Under the control of the burlap monster's spiritual energy, this branch of ebony can generate an extremely powerful impact force, allowing it to fly into the sky. This is not unusual for a spiritual warrior, but... the spiritual weapons controlled by ordinary spiritual warriors are generally not large in size, and the power they can generate is also very limited, such as the three butterfly darts that Zhou Ziwei is currently using.
If Zhou Ziwei wanted to use those three butterflies to make himself fly around in the sky... he was definitely daydreaming. After all, each of his butterfly darts was only the size of a one-yuan coin. Even if Zhou Ziwei had abundant soul power, if he injected too much into those three butterfly darts, they wouldn't be able to bear it.
The black iron branch of this burlap monster is more than capable of supporting the weight of a person. In terms of size, the black iron branch is at least several hundred times larger than the butterfly dart. Therefore, as long as sufficient spiritual energy is infused into the black iron branch, it is not a big deal for it to carry a person into the air when it takes flight.
However, the size of this black iron branch is simply too large, and the spiritual energy required to wield such a large branch is already at a terrifying level.
Consider that when Ono Yuko barely managed to activate a small butterfly dart for a single strike, her spiritual energy was almost completely depleted. So, the sheer amount of spiritual energy required to activate such a large black iron branch must be astonishing.
The burlap monster took to the sky again, then narrowed its eyes slightly before gazing with a cold, knife-like look into the depths of the primeval forest before it. A chilling killing intent, like that of a venomous snake, suddenly seeped from its very bones, soaring into the sky. Instantly, the small animals in the forest fell silent, no longer daring to utter a sound.
"Damn you, you little thief... Let's see where you can escape to. Although the wisp of my spiritual consciousness that I separated has been destroyed by you, it still left a faint soul imprint in your sea of souls. And now, with this soul imprint, even if you run to the ends of the earth, you will not escape my pursuit."
The burlap-clad monster sneered, then discerned its direction. Its spiritual energy erupted, propelling the strangely shaped black iron branch, and it flew swiftly into the depths of the primeval forest...
Zhou Ziwei, carrying the massive sand space, crashed headlong into the sand and rocks of the lakeshore without hesitation. This side of the lakeshore, being close to a primeval forest, hadn't undergone much restoration; the dikes were all natural, almost entirely formed sand structures. This structure posed virtually no threat to Zhou Ziwei in his current state. Just before hitting the dike, Zhou Ziwei abruptly dispersed the layer of water enveloping the sand space, causing the immense earth energy contained within to expand outwards with the sand space's forward momentum. In an instant, it merged with the dike before him. The next moment, Zhou Ziwei, carrying this enormous sand space, plunged directly into a silent, thick underground world…
To be able to move freely and at will through such a vast space is unimaginable for many people, but for Zhou Ziwei, who has completely mastered the energy of the earth, it is as easy as strolling in a garden.
Maintaining such a large space within the immense pressure of the underground world was as natural and comfortable for Zhou Ziwei as a bubble floating on a vast expanse of blue sea.
However, the nature of the earth is stability and tranquility, so even if Zhou Ziwei can control the earth's energy at will, his speed traveling underground cannot be too fast, and it is ultimately incomparable to the speed of flying in water or the sky.
After traveling more than ten kilometers underground in one breath, Zhou Ziwei suddenly felt as if he had encountered a hard, rocky mountain ahead. Continuing to traverse underground would be extremely difficult, so Zhou Ziwei emerged from underground, carrying the huge sandy space with him...
However, as soon as Zhou Ziwei emerged from underground, he suddenly sensed a pair of vicious eyes glaring at him from a distance. This instantly made Zhou Ziwei's scalp tingle, and he even had a bad feeling as if a great disaster was about to befall him.
Slowly turning his head to look at the source of that malevolent feeling, Zhou Ziwei's heart skipped a beat. Instantly, the voice that had suddenly exploded in his mind while he was in the lake seemed to come alive again...
Volume 3, King of the City, Chapter 537: Showdown
That guy actually caught up with us!
