After a whole day of exposure to the sun, Zhou Ziwei's once fair and delicate face, which resembled a freshly peeled egg white, finally developed a healthy wheat-colored tan.
This made Wang Xuewei and Chu Qiutang feel both heartache and annoyance. If there weren't other people around, they would have loved to pounce on Zhou Ziwei and bite him a few times to satisfy their urges.
They all cried and begged for such fair and delicate skin but couldn't have it, while Zhou Ziwei... not only did he not take care of such good skin, but he also deliberately sat in the sun and ruined it. This... is simply beastly...
As dusk approached, the ostrich beast was finally nearing the capital of the Great Xia Dynasty, Xianjing. The old charlatan, leaning on his cane carved from some unknown wood, braved the fierce winds and shakily approached Zhou Ziwei. Pointing to a massive shadow stretching across the sky, he said, “My Lord, do you see it? That is our Xianjing's natural barrier, Wolong Mountain. Look… doesn't the shape of this mountain resemble a giant, reclining dragon? Legend has it that this mountain was originally transformed from the Five Poisonous Dragon, an ancient behemoth that wreaked havoc on the world. In the beginning, this Five Poisonous Dragon was merely a small poisonous insect. Later, by chance, it swallowed three drops of the Creator God's essence blood and transformed into a dragon, wreaking havoc and becoming invincible. In the end, it angered the great Creator God, who slapped this wicked creature to death on this plain, and it became this towering mountain range…”
The old charlatan sighed softly, glancing furtively at Zhou Ziwei's face. Seeing no emotion on Zhou Ziwei's expression, he shook his head in disappointment, losing all desire to test him further. He paused, then continued, "Once we cross the Wolong Mountain ahead, we will reach Xianjing City, Divine Child… After arriving at the Main Temple, the thirteen elders will inevitably present you with some difficult challenges to verify your identity. Please do not be angered by this, Divine Child. It is truly because our Great Xia Dynasty has not witnessed any miracles for over a thousand years. Even among those within the temple, many have begun to doubt the existence of the gods. Therefore, your sudden appearance will inevitably be met with skepticism. Please do not take offense, Divine Child!"
Zhou Ziwei smiled faintly upon hearing this and said, "I suppose that so-called divine inheritance must be a very remarkable treasure, right? It's hard to imagine anyone willingly handing over a treasure they've kept for their entire life to a complete stranger. I can understand that."
The old charlatan breathed a slight sigh of relief upon hearing Zhou Ziwei's words. Just as he was about to warn Zhou Ziwei again, he noticed Zhou Ziwei's expression suddenly change. Gazing at the vast, boundless mountains ahead, he frowned and said, "It seems there are many people fighting on Wolong Mountain... Is the Great Xia Dynasty's army training here right now?"
Volume 2, The Assassin's Nightmare, Chapter 408: Frenzied Supplementation
"Training troops? Training troops on Wolong Mountain? How is that possible!"
The old charlatan was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, and immediately rubbed his eyes, looking towards the distant, vast mountain range stretching for thousands of miles. However, he could only see a vague, dark shadow, and he couldn't even make out the shape of a large tree on the mountain, let alone see if there were any people on it.
"This... Divine Child, can you really see many people on Wolong Mountain?" Although the old charlatan knew he was getting old, after practicing some secret techniques passed down by the temple, his eyesight did not show much signs of aging. He was still as sharp as a young man's, without any signs of failing eyesight.
Therefore, he was somewhat skeptical about how Zhou Ziwei could have such good eyesight, being able to see the situation on Wolong Mountain from such a distance.
Zhou Ziwei was not angry because of the old charlatan's doubts. At this moment, his eyesight was ten times that of an ordinary person. Such superhuman vision was naturally beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
However, since he is now the Divine Child, it doesn't matter if he acts somewhat miraculously in some aspects, so he has no intention of hiding it.
“That’s right, I can see it…” Zhou Ziwei said frankly, “I also saw that the two sides fighting on the mountain were wearing red battle suits on one side and blue battle suits on the other side, and… it doesn’t seem like they were doing a drill, but a real battle. Both sides have lost quite a few people, and the battle is quite fierce!”
