Chapter 315: Time Stopped: AVI

Jia Ji knew he still understood Esdes well—she was the number one in the Zhanchi world, a genius of extraordinary talent who, at twenty, had conquered the empire without equal, mastering hand-to-hand combat and large-scale AOE slaughter.

But overall, Little Es still stuck to her old three tricks: martial arts, Ice Lan Grand General, and her once-per-day general-limited technique: Maha Bodhimanda.

Of course, under normal circumstances, these were more than enough for her to handle any trouble she encountered; among those present, aside from the Beidou trio, even the highly confident Saosha grew increasingly grim-faced as he watched the two fight.

Compared to Esdes, he had to admit he still fell short—born with an imperial body impervious to blades, yet his physique still couldn’t match her resilience, and his attack range was vastly inferior.

What immense power lay hidden within this otherworldly woman’s slender, graceful frame, that she could endure so many heavy blows from Beidou’s third brother?

This was the power of stats.

Within just three months after drinking the Ice Imperial Artifact, Esdes could generate a blizzard covering the entire continent through charging up, and immediately afterward, to prevent her chosen prey from escaping, she developed “Pseudo Time-Stop Field: Maha Bodhimanda.”

By using her freezing ability to momentarily halt molecular motion in her surroundings, plunging them into near-absolute-zero temperatures, it sounded flashy enough, but it consumed enormous energy—against opponents of equal rank, it could only serve as a surprise opener.

“I came up with this move myself—do you think I don’t know?”

Wu Xiang Yin Sha teleports in, grabs, throws, finishes in a second—if that doesn’t work, follow up with scissors kick after scissors kick—this combo either leaves you critically wounded or outright taken out.

As for whether she’d developed other skills beyond Jia Ji’s knowledge—say, suddenly pulling out some strange tachi and chanting “‘Sit in the frosty sky, Hyōrinmaru!’” or opening with a repeated technique “Ice Age”—it wasn’t impossible.

But those moves had long since been handed over by Jia Ji to Xuecai, prepared for her to develop and learn—how could Esdes possibly use them on him again?

“Challenging your group owner with a natural-type Ice Freeze Fruit ability is unwise!” Jia Ji couldn’t help slipping back into mockery mode.

Over these years, while Esdes had sailed through victories effortlessly, dominating the nation, Jia Ji had been locked in relentless, brutal battles, often beaten, plunged into life-or-death crises—their experience facing opponents of equal strength was worlds apart.

“You lost because I am a Beidou heir!”

Whether forming ice spikes, ice pillars, or ice walls, using temperatures cold enough to freeze even the dangerous creatures of the northern frontier, none could halt this Beidou man who had activated his End-of-the-Century Rush mode—not even for an instant.

The man who once served only as her punching bag now could manipulate her like a toy at will…

“Tch.”

Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Esdes struggled to force her body upright.

The naturally powerful Esdes had never before been beaten to such a pitiful state, laughed at while being pummeled—her body was now completely ruined, covered in blood and ice crystals, skull shattered, muscles torn.

The military uniform she loved so much had been shredded by friction with the ground, exposing vast patches of snow-white, dust-stained skin—no one would doubt she’d stepped straight out of some defeat CG.

Jia Ji, aside from deliberately destroying his own shirt, bore not a single wound—the outcome was already obvious.

But… she finally found her opening.

Jia Ji’s greatest mistake was judging Esdes’s strength by the standard of once-per-day usage.

The world before him turned black and white; in this world where molecular motion had halted, Jia Ji was like a bee trapped in amber, a primitive man buried in salt layers—in this physics-leaning pseudo time-stop, he was frozen rigid before Esdes, his mind suspended in this inescapable cage.

Esdes’s face was pale; clearly, using Maha Bodhimanda repeatedly was like a final aria to Hana Hoshino for her—a heavy technique, but one she could overcome with sheer willpower if she pushed hard enough.

Perhaps in two years, she could use it infinitely.

“Little Es sister actually won… no!”

Yanzhu watched in horror as Esdes reached out to touch Jia Ji—when he should have been unconscious, a blinding, sunlike radiance suddenly erupted from his body.

Vast, torrential, surging—no words combined could describe the energy surge now rising from Jia Ji; his former battle companions all paled, as if recognizing the source of this aura.

“That’s… his Dharma Form?”

“Looks like it manifested on its own.”

In their dazed state, they glimpsed a phantom childlike figure appear beside Jia Ji, letting out a cold, displeased sniff—immediately, the time-stop field Esdes had painstakingly created began to violently tremble.

Though the small figure was insubstantial, it radiated a dazzling golden light too brilliant to look upon, as if standing proudly as a deity between heaven and earth.

Such overwhelming power—even merely existing—was enough to shatter the frozen time-space field.

This was Jia Ji’s greatest awakening, the ability that had earned him the rating of Wild Mid-Level—the mandatory second-form transformation every proper trash monster must master!

After an opponent exhausts themselves defeating his first form, they must then face Jia Ji, the “Covenant King·Great Earth,” with longer health, higher damage, and a completely reset toughness bar.

Esdes’s expression remained calm, her ice-blue eyes gleaming with unknown hues; facing an otherdimensional entity far stronger than herself, feeling that peerless, terrifying aura, her lips curved into a faint, gentle smile.

She reached out toward the top of the little girl’s head, gently stroking the long, golden hair that trailed down to her ankles.

“Don’t worry… I won’t hurt him.”

At this unexpected gesture, the golden-haired loli, who had just revealed herself and was brimming with hostility, blushed slightly, turned her head away, muttered something, shook her head, and vanished instantly.

From this moment on, no one could “save” the current Jia Ji.

“Long time no see.”

Esdes gathered the unconscious Jia Ji into her arms and whispered softly into his ear.

“And now… rest well.”

…

Because Esdes suddenly intervened, the succession battle nearly erupted on the spot but collapsed without its key participants.

Bayun Zi, who had watched the entire battle, half-crouched on the edge of the rift, asked Xia Na in a hushed, puzzled tone: “What on earth happened between those two? Is their relationship good or bad?”

(End of Chapter)