Chapter 556: Reinforcements?

Yu Sheng had completely lost the ability to hear any sounds from the high platform now—riding amidst the fox fire and within the protective spiritual energy shielding, he crossed the scorching battlefield and the vast temple ruins. For a moment, he felt as if time itself was slowing down.

The whistling wind beyond the protective barrier sounded distant and muffled. The rapid acceleration of the fox-tail missile stretched and warped the edges of his field of vision. Looking down from the sky, he saw the viscous shadows surging up at the edge of the temple like slow-motion waves, countless grotesque forms charging madly toward the invaders on the high platform. Walls of blue flame rose at the edges of the shadow tide, and at the platform's rim, interweaving rays and fire rain poured down. Smoke filled the air, and the flames of battle surged.

Even though he knew full well that those shadows had no self-awareness, that they were merely "ancient distorted afterimages" operating purely on instinct, Yu Sheng still felt a stir in his heart at this moment.

He took a light breath, crouching low on the fox's tail. In the corner of his eye, a massive "celestial fowl" with resplendent tail feathers and colorful spiritual light swirling around it drew close from the side. Yu Sheng glanced at it, wondering whether this one was Baichie or Yanju—then noticed that it was also looking at him with its dark, glossy eyes from time to time.

Yu Sheng thought for a moment, then suddenly blurted out, "Can you talk?"

The companion chicken shook its head. "Can't."

Yu Sheng: "...?"

What the hell—those two really had their intelligence nurtured by Hu Li?!

Yu Sheng was utterly astonished, but before he could say anything else, a sudden surge of alarm rose in his heart. He dodged sideways by instinct, and a lightning-like black fissure tore through space right at the edge of his vision!

Startled, he quickly looked down and saw that the surging shadows among the temple ruins were rapidly deforming and bulging upward!

The dark tide of shadows, acting purely on instinct, seemed to have "sensed" something. The moment Yu Sheng crossed the area of pillars at the temple's outer perimeter, those viscous shadows immediately locked onto the airborne intruder. The "tide" that had been flowing outward even began to recoil with such violent speed that it presented a spectacular sight of surging backflow. Massive patches of shadow piled up, stretching countless "arms" toward the sky.

And as the countless shadows piled up and surged skyward, distorted ripples once again appeared around the divine corpse at the center of the ruins. Black fissures flashed toward Yu Sheng like lightning!

"Damn, this thing even has point-defense cannons..."

Yu Sheng cried out in alarm, only to see a fox tail beside him suddenly light up with propulsion flames. With a roar of fox fire, it blocked the path of the fissure. The next second, accompanied by a piercing screech and the sound of tearing, the protective spiritual energy on the tail's surface was extinguished in an instant. Then another black "lightning bolt" struck down, and that fox tail directly exploded into countless pieces, scattering into a sky full of blue flames.

All the fox tails immediately began accelerating, rapidly adjusting their formation in an attempt to get Yu Sheng across this area before they were all shot down.

Baichie and Yanju, circling on either side of Yu Sheng, reacted instantly. With two clear, resonant cries, they converged layers of spiritual energy shields, then dove straight toward the viscous shadows rising from the earth, fiercely tangling with the countless bizarre limbs and malformed spikes surging into the sky.

For a moment, Yu Sheng's ears were filled with all kinds of deafening explosions and piercing shrieks, interspersed with the chaotic crowing of Baichie and Yanju—sometimes sounding like roosters, sometimes like eagle cries, sometimes even emitting ethereal chimes—completely confused about their own species after being raised by Hu Li...

Then, fire support from the distant high platform entered the fray.

Dense streams of scorching rays and barrages of fox fire poured into the temple ruins, desperately suppressing the wildly surging shadow tide.

Yu Sheng's whole body tensed. He saw the mountain-like "divine corpse" rapidly expanding in his field of vision. Its twisted, chaotic, collapsed limbs stretched toward him like a forest of jagged bones. Fluctuating fissures continuously tore open around those remains, and bolts of black lightning wildly swept across the sky—the mere unconscious "release" of a fragment of rotting wreckage possessed devastating power!

Deep among those rotting remains, beneath the cracked opening, the massive, mysterious ancient mechanism was becoming clearer and clearer.

It looked like a composite structure of three tower-like pillars, each shining with a silvery-gray metallic sheen. In the center surrounded by the three pillars, something like a Rubik's cube was floating, constantly disassembling and reassembling. Pale golden streams of light escaped from the gaps at the cube's edges, flickering rhythmically with each transformation.

A piercing screech sounded again. Two fox tails were struck by black lightning in the periphery of his vision, managing to hold out for only an instant before being torn into scattered fragments.

And then, with a massive alarm rising from the depths of his heart, Yu Sheng saw the edges of the divine corpse flicker again with the ripples of torn fissures—dense, continuous, layer upon layer!

