“Careful…” a human voice sounded from Ni Bo, attempting to warn the distracted Ye Jingyu. But as its voice emerged, a massive beam of aquamarine light erupted from the giant Jiao’s mouth, thick as a locomotive, slamming into Ye Jingyu’s back, utterly submerging him and driving him straight to the bottom of the pool… In that instant, Ye Jingyu felt an intense cold surge into his body, as if even his Chaos Physique was about to shatter… The chilling energy was so frigid, so terrifying, and its power so immense, that even a peak Martial Saint facing such a formidable freezing beam would certainly be frozen into dust… This strike was delivered with its full strength; the unprepared Ye Jingyu had no defense whatsoever.

“Ao ao ao…” A colossal dragon roar emanated from Ni Bo’s throat. Following more than a year of continuous training and repeated challenges, the dragon bloodline within him had gradually awakened, and his power had grown continuously.

Seeing Ye Jingyu ambushed now, a wave of explosive rage consumed him… His body shot out of the waterfall toward the giant Jiao, without a second thought, directly executing the Seven Steps of Ni Bo… With the first step, the loose wood and gravel surrounding the giant Jiao instantly exploded again—unable to withstand Ni Bo’s overwhelming, savage energy… With the second step, powerful energy blasts hammered the giant Jiao’s body, causing sparks to fly from its tough scales… With the third step, a massive hoof print materialized in the void, aiming straight for the giant Jiao’s head. However, the Jiao let out a long skyward howl, and a phantom image burst from its body, striking the hoof print directly and shattering it into pieces… With the fourth step, the void around the giant Jiao began to fracture, inch by inch, as if the entire world was about to break apart.

The immense power of the void relentlessly tore at the Jiao’s body, especially the spots Ye Jingyu had injured, which began to bleed profusely once more… In agony, the giant Jiao roared toward the heavens and launched its massive body into the air, charging toward Ni Bo, opening its gaping maw, intending to swallow Ni Bo whole… Facing the rapidly approaching giant Jiao, Ni Bo showed no fear and stepped out with the fifth step… As this step was taken, its body somehow traversed the void, appearing directly above the giant Jiao’s head, all four hooves simultaneously planted onto the Jiao’s massive skull… The force was staggering, like a mountain crashing down onto the creature’s head, instantly driving the Jiao’s body downward with tremendous force, slamming it heavily onto the ground and kicking up clouds of dust… The scales on its head even developed cracks, with threads of golden blood seeping from the fissures. While it merely seeped for the Jiao, to an outsider, it looked like geysers erupting, given the sheer immensity of its body.

Having executed five steps in succession, even Ni Bo’s current strength left him momentarily drained. His body lost balance for a moment and he fell heavily from the air to the ground, though he quickly scrambled back to his feet… “Ao…” The giant Jiao, its head throbbing from Ni Bo’s five consecutive impacts, let out a furious bellow, flinging its colossal body towards Ni Bo.

Compared to its massive bulk, Ni Bo seemed like a tiny mouse facing a python… But Ni Bo made no move to evade; black flames ignited around him, and he charged full speed into the giant Jiao’s body… With a deafening “Rumble…”, Ni Bo’s seemingly “small” frame violently collided with the Jiao’s massive body. Ni Bo was instantly swatted away like a tennis ball, smashing heavily into a rock face behind him, gouging out a massive pit, causing stone and debris to rain down from the cliff… Yet, a bloody hole was also ripped in the giant Jiao’s hide—or rather, a wound seared open by the black flames engulfing Ni Bo.

Those supposedly impenetrable scales had actually melted under the black inferno, demonstrating the terrifying temperature of the flame. “Ao ao…” The giant Jiao emitted a cry more wretched than before, as the flames were clearly causing it immense agony.

Enraged, the giant Jiao exerted itself, charging at full speed toward Ni Bo. It snatched up the falling Ni Bo with a claw as thick as a tree trunk and began to tear viciously.

Ni Bo writhed in sharp pain, struggling desperately, but he was no match for the Jiao’s sheer strength; he felt his body on the verge of being ripped apart. He mobilized the black flames once more, and just as the searing heat began to rise, the giant Jiao spat out a cloud of blue mist—a chilling, azure vapor.

Though not as intensely cold as the earlier water-blue beam, it managed to instantly extinguish Ni Bo’s black flames. After all, while the Black Flame’s power was immense, its quantity was tragically small.

With the threat of the Black Flame neutralized, the giant Jiao tore at Ni Bo’s body with renewed vigor. It intended to utterly shred this persistent little nuisance, making it understand that it hadn't been unable to kill him, merely unwilling to do so.

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the pool, Ye Jingyu felt little other than coldness. This water-blue beam was countless times colder than the waters of the Icy Pool.

In fact, after this blast of energy struck the pool, the entire body of water began to freeze over. It must be remembered that the temperature of this Icy Pool was perpetually dozens of degrees below zero, yet the constant rush of the waterfall usually prevented any freezing.

Now, however, ice was spreading at a rate visible to the naked eye; even the cascading waterfall was beginning to solidify, a clear testament to the extreme coldness of that energy. Even as the Chaos Physique, Ye Jingyu felt on the verge of shattering from the cold.

Just as his spiritual sense was about to be frozen into numbness, the Water Aperture on his kidney suddenly activated, rapidly absorbing the surrounding frigid, cold-attribute energy. Ye Jingyu rejoiced greatly.

He discovered that this ice-attribute energy was actually condensed from the purest Water Spiritual Qi. Every unit of ice energy was equivalent to one hundred units of Water Spiritual Qi.

This volume of ice energy was equivalent to the Water Spirit Qi he had cultivated over an entire year… He failed to realize that the giant Jiao was a Water-attributed Desolate Beast, which had cultivated for a thousand years, condensing its essence into a Water Attribute Inner Core. This mass of water-cold energy was the very essence of its life force.

Had Ye Jingyu not been overwhelmingly powerful and nearly killed it in just four moves, the Jiao would never have risked expelling this mass of water-cold energy with the danger of its Inner Core rupturing.