Chapter 36: Yes, It's Exactly What You Think
"This..."
Zuiyasi had a very bad feeling. In the driver's seat, Bubu Wang was already revving the engine, his dog eyes slowly narrowing with an unusually serious expression. Old Driver Bubu Wang was online.
Bubu Wang floored the accelerator and quickly turned the steering wheel, the desert vehicle nearly tracing a perfect circle as it kicked up sand and dust, veering off with impeccable driving skills.
The reason Su Xiao didn't make a move was that he had seen this Blood Qi Avatar once before. That was in the Dark Star World, when the three members of the Umbrella Brothers tackled the time-stagnation issue in the Dream World.
The biggest problem back then was Su Xiao's Blood Qi Avatar. Because Umbrella Brother had suffered so much, he later specifically sought out a painter to create a 100% accurate reproduction of Su Xiao's Blood Qi Avatar.
Su Xiao had seen a painting of his own Blood Qi Avatar. The similarity to the one before him now was about 60%. Compared to the painting, this Blood Qi Avatar was closer to reality, not as abstract as the one in the Dream World.
According to Umbrella Brother's description, Su Xiao's Blood Qi Avatar could teleport infinitely, and you couldn't make eye contact with it, or it would instantly appear before you. It had many instant-death characteristics.
The current Blood Qi Avatar clearly didn't have those instant-death traits, but it could indeed continuously penetrate space, even more smoothly than Su Xiao himself. When Su Xiao penetrated space, he had to consider his body's endurance, meaning cooldown time. The Blood Qi Avatar had no such concept—it wasn't even a physical entity.
Facing his own Blood Qi Avatar, Su Xiao's first thought was to create distance, then split up with Wood and Zuiyasi, each handling one monster. As the saying goes, each sweeps the snow from his own doorstep. Su Xiao would deal with the Blood Qi Avatar, Wood would handle the Scythe Death God, and Zuiyasi would take on the Tentacle Man.
Su Xiao estimated that the appearance of these monsters must be related to the three of them. In other words, some of these monsters' abilities would inherit their ability traits. Only they themselves would better understand their own weaknesses.
As the desert vehicle sped along, Su Xiao climbed out of the window, braced himself with one hand, and leaped onto the roof of the vehicle.
Why the Blood Qi Avatar, Tentacle Man, and Scythe Death God had appeared was meaningless to think about now. The key was how to eliminate these three monsters. Seeing that familiar sand pit earlier, Su Xiao felt that this desert was inescapable—overcoming the monster born from oneself was the real key.
This place was called the Endless Desert, which in itself was a hint. It hinted that you couldn't leave by walking, but had to use other methods.
Su Xiao was about to jump down from the roof when a drastic change occurred behind him.
Several hundred meters back, the pursuing Blood Qi Avatar suddenly raised its right hand, and a Devouring Core appeared in its palm.
Seeing this, Su Xiao knew something was wrong. He immediately slashed out a blade aura.
'Blade Path: Azure Demon.'
Clang!
The azure-blue blade aura tore through the air, heading straight for the Blood Qi Avatar. But unexpectedly, the long blade in the Blood Qi Avatar's hand changed shape, transforming into a hooked spear.
With a clang, the hooked spear caught the Azure Demon. In the next instant, a familiar scene unfolded—the Blood Qi Avatar swung its arms and used the hooked spear to fling the Azure Demon back.
Clang!
Su Xiao shattered the returning Azure Demon. The idea of breaking through with Azure Demon in the Land of All Beings: Seventh Layer suffered a fatal blow.
The Blood Qi Avatar behind him, while rapidly pursuing, waved its hand, grabbed the Devouring Core in front of it, and a suction force spread out.
On either side of the Blood Qi Avatar, the Tentacle Man and Scythe Death God were both enraged. Just as they were about to attack the Blood Qi Avatar simultaneously, it suddenly faded slightly.
For some unknown reason, the Tentacle Man and Scythe Death God both abandoned their attack on the Blood Qi Avatar and were sucked into the knockoff Devouring Core. Su Xiao could confirm that this thing's characteristics were fundamentally different from the real Devouring Core.
The Devouring Core sank into the Blood Qi Avatar's body. All this happened too fast—from the absorption of the Tentacle Man and Scythe Death God to the Blood Qi Avatar absorbing the Devouring Core, the entire process took about 1.5 seconds.
"Roar!"
The Blood Qi Avatar roared and suddenly stopped. It arched backward in pain, its eyes turning pitch black. A black cape grew from its back, looking tattered yet exceptionally flowing.
Zheng~
A war scythe materialized and was gripped by the blood monster. With a long blade in one hand and a war scythe in the other, the black cape behind it fluttered without wind. It was no longer a non-corporeal existence but had gained a physical body. Yet, blood qi still emanated from its entire form. The next instant, it vanished and appeared directly in front of Su Xiao.
Clang!!
The two long blades clashed, and immense force transmitted to Su Xiao's hand. He kicked out straight, but the blood monster had already disappeared and reappeared to his right, its war scythe slashing horizontally. Now with a physical body, the monster couldn't penetrate space as freely, but it didn't care about its own damage at all.
Boom!
A ray composed of air currents pierced through the blood monster's forehead. Inside the vehicle, Zuiyasi pointed his index finger forward, and the eye on the back of his hand slowly closed. Taking advantage of Su Xiao blocking the blood monster, Zuiyasi dealt it a heavy blow.
