As Zhou Ziwei looked up, he immediately saw faint shadows, almost completely blending into the darkness, like birds, swaying and flying up from below the cliff.
After a dozen or so shadows floated up one after another, they immediately started chasing and playing with each other like mischievous children.
Zhou Ziwei stared intently for a long time before suddenly realizing that these were actually more than a dozen enormous bats.
Zhou Ziwei had never seen or even heard of bats of such a large size. Each bat was nearly half a meter long, and its thin wingspan reached about three meters. A dozen or so huge bats flying together looked like a moving dark cloud.
What's most terrifying are the bats' eyes. Bats typically have very poor eyesight because they live at night. They rely on sound waves emitted from their mouths and their ears to receive the reflected sound waves to determine if there are obstacles in front of them. Even elementary school students know this.
But the bats Zhou Ziwei was seeing now had unusually bright eyes that glowed with an eerie blood-red color, like lanterns stained with blood, looking particularly terrifying in the dark night and desolate mountains.
Zhou Ziwei was slightly startled and hurriedly sat up straight. Just as he was about to wake the two people sleeping in the car, his movement immediately startled the bats circling and flying in the air.
The bats suddenly stopped flying, turned around in unison, and instantly more than thirty blood-red eyes were fixed on Zhou Ziwei, emitting cold, sinister glints.
Damn it... where did this monster come from?!
Zhou Ziwei felt a chill run down his spine as the bats stared at him. He subconsciously reached out and touched the spot beside him. After grabbing a fist-sized rock, he immediately raised his hand and threw it forcefully at the group of bats without thinking.
However, Zhou Ziwei clearly overestimated his physical strength. He was at least twenty meters away from the group of bats. If it were a healthy young man, throwing such a stone wouldn't be difficult. But Zhou Ziwei inherited the body of a sickly person. With all his might, he didn't even reach half the distance before "whoosh"ing down the cliff in an arc.
Seeing the stone fall crookedly, Zhou Ziwei's mood sank slightly.
Previously, he had been thinking about how to get his hands on those cross-shaped darts that originally belonged to the assassins and might end up in the Dangyang Public Security Bureau, so that he could use them as personal weapons for self-defense.
But now, looking at the weak and listless appearance of the stones he had thrown, he suddenly realized that hidden weapons are different from firearms. Even if he had the best hidden weapon skills, if he didn't have the strength in his hands, it would be impossible to hurt someone with hidden weapons!
Health is the foundation of everything... It seems the great man was right after all!
Spurred by this, Zhou Ziwei felt an even stronger urge to make his body stronger as soon as possible.
Although Zhou Ziwei's stone didn't hit any bats, it still stirred up a hornet's nest. The bats went into a frenzy, flapping their thin wings. Three of them, in particular, resembled fierce roc birds and swooped down on Zhou Ziwei.
Before the three bats even got close, a nauseating stench wafted over, almost causing Zhou Ziwei to faint.
Holy crap, did these guys grow up eating shit? They stink like crazy!
Zhou Ziwei cursed inwardly as he rolled over and jumped up.
Although his own strength was pitifully small, unable to throw even a small stone more than twenty meters, with the Niu-style Tai Chi as his backing, he didn't really have much fear of these incredibly strange creatures; he only felt disgusted.
After jumping up, Zhou Ziwei didn't even wait for the creatures to fly close before he began to slowly and leisurely create layers of invisible force fields around himself with cloud-hand punches.
Zhou Ziwei's strength was limited, so the force field he set up around himself did not have any offensive power. The secret of this force field still lay in the principle of using the opponent's force against them, which was no different from the fist technique itself. The reason why Zhou Ziwei set up this force field before the bats arrived was simply to avoid any contact between his hands and feet and these disgusting creatures.
These force fields, like invisible vortexes, were generated from Zhou Ziwei's palms, but they would weaken and dissipate on their own in a short time.
If someone were to enter these force fields at a normal speed, there would be no reaction whatsoever. Only when a powerful force rushes in will it touch these force fields, causing them to rotate rapidly. After absorbing the force that has been forcibly injected, the force fields will be reversed, causing powerful damage to the intruder.
