The Card Cultivation System
CCS-78S

"previous formation? Your madsuk formation is absorbing the qi of those cultivators?"

"Right." Huo Bing replied as he nodded.

"Absorption of qi alone is terrible enough, now there is something even more terrible" said Xika while feeling quite afraid.

"What did that formation do?" ask Heiliao.

Huo Bing was silent for a while before answering him.

"If I'm not mistaken."

"What?"

"Ja-so.......The formation absorbs living things?"

"....................."

Xika swallowed her saliva. He was so grateful that Heiliao stopped him from stepping on the formation.

"So? What are we gonna do with these lizards?" xika asked as she pointed at the lizards hovering nearby.

Unknowingly, there was a small thread of qi stuck to Xika's hand.

"Leave it. Ah, but better give it to the wolf. Who knows, one of the lizards will walk around and accidentally stepped on this formation. Although a little, but the formation still gained energy."

"wait. Talk about obtaining energy..........do not the worms that we threw earlier also give the formation energy?" tanya Xika just remembered.

"Totally so."

Syutts!

Suddenly Xika moved her hand so that the floating lizards were thrown into the formation and gave her energy.

"What are you doing?"

"I don't know. My hands move by themselves."

Huo Bing watched Xika's hand and saw an extremely thin thread of qi being stuck. He hurriedly bit the thread until it broke so as not to affect Xika again.

After Huo Bing severed the thread, Xika felt her hand back on her. He felt his hands were not his.

"I feel my hands are better. What the hell were you doing?"

Huo Bing spread his wings quickly and warily.

"Retreat! Hurry along!"

He looked at the giant corpse with a sharp look.

A thread appeared towards Huo Bing.

Huo Bing opened his mouth and instantly burned the thread. But it turned out to be just a distraction. Something shining out from the corpse of the huge snake and towards Xika's head.

"Xika, lookout!"

Heiliao shouted in warning to Xika. But it's too late. The light has entered his head. After all, even if Xika had the chance to act, she would not be able to do anything. He had no idea what was flying towards him.

Xika's body jerked for a moment. Then it started to shake. His eyes are empty.

"Damn! This must be the old fucking snake's soul!" said Huo Bing. Then he turned to Heiliao and said,

"Wolf charred! You take care of his body, I'll help him maintain his soul realm!"

Heiliao nodded. Then Huo Bing returned to Xika's dantian.

From his dantian, his soul rose into Xika's head and entered Xika's soul realm.

The Xika realm.........

Xika looked around and looked so dark. But there were some shining things in that place.

The first one is in the form of a card. The others are star shaped. The second object was completely similar to a star in the real world because its rays helped Xika see more clearly in this place.

And the light from the star made Xika realize that there were other creatures in this place.

He turned his head and found a large snake that seemed quite familiar.

Xika felt as if she had seen him somewhere.

"Hehehe........"

The snake laughed. But Xika was sure her laughter did not mean well. Nothing good comes from snakes.

Xika looked at the snake. The snake also stared back at Xika. A look that doesn't mean good.

"Give up" he said.

He continued.

"Give up and don't make me spend my energy."

"Rush to what?" xika asked cautiously.

"For this!"

The snake instantly opened its jaws and charged towards Xika.

-------------------------

Meanwhile, Huo Bing had difficulty reaching the Xika soul realm. He had never been to this place before, but there shouldn't be anything like this.

There was something blocking Huo Bing from reaching Xika's soul realm. Something that didn't come from Xika.

-------------------------

Xika rolled away avoiding the snake bite. Then he backed off to keep his distance. He opened his palm but no one came.

It's weird, he thought. The Space Shifter should be in his hands.

Then he looked at his hand and did not see the Space Shifter at all. Normally, he put the Space Shifter on his wrist and turned it into a bracelet. But that's not all that doesn't exist.

His cards, the back protection Lian Minjie had given him, and his knives, were all non-existent!

"You......... What did you do to me?" ask Xika angry.

"Hehehe. You don't even know this place."

Xika frowned hearing the serpent's words.

"the place? Did he take me somewhere?" inner Xika.

And the snake laughed at Xika's words. He laughed out loud.

"Ouch! You're such a fool! It was so stupid that it made me laugh" he said.

After saying that, he laughed again.

"XICA!"

Huo Bing's voice came out of nowhere.