Zhou Ziwei originally thought that his desperate escape would shake off that guy. He used water escape and earth escape techniques along the way, always taking unconventional routes. Even if a hundred specially trained police dogs came, they would never be able to find their tracks by scent or anything like that.
But that mysterious family still caught up. It seems that nothing is impossible in this world. Just like Zhou Ziwei can leave a soul imprint on something, then... no matter how far apart they are, they can't escape Zhou Ziwei's pursuit.
Others may possess similar abilities to Zhou Ziwei. After all, the person just now sent a wisp of spiritual consciousness directly into Zhou Ziwei's sea of souls before Zhou Ziwei discovered its existence. This suggests that the owner of that wisp of spiritual consciousness is likely even more adept at manipulating soul power than Zhou Ziwei...
Since the other party had such a long-range tracking ability, Zhou Ziwei knew that no matter how much he ran away, it would be in vain. What was meant to happen would happen sooner or later. This guy was trailing behind like a tail, making him really uneasy. He should deal with him completely first before thinking about anything else!
An unprecedented sense of crisis weighed heavily on Zhou Ziwei's mind. He immediately placed the sand space formed from earth energy on an open space, and with a swift movement, he entered it.
This sandy space is almost completely sealed, a space constructed of sand. However, hanging upside down in the air above this space is a continuously luminous sphere formed by Zhou Ziwei using attribute-less energy converted into light energy. This thing is actually just a relatively regular spherical stone. Zhou Ziwei converted the attribute-less energy in his body into light energy and then injected it into the center of a spherical stone in one go. Gradually, a pure light energy aggregate condensed at the core of the stone.
Compared to fire energy, light energy is slightly gentler. Once condensed, it won't completely erupt in an instant as long as there's an object blocking it.
Because of the light energy aggregate at the core of the stone, this originally ordinary spherical stone has become a kind of luminous pearl. The opaque stone body can clearly transmit strands of pale white and gentle light, and the light is continuously and stably output, so that people do not feel any glare or dizziness.
The light energy in the aggregate at the center of the stone evaporates extremely slowly. The one that Zhou Ziwei condensed is estimated to continue shining for at least three to five hours before it completely returns to its original state.
With the sandy space completely sealed off, the people inside had no idea what was happening outside, or even whether they were swimming in water or burrowing underground.
Zhou Ziwei entered and looked around. His gaze lingered for a moment on Jiang Chunshui, who was still unconscious, before he walked up to Zidan, sighed softly, and said, "I know you long for... to heal your leg. Originally... I planned to help you when I had free time after returning to China, but now... um... I don't know if I'll still have the chance to help you. This is a primeval forest on the west side of the lake."
And we… seem to be targeted by a very powerful enemy, but his main target is probably me. Therefore, I can no longer stay with you all; it would lead to our deaths. So… I will leave temporarily. You can choose to leave immediately, or you can wait for me here. However, if you choose the latter… it's best not to wait too long, as this place isn't safe.
"At most one hour... If I haven't returned in an hour, then it might be... I'll never come back. At that point, you can break down this sand space and leave. Of course, before deciding to leave, it's best not to destroy this sand space. After all, this place isn't safe, and with the protection of this space, ordinary wild beasts can't bother you... It's been a pleasure having the opportunity to be your comrades. We... will meet again someday!"
After saying that, Zhou Ziwei winked at Zidan and the others in a playful manner. Then, before anyone could react to what he had just said, he vanished completely in a flash.
After leaping out of the sandy space, Zhou Ziwei immediately condensed into a whirlwind, which enveloped his body and soared upwards. He sat upright in mid-air above the eye of the whirlwind, briefly discerning the source of the terrifying aura. Then, without hesitation, Zhou Ziwei charged straight towards it.
Zhou Ziwei was not flying fast because he was not yet confident in dealing with the mysterious person.
The fact that the other party could place a wisp of spiritual consciousness into his own sea of souls shows that he was no longer an ordinary spiritual martial artist; he was certainly many times stronger than that half-baked woman, Ono Yuko.
They might even be special people like themselves, possessing supernatural abilities.