“Red…blue…” Upon hearing this, the old swindler’s body trembled slightly, and he exclaimed in surprise, “It’s the Blue Armor Rebels! They…they actually managed to storm Wolong Mountain so quickly! Hurry…hurry up and speed up! We must get to Xianjing as quickly as possible, or it will be too late.”
The old charlatan practically shouted, urgently urging the two temple disciples riding the ostrich beast, seemingly about to shove his cane into the rear end of the enormous ostrich below.
Zhou Ziwei ignored the old charlatan's reaction, staring blankly at the battlefield where the two sides were engaged in fierce fighting in the distance, his eyes gradually becoming brighter and brighter.
Where Zhou Ziwei's gaze fell, a long battle line stretched out across the massive mountain range, with countless soldiers dressed in red battle suits and blue armor, probably numbering in the hundreds of thousands.
With so many people fighting desperately at close range, hundreds or even thousands of people would fall and die under the enemy's swords almost every minute.
This means that in just a short time, countless new souls will be generated in this area.
These souls will not last forever. Without a great stroke of luck, perhaps at most one night later, when the scorching fireball of this world rises into the sky, those newborn souls will be completely annihilated under the scorching sun.
This... is absolutely a huge waste... a shameful waste...
Since Zhou Ziwei's soul power rose to over ten thousand, he has become less enthusiastic about using the Six-Syllable Mantra to fuse with the souls of ordinary people after death to increase his own soul power.
After all, the average person's soul power is only around ten, which is just a drop in the ocean compared to the huge amount that Zhou Ziwei already possesses.
But now he suddenly realized that although the souls of ordinary people are weak, they can accumulate into a large number, and the opportunity for this large-scale emergence of new souls is war.
Especially in wars fought during the era of cold weapons, the number of deaths is staggering. For example, in the war on Earth where the US conquered the entire country of Iraq, fewer than 100,000 people died. But if it were a war fought during the era of cold weapons, would it even be called a war if hundreds of thousands of people died? And if a war of annihilation were to occur, the number of deaths would be astronomical.
If Zhou Ziwei had the opportunity to merge and absorb all the souls of those who died in a war into his own soul power, the benefits he could gain would be unimaginable.
Absorbing so many souls at once was no small matter for Zhou Ziwei, and it might even put a certain mental burden on him, since he was devouring one miserable soul after another... However... Zhou Ziwei then thought that if he didn't devour these people's souls, then their fate would only be to be scattered in the sunlight, which made Zhou Ziwei feel a little better.
Let's just consider this devouring as a way to deliver those poor souls from suffering!
Someone started looking for an excuse to make himself feel a little more at ease about the shameless things he might do next.
But shamelessness is shamelessness! Zhou Ziwei desperately wanted to become stronger because there was a huge mountain weighing on his heart, or rather, his brain: the chip that had been forcibly implanted in his brain by the black market assassin network.
Zhou Ziwei needed to get rid of this heavy burden on his mind as soon as possible. Although the Black Market Assassin Network hadn't imposed too many restrictions or pressures on him so far, he didn't want to become someone else's puppet. To get rid of this burden, he had to become stronger.
The ostrich beast flew very fast. What was just a hazy mountain range in the old swindler's eyes quickly became clearer as the distance shortened. At this time, even the old swindler's eyes could see the overwhelming number of soldiers fighting chaotically on the mountain. When the wind blew from that direction, he could even faintly hear the shouts of battle.
The old charlatan's eyes began to twitch uncontrollably. He then waved his hand and ordered the two temple disciples who were piloting the ostrich beasts, "Adjust the altitude and fly directly over the mountaintop!"
"Yes..." The two temple disciples quickly agreed, and then pulled up the ostrich's head. In this way, the ostrich would understand the rider's intention and immediately adjust its altitude, flying higher and higher into the sky.
Upon seeing this, Zhou Ziwei's expression changed slightly. He didn't want to miss this opportunity to greatly replenish his strength. At this distance, he could even clearly see with his naked eye countless souls that seemed to be transparent hovering above the chaotic battlefield below.
