…with a deep sigh, he could only forge ahead as he lamented over how he got stuck with such a troublesome monkey girl.

Meanwhile, the warrior snow mermaid and Ming combined their strength together and unleashed a series of attacks on Qian, but he could only accept each and every one of them. Those his fire aura could block, were deflected; those that escaped, were tanked.

Qian didn’t waste additional energy in fighting those two — he was fighting against time instead.

Increasing his speed as he swooped down from above, Qian chased after the glacial arrow locked on Baihe. If it weren’t for those darn ice pillar spikes impeding his progress, Qian would have caught up ages ago. As he descended, he noticed the other trap set up by the warrior snow mermaid on the outer layer of the icy barrier. Qian scoffed in his heart. Did the fish think he wouldn’t know what those weird spikes would do?

Even though Qian knew exactly what nasty effects those weird spikes had, he didn’t hesitate. Under normal circumstance, he could have taken the time to dismantle the icy barrier through a safer method, avoiding the need to deal with the side effects; but it required time and time was something he didn’t have when a crazy glacial arrow was dead set on his monkey girl.

The audience watched the bizarre scene with wide eyes. Does the phoenix have a screw loose in his brain? Why is he not dodging the attacks, but instead keeps charging toward the girl?

Although they had such thoughts, their hearts were actually filled with envy. How wonderful was it to have the divine, godly phoenix be so loyal to you? To place you above his own self as he willingly tank damage in order to save you. If only they could get their hands on him too, to make him submit and take orders from them.

It was a blessing to the crowd that Qian couldn’t read their minds and was only limited to Baihe’s inner thoughts. Otherwise, a huge massacre would have occurred today during the Feng Martial Tournament with the headlines reading: “Phoenix grilled the audience into crispy human meat, providing the wild beasts with enough food for a year!”

Like a bird on a mission with one sole focus, the majestic phoenix dived straight through the icy shield and caught the glacial arrow right at the last second with his beak before crunching it in his mouth like it was nothing more than an ice-pop.

The crowd sucked in a deep breath of admiration. Truly a legendary divine beast ah!

What none of them noticed was how those weird little spikes from the icy barrier dissolved into liquid and melted into the pores of the phoenix; nor how the complexion of Qian turned slightly pale afterward. But, a pair of keen sapphire eyes among the crowd saw and another pair of dark eyes from Baihe also noticed. Not only did she saw the small details, she also felt the change.

Qian ignored the probing gaze from Baihe, but he clearly felt the concern she had for him. An involuntary smile lightly spread across his face and he couldn’t help but feel a bit proud. So his stupid monkey girl finally learned to care for this grandpa? A bit slow in the head, but at least she wasn’t a completely brainless monkey. Now, how will she plan on worshiping him later?

He tucked away the cheerful thought as Qian focused his attention back on his two opponents. With his monkey girl safe from the threat of the glacial arrow, Qian finally had time to play around with his prey. After all, these two caused him to pay a huge price for forcefully going against the rules of heavenly seals.

Remembering the cost he’d have to pay once this was over, Qian felt like roasting the whole world on fire. Because of his stupid monkey girl, he went against the heaven’s will by forcefully defying the time restriction. The repercussion? He permanently sacrificed a part of his divine cultivation. Just thinking about it hurts his heart and was enough to cause some lasting trauma.

Wait…why the hell did this grandpa do such a selfless thing for a human? Obviously, I am the mighty phoenix. The monkey girl should be begging to serve me, not the other way around and have my esteemed self protect her like some loyal pet!

His face turned dark as Qian finally realized what he had done. What the hell was he thinking? Divine cultivation! Not some loose strands of hair or bird feathers that could easily grow back! Those were years of sweat, tears and blood! Hundreds of years! Thousands!

Actually, he didn’t think at that moment. His body instinctively reacted before his brain caught up with his actions. Now that he got time to spare, Qian was unable to come to terms with his impulsive behavior which cost him a portion of his divine cultivation.

Finally, Qian concluded that he didn’t do it for the monkey girl. He did it for himself, for self-perseverance! He still depended on the mortal to release the remaining seals. If she were to die on him, what if another chosen one never appeared again? Thus, his esteemed self must had calculated all of this and selected the best course of action.

With this sort of mindset, Qian suddenly felt a lot better. To think he actually thought for a split second that the monkey girl had wormed her way in and became important enough for him to willingly sacrifice a portion of his divine cultivation had him breaking out in cold sweat.