So Zhou Ziwei then began to subtly manipulate the eighteen cyclones. Under Zhou Ziwei's deliberate control, the eighteen cyclones quickly merged into a huge cyclone with a diameter of six or seven meters, hovering around Zhou Ziwei's feet like a cloud.
Standing at the center of this cyclone, the entire cyclone immediately exerted a powerful lifting force on Zhou Ziwei, Chu Qiutang, and Wang Xuewei. Zhou Ziwei tried to suppress some of the levitation properties of his liquid soul power, and then he was surprised to find that after losing the levitation properties, the three of them could still stand freely in mid-air without any intention of falling down.
Wind... Is this the power of the wind?
Zhou Ziwei's eyes gleamed with confidence. Then, in a flash of thought, he manipulated the massive vortex beneath his feet to break through the oncoming gale and fly straight towards the direction of the great river...
Wang Xuewei and Chu Qiutang quickly noticed this strange change. They looked down in surprise at the rapidly spinning vortex hovering beneath their feet, and then looked at Zhou Ziwei with inexplicable curiosity.
They originally wanted to ask Zhou Ziwei what was going on, but the wind was too loud at such a high altitude that they figured he wouldn't be able to hear them even if they spoke, so they had to keep their questions to themselves for the time being.
However, Zhou Ziwei didn't care whether they could hear him or not, and shouted loudly to himself, "How about I let you fly by yourselves for a while?"
"What... what are you saying?" The two women could only stare wide-eyed and ask loudly with their mouths agape.
At this moment, Wang Xuewei and Chu Qiutang suddenly realized that the strong arms that had been holding them tightly suddenly loosened, and they were caught off guard and suddenly broke free from Zhou Ziwei's embrace.
"Ah..." Wang Xuewei and Chu Qiutang simultaneously let out a deafening scream, which could not be completely drowned out by the howling wind in the sky.
Keep in mind that this is over a hundred meters in the air, and Wang Xuewei and Chu Qiutang had never imagined that they would have the ability to fly. So, once they were out of Zhou Ziwei's arms, they thought they would immediately fall and be smashed into a pile of minced meat.
To their surprise, although they were freed from Zhou Ziwei's embrace, their bodies did not show any signs of falling. Instead, they were supported by an invisible force and instantly separated from Zhou Ziwei.
After a moment of stunned silence, the two subconsciously looked down at their feet and discovered that a strange vortex had appeared beneath each of their feet.
The eighteen cyclones merged into one, then split into three. Each cyclone was still the size of two tabletops. Under Zhou Ziwei's deliberate control, the buoyancy generated by the highly rotating cyclones was enough to support the body of an adult.
Zhou Ziwei made a rough estimate and concluded that with his current abilities, if he were to split the three cyclones further, he could probably still manage to do so. In other words, Zhou Ziwei could now carry about five people at a time while flying in the air.
And it doesn't require several people to huddle together so intimately... This vortex-like formation is really quite interesting...
Seeing that the two women had finally recovered from their panic and fear, and were now showing signs of excitement and agitation, Zhou Ziwei couldn't help but burst into laughter. Suddenly, he let out a sharp shout, looked towards the distant river, and with a thought, immediately manipulated the vortex of air beneath their feet, rapidly breaking through the high-altitude air currents at a terrifying speed, heading straight towards that direction...
No matter how fast the cyclone spins, it remains stationary at its center, which is what people often call the eye of the storm. As long as Zhou Ziwei and his two companions stand in the eye of the storm, they will naturally not be spinning at high speed with the cyclone beneath their feet.
Maintaining control over these air currents didn't consume much energy for Zhou Ziwei. Apart from the ball of attribute-less energy he released earlier, he hardly needed to consume any more of his internal energy. Only after some energy particles combined with the air gradually dissipated into space during the rotation process would Zhou Ziwei draw a small amount of attribute-less energy from his body to replenish them. Furthermore, his soul power didn't require any consumption at all.
