"Warning! High-energy reaction approaching!" Lisa's mechanical voice echoed through the ship. "Target: Scorpion King, Long Ying!"
Huo Linfei and Longjian rose at the same time, eyes meeting.
"She recovered faster than we expected," Longjian said coldly.
"Perfect." Huo Linfei clenched his fist, flames boiling in his palm. "Let her taste our new power."
The hatch opened. The two leapt from the Xuanwu, landing in the jungle below. In the distance, the Scorpion Superbeast charged like a storm—black Energion coiled around its frame like poisonous fog. Wherever it passed, lush vegetation withered and rotted under corruption.
"You can't escape," her voice rasped, icy and hoarse. "No one can stop Hades from reviving!"
"Could you villains at least get some fresh lines?" Huo Linfei flashed a grin.
"Enough talk!" The Scorpion Superbeast's tail snapped forward—its stinger thrusting like a spear.
"Armament!"
Crimson and ice-blue light erupted together. Huo Linfei and Longjian donned red and blue armor, fire and frost interweaving into a strange field around them. The poison stingers evaporated the instant they touched it.
Long Ying sounded genuinely startled. "Your power… changed?"
"Noticed?" Huo Linfei's fists ignited—yet this time, ice-crystal sparks glittered inside the flame. "Longjian—show her!"
Longjian nodded, and the two moved into stance together.
"Superbeast Armament—Phantom Qilin Beast!"
"Superbeast Armament—Dragon Battle Beast!"
The beast-forms had barely begun to condense when Longjian's Energion slipped again—surging out of control.
Long Ying sneered. "Hmph. Not enough Energion and you still want Superbeast Armament? A fool's dream!"
"Catch!"
Huo Linfei's Phantom Qilin Beast was only halfway formed when a Firecloud Art burst from his hand—not toward Long Ying, but toward Longjian beside him.
Longjian grunted—yet the normally volatile Firecloud energy became unnaturally calm the moment it entered his body, resonating with his Cold Shadow Art like two notes locking into harmony.
"So that's it…" Understanding flashed in Longjian's eyes. "Balance isn't forcing the two into one—it's coexistence!"
Watching from the Xuanwu, Miaotiaojun was dumbstruck. "Hey! Huo Linfei! Don't tell me this is revenge for getting knocked out by Cold Shadow Art earlier?!"
Huo Linfei laughed loudly. "You caught me?!"
"Superbeast—Armament—!" (x2)
A red qilin and a blue dragon appeared—then instantly shifted into humanoid forms.
"Phantom Qilin God!"
"Dragon Battle God!"
Two towering Superbeast Gods clashed against the Scorpion Superbeast. The massive tail struck like lightning—Phantom Qilin God and Dragon Battle God split apart, countering in tandem.
"Firecloud / Cold Shadow Art!"
This time their movements were perfectly synchronized. Fire and ice traced interlocking trajectories, blocking every strike.
"Cold Shadow Art…"
As the battle deadlocked, Long Ying abruptly ceased attacking and fixed her gaze on Dragon Battle God.
"Do you truly not remember… the little girl you saved 100,000 years ago?"
Longjian frowned. "Same answer as before. I wasn't even born 100,000 years ago."
"A true strong one can step into the eternal cycle…" Long Ying's voice carried a strange nostalgia. "Time means nothing to us."
"Are we really doing a flashback arc mid-fight?" Huo Linfei gaped—then leaned closer to Longjian and whispered, "Longjian, you did save her—but that was after you were caught in the collision of Hades and the Snow Emperor's energy, which threw you through time. Right now Hades hasn't revived yet."
"What?" Longjian stared at him, shocked. "How do you know something that hasn't happened?"
"Nonsense!" Long Ying shouted. "The Snow Emperor has long been sealed in the Dark Nether Black Hole—how could she possibly strike at Hades?!"
"Don't believe me?" Huo Linfei shrugged. "Then why don't we ask Hades himself?"
"Ridiculous!" The huge tail smashed down like a meteor. Huo Linfei and Longjian retreated—but this time they didn't split up.
