Chapter 293: A Desperate Battle

Chapter 293: A Desperate Battle

An arrow was released, and a sonic boom rang out.

The tungsten-cored heavy arrow was faster than Qianlu, exceeding 1000 meters per second. The arrow and Qianlu flew towards each other, and in an instant, it was mere meters away.

Then, Ji Xinghuo witnessed an incredible scene.

Without any warning, Qianlu abruptly changed direction, its flight path forming an obtuse angle. It avoided the arrow and then turned back onto its original path.

These two changes in trajectory were like an electrocardiogram drawn on a flat surface, with peak waves forming a standard triangle. Moreover, it maintained its speed throughout, as if inertia didn't exist, completely defying the laws of physics.

"What the hell!"

Ji Xinghuo was stunned. This defied science!

Even before releasing the arrow, he had already foreseen his miss through his All-Things Senlu state.

But witnessing it unfold before him, he still found it hard to comprehend.

Qianlu arrived!

Ji Xinghuo felt a tremendous oppressive force rushing towards him, and he didn't have time to shoot a second arrow. His eyes, glowing with light, stared intently at Qianlu.

At the last moment, Ji Xinghuo sidestepped.

Instant Step!

With a loud crack, he vanished into thin air.

By combining Instant Step with Turbulent Rapids, he could achieve even greater speed and cover more distance, amplified by the rotating magnetic field.

In the blink of an eye, he reappeared ten meters away, like a flash of electricity.

Back where he had been standing, Qianlu struck his afterimage. Before it could react further, Qianlu made another bizarre 90-degree turn and gave chase.

This time, Ji Xinghuo couldn't dodge.

Qianlu's attack was extremely aggressive. Holding the tungsten-cored heavy arrow, it charged forward, the arrowhead piercing Ji Xinghuo's chest.

Boom!

The flux barrier was instantly penetrated, and bolts of lightning struck Qianlu, but they didn't cause much damage.

The arrowhead penetrated the sacred scale armor, finally finding resistance.

A portion of the force was "rebounded" onto Qianlu, sending Ji Xinghuo flying backwards like a cannonball for hundreds of meters. He spat out a mouthful of blood.

He felt a sharp pain in his chest, his scales shattered, and his flesh and blood were mangled. Fortunately, his internal organs were unharmed, and they were rapidly healing.

Alarms blared in his mind.

Ji Xinghuo remained calm. Through electromagnetic induction, he "saw" that after Qianlu hit him, it only paused for a moment before instantly entering a full-speed state and continuing the pursuit, still wielding the tungsten-cored heavy arrow as a weapon.

"Does it accelerate without regard for time?" Ji Xinghuo couldn't understand the principle behind this.

However, it didn't hinder his movements. Turbulent Rapids formed all over his body, generating thrust that stopped his backward momentum and restored balance.

As Qianlu closed in, he used Instant Step again.

As expected, Qianlu made another bizarre turn, and as Ji Xinghuo landed from his Instant Step, he unleashed a Bolt Thunder Hand towards the enemy.

Boom!

Thunderous explosions rang out, and thick lightning struck Qianlu, causing burns and paralysis, slowing it down slightly.

At the same time, Ji Xinghuo's eyes flashed with electric light.

The tungsten-cored heavy arrow wrapped around Qianlu's hand exploded, catching it off guard. Its empty hand struck Ji Xinghuo's chest, and without the arrowhead, the deformed wooden spike only pierced the flux barrier before being blocked by the sacred scale armor.

Bang! Ji Xinghuo was sent flying again, his whole body aching as if he were falling apart.

But this time, he was prepared. After flying backward for just over a dozen meters, he used Turbulent Rapids to counter-thrust and then returned with Instant Step.

The Black Hengjing War Bow in his hand had transformed into the Ice Vein Axe.

He raised the battle axe and brought it down with full force.

At the same time, the Lingjian Hand Ring on his wrist was activated, and four sword lights circled behind him to ambush the enemy.

The distance between the two was now mere inches, their faces almost touching.

On Qianlu's incredibly ugly face were a pair of large triangular eyes, their pupils a dark green, devoid of any emotional fluctuation.

It withdrew and retreated, about to accelerate and dodge the battle axe. Suddenly, the gravity around them increased by several dozen times, causing its body to pause. It failed to dodge in time and could only watch as the battle axe viciously chopped down on its head.

This axe strike carried Ji Xinghuo's full strength.

Ice and frost exploded.

Qianlu's head was split open, and the battle axe continued relentlessly, only stopping when the blade reached its chest. The four sword lights also struck from behind, slashing and cutting multiple wounds on its body, even penetrating through.

"Not good."

Ji Xinghuo realized something was amiss.

Before he could retract the battle axe, Qianlu's body transformed into countless thorns, thick as arms and hard as iron, entangling the axe and surging towards Ji Xinghuo like a tidal wave, threatening to envelop him.

Ji Xinghuo decisively let go of the battle axe and retreated with Instant Step.

He was almost caught.

The thorn ball that was Qianlu rapidly expanded, and vines and roots flew everywhere, with hundreds of fiery red mushrooms growing on them. The caps of these Fire Dragon Mushrooms glowed red with heat, spewing out scorching flames like fire dragons.

