The numerous corpse puppets turned around simultaneously, dozens of pairs of dead eyes fixed on the faces of Ling Yun and his companions. Even with their great courage, the sight of so many zombie-like puppets sent chills down their spines.
"We haven't found the person we were looking for, but instead, three small fry have appeared." The black-robed man's lifeless voice rang out again. "Very well, I haven't crafted any superhuman puppets yet, so you've come at just the right time."
Xia Tian sneered, "You have quite the nerve, wanting to turn the three of us into corpse puppets. Do you have the ability?"
Xia Zhen had completely calmed down: "Who exactly are you? You use living people to create corpse puppets. Aren't you afraid of incurring the wrath of the Superpowered Individuals Association and being punished?"
"Heh." The man in black robes let out a grating, sarcastic laugh. "Little girl, you're quite pretty. I'll refine you properly. Once you become a puppet, you can not only do things for me, but I can also ravage you at will when needed. What do you think?"
"You!" Xia Zhen couldn't listen to such words. She was so angry that her face turned red, her eyebrows stood up, and she raised her arm, ready to fight.
"Xia Zhen, he's deliberately provoking you to attack." Xia Tian stopped Xia Zhen. "Don't fall for it, we can still leave now."
The man in black robes remained calm, then his body vanished mysteriously behind the incense burner. A faint black shadow streaked across the night sky, appearing before the three of them in an instant: "I'm afraid it's too late."
The group of corpse puppets moved stiffly and slowly in the direction of the man in black robes, as if they followed him wherever he went.
Suddenly, countless rocks on the ground erupted again, shooting towards the horde of corpse puppets like machine gun bullets. After a series of dull thuds as stones struck flesh, the entire horde of corpse puppets collapsed to the ground, leaving not a single one alive.
The force of throwing stones with mental power is immense, and many of the rocks have sharp edges; when they grazed past quickly, the impact was no less than that of a steel blade. The corpse puppets, being ordinary corpses, were instantly either smashed to pieces or had limbs scraped off by the edges. The ground was littered with dismembered remains, some still slowly wriggling, but no longer able to walk like normal humans.
The man in black robes suddenly turned to look at Ling Yun, a sharp light flashing in his eyes through his long hair, and said in a stern voice, "You dare to destroy my corpse puppet."
"Didn't you want to refine the three of us into new corpse puppets?" Ling Yun said calmly. "Out with the old, in with the new. I'll destroy the old one for you. You should thank me."
Chapter Twenty-One: Thank You for Your Bullets
Xia Tian and Xia Zhen looked at Ling Yun in surprise, never expecting that this young boy would have such courage and composure when facing a terrifying psychic.
The man in black shrugged his shoulders and burst into a furious laugh: "Very good, well said. Out with the old, in with the new. So let the new one begin with you!"
As he spoke, two streams of black mist suddenly emerged from the long sleeves of his black robe. The mist stretched longer and longer, reaching five or six meters in length in the blink of an eye. It quickly expanded from the thickness of a finger to the thickness of a wrist, and the misty gas became denser, increasingly black and shiny, almost like a solid object. It resembled two long black pythons, tracing unpredictable, chilling paths in the air.
The man in black robes raised his arms as if wielding two long whips, and suddenly swept them across Ling Yun's waist.
"Watch out!" Xia Tian and Xia Zhen exclaimed in unison.
Ling Yun was shocked. This was the first time in his life that he had encountered a superhuman's abilities. Although he had fought with Xia Tian before, Xia Tian had not used any supernatural powers. The two of them were purely fighting on a mental level, unlike this black-robed man who used unknown and strange supernatural powers from the start.
Although the long rope was only composed of black mist, who knew if being hit by it would cause any harm? Ling Yun dared not be careless, and leaped several meters into the air to avoid the long rope made of black mist.
The long black mist swept across, passing over a huge rock and silently cleaving it in two, the cut as clean as if made by a knife. Ling Yun, who was in mid-air, broke out in a cold sweat upon seeing this, thinking to himself how lucky he was to have dodged the attack, otherwise he would have been cut in half at the waist.
Before Lingyun could land, the black mist rope seemed unaffected by inertia, with two intersecting black wisps swirling and piercing towards Lingyun in the air. Suddenly, the tip of the black mist enlarged, transforming into a ferocious, gigantic ghost head, its blood-red maw gaping wide, ready to bite down on Lingyun's head.
Summer lifted his foot, as if wearing shoes weighing a thousand pounds, and stomped heavily on the ground with a thud. The entire earth trembled instantly, and huge, spiderweb-like cracks rapidly spread outwards from the point where he landed.
The man in black robes moved, and countless crackling sounds were accompanied by fleeting flashes of light around him. This was the result of Xia Tian's mental energy field violently impacting his telekinetic defenses. At the same time, the ground beneath the man in black robes suddenly bulged high, as if something was about to emerge from underground.
The man in black robes leaped into the air, his body leaving the ground in a bizarre manner. A sharp spike, entirely formed from thick earth, pierced through the raised mound, just centimeters away from reaching the man's body.
Thanks to Xia Tian's timely intervention, the black-robed man's long black mist rope became somewhat disordered. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Ling Yun hurriedly used his telekinesis to push his body away, just avoiding the ghost's bite, and landed lightly on the ground.
The man in black robes exclaimed in surprise, "Your telekinetic control is quite good." With a flick of his wrists, the long black mist ropes, like serpents, once again attacked Ling Yun. In the silent air, two black mist ropes, as swift as lightning, moved with life, wrapping around the boy's body.
