Seeing that stance, Liu Xing's heart stopped for a moment and his face turned pale. He desperately called out his shield, but before he could activate it, he found himself face to face with the spirit beast. As it smiled broadly, it unleashed a swift blow at his face with its snake limb. He gritted his teeth and channeled stable qi into his face, causing spiraling yellow lines to decorate his face. When the snake arm struck his cheek, it felt as if the world went dark. Sound ceased to exist, and he felt submerged in the depths of a lake at midnight.

He tried to open his eyes, and when he did, the sound of rushing wind filled his ears. He checked his surroundings and realized he was high in the sky. Looking down, he saw clouds far below and the ground so distant it resembled a rocket's view of space. As gravity took hold, he experienced a moment of weightlessness, during which he noticed a tiger-face-shaped mark on the ground. He recognized it as the imprint of the spirit beast's attack. Soon, intense pain radiated from his face. He touched his right cheek and suspected his cheekbone was shattered. Moving his mouth proved difficult, but fortunately, his left eye was unharmed. His skin remained flushed, the Diamond Pills still transforming his body, and the wound on his right cheek seemed to mend slowly.

The attack had been immensely powerful. He suspected that if he hadn't consumed the remaining Diamond Pills and reinforced his face with stable qi, his head would have exploded like a watermelon struck by a hammer. Fortunately, it seemed the spirit beast was toying with him. Had it used the Tiger Punch instead, no amount of stable qi on his face would have saved him. He summoned his shield and kicked it, propelling himself higher. Suddenly, a glowing ball shone on the ground. It appeared tiny from his altitude, but he knew it was gigantic up close. Adrenaline surged through his body, and his brain screamed a warning.

The roar of a tiger echoed, reverberating in all directions and causing the very air around him to tremble. The giant golden ball abruptly transformed into a colossal golden tiger, which leaped toward him in the sky. Liu Xing's eyes widened. He kicked the shield repeatedly, trying to accelerate and escape the golden tiger. But as he moved, the golden tiger took another leap into the air, using the air itself as a foothold. On its forehead, he could see the ink-black spirit beast laughing maniacally, its stance wide, and its two snake arms began to punch the air repeatedly, launching golden orbs at him. Each orb was shaped like a tiger's head with an open mouth, and sensing their qi, he knew even a graze would be fatal.

With his heart pounding, he rotated his body so his head pointed down, summoned his shield, kicked it, and plummeted like a meteor. The open sky was a disadvantage; there was nowhere to hide.

Liu Xing spread his body, attempting to glide and find a clear, untouched clearing to land. Suddenly, he spotted a pink worm with the face of an old woman and sharp, glass-like fangs erupting from the ground and, shooting directly at him like a guided missile. It moved so fast that in a fraction of a second, it was upon him. Its mouth opened wide, like a fish leaping for a fly.

Seeing this, he gritted his teeth, summoned his shield, and kicked it, dodging to the side. The pink worm zipped past him, narrowly missing him like a runaway truck.

Liu Xing rotated his body, aimed his gun, and fired repeatedly at the worm's back with exploding bullets. Six bullets struck the worm, and six explosions blossomed and merged into one larger blast. Even though it was powerful, he doubted it had caused significant damage. Abruptly, the worm curled into a ball, and coincidentally or not, a golden orb shaped like a tiger's head struck it. The worm plummeted like a meteor, falling even faster than him, before diving back into the ground.

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As the ground rushed closer, only a few dozen meters away, he rotated and landed successfully, rolling upon impact. Shortly after, he stopped and looked up to see the golden tiger descending headfirst, accompanied by thousands of golden orbs. The ink-black spirit beast cackled as it fell from the sky.

Despair filled Liu Xing's heart. But he kicked off the ground and moved as fast as possible between the remaining white bone trees.

"Is there anything I can do?" he shouted. "Come on, think! Think!"

As he shouted, the golden tiger slammed into the ground. Turning his head, he saw the earth heave upwards, creating a black tsunami attempting to engulf everything. Suddenly, a pink worm, dozens of meters long, emerged from the ground in front of him. It moved above ground like a train, its mouth gaping wide. With a worm about to devour him from the front and a tsunami of earth closing in from behind, an idea flashed into his mind. He had little time to contemplate, so he acted instinctively.

Instead of summoning his shield, he summoned the woman statue. As the statue materialized before him, Liu Xing kicked it directly into the worm's open mouth, sending it hurtling forward while propelling himself backward.

As the world blurred, he held his breath and tried to diminish his presence further. He was soon engulfed by the earth tsunami. Before being completely consumed, he saw the worm's jaws clamp around his statue, and then darkness closed in.

He didn't attempt to escape the earth tsunami; instead, he allowed his body to roll and spin, carried by the shifting earth. Several times he felt his face strike something hard, and he felt his arms, feet, and body being crushed by immense pressure. But he endured until everything gradually stilled. He had no idea how deep underground he was. Pitch blackness surrounded him, and he dared not move.

He waited, feeling the earth embrace his body as if he was a buried corpse. With no difference between open or closed eyes, he shut them and focused on minimizing his qi, breath, heartbeat—everything. He felt grateful for the years of practice hiding from bullies in the sect. His body felt no pain, a sign of the Diamond Pills' successful transformation. However, he remained inferior to the two spirit beasts and had no intention of fighting them.

As he minimized his presence, he reasoned that the worm must have a way of detecting enemies, likely through ground and vibrations. By using his statue as bait, he hoped the worm would believe it had killed him, inform the snake-armed spirit beast, and depart. Despite their apparent intelligence, he hoped they weren't too clever.

He waited for what felt like an eternity. Each second stretched, especially when he felt vibrations against his skin, fearing the worm's reappearance to devour him and turn him into another meatball for the snake-armed spirit beast. Luckily, the vibrations subsided, bringing a sliver of relief, but he remained underground.

From this underground hideout, Liu Xing waited as long as he could bear. Finally, convinced that hours had passed, he decided to move. He struggled and tried to orient himself. But once he knew which way was up, he used his lightning blade to cut through the earth.

Moments later, he emerged from the ground, inhaling deeply. He surveyed his surroundings. The sky was dark, with only the moon above. Around him, nothing remained—no trees, no boulders, no greenery. However, he noticed a crater dozens of meters away. He suspected that viewed from above, it would resemble the shape of a tiger's face.

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