Chapter 623: 9th Level Heavenly Demon Phoenix

Relying on his keen perception and exquisite control of the power of space, Xiao Ling easily condensed and tore open a space crack in front of him.

He knew in his heart that the opportunity was fleeting, so without the slightest hesitation, he leaped towards the crack as fast as lightning.

However, just as he was about to step into the crack, something strange happened!
On the altar, the statue of the Heavenly Demon Phoenix, which had been standing still like an eternal rock, seemed to be suddenly awakened from its deep sleep.

Its eyes, which were originally dull and lifeless, suddenly burst into two extremely bright blue lights, sharply locking onto Xiao Ling's figure.

Almost at the same moment the light came on, a light blue light shot out from the statue's eyes. It was so fast that it almost condensed into a blurry light, shooting straight towards Xiao Ling.

This blue light is not just a ray of light. It covers a very wide area, almost covering the path that Xiao Ling must take to leap into the crack.

Its speed was extremely fast, so fast that even if Xiao Ling was alert the moment before stepping into the crack, he had no time to dodge.

Faced with this sudden and overwhelming light blue stream, Xiao Ling's face changed slightly and he cursed "not good" in his heart, but it was already unavoidable.

The stream of light enveloped his entire body almost instantly, but did not bring the expected burning pain. Instead, it brought an indescribable coldness and an indescribable feeling of oppression, as if being held down by an invisible force.

Just as the light blue light touched Xiao Ling's body, something strange happened!
The energy that was originally flowing steadily within the stream of light suddenly began to violently riot as if it had encountered extreme rejection.

The energy particles collided and rubbed against each other, making subtle and dense explosions, like a pot of boiling water that was suddenly boiled.

Not only did these violent energies fail to merge into Xiao Ling's body, but they began to squeeze and erode his defenses frantically, attempting to completely expel this "foreign object" from the field formed by the flowing light. The force was so fierce that it wanted to pin him to the ground in front of the space crack and stop him from moving forward.

Xiao Ling only felt his whole body tighten, and his qi and blood seemed to be restrained by this force, and even the slight pulling feeling brought by the space crack became blurred.

He immediately understood that the stream of light shooting out from the statue's eyes was not a simple attack, but an extremely sophisticated means of detection!

It seemed to be analyzing Xiao Ling's "essence" in an instant, trying to confirm whether he was the true owner of this underground palace, a member of the Heavenly Demon Phoenix Clan.

However, the answer is so obvious and cruel that there is no room for negotiation.

Xiao Ling is a human being, a living human being. Let alone the Heavenly Demon Phoenix, even any magical beast has nothing to do with Xiao Shan.

Just as the violent energy was trying to stop Xiao Ling from rushing forward and pin him to the spot, the light blue light enveloping him suddenly changed without any warning.

The originally cold blue light with a hint of exploration, was like being thrown into hot magma, instantly burning from the inside out. In the blink of an eye, it turned into blood-red beams that fiercely hit Xiao Ling's body. The warning was obvious.

At the same time, the lifelike stone sculpture of the Heavenly Demon Phoenix on the altar, which had been standing as still as a mountain, suddenly reacted violently.

It was no longer a dead object, as if it was instantly injected with violent vitality. The entire stone sculpture began to shake violently, and heavy cracks spread and expanded wildly on its surface like a spider web at a speed visible to the naked eye! Those cracks were deep and sharp, and in the blink of an eye, they quickly covered every inch of the stone sculpture.

Seeing this sudden intensification of the crisis, Xiao Ling's expression changed slightly and became solemn.

Although he had never personally experienced such a direct and intense defensive counterattack, he understood it instantly.

This is by no means accidental, but a powerful protective mechanism set up by the ruins of the Sky Demon Phoenix clan itself.

It seems that this statue is not just a simple early warning device, but also a passive protective barrier that will counterattack with all its strength once triggered.

Any unauthorized intruder will trigger its complete outbreak, and may even directly destroy the entire space node, in order to warn or prevent subsequent invasions.

This sudden change made the already dangerous treasure hunt even more difficult.

However, just as Xiao Ling felt a chill in his heart due to the sudden escalation of the crisis, the familiar message from the spirit of the ancestral stone once again clearly entered his mind.

