“In order to cross this ocean of lava, one will have to rely on the stalactites attached to this cavern’s ceiling. I already tested it out while we were crossing through; these stalactites are very sturdy. Just the two of us don’t have enough power to destroy them, so attempting to break these stalactites to leave them all stranded on this floor isn’t a viable option.
“However, passing through the ceiling of this cavern is extremely dangerous. Just a moment of carelessness is all one needs to fall into the churning ocean of lava below. If you’re able to use your darkness ability and seal off a few miles of stalactites, such that they will have no way of advancing, we can delay them for a minute and even end up causing them to make mistakes and erroneously fall in the lava below.
“Beings tend to get nervous and panic when they are facing extreme danger. With you and me here on this shore, just the psychological pressure we exert is enough to be fatal. After all, they have to face both the peril of the lava below and the looming threat that we present. With your darkness ability sealing off their way forward, and my Celestial Moon doing aerial attacks, all these factors put together will most definitely cause tragic deaths among them.
“We don’t have to seek to eradicate them. As long as we can take this chance to diminish their numbers in a way that we’ll be evenly matched, we can then take them face to face!” Xia Fei said as he pointed to the ocean of lava.
Halleh nodded. “That’s a great plan! My darkness ability becomes more powerful the more concentrated it is, so I won’t be able to kill anyone if I unleash it on a large area, but it’s more than enough to leave them disorientated in the darkness! Still, I wonder how far you can maintain control of your circular blades and if you’re able to attack the enemies from very far away.”
The shock Halleh was feeling inside heightened further. He finally understood that the floating weapon Xia Fei had in hand was not a martial arts technique but rather a good-to-honest ability!
Halleh felt very honored to have someone with a dual ability like Xia Fei on his side.
Xia Fei smiled and patted Furball, who was perched on his shoulder. “Don’t worry. Furball and I here are both able to deal ranged attacks, and since the fifth floor’s teleportation platform is behind us, this shall be our last chance! We’ll have to fight even if we don’t want to!”
With the discussion over, Halleh began unleashing plenty of his darkness.
The ocean of lava covered approximately thirty square kilometers of land on this side of the shore, and the fifth floor’s teleportation platform was part of this.
Black fog gushed out of Halleh, floating like clouds of darkness as they rapidly gathered. Dozens of minutes later, the entire fifth floor’s teleportation platform was engulfed by darkness. In doing so, it would prevent Uti and his underlings from getting past Xia Fei and Halleh’s defense and heading straight for the fifth floor. After all, the two of them would lose the chance to hunt down anyone who managed to get onto it.
The black fog increased in volume as time went by, and after it covered the ground, it began ascending to the sky!
Slowly but surely, the stalactites within their three-kilometer radius all became shrouded in darkness, creating quite a strange sight. Like destructive black clouds pooling together and a boundless night sky which lacked any starlights, this portion of the cavern’s ceiling became completely covered in darkness.
If the fiery red ocean of lava, the black darkness upon the ceiling, as well as the sporadic white stalactites far away were added in the picture, the entire environment of this floor looked as terrifying as hell itself!
Wiping sweat off his forehead, Halleh said in a serious tone, “I’ve now reached my limit, having done all I could to cover this much distance in darkness, so I’m no longer able to do anything else, much less fight. The best I can do now is maintain everything, but I don’t have any strength left to help you anymore. Whether we can deal with Uti and his experts or not solely depends on you.”
Xia Fei took out four White Dews and two Snake Eye Berries from his spatial ring and gave them to Halleh. “Thank you for your hard work! This is already enough. Eating these will help you recover more than half of what energy and strength you expended. Leave everything else to me.”
“Sure!” Halleh took all six fruits and shoved them into his mouth. “What miraculous fruits you’ve got! We insectoids have never had anything like these growing in our territory, or else I would’ve stored a load of them for myself, having them at the ready when needed.”
Xia Fei responded, “I’ve still got plenty of those, so you can relax. Right now, you have no combat strength to speak of, so it’s best if you keep yourself hidden. It’s not too late for you to make your move if anyone does manage to get ashore.”
