Chapter Forty-Five: The Struggle for Supremacy

What is ambergris?
Fu Qian's question left Ji Liushuang instantly frozen in place.
"Of course I know what ambergris is, but I don't understand what you mean..."
Ji Liushuang replied in a murmur.
Fu Qian did not expect her to understand.
Indigestible foreign objects wrapped up are not yet true ambergris; it is only after being vomited out by whales and soaked by the ocean currents for hundreds of years that they become genuine treasures.
There is a very important point in this process: the foreign object will be vomited out.
Since the barrier of the crucible cannot be broken, let it spit itself out as a foreign object.
Perhaps this is a way to escape this desperate situation.
However, if the crucible is compared to a whale, then to be vomited out, one must not only be an indigestible foreign object, but also be large enough.
Fu Qian strongly suspected that Feng Yunhong had been doing precisely this over the years.
He consumed subsequent Transcendents bit by bit, allowing himself as a foreign object to continuously accumulate, making the crucible's indigestion progressively worse.
Until one day, that threshold is breached...
"Not understanding is not a problem. An ancient saying goes that weakness and ignorance are not obstacles to survival, but arrogance is. Just don't do things you don't understand."
Fu Qian blinked at Ji Liushuang.
"You will help us, won't you?"
Struggling to comprehend the meaning of Fu Qian's words for a moment, Ji Liushuang swallowed hard and spoke quickly.
"Although you seem somewhat out of place with everyone, I know you are not a bad person. If there is a way to escape, please be sure to tell me; I am willing to pay any price."
Fu Qian looked at Ji Liushuang's serious face, then glanced at the other five.
Apart from Ji Liushuang, none of them even dared to make eye contact with him, though it was obvious they were all pricking up their ears to listen.
"Sorry, you guys cannot get out."
Fu Qian ruthlessly shattered everyone's hopes.
"Because you are too weak."
"Besides, perhaps I am not a bad person, but I am a task-executor."
With a smile at Ji Liushuang, Fu Qian leaped up and jumped directly into the center of the blood pool, right where Feng Yunhong had stood earlier.
The blood in the center of the pool rushed to surround him almost instantly.
Fu Qian clearly felt his body being violently washed by the blood, attempting to enter his body and assimilate him.
"How about this?"
Fu Qian unhesitatingly thrust his right hand into the blood pool.
The wound missing the pinky finger instantly became a conduit, and streams of blood rushed madly through it into his body.
"How dare you!"
A manic howl echoed across the wilderness, and a figure stood up from the blood pool.
Calling it a human was merely an embellishment; to be precise, it was nothing more than a humanoid monster with a torso and limbs, its facial features even completely blank.
"Do you have any idea what you are doing?"
It was unmistakably the voice of Feng Yunhong.
"Of course I do, otherwise why would I be enjoying this so much?"
Fu Qian responded to him mockingly, and under the horrified gazes of Ji Liushuang and the others, he tore off his entire right arm with his own hands.
The speed at which the blood surged in instantly increased severalfold.
In an instant, he felt his body swell from the surging vital blood.
"Stop!"
Feng Yunhong's voice grew even more urgent.
"Do you know how many years I have prepared for this?"
"It seems you are very clear about your own situation?"
Fu Qian confirmed his guess.
This fellow indeed had thought of the exact same method.
Turn oneself into an indigestible foreign body that is difficult to accommodate, and then force the crucible to actively expel oneself.
"I will never let you ruin decades of my hard work!"
Seeing that Fu Qian not only refused to stop but actually escalated his actions, Feng Yunhong, in his anxiety, also began to accelerate his absorption.
However, it was clear that the earlier self-detonation had caused him massive trauma, and he was still in the recovery process.
As soon as his absorption speed increased, unstable states immediately appeared on his body, and he almost failed to maintain even his humanoid shape, forcing him to slow down again.
Even so, relying on his years of accumulation and familiarity, his absorption speed was still far superior to Fu Qian's.
His body began to gradually take shape, with details like internal organs and muscle fibers appearing.
Confirming that Fu Qian could not pose a genuine threat to him, Feng Yunhong breathed a sigh of relief.
"An overconfident fool. I let you escape before, but I didn't expect you to walk right into a trap by coming back."
He stared fixedly at Fu Qian.
"Soon I will send you on your way with my own hands, and let you experience what ultimate agony is."
Hmph!
Facing Feng Yunhong's threat, Fu Qian grunted, completely unfazed.
"That actually reminds me, shouldn't I strike first?"
Fu Qian stepped forward step by step until he reached right in front of Feng Yunhong.
With no skin on his entire body, his muscle grain was clearly visible, and even his internal organs could be seen.
The blood in the pool had already been mostly absorbed by him, and Feng Yunhong's figure appeared even taller than before.
"You dare!"
Amidst Feng Yunhong's roar, Fu Qian took another step forward to meet him, allowing the other party to grab his neck while his fingers acted like knives, leaving a deep wound on the opponent's body.
However, the next moment, blood gushed from the wound, healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Don't waste your energy."
Feng Yunhong laughed frantically.
"Although it is inconvenient for me to move right now, as long as I stand in this blood pool, I will never die. No matter what damage I suffer, it will be repaired immediately."
"Is that so? What about this?"
Fu Qian blinked, thrusting his hand through the not-fully-healed wound and triggering a critical strike on the internal organs.
The blood pool beneath their feet trembled violently, and Feng Yunhong's miserable scream echoed across the wilderness.
As Fu Qian pulled his hand out, a torrent of blood gushed from the wounds on his body.
"Stop right now!"
Lacking even skin, theoretically every part of his body was a wound—he was practically a living target for organ-gouging!
Turning a deaf ear to Feng Yunhong's screams, Fu Qian dug in for another handful.
The six people on the bank were already dumbfounded at this point.
Earlier, seeing Fu Qian jump directly into the blood pool, the group thought he had lost his mind and was committing suicide.
Yet now it seemed he had been prepared all along and was bent on destroying Feng Yunhong.
Seeing Fu Qian subject Feng Yunhong to terrifying attacks that elicited wave after wave of screams, a figure suddenly rushed to the edge of the pool.
"Huang Zhaoyan!"
The group looked at the person who suddenly stepped forward, greatly startled.
"Fools."
Huang Zhaoyan sneered coldly at the group and leaped down without hesitation.
This guy wanted a share of the spoils!
The group of people who had been cursed instantly realized and understood Huang Zhaoyan's intention.
Absorbing the blood in the center of the pool clearly increased one's strength, and Feng Yunhong and Fu Qian were currently locked in a fierce battle with no spare attention.
Huang Zhaoyan wanted to muscle in.
Although perilous, in a place like this, an extra shred of strength meant an extra shred of guarantee for survival, and on reflection, it was worth the risk.
As for why he called everyone fools, the reason was simple.
If they allowed the two to continue, no matter who ultimately won, those waiting on the sidelines would meet the fate of lambs to the slaughter.
For a moment, a commotion stirred within the crowd, and figures leaped up, rushing toward the center of the blood pool.