Requesting Support

The entire audience was utterly bewildered. These days, there were even people asking to have themselves banned from competing?

Xiao Qixiu's face darkened. He had thought it was something serious.

Taking pills?

Who did not take a few pills before a match these days to replenish themselves? There was not even a rule forbidding the use of pills to restore spiritual power during a match.

"Nonsense!"

"Get the hell off the stage, now!"

Xiao Qixiu was so furious that his beard quivered and his eyes bulged. He was just short of drawing his sword and bringing it down on Xu Xiaoshou's head.

Xu Xiaoshou pulled a miserable face. "If I hadn't really taken too many pills, I wouldn't have come looking for you. I really need support!"

His gaze turned toward the rear, where a group of white-clad angels sat.

Xiao Qixiu frowned. The boy's urgency did not seem fake, and that red-hot body...

What was going on?

He knew Xu Xiaoshou possessed an Innate body. What could possibly inflict such severe side effects on him?

"Come here!" Xiao Qixiu pressed a hand against his chest, and terrifyingly scorching energy instantly surged over him.

Sizzle! The smell of raw flesh being seared wafted out. Xiao Qixiu hurriedly pulled back his hand; he did not possess an Innate body.

The audience was stunned.

"Holy shit, what pill did Xu Xiaoshou take? It actually injured Elder Xiao?"

"Has he gone mad? He really took pills, and he still dared walk right into the trap?"

"Guess it's just like he said—he took too many and had nowhere else to turn, haha! This is killing me!"

Xiao Qixiu was stunned as well. He hastily covered his palm with spiritual essence and stripped away the scorching aura, only to find his palm a mangled mess.

Because he had not taken it seriously, he had failed to use spiritual essence to protect himself at once. Now he had tasted the bitter fruit.

"Emberlight Fire Seed?"

He muttered to himself, "Elder Sang has gone mad. Didn't this thing burn an Innate body to ruin before?"

Xu Xiaoshou nearly pissed himself. He stared at him in horror, his face full of question marks.

Awkwardly rubbing his hand, Xiao Qixiu realized the fellow had heard his muttering. He hurriedly added, "This thing is very good. It's your lucky opportunity. It's nothing, nothing..."

Xu Xiaoshou was about to lose his mind. The hell you mean, it's nothing? Who was it that just said it had burned an Innate body to ruin? "I heard all of that," he said darkly.

"You heard wrong!"

"Hehe!"

"Ah!" Xiao Qixiu sighed and patted his shoulder. "Go rest. Keep it up, endure it!"

Encouragement received. Passive Value +1.

Xu Xiaoshou: ???

That wasn't the answer I wanted! I want medical staff! I don't want to be burned to ruin! Xiao Qixiu ignored him, told him to go squat off to the side, announced the start of the match, and began drawing lots on his own.

The spectators all wore wonderfully animated expressions. What was this situation? Xu Xiaoshou claimed he had taken pills and requested to be banned, yet the referee ignored him and would not even provide medical staff? "Hahaha, I'm dying! This story teaches us that those who bring calamity upon themselves cannot live!"

"Xu Xiaoshou is so miserable. Taking pills to this extent is truly something else!"

"Please give him a medic! He's practically turning into braised pork... Hahaha, I can't hold it in!"

And sure enough, Xu Xiaoshou's bare upper body was growing redder and redder, more and more terrifying.

Steam rose from his body as he returned gloomily to his waiting area.

"How could they be so cruel? They won't even give me a medic..."

Xu Xiaoshou pondered in secret. This uproar had not been entirely fruitless. At the very least, he had learned several crucial pieces of information.

The Emberlight Fire Seed had once burned an Innate body to ruin! And also...

Elder Sang? Why did that name sound so familiar...

Judging from the information Xiao Qixiu had inadvertently revealed, he seemed to recognize the... Emberlight Fire Seed Xu Xiaoshou had swallowed? And he might be connected to that damned old man.

That was also why Xu Xiaoshou had not continued pestering him.

"Partners in crime..."

Xu Xiaoshou sat cross-legged and continued refining and expelling the scorching aura from his body bit by bit. At present, this was all he could do.

