Consciousness drifted through endless darkness and agony. The poison flood dragon's blood-red vertical pupils, filled with violence and murderous intent, were like two blood moons occupying his sea of consciousness that was about to fall completely silent. The breath of death was bone-chillingly cold, carrying the decay and despair of ten thousand years accumulated in the swamp's depths.
No! He could not die here!
His father's blurred face, the morning bells and evening drums of Qingxu View, his eldest senior brother's steady admonitions, his third senior sister's sharp sword light, Aunt Su's complex gaze... and his father's remnant soul, possibly still suffering in the depths of the Shadow Snake Pavilion! Countless images flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern. An intense, extreme will to survive and protect, like a volcano, erupted from the depths of his soul!
Just as the poison flood dragon's gruesome maw, covered in viscous venom, was about to swallow him—
"Om—!"
A resonance, as if from ancient primordial times, transcending endless eons, suddenly thundered from his chest!
That Four Symbols Jade Pendant, always quietly resting against his heart, usually only silently providing purification power and nourishment, at this moment, sensing its host's indomitable will and intense protective conviction in this desperate situation, was finally—for the first time—actively and frantically invoked by Xiaoqi with all his heart, mind, will, and that thin but incomparably pure Xu family bloodline!
No longer the unconscious flickering of faint light before, but a true release of power!
Green, White, Red, Black! Four solid, ancient beams of light burst forth from Xiaoqi's chest, shooting skyward!
Green light, vast and boundless, carrying the endlessly generating Yimu essence, transformed into a slightly blurred but naturally majestic Azure Dragon phantom, coiling in the east!
White light, austere and murderous, carrying incomparably sharp Geng Metal qi, transformed into a White Tiger phantom roaring at the sky, its baleful qi piercing the clouds, crouching in the west!
Red light, blazing and intense, carrying Li Fire intent that could incinerate the eight wastelands, transformed into a Vermilion Bird phantom with wings spread ready to fly, surrounded by divine flames, crying out in the south!
Black light, heavy and deep, carrying Wutu virtue that bears all things, transformed into a Black Tortoise phantom with intertwined turtle and snake, steady as a mountain, guarding the north!
The phantoms of the Four Symbols divine beasts were not completely solidified, their edges somewhat blurred, but that vast dao resonance and primordial pressure originating from the source of heaven and earth, transcending ordinary spiritual power, spread out like substance!
An ancient barrier approximately three zhang in diameter, woven from four-colored lights, instantly formed with Tang Xiaoqi at its center! On the barrier's light walls, the runes of the Four Symbols divine beasts circulated endlessly, emitting an eternal, sacred, inviolable aura!
All of this happened slowly in words, but in reality, it occurred in a flash!
The poison flood dragon's certain-kill bite brutally crashed against this suddenly appearing four-colored barrier!
"Dong—!!!"
A muffled sound to the extreme, like two great mountains colliding! The violent energy shock exploded in rings, sending everything—silt, poisonous water, and strange trees within dozens of zhang—flying or annihilating!
The poison flood dragon let out a cry of pain and rage. Its fangs, capable of crushing magical artifacts, crashed against the barrier's light wall as if biting the world's toughest divine metal. Not only did it fail to advance, but the rebound force made its skull numb, and a tiny wound even cracked at the corner of its mouth, flowing with dark green poisonous blood!
In its blood-red vertical pupils, for the first time, appeared disbelief and a trace of fear originating from the depths of its bloodline! These four phantoms... the aura of this barrier... reminded it of terrifying existences in its ancient bloodline memories!
"Roar!! (What is this?!)"
The poison flood dragon was both shocked and enraged, its massive body writhing frantically. Its giant tail, like a collapsing mountain range, carried a tearing sound through the air, once again fiercely lashing toward that obstructing four-colored barrier!
Boom!
Another violent collision without any tricks! The barrier light wall rippled violently, the Four Symbols phantoms swaying and blurring as if about to disperse at any moment. Xiaoqi, at the barrier's center, was struck as if by lightning, suddenly spraying a large mouthful of blood, his face instantly turning the color of gold paper. He felt his soul being hammered repeatedly under a giant mallet, his meridians transmitting tearing pain. The spiritual power in his dantian had long been depleted; now, what sustained this barrier was entirely his burning will, bloodline, and the vast origin power contained within the Four Symbols Jade Pendant itself!
