The Five-Finger Cage Heaven-locking Array wasn’t considered a particularly high-grade array.

For an Immortal, it could be broken with a wave of the hand, but it possessed an extremely potent ability to trap and kill anyone below the Void Realm.

Anyone whose Attack Power was insufficient to break it was doomed to be crushed to death by the array’s five fingers.

Mo Qi didn’t mind if the Three-headed Thunder Lion was crushed to death, but he didn’t want to end up with just a puddle of mangled flesh and blood.

A whole lion’s head is much more satisfying.

"Disperse!"

With a mere thought from Mo Qi, the five fingers of the array on his side disintegrated as commanded, dissolving into the Power of Heaven and Earth and returning to nature.

He took a step forward and placed his hands on the array trapping the Thunder Lion.

A green mist wreathed his left arm—the Breath of Life from the Five Elements Tree.

His right arm glowed with an eerie black light, occasionally flashing with a hint of purple. This was the Power of Destruction, a gift from the Nether King!

SHING!

His Incarnation Battle Armor materialized, and he unleashed the Five Elements Dominating Body. A colossal shadow of a tree took root in the void, spanning more than half the island.

"What is he doing?"

Mo Qi’s bizarre move drew the attention of the Immortals, as well as Bai Fa and the Wolf Demon.

Victory was already assured; they had no idea what kind of stunt Mo Qi was trying to pull.

"Uncle, what is this human trying to do?" Bai Fa asked.

The Wolf Demon shook its head in confusion. "I’m not sure, but it can’t be anything good."

A vicious glint appeared in Bai Fa’s eyes. "Whatever he’s planning," he said coldly, "his life is mine for the taking!"

For the first time, a look of worry crossed the Wolf Demon’s face. "Remember to be careful," it said gravely. "You can’t afford to be careless!"

Bai Fa nodded. "Don’t worry, Uncle. I’ll face him in a direct fight, giving him no chance for any schemes or tricks. He only has a Vajra Realm Cultivation, after all. He’s no match for me."

The Wolf Demon said no more, but inwardly, its heart pounded with anxiety. ’Is the Vajra Realm really weaker than the Void Realm?’

’Niu Tou and the others thought the same thing before. And what was the outcome?’

’A total wipeout!’

’They couldn’t even cause Mo Qi any real trouble.’

In the clearing beside the array, two halos of light, one green and one black, rose from beneath Mo Qi’s feet. They connected head-to-tail like Yin Yang Fish, chasing each other to form a cyclical bagua diagram.

"Life and destruction cycle without end. I live, you perish!"

When both the Breath of Life and the Power of Destruction surged to the absolute limit of what Mo Qi could withstand, he brought his hands together. He slammed the two completely different Attribute Energies into one another, then shoved the volatile combination between the fingers of the array.

Life and destruction. Their attributes were mutually repulsive. When these two forces collided, it was like pouring cold water into hot oil—a violent reaction was inevitable, one that would unleash powerful waves of energy.

One was the Breath of Life. The other was the Power of Destruction—a Power of Destruction that had even absorbed the Purple Sky Thunderbolt. The energy level of both forces was far beyond anything Mo Qi could comprehend, let alone control.

That was why he could never predict or control the outcome whenever he used this move; more often than not, he ended up injuring himself.

It was precisely why he had donned his Incarnation Battle Armor and activated his Five Elements Dominating Body beforehand—for defense.

BOOM!

The deafening explosion startled everyone.

Tyrannical waves of energy erupted from the array’s five fingers, expanding violently outward. The impact was so fierce and the speed so great that the energy couldn’t dissipate in time. Instead, it compressed upon itself and shot skyward, forming a massive, visible mushroom cloud of pure energy.

CRACK! CRACKLE!

The Five-Finger Cage Heaven-locking Array didn’t even last a single breath before it was riddled with countless fissures.

The Three-headed Thunder Lion, certain of its impending death, suddenly felt its body go light. The pressure crushing it vanished in an instant.

Through the fissures in the array, it saw Mo Qi. Clad in his Incarnation Battle Armor and empowered by the Five Elements Tree, he stood unyielding like a Demon Divine Being amidst the rampaging torrent of energy.

’He... He can actually break the array!’

The Three-headed Thunder Lion was dumbfounded. A deep sense of shame and frustration washed over it.

’So the Attack Power I was so proud of is completely worthless in front of this human.’

’I fought with everything I had just to slow the contraction of the Five-Finger Cage Heaven-locking Array, but Mo Qi shattered it outright.’

’Those are two completely different things. There’s no comparison at all.’

’No wonder he didn’t make a move earlier. It wasn’t that he couldn’t; he just couldn’t be bothered.’

The Three-headed Thunder Lion cringed, remembering how it had mocked Mo Qi. It felt so ashamed it wished the earth would swallow it whole.

"Compared to him, I must just be a pathetic clown," the Three-headed Thunder Lion said with self-derision. A sliver of regret rose in its heart.

But reality didn’t afford it much time for regret. A powerful and destructive force burst through the fissures in the array and rushed toward the Three-headed Thunder Lion.

BOOM!

Before the Three-headed Thunder Lion could even begin to resist, the force crushed every bone and Meridian in its body. Its internal organs were obliterated, its Sea of Consciousness collapsed, and its consciousness scattered.

The Three-headed Thunder Lion... had fallen!

Now dead, the Three-headed Thunder Lion could no longer maintain its humanoid form and reverted to its true body.

Just as its physical body was about to be pulverized by the immense power of the array-breaking explosion, Mo Qi acted, snatching it into the space within the Chaos Scripture.

"Got it!"

Mo Qi’s figure flashed as he escaped the radius of the mushroom cloud at top speed.

THUD!

Outside the mushroom cloud, Mo Qi fell stiff as a board from the sky, smashing a deep crater into the ground.

His Five Elements Dominating Body dissipated, and his Incarnation Battle Armor fell away.

At the bottom of the crater, Mo Qi lay spread-eagled, his entire body smoldering with black smoke.

’That was close. I almost blew myself to smithereens again. Good thing I was quick enough to grab that lion’s body. Otherwise, this would’ve all been for nothing.’

Mo Qi had not come out of this unscathed.

Although the Five-Finger Cage Heaven-locking Array had absorbed the vast majority of the explosive force, Mo Qi’s proximity—and the fact that he had to enter the blast zone to retrieve the Thunder Lion—meant he had also taken a significant hit.

If not for the defense of his Incarnation Battle Armor and the force-dispersing properties of his Five Elements Dominating Body, he would have been annihilated, his Nine Transformations into Spirit Body notwithstanding.

"This..."

It was only then that the Immortals from the Hall of Envoys snapped out of their shock from the massive explosion.

"Heavens, what was that attack? Its destructive power was only equivalent to an ordinary Void Realm Cultivator’s strike, but I felt a profound sense of unease!"

"Unease? It was outright fear!"

"A deep, primal terror!"

As the crowd was marveling, someone suddenly blurted out, "That kid may not have the legacy of an Ancient Great Power, but he’s certainly hiding some major secrets!"

Instantly, a dead silence fell over the entire area.

The eyes of more than half the Immortals flickered, their thoughts unreadable.

Silver Hair and Jin Hua exchanged a look and gave each other a subtle nod.

"The competition isn’t over yet!" Granny Jin Hua said, tapping her cane.

She didn’t state it outright, but everyone understood her meaning.

Regardless of how they viewed Mo Qi now, or how they might treat him in the future, they needed him. At least until the competition was over, the Immortals needed Mo Qi to win them their right to survival.

Therefore, any selfish ideas had to be set aside for now. The bigger picture was what mattered!