Chapter 2

Bai Mo tried to probe with his spiritual consciousness again. The moment he touched the small tower, he was instantly stunned as if struck by lightning. His mind suddenly felt as if it had exploded, and a series of strange images filled with the aura of a primitive and ancient era flooded in like a tidal wave.

After a long while...

Bai Mo, his face full of shock, took a deep breath and came back to his senses from the immersive images. His gaze toward the small tower became particularly intense.

Letting go of his hand, the small tower slipped back into the void. Then, with a thought, Bai Mo's spiritual consciousness merged into the tower.

Aged, distant; desolate, grim; ancient, solemn... Truly being inside the towering, majestic tower that stood in the void, various inexplicable emotions spontaneously arose in Bai Mo's heart.

Inside the spacious and dim tower, countless intricate and varied patterns, deep and shallow, crisscrossed everywhere. In the center was a slightly sunken, dark red circular pool, shimmering with a faint glow.

Bai Mo slowly approached the edge of the pool. The patterns inside the pool flickered like candle flames, and a thick, viscous blood-colored liquid was churning within, with a vacuum vortex swirling at the center.

Ding!

A blood-colored bead, about the size of a soybean, was thrown out from the vortex, spinning and landing on the ground. There were a few more blood beads of the same size nearby.

Refining blood to form essence, extracting essence to form beads.

The scene before him overlapped with a certain image in Bai Mo's mind. The missing spiritual liquid was indeed here.

Bai Mo's spiritual consciousness quietly withdrew from the small tower. A blood bead appeared in his hand, and his face couldn't help but show a mix of excitement, anticipation, and a hint of nervousness.

Practice is the only criterion for testing truth.

Bai Mo took a deep breath, suppressing his inner excitement, and sat down again. He swallowed the blood bead in one gulp.

Boom!

Without any need to activate or dissolve it, the blood bead, once swallowed, immediately transformed into a surging, intense spiritual flow, rushing through his body without restraint.

In an instant, Bai Mo felt as if he were suddenly placed in a blazing furnace. His skin turned a deep red, and his blood vessels and tendons, already expanded to their limits, protruded like earthworms all over his body, as if they were about to burst from the overwhelming spiritual flow.

Large beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. Bai Mo clenched his lips tightly, emitting a low, animal-like growl from his throat, silently enduring the inhuman pain. He focused his mind, cast aside all distractions, and tried his best to control the rampant spiritual flow.

This was a battle of will and strength. Bai Mo suffered repeated defeats but never gave up. After years of soaking and tempering, his body showed exceptional resilience, hovering on the brink of collapse but never falling.

The starlight in his chest now flickered even more intensely, with countless intermittent light points extending out and spreading throughout his body.

Outside, the moon set and the sun rose, time quietly slipping by like flowing water.

Inside, his breathing was heavy, and the struggle continued in silence.

The starlight on his skin gradually formed a coherent pattern, like mystical runes covering his body. The wild spiritual flow within, after countless efforts by Bai Mo, was finally restrained and guided by his spiritual consciousness, following a specific path.

However, Bai Mo could clearly feel that the originally fierce and overwhelming spiritual flow had now become a gentle stream, seemingly weakened by dozens of times.

Even so, this spiritual flow was still several times stronger than what he could previously condense. Without hesitation, Bai Mo pushed the spiritual flow to complete nine cycles, finally stabilizing it in his abdominal sea.

At the same time, the shining star patterns, with Bai Mo's breakthrough, suddenly disappeared, as if deeply embedded in his flesh and bones, leaving no trace.

Opening his eyes, Bai Mo clenched his fists, his eyes filled with joy and excitement. After more than ten years of longing, he had finally achieved his goal, stepping into the threshold of a Spirit Warrior.

"This is just the beginning."

Bai Mo muttered to himself. Before he could fully savor the wonders of the Spirit Warrior realm, he heard a thunderous boom from outside.

"Thunder?" Bai Mo shook his head, as if trying to shake off the lingering sound.

Roars of fierce beasts echoed one after another, making Bai Mo restless. What was happening outside?

After some thought, Bai Mo couldn't resist his curiosity. He picked up the old, battered, and blackened woodcutter's axe leaning against the wall, pushed open the door, and stepped out, heading straight for the source of the sound.

Beyond the ridge of Niuji Mountain, a vast open area covered with shrubs lay below. A gentle stream flowed through the middle, eventually merging into the Wulong River.

At this moment, the original tranquility and peace had been shattered. The ground was pockmarked with deep and shallow craters, as if hit by giant rocks. The stream had become murky, and large patches of dark red blood stood out starkly against the snow.

On one side was a monstrous creature, its body as large as a bull, covered in thick, dark brown scales. Its long tail was like a giant python, but it had a lion's head. The beast was breathing heavily, restless, and continuously pawing the ground with its front hooves.

On its back were several deep, gruesome wounds, the flesh torn and the bone visible. Pain, anger, and fear filled its eyes, which were bloodshot and fixed on the front.

On the other side was a girl who seemed completely out of place in this world, wearing a light, delicate, and sexy mini-skirt.

