Chapter 147: ISE, Shadowflame Entwined Armor, Is This the Chosen One? (4K)

Chapter 147: ISE, Shadowflame Entwined Armor, Is This the Chosen One? (4K)



The black arrow reversed its course, shooting back towards the horizon like a falling star, as a torrent of blood gushed from the bisected body of the long-haired man.

Everyone present was stunned by this sudden turn of events.

"Damn, supernatural power! That guy's a Recipient!" exclaimed Wan Bang, the tall man.

"Tan Hao's done for. His 'Dragon Wing Device' at his waist has been destroyed!"

Wan Bang watched as the long-haired man's body, split cleanly in two, plummeted towards the ground. He halted, intending to rescue his companion.

The tall woman immediately stopped him, "Don't worry about him! That Recipient is powerful, and being an obvious target will get us picked off one by one!"

"Tan Hao's dead. He didn't have a regenerative xenograft, and there's no saving him from a waist cut like that. Let's retreat for now," she suggested, hesitating.

Wan Bang angrily retorted, "Damn it, we've already lost one companion. How can we retreat now? Zhong Ge, what do you say?"

He turned to the burly man leading them.

Zhong Ge's expression remained unchanged as he concisely replied, "Let's go."

Without further ado, he quickened his pace towards the semi-transparent black giant standing atop the plane.

Wan Bang followed without hesitation, while the skinny woman bit her lip, hesitated for a moment, and then took off after them.

On the other side, after witnessing the arrow's strike, Xu Blade immediately turned back and spotted Xue Jing hiding among the shadows of the giant. He was left bewildered.

"Xue Jing? What's going on?"

"Wait, are you a Recipient? Why didn't you say so earlier?"

After all, one of the entry requirements for the Roaring Waterfall was to have a 0% mutation rate as a natural human.

Recipients, corrupted by the power of the alien gods and with their mental consciousness polluted, would never be allowed entry.

With this revelation, asking for Xue Jing's help would be nothing short of a farce.

Hearing Xu Blade's question, Xue Jing stroked his chin and replied, "It's a bit complicated... Have you heard of the 'Chosen One'?"

Xu Blade was taken aback.

The Chosen One...

She was familiar with the concept. It was a nickname for those born as Recipients, chosen by the gods themselves.

It was said that these Chosen Ones were uncorrupted by the power they wielded, but whether or not they were truly 'natural' and met the criteria to enter the Roaring Waterfall was questionable.

After all, even the White Crow wouldn't go to the extent of finding an underage Chosen One to test this theory.

These individuals were extremely rare, with fewer than twenty known to exist worldwide.

Xu Blade felt a headache coming on. She wanted to discuss this further with Xue Jing, but the urgency of the situation prompted her to say, "...Let's talk about this later. We need to deal with the present danger first."

Xue Jing activated the 'Twin Instincts' and turned his gaze towards the burly man leading the three sky pirates.

His heightened instincts, now doubled, caused the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end, warning him of the immense danger this man posed.

Narrowing his eyes, Xue Jing said to Xu Blade, "Captain Xu Blade, leave the leader to me."

"I'll take care of the other two."

Without waiting for a response, he pushed off from the aircraft and sprinted towards the opposing trio, his body like an arrow loosed from its bow.

The six-meter-tall shadowflame giant that had been following him also sprinted, but due to its massive size, it faced significant air resistance, hindering its speed.

Noticing this, Xue Jing immediately controlled the shadowflame giant, causing it to condense and transform into a suit of extravagant armor engulfed in flickering black flames. He donned this armor, enveloping himself from head to toe, leaving only his eyes visible through the helmet.

In contrast to the semi-transparent shadowflame giant, this armor was pitch-black, like a black hole devouring all light around it. Sharp, ebony bone spurs protruded from the joints and along the spine, and the fingertips ended in sharp claws.

"This technique is called—Entwined Armor."

The actions of Xue Jing elicited varied reactions from those present.

Among the remaining sky pirates, the leading man showed no signs of backing down. His face remained calm as he increased his speed, rushing directly towards Xue Jing.

The other two, however, lagged slightly, their eyes shifting towards Xu Blade.

She, in turn, raised the blades she held in both hands, ready for the confrontation.

"A battle of kings, a clash of generals?" the skinny woman remarked, a hint of relief in her voice as she observed the unfolding scene.

"That Recipient could have just continued with long-range attacks like before, but instead, he chose to engage Zhong Ge in close-quarters combat... A foolish decision."

A sinister smile played at the corners of her mouth.

In the air, as the leading sky pirate closed in on Xue Jing, his body began to transform.

The purple, rhomboid crystal embedded in his spine at the small of his back began to glow faintly.