Zhou Ziwei's soul ability, which he relies on to save his life, might not be as effective against this kind of person. In fact, if the other party is stronger than him in this aspect, Zhou Ziwei might find himself even more constrained and at a disadvantage when using his soul ability in front of him...
Aside from his soul abilities, Zhou Ziwei's most powerful skill seems to be his use of attribute-less energy.
However, Zhou Ziwei seems to have not developed this aspect enough in his daily life. So far, Zhou Ziwei can freely convert attribute-less energy into fire energy, wind energy, water energy and earth energy.
However, Zhou Ziwei mostly used these different types of energy as auxiliary means. For example, he could only use wind energy to fly, and earth energy to burrow underground.
As for using this type of energy for attacks, previously only a fireball condensed from fire energy seemed to have some destructive power, but that fireball technique was somewhat rigid and lacked sufficient flexibility.
The water arrow technique he recently mastered from the lake is a powerful method for group attacks, but... this is a primeval forest with limited water resources, so it's inconvenient for Zhou Ziwei to use the water arrow technique. Even if he could condense water vapor in the air into a few water arrows, there are too few of them, so the power cannot be guaranteed.
If he could transform both wind energy and earth energy into powerful offensive moves, that would be amazing. After all, air and earth are almost ubiquitous in the space where people live. Once Zhou Ziwei mastered the methods of using these two energies, he could use them anytime and anywhere without too many restrictions.
When faced with a formidable enemy, Zhou Ziwei only then thought of trying to find a solution using the rudiments of energy manipulation he had already mastered. He couldn't help but smile wryly to himself, feeling quite like he was cramming at the last minute...
At this moment, Zhou Ziwei could only try his best to use his brain, slowly flying towards the source of that terrifying aura while constantly pondering the situation.
Even if you have to sharpen your skills at the last minute, it's still good to have something to learn... Even in the midst of battle, you can keep honing your skills. As long as there is hope, Zhou Ziwei will not give up any second to improve himself.
Of course... this was also because the spiritual consciousness that had entered his sea of souls put him under great pressure, making Zhou Ziwei realize that the other party had the ability to kill him. That's why Zhou Ziwei was so eager to think of more ways to use in a short time and to have more diverse attack methods.
Because Zhou Ziwei was sitting right in the center of a whirlwind, that is, above the eye of the whirlwind, he felt the wind more vividly than he felt the other types of energy.
Wind... In fact, from a scientific perspective, wind is just a stream of air in a state of motion, and the difference between it and ordinary air lies in the word "motion".
Only air that is moving can be called wind. If the air is still, it is no longer wind. Only air that moves quickly and rapidly is called gale, strong wind, or typhoon. If the air moves very slowly, it is called breeze or light wind.
Undoubtedly, the destructive power of wind can sometimes be quite terrifying. Every year, at least one or two typhoons will have a significant impact on the coastal areas of China. This is something that someone who grew up in a coastal city in their previous life can certainly attest to.
However, to transform the wind into a typhoon with almost world-destroying power, the amount of wind energy that needs to be controlled would be unimaginably vast. At least for now, Zhou Ziwei simply cannot control such powerful energy at once. Even if he tries his best to stuff his middle dantian with all his might, there is a limit to how saturated it can be. And the capacity of the middle dantian determines the total amount of energy that Zhou Ziwei can ultimately control.
Controlling the wind is impossible, and small-scale winds are simply too weak, unless...
Zhou Ziwei found himself in a swirling whirlwind, feeling the rapid flow of air around him. He frowned as he watched the primeval forest slowly passing by, its branches and leaves swaying wildly under the influence of this small whirlwind.
Zhou Ziwei had long thought that since he could condense water into water arrows, theoretically he should also be able to condense wind energy into wind blades. This... seems to be mentioned in most fantasy novels.
Sometimes, a novelist's descriptions are not entirely unfounded. Aren't the things mentioned in fantasy novels remarkably similar to the powers one possesses in reality?
In fact, Zhou Ziwei's ability to suddenly grasp the method of condensing water arrows was also influenced by those novel elements.
Now that I've already created the Water Arrow spell, it shouldn't be a problem for me to create a Wind Blade spell as well!