Yet as he refined it, that terrifying scorching aura actually seeped little by little into his sea of energy.

Don't tell me it'll burn up my sea of energy in the end!

Xu Xiaoshou felt utterly wronged. That dead old man had set him up for no reason at all.

He suddenly recalled Xiao Qixiu's initial mention of a lucky opportunity. Perhaps that dead old man wanted him to try refining this so-called "Emberlight Fire Seed"? Things had come to this, so he no longer dwelled on the fact that it had once burned an Innate body to ruin. With no one to help him, he could only rely on himself.

The light screen above the arena shifted, settling on two names. Two people immediately stepped onto the stage.

The audience shouted, the venue boiled over, but the joy belonged to them.

Xu Xiaoshou kept his head down and cultivated bitterly. Every now and then, he took out a Red-Gold Pill and sniffed it, using the pleasure to offset the pain within his body while repairing his injured flesh.

Attack received. Passive Value +1.

Attack received. Passive Value +1.

"..."

A message flashed through his mind every second. Xu Xiaoshou was being burned without pause. Under normal circumstances, he might have been delighted, but now...

Hehe, it had burned an Innate body to ruin.

Those words were like a nightmare, flashing through his mind from time to time.

"Whew... I still have to compete. What am I supposed to do?"

Even with all his efforts to hold himself together, he was in terrible condition. The meridians within his body were burned through one by one, only for him to patch them up again and again with Red-Gold Pills.

The agony was imaginable.

"Mm, perhaps... I can vent this scorching aura through battle?"

Who knew how much time had passed? A flash of inspiration suddenly struck Xu Xiaoshou as he sat cultivating cross-legged, and he abruptly rose to his feet.

This idea might actually work!

Looking toward the arena, he saw that many pairs had already fought, but his name had yet to be drawn.

The current center of attention onstage was a white-clad man with a rather cold expression. Holding an Ice River Sword, he slashed out and froze his opponent into an ice sculpture, securing victory.

"Chao Qingteng, victory!"

Xu Xiaoshou's eyes lit up. Ice? How badly he wanted that guy to slash him with his sword right now. That would probably feel so good he would explode!

But Chao Qingteng...

An Innate expert!

That made his heart pound with unease.

The light screen shifted once more, and two enormous names appeared.

"Xu Xiaoshou!"

"Zhang Fu!"

The moment the announcement fell, the scene erupted in cheers. This had only happened once before: when the Innate expert Chao Qingteng took the stage.

"He's here, he's here—Xu Xiaoshou!"

"Open your eyes wide! Xu Punching Bag is about to appear!"

"Hm? Why do you call him Xu Punching Bag?"

"You don't know? Let me tell you, this Xu Xiaoshou..."

Without another word, Xu Xiaoshou flew onto the arena from the waiting area and ran to Xiao Qixiu again, pleading, "If I beat this person, give me treatment!"

Xiao Qixiu's face turned black. What the hell kind of contestant was this?

I'm the referee! Who does he think I am, coming over and talking to me like this?

Someone at the judges' table behind them immediately laughed. "Look at this guy. It's only been so long, and Boss Xiao is already sick of him!"

The others grinned as well, watching Xu Xiaoshou with great curiosity.

"Go back and stand properly!" Xiao Qixiu barked.

Xu Xiaoshou pointed at his neck, where smoke was rising in straight wisps.

Even his gaze had gone unfocused, but this was the referee—what could he do? "Look! It's all burned red! I'm a contestant too. I have the right to request treatment!"

"Hehe, you did that before the match. It has nothing to do with me!"

Xiao Qixiu did want to treat him, but let alone himself, even the most incredible medic would be unable to handle this. Xu Xiaoshou could only endure it himself.

But Xu Xiaoshou's eyes lit up at those words. "Right, what happened before the match has nothing to do with you. But if I get injured during the match, I can receive treatment!"

"Mm, that's right!" He nodded heavily and spoke loudly to himself, "And according to the rules, you even have to restore me to my peak condition!"

Xiao Qixiu felt awful all over. "Get the hell out of here!"

"Zhang Fu!"

"Where is Zhang Fu? Get up here, now!"