"Fire Dragon Mushrooms!"

Ji Xinghuo recognized this type of mushroom, as his sister Ren had some growing in her garden.

The hundreds of flames converged into a scorching torrent three meters in diameter and shot out like a laser beam.

A few seconds later, Ji Xinghuo flew out of the range of the flame jet.

His coat had been reduced to ashes, leaving only the metal armor, making him look rather disheveled, and the Lingjian Hand Ring had almost been burnt.

The mass of thorns reverted to Qianlu's human form, instantly accelerating to its maximum speed and giving chase once more.

Ji Xinghuo's speed was far inferior, and in the blink of an eye, he was caught up to.

Instant Step, and then a hit.

Ji Xinghuo fell from the sky and crashed into a building of the Crystal English clan. This building had already collapsed by half, and the impact immediately triggered a chain reaction, causing countless rocks and crystals to tumble down and bury him within.

The surrounding plants came to life, and countless vines and tendrils, like poisonous snakes, wriggled into the collapsed ruins.

Just before he was submerged by the ocean of plants, Ji Xinghuo exploded out with a boom.

The surroundings turned into extreme cold.

From the sky to the ground, countless "Ice Thorn Flowers" bloomed, absorbing heat and creating a super-low-temperature environment, reaching temperatures close to minus two hundred degrees Celsius, freezing everything within a radius of several hundred meters.

The chill invaded Ji Xinghuo's body, numbing him all over, frost forming on his skin, and even his stellar power slowed, greatly reducing his flight speed.

Boom!

Qianlu descended from the sky, his palm transforming into a giant black wooden thorn, glowing with a sinister light, and pierced Ji Xinghuo's shoulder.

Boom...

Ji Xinghuo crashed back into the ruins, sending up a cloud of icy dust.

Qianlu stepped on his chest, and countless roots grew and entangled from under his feet, penetrating the ground and immobilizing him. These roots quickly thickened, sprouting thorns that contracted and pierced into Ji Xinghuo's scale armor.

Ji Xinghuo struggled to resist, sensing that these thorns were poisonous.

Above him, the branches of the banyan composite drooped, and the surrounding plants surged like a tidal wave, endless and overwhelming.

"Qinghong!" Ji Xinghuo shouted.

A massive figure appeared and knocked Qianlu away.

Qinghong's claws unleashed Rending Void Blades, chasing after Qianlu and slashing at him, while a gravity field enveloped the surroundings. But Qianlu only slowed momentarily before breaking free of the gravity field, his speed too great for Qinghong to match.

Ji Xinghuo seized the opportunity to get up. The gaping hole in his shoulder had almost pierced through him, and dark red blood flowed out, its healing slowed by the poison.

"Poisoned," he said.

"It's not too serious," he assured himself. "Just that my wounds will take longer to heal."

Ji Xinghuo recalled Qinghong, shrinking him back to his body, and took off just before being engulfed by the frenzied plants, escaping the freezing environment.

Boom! Just after he had flown a short distance, he was struck by a bolt of lightning.

"Damn!"

Ji Xinghuo's body stuttered, the flux barrier blocking the lightning strike, but as a Magnetic Field Rogue and an Electric Field Stringer, it was embarrassing to be hit by the enemy's lightning.

Looking up, he saw a tall "Storm Cloud Spruce" growing beside Qianlu, each silver-white branch crackling with lightning, surrounded by clouds, and lightning bolts as dense as raindrops striking towards him.

Boom, boom, boom...

Thunder reverberated endlessly through the underground city.

Ji Xinghuo fled for his life, using the buildings on the ground as cover, but the power and number of lightning strikes were too great, striking him almost every second.

If it weren't for his magnetic field rogue abilities, granting him extremely high lightning resistance, he would have been struck dead long ago.

Even so, Ji Xinghuo was still severely injured.

When he emerged from the range of the Storm Cloud Spruce's attack, he was charred black all over. Before he could catch his breath, Qianlu was already on his tail, his arm transformed into a hollow stem leaf, emitting an invisible ultrasonic wave.

Ji Xinghuo used Instant Step to dodge.

The surrounding ruins where he had just been standing were instantly turned to powder.

With a miss, Qianlu immediately changed direction, his eyes shooting out beams.

Ji Xinghuo continued his frantic escape.

Using the Myriad Images Star Pupil, he repeatedly escaped Qianlu's attacks, but he couldn't counter-attack and could only endure the onslaught.

Qianlu's speed was too fast, and it possessed various plant abilities—flames, frost, lightning, sound waves, beams, poison, and transformation. It was almost omnipotent, and each attack was extremely lethal.

Moreover, its lifespan was unfathomable, and it couldn't be killed.

If it weren't for Ji Xinghuo's flux barrier and sacred scale armor, both at the fifth level and providing extremely strong defense, along with the warning from his Myriad Images Star Pupil, any other super-being, even a legendary one, wouldn't have lasted a minute.

In fact, they would have been killed in a single encounter.

Even so, after more than ten minutes, Ji Xinghuo was struggling to hold on.