Halleh nodded and retreated into his darkness, leaving not a trace of himself.
Phantom furrowed his brows. “This darkness formation he set up isn’t bad; what next?”
Xia Fei sat down cross-legged on the ground, closing his eyes as he regulated his breathing. “We wait.”
…
The heat from the lava made one feel anxious, and Xia Fei regulated his Breath Control to keep calm, his legs folded to conserve energy for the upcoming fight.
All of a sudden, Xia Fei’s keen senses picked up sounds coming from far away, and Phantom’s exclamation soon followed. “They’re here! 147 individuals in total!”
Xia Fei opened his eyes and stood up, coldly staring into the distance.
Several minutes later, over a hundred figures came crawling like lizards on the cavern’s ceiling. They discovered the darkness ahead and, thus, stopped where they were to discuss strategy.
Uti was being hugged by this strange bug, his entire body coiled around a piece of stalactite to keep his temperature down. He had a nervous expression and looked totally pale; on his sides were Li Mo and Fini of the Seven Champions.
The shape of the bug was extremely weird. Possessing eight sharp and hard long tentacles, the bug looked like a spider with its diamond-shaped body and two heads.
Its black body had a hardy carapace, and there was hair growing on its joints. However, because of the lava’s temperature, this hair was all but singed. Its countless spikes, much like the ones found in a hiker’s boots, were deeply inserted in the rocky ceiling.
Xia Fei was very intrigued as he had not seen this kind of bug before.
That was when Halleh’s voice sounded from the darkness. “That bug’s the transformation of the Gru brothers, Grux and Gruy. They’re both shapeshifters, and due to them being twins, they can merge as one after changing form, becoming a shapeshifter several times more powerful than their original forms.”
Xia Fei nodded and did not make any comment. There was no need for him to overthink this too much anymore; anyone who came should be treated as an enemy!
Li Mo had already noticed Xia Fei’s presence from afar, and the remaining memories and resent he had for the man told him that there was a nemesis a distance away whom he must kill!
Now that Li Mo was closer to being a beast than human, he of course had natural bestial awareness toward his enemies, and with how High Priest Ryun had further enhanced the resentment he was feeling inside, the moment he spotted Xia Fei, an overwhelming amount of animosity surged in him!
Letting out a loud and hostile roar, his two eyes turned bloodshot, and his whole body shook uncontrollably, as if the rage in him had gone on overdrive!
*Charge!*
Li Mo recklessly charged toward Xia Fei, his mouth ajar as his saliva flowed freely. Xia Fei could clearly see that bloody meat and half-masticated fingers were still caught between Li Mo’s teeth!
“Don’t make any rash move!” Uti shouted to restrain Li Mo.
As Li Mo’s master, High Priest Ryun had once ordered him to listen to every command from Uti, which meant that he was not about to go against any command even at the risk of death. However, the undeniable resentment in his heart was difficult to keep restrained, and it was telling him that he must kill Xia Fei!
A great internal battle ensued!
Finally, it was his animosity toward Xia Fei that emerged victorious!
Uti’s instruction became nothing more than fetters, and Li Mo became even more enraged after breaking out of his chains! Nothing could stop him from dealing with Xia Fei any longer!
*ROAR!*
Another powerful bellow was unleashed. Li Mo was now completely insane!
“Nice timing!” Xia Fei’s two eyes blazed as he yelled. “The debts of your past life come to bear; let’s settle everything once and for all, here and now!”
*Pew!*
Before Xia Fei could even act, Furball had already fired a ball of light!
Li Mo was huge in size, his footsteps lumbering and slow. Just as that ball of light connected, Li Mo instinctively felt the danger of the attack and actually managed to escape the safety of the stalactite by springing forth!
It bore mentioning that, with the raging hot lava underneath, the body still needed to maintain contact with the icy stalactites, or else anyone would easily find themselves burned to a crisp from the heat!
*Whoosh!*
Li Mo’s body was in the air, and by using the power behind this charge, he actually managed to swat Furball’s attack away. However, the insectoid behind him was not as lucky; his flesh was instantly turned into imperceptible motes of energy by the attack and disappeared in the air!