However, creating an offensive skill out of thin air is not so easy. At least until now, Zhou Ziwei is still clueless. He had just tried to condense a few strands of wind energy and barely managed to compress them into blades before launching them... but unfortunately, the result was that at most the branches swayed a little more than before. As for the so-called destructive power, it was basically nonexistent.
It was truly distressing... And now was definitely not the time for him to immerse himself in creating skills, because after a moment, the feeling of overwhelming power from heaven and earth was getting closer and closer. Although he had not yet seen the shadow of the mysterious person, Zhou Ziwei could feel that the person's killing intent was as real as a physical presence, and it was pressing down on his heart without stopping.
"Boom!" A rumbling sound came from not far to the left. Looking up, one could see a waterfall of considerable size.
Zhou Ziwei was overjoyed. Since he hadn't learned any other attack methods yet, it seemed he would still have to rely on fireballs and water arrows to fight. And since there was water available here, it was like Zhou Ziwei had a slight advantage in terms of terrain.
So Zhou Ziwei stopped heading towards that aura and instead turned around and flew to stand in mid-air above the waterfall.
Zhou Ziwei did not land on the ground or in the water, because he could sense that the mysterious person chasing him must have also flown in from the air; otherwise, that mysterious and terrifying aura would not have pressed down on him so quickly.
Just before today, Zhou Ziwei might have thought that he was the only one in the world who could fly in the air, but now... Zhou Ziwei would naturally no longer be so arrogant. There are always people more capable than you, and there are always higher levels to reach. This world even has such a ridiculous place as the pilot plane, so what else is impossible?
Standing lightly amidst the swirling air currents, Zhou Ziwei soon felt an extreme discomfort emanating from the depths of his soul. Before his eyes, a black and white shadow had flashed from the far distance and arrived at his immediate vicinity.
That powerful and ferocious aura, as sharp as a knife, emanated from the shadow as if it were a tangible force, pressing down squarely on Zhou Ziwei's heart.
He is indeed a powerful spiritual warrior.
Although there was still some distance between them, Zhou Ziwei could clearly sense that the reason the person could fly in the air was because he was using the power of the black iron branch in his hand. The reason why the black iron branch could fly into the air was actually because the mysterious burlap monster was supported by pure spiritual energy.
Therefore, it was as if the burlap monster was using its own strength to lift itself into the air, which felt both very strange and yet had an indescribable sense of harmony.
The burlap-clad monster flew to within a hundred meters of Zhou Ziwei before abruptly stopping. He couldn't levitate his body, but he could use his spiritual energy to manipulate the black iron branch, keeping it suspended in mid-air. Thus, his posture became extremely strange. Unlike before, when the black iron branch pointed straight ahead, his body fell behind, with both his body and the black iron branch at an angle parallel to the ground.
Now that it has stopped, the parallel angle can no longer be maintained. The black iron branch begins to point to the sky, and the burlap monster's body also becomes perpendicular to the ground, as if he is holding a tree branch, but the tree branch is hanging on something in the void.
The burlap monster hung suspended in mid-air, looking up at Zhou Ziwei, who stood steadily in mid-air not far away with a posture far more elegant than his own, and couldn't help but feel extremely horrified.
In his heart, he had long believed that the person who could steal a wisp of the earth's spiritual energy that he had guarded for many years and which had finally begun to emerge from the extreme distance must be a very powerful Grand Spirit Master, a Grand Spirit Master who had advanced many years before him. But now... when he was truly facing Zhou Ziwei, the burlap monster suddenly realized that he couldn't see through the person in front of him at all... what kind of realm he was at.
Judging from the aura, the burlap monster was shocked to sense that the energy in this person's sea of consciousness had reached an unbelievable level, at least many times stronger than his own newly promoted Grand Spirit Master.
However... the burlap monster couldn't sense any trace of the refined spiritual energy that a great spiritual master should possess from this person.
In terms of the degree of spiritual energy condensation alone... this person is not even comparable to an ordinary spiritual energy master, and is only equivalent to the realm of a beginner spiritual martial artist.
But... is it possible for a novice martial artist to possess such a vast amount of spiritual energy? Isn't that just nonsense?
