Chapter 244: Delving Deeper into Shadowflame, the True Color of a Conqueror, Xueheng vs. Zhou Yingli

Chapter 244: Delving Deeper into Shadowflame, the True Color of a Conqueror, Xueheng vs. Zhou Yinglin! (4K)



[Divinity: 5829]



Xueheng needed only a moment's thought before making his decision.

"Hmm, with 5,800 points..."

His gaze shifted to the divinity skill column and rested on Shadowflame.

"Upgrading Shadowflame to Level 9 requires 4,500 points of divinity. Even after the upgrade, I'll still have over 1,000 points left, which is just enough to reserve for the impending enhancement of Strike."]



[Shadowflame Lv.8 (5829/4500)]



Xueheng clicked to upgrade.

[Shadowflame Lv.9 (1329/6000)]



Seeing the divinity required for Level 9, Xueheng nodded.

"As expected, reaching Level 10 requires 6,000 points... Plus the 2,000 points needed to activate the Divine Incarnation, I still need a total of 8,000 points."

"I'm almost there. I'll soon witness the 'Incarnation' of my first divinity skill."

Xueheng clenched his fists, a thrill running through him.

The divinity skills had been immensely beneficial to him on his journey thus far... Even now, divinity skills contributed more to his combat prowess than martial arts.

Especially in terms of versatility, while ancient martial arts might be powerful, their framework was largely limited to pure physical attacks, lacking the flexibility offered by divinity skills.

Of course, martial arts also had advantages that divinity skills lacked. They complemented and completed each other, together forming the foundation of Xueheng's combat prowess.

The power of divinity skills was undeniable. All divinity skills, to some extent, defied the rules of reality, venturing into the realm of 'superpowers' and 'transcendence'.

With such immense skills requiring a high level of mastery to reach Level 10 and the additional requirement of extra divinity to activate the 'Divine Incarnation', Xueheng couldn't help but anticipate their full potential.

"Let's see what new abilities I've unlocked with Level 9 Shadowflame."

Xueheng closed the skill panel, raised his right hand, and spread his palm. With a thought, the shadows cast by the lamplight in the room began to stir, and countless streams of black energy converged into his palm.

"Whoosh—"

A pitch-black flame ignited in his palm, pulsating silently. It was a pure black devoid of any sheen, like a black hole, and it even seemed to be subtly devouring the surrounding light.

Xueheng flicked his wrist, tossing the black flame out the window.

The black flame, as if it had substance, traced a graceful arc through the air before disappearing outside. It continued on its path for nearly 200 meters.

Only at this distance did Xueheng feel that the black flame was nearing the limits of his control.

He then conjured another ball of black flame and, in the next moment, vanished into it.

He reappeared from the black flame floating 200 meters away.

"My control range has increased, and the maximum distance of 'Shadow Jump' has doubled to over 200 meters from when I first acquired this ability. As for the cooldown time..."

Xueheng proceeded to test the enhancements to his various abilities after upgrading Shadowflame.

The tests didn't take long.

Among the improvements, the destructive power of Shadowflame had increased significantly. It could annihilate a fist-sized chunk of steel in less than a second.

The maximum strength of the Shadowflame substance had also improved, making the shadow creatures he created, like shadow crows and shadow sharks, more agile and swift.

'Shadow Stealth', the ability to lurk in shadows, and 'Shadow Form', the ability to elementalize his physical body, remained largely unchanged. However, due to the longer divinity bar at Level 9, he could endure more strain, indirectly enhancing these abilities.

Overall, the upgrades to Shadowflame were quite substantial, pushing Xueheng's combat potential to new heights.

"However, it seems that there aren't any new abilities this time... Just enhancements to the existing ones."

Xueheng, who had come to expect new abilities with every upgrade of Shadowflame, felt a twinge of disappointment.

"Come on, little shadow. You're my favorite divinity skill. You should have something more to offer!"

"There must be a new ability that I haven't discovered yet. Don't hold out on me. Show yourself!"

Xueheng whispered to the black flame dancing in his palm, carefully observing it for any signs of something new.

He spent the entire night delving into the mysteries of Shadowflame.

And...

He did uncover a new ability.

Or rather, it wasn't exactly a new ability but a deeper exploration of Shadowflame's fundamental capabilities.



The next morning, at 7 a.m., in the open space outside the villa.

Xueheng stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his eyes narrowed slightly as he slowly scanned his surroundings.