“Thunderfury!”
Celestial Moon howled as Xia Fei unleashed the Tier 2 combat skill of psychokinesis, Thunderfury!
Celestial Moon suddenly turned into a bolt of lightning which went slashing outward!
The immense sound caused the ocean of lava to churn and roll as if a typhoon had struck!
The speed of his Thunderfury was simply too fast! Li Mo had no way of evading it!
Who would have thought that the abomination would just puff out his chest and reveal a mocking smirk, though!
*Clap!*
Like a mass of lightning that came crashing down from the heavens, the blow struck Li Mo squarely on his chest!
A glaring flash of light appeared, so bright that no one could bear to keep their eyes open!
“Crap! Your Thunderfury hardly injured Li Mo at all. He’s got a body augmented by the indestructible special ability!” Phantom said.
Thunderfury merely caused Li Mo to stagger forcefully, but he soon recovered, staring at Xia Fei with hate-filled eyes once more.
“Have another! Thousand Venerables!”
Xia Fei retracted Celestial Moon and changed to the Tier 3 combat technique, Thousand Venerables!
*Whoosh!*
Thousand Venerables was a matchless violence!
Celestial Moon transformed into countless beams of light, which shot forth in a dense concentration. It was an indifferential, comprehensive assault!
*Shaa—*
The over hundred experts, who were still alive by Uti’s side, were without a doubt the elites of the elites, but this one attack from Xia Fei had left them all at a loss on what to do!
Even the final surviving member of the Seven Sacred Champions, Fini, had his left eye pierced as a result of failing to avoid Celestial Moon in time. His entire body bent and fell into the ocean of lava, dying right there and then!
Unfortunately, Thousand Venerables was not a technique that could harm Li Mo. The abomination was already within the darkness, nowhere to be found. Even the Grux and Gruy brothers had also disappeared without a trace!
“Xia Fei, I’m not too certain about that disciple of High Priest Ryun, but the Gru brothers’ strength will increase by several fold upon shifting. While such a level of attack can injure them, it won’t kill them!” Halleh said solemnly from behind him.
“Retract your ability! There are just the two of them now, so let’s go up two versus two. Leave Ryun’s disciple to me, while you can deal with the Gru brothers!”
“Got it!” Halleh answered.
The speed by which he retracted his darkness ability was by no means fast; it had been initially used to obscure the enemies’ way forward, but now that both Li Mo and Uti were in the darkness, it instead became a slight problem to Xia Fei, for he had no idea where his enemies could be hiding in the darkness.
*Zoom zoom zoom!*
Furball indiscriminately fired energy balls, but because he could not see the enemies, these attacks were hardly effective.
‘Calm down and use your keen senses to detect him,’ Xia Fei told himself.
Slowly, Xia Fei actually shut his two eyes!
This was such a crazy move to make! To think he would actually dare to keep his two eyes shut, relying on his senses to face such a powerful foe!
Xia Fei’s senses were like a net, slowly widening the area it covered.
This continued unceasingly until even the slightest movement could be detected.
Suddenly!
Xia Fei felt a powerful force rushing toward him! It turned out that Li Mo had already used this lull in the battle to get almost five hundred meters closer to Xia Fei. In his anxiety, Li Mo did not wait to get close but, instead, relied on his two legs to come pouncing over, flying straight to Xia Fei!
“Here he comes!
“Psychokinesis, Tier 4 combat technique—
“Fearless!”
*Shing!*
Xia Fei abruptly opened his two eyes, and Celestial Moon rattled noisily, forming a cross that rammed straight!
Indeed, it rammed straight!
The powerful force from this technique was enough to split an entire mountain! The strong were fearless, and no mortal could resist the strike!
There was no way for Li Mo, who was still hurtling through the air, to avoid this, and the abomination crashed right into Celestial Moon!
The impact of this collision sent Li Mo spiraling away; he grasped madly in the air several times before falling straight into the hot lava with a *splash*!
