In any case, everything here is very different from Earth, and many things are beyond the comprehension of these Earthlings using their habitual way of thinking.
Zhou Ziwei only needed to explain that he had unintentionally absorbed a trace of divine power, and then, under the influence of the divine power, devoured a lot of metal. Finally, the divine power exerted the property of metal to revert to its original form, and thus, this metal garment that could change shape at will was born.
Zhou Ziwei did not lie to Wang Xuewei and Chu Qiutang, and it was indeed the case. However, Zhou Ziwei omitted the fact that he possessed soul power and had already used his soul power to create a soul entity in this alloy suit.
When the three of them descended from the sky and appeared at the camp, they found it in complete chaos. Countless soldiers were setting off from the camp, splitting into teams to search the mountains and fields in all directions.
Meanwhile, the old charlatan was leaning on a cane and circling around in front of Zhou Ziwei and his two companions' tent.
When the soldiers saw the three flying through the air, they were immediately in an uproar. Many of them had already drawn their bows and arrows, ready to shoot the three of them down. It was only when Zhou Ziwei shouted in the language of the Great Xia Dynasty that he was the Divine Son that the soldiers reacted.
In the past, the people of the Great Xia Dynasty seemed to only the shamans of the Wusang Kingdom could fly in the sky, so when they saw people in the sky, they instinctively thought that people from an enemy country had come to invade.
However, the fact that Zhou Ziwei and his two companions first appeared by descending from the sky and were even able to fly in the sky without the aid of "magical artifacts" had already spread throughout the army. Many of the people present had participated in that battle, so upon hearing Zhou Ziwei's shout, they confirmed that the newcomers were not enemies and thus avoided an unnecessary misunderstanding.
As soon as the three landed in front of the tent, the old charlatan immediately came up to them with a bitter face, leaning on his cane, and scolded Zhou Ziwei a few times.
It turns out that because of the unique climate of this place, soldiers would set off immediately when it was just dawn, so that they could travel as far as possible while it was still cool, and then find a shady place to rest when the weather got hot.
But just as the group was about to set off, the divine child still hadn't appeared. The old charlatan had no choice but to come and knock on the door himself, only to find no one in the tent. This terrified the old charlatan half to death.
Although the divine child was discovered by the old charlatan, the matter has been reported to the temple and has received high attention from the temple. If he loses the divine child along the way, he will be severely punished by the temple.
Just as the old charlatan was searching for the missing Divine Child, he suddenly received a message from the Central Temple, saying that a mutiny had occurred in the Great Xia Kingdom and a million-strong army was approaching Xianjing City.
At this critical moment, the newly emerged divine prince was needed to stabilize the morale of the people and the army. Therefore, a giant ostrich beast was specially dispatched to bring the divine prince directly to Xianjing, otherwise, things might change if it was delayed.
The giant ostrich is an extremely rare bird-like behemoth with night vision. It is enormous, with an adult ostrich having a wingspan of up to twenty meters, and it can easily carry seven or eight people at a time.
The army's march would take more than twenty days, but the ostrich beast flew from Xianjing to them in just one night. Now, the ostrich beast's temple messenger has been urging them more than once to make sure that the old charlatan takes the divine child and sets off immediately, and must arrive in Xianjing before tonight.
Upon receiving the temple's order, the old charlatan became even more anxious, as if his pants were on fire. He immediately dispatched all the soldiers to search for Zhou Ziwei and his companions.
Although the old charlatan knew that Zhou Ziwei had the ability to fly, if Zhou Ziwei really intended to stand him up and leave without saying goodbye, he would probably have run far away by now. These soldiers would probably never be able to find him by running on foot.
But the temple's order weighed heavily on the old charlatan's mind like a mountain. In his desperation, he had no better ideas and could only do his best and leave the rest to fate.
Unexpectedly, Zhou Ziwei flew back shortly after the old swindler sent his men out. When Zhou Ziwei explained that the three of them had gone out to find a place to take a bath because they couldn't sleep at night, the old swindler was so angry that he clutched his chest and coughed for a long time. However, he didn't dare to say anything too harsh to Zhou Ziwei and could only urge him to hurry up and get on his way.
When Zhou Ziwei heard that the temple had sent a huge ostrich-like beast, and that it could travel in that thing and reach Xianjing in about a day, he was overjoyed.
He was already eager to find a way back to Earth and was extremely dissatisfied with the slow marching speed. Now that he heard that he could reach his destination in a day, he naturally had no reason to refuse.
I was just a little worried that Wang Xuewei and Chu Qiutang wouldn't be able to stand the sun exposure during the day, which made me hesitate a bit.
When the old charlatan told him that there was a hide tent set up on the ostrich to block out the sun, Zhou Ziwei no longer had any concerns.