If the ostrich beast had maintained its original altitude, Zhou Ziwei would have had a chance to absorb some of the newly born souls on the battlefield using the Six-Syllable Mantra while on its back. However, after the ostrich beast adjusted its altitude again, he probably wouldn't be able to do anything.
The old charlatan clearly had no intention of lingering on this chaotic battlefield. Although he was actually on one side of the fighting, he was more concerned with ensuring Zhou Ziwei's safe arrival in Xianjing and would not allow Zhou Ziwei to encounter danger here.
Zhou Ziwei frowned inwardly and began to think about how to find a reason to jump off the ostrich's back and join the battle below when they reached the top of the mountain.
However, at that moment, a strange buzzing sound suddenly came from below, and then a huge iron crossbow bolt suddenly shot out from the blue camp below, flying straight towards the huge ostrich beast flying in the sky.
"Quick...turn around, get out of the way!" The old charlatan was so shocked by the height the crossbow could reach that he turned pale and frantically waved his cane, shouting urgently.
Although the ostrich is enormous, it is actually gentle in nature and does not have much fighting power. It is precisely because of this that it was possible for humans to tame it and turn it into a biological aircraft piloted by humans.
Moreover, this ostrich-like beast is not only very fast in flight, but also has amazing endurance, making it extremely adept at long-distance flight.
However, it also has a fatal flaw: its ability to dodge in a small area is extremely poor, and once it enters the enemy's weapon attack range, it is in danger of being killed.
At this moment, the two temple disciples riding the ostrich beasts had already realized that something was wrong. They were desperately pulling on the rope around the ostrich beasts' necks, trying to change their flight path before the huge iron crossbow hit them. But with the ostrich beasts' huge bodies, how could they dodge so easily?
Seeing that the ostrich was about to be hit by the crossbow, the two temple disciples couldn't help but let out desperate cries.
Just then, Zhou Ziwei leaped up, greeted the old charlatan, and said, "Don't worry, I'll block that arrow."
He then completely ignored the old charlatan's attempts to stop him and leaped straight down from the side of the ostrich beast.
Zhou Ziwei didn't even release wind energy to condense a vortex to support him. As soon as his body landed below the ostrich beast, he immediately twisted his body and actually used his physical strength to move several meters to the side. Then he rushed straight down to meet the huge iron crossbow bolt carrying strong force.
With a "whoosh," just as the giant iron crossbow bolt was about to strike Zhou Ziwei, a dazzling white light suddenly rose from Zhou Ziwei's body. The huge iron crossbow bolt, made entirely of metal, shot straight into the white light and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
After the white light dissipated, Zhou Ziwei was still completely unharmed, while the iron crossbow, which was over three meters long and as thick as an adult's arm, had vanished into thin air.
"What incredible power of divine power!" The old swindler, who had just been perched on the ostrich's wings, was nearly scared out of his wits when he saw Zhou Ziwei meet the iron crossbow bolt. However, when he saw the white light rising from Zhou Ziwei's body, he remembered that this miraculous divine child possessed divine power. As long as the effects of divine power remained, no weapon made of metal could harm Zhou Ziwei in the slightest.
Having absorbed a massive iron crossbow weighing at least several hundred kilograms, Zhou Ziwei didn't feel any increase in his load. However, the thin clothes he wore, made entirely of alloy, seemed to have become slightly thicker at that moment.
This made Zhou Ziwei very curious. It seemed that after the metallic substance on the crossbow bolt was decomposed by the divine power source, it automatically filled into his clothes. But how could such a huge arrow only add such a thin layer to his clothes? Could it be that the divine power source only automatically extracted the essence of the metal in the giant arrow, while decomposing and removing all the other less valuable substances?
The deep, resonant humming sound emanating from the camp below invigorated Zhou Ziwei, temporarily dispelling the doubts in his mind. As he watched three more giant iron crossbow bolts fly up in a triangular formation, a faint, cold smile crept onto his lips.
These Blue Armor Army soldiers are really good at cooperating. Zhou Ziwei still didn't know what excuse to come up with to jump off the ostrich beast and absorb a lot of soul power, but they actually came up with this extreme provocation. Isn't this just allowing Zhou Ziwei to have a legitimate and compliant boost?
