Chapter 246: The Choice

Xu Chen secretly thought this was bad. With a movement of his Divine Sense, the light-shadow of two massive shells covered in mysterious gold patterns suddenly appeared behind him, then slammed shut to wrap him inside.

"Boom—"

A terrifying, cold, murderous aura crashed heavily against the shell.

Amidst the earth-shaking tremors, multicolored light exploded like starlight, releasing a blinding brilliance that illuminated the entire Void Fault with extreme clarity.

At this moment, Tu Jiu and the Old Witch Master had already reached the opposite side of the cliff and were shouting loudly, but unfortunately, their voices could not penetrate the fault, and one could only see their expressions of terror and helplessness.

The massive shell light-shadow trembled violently within the Void Fault.

However, the illusory blue treasure bottle suspended outside remained completely unmoved, releasing an increasingly intense aura. A mass of blue starlight rapidly expanded into a vortex dozens of zhang in size, shrouding the entire stone tablet light-shadow within it.

Although the stone tablet had been reduced to only a faint, lingering shadow, it could not be completely hidden within the starlight vortex, and the two reached a stalemate.

Although Xu Chen was inside the shell, his Divine Sense was not affected in the slightest, and he could see the situation outside with perfect clarity.

In his estimation, although the murderous aura within the Void Fault was terrifying, the shell could temporarily resist it; it was just that every impact caused his Soul to shake violently—it was dangerous, but not yet fatal.

What he worried about most was the Blue Light Treasure Bottle suddenly and uncontrollably running out to try and take this stone tablet inside, but now that it had fallen into a stalemate, he could not guarantee the shell would hold out until the end if this continued.

Furthermore, looking at the current situation, it seemed the treasure bottle did not have the upper hand and could not suck the stone tablet in at all.

"Great Void Demon Refining Art!"

Xu Chen instantly recalled the situation in the Nether Rift where the Blue Light Treasure Bottle wanted to suck in that Ancient Fierce Beast, so he hurriedly began to silently circulate the Great Void Demon Refining Art.

Accompanied by an illusory blue light mist erupting from all the Apertures on his body, transforming into countless blue nebulae flowing and swirling around him, the bottom of the Blue Light Treasure Bottle suddenly began to crackle and flash with multicolored lightning.

Amidst the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus's struggle and roar, which was like a conditioned reflex, a thick white light instantly wrapped around Xu Chen. The Blue Light Treasure Bottle quickly became clear, and streams of blue starlight sprayed out like a spring, wrapping around the stone tablet light-shadow and spinning it at high speed; the entire Void Fault began to shake violently.

It was indeed effective.

As the starlight vortex grew larger and larger, the suction it released became increasingly powerful. The stone tablet, which had faded until only a lingering shadow remained, actually began to slowly emerge again, as if it were being forcibly dragged out from some unknown space by the starlight.

Tu Jiu and the Old Witch Master stood on the cliff opposite the fault, watching the scene before them; even their shouting stopped, their expressions dull and beyond description.

Both were experts of Minghuang and were extremely sensitive to the aura of the Void Fault.

This aura was simply not something they dared to oppose.

But they had not expected that Xu Chen would not only withstand the powerful murderous aura impact of the Void, but even use that special treasure of his to seemingly try and pull this stone tablet completely out of the void, and it looked like he was about to succeed.

Xu Chen had only been circulating the Great Void Demon Refining Art for a few dozen breaths, yet the stone tablet that had been on the verge of disappearing had actually slowly reappeared, and it was becoming clearer and clearer.

Xu Chen was focused and undistracted.

The Blue Light Treasure Bottle was an Immortal Treasure with self-awareness; the things it wanted to take inside were certainly not common goods.

Since it did not even take a fancy to a powerful monster like the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus, this stone tablet was clearly already at a heaven-defying level.

Xu Chen did not know what the stone tablet was.

But as long as it was taken inside, he would have plenty of time to study it.

Furthermore, it was highly likely that information regarding the path from Minghuang to the Mortal World was hidden within this stone tablet, so it was also something he could not easily give up.

Most importantly, the Blue Light Treasure Bottle was unwilling to let go, and he had no way to leave even if he wanted to.

This Magic Treasure had too much independence; he could not control it at all and could only accept it passively.

Therefore, he had no other choice now but to go all out to help the Blue Light Treasure Bottle.

Soon, half an incense stick of time passed.

Under the continuous impact of the white light provided by the Demon Refining Art, Xu Chen's Soul felt increasingly bloated, and his flesh, blood, Meridians, and dantian were all pulsing in waves.

His Soul and body had already repeatedly undergone the strengthening and transformation of the white light, and he was currently approaching his limit. After entering the Zhenyuan Realm Middle Stage, although this was the first time he had circulated the Great Void Demon Refining Art at full power, the strengthening effect it brought him was no longer very obvious; it seemed he had reached a bottleneck period.

And whether the Blue Light Treasure Bottle was powerful or not seemed to be related to his own strength; the stronger he was, the stronger the devouring power of the starlight vortex released by the Jade Bottle.

Therefore, blocked by the bottleneck effect, the starlight vortex released by the Blue Light Treasure Bottle continued to expand for a while, slowly dragging the stone tablet into the vortex until it was seventy or eighty percent clear, and then it began to lack the strength to continue. No matter how hard Xu Chen circulated the Great Void Demon Refining Art, the stone tablet remained unmoved, and the two sides fell into a stalemate once again.