When the three of them finally saw the enormous ostrich beast under the old charlatan's guidance, they were all genuinely amazed.
This guy is really big. Even the military helicopter that the old leader gave to Zhou Ziwei on Earth is not half the size of this guy.
This giant bird looked extremely ferocious, bearing no resemblance whatsoever to an ostrich on Earth. Its slender head resembled that of a dragon from legend, while its wings were like those of a bat, thin and almost transparent when unfolded.
The back of this behemoth was so wide that even if three houses were built on it, it wouldn't feel crowded. At this moment, a luxurious animal skin tent had already been erected on its broad back. Inside the tent, thick felt mats were laid out, and a young man with an arrogant and cold face was sitting cross-legged in the center of the tent. When he saw the old charlatan bring several people in, he first glanced at Zhou Ziwei, and then his gaze settled on Wang Xuewei and Chu Qiutang, revealing a hint of amazement.
Seeing that the young man's eyes were a little strange, the old swindler frowned inwardly, then deliberately coughed loudly and said, "Protector Mo, this is the Divine Child from beyond the heavens, and these two are the Divine Child's concubines... Protector Mo, according to the etiquette of my temple, shouldn't you... shouldn't you treat the Divine Child with the respect due to a divine servant?"
Upon hearing this, the young man known as Protector Mo slowly turned his head, focusing his gaze on Zhou Ziwei once more. He sized Zhou Ziwei up and down before letting out a soft snort and saying, "The Divine Child... if he's not an imposter, I will naturally greet him with the respect due to a divine servant. But... his identity is not yet confirmed, so isn't it a bit too early to pay my respects? Hmph... if someone just casually puts on some strange clothes and claims to be the Divine Child, how many people would I have to bow to?"
The old charlatan's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he said with a hint of anger, "Protector Mo, the Divine Child once received the baptism of divine power, but he was completely unharmed and was even able to absorb the divine power into his body. This is something I have witnessed with my own eyes, so how could it be fake?"
Protector Mo slightly pursed his lips and said, "You said it yourself... you saw all these things with your own eyes, but I didn't see anything, and none of the elders of the temple saw anything either. How can you expect me to confirm that he is the Divine Child? Hmph... who knows if you and he colluded together."
"You..." The old charlatan never expected that Protector Mo would say such a thing to him, and his eyebrows shot up in anger.
In terms of rank, the old charlatan was an elder of a branch temple of the temple, holding considerable power within the temple, second only to the thirteen elders of the main temple, far surpassing Protector Mo.
However, this temple lineage has always been led by the main temple master, and the position of protector is equivalent to the confidant of the main temple elder. Now, he also serves as a messenger, which is like an imperial envoy in the secular world, so his status and position are naturally different.
Moreover, this Protector Mo is the grandson of an elder of the main temple, which is why he has developed an arrogant nature and has never taken the old charlatan, a branch temple elder, seriously. When he saw the old charlatan, who was of a higher rank than him, he not only did not rise to greet him according to the temple's etiquette, but even made sarcastic remarks.
If Protector Mo hadn't included Zhou Ziwei in his attack, the old charlatan would probably have had to swallow his anger. But now that the dignity of the Divine Child was at stake, the old charlatan could no longer suppress his rage. He snorted coldly and said, "You're right, the Divine Child's identity hasn't been confirmed by the elders of the Main Temple, but it hasn't been confirmed that he's a fraud either. And you're saying such disrespectful things about the Divine Child now. Let's see how you explain yourself when the Divine Child's identity is confirmed!"
Protector Mo scoffed dismissively, saying, "So what if he really is the Divine Child? In the prophecy, the Divine Child is merely a fleeting visitor to our Great Xia Dynasty, and will not hold any real position in our temple. So... even if he wants to do something to me, he probably won't have the power. Besides... the real Divine Child shouldn't understand our Great Xia Dynasty's language. Even if I point my finger at him and curse him, he won't know what I'm saying. And how can your old man's one-sided statement really prove anything? Haha..."
The old charlatan was so angry at Protector Mo that he trembled all over. He pointed at Protector Mo and said in a trembling voice, "Protector Mo, you...you will be punished by the gods for doing this."
Protector Mo curled his lip in disdain and said, "Divine punishment? What kind of nonsense is that? What's with all this talk about gods? It's just something people make up to fool themselves. You old codger, you're a very devout believer in God, right? Then let me ask you, have you ever actually seen what God looks like? No, right? So how do you know that God really exists in this world?"
"You...you false believer!" The old charlatan was practically going mad at this point, glaring at Protector Mo and accusing him, "It's unbelievable! How could such an outcast like you be given such an important role as protector in the great and holy temple? As a protector of the temple, how dare you utter blasphemous words! The gods will surely..."