However, soul consciousness does require some consumption. Soul consciousness is essentially a byproduct of soul power. Basically, a person's soul consciousness is equal to the amount of soul power they possess.
Once a person's soul power is depleted, their soul consciousness will naturally weaken as well.
However, if a person's soul consciousness is somewhat depleted, but their soul power is not reduced, then after a period of rest, the depleted soul consciousness will be naturally replenished.
Therefore, Zhou Ziwei was overjoyed to discover that this method of flight would no longer consume even the slightest bit of his soul power.
The soul consciousness can be replenished after a good night's sleep, and the loss of some attribute-less energy in the body can be replenished by sunbathing. In this way, Zhou Ziwei no longer has to worry about energy consumption.
This feeling is absolutely wonderful.
Quietly savoring the thrill of flight, Zhou Ziwei felt an unprecedented sense of joy. He then glanced at Chu Qiutang and Wang Xuewei, who were flying alongside him, their eyes also filled with excitement and anticipation. He slightly opened his mouth, and Wang Xuewei and Chu Qiutang clearly heard a voice as if it were right next to their ears. It felt as if someone was whispering in their ear, and despite the howling wind, the voice seemed completely unaffected.
"Watch out... It seems that the desolate Gobi Desert is no longer just ahead; there appear to be signs of human habitation over there..."
Zhou Ziwei's voice wasn't loud, and in this high-altitude environment, it would have been absolutely impossible for it to reach the ears of the two women, who were at least seven or eight meters away from him.
However, once Zhou Ziwei had taken control of the air in the surrounding area, this was no longer a problem for him.
Sound travels through the vibration of air, and since Zhou Ziwei controls the air, he can make it vibrate and travel however he wants.
"There are signs of human life." Both women were startled by this, then their beautiful eyes lit up with anticipation...
Finally... about two or three minutes later, the three rapidly drifting cyclones arrived above a wide river. Zhou Ziwei and the others stood on the cyclones, looking down at the river below, and couldn't help but feel a sense of emotion.
After passing through that sea of fire, they encountered a river. The three of them had to swim across, but a giant water monster spotted them and almost ate Zhou Ziwei. Now, however, this river, which looked several times wider, posed no obstacle to them.
Having mastered the skills of flight, these ground-based creatures no longer posed a significant threat to them.
The gray-black mud stretched all the way to the riverbank. It seemed that this area had been a Gobi desert ravaged by those black hard-shelled insects. However, after being baptized by the death flames generated by the water of reincarnation, the place had been completely transformed. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but mud, not even a rock the size of a fingernail.
The Reincarnation Water Death Flame is truly a terrifying thing... The destructive power of this flame is simply too horrible. After witnessing the power of this flame, Zhou Ziwei secretly made up his mind that, at least on Earth, this kind of thing must never be used like this. Otherwise, if things go wrong, it's not entirely impossible that the Earth could be destroyed.
This river was many times wider than the one they had seen before. If an ordinary person stood on the riverbank and looked out, they would not be able to see the other side of the river at all. So it is not impossible for someone to think that this is a large lake or even the sea.
However, Zhou Ziwei and his two companions were high in the sky, so the scene they saw was different. On the opposite bank of the river, which was about ten kilometers wide, there was a magnificent dam that was clearly man-made.
On that land, there were no longer monotonous desert plants or desolate Gobi. Everywhere you looked, there were lush trees and crops, small villages, and huge castles... All these discoveries made Zhou Ziwei's heart pound.
There are indeed humans here, and they look to be humans whose physical characteristics are no different from theirs.
Of course, only Zhou Ziwei, with his freakish eyesight that far surpasses that of ordinary people, could see such a distance. As for Wang Xuewei and Chu Qiutang, they could only vaguely make out a line on the opposite bank of the river...