Even the murderous butcher who inherited Zhou Ziwei's memories probably couldn't use this invisible force field. Zhou Ziwei only came to understand it by chance after repeatedly practicing Niu-style Tai Chi during this period, especially after injecting a large amount of soul power into his nerves during the day to improve his reaction speed and sensitivity to a certain level. At this moment, he was just looking at those bats and found them disgusting, so he had a flash of inspiration and used it as if it were a stroke of genius.
However, creating this wondrous force field using the Cloud Hands technique requires significantly more power than directly striking an enemy. Zhou Ziwei had only made a few moves before he was already panting heavily.
The three bats flew extremely fast, almost the instant Zhou Ziwei's force field was set up, they shot out of the force field's distribution range like three arrows released from a bow.
These bats were so sensitive that Zhou Ziwei felt fear. Although the force field was invisible, the bats still clearly sensed the danger and began to frantically flap their wings in an attempt to escape at the last moment.
However, in the end, only the giant bats on the left and right sides managed to reverse their direction, narrowly grazing past Zhou Ziwei's force field.
The one that charged the fastest and pounced on Zhou Ziwei head-on had no time to retreat. With its wings flapping frantically, it managed to rise a little, but its huge claws still crashed into the invisible force field.
With a "crack," the bat's claws were as if they had been shoved into a high-speed electric meat grinder. The switch for this meat grinder was in Zhou Ziwei's hands, while the power source for the meat grinder came from the bat's own impact.
In the blink of an eye, the bat's legs intertwined like a twisted rope, writhing and generating a powerful suction force, as if trying to pull the bat's entire body into that invisible force field.
The bat let out a strange cry that sounded like a baby's wail. Then, it suddenly lowered its head and decisively used its beak, which was obviously many times sharper than that of an ordinary bat, to peck off both of its own legs. Then, it flapped its wings and fled for its life, leaving behind a spray of blood.
Zhou Ziwei hadn't expected these disgusting creatures to have such keen senses, able to foresee the presence of danger in advance. He also hadn't anticipated that the bat, which was clearly under the control of the force field, would still act like a hero cutting off his own arm, using its beak to peck off its own legs in exchange for a chance to escape.
However, relatively speaking, this only demonstrates the creature's cunning. What truly shocked Zhou Ziwei was the cry that sounded like a baby's cry... No! This is definitely not a sound a bat could make! There must be something strange about this...
Volume 1 The Rebirth of a Prodigy Chapter 106 Opportunities and Risks
"Wow... what are these things?! How disgusting..."
Although Zhou Ziwei didn't have time to wake the two people sleeping in the car, when the bats swarmed over, the overwhelming stench was like a powerful poison gas bomb. It would be a miracle if the two of them could still sleep.
As soon as Li Yifeng got out of the car, he witnessed the three bats fiercely attacking Zhou Ziwei. Since he was in the car behind Zhou Ziwei, he also felt as if he were there. After exclaiming in surprise, he was about to jump up to help Zhou Ziwei when he saw two of the bats inexplicably circle around and fly away from Zhou Ziwei.
The other one suddenly pulled upwards, its legs tightening as it tilted its head back as if it were shouting to the sky, but he heard no sound at all.
But at that moment, Li Yifeng and Liu Xiaofei, who had just gotten up from sleeping in the front row, suddenly felt a strange dizziness in their heads, as if they had been hit hard on the back of the head with a blunt hammer wrapped in thick cloth. A stinging pain that seemed to penetrate deep into their souls made them tremble all over. They barely managed to avoid falling down by holding on tightly to the warped car door frame with both hands.
Liu Xiaofei, her face pale, mumbled as she dry-heaved uncontrollably, "This is strange... Why am I so dizzy? Ah... Could we be poisoned... It smells so bad..."
Zhou Ziwei already had some doubts, and when he saw Liu Xiaofei and Li Yifeng's reactions, he became even more certain of his thoughts... There was definitely something strange about these bats!
"What did that bat's call sound like?" Zhou Ziwei asked with a serious expression.
"A cry? Can this bat even cry?"
"Uh...yes...I don't think I heard them calling..."
The two men's answers caused Zhou Ziwei's expression to change again, but this time his feelings were not only fear, but also a touch of surprise.
Because Zhou Ziwei was now basically certain that these bats were not simple creatures at all, but rather a strange creature that existed somewhere between a living being and a soul.