"God will surely punish me, won't he?" Protector Mo said with a faint smile, "Then let him punish me, hehe... If there really is a god in this world, then he must be very angry right now, and he will definitely punish me severely, right? But if nothing happens to me, wouldn't that prove that there are no ghostly gods in this world? Since that thing doesn't exist at all, why should I be afraid of him? Hmph... Not only will I blaspheme against the gods, but I will also blaspheme against the Divine Child's concubines on this ostrich beast later, haha... The Divine Child's concubines, what noble and beautiful women they are! I really long to see them moaning under my crotch... That would be incredibly wonderful, wouldn't it, Divine Child?"
The two talked for a long time, but they were communicating in the language of the Great Xia Dynasty. Normally, Zhou Ziwei would not have been able to understand them at all. However, just last night, Zhou Ziwei had devoured the souls of hundreds of wizards from the Wusang Kingdom. Almost all of these wizards were fluent in the language of the Great Xia Dynasty, so Zhou Ziwei could understand what they were saying very clearly.
Zhou Ziwei originally wanted to pretend to be deaf and dumb and not get into any conflict with this temple protector who clearly harbored some inexplicable hostility towards him. However, when this idiot finally said those words, Zhou Ziwei's face immediately turned completely gloomy.
You dare to lay a finger on my woman? Hmph... Well then, I'll punish you, you idiot, on behalf of God!
Volume 2: The Assassin's Nightmare, Chapter 407: Wolong Mountain
Faced with Protector Mo's seemingly enthusiastic but actually lewd smile, Zhou Ziwei solemnly clasped his hands together in front of him...
How can we torture this beast?
Zhou Ziwei was still hoping to obtain the temple's inheritance and see if he could find a way back to Earth. Therefore, it was not advisable for him to openly turn against this beast, let alone kill him directly. Otherwise, if the elders of the main temple developed a prejudice against him, it would be difficult to obtain the divine inheritance later.
Therefore, even if we want to deal with this Protector Mo, we must do it flawlessly, at least so that others cannot tell who did it.
Zhou Ziwei's eyes darted around, and he had already made up his mind. On the surface, he was still putting on airs, but in secret, he had already used hypnosis, silently releasing a wisp of special soul power that invaded the brain of Protector Mo.
It must be admitted that Protector Mo's soul is quite powerful. Not counting those pure soul entities, Protector Mo's soul strength is probably one of the strongest that Zhou Ziwei has ever seen.
However, no matter how powerful his soul was, the amount of soul power he possessed would never exceed fifty. Even though Zhou Ziwei's soul power was severely depleted, he still had more than ten thousand units of soul power. The two were not even in the same league. Therefore, Zhou Ziwei only had to exert a little effort to successfully invade the other's sea of souls and gain the ability to influence his soul consciousness.
"God said... all those who blaspheme against God will be punished in the unseen realm..."
Zhou Ziwei muttered to himself solemnly, but he spoke in Chinese. The old charlatan could understand him, but he didn't understand why Zhou Ziwei would suddenly say such a thing.
Wasn't this divine child from beyond the heavens, completely ignorant of the language of the Great Xia Dynasty? Then naturally, he couldn't possibly understand Protector Mo's words. But… if he didn't understand Protector Mo's words, why did he suddenly utter the words that those who blaspheme against the gods should be punished…?
Just as the old charlatan was filled with doubt, Protector Mo, whose gaze had suddenly become blank, involuntarily stood up and walked to the tent entrance like a walking corpse. He strode onto the broad back of the ostrich and shouted loudly to the many soldiers of the Great Xia Dynasty below who were packing their belongings to prepare for departure: "I am guilty! I should not have despised divine might! I should not have blasphemed the gods! I pray for divine punishment... Punish me! Great, supreme creator god!"
Protector Mo shouted these words at the top of his lungs, and all five thousand soldiers who hadn't had time to retreat heard them clearly. They were all extremely surprised and couldn't understand what was wrong with this powerful figure from the main temple.
But before anyone could figure out what was going on, Protector Mo suddenly knelt down on the ostrich's back and swung his hands, slapping himself hard across the face.
"Slap, slap..." Protector Mo slapped himself with all his might with each slap, showing no mercy whatsoever. In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen slaps had been delivered, and his once somewhat handsome face was now swollen more than a pig's head, with blood constantly seeping from the corners of his mouth. His appearance was so terrifying that the thousands of soldiers present were dumbfounded, completely unable to comprehend what had happened.
The most shocked of all was the old charlatan who followed closely out of the tent. However, the old charlatan was only slightly shocked for a moment before his expression changed into extreme surprise and excitement.
