Xiao remembered that each of the paintings had its own function. Some had the ability to protect, others could amplify power, and a few were meant for absorption and disruption.
He realized he could disrupt the altar's power, but he needed a key to connect with the paintings. That's when it struck him that the brush he had been using. It had manipulated something within the user, drawing on their life force to activate the altar's functions.
"Life force is the key... or maybe my qi was pure enough to substitute," Xiao thought. He understood that the brush had drawn life force, making the altar's functions so powerful.
As Xiao thought about it, he began to wonder what the bucket was for. Then it dawned on him—it might have been filled with human essence. The python designs on both the brush and the bucket could indicate that a special type of blood was used to drain essence from humans.
He remembered the dark red, purplish liquid inside and wondered how the village had acquired such potent blood capable of extracting human essence and storing it in the blood.
But all of this was just a theory, Xiao thought, still unsure of the full truth. However, it didn't change the gravity of the situation. One mistake, and he could die.
Rushing toward the altar, Xiao started thinking of his options. There were two immediate plans that came to mind.
The first was to overload the ritual with an enormous amount of qi, causing it to explode. But this was unrealistic as Xiao didn't have nearly enough qi to overwhelm something fueled by over a thousand human essences. So, he moved on to the second idea.
The second option was to override the system by controlling the flow of qi himself. It was more feasible, but would take too long—at least under normal circumstances. Then, Xiao realized that with the sun weakening the altar's power, it might just be possible.
Xiao, still sprinting toward the altar, suddenly switched direction, heading for one of the pedestals used for disruption which was the last one he had painted.
Meanwhile, Yan was growing furious, as the "ant" kept dodging his attacks. It was clear Yan wasn't in his right state of mind.
"Weakling, stop moving!" Yan screamed in frustration.
"Heh, catch me if you can," Xiao taunted, dodging yet another qi bullet. With each shot, Xiao was learning how the attack worked, and soon, none of them even grazed him.
Frustrated, Yan changed his tactics. Now, he fired two qi bullets, one from each hand, making the attacks harder to dodge. However, Xiao noticed that this dual attack was less accurate, and though Yan fired like a gatling gun, only a few shots came close to hitting him.
After a minute of running, Xiao finally reached the ninth pedestal. Without wasting any time, he infused his sword with qi and carved a quick symbol of power enhancement on the pedestal in less than three seconds.
The qi stuck to the top of the pedestal, amplifying its power of disruption over the altar. Xiao knew that this quick fix wouldn't last more than five minutes, no matter how pure his qi was. He hurried to disrupt the power across the remaining pedestals.
Yan stopped shooting for a moment, watching Xiao on top of the altar with amusement, as if he thought Xiao's efforts were futile.
However, Yan didn't just stand there. He raised his hand, channeling qi into it, preparing a massive qi explosion. The blast's range would be so large that it would be impossible for Xiao to evade which was Yan thought process.
Now, it was a race against time. Would Yan finish charging his qi explosion first, or would Xiao succeed in disrupting all the pedestals and severing Yan's connection to the altar?
Xiao didn't have time to deal with every pedestal; he targeted the ones that directly affected power. He couldn't just sever the connection from a single pedestal, as others would compensate for its loss. But if he could take control of the majority, he could break the connection entirely.
Xiao continuously felt resistance from the pedestals from the second one onward. It was as if the ritual realized what he was doing, forcing him to use more qi to inscribe symbols on the paintings.
By the time Xiao reached the fifth pedestal, the resistance was so intense that it took him 30 seconds to inscribe the disruption symbol.
Just as he was about to finish, he noticed that Yan had completed charging his spell as qi had stopped flowing from his hand. Without hesitation, Xiao took cover behind the altar, but his instincts screamed that it wouldn't be enough.
Realizing the danger, Xiao activated Time Acceleration, doubling his speed as he dashed away from the explosion's epicenter.
Two seconds later, a massive explosion rocked the area, and despite the altar absorbing a significant portion of the blast, Xiao was still hit by a major part of it.
Without delay, Xiao activated Time Healing, using it recklessly despite the high qi consumption. He knew that if he didn't heal himself immediately, he might die on the spot.
The explosion's force was so great that even after it ended, destructive qi lingered in the air, deadly to any normal mortal.
Xiao scanned the area and saw no sign of Yan moving, a testament to how powerful the explosion had been and it wasn't even night yet.
"If it were nighttime, I could've died," Xiao thought, sweat dripping down his face. But his expression hardened with resolve.
"I have to end this before nightfall... in about two minutes," Xiao thought, continuing to heal himself while being down to just one-fifth of his qi.
Xiao knew that he'd need to take another gamble if he wanted to win. He sprinted back toward the altar, which seemed perfectly intact despite having absorbed most of the explosion's force.
Which wasn't surprising to Xiao as it absorbed over 1000 of human essence.
Still wary, Xiao searched for Yan and found him preparing another qi explosion.
Fear gripped Xiao for a second, but he quickly shifted his focus. He had to sever the final connection at the fifth pedestal.
Without wasting another second, Xiao dashed toward it.