Her beautiful face was like a celestial being, with willow-leaf eyebrows and eyes as bright as the full moon. A tight leather skirt hugged her chest, accentuating her alluring, towering figure and the deep, trembling, and snow-white indentation.

Her long hair, like a waterfall, danced freely in the cold wind. Her skin, exposed outside the purple gauze, was whiter than snow. Her lotus-like feet lightly touched the air, not a speck of mud on them, as if she were completely isolated from the world.

The seemingly harmless girl pouted her lips, pointed at the beast, and said angrily, "Big guy, if you obediently become Lan Dai's mount, I won't kill you. Otherwise, don't blame me for being ruthless."

The beast responded with a roar, and a massive black shadow loomed in the air, pressing down on the girl like a mountain.

Lan Dai's eyebrows furrowed, and her eyes showed confusion and incomprehension. She muttered, "You ate my Xiao Bai. Letting you replace Xiao Bai is just an equal exchange. Why do you insist on finding your own death?"

Three slender, sharp blades, shimmering with a red glow, appeared in front of Lan Dai. They swirled and danced like demonic claws, fiercely slashing at the air.

Splash!

A rain of blood and flesh poured down. The beast's incredibly strong body was instantly torn apart like a withered tree. A point of golden light leaped out from the severed limbs, growing larger and larger, like the sun, emitting intense heat, and then fell like a meteor.

Lan Dai's face was filled with shock, and a strange red flush appeared on her cheeks. Her innate spiritual weapon had been instantly melted by the fireball, turning to ashes. This attack's power was definitely at the level of a Law Body or higher.

There was no time to dodge. Lan Dai gritted her teeth and cast countless spells, summoning dozens of shimmering spiritual weapons, which she hurled at the fireball without hesitation. However, they all vanished like moths drawn to a flame, unable to stop the fireball in the slightest.

With no way to retreat, Lan Dai took a deep breath and took out a fist-sized blue lotus, infusing it with all her spiritual power. The lotus instantly expanded hundreds of times, its petals blooming layer by layer, emitting a piercing cold. It faced the fireball.

The fireball slammed into the ice lotus, making a hissing sound like hot iron in cold water, but it did not slow down and continued to head toward the girl.

A look of determination, deep regret, and unwillingness flashed in Lan Dai's eyes. What was supposed to be an easy slaughter had turned into a deadly counterattack, completely beyond her expectations.

Even if she died, she would die with a bang, refusing to be a sitting duck!

Closing her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest, Lan Dai let out a sharp scream. A crisp sound came from her body, and her skin strangely transformed into tiny scales. A deep blue glow enveloped her, and her body shrank and became smaller, her appearance looking ten years younger. A faint, ancient, and stern figure appeared behind her, with the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a creature, holding a large lotus platform.

"War Lotus Break!"

With Lan Dai's words, the lotus platform emitted a low hum, like an invisible vortex, instantly draining all her spiritual power. A deep, crystalline blue light shot out from the center, heading toward the fireball.

The moment the blue light and the fireball met, there was no deafening explosion or dazzling light. Like the melting of spring snow, they both quietly vanished.

The phantom behind her faded, and Lan Dai, now a young girl, fell heavily to the ground, completely exhausted and unconscious.

Thud! A single dull sound caused the surrounding grass, trees, and rocks within dozens of meters to turn to dust and scatter in the wind. The short skirt made from the hide of a golden-horned rhinoceros also turned to mist.

Clearly, the intense collision was not as simple as imagined. The invisible force had already shattered everything around her. If not for the protective blood jade on her chest, Lan Dai would have turned to dust.

At the same time, in a strange plane filled with chaotic and violent energy, the sky and earth shrouded in a faint blood-red glow, a golden lion as large as a mountain was braving the raging frost storm, ignoring the countless gray creatures, a combination of toads and lizards, surrounding it, and stepping toward a huge crack in the abyss ahead.

In the middle of the lion's mane, which resembled a golden bush, sat an old man with silver hair and a thin frame. His head was drooping, and his eyes were half-closed, looking listless and sleepy.

"Huh?" The old man suddenly raised his head, looking back into the void, his eyes filled with a killing intent. The true yang fire he had planted on the lizard-dog beast had just been extinguished.

"Damn it, if I go back now, I'll miss this opportunity. I'll have to wait another ten years to come in, and I'm not sure if the boss can hold on. I wonder what's happening with the kid. Could there really be someone with divine abilities there, able to track it even after so long?" The old man scratched his head, muttering to himself, his expression conflicted.

"Whatever, I have to save the boss first. Kid, you better be smart. Wait for me to come back, and don't let anything happen, or I won't be able to explain it..." The old man hesitated for a moment and then made up his mind.

The unexpected turn of events made the old man quite annoyed, and he suddenly found the surrounding creatures particularly irritating. He said coldly, "They're so noisy! Little Gold, clear the area."

The giant lion growled, and its body glowed with a golden light that instantly burst into countless fine golden rays, shooting in all directions. The creatures had no time to dodge, and wherever the golden rays touched, they instantly turned into flames, screaming and turning to ashes.

Then, the giant lion, carrying the old man, galloped away, disappearing into the endless darkness.