Having witnessed the power of the black mist rope, Ling Yun dared not let it get close. He used his mental energy field without reservation, forming an invisible barrier in front of his body.
The long black mist rope encountered an obstacle, and its end immediately bloomed like a black flower, revealing a thorny tip. It then raised its slender body and struck Ling Yun's mental energy field protection hard. With each strike, Ling Yun's body trembled involuntarily, and he was pushed backward by the immense force.
Xia Zhen raised her arm, and countless shimmering, star-like points of light emerged from her body, indescribably beautiful, gathering around her like a swarm of enchanting fireflies. Xia Zhen's graceful body leaned back slightly, as if about to throw something, displaying a remarkable beauty in motion. Then, her body suddenly sprang forward, and the countless points of light instantly converged into a dazzling ball of light, whistling as it struck the man in black robes.
"Thousand Star Light Slash? You're from the Xia family of China?" the black-robed man said with some surprise. With a flick of his left sleeve, a long black mist rope split off and precisely wrapped around the ball of light.
Xia Zhen stretched out her slender arms and said with difficulty, "It's good that you know." As she spoke, she pushed hard, as if she were pushing something invisible. The ball of light that was bound by the black rope had been frozen in the air, but after Xia Zhen pushed it, it suddenly shone brightly and broke free, instantly shattering the black rope into several pieces.
The ball of light spun in the air and suddenly split into three, forming three crescent-shaped light slashes that struck the black-robed man's head, chest, and feet.
With a solemn expression, Xia Tian slowly threw a punch at the man in black robes from a distance of more than ten meters. This punch, like the kick he had just stomped down, felt as heavy as a thousand pounds. Although it was just a punch from a distance, it made a loud noise like a cannonball being fired.
With a flick of his left sleeve, the black-robed man unleashed a new black mist rope that quickly extended from his cuff. At the same time, a silver glint flashed behind his long hair and near his eyes. Three crisp sounds rang out in succession as three crescent-shaped slashes struck the telekinetic barrier in front of the black-robed man. Three crescent-shaped ripples appeared in the air before slowly fading and disappearing.
With a deafening roar, the black-robed man trembled and involuntarily took a step back. A clear fist imprint struck his mental energy field defense, and the immense force prevented him from completely dispelling it in his haste.
Xia Tian and Xia Zhen's expressions turned grim. They had used almost all of their strength in those two attacks, and they had struck simultaneously. The black-robed man, however, had withstood them unscathed. It seemed that this psychic's strength far surpassed that of the three of them, and today's situation had become very troublesome.
Ling Yun was still doing his best to block the attack of another long black mist rope. He didn't know any special techniques, only his mental force field. Fortunately, his control over telekinesis had become quite proficient after this period of training, which allowed Ling Yun to seal off the attack of the almost omnipresent black mist rope.
Despite being constantly in danger, Ling Yun felt no panic for some reason. The silver threads formed by his mental energy field wrapped around the black rope, and with each wrap, the rope's strength decreased. Once he could withstand the rope's power, Ling Yun's telekinetic abilities would soon be able to launch a counterattack against the man in black.
Xia Tian shouted and leaped up. He had already realized that the black mist rope was the black-robed man's main weapon. If they were too far away, the man would be able to use the rope's advantages, leaving the three of them in a very passive position.
Xia Zhen let out a sharp cry, leaning back slightly once more. Countless starlight appeared around her again. "Thousand Starlight Slash" was a powerful, inherited technique from her family, but what she knew was only the most basic form of attack. Even so, it still posed a certain threat to the black-robed man. Although the black-robed man easily blocked her attack, it didn't mean he could withstand subsequent attacks.
A chilling mental field silently approached Xia Tian, who, while still in mid-air, couldn't help but shiver. But with a roar, he advanced instead of retreating, his telekinetic energy channeling into a powerful punch that formed a sharp sword, piercing towards the black-robed man. In the blink of an eye, Xia Tian seemed to have entered an ice cave.
The Thousand Star Light Slash sphere split into three in the air once again, and the light slashes swirled towards the black-robed man again. However, the black-robed man flashed a silver light, and his mental field blocked in front of him again. With two loud bangs, the two light slashes hit the mental barrier without any suspense, leaving two transparent crescent-shaped ripples.
However, the trajectory of the third light slash changed from the first. When it reached the black-robed man's chest, it suddenly split into two again, swirling past the sides of the black-robed man's body, and then reformed into a light slash behind the black-robed man, swiftly slashing back towards the back of the black-robed man's neck.
Xia Zhen is so clever; she uses deception to her fullest extent.
The man in black robes was shocked. It was too late to use telekinesis to block it. In the critical moment, he could only desperately lower his head. He felt a chill on his scalp as his black robe and hood, along with several strands of hair, were silently cut off by the light slash. If he had been even a fraction of a second later, half of his head would have been severed by the light slash.
The black hood split in two and floated lightly to the ground, revealing the black-robed man's messy black hair that reached his lower back.
The man in black robes took a step forward, tapped the air, and Xia Tian, who was rushing forward at high speed, suddenly froze as if he had been hit by a spell.
"That's enough. I have no interest in playing with you anymore," the man in black said coldly. He raised his hand and sent Xia Tian, who had been immobilized by telekinesis, flying out and crashing heavily into a giant rock.