With a thud, the blood monster with its forehead pierced fell to the ground, rolling and kicking up yellow sand from its forward momentum.
"Bai Ye, your technique abilities are too unfair."
Zuiyasi broke out in a cold sweat. He had, of course, seen the blood monster's fighting style. He could only say that he was glad it wasn't him on the roof, or he would have suffered.
No sooner had Zuiyasi spoken than the blood monster on the sandy ground behind them stood up. The arm-thick hole in its forehead healed rapidly. Such exaggerated healing ability was undoubtedly inherited from Zuiyasi, which made his expression awkward. He had just called Su Xiao's technique abilities shameless, and now the blood monster resurrected on the spot using his own undying nature—a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black.
"Two gentlemen, I suggest you cover your ears. Although the effect isn't significant, it's still somewhat useful."
Wood spoke, his words laced with two implied words: guilty conscience.
"Roar!!"
The blood monster let out a roar, and the sound wave spread at an incredible speed, accompanied by a special fluctuation.
This was Wood's sonic ability. The ring on Wood's hand was his weapon when using this ability. It ignored defense, conducting through the water inside the enemy's body, causing their organs to undergo ultra-frequency resonance, leading to organ rupture.
Before the sound wave spread, Wood placed one hand on Bubu Wang. If Bubu Wang died here, it would indeed reduce Su Xiao's combat power. But at this moment, Wood was also benefiting from Bubu Wang's aura. Wood knew how much of a boost these aura abilities could give him. The monsters behind were too strong; this wasn't the time for scheming.
In reality, even without Wood's help, Bubu Wang wouldn't have died. There was still a life-saving trump card, the [Holy Cross Emblem], in the team space.
The sound wave was too fast. Just as a crystal layer formed on both sides of Su Xiao's face, his mind buzzed. The blood monster he was now dealing with was a fusion of his own abilities, along with those of Wood and Zuiyasi.
This enemy had inherited his technique abilities, space penetration, etc., Zuiyasi's recovery ability and body without vital points, and finally, the strangeness of Wood's abilities.
Shaken by the sound wave, Su Xiao felt the desert vehicle beneath him accelerate. He hooked one hand onto the cargo rack to steady himself.
A puff of black mist surged out of the desert vehicle and collided with the charging blood monster. The blood monster was immediately slowed, its forward momentum easing until it nearly matched the vehicle's speed. Wood had acted. As for why they didn't get out and run—that would be faster—the current desert environment was no joke. The Endless Desert was practically a forbidden zone. Running on their own two legs would lead to dehydration in no time.
Su Xiao decided to retreat first. At least he needed to figure out what weaknesses this blood monster had, or what could counter it. Otherwise, with the storage space sealed, even if he won a hard fight against the monster, he wouldn't be able to continue exploring afterward. That would be a huge loss.
The desert vehicle sped away. The blood monster behind, slowed by Wood, could only give chase from the rear. Judging by its momentum, it wouldn't stop pursuing until it had killed all three of them.
"Drive faster!"
Molei's shout came, growing closer. A handsome elk galloped over, its physique robust, nearly twice the height of a normal elk, and longer in body as well. It looked very proportionate—this was a moon-type summon.
Yueshitu, Molei, and Lilim were all riding on the moon elk's back, arranged from shortest to tallest, giving an oddly neat appearance. Behind them, a bizarre creature with horns on its head, half-human half-fox, was pursuing.
"Drive faster! This is the fusion of our three 'projections'—it's ridiculously strong!"
Molei shouted, looking shaken. They had just clashed with the triple fusion and were almost beaten to tears.
Inside the desert vehicle, Zuiyasi and Wood saw that half-human half-fox bizarre creature and felt their blood run cold. They weren't afraid of that thing, but worried about another scenario.
Zheng!
The crisp sound of a slash came from behind. Molei's heart jumped. The fusion of their three 'projections' would grow stronger the more it fought; they couldn't easily engage it.
Molei turned to look, and what she saw filled her with confusion. The fusion of their three 'projections' had been cut down with a single slash. While she was happy, she also felt a pang of loss. She realized the gap between her and Bai Ye was too vast.
Molei looked around but couldn't find Su Xiao. This puzzled her. Finally, she spotted him on the roof of the desert vehicle, making her sigh. He was so fast—just after cutting down the fusion of their three 'projections,' he was back in his original spot. Damnable close-combat space-type. She wasn't jealous at all. Really.
"Bai Ye, you're so strong!"
No sooner had Molei spoken than she felt a chill down her spine. She turned to look. Behind her, a humanoid monster covered in blood qi appeared in her sight. It wasn't Su Xiao who had slain the fusion of their three 'projections,' but the blood monster that had one-shot the triple fusion.
The blood monster opened its massive mouth, its fang-filled maw splitting down to its neck. With a squelch, it swallowed the upper half of the triple fusion's corpse.
Molei gasped, feeling her bladder tighten and her scalp tingle. She knew this was an even more terrifying monster. With Yueshitu dragging them down without any summons, the fusion of their three 'projections' was nothing but a whining brat compared to this thing.
"Bai Ye, Zuiyasi, Wood, this monster isn't..."
As they fled, Molei, Yueshitu, and Lilim all looked at Su Xiao, Zuiyasi, and Wood inside the vehicle, as if hoping their guess was wrong. Unfortunately, it wasn't. This monster was formed from Su Xiao's blood qi, Zuiyasi's undying nature, and Wood's strangeness.