This barrier—he couldn't maintain it for long! Every second was overdrawing his life!
But, it was this precious, hard-won time of a few breaths!
"Xiaoqi!!!"
In the distance, the heavily injured Falcon and Iron Wall saw this shocking scene with eyes about to split. Though they didn't know what the four-colored barrier and divine beast phantoms were, they understood that Xiaoqi, using some incomprehensible method with tremendous cost, had blocked that certain-kill strike!
Survival instinct and the opportunity bought with a comrade's life made them erupt with their last strength. Iron Wall struggled to carry the unconscious Shadow Shuttle, while Falcon, enduring the agony of displaced internal organs, grabbed another heavily injured companion from the nearby mud. The four desperately ran and crawled toward the direction Xiaoqi had indicated earlier—that black stone forest with its jagged, grotesque rocks!
"Go... quickly..." Inside the barrier, blood began seeping from all seven of Xiaoqi's orifices. His vision was a blur; he could only instinctively let out a weak roar toward his teammates.
The poison flood dragon was completely enraged! It couldn't tolerate its prey escaping, even less could it tolerate this barrier emitting an aura it found repulsive and fearful! It abandoned physical attacks, suddenly opening its massive maw, no longer forming a poison-evil energy sphere, but instead spewing a viscous, ink-black, foul-smelling natal venom! This venom contained the essence of its thousand years of cultivation; its corrosiveness far exceeded the previous poison-evil, even seeming to melt space itself!
Sizzle—!!!
The dark green venom splashed onto the four-colored barrier, emitting a tooth-grinding sound of intense corrosion! The barrier light wall dimmed at a visible rate. The Azure Dragon phantom let out a mournful cry, its light sharply diminishing; the White Tiger phantom's baleful qi was defiled by the venom; the Vermilion Bird's Li Fire flickered unsteadily in the venom; the Black Tortoise's heavy light wall was also pitted and eroded!
"Crack..."
A fine cracking sound rang out, and the first crack appeared on the barrier light wall!
Xiaoqi's consciousness slid toward the abyss of darkness again. He felt he was about to be drained dry, his body and soul both on the verge of collapse.
Just as the barrier was about to completely shatter, and the poison flood dragon's massive maw descended once more—
"Roar—!!!"
An even higher-pitched dragon roar, filled with supreme majesty and fury, seemed to cross through time and space, faintly resonating from that dimmed Azure Dragon phantom! Simultaneously, the White Tiger roared, the Vermilion Bird cried out, the Black Tortoise rumbled! The Four Symbols Jade Pendant seemed completely activated by this desperate situation and its host's will; the remaining Four Symbols origin resonated with unprecedented intensity!
That barrier on the verge of shattering suddenly burst with one final dazzling four-colored divine light!
BOOM!!!
The divine light wasn't an attack, but transformed into a gentle yet irresistible pushing force, flinging the barely-alive Xiaoqi at the barrier's center like a thrown stone toward the black stone forest!
And the Four Symbols phantoms and barrier, having exhausted their last strength, after this push, dispersed completely like candles in the wind, transforming back into four imperceptible streams of light, shrinking back into the jade pendant at Xiaoqi's chest. The jade pendant became dim and lightless, even showing an extremely fine crack on its surface.
"Thump!" Xiaoqi fell heavily at the black stone forest's edge, completely losing consciousness.
The poison flood dragon's certain-kill bite missed again, biting only the scattered light remnants of Four Symbols power. It angrily destroyed everything around it, yet seemed wary of that black stone forest emitting some aura that made it cautious, only roaring frantically at the edge before finally sinking back into the bottomless poison pond.
The swamp temporarily returned to its deathly silence, with only the devastated ground proving the brief but thrilling confrontation between Four Symbols power and the Swamp Overlord had occurred. Falcon and Iron Wall, dragging their broken bodies, struggled to carry the unconscious Xiaoqi and Shadow Shuttle into the stone forest's depths, seeking temporary refuge.
The Four Symbols power had manifested for the first time—brief, yet in this desperate situation, it had forcibly torn open a lifeline for this team on the verge of annihilation!