Then, like a living organism, the crystal started to writhe and spread, covering his waist and abdomen before extending upwards to his chest and thighs, eventually enveloping his entire body, including his head and feet, in a layer of purple crystal.

It only took less than a second for a complete set of amethyst crystal armor to form.

Purple and black collided in the sunlight, creating a dazzling display in the sky.

"Bang!"

A gigantic ring-shaped blast wave erupted between the two, filled with purple crystal powder and fragments of black flames, spreading wildly in all directions.

The remaining two sky pirates and Xu Blade were swept away by the blast, and a plane hovering not far away was also tilted by the force, causing Shan Zhu, who was hiding inside the cabin and aiming a large-caliber sniper rifle, to tumble awkwardly.

When the blast wave dissipated, everyone opened their eyes and looked towards the center of the battlefield.

They saw two figures, one purple and one black, locked in a stalemate like two fighting bulls, their palms gripping each other's wrists, engaged in a test of strength.

"Creak... Creak creak—"

Through the helmets that only revealed their eyes, the two stared at each other, and purple crystal powder and shattered black flames fell from their armguards, emitting a dull creaking sound.

Xu Blade lowered her arm, which had been shielding her face from the strong wind, and her expression changed when she saw the purple crystal armor covering the sky pirate leader's body.

"ISE!? Be careful of the crystal armor on his body, it's a living thing!" she shouted to Xue Jing.

At an altitude of tens of thousands of meters, the strong wind was biting, and sound was difficult to transmit. However, Xue Jing's fifth dan of the Five Dan Training had matured, and his kidneys were strong, so his hearing was exceptionally sharp. He barely caught Xu Blade's warning.

"A living thing?"

As Xue Jing pondered the meaning of her words, he didn't hesitate with his actions. Spiral indentations began to appear on his shoulders and arms.

The physical attributes of the sky pirate leader before him were ridiculously strong. Even with the Twin Instincts activated, when Xue Jing gripped the man's palms to test their strength, he found himself in a stalemate, even slightly overpowered by his opponent.

This was the first time he had encountered such a situation since he began his martial arts training.

Unable to overpower his opponent with his basic attributes, Xue Jing knew he would have to rely on his skills.

With a surge of true dragon energy, a rumble of thunder, and the activation of the Wind and Thunder Roll, the spiral compression force enhanced his grip strength instantly.

The shadowflame that formed his black armguards shattered under this immense force, exposing Xue Jing's bare hands.

The sky pirate leader let out a soft sound of surprise as Xue Jing's suddenly increased grip strength caught him off guard.

However, he remained calm and didn't try to resist. The purple crystal armor on his chest squirmed and multiplied, sprouting crystal spikes that shot towards Xue Jing with deadly intent.

Xue Jing had intended to rely on his Shadowflame Entwined Armor to withstand this attack and crush his opponent's palms first. But his Twin Instincts, which had been activated since the start, warned him of impending danger.

His instinct told him not to take the blow head-on.

Without hesitation, he trusted his instincts, released the sky pirate leader's palms with a swift motion, and kicked the man's abdomen, sending himself flying backward.

The crystal spikes missed their mark, and as Xue Jing's momentum dissipated, he began to fall since he couldn't fly.

At that moment, he performed a backflip in the air and bent his knees slightly.

Black airflow materialized under his feet, forming a thin platform.

He pushed off the platform with force, turning himself into a human cannonball aimed at the sky pirate leader.

During this maneuver, his eyes, visible through the slit in his helmet, transformed into a silvery white, and his pupils changed into vertical slits. Black airflow condensed in his palms, materializing into a black longsword.

At the same time, the purple crystal armor on the sky pirate leader's body transformed.

It multiplied and reshaped into something unexpected—a Gatling gun.

"Hmm?" Xue Jing's eyebrows furrowed.

The purple crystal Gatling gun aimed at Xue Jing, and its six barrels began to rotate rapidly.

"Tat tat tat tat tat—"

A torrent of bullets rained down on Xue Jing, and due to his position in the air, he found it difficult to dodge. So, he decided to face the onslaught head-on, brandishing his longsword.

With Twin Instincts enhancing his perception, Xue Jing could sense the trajectory of every bullet. He activated Twin Speed and swung his sword according to his instincts, slicing and blocking the incoming bullets with incredible speed.

However, against this storm of crystal bullets, the shadowflame longsword, which had only the hardness of steel, couldn't withstand the assault for long and eventually shattered into pieces.

"Tat tat tat tat tat—"

Xue Jing manipulated the shadowflame under his feet to maneuver in the air, dodging and weaving through the onslaught of bullets that pursued him like a shadow.