From the Xuanwu, Miaotiaojun called out, monitoring their Energion distribution in real time:
"Huo Linfei! Longjian! Your Energion is approaching balance—this is the best moment for Superbeast Combination!"
"Understood!" (x2)
Their Energion harmonized into a violent resonance—crimson and ice-blue pillars shot into the sky, swallowing their silhouettes.
"Superbeast God—Combine!"
The light faded. A brand-new Superbeast God stood upon the earth—Phantom Qilin God forming the upper body, Dragon Battle God forming the lower limbs. Two opposing Energion attributes reached perfect equilibrium, their peaks stacking together—
Breaking straight through to: 1 black hole!
"This… impossible!" Long Ying's disbelief twisted into fury. "War-souls from the endless abyss—grant me the right to burn once more!"
The earth trembled. Black miasma rose from the ground and wrapped around her; a gravity-like pull yanked at both the Superbeast God and even the Xuanwu in the distance.
"Scorpion King's Energion has reached 0.9 black holes. Recommend activating ship protection mode," Lisa reported.
Miaotiaojun slammed the button without hesitation.
"Then what are we even worried about? Our Superbeast God is at one whole black hole! Protect us and let them fight!"
"Stop!" Huo Linfei's voice thundered inside the combined form. "Firecloud Art!"
The Superbeast God drove a single punch forward. The Firecloud Art detonated on a scale far beyond anything before—like a miniature sun, instantly burning away the black fog. The Scorpion Superbeast was swallowed by flame; its shell cracked and collapsed under the heat, everything along the path incinerated into ash.
"Ah—!"
"The final blow is mine!" Longjian crossed his arms. Cold expanded from the Superbeast God like a spreading apocalypse—within ten kilometers, the earth erupted into countless ice spikes that pierced the Scorpion Superbeast clean through, impaling the shattered armor.
"Cold Shadow Art!"
BOOM—!!!
Long Ying's Superbeast form disintegrated. Purple-black energy scattered in all directions as her true body fell from the air and slammed into the ruined battlefield.
Longjian dismissed his Superbeast state and strode forward. Cold Shadow energy condensed in his palm, aimed at the barely-breathing Long Ying.
"Wait!" Huo Linfei called.
"Fire… Linfei—are you saying I should stop because you believed her?" Longjian asked, baffled.
Huo Linfei didn't answer. He simply stepped in and removed Longjian's helmet.
Long Ying struggled to lift her head. When her eyes landed on Longjian's face—identical to the one from 100,000 years ago—her pupils contracted sharply.
"It really is… you…"
She laughed bitterly. In that instant, her conviction collapsed.
Her Energion drained away like black sand. The scorpion-shaped Energion Lock in her hand faded, reverting to its original form—
A blue dragon-shaped Energion Lock, identical to Longjian's.
Long Ying trembled as she reached for it—
but before her fingers touched it, the lock dissolved into nothingness.
"Why… why… couldn't I recognize you…"
"Why stop me from taking revenge?" Longjian stared at the hollow-eyed Long Ying and demanded of Huo Linfei, "Facing an enemy like this… how can I not kill her?"
Huo Linfei rested a hand on Longjian's shoulder, voice unusually earnest.
"I'm selfish. I don't want you doing something you'll regret."
Then his tone flipped—almost annoyingly smug.
"Besides—revenge has never had only one option!"
He pointed at Long Ying on the ground.
"Right now, she's in more pain than if you'd killed her yourself. And her 'eternal cycle' talk isn't baseless—we really do have the ability to stop tragedies from happening."
Longjian brushed his hand away and locked eyes with him.
"Why do you know so much? Even things from the future?"
"Why?" Huo Linfei paused, thinking. "Maybe because I didn't forget…"
A violent chill erupted.
Before he could finish "…everything," the Cold Shadow energy inside him fully detonated.
"Ah—"
An aged sigh echoed through space.
"What has been, will be again; what has been done, will be done again…"
Join here to read ahead.
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