The genius who counterattacked the mainland

As they slowly approached the cave, the acrid heat grew stronger, threatening to burn their skin. The roars emanating from the cavern were like thunder, shaking the ground slightly. Each roar assaulted everyone's eardrums, instilling fear in them.

Xu Tiancai walked in front, star power coursing through his body, forming a faint halo that shielded him from the pungent heat. His gaze was solemn as he stared intently into the cave. The Star Devil-Breaking Sword in his hand flashed with an icy light, ready to strike at any moment. "Everyone, be careful! The creatures in this cave are powerful, don't underestimate them," he whispered.

Agang heaved his battle axe, his eternal fighting spirit surging within him. His muscles tensed like steel. "Hmph, no matter what monster it is, I'm going to chop its claws off!" Agang's voice was filled with confidence and fearlessness. He strode after Xu Tiancai, the golden glow of his fighting spirit dazzling in the dark cave entrance.

Lin frowned slightly as wind elements whistled and swirled around her, sensing the shifting air currents within the cave. "The air flow in here is strange, as if something is controlling the direction of the heat," Lin whispered, her eyes scanning the cave vigilantly.

The Ice Princess waved her wand, and ice spirits danced in front of the group, their blue light flickering in the heat. She struggled to maintain the stability of her ice magic, attempting to counter the heat with her icy power. "This heat seems to be suppressing my ice magic. Everyone, prepare for a tough battle," she said worriedly.

The mysterious figure and the man in white exchanged glances, each seeing a hint of wariness in the other's eyes. The mysterious figure clenched his fists slightly, the forces of darkness and light surging in his palms, ready to merge into a chaotic energy. The man in white placed his flute to his lips and gently played a soothing yet powerful melody. Birds of light circled overhead, probing deeper into the cave.

Just as everyone was about to enter the cave, the massive claw emerged again, this time at breakneck speed, clawing towards Xu Tiancai, who was closest to the cave. Xu Tiancai reacted swiftly, dodging back several meters and simultaneously wielding the Star Devil-Breaking Sword. A stream of sword energy slashed at the claw. The sword energy and claw collided with a sharp metallic sound, sending up a shower of sparks.

"What a great strength!" Xu Tiancai was shocked. He could feel that the power of this claw was far beyond his imagination.

Seeing this, Ah Gang roared and rushed forward. The battle axe, brimming with the might of eternal fighting spirit, slashed down fiercely at the claw. This axe contained the power to annihilate heaven and earth, the golden fighting spirit burning like flames. The battle axe struck the claw, surprisingly leaving only a shallow white mark.

"This guy's got a tough skin!" Ah Gang said through gritted teeth. He raised his battle axe again, ready to launch a more fierce attack.

At that moment, the behemoth within the cavern seemed enraged, bursting forth in its entirety. It was a gigantic, fiery-red lizard, tens of meters long and covered in hard scales. Each scale seemed formed from condensed flames, radiating intense heat. Its eyes resembled two enormous fireballs, flashing with fury, and from its mouth erupted a stream of intense flames, sweeping towards the crowd.

"It's a fire lizard!" the Ice Princess exclaimed. She waved her wand, and ice spikes rained down on the fire lizard. But as the ice spikes neared the fire lizard, they melted under the intense heat, causing no harm at all.

Lin unleashed her "Wind Dance of Space and Time," attempting to form a wind shield around them to ward off the flames. The shield trembled violently under the onslaught of the flames, its wind elemental elements scorched and distorted. Beads of sweat formed on Lin's forehead as she struggled to maintain the shield, shouting, "Everyone, find a way! The flames are too strong!"

The mysterious figure quickly formed hand seals, merging the forces of darkness and light into chaotic energy. He then transformed this chaotic energy into an energy shield, blocking the wind shield. The chaotic energy shield partially blocked the impact of the flames, but the flames of the fire lizard seemed endless and continued to attack the shield.

The man in white played a flute, and the sound transformed into a swarm of radiant light beasts. The Kirin beast countered the fire lizard's flames with its own, attempting to offset some of the heat. The Phoenix beast attacked the fire lizard's head with a riot of colorful flames. The Lion beast charged at the fire lizard's body, attempting to strike it with its immense force. However, the fire lizard was too powerful, and the beasts' attacks barely scratched it.

Xu Tiancai unleashed his "Star Creation Sword," fusing the power of the stars with that of the hourglass. A sword aura imbued with the primordial energy and mystical power of the universe slashed towards the fire lizard. The aura sliced ​​through the flames and slashed towards the fire lizard's body. While the aura didn't break the scales, it still caused the fire lizard to feel pain. With an angry roar, it turned its attack towards Xu Tiancai, unleashing another powerful burst of flames.

Xu Tiancai dodged quickly, weaving through the flames with lightning speed. However, the flames were so large that they still grazed him slightly, scorching his clothes and burning his skin. "This fire lizard is too difficult to deal with! We need to find its weakness," Xu Tiancai shouted.

As everyone dodged the fire lizard's attacks and observed its movements, they discovered that every time the fire lizard breathed fire, the scales on its abdomen would flash briefly, as if that was the gathering point of energy.

"Attack its belly!" Agang shouted. He swung his battle axe again and rushed towards the fire lizard's belly. The fire lizard seemed to sense Agang's intention and swept its huge tail towards Agang. Agang nimbly avoided the tail attack, then leaped high and chopped the battle axe down hard at the fire lizard's belly.

This time, the battle axe struck the scales on the fire lizard's abdomen. Although it didn't break the scales, it made the fire lizard roll over in pain. The scales on its abdomen flickered more violently, and the heat around it became more chaotic.

