Tianming widened his eyes and yelped in pain. His whole arm seemed to simultaneously char and freeze over as the power of the divine hazard spread throughout his body. Though it was just a single leaf, it hurt almost as much as the grade-seven sword ki strands he had assimilated before. The pain caused his body to tense up and arch; it took quite a while before he finally calmed down, but he was already sweating and pale from the experience. Even at the very end, he hadn't been able to assimilate the leaf properly.

"Dammit...." He turned back and saw Shengui stifling a laugh.

"How is it? Feels good? I wasn't just playing things up, right?" Shengui said.

"It's so-so," Tianming said, not wanting to admit it. Turning back to look...