In a flash, Zhou Ziwei conjured up a vortex of energy large enough to support his weight, temporarily slowing his descent. Then, he charged towards the three rapidly approaching crossbow bolts.
The three enormous iron crossbow bolts vanished one by one in a flash of white light, and Zhou Ziwei's alloy suit became even thicker.
Zhou Ziwei then shouted loudly, "This can't go on. Let me go down and destroy their giant crossbows that fire iron crossbows, and then I'll come back..."
Without waiting for the old charlatan's reply, Zhou Ziwei suddenly flashed down from the sky amidst the swirling air, like an eagle spotting its prey, heading straight for the giant crossbows in the blue camp that could fire iron bolts.
Four iron crossbow bolts disappeared into thin air without any apparent reason, causing a commotion among the blue camp below. However, with a steady and powerful shout, all the blue-armored soldiers who were not involved in the melee with the red camp in front immediately pointed their weapons at Zhou Ziwei, who was descending from the sky.
Countless arrows left the bowstring almost simultaneously, flying towards a single point in the air like a swarm of locusts, a sight so powerful it would send chills down the spine of any seasoned soldier.
However, Zhou Ziwei completely ignored this level of attack. Seeing that as he descended, countless souls in mid-air had entered the range that his Six-Syllable Mantra could absorb, he immediately and without hesitation began to chant the Six-Syllable Mantra in the air...
After all, Zhou Ziwei's sea of souls was not infinite at this moment. The reason why he could absorb tens of thousands of soul powers without bursting his sea of souls was because he had mastered the method of condensing mist-like soul power into liquid soul power.
The soul power he absorbed into the sea of souls in the form of the Six-Syllable Mantra would initially exist only as mist-like soul power. Therefore, he dared not wait until he reached a place where souls were too dense to recite the Six-Syllable Mantra, because if he did that, there was still a risk that he might burst the sea of souls.
How much misty soul power can Zhou Ziwei's sea of souls hold now? He hasn't tried this in a long time. Every time, he starts condensing the misty soul power when it exceeds five or six thousand, so he really doesn't know where the limit is.
However, it seems that his sea of souls has expanded more than once during this period, and it should be able to hold 30,000 to 40,000 units of misty soul power without any problem.
As the Six-Syllable Mantra was chanted, six enormous orange characters suddenly spread out from Zhou Ziwei's sea of souls, instantly transforming into six huge halos that continuously expanded outwards, directly enveloping a radius of 120 meters.
"Buzz—" With a tremor that only the soul could feel, Zhou Ziwei felt countless scattered soul energies being decomposed, purified, and refined by the six orange light rings, transforming into wisps of pure mist-like soul energy that surged into his sea of souls like a raging tide.
Three thousand, five thousand, eight thousand... thirteen thousand.
Zhou Ziwei hadn't expected that he could absorb over 13,000 units of soul power in one go within a 120-meter radius of the battlefield.
What an enormous amount of energy this is... In the past, even when he absorbed pure energy through the Heart of Flame, it would take him about two or three days to absorb this much power.
And now... with just one recitation of the Six-Syllable Mantra, he has accomplished this step. How could he not be overjoyed?
Moreover, Zhou Ziwei's previous estimate was not wrong. Originally, the misty soul power in his sea of souls was almost completely exhausted, but this time he absorbed 13,000 units of soul power in one go, and it felt like it only filled a small part of this huge space.
It seems that the capacity of his sea of souls has now expanded to at least 30,000 to 40,000, or even possibly 50,000. In this way, if he absorbs again, there is no need to worry about his sea of souls bursting.
Just as Zhou Ziwei was greedily absorbing the pure soul energy, countless arrows of all sizes finally shot into his body from the sky.
