Xiao Hua had already pushed his mana to its limit. The true essence within him circulated at breakneck speed, mana surging over his body as though spirit stones cost nothing! But cultivation was cultivation—there was no tricking it, not even by half a step. Though Xiao Hua possessed countless secret manuals, before absolute strength, everything was void! Absolute void!!
The rope-like radiance flew beneath Xiao Hua's feet in an instant. Countless thoughts raced through his mind—spirit fire, flying swords, Samadhi True Fire, Soul Sting, and more seemed capable of resisting it somewhat. Yet the technique woven into that radiance had seized control of all the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi nearby, strangling every one of his fanciful hopes in the cradle! Xiao Hua understood that his spirit fire might break the radiance, but what then, after his two sparks of spirit fire were spent? Better to keep his secrets hidden. At a time like this, the more secret techniques he revealed, the more he invited a calamity that would take his life!
"Zzzzt—" Just as Xiao Hua gave up resisting, the radiance coiled around his feet. In an instant, the mana in his feet congealed as if frozen solid. The radiance then crawled upward along his body, making all his mana incomparably sluggish. Even when Xiao Hua activated the Dragon Transformation Art, it was utterly useless!
"Hmph, so he's only a Foundation Establishment brat!" The Nascent Soul cultivator in the distance snorted coldly, all his previous vigilance gone. After all, Xiao Hua's methods were nowhere near the level of a Nascent Soul cultivator—or even a Golden Core cultivator.
But at that moment, from below and behind the Nascent Soul cultivator came an enraged ROAR! A stream of Ink Sand, far weaker than an Ink Storm yet still immensely powerful, surged