He had consumed too much stellar power.

His injuries were getting more and more serious, and the recovery effects of the magnetic field rotation and titanium-cobalt dragon blood were affected by the poison, slowing the healing of his wounds.

"Why isn't Ren done yet?"

Through electromagnetic induction, Ji Xinghuo sensed that Ren Mian had taken advantage of Qianlu's pursuit of him to stealthily position herself beneath the banyan composite's trunk.

Using the Qing Lock Dragon, she burrowed underground and moved within the banyan composite's vast root system, periodically placing sections of root stems along the way, allowing them to slowly fuse with the banyan composite's roots without alarming Qianlu.

The entire process was executed with utmost caution and silence.

Ji Xinghuo knew they had reached a critical juncture.

"Hang in there a little longer."

Boom!

He was blasted off his feet by a 'Cone Bomb', dozens of needles piercing his Sacred Scale Armor. The barbed needle tips embedded in his flesh, causing excruciating pain.

"I need stronger defense!" As Ji Xinghuo fled for his life, he opened the interface of his Myriad Images Star Pupil, noticing he had over 85,000 points of spiritual source energy.

Without hesitation, he immediately channeled his spiritual source energy into his Sacred Scale Armor and Flux Barrier.

Both abilities were at Level 5: Sacred Scale Armor (Level 5, 2123/27767) and Flux Barrier (Level 5, 134/35317).

After enduring several attacks and expending over 60,000 points of spiritual source energy, Ji Xinghuo successfully upgraded both abilities to Level 6, though they didn't undergo an evolution. Nonetheless, he felt his defensive capabilities had noticeably improved.

The shattered sections of his scale armor swiftly regenerated, and the translucent outer armor thickened.

Qianlu pursued him once more.

Its right hand transformed into a wooden thorn, aiming straight for his chest.

Ji Xinghuo didn't attempt to dodge. Using Instant Step would deplete a significant amount of stamina and stellar power, and he had already employed it too many times. Moreover, after each Instant Step, Qianlu would immediately catch up, rendering the effort futile.

Bang! Qianlu's thorn pierced Ji Xinghuo, but the Flux Barrier didn't penetrate like before, instead erupting with thick lightning.

Simultaneously, his Sacred Scale Armor reflected half the force back at Qianlu.

The massive wooden thorn shattered upon impact, and Qianlu collided with Ji Xinghuo's body. Reacting instantly, Ji Xinghuo threw a punch.

Electric Spiral Fist!

Ji Xinghuo felt like he was punching an iron wall, his electromagnetic stellar power surging into Qianlu's head, erupting with dazzling electric light. Boom! Qianlu was finally knocked back, its first setback in their confrontation.

Half of Qianlu's head was blown off, but it quickly regenerated.

Instead of immediately pursuing him as before, it hovered a hundred meters away, its gaze fixed on Ji Xinghuo.

"You're peculiar."

It described him in the same way once more, its eyes gleaming with intense interest. "Your strength suddenly increased, which is unreasonable. You must be hiding something. If you're willing to hand it over, I might consider letting you leave."

Ji Xinghuo twisted his neck and stretched his limbs, scoffing, "You're not worthy."

At this point, he couldn't afford to waste time talking.

He had to fight.

Only then could he divert Qianlu's attention and prevent it from sensing Ren's presence.

No sooner had he spoken than large amounts of metal debris flew out from the surrounding ruins, reshaping and merging under his control to form a metallic storm that swept toward Qianlu. A spear landed in his hand, and he infused it with electromagnetic stellar power, causing it to glow with electric light.

As he launched his attack, Ji Xinghuo channeled his spiritual source energy into 'Star Fist', upgrading it from Level 4 (358/7717) to Level 5 (1/37717).

Whoosh...

The metallic storm engulfed Qianlu, but it was too slow, easily evaded by Qianlu.

Qianlu's flight path remained erratic, leaving the metallic storm in its wake as it swiftly closed in on Ji Xinghuo.

Ji Xinghuo's right eye flashed, activating the Myriad Images Star Pupil.

Previously, he had only entered the Myriad Images Star Pupil state during critical moments to save his life.

But now was a perfect opportunity!

The world fell silent, as if in slow motion, and countless streams of light and phantoms appeared before his eyes, presenting possible future outcomes. Qianlu's figure rapidly enlarged in his field of vision, drawing closer.

Finally, Ji Xinghuo roared and threw the electromagnetic spear in his hand.

Electric Roar!

With less than ten meters between them, Qinghong seized the moment and unleashed a gravity field. Ji Xinghuo opened his mouth and bellowed, "Dragon Roar," employing multiple strikes and restrictions. Qianlu couldn't react in time, its movement halting momentarily.

In the blink of an eye, the electromagnetic spear struck its chest and exploded.

Boom!

Qianlu's body disintegrated into countless fragments.

However, Ji Xinghuo dared not relax. Glancing at the distant banyan composite, he noticed the giant tree gently swaying. A few seconds later, the nearby plants coalesced once more, rapidly reforming into a humanoid silhouette.

It was Qianlu, returning unscathed.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end