However, to the utter despair of the countless blue-armored soldiers below, this silver-clad figure descending from the sky was like a bottomless pit. Before the arrows even reached him, a surge of white light erupted from his body once more. When the last arrow pierced the light, it gradually subsided, yet the silver-clad figure revealed within remained unharmed. But all those arrows, including the five giant iron crossbow bolts, had vanished without a trace once more…
Volume 2, The Assassin's Nightmare, Chapter 409: Alloy Knife
The arrows that attacked Zhou Ziwei this time were not all heavy iron crossbow bolts made entirely of metal. Most of them were ordinary arrows with metal arrowheads, wooden shafts made of wax, and fletchings made of animal feathers.
The divine power within Zhou Ziwei's body could only devour metallic substances. Normally, it wouldn't have any effect on wood or animal feathers. However, after that flash of white light, the rain of arrows left nothing behind, which greatly surprised Zhou Ziwei himself.
He had been so focused on absorbing those souls and calculating how much soul energy he had absorbed that he hadn't even noticed what had just happened to him.
Fortunately, the alloy suit he was wearing was essentially a clone of Zhou Ziwei himself. Zhou Ziwei only needed to communicate with the independent soul within the alloy suit to clearly perceive the truth hidden beneath the dazzling white light.
It turned out that... after the metal arrowheads were devoured by the divine power, the wooden shafts struck Zhou Ziwei's silver-white alloy clothes one after another. Instantly, the understated silver clothes burst into a burst of scorching red light. Where the red light passed, even the void seemed to be burned and boiled. As for the countless wooden shafts and fletchings that shot in front of Zhou Ziwei, they couldn't withstand the heat for even half a second before turning into nothingness, leaving not even a speck of ashes.
Wow, no way! This guy is amazing.
Zhou Ziwei was startled again. Although he knew that his alloy suit was probably not simple, he did not expect this guy to be so powerful, even though he could condense a red light that looked like a real substance.
This red glow must be a characteristic that comes from condensing the Blazing Iron! However, when Zhou Ziwei was besieged by those wizards from the Wusang Kingdom, their Blazing Arrows weren't this powerful. Apart from releasing high temperatures, they couldn't condense a substantial red glow.
Zhou Ziwei let out a sigh of relief and looked down again. He saw that almost everyone in the Blue Armor Army's camp was staring at him with wide eyes and open mouths, clearly intimidated by the strength he had just displayed.
In reality, although Zhou Ziwei was inexplicably given the title of "Divine Child," he did not feel any sense of belonging to the Great Xia Dynasty. Therefore, he naturally did not feel any hostility towards the Blue Armor Army, which the old charlatan called a rebel army.
Zhou Ziwei was only using the excuse of helping the old charlatan destroy those giant iron crossbows to make it easier for the ostrich beast to pass through. So, before any of the Blue Armored Army soldiers could react, Zhou Ziwei flew straight down like a bird to the giant iron crossbows that were surrounded by countless Blue Armored Army soldiers in the center of the position.
Those giant iron crossbows were also made entirely of a single metal. Zhou Ziwei had originally intended to fuse and absorb these massive machines as well, and to add them to his metal suit. However, things didn't go as planned. The so-called divine power source hidden deep within Zhou Ziwei's body still showed no sign of obeying his summons. As long as Zhou Ziwei's body wasn't in mortal danger, no matter how hard he tried, the mysterious energy dormant within him remained completely unmoved, which drove Zhou Ziwei to the brink of madness.
Left with no other choice, Zhou Ziwei had to abandon his idea of devouring the giant crossbows and instead began to test the functions of his alloy suit.
Because the alloy suit has a super powerful independent soul body sitting on it, it is much easier to use than any Kun pet or new-style cross dart that Zhou Ziwei has ever manipulated before.
In the blink of an eye, a long strip quickly extended from the left sleeve of the alloy suit, transforming into a long, silver-white sword with a hint of dark red.
The long knife slid across Zhou Ziwei's palm, and when it reached its limit, the part that was against Zhou Ziwei's palm automatically changed shape, transforming into the shape of a knife handle.
The knife is about one meter long, with an extremely thin blade. The thinnest part of the blade looks like a transparent sheet of white paper. The blade also has a rare flexibility. Zhou Ziwei only needs to move his palm slightly, and the blade will tremble violently, flashing a chilling light that makes people's hearts tremble.