The baby-like cry that the bat with the broken leg had just made was not only extremely jarring, but also sent a slight prickling pain through Zhou Ziwei's soul.
Protected by his extremely powerful soul force, the stinging sensation was like a mosquito bite, disappearing immediately without causing him any harm.
Just by looking at Liu Xiaofei and Li Yifeng's current reactions, Zhou Ziwei knew how terrifying the bat's cry was to ordinary people.
Moreover, even though the two of them were clearly badly injured by the bat, they insisted that they hadn't heard the bat's call at all. This further convinced Zhou Ziwei that the bat's call must be a call from the soul.
If the sound was merely the ultrasonic waves unique to bats, then Zhou Ziwei shouldn't have been able to hear it either. However, he clearly heard it, so it seems that only the sound of a soul could make any sense.
Since these bats can make the cries of a spirit, there is only one explanation: these bats are probably similar to Gu Xiaoli, whom Zhou Ziwei once encountered, and may have been possessed by a ghost.
Otherwise, the sound that the bat made earlier, originating from a pure soul, would be inexplicable.
As for why these ghosts would possess such disgusting creatures, Zhou Ziwei had no idea.
Or perhaps these ghosts had no other choice at the time; if they didn't possess these bats, their only option was to perish in the sunlight. Or perhaps these ghosts weren't human in life, which is also uncertain.
Zhou Ziwei believed that newly born souls would not have the ability to possess the bodies of living people or other living creatures. Therefore, if his guess was correct, each bat here might contain a soul with the same strength as the old ghost that Zhou Ziwei had pulled out of Gu Xiaoli's body.
You should know that after merging with that old ghost, Zhou Ziwei gained the equivalent of two hundred remnant souls' worth of soul power out of thin air, which greatly nourished him.
There were about sixteen or seventeen bats inside. If each bat contained a soul with the same strength as that old ghost, Zhou Ziwei couldn't imagine how astonishing his soul power would grow after he devoured all of them...
Of course, opportunities and risks always go hand in hand. When Zhou Ziwei swallowed the soul power extracted from that old ghost, he almost burst! This was mainly because the soul power in Zhou Ziwei's original soul was almost exhausted at that time. Swallowing energy that was several times stronger than his own soul power was naturally very dangerous.
Zhou Ziwei's soul power is no less than that of the old ghost back then, so even if the souls attached to these bats are slightly stronger than those of the old ghost, Zhou Ziwei is confident that he can digest them.
However, the problem is... there are more than a dozen bats here. If each bat truly contains a soul no weaker than the old ghost, then if Zhou Ziwei recites the Six-Syllable Mantra and simultaneously decomposes and devours these dozen or so powerful souls... he believes his fate will not be much better than those bats whose souls were strangled.
Zhou Ziwei's current soul power exploration range is about ten meters. However, when he recites the Six-Syllable Mantra, the strange halo formed can cover a space of twenty or thirty meters away. Moreover, he does not yet have the ability to precisely control the sacred halo formed by the Six-Syllable Mantra to capture specific targets. Once the sacred halo is formed, it will be a ranged soul attack. Any soul within the range of this halo will be purified into pure soul power and then absorbed by Zhou Ziwei.
So what Zhou Ziwei needs to do now is to separate these bats as much as possible, making them as far apart as possible, so that he can dare to activate the Six-Syllable Mantra and absorb the souls hidden inside the bats.
Furthermore… there was another point that greatly intrigued Zhou Ziwei: he was eager to know how these souls attached themselves to life forms that already possessed souls. After all, Zhou Ziwei was completely unable to allow his soul power to penetrate into any life form that already had a soul.
Unless the soul itself was created by him and was pitifully weak, it would be possible for his soul power to barely penetrate it.
Zhou Ziwei believed that the reason these ghosts were able to possess the bodies of other creatures must be because they had a method he had never thought of. If he mastered this method, wouldn't it mean that he wouldn't only be able to create independent souls in non-living things? If he could also create an independent soul in the body of other living beings and control it properly... the effect it could have would be absolutely unimaginable!
When Zhou Ziwei encountered that old ghost last time, the situation was critical. He didn't have time to think about anything else and directly purified and absorbed the old ghost. Afterwards, he didn't leave behind a single fragment of the old ghost's memory, so even if he wanted to study this problem, he would have no way to study it.
