"Indeed, flesh and blood cannot compare to stone! At least not for me right now," thought Gu Xichen. After stirring his limbs, a cold sneer crossed his face as five streaks of purple light flashed past him.

The black crystal man rushed forward, covering less than a hundred meters before the five Xin Jia brothers burst forth from the purple light with great shouts. Xin Jia ducked low, driving his right shoulder forward, charging ahead like a maddened bull, roaring loudly. Thick yellow earth energy erupted from the ground, merging into Xin Jia’s body, causing bursts of spiritual light to flicker across his form. He instantly empowered himself with the "Three Mountains Spiritual Talisman," making the weight of his body comparable to three Mount Tais. With a heavy thud, the black crystal man slammed into Xin Jia’s shoulder and was sent flying back several kilometers, dazed and disoriented.

Gu Xichen lunged forward like a raging gale, closely following the brothers. Before the unfortunate black crystal man could even land, Xin Yi and the other three brothers were upon him, gripping the crystal man’s hands and feet with all their might, violently slamming him into the ground. With a deafening crash, the massive cavern shook, hundreds of crystal pillars detached from the ceiling, shattering into dust upon impact. The black crystal man struck the ground, carving a pit several meters deep, and a massive fissure appeared on his body, running from his head down to his lower abdomen.

The Yellow Turban Warriors were renowned throughout the Three Realms for their divine strength. Although the Xin Jia brothers were newly cultivating, their previous foundations remained, allowing their recovery of divine abilities to be astonishingly fast. While the five brothers had only recovered to the Golden Core realm at this point, their sheer brute force was already extraordinary, not to mention their ability to employ various spells and talismans to augment their power?

With this single collision and violent slam, they could have dismantled a small mountain, let alone this mere black man?

With a crackling sound, the black crystal man's body split open with more and more fissures, spewing out vast streams of black light energy from within.

Gu Xichen leaped over the black crystal man’s body. He forcefully patted the small Qiankun Pouch at his waist, and a beam of green light shot out, instantly engulfing the dizzy black crystal man who let out a cry of "Ao!" and was sucked into the pouch. Inside the pouch, pools of water, fire, wind, and energy erupted. The Samadhi True Fire, whipped up by the turbulent gale, raged around the black crystal man, burning him furiously. In mere breaths, he was reduced to a massive sphere of crystal. A ferocious water dragon slammed violently against the molten crystal sphere, shattering his form down until only a human-head-sized black sphere remained.

"Marvelous! Secured!"

Having successfully obtained a black Christal Sphere, Gu Xichen’s mood instantly brightened. He turned and fled with the five Xin Jia brothers.

Seeing the black crystal man captured by Gu Xichen, the high-level crystal men in the rear let out a surge of agitation. A few of the most hot-tempered purple crystal men roared and gave chase. However, the colorless crystal man simply waved his hand, and the agitated crystal men instantly quieted down. The colorless crystal man shouted in a deep voice from afar: "Release the guardian of the Fifth Altar! I will vouch for your safe departure!"

That primal, ancient aura continuously diffused from the colorless crystal man. A ball of seven-colored light flickered within his chest, and near his Dantian, a fist-sized orb of wondrous radiance spun rapidly.

Gu Xichen glanced back at the colorless crystal man with surprise. He waved his hand with a wry smile: "Farewell to you, sir. I couldn't possibly return him. Uh, he's already melted!"

The colorless crystal man paused, subconsciously looking toward the lava lake beside him. After a moment, he suddenly realized: "Melted? Death!"

A roar like a dragon's cry erupted from the colorless crystal man's mouth. The lights in his chest and Dantian became impossible to look at directly. The enraged colorless crystal man stamped his foot heavily, and the cavern, over fifty kilometers in diameter, suddenly shook. Intense beams of light suddenly erupted from countless crystal pillars around them, all converging into the colorless crystal man. He raised his hands and roared: "Great Progenitor, lend me your strength to destroy these damnable butchers and thieves!"

"Hah!" Over a dozen kilometers away, the colorless crystal man roared forcefully toward Gu Xichen.

The invisible sound wave crossed the dozen kilometers of space almost instantly, slamming heavily onto the Xin Jia brothers. Xin Jia shrieked, his massive body lifted off the ground, flying thousands of meters away in disarray before smashing into the cavern wall ahead. Five dull thuds sounded in succession, and the five Xin Jia brothers were embedded deeply into the crystal wall in a spread-eagle formation.

Gu Xichen was slightly luckier. After being blasted back, he happened to crash into the tunnel he came from. He cried out as he flew thousands of meters down the passage, tumbling miserably into the circular hall at the tunnel's end. He slid a long way across the smooth floor, slamming into the hall's wall.

Prajna and Mohe were greatly alarmed and rushed toward Gu Xichen.

Before the two brothers could help Gu Xichen up, the colorless crystal man stepped forward. His body abruptly vanished from the ground and reappeared almost simultaneously from the crystal floor right in front of Gu Xichen. Beams of strong light shot from the colorless crystal man's eyes. Prajna and Mohe were caught completely off guard, their bodies riddled with dozens of transparent holes pierced through them, the intense penetration knocking them flying backward.