Judging by the situation at hand, the grade of this stone tablet was several levels higher than that of the Ancient Fierce Beast from before.

Because when he encountered the Ancient Fierce Beast, Xu Chen was only at the Kaiyuan Realm Middle Stage, and his Soul and physical body were extremely weak, so the Blue Light Treasure Bottle could only exert the power supported by the Kaiyuan Realm Middle Stage.

But now he was already at the Zhenyuan Realm Middle Stage, and his Soul strength had reached at least the Danyuan Late Stage. His own strength had increased by more than a hundredfold, and in turn, the capability of the Blue Light Treasure Bottle had also increased a hundredfold, at least capable of exerting the power supported by the Danyuan Late Stage.

If the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus was at the Yang Spirit level, then this stone tablet was at least at the Great Vehicle level.

Of course, this was all just Xu Chen judging with his own shallow knowledge.

After all, he did not know how strong the True Immortal level actually was, and as for the Lian Shen Huan Xu realms like Yang Spirit, Body Integration, and Great Vehicle, he could only rely on his imagination to fill in the gaps; in reality, it was as ridiculous as a beggar discussing what the Emperor eats every day.

The murderous aura impact of the Void Fault became increasingly intense.

The tightly closed shell light-shadow trembled violently in the pitch-black Void Fault, and the mysterious gold patterns on its surface constantly flashed with bright light, looking as if they could explode at any moment.

Under this unprecedented impact, Xu Chen's Soul trembled in waves, causing the Blue Light Treasure Bottle to shake violently along with it, and the blue light vortex slowly showed signs of being unable to hold on and beginning to collapse.

And as time passed, the stone tablet, which had already been very clear, actually began to slowly fade again.

Naturally, Xu Chen did not want the duck he had already caught to fly away just like that.

After all, it was not that there was no chance; it was just that he lacked the ability.

If he could increase his strength again at this moment, he would be able to provide greater support to the Blue Light Treasure Bottle.

But unfortunately, the Great Void Demon Refining Art had reached a bottleneck, and there was no possibility of a breakthrough for either his Soul or his body at the moment.

What to do? Was this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be missed again?

Recalling the situation of letting the Ancient Fierce Beast go last time, Xu Chen felt depressed to the point of vomiting blood.

It was precisely because he was too weak that the Blue Light Treasure Bottle could not subdue the Ancient Fierce Beast, which not only led to the destruction of the Nether Rift passage but also allowed that fierce beast to escape; he did not know if it would bring disaster to the Mortal World.

And he had been cultivating desperately, his advancement speed reaching a level unimaginable to Mortal World cultivators, yet he was still weak as can be. Now, at the critical moment, he had dropped the ball again.

Just as Xu Chen was depressed to the point of vomiting blood, a faint, cold female voice suddenly sounded as if it came from the ground, echoing in his Soul: "If you release me, I will help you take this stone tablet inside!"

"Who are you?" Xu Chen was startled and immediately responded with his Divine Sense.

"I have been locked under your bottle for so long, and you still don't know who I am?" The woman's voice, a low and intermittent sound, rang out again.

Xu Chen was so shocked he nearly jumped; even the Great Void Demon Refining Art stopped circulating instantly. Still shaken, he said: "You are the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus? You... you can speak?"

"Hmph, what Mysterious Water Nether Lotus; you can call me Demon Lord Youtong. This Magic Treasure of yours is indeed not bad, but it has not yet taken form. With your strength, you are simply unable to exert its power, and therefore you are fundamentally unable to subdue this Heaven-Suppressing Divine Tablet. If you want to obtain it, the only way is to let me help!"

Xu Chen was suspicious and uncertain; he remained silent for a moment and said, "I won't believe your nonsense. You have been suppressed in this treasure bottle and refined by me for so long; if I let you out, you will definitely kill me first!"

"True, I do indeed want to kill you, but to me, you are nothing more than a small crawling insect. If the deal is reached, I can choose not to kill you!"

"You don't even believe your own words. I would rather not have this stone stele than let you go. Give up!"

As he spoke, Xu Chen began to circulate the Grand Void Demon Refining Art again.

Instantly, colorful electric light lit up once more at the bottom of the Blue Light Treasure Bottle hovering above his head.

"You will definitely regret this. This divine stele is rare in heaven and earth, something encountered once in ten thousand years; even I have only seen it for the first time. If you obtain this stone stele, the harvest will be a hundred or a thousand times greater than suppressing me here. If your fortune is sufficient, it is even possible to refine the Void and merge with the Dao to form the Dao Fruit in the future, but once missed, you will absolutely never have another chance in this life."

Although the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus was enduring incomparable refining torment, it was still explaining incessantly.

Xu Chen began to hesitate in his heart.

He had just had an incredibly strong feeling that the grade of this stone stele was higher than the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus, and even higher than the Ancient Fierce Beast he had encountered before.

However, the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus, like the Ancient Fierce Beast, absolutely belonged to a species that could not be controlled. Aside from the suppression of the Blue Light Treasure Bottle, he had no ability to control it; once released, it would likely be his death day.

But the current situation was indeed as the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus said; without external assistance, the Blue Light Treasure Bottle would absolutely be unable to subdue this stone stele.

Not to mention missing it, whether he could even escape this fault in the Void was another matter.

Because once the stone stele disappeared, the terrifying killing intent within the Void would become even stronger, and whether this Shell could withstand it was also an unknown.

Should he take the risk?

A battle between heaven and man began in Xu Chen's heart.

(End of this chapter)