Suddenly, his eyes narrowed further, and his spiritual aura burst forth.

Visible ripples of energy radiated outward from him in a circular pattern.

And unlike the invisible aura that had once suppressed the audience of 200,000 in the Super Arena, the aura that now spread out actually contained streaks of black, like lightning, visible to the naked eye.

"Ka—kaka-ka——"

The hard stone ground around Xuejing began to crack, and a deep fissure appeared in the trunk of a nearby tree, almost splitting it in two.

The iron bench next to it began to deform, emitting a teeth-grinding metallic creaking sound.

"Hong hong hong hong——"

The air around Xuejing began to tremble incessantly, causing the light to distort as if the lens were shaking rapidly up and down.

Even though the ground wasn't shaking, it created an effect similar to an earthquake.

It wasn't until Xuejing stopped releasing his aura that everything calmed down, and the area around him was left in a state of devastation.

Xuejing exhaled slightly and muttered to himself:

"With the improvement of Shadowflame's level, the precision of my control has increased with each level. Now I can do this..."

"By 'attaching' Shadowflame to my spiritual aura, I can enhance its lethality and give it true physical damage..."

Because of [Observation·Truth], Xuejing's spiritual power was unusual, possessing a semi-substantial nature similar to 'psychokinesis'.

Therefore, Xuejing had a sudden idea. While releasing his spirit outward, he carefully controlled Shadowflame, trying to attach it to his semi-substantial aura in the form of a black membrane wrapped around a weapon.

As a result, after a night of practice, he succeeded.

Because of the fluctuating shape of the outward-flowing aura, the attached Shadowflame made it look like Xuejing was constantly radiating countless black lightning streaks—both gorgeous and impressive.

The aura release, which originally only had the effect of oppressing others' spiritual consciousness, now also dealt physical damage.

"This is the true color of a conqueror's aura. I wonder how good the effect would be if I used it to show off..."

"It's also quite practical. This kind of large-scale group damage skill is excellent for clearing out cannon fodder. From now on, anyone who can't withstand this move doesn't deserve my personal attention..."

Xuejing stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"Now that Shadowflame has reached this level of precision, I can finally realize many of my previous ideas."

"For example, activating a real human body and channeling martial arts energy..."

He waved his hand, and the black flames around him boiled, activating a pitch-black armor that resembled his own when he wore the Shadowflame Entwined Armor. However, where his eyes were exposed, there was only a pitch-black, hollow void.

He used [Observation] to visualize the interior of his own body, using it as a blueprint, and constantly fine-tuned the internal structure of this black humanoid figure, trying to shape it to be identical to himself.

This was an extremely difficult task, as the complexity and precision of the human body were akin to a divine creation, the ultimate culmination of nature's evolution.

Xuejing immediately abandoned the idea of making the black humanoid figure identical to himself after only a brief attempt, as it was simply impossible.

He settled for the next best option, only creating a rough internal structure of the human body, crafting all the key parts necessary for channeling martial arts energy, as he understood them.

It was still challenging, but compared to the hellish difficulty of creating a true human body, it was achievable.

Xuejing had once tried to create organs for channeling martial arts energy within the internal structure of a Shadowflame giant and had used a move called 'Super Cyclone Thunder'.

And now, compared to the crudeness of that attempt, the precision of Shadowflame's construction had increased by more than tenfold.

When the black humanoid figure was finally complete, Xuejing sensed its intricate internal structure and nodded in satisfaction.

"This is the limit for now. I wonder how effective it will be..."

He snapped his fingers, and the black humanoid figure sprang to life.

The various simulated internal organs began to function, undergoing complex transformations that eventually turned into martial arts energy.

The black humanoid figure threw a punch at Xuejing, creating a spiral blast of air.

Xuejing extended his hand, palm out, and caught the punch, grasping the black fist in his palm.

"Pa——!"

The air currents spread from where their fists met, blowing Xuejing's hair backward, forming a slicked-back hairstyle.

"Cyclone Thunder... Not bad."

Xuejing nodded.

If his regular punch was a 1, then using Cyclone Thunder would be a 3, and he could even increase it to a 4 or 5 if necessary.

However, the black humanoid figure's regular punch was only a 1, and its Cyclone Thunder was barely a 2 and couldn't be further enhanced.

But it was also quite remarkable.

Shadowflame was already powerful on its own, and being able to infuse it with energy was like 'icing on the cake.'