The colorless crystal man reached out to grab Gu Xichen’s throat, a murderous look in his eyes.

It happened in less time than it takes to speak. Xin Jia charged back from the other end of the tunnel. He slapped his hand, and the boundless divine chains, emanating a faint Qilin’s cry, whistled out and wrapped around the colorless crystal man's waist over a dozen times. Xin Jia grasped the divine chains, and Xin Yi and the other brothers gripped the long chain behind him. The five brothers ran backward, dragging the boundless chains as if in a game of tug-of-war.

The colorless crystal man lost his footing and was pulled crashing to the ground, dragged dozens of meters away in the blink of an eye. Runes flickered rapidly along the boundless divine chains, their restraining power seeping into the colorless crystal man's body, attempting to bind the powerful energy within him. First, the rapidly spinning seven-colored halo in his chest abruptly stopped, followed by the gradual slowing of the light orb in his Dantian.

Just as the colorless crystal man was about to be completely bound by the divine chains, the orb in his Dantian suddenly exploded, unleashing an ineffable restrictive force from within him. The boundless divine chains snapped away from him like startled grass snakes.

The colorless crystal man slammed both hands onto the ground and sprang up violently.

Five powerful beams of light shot out from beneath the feet of the Xin Jia brothers, lifting all five into the air without a sound. The light contained some unknown energy, a chaotic mixture of intense cold and searing heat, with Yin and Yang energies intertwining and seeping into the five bodies. It clung tightly to their meridians like a massive net, rendering them incapable of using any spiritual energy beyond their physical strength.

Hundreds of transparent tentacles, as thick as wrists, suddenly surged from the ground. These tentacles, composed of crystal yet as soft as water ripples, firmly held the Xin Jia brothers. They not only restrained their physical bodies but also bound their divine abilities. The pressure, heavy as a mountain, pinned the five brothers immobile. They felt as if the entire Pluto was pressing down on them; the suffocating pressure made their vision grow dark, and their bodies, tempered through countless trials, began to creak under the immense strain.

"Die! If it weren't for the Progenitor’s decree forbidding us from leaving the altar, we would have slaughtered you bunch of thieves long ago!" the colorless crystal man roared in fury, striding toward Gu Xichen. With every step he took on the ground, the very soil of Pluto trembled, wave after wave of relentless shaking destabilizing Gu Xichen. He tried to push himself up, but his hands were repelled by an invisible wave whenever he tried to brace against the ground; he couldn't find any purchase, how could he stand?

Siren silently drew the ancient bronze sword and floated soundlessly behind the colorless crystal man like a ghost. He concentrated all his power into the sword, causing it to emit a cyan sword-qi about a meter long. With all his might, he slashed towards the back of the colorless crystal man's heart.

The land of Pluto suddenly trembled. A massive surge of power rushed up from the ground and injected itself into the colorless crystal man's body. Dazzling light circulated over the crystal man's surface. The sword-qi shattered upon impact with the crystal body. Siren felt his hands go numb, and his long sword was repelled backward before it even touched the colorless crystal man’s body.

The crystal man turned his head and glared at Siren. Siren felt his chest struck by a heavy hammer, spat out a mouthful of blood, and retreated in disarray.

Seeing Siren spit blood, Aryadia roared and flew toward them. However, a strange energy fluctuation arose from the ground, and beams of multicolored light shot up like sharp swords from beneath. The red light beneath Aryadia's feet was cleaved into pieces, and she fell heavily to the ground less than a meter off the ground. Immediately afterward, like Gu Xichen, the ground refused to offer any support; no matter how she struggled, she couldn't get up.

A gust of sinister wind suddenly rushed up from underground. Penghua cried out "Waa waah!" as he stuck two hands out from the earth. Unreformed, he aimed a "Monkey Steals the Peach" maneuver at the colorless crystal man’s groin.

The colorless crystal man looked down at Penghua, whose head was just emerging. A flash of light crossed his eyes, and the ground suddenly solidified like steel. The ground, which Penghua could normally traverse freely, became hundreds of times harder than alloy steel. With a crack of bone, Penghua’s entire skeleton was crushed by the surrounding pressure. His arm managed to scratch the colorless crystal man’s leg but only produced a faint friction sound.

Gu Xichen was horrified. He patted the pouch at his waist, and a green light swept out, enveloping the colorless crystal man, a suction force attempting to draw him into the pouch.

With a few soft chuckles, the colorless crystal man remained rooted to the spot. He waved his arm forcefully, causing the heavens and earth to shake, and the green light covering him instantly shattered.

Gu Xichen felt a surge of blood rush to his throat, and he shouted sharply: "Uncle Beard, full power shooting! Take this guy down!"

There was no response from the communicator.

Gu Xichen paused, then shouted sharply again: "Uncle Beard? Full power shooting! Don't worry about me!"

After two breaths, a slow, teasing voice finally came through the communicator: "Apologies, Mr. Director, but I am the fleet commander now!"

Gu Xichen was stunned. The colorless crystal man slowly walked toward him. Reminding for a mid-game rest.

Trouble from within.

Uh, still asking for votes.

The more enthusiastically comrades smash their monthly votes, the happier Pig Head will be to write! (To be continued)