What the burlap monster found even more incomprehensible was that... this person in front of him could stand in mid-air without relying on the power of any magical artifact... Hmm... there seemed to be an aura of a different kind of energy swirling around him, and within this aura of a different kind of energy, there seemed to be a faint shadow of spiritual energy, but it was so faint that it was almost invisible.
But how could such a strange energy support a person's body suspended in mid-air? What... what terrifying spiritual magic is this!
The two stood silently facing each other, about a hundred meters apart, sizing each other up, but remained speechless for a long time.
Both knew the other was formidable, and both felt the other's strength seemed to surpass their own, so... after staring at each other for a long time, neither dared to make the first move and break the strange silence.
Volume 3, King of the City, Chapter 538: Water Dragon
Zhou Ziwei knew that to use his soul power to drive this weapon made of special metal and make it fly, he would need to consume a great deal of soul power, and the larger the weapon was, the more soul power would be consumed.
Each of Zhou Ziwei's three butterfly darts was only about the size of a one-yuan coin. Even with such small darts, if he controlled them for too long, Zhou Ziwei would still feel somewhat exhausted. As long as the three butterfly darts were still floating in the air, he could feel his soul power being constantly drained away like flowing water every second.
Judging from its size alone, the black iron branch used by this burlap monster must be at least several hundred times the size of the three butterfly darts combined. Doesn't that mean that... the spiritual energy consumed by this burlap monster to keep its body suspended using this black iron branch is several hundred times that of Zhou Ziwei when he used the butterfly darts?
Zhou Ziwei didn't believe that the strange man in the burlap sack had more spiritual energy than he did, and even he himself would probably be unable to withstand controlling such a weapon that was like a giant beast that devoured spiritual energy for a long time.
Therefore... Zhou Ziwei was able to stand calmly in the whirlwind. Since the opponent was not moving, he was not in a hurry to make a move. Could there be anything more wonderful than using this method to deplete part of the opponent's strength?
However, Zhou Ziwei soon realized that things were probably not as he thought. The burlap monster wasn't stupid. If this standoff was weakening him, how could he have remained so calm and composed all this time? Moreover, the two of them had been staring at each other and hovering in the air for at least five or six minutes, yet the burlap monster showed no signs of fatigue. So... could this really wear down his opponent's strength? Zhou Ziwei gradually began to have some doubts about this idea.
Then Zhou Ziwei thought of the soul memory he got from Ono Yuko, which said that the most difficult thing for spiritual warriors was to increase their spiritual energy. In Zhou Ziwei's mind, this meant expanding the capacity of their sea of souls. The space of an ordinary person's sea of souls is quite limited, and it is not easy to expand it even a little bit. Or those who understand a little and use soul power frequently will have their sea of souls expand slightly due to the frequent use of soul power.
However, such changes are generally not too drastic, so... for a spiritual warrior, the most important thing in their daily training is to increase the capacity of their sea of souls.
Or, for Zhou Ziwei, the expansion of his soul power had repeatedly caused him a great headache. Often, if he absorbed too much soul power at once, there was a danger that his soul sea would burst.
However, in reality, the expansion speed of Zhou Ziwei's Sea of Souls is still quite astonishing, often doubling in size.
Once he mastered the ability to compress ordinary, misty soul power into liquid soul power, the question of the size of the sea of souls no longer troubled him.
However, it now seems that ordinary spiritual warriors obviously do not have the extraordinary talent of Zhou Ziwei. It is not possible to make the sea of souls expand by 100% in a short time by simply using soul power a few times.
However, although the expansion of the soul sea of ordinary spiritual warriors is extremely slow, their soul power, which is slowly cultivated through their own cultivation secrets, also has an ability that Zhou Ziwei envies: after their spiritual energy is consumed, they don't need to deliberately absorb anything... they can slowly recover to their normal peak state on their own.
Moreover, the recovery speed will continue to increase as the realm improves. For example, Ono Yuko was just the worst and most incompetent among the spiritual warriors who barely entered the field. But even so, after she exhausted all the spiritual energy she had painstakingly cultivated, she could still slowly recover some after a while.