The whirlwind continued its rapid approach to the opposite bank, and soon the dam became increasingly clear before the three of them. Just as Wang Xuewei and Chu Qiutang gaped in astonishment at the colossal dam, tens of meters high, and the magnificent castle built along the water, a burst of colorful fireworks suddenly shot into the sky from the castle on the opposite bank. Instantly, the sound of countless arrows rang out, and a dense rain of arrows rained down on the three of them...
Volume 2: The Assassin's Nightmare, Chapter 392: Breakthrough
A hail of arrows rained down from the sky, so dense that they almost obscured the light of the blazing fireball in the heavens.
Wang Xuewei and Chu Qiutang had never seen such a scene before, and they were immediately terrified, their faces turning deathly pale.
Fortunately, the two of them had gone through many life-and-death situations with Zhou Ziwei along the way. Their skills might not have improved much, but their courage had grown a bit. Even when faced with such a terrifying scene, they only trembled slightly in fear and managed not to fall off the flying vortex.
Zhou Ziwei's expression turned slightly cold. Looking at the boundless rain of arrows, he knew that with the speed of the vortex he was currently controlling, it was impossible for him to escape the area covered by the rain of arrows before it arrived.
Zhou Ziwei made a decisive move, raised one palm, and shouted, "Merge!" Instantly, the vortexes beneath Wang Xuewei and Chu Qiutang's feet moved towards Zhou Ziwei at the same time, merging with the vortex beneath his feet to form the largest vortex that had been formed initially.
"Split—" Seeing the rain of arrows getting closer and closer, Zhou Ziwei first hugged Wang Xuewei and Chu Qiutang tightly, who had crashed into his arms. Then he shouted again, and the huge vortex beneath their feet quickly split into nine smaller vortices. These nine smaller vortices quickly stood upright, like nine invisible shields, completely blocking the three of them from behind.
"Crack crack crack crack..." A series of arrows shot into the nine rapidly spinning vortexes, and were then carried by the strong airflow within the vortexes, starting to spin rapidly along with them. In an instant, they turned into a jumble of arrowheads and tree debris, which fell from mid-air.
The nine small cyclones blocked most of the attacks for the three of them, and it seemed quite easy for them. However, in that short time, Zhou Ziwei had already replenished the energy of the nine small cyclones three times.
However, the remaining energy in Zhou Ziwei's Tanzhong acupoint, a crucial location storing attribute-less energy, was already running low. After all, Zhou Ziwei had only just discovered the method of absorbing and storing external energy for his own use, and it hadn't even been a day yet. How much energy could he possibly absorb for his own use?
A rain of arrows of this scale wouldn't last long; just another minute or two would be enough to completely deplete Zhou Ziwei's available elemental energy. Then… Zhou Ziwei certainly wouldn't just sit idly by. Without elemental energy, he still had his soul power to draw upon, and that was his true trump card for survival. However, using his soul power would be quite painful for Zhou Ziwei, who currently had no good way to replenish it in large quantities…
Zhou Ziwei sighed inwardly. Although he had been worried that the indigenous people might not be very friendly to the three strangers they had encountered, he was concerned that they might not be so friendly to them.
However, he did not expect that the other party would act so fiercely and directly, and would kill him without even asking a question.
These indigenous people clearly live in the era of cold weapons. Aren't people in the era of cold weapons always very superstitious and believe in gods? Why do these guys not only not kneel down to worship when they see someone flying down from the sky, but instead immediately attack them? Is this a people without faith?
Zhou Ziwei gritted his teeth and continued to channel his inexhaustible source of attribute-less energy to replenish the nine vortexes and defend against the rain of arrows. He then braved the arrow storm and rushed straight toward the riverbank.
Since he can no longer use his soul power to fly, he must land safely as soon as possible before his attribute-less energy is completely depleted.
"Boom boom boom..." A series of intense drumbeats sounded from the city tower, followed by a loud "whoosh" as more than a dozen giant arrows, each as thick as a thigh and five meters long, shot out from the city tower, flying towards Zhou Ziwei and his two companions like lightning amidst the boundless rain of arrows.