As he dodged, Xue Jing reached into his pocket and pulled out a dark red seed, which he threw into the air.

Dozens of thick, green tendrils sprouted from the seed, each one dozens of meters long, writhing and reaching like the tentacles of a giant octopus.

Zhong Ge, the sky pirate leader, was taken aback.

Yet another ability? Which sect did this guy come from?

"A plant? Is he from the Flower God Association?"

However, the ability to manifest that black substance had nothing to do with the Flower God Association, or at least, there was no apparent connection.

"Forget it, no matter what abilities he has, we still have to fight."

Without hesitation, Zhong Ge continued to sweep the area with his amethyst Gatling gun, and the green roots and stems were like paper in the face of this onslaught, instantly shattered and reduced to sawdust that filled the sky.

Xue Jing, undeterred, summoned the Oxygen-Eating Tree, but he hadn't expected it to do much.

It only had one purpose.

The countless roots, wood chunks, and debris, illuminated by the sunlight, cast numerous shadows all around.

Shadowflame was the ability to turn shadows into black flames, and the larger and deeper the shadows nearby, the stronger this skill became.

If it were night, and the moonlight shone upon the earth, although there would be large shadows, the light would be too weak, and the shadows too shallow, for Shadowflame to be effective.

Only intense light could cast the deepest shadows.

And at this moment, at an altitude of tens of thousands of meters, in the afternoon when the sunlight was still strong, conditions were ideal.

Within the deep shadows cast by the countless wood chunks and debris, Xue Jing extracted a dense black airflow.

The airflow transformed into black flames that burned, and then took the form of pitch-black crows with white, empty eyes.

One, two, dozens, hundreds...

The eyes of those present widened as they beheld the countless shadowflame crows, their silent caws filling the air.

"What...what is that?"

"Crows? Are they alive?"

Xue Jing pointed at the sky pirate leader, and the hundreds of crows immediately flapped their wings and fearlessly rushed towards him.

The amethyst Gatling gun fired upon the incoming crows, but they dodged with uncanny agility, and while some were inevitably hit and shattered, most of them continued to close in on the sky pirate leader.

With the bullets no longer targeting him, Xue Jing wasted no time and somersaulted in the air, a black platform forming under his feet as he pushed off towards the sky pirate leader.

The black longsword reappeared in his hand.

The first crow struck the sky pirate leader, exploding into black flames that burned on the amethyst armor, melting a shallow dent into it.

"This is..."

The sky pirate leader, Zhong Ge, narrowed his eyes.

The Gatling gun in his hand transformed, with crystal blades sprouting from his wrist, the forearm guard separating from his upper arm, forming a rolling structure.

His other arm followed suit, and both hands aimed at the incoming crow swarm, the amethyst blades spinning at high speed, turning into two mincing machines.

The crows crashed into the mincers, exploding into black flames that devoured the crystals, but whenever there was a gap, Zhong Ge would quickly have the amethyst armor multiply and repair itself.

While he was busy dealing with the crows, Xue Jing, black longsword in hand, had already reached his side.

"Black Heaven Sword, Eye-Piercing Style."

The dragon's vertical pupil, piercing through the clouds and the sea, reflected the rare 'lines' and 'dots' on the sky pirate leader's body.

Xue Jing swung his black longsword along one of the subtle 'lines' on his opponent's neck.

Black light flashed.

The invisible seams of the amethyst armor were sliced open by the sword light, and the longsword made contact with flesh.

"Chh—"

The sky pirate leader's neck was slashed open, and a fountain of blood spurted out.

"Zhong Ge!!"

The remaining male and female sky pirates paled in shock.

"Still daring to be distracted?" Xu Blade, who was fighting them, narrowed her eyes.

She held two blades in her hands, and three more hovered around her.

In an instant, she swiftly slashed with her blades, moving at an incredible speed as she completed five slashes, changing blades with each strike.

In half a second, the man named Wan Bang was cut into over a dozen pieces.

At the same time, a gunshot rang out.

A bullet was fired from the cabin door of the plane, piercing the left abdomen of the female sky pirate.

She clutched her abdominal wound and turned to flee without hesitation.

Xu Blade wanted to pursue, but the woman took out a capsule, popped it into her mouth, and swallowed it.

Within seconds, her flight speed increased, quickly creating distance between them.

Xu Blade stopped and turned back towards Xue Jing.

Amidst the black flames, roots, stems, and debris, a knight in black armor, wielding a longsword, faced off against an opponent who was almost cut in half.

Xu Blade narrowed her eyes and sighed, "ISE is famous for their diverse combat methods, but this time, they've really met their match."

"Just how many tricks does this guy have up his sleeve?"

"Is this what they call a 'Chosen One'?"

...

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end