The voice was like a warm current that instantly dispelled the anxiety and uneasiness in his heart and relaxed his tense nerves a little.

"Don't worry, Xiao Ling," the voice carried a soothing force, "Leave this to me for the time being. Just concentrate and rush into the space crack with all your strength.

I think with your strength, it shouldn't be a big problem to break free from the restraints of this light."

These words were like a reassurance, letting Xiao Ling's heart rest. He took a deep breath, no longer distracted by the increasingly violent scarlet light, but instead put all his mind into sensing and breaking through the space crack.

The next moment, Xiao Ling's aura suddenly changed, and the fighting spirit in his body surged out like a raging wave.

He no longer tried to break free completely, but instead directed this powerful fighting spirit directly towards the violent scarlet energy that continued to suppress him.

The two collided violently in an instant, making a dull explosion. In an instant, the oppressive feeling that had been holding him down disappeared for the most part, and the suppressive force field formed by the scarlet energy was like being torn open, and was completely resisted and dispelled by Xiao Ling's surging fighting spirit.

Xiao Ling also knew that the opportunity was fleeting. While the scarlet energy was temporarily suppressed, he moved again and shot towards the space crack not far in front of the statue like an arrow.

At this moment, he no longer hesitated and plunged in. His figure was quickly swallowed by the crack until he completely disappeared without a trace.

At the same moment when Xiao Ling's figure completely sank into the crack, the statue of the Heavenly Demon Phoenix seemed to have received a fatal shock and began to shake violently again.

The cracks that had spread previously seemed to be injected with life at this moment, expanding and deepening wildly. New cracks continued to grow like spider webs, covering every inch of the stone sculpture's texture.

It looked shaky and like it would explode at any moment.

Seeing this situation, the spirit of the ancestral stone, which had been observing, also realized that it could not delay any longer.

He took action immediately, waving his hands quickly in front of him. Several complex and mysterious light patterns that seemed to contain the laws of heaven and earth were drawn out by him and shot accurately onto the statue that was on the verge of collapse.

As soon as these light patterns touched the statue, they burst out with a gentle but tenacious force, like invisible pillars, forcibly supporting the statue's most vulnerable joints, greatly slowing down the speed of its complete shattering. However, this delay did not stop it.

If you look closely, you can still clearly see those cracks in the gaps of the light pattern, still expanding inch by inch at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Obviously, even if the spirit of the ancestral stone intervened, the statue's internal protection mechanism would make it difficult to completely reverse its self-destruction or complete failure after sensing the invasion of outsiders. It would not take long for it to completely collapse at a speed far beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

The action of the spirit of the ancestral stone can only temporarily delay the situation at best, and the time it can buy is not very long.

There was no need to think too much about the consequences of the statue's collapse. Even the slightest abnormality would definitely not escape the perception of the powerful beings of the Sky Demon Phoenix Clan. Once they found signs of outsiders breaking in, they would definitely send experts to investigate. By then, Xiao Ling's situation would become truly dangerous, and he would probably be hunted down by the entire Sky Demon Phoenix Clan. The trouble would be unimaginable.

However, at this moment, Xiao Ling, who had already entered the depths of the space crack, had no time to care about the crisis in the outside world.

At this moment, all his attention was focused on the unknown passage before him and the unknown area he was about to face.

And the spirit of the ancestral stone outside the crack was trying its best to maintain the statue of the Heavenly Demon Phoenix to prevent it from completely collapsing.

He maintained the complicated and mentally taxing movement, but his eyes were cast towards the place where Xiao Ling disappeared.

The space crack seemed to be pulled by an invisible hand and began to close slowly. The light at the edge gradually dimmed, and the passage was like an eyelid that slowly closed, closing little by little until it finally disappeared completely, leaving only silence in its place.

Looking at the completely closed space passage, the Ancestral Stone Spirit was silent for a moment, then murmured to himself in a low voice, with a hint of imperceptible worry and expectation:
"Xiao Ling... I hope nothing unexpected happens to you on this trip. Otherwise, I may never have the chance to return to the Profound Sky Continent again."

