“Hahaha! Feng Wuchen, you have lost!”
At that moment the giant infant let out a wild, triumphant laugh. Immediately afterwards, rolling demonic qi surged from the demonic chart, wrapped around the giant infant, and swept it straight to Lin Xiao’s side. A burst of force shot out, struck the long blade, and sent it flying backwards.
“Feng Wuchen, farewell!”
Another burst of excited laughter rang out. The demonic chart billowed with demonic qi, enveloped Lin Xiao, and sped outward.
“Old thing, leave him here!!!”
A furious roar came from behind, but in the blink of an eye both the voice and the figure of the orange-skinned elder vanished from Lin Xiao’s senses.
“Chi! Chi!”
Along the way, some inexplicable force constantly eroded the demonic qi surrounding the giant infant. The demonic qi on the chart grew thinner, and the infant’s speed slowed noticeably slowed.
Yet it could still persist in flying forward. Though slower than before, it was still countless times faster than Lin Xiao himself.
The aura wrapping around Lin Xiao was so overpowering that he could not resist at all. This ancient monster’s strength was simply too great.
In almost no time at all, Lin Xiao was carried by the chart reached the outer edge of the rock layer, an area of broken white stone.
This was not the direction from which Lin Xiao had entered, but the periphery all looked the same: nothing but boundless white gravel.
There the giant infant stopped. It hovered low in the air, its ten-zhang infant body seated upon the demonic chart. Its mouth opened wide and, with a voice that was both childish and ancient, it spoke to Lin Xiao.
“Boy, set your mind at ease. Old Demon always keeps his word. You did save me, after all. I would never burn the bridge after crossing it. Once I break open the void, I will come back and take you out.
“However, with my current strength, even though I tampered with the spatial entrance long ago, I still cannot tear space open right now.
“Hm, the resources from two Martial Saints and more than two hundred others should, barring accidents, be enough for me to recover the strength needed to breach this place in about a year. Boy, in one year’s time Old Demon will come find you.”
“Wait!”
Lin Xiao instantly felt something wrong, but before he could speak, a gigantic infant hand, larger than his own palm, had already reached into his storage pouch at his waist and snatched away every storage ring he had looted.
“Things obtained by robbery are mere worldly possessions. Do not cling to them!”
With those words, the giant infant turned and, demonic qi billowing around it, flew away low over the ground.
Lin Xiao felt a stab of pain in his heart.
Those were storage rings he had personally collected! Who knew what treasures lay inside? The entire fortunes of two Martial Saints had been in there.
A Martial Saint’s wealth would definitely contain enough resources to let him break through quickly, and now it had all been taken just like that.
And the fellow still had the nerve to console him: “Robbed goods are external things, do not obsess over them…” Lin Xiao nearly spat blood.
If you are so unconcerned about external things, why not let me keep them and you try not clinging…
Fortunately, at least the giant infant had kept its promise and did not attack him.
Bang! At that moment something astonishing happened. After flying several hundred li, the giant infant suddenly plummeted to the ground.
Then it patted its backside, stepped onto the demonic chart again, and resumed flying. At the same time a leisurely voice drifted back to Lin Xiao. “Boy, when Old Demon returns, remember this: do not venture deep into Death White Rock again.”
Lin Xiao stared in shock. To fall while flying only happened when one was extremely weak.
“Could it be that after rushing out, his strength became incredibly frail? Is that why he did not attack me?”
Lin Xiao hesitated. Should he pursue and kill the giant infant while it was weakened?
Bang! After another one or two hundred li, the infant crashed to the ground again. Then it rose once more, continuously stuffing medicinal pills into its mouth.
Lin Xiao wavered.
If he chased now and the infant still possessed some life-saving trump card, then even if the other originally intended to spare him, it might change its mind and kill him instead.
If he did not pursue, and the infant was only refraining from killing him because it was temporarily too weak, then once it recovered he would have no way to escape.
It was an extremely difficult decision. After all, he had no idea of the exact situation.
In the end Lin Xiao clenched his fists and watched the giant infant disappear from sight.
He did not give chase.
The infant was simply too terrifying. To survive inside Death White Rock for so long, its life-preserving methods must be astonishing.
And it still held that demonic chart. Even in its weakened state, the chance of killing it was minuscule.
Ultimately he chose caution.
He did not know whether he could still reach Spirit Pool Island within a year, but he had no choice. Death White Rock was sealed. Who knew how long it would take for him to force it open himself? His only hope now lay with that Mo Luo.
Thereafter Lin Xiao flew around the outer perimeter of the white rock layer for dozens of days, searching for any opportunity or way out, but in the end he found nothing.
As for the depths of Death White Rock, he had tried entering from another direction. After travelling several thousand to nearly ten thousand li, although he did not encounter the orange-skinned elder or anyone similar, his body had reached its absolute limit. Even with the heavenly eye’s support he could go no further. One more step and the heavenly eye itself would no longer protect him.
In the end he withdrew and did not attempt to probe deeper from other directions again.
Moreover, apart from that orange-skinned elder, who knew what other dangers lurked elsewhere?
The warning the giant infant gave as it left was probably not just about that one danger.
Very likely there were other enormous perils. After all, even the Ten Directions Giant Fiend had withdrawn.
And judging from appearances, it did not look as though those two ancient monsters had driven the Ten Directions Giant Fiend away.
Furthermore, such an immense beast tide and army of skeletons had left not a single corpse or bone behind. The danger here was clearly extraordinary.
In the end Lin Xiao could only give up and focus on raising his strength.
Apart from the storage ring he already possessed, everything he had looted had been taken by the giant infant. Breaking through with spiritual energy was now impossible.
Breaking through with vital energy again would also be extremely difficult.
The greatest resource here was the white rock itself. Lin Xiao had long wanted to test whether he could refine it.
Thus, in the shattered-stone region, he began activating the Heaven-Sealing Stone Hand and attempted to refine the gravel on the ground.
To his great disappointment, the stone quality of the surface gravel was far too ordinary. It was of almost no use to his Heaven-Sealing Stone Hand.
“How can such ordinary stone contain the flow of time power?
Could it be that the stone deeper inside is different from this surface rubble?”
Puzzled, Lin Xiao flew into the layered white rock walls. His petrified right palm pressed against one of the wall layers, and the Heaven-Sealing Stone Hand circulated as he began refining.
“Chi! Chi!”
A situation that left even Lin Xiao shocked occurred.