This giant arrow was clearly launched by a crossbow, and the powerful crossbow increased the speed of the arrow to the extreme, so fast that ordinary people had no time to react.
Fortunately, Zhou Ziwei was no ordinary person. Although he was not using his soul power to repel the enemy, he maintained a nerve sensitivity that was more than six times that of an ordinary person at all times. Therefore, although this scene happened very suddenly, Zhou Ziwei had already noticed it the moment the dozen or so giant arrows left the city wall.
These dozen or so giant arrows were extremely powerful. Zhou Ziwei had no doubt that if these giant arrows were to hit his vortex, the few vortices he had painstakingly condensed would not even last a second before being shattered.
However, although these dozen or so giant arrows were fast, they were still not fast enough to outpace Zhou Ziwei's reaction speed. He could not completely escape the attack range of these dozen or so giant arrows in such a short moment. However, there were still large gaps between these thick giant arrows. Zhou Ziwei only needed to find these gaps.
These gaps are just big enough for one person to pass through, but it's simply impossible for three people to pass through one gap at the same time.
So at this moment, Zhou Ziwei suddenly changed the huge vortex beneath his feet again, causing it to split into three in the blink of an eye, and he pushed Wang Xuewei and Chu Qiutang onto the other two vortices respectively.
So the three of them, like three giant birds darting into a dense forest, darted through the gaps between the giant arrows with a "whoosh," and none of them were hit by the arrows.
However, three of the nine smaller cyclones that were acting as shields were hit head-on by the giant arrow during this powerful attack. The cyclones exploded in the air and disappeared into a scattering mass of air.
Having dodged that fatal attack, the remaining six small cyclones were no longer enough to completely shield the three of them. So Zhou Ziwei simply had the six cyclones protect Wang Xuewei and Chu Qiutang, while he himself was completely exposed to the rain of arrows.
"husband……"
"Director Zhou, be careful."
Seeing Zhou Ziwei expose his entire body to the rain of arrows in order to protect them, Wang Xuewei and Chu Qiutang cried out in alarm. However, they were in mid-air and could not control the air masses beneath their feet. So, apart from shouting at the top of their lungs, the two women could not help at all. Even if they wanted to use their bodies to shield Zhou Ziwei from the sharp rain of arrows, they were powerless to do so.
"Don't worry! I won't die."
Zhou Ziwei didn't seem to care too much about this level of attack. He stood steadily on the vortex, his hands moving rapidly in front of him as if dancing. Every small movement was so perfect and harmonious that it gave people a feeling of amazement.
In an instant, a temporary force field formed in front of Zhou Ziwei. Once the dense arrows entered that strange spatial defense, they immediately experienced a strong sense of distortion. It was as if all the arrows hit a slippery membrane on Zhou Ziwei's body. As soon as they touched it, they would immediately change angle and fly past Zhou Ziwei. It was as if the arrows in the sky had eyes, and not a single one of them hit even a corner of Zhou Ziwei's clothes.
The distance between them closed rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, the three of them were less than two hundred meters above the castle.
Then a series of booming drumbeats rang out again, followed by a series of piercing buzzing sounds.
The massive arrow, as thick as a thigh, immediately shot out again from the city wall.
This time, however, all the giant arrows bypassed Wang Xuewei and Chu Qiutang, and shot straight at Zhou Ziwei.
It seems that the people on the city wall have also guessed that Zhou Ziwei is the most important of the three. As the saying goes, to catch the thief, you must first catch the king. As long as Zhou Ziwei is dealt with, the other two will naturally fall apart on their own.
However, this attack strategy was exactly what Zhou Ziwei wanted. If the other party had focused their attacks on Wang Xuewei and Chu Qiutang, Zhou Ziwei might have been forced to hesitate and be unable to defend himself properly. But now that all the strong attacks were directed at him, he breathed a slight sigh of relief.
The whistling arrows came crashing down like a tidal wave, but this didn't pose much of a problem for Zhou Ziwei. Back when he faced a hail of bullets, he could find tiny gaps in the dense bullets to dodge, let alone these thick wooden arrows.