……

As soon as he stepped into the crack, Xiao Ling was immediately enveloped by a violent and unfamiliar spatial force.

This force seemed to have life, squeezing and tearing his body madly, bringing about a strange feeling of being infinitely torn apart and reassembled.

He immediately calmed down and tried his best to mobilize his control over the force of space, as if looking for an anchor in the stormy waves, trying to control this chaotic force and gradually approach the stable spatial coordinates at the other end of the crack.

Xiao Ling's actions soon paid off.

He paid attention to the spatial coordinates sensed in his mind, and his body moved quickly like a gust of wind in the chaotic space turbulence.

"Boom!"

A slight sound seemed to penetrate the barrier of space, spreading ripples in the void.

Immediately afterwards, Xiao Ling's figure emerged from the slightly rippling waves.

After standing firm, Xiao Ling immediately slowed down his movements and began to carefully look around. The scene before him made him feel a little nervous.

This place seems to be an independent space that has been completely stripped away from the laws of heaven and earth.

There was no sun, moon, or stars above my head, no familiar sky, only an endless, mirror-smooth void with no visible edges, as if I was in a huge, static container.

And at this moment, he was standing on the bottomless pool of blood below.

The liquid in the pool was a thick dark red color, like solidified blood, or some kind of sticky liquid gem, emitting a disturbing smell.

The most peculiar thing was that, although there was a seemingly soft liquid under his feet, he clearly felt an extremely solid sense of "being down to earth", as if the surface of the blood pool was really a piece of solid land, supporting his weight, and there was no sign of sinking when he stood on it.

Noticing this strange sight, a hint of surprise flashed in Xiao Ling's eyes.

He tentatively raised his foot and took two cautious steps forward.

As he moved, fine ripples immediately appeared on the surface of the blood pool beneath his feet, starting from his footsteps and spreading out in circles like the surface of water after a stone was thrown into it.

These ripples spread slowly and clearly in the dark red liquid, outlining strange circles. The whole process was silent, but it revealed an inexplicable sense of weirdness.

Although this strange scene was really puzzling, Xiao Ling had no time to explore it further at the moment.

The situation is urgent now, and every minute and every second may result in missing a critical opportunity.

Thinking of this, Xiao Ling no longer looked at the strange blood pool and the void space. He immediately focused his mind and released his perception like a big net, which quickly spread and explored the surroundings.

He needs to locate the target as quickly as possible.

The vast perception swept over him like a tide, and almost in an instant, he captured a source of extremely powerful energy fluctuations, which was exactly what he had been expecting on this trip.

The target has been set. The next moment, Xiao Ling no longer hesitated. His body shook violently and turned into a dazzling stream of light. Like an arrow shot from a bow, he shot straight towards the location where the energy fluctuations were the strongest in his perception. His speed was so fast that only a blurry light and shadow were left behind.

Soon, Xiao Ling arrived in front of his target. He sank his body and landed steadily on the blood pool again.

At this moment, what appeared before him was an incomparably huge Sky Demon Phoenix.

It was not flying as swiftly as it had been in life, but was lying quietly above the pool of blood in an almost crouching posture.

The huge body almost occupied the center of the entire space, and its wings were like two solidified dark golden clouds, spread out obliquely.

The raised head tilted back slightly, and the sharp beak tip flashed a cold light.

Although the feathers on its body have lost their luster, one can still vaguely see the gorgeous and complex patterns it had in life.

It just "sleeps" quietly, as if it has just closed its eyes temporarily, waiting for the moment of rebirth.

However, when Xiao Ling probed his perception into his body, he only felt a dead silence, without even a trace of life.

Obviously, this sleep is the end of eternity.

Just looking at its lying body, it already looked extremely huge. If it stood up completely, Xiao Ling estimated that it would be at least nearly a thousand feet tall.

In comparison, Xiao Ling at this moment looked like an ant standing at the feet of a giant elephant, appearing extremely small.

Looking at the corpse of the Sky Demon Phoenix in front of him, Xiao Ling's eyes flashed with shock, but more than that, he was overjoyed at the moment. He was finally going to get what he needed for this trip. (End of this chapter)