"Huo Bing? I'M HERE! WHERE'RE YOU?" shout Xika.

The snake stopped laughing when it heard Huo Bing's voice.

"Heh, the bird is fast too. It came faster than I expected. But just calm down. He won't be able to come to help you."

"You! What did you do to Huo Bing?"

"Rather than worrying about the bird, you better worry about yourself."

Finished speaking, the snake again attacked Xika.

Xika clenched her hands. He attacked the snake with fire, but fire did not appear in his hand. He moved his hand but no fire appeared. He tried other elements but the result was the same.

It cannot use elements. So he could only coat his hands with qi.

There is no qi in this place either.

"Damn! There is not even qi? What is this place exactly?"

Xika could not keep thinking because the snake's jaw was now right in front of her.

"Sad. Even though there is no qi, I can still attack. My body should be stronger than normal cultivators."

Xika avoided the snake. Then kick his jaw from below. But.......

The double!

"Aw!"

Xika did manage to kick the snake, but the snake did not appear to be in pain. Instead, Xika felt pain in the back of her legs.

"You even tried to attack me? I don't know where you live." said the snake, shaking its head.

"XICA!"

Huo Bing's voice sounded again.

"HUO BING! I'M HERE! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? WHY CAN'T I ATTACK HIM? WHAT IS THIS PLACE?"

"Listen to me. You can't attack him. Your soul is too weak. Try to take time as long as possible. I'm trying to get there as fast as I can."

This time Huo Bing spoke in a voice small enough that only Xika could hear him.

The snake could not hear Huo Bing's voice, but he knew that Xika was talking to the bird. How did the snake know? Xika was there doing nothing. Plus, his expression changed every few moments. It's a normal thing to talk to someone else.

But he would not let Xika continue to talk to Huo Bing. He had to eat Xika as soon as possible. He had no idea how long his barrier could hold Huo Bing back.

So he rushed towards Xika with his jaw open.

Xika avoided the snake. But other attacks kept coming after him.

While dodging, Xika thought hard. About Huo Bing's words, about the snake's speech, and about her being unable to summon the Space Shifter, using elements, as well as qi.

Then Xika realized something.

The snake from earlier only attacked him with a physical attack. It was not a long-range attack that used qi or poison.

So Xika guessed that the snake also could not use the same qi as her. Moreover, seeing that the snake did not attack him using poison, it seemed like this place had different laws to the outside world.

The snake swung its tail. Xika jumped up, but in front of her a large jaw that was enough to swallow her roundly was pointing at her.

He kicked the tip of the snake's snout to throw it backwards. Although it was a bit painful, but he had to do that. Otherwise, the snake will eat it.

---------------------------------

Outside, where Xika's body was was being guarded by Heiliao.......

Heiliao looked at Xika anxiously. His eyes are still empty. Meanwhile, his body occasionally trembled in pain. Sometimes, he screams for nothing.

He can't be quiet like this. He has to do something.

Then his pretty dark eyes shone. And he saw what was happening in Xika's soul realm.

There, Xika was fighting with a snake whose appearance was similar to a corpse in this room. Xika looks desperate as well as confused.

Heiliao tried hard to help him. But he could not enter Xika's soul realm because he was not bound to Xika, unlike Huo Bing whose soul had stayed in Xika's dantian.

"Damn! What did that stupid bird do?"

Then Heiliao began to think of finding a way to help Xika. He recalls if he ever gave Xika something that made them both bonded so that he could help Xika. And he remembered something.

His life repetition was closely related to Xika. It first enters Xika's body before it comes out into eggs and eventually hatches. There should still be a bit of a bond between her and Xika.

Then the wolf closed its eyes and tried to talk to Xika.

"Xika's. Xica. Can you hear me?"

"Heiliao's? What was? I can hear you." 

"Think of something to defeat the snake. Think of a sword, a knife, fire or anything that can defeat that snake."

"I tried but nothing worked."

"That's not what I mean" Heiliao said to Xika who misunderstood his point.

What he meant was to imagine something that could be used to defeat the snake. But what Xika understood was that Heiliao asked him to find a way to defeat the snake.

Heiliao waited for a while, but there was no answer from Xika.

"Xika's? The xika? That's not what I meant. Imagine something you can use!"

But there was still no answer from Xika.

It seemed like the snake was interfering with their conversation.

Heiliao sighed.

"For the moment. That's all I can do."