This time, Zhou Ziwei didn't need to use any soul-covering techniques. He simply increased his reaction speed by more than ten times in an instant, then drove the vortex of energy beneath his feet forward instead of backward, rushing straight towards the swarm of giant arrows being fired from below. Once inside the range of the giant arrows, he twisted and turned his body repeatedly, managing to find a gap in the dense rain of arrows that was barely wide enough for one person to pass through, and safely and steadily slipped through.
Zhou Ziwei had already lost the protection of the small vortex that served as a shield, and now, in order to avoid those sharp giant arrows, he couldn't even use his hands to create a temporary force field to block the arrows. Instantly, Zhou Ziwei's body, which had just passed through the giant arrow attack, was hit all over by at least forty or fifty densely packed arrows.
Wang Xuewei and Chu Qiutang let out another hoarse shout, but before their shouts had even faded, all the arrows that had been shot at Zhou Ziwei were deflected by his body, and not a single one of them actually managed to pierce through his clothes and injure him.
They then remembered that their gear was top-of-the-line, with extremely strong bulletproof properties. Even ordinary sniper rifles would have difficulty penetrating it, let alone arrows fired by human force.
Being hit by so many arrows, pain was inevitable, but he shouldn't suffer any serious injuries. The two women had worried about Zhou Ziwei for nothing.
The distance was shortened once again. Zhou Ziwei was now less than a hundred meters away from the castle wall. Even without straining his eyes, he could clearly see the appearance of the natives below.
Countless soldiers clad in leather armor stood in neat rows on the wide battle path behind the city wall. These soldiers were clearly divided into several different types of troops. The people at the front stood with spears, each spearman was followed by a shieldman, and then a row of soldiers holding large cleavers. At the very back were the most numerous and densely packed archers.
These natives looked much like Earthlings... or rather, Chinese people. Most of the soldiers had yellow skin and black hair, but they were noticeably shorter and more robust than humans on Earth.
Before all the soldiers, an old man who looked like a general, with long silver hair, looked up at Zhou Ziwei, who was passing through a row of sharp, heavy arrows. His eyes revealed a fierce and hateful light. Suddenly, he drew his sword from his waist, roared something, and brought the sword down heavily.
As the general's sword fell, the spearmen in the front row suddenly shouted in unison, and all their spears flew out of their hands, shooting towards Zhou Ziwei.
Seriously?! Do all these spearmen have such incredible arm strength?
Zhou Ziwei was secretly taken aback upon seeing this. He knew that he was currently at least 80 or 90 meters away from the city wall, and in mid-air at an angle above him. At such a distance, the enemy was going to throw spears at him. How much strength would these soldiers have to do that?
Amazed, Zhou Ziwei deliberately paused slightly in mid-air, and used his soul consciousness to control the vortex beneath Wang Xuewei and Chu Qiutang's feet, causing it to retreat instead of advance, stopping in a relatively confined area.
With a quick glance, Zhou Ziwei noticed that most of the spears were already running out of steam when they were still more than twenty meters away from him. He couldn't help but feel relieved, thinking to himself that although these natives were all quite strong, they didn't seem as terrifying as he had imagined.
He estimated that if these spearmen wanted to use their spears as throwing weapons, their effective killing range would only be within fifty meters. The silver-haired general who ordered his men to throw spears from such a distance must have been terrified.
However, just when Zhou Ziwei thought that the spears, which were not far away but were clearly exhausted, no longer posed any threat to him, he suddenly saw the flying spears burst into dazzling bursts of fire. The rear half of the spear shafts of all the spears suddenly exploded, while the remaining front half of the spear tips, as if they had taken an aphrodisiac, shot towards Zhou Ziwei at a speed several times faster than before.
Holy crap... no way! The secondary burst technology used in these spears looks a bit like the launch technology of an aircraft rocket! This... is a bit too scary!