But now there were more than a dozen creatures in front of him who might also be possessed by ghosts, and Zhou Ziwei naturally didn't want to miss this opportunity again.
Furthermore... I wonder how these bats make those strange cries? If Zhou Ziwei could learn that too, he'd be even more awesome. It's like an invisible, intangible soul attack! If the attack is strong enough, it's not impossible for it to shatter the opponent's soul.
This is far more insidious and powerful than any hidden weapon technique! Once Zhou Ziwei masters it, even if he kills someone in broad daylight, no one will have any evidence to prove that he committed the murder…
Holy crap... that's fucking insidious!
Just as Zhou Ziwei was getting excited, he saw the three bats that had attacked him flee back to the rest of the bat colony like stray dogs. The bat that was injured and had a broken leg turned around and flew straight down the cliff under the protection of the other bats. Presumably, the nest of these creatures was at the bottom of this cliff!
The remaining fifteen bats, however, began to form a strange formation like well-trained soldiers. Five bats formed three spindle-shaped formations, and they attacked Zhou Ziwei and his companions from three directions with overwhelming force.
Volume 1, Rebirth of a Prodigy, Chapter 107: Soul Roar
Seeing the bats gathered together so close to each other, Zhou Ziwei naturally dared not easily recite the Six-Syllable Mantra, lest he lose his own life while eliminating these evil creatures.
"Get down on your knees... don't stick your heads out!"
Seeing that Li Yifeng and Liu Xiaofei were barely able to stand, Zhou Ziwei figured they couldn't help him much, so he quickly shoved them both into the car. Then, he swiftly waved his hands again, using cloud hand techniques to create a series of mysterious defensive fields around himself, preparing to ambush them.
After all, there are quite a few bats. If they all swarm from all directions at the same time, even if Zhou Ziwei's Niu-style Tai Chi is incredibly powerful, there will always be areas he can't cover. So the safest way is to keep setting up a defensive force field around himself. That way, he can guarantee that if any of them break in, he'll knock them out one by one.
Of course, this is on the premise that Zhou Ziwei has such good physical strength that he can keep going.
After all, this method of creating a force field out of thin air is extremely physically demanding, and it seems that the thing Zhou Ziwei lacks most right now is physical strength!
To protect Liu Xiaofei and Li Yifeng, Zhou Ziwei set up a much larger force field this time, covering the space above their heads as well.
Therefore, after making these arrangements, Zhou Ziwei was so exhausted that sweat beaded on his forehead and his chest heaved rapidly like a bellows.
To his dismay, these bats seemed to possess intelligence equivalent to that of humans. After one bat paid the price by losing two legs, no other bat was willing to fall for their tricks so easily.
After flying to within seven or eight meters of Zhou Ziwei, the fifteen bats stopped in mid-air almost simultaneously.
Not a single bat lagged behind, nor did any advance rashly. It looked just like a well-trained, disciplined mini-army!
As soon as the bats stopped, they immediately stretched their necks out in unison, glared with their blood-red eyes, and let out a series of shrill cries.
The fifteen bats made different calls; some sounded old and gloomy, some sounded sharp as knives, and some sounded bold and rough... The various sounds were as if they came from the mouths of different men, women, and children.
Although these tones sound different, each sound is a single tone from beginning to end, which is very different from the voice of a real person.
Fifteen voices were emitted simultaneously, naturally converging in mid-air before suddenly crashing into Zhou Ziwei's mind. It felt as if a dozen steel needles were piercing his brain at the same time, causing him to feel dizzy and his soul to suffer severe damage. He almost lost consciousness.
Zhou Ziwei hadn't felt much about the cries made by the injured bat, thinking that these things' soul attacks were nothing special.
Now, after suffering a great loss, he realized that the bat might have just screamed involuntarily when it was injured, and it wasn't an attack specifically targeting him, which is why he was able to withstand it so easily.
However, the cries of these fifteen bats were not only specifically aimed at him, but they were also lined up in a special way, condensing all their soul attack power together and attacking Zhou Ziwei's soul at the same time. In this way, the intensity of the attack was not much less.
Even though Zhou Ziwei's soul protection was many times stronger than that of an ordinary person, he was still nearly shattered by this shock.