Everyone seized this opportunity and launched their attacks. Lin manipulated the wind element, forming sharp wind blades that shot towards the fire lizard's abdomen. The wind blades pierced the air like sharp arrows, repeatedly striking the fire lizard's abdominal scales. The Ice Princess cast "Life Ice," creating several massive ice giants. The ice giants stalked towards the fire lizard with heavy steps, smashing their massive ice fists into its abdomen.

The mysterious figure gathered chaotic energy into a massive ball and hurled it towards the fire lizard's belly. As it flew, the ball continuously absorbed surrounding energy, growing ever larger and more powerful. The figure in white played a passionate flute, which transformed into a gigantic radiant qilin. The qilin opened its maw and spewed a brilliant, multicolored light towards the fire lizard's abdomen.

Under the combined attack of everyone, cracks finally appeared on the scales of the fire lizard's abdomen. The fire lizard struggled even more frantically, its flame attacks becoming more intense, and its tail kept sweeping towards everyone.

Xu Tiancai seized the opportunity and unleashed the most powerful strike of his "Star Creation Sword." He channeled the power of the stars, the hourglass, and his own entire strength into this single strike, then thrust it towards the crack in the flame lizard's scales. This strike, imbued with devastating force, like a rainbow piercing the universe, pierced the fissure in the flame lizard's scales with unerring precision.

"Ouch!" The fire lizard let out a shrill cry. A huge wound had been pierced into its abdomen by Xu Tiancai's sword energy, and black blood gushed out of the wound. The fire lizard's flame attack suddenly weakened, and its body began to crumble.

Without hesitation, they continued their attacks. Agang's battle axe, Lin's wind blade, the Ice Princess's ice giant, the mysterious figure's energy ball, and the white-clad figure's light unicorn struck the fire lizard's abdominal wound again. After a violent struggle, the fire lizard finally collapsed, its massive body crashing to the ground in a cloud of dust.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but they also knew that they couldn't stay here for too long. When they were about to leave the cave, they suddenly found a faint light flickering in the depths of the cave.

"What is that?" Lin asked curiously.

"I don't know, maybe it's something related to our mission," Xu Tiancai said. He took the lead and walked towards the direction of the light, and everyone followed behind him.

The deeper they went into the cave, the brighter the light became. When they reached the end of the cave, they discovered an ancient ruin. The walls were engraved with mysterious symbols and patterns, which emitted a faint glow, as if telling ancient stories. In the center of the ruins stood a massive stone platform, upon which rested a crystal ball emitting a rainbow of light. Small energy vortices surrounded the crystal ball, slowly rotating and maintaining its energy balance.

"This crystal ball looks quite extraordinary." The mysterious figure stepped forward and examined the crystal ball carefully. He could sense a powerful and mysterious force within it, one that seemed to be somehow connected to the hourglass.

The man in white stepped forward and played his flute, the sound of which resonated throughout the ruins. The sound resonated strangely with the crystal ball, causing it to glow brighter and the energy vortex around it to spin faster.

"This flute sound... seems to have triggered some mechanism in the crystal ball." The man in white said in surprise.

At this moment, the symbols and patterns on the walls of the ruins began to flicker. They seemed to come alive, detaching from the walls and flying towards the crystal ball. These symbols and patterns revolved around the crystal ball, forming a huge energy shield that protected the crystal ball.

"Oh no, we've triggered the ruins' defense mechanism!" shouted the Ice Princess.

Everyone quickly prepared for battle. They didn't know how powerful the defense mechanism of this relic was, but they knew that they had to break through this layer of defense to obtain the crystal ball. Perhaps this crystal ball would be important in repairing the hourglass.

A Gang swung his battle axe and chopped at the energy shield. However, the battle axe hit the energy shield like chopping cotton, without any effect. Instead, a strong recoil force came, knocking A Gang back a few steps.

Lin used the "Wind Dance of Time and Space" to try to use the wind element to interfere with the energy flow of the energy shield. However, when the wind element approached the energy shield, it was bounced back by the energy on the shield, and Lin was also affected.

Xu Tiancai used the "Star Creation Sword" and the sword energy slashed on the energy shield, but only splashed some faint light and did not cause any substantial damage to the shield.

The Ice Princess summoned an ice spike and shot it at the energy shield. The ice spike melted on the shield and turned into a pool of water, dripping onto the ground.

The mysterious figure and the man in white joined forces. The mysterious figure used chaos energy to try to find the weak point of the energy shield, while the man in white played the flute, resonating the sound of the flute with the shield, looking for a way to break through. After some effort, they found an energy node at the top of the energy shield, where the energy fluctuations were relatively weak.

"Everyone, attack the energy node at the top of the shield!" shouted the mysterious figure.

Upon hearing this, everyone launched their attacks at the energy node at the top of the energy shield. Xu Tiancai's sword energy, Agang's battle axe, Lin's wind blade, the Ice Princess's icy magic, the mysterious figure's chaotic energy, and the white-clothed figure's flute-like light simultaneously struck the energy node. Under the attacks, the energy node began to flicker, and the surrounding energy shield began to weaken.

"Keep attacking!" Xu Tiancai shouted. Everyone increased their attack strength, continuously impacting the energy node. Under the continuous attack, the energy node finally couldn't withstand it and shattered after a flash of light.

As the energy nodes shattered, the energy shield dissipated. Everyone walked towards the crystal ball on the stone platform. As they got closer to the crystal ball, they could feel its powerful force more clearly.