"Applying this construct to a dozens-of-meters-tall Shadowflame giant, the already extremely strong physical destructive power can be increased by almost double... That's too fierce."

"With this punch, even a Peak Master would cry for their mother..."

Xuejing stretched lazily.

"Attaching my aura to Shadowflame and constructing a human body is quite taxing on my mental energy... Let's take a break first, then continue practicing."

He strode back into the villa, returned to his room, hugged Mao Mao, and fell asleep.

...

Over the next three days, Xuejing immersed himself in arduous training.

He barely had time to eat, instead immersing himself in consciousness simulations.

Not only did he have to construct the Xu Corporation's skyscraper in the Metaverse, perform infiltration drills, and bypass surveillance equipment, alarm systems, and guards to gradually plan out a foolproof infiltration route.

But he also had to practice Seamless to perfection and master how to instantly construct the internal structure of a Shadowflame humanoid, turning it into second nature to avoid any delays during future real battles.

In short, he was very busy and fulfilled.

His strength also soared during this period of grueling training.

In the consciousness space, Xuejing stood on the grand stage, facing 'Zhou Yinglin,' with a nine-foot-long spear held obliquely in his hand.

The two stared at each other as the seconds ticked by.

Suddenly, Xuejing moved.

The nine-foot-long spear in his hand thrust out, transforming into a torrent of spear strikes that enveloped Zhou Yinglin, endlessly changing to block off all his escape routes.

"Ding, ding, ding, ding—!!!"

Zhou Yinglin also simultaneously displayed Seamless, and the two long spears seemed like two true dragons roaring and clashing, touching each other at the tips, exploding with countless true air waves, with precision and skill that was unimaginable.

After fifty strikes, a gorgeous feathered robe appeared in the center of the spear torrent in front of the two of them.

The feathered robe drifted in the air, wrapped with a feathered belt, with a texture so smooth that not a single seam could be seen, as if it were a heavenly feathered robe woven by a celestial being.

This was a symbol of the 'Seamless' having already achieved some success, affecting the spiritual consciousness of those around after fifty strikes, causing them to see the phantom of the heavenly feathered robe, equivalent to the 'Secret Technique' level in other martial arts sects!

But the two of them did not stop there and continued to thrust out their nine-foot-long spears.

Sixty strikes... Seventy strikes...

As the number of strikes increased, the heavenly feathered robe that appeared in the air became more and more solid.

Until the seventy-seventh strike, both of them simultaneously hesitated and got stuck.

The subtle changes in the energy flow within their bodies and the calculations of their spiritual consciousness could not keep up with the complex changes of the next strike, causing a flaw to appear in the perfect Seamless.

On the first day of these three days of hard training, Xuejing had already reached the minor achievement of fifty strikes, weaving the heavenly feathered robe and attaining the Secret Technique level of Seamless.

On the second day, his state was excellent, and he progressed to sixty-four strikes.

By the end of the third day, up until now, he had already reached the same level as the current Zhou Yinglin at seventy-seven strikes!

Of course, this was the Zhou Yinglin he simulated, and the real Zhou Yinglin might be slightly different, probably differing by a few strikes more or less.

"Hmm, that's about it."

Xuejing planted the long spear in his hand on the ground and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his other hand.

The heavenly feathered robe floating in the air gradually faded and dissipated as the two of them stopped.

He exhaled and showed a satisfied expression.

"Seamless is indeed worthy of being known as the top-notch martial art of 'peerless ingenuity.' The effect of practicing it is astonishing. My spear technique has already surpassed my knife technique and has started to improve my knife technique in turn."

"Although it's because I have the [Master of All Weapons] skill that I'm progressing so quickly, it also proves the superiority of Seamless."

He exited the consciousness space.

"'Return to Nothingness' has also improved to the point where it can withstand seventy strikes of Seamless... I'll practice it again tomorrow, and it should be good enough."

Xuejing thought to himself.

"Everything is ready, just waiting for the competition to start..."

...

In the living room, Xuejing sat upright on the sofa, and the hologram projected by the ring on his hand displayed the full-scale image of the U19 quarterfinals draw.

An elderly man with a majestic and imposing manner took a draw from the box and opened it.

The results came out quickly.

First match.

Huang Lu vs. Wei Junwu.

Second match.

Song Nanxing vs. Li Miao.

Third match.

Chen Chao vs. Yuka Suzaka.

Fourth match.

Xuejing vs. Zhou Yinglin!

...

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end