Because the walking stick had suddenly vanished.
The supreme-grade Spirit Weapon that had accompanied him for half his life had disappeared into thin air.
Bizarre!
His face darkened, and he swept his wide sleeve, rolling the Jade-Eyed Striped Black Tiger's massive body over.
Xia Yu's entire body clung to the black tiger's gaping mouth.
Several more gashes had opened across his body, blood streaming from them.
Old Man Cold Crow nodded and said, "Clever. You actually knew to attack from the inside."
When the tiger had opened its jaws wide, Xia Yu had punched through the roof of its mouth and into its brain.
That strike had been incredibly dangerous.
A moment earlier, and his fist would not have gone in. A moment later, and he would have died in the tiger's jaws.
Old Man Cold Crow waved his sleeve, pulling Xia Yu's right arm out of the tiger's mouth, dripping with blood.
Several foot-long gashes still marked his right arm, deep enough to expose bone.
Thud!
Xia Yu lay motionless on the ground, only his chest and abdomen rising faintly with each breath.
"Little fellow, you really do have nine lives. Do you want to die, or do you want to live?"
Old Man Cold Crow looked at Xia Yu's lower abdomen. His supreme-grade Spirit Weapon should have pierced him there, yet the fellow did not seem to have a wound.
Strange!
Just then, a gurgling sound came from Xia Yu's throat. He seemed to have heard Old Man Cold Crow and responded.
Old Man Cold Crow bent down, bringing his head close to Xia Yu's ear.
"Do you want to live? If you do, tell me how you comprehended battle intent, and I'll save you immediately. Nod if you agree."
Xia Yu still seemed barely conscious, but he managed a difficult nod.
Old Man Cold Crow smiled in satisfaction and took the Heaven and Earth Bag from inside his robe, preparing to retrieve a pill to save him.
Suddenly!
Everything changed!
A blood-covered hand shot out and clamped around Old Man Cold Crow's neck.
Crack!
Without the slightest hesitation, that bloody hand snapped Old Man Cold Crow's neck.
Caught completely off guard, Old Man Cold Crow died with his eyes wide open before he could even react.
Xia Yu opened his eyes and said coldly, "I have your supreme-grade Spirit Weapon to thank. Without it, I couldn't have recovered even a shred of strength, let alone killed you."
He glanced at Old Man Cold Crow's corpse in his hand and was about to toss it away when another sudden change occurred.
The Heaven-Incinerating Furnace in his lower abdomen trembled wildly.
A powerful suction pulled Old Man Cold Crow's body toward it.
Startled, Xia Yu hastily said, "Little furnace, you aren't going to eat a person, are you? Don't! That's disgusting!"
But the Heaven-Incinerating Furnace paid him no heed.
Old Man Cold Crow's corpse vanished in an instant.
For a moment, Xia Yu wanted to retch!
Killing someone had not bothered him, but imagining a whole person being smelted was like eating human flesh. It was so fucking disgusting.
In the very next moment, the Heaven-Incinerating Furnace shuddered, and a stream of incomparably pure spiritual energy surged into Xia Yu's body.
Sweet rain after a long drought!
That sensation!
Xia Yu could not help letting out a soft moan. It felt so fucking good!
What a delicious turnabout!
Spiritual energy flowed over his wounds, healing them instantly.
The small world frantically absorbed this spiritual energy, converting it into Origin Force.
All the Origin Force of a half-step King Realm cultivator, along with a supreme-grade Spirit Weapon-even if only half became spiritual energy after conversion, that was still an enormous amount.
Looking within his second small world, Xia Yu was astounded to discover that its Origin Force had already reached over seventy percent.
This...
Too fast!
At that moment, Xia Yu no longer cared whether it made him want to retch.
He punched open the Jade-Eyed Striped Black Tiger's skull, extracted its crystal core, and slapped it into the Heaven-Incinerating Furnace.
Last came the black tiger's entire massive body.
Boom...
The second small world instantly filled with Origin Force.
The second small world activated.
A faint, almost imperceptible dragon's cry echoed through Xia Yu's body.
A dragon-shaped stream of Origin Force burst from each of the two small worlds, and two tiny golden dragons roamed through Xia Yu's body.
Ancestral Dragon Power began frantically strengthening Xia Yu's body, fortifying every one of his cells.
Xia Yu closed his eyes, utterly absorbed in the sensation.
This was the feeling-the feeling of flying.
At the same time, Xia Yu's cultivation abruptly broke through.
Eighth level of Origin Absorption!
Ninth level of Origin Absorption!
Tenth level of Origin Absorption!
First level of the Origin Command Realm!
Second level of the Origin Command Realm!
Third level of the Origin Command Realm!
He had broken through one major realm and six minor levels.
Xia Yu was dumbstruck. All he had done was activate his second small world.
This...
His body's strength had clearly improved enormously as well.
Xia Yu abruptly clenched his fist, his knuckles cracking.
He slowly closed his eyes, recalling how to circulate the Ancestral Dragon Fist.
Suddenly, he opened his eyes and punched!
Boundless!
Boundless with two small worlds activated!
In an instant, Xia Yu felt Ancestral Dragon Power surge out of both small worlds almost simultaneously.
Ancestral Dragon Power from the first small world had barely surged from his fist before the power from the second arrived.
Bang!
The air before his fist exploded.
One punch had detonated the air!
The next moment, Xia Yu's body suddenly vanished.
Several breaths later, Xia Yu slowly appeared more than a dozen yards away.
Divine Dragon Concealment!
Xia Yu's figure had only just appeared when it abruptly trembled.
The next moment, that figure actually began fading away.
Meanwhile, Xia Yu appeared five yards away.
Divine Dragon Movement!
Xia Yu's figure vanished once more.
Boom...
Suddenly, an explosion of air rang out twenty yards away.
Xia Yu's figure appeared again.
Divine Dragon Concealment!
Boundless!
Boom...
An afterimage swept across five yards in an instant. The air exploded, and space shook.
Divine Dragon Movement!
Boundless!
Xia Yu's eyes instantly lit up.
The combination of Divine Dragon Concealment and Boundless was unfathomable even to gods and ghosts, its power formidable.
Meanwhile, Divine Dragon Movement combined with Boundless delivered pure strength and speed. Though it was less elusive than the combination of Divine Dragon Concealment and Boundless, its power increased twofold.
"Hahaha..."
Xia Yu laughed aloud, his spirits soaring.
If he faced the Jade-Eyed Striped Black Tiger now, he would no longer have to claw his way back from death. Divine Dragon Movement and Boundless alone would let him blast it apart.
Only now did Xia Yu understand that activating his second small world marked his true entry into Boundless.
At the third level of the Origin Command Realm, with combat strength comparable to the Profound Origin Realm and a greatly strengthened body, Xia Yu was very satisfied.
With a flicker, he disappeared from where he stood.
The next moment, he appeared five yards away.
His figure flashed repeatedly, and he vanished into the depths of the forest.
When he landed again, the ground suddenly gave way beneath his feet, and his entire body plunged downward.
He reached out and felt an incredibly smooth rock wall as he slid rapidly downward.
With skill came courage, and Xia Yu continued sliding down the rocky tunnel.
Gradually, he began to feel surprised.
He had slid several miles without coming to a stop.
By his silent calculations, he had already reached deep beneath the ground.
At last, a speck of red light appeared before him.
Before you continue