"Oh no..."

Yu Sheng only had time to think the word "bad" when, with cold sweat breaking out, he saw dozens of fissures of various sizes instantly cover the area around the divine corpse, followed by dense black "lightning" brewing and assembling in the air!

In his mind came Aline's exclamation: "Yu Sheng, watch out!"

Baichie and Yanju let out loud cries, struggling desperately to break free from the shadows' entanglement. The remaining protective fox tails rushed in from the side but were instantly torn to shreds by the sky-filling black lightning. Then, even more black lightning manifested out of thin air from all directions. The turbulent energy in the air made Yu Sheng feel as if his blood were beginning to boil—

But just as he was thinking that he was going to get himself killed again and had already started calculating his next suicide plan, a deep, majestic roar that also carried a faintly familiar aura suddenly pierced the sky and rapidly approached from afar.

An enormous, otherworldly pressure seemed to slow time itself.

Yu Sheng raised his head in astonishment and saw a spreading "pallor" rapidly extending from the direction of the large spatial rift at the mountain peak.

He also saw a colossal figure—a pure white dragon, its wings blotting out the sky, with an elegant, slender body. Its scales shimmered in the chaotic sky with a crystal-like quality.

This dragon, as if descended from a legendary age onto the present world, gave a low roar, beat its wings, and dove from the high sky. The entire area behind it was continuously covered with a pale, bleached texture like "color fading." Although the faded area lasted only briefly, it seemed to form a magnificent canopy behind the dragon. The large number of shadows caught within the fading area instantly lost their color, as if frozen in past time, temporarily immobilized.

But the "divine corpse," the source of the shadows, was not affected by the dragon's power. The spreading faded area came to an abrupt halt on the plaza near the divine corpse. Then, countless ripples of various sizes appeared in the air again, and bolts of black "lightning" began to gather anew.

Yu Sheng's heart tightened instinctively at the sight, but the next second, he saw that instead of trying to evade, the pure white dragon suddenly opened its massive jaws toward the divine corpse at the center of the ruins.

A near-thunderous roar shook the entire ruin, and a massive spray of crystalline dust breath poured down toward the ground.

Countless fine crystalline particles bombarded the divine corpse, actually managing to briefly suppress the spatial fissures fluctuating around it. The black lightning that had just condensed also dissipated completely.

At this moment, Yu Sheng was completely stunned, his mind filled with the three fundamental questions: "What the hell is this? Who is this? Where did it come from?" But seeing the black lightning fade, he felt a surge of relief and immediately prepared to dive down.

But just as he pressed down on the fox tail and before he could accelerate, he found that the divine corpse had already shaken off the effects of the "crystalline dust breath." Vast patches of eerie ripples once again appeared around it!

Even more terrifying, fissures had split open on the divine corpse's own body in the blink of an eye—countless scarlet eyes, large and small, emerged from those countless fissures, wildly and erratically scanning the surroundings. Then they all locked onto Yu Sheng, who was diving down, and the pure white dragon sweeping past the sky!

A horrific spiritual impact surged into their consciousnesses. Frenzied knowledge that could instantly turn an ordinary person into a blood kin was roaring in their minds—the spiritual impact didn't affect Yu Sheng much, but immediately after, another massive wave of black lightning arrived in an instant. With a rumble, the spiritual energy shielding around him was shattered, and the fox tail beneath him also turned into scattered sparks.

Yu Sheng plunged straight down toward those chaotic, mad scarlet eyes.

At this critical moment, he saw the pure white dragon charging toward him—

The dragon opened its claws, as if to grab Yu Sheng, but for some reason it hesitated at the last moment. Then, at a perilous angle, it tumbled sharply and rushed beneath him, using its broad back to catch Yu Sheng.

Yu Sheng almost got himself killed on that pile of hard scales.

Then he felt another jolt—the dragon nearly fell under the gaze of those scarlet eyes, but with a roar, it struggled back into flight, desperately charging toward the area of the high platform outside the temple ruins.

Baichie and Yanju, having barely escaped the shadow entanglement, followed closely behind.

The little doll's noisy voice rang in his mind: "What the hell is it? What's going on? Where did it come from—Yu Sheng, you actually know a dragon?!"

Yu Sheng's head was still spinning at this point, so he could only reply, "I don't know either!"

As his words fell, the dragon had already safely broken through the most dangerous area around the divine corpse, then escaped the constantly surging shadows rising into the sky, and finally dove toward the high platform.

Halfway through the dive, it folded its wings, but then seemed to realize something, hurriedly opened its wings to adjust its angle for deceleration, and spread its claws toward the high platform, changing its grip angles seven or eight times in a flash.

Yu Sheng suddenly felt something was off.