The gods have shown their power! This must be the work of the gods!
Just now, this Protector Mo was shouting that if there really are gods in this world, then let them punish him and see. If he can blaspheme against the gods without being punished, then it naturally proves that there are no gods in this world. And this guy just said such disrespectful words to the gods, and immediately turned into this, as if he had gone mad, kneeling there in front of everyone and slapping himself hard.
The old charlatan didn't believe that this arrogant and domineering fellow would suddenly repent and punish himself in front of others in this way.
But... if it wasn't Protector Mo who repented and punished himself, then wouldn't that mean... the great god actually manifested and publicly punished this blasphemer?
The old charlatan trembled with excitement at the thought that the gods, who had been silent for countless years, had finally displayed their divine power once again.
Of course... the old charlatan hadn't forgotten what Zhou Ziwei had said with his palms together. It seemed... it seemed that it was right after Zhou Ziwei said those words that Protector Mo suddenly turned into this state.
Could it be that... this divine child not only represents the bloodline of the gods, but can also directly communicate with the will of the gods?
In an instant, the old charlatan's gaze toward Zhou Ziwei was filled with even more awe and worship.
Zhou Ziwei also walked to the entrance of the tent, maintaining a solemn expression with his hands clasped together, but there was a hidden smile between his brows.
It feels so good to tease this guy... How about we do something even more exciting?
As soon as Zhou Ziwei had a thought, a wisp of invisible and attribute-free energy suddenly burst forth from his middle dantian. However, this time, the energy was neither converted into heat energy nor wind energy, but into a completely new form of energy - electrical energy.
Although Zhou Ziwei had never tried converting attribute-less energy into electrical energy before, in fact, besides soul energy, electrical energy was the energy he was most familiar with.
Because his soul power inherently contains electrical energy, and what is soul power? It is the energy manifestation of a person's entire will and soul.
This means that the various properties and characteristics of electrical energy had already penetrated deep into his soul. Therefore, although he had never tried to convert attributeless energy into pure electrical energy before, when he used it for the first time, he did not feel any hindrance. In fact, it was even smoother than the heat energy and wind energy that he had used many times before.
A wisp of electrical energy slowly shot out from Zhou Ziwei's palm, but Zhou Ziwei deliberately expanded the distance between the electrons several times, so that this energy, which could have formed a very conspicuous high voltage, silently seeped out of Zhou Ziwei's body, and no one could feel the existence of this strange energy.
"Slap—" Protector Mo slapped himself hard across the face again, causing his upper body to spin halfway before crashing to the ground. Even though his face was now a bloody mess from his own slap, he still maintained a fanatical expression. Lying on the ground, he raised his head high, looked up at the clear blue sky above, and roared, "Great God... please punish me, this sinner!"
As if in response to Protector Mo's "devout" prayer, a deafening thunderclap suddenly resounded in the cloudless sky. Then, countless soldiers present watched in disbelief as a streak of silver lightning abruptly appeared in mid-air, and with a "crack," it fell straight down from the sky, striking Protector Mo squarely.
Instantly, a strong, acrid smell filled the air. Protector Mo's fragile nerves finally gave way, and he fainted. Even after he passed out, crackling electric sparks would occasionally burst from his body, and the acrid smell lingered for a long time, as if demonstrating to the world the aura of a god that was enough to make people's hearts tremble.
"Woo—" The giant ostrich was clearly startled by the lightning, letting out a long screech before spreading its wings, which were over twenty meters wide, and soaring into the azure sky.
The two temple disciples sitting on the ostrich's neck were startled and nearly thrown off in their panic. They screamed and tightened their grip on the control ropes, gripping the ostrich's neck tightly. They finally managed to control the rampaging ostrich and, after consulting with the old charlatan, rode the ostrich straight towards Xianjing...
Poor Protector Mo was struck by a bolt of lightning, which scorched his skin and flesh all over his body. His black hair was like pig bristles that had been singed by fire, with each strand curled up and standing upright on his head.
This was only because Zhou Ziwei showed mercy, carefully controlling the lightning bolt to only lash Mo Hufa's skin and flesh without penetrating his internal organs. Otherwise, this guy would probably have been electrocuted to death even if he had nine lives.
This series of accidental discoveries allowed Zhou Ziwei to once again master a new energy attack mode.
The three current energy conversion modes are thermal energy, electrical energy, and wind energy.
Thermal energy can form extremely unstable high-temperature fireballs that can explode with tremendous power in an instant. This energy conversion mode is advantageous for attack and has immense power, but its weakness lies in its difficulty to control. Wind energy conversion has almost no offensive effect, but it is advantageous for defense and can carry people into flight, making it an excellent auxiliary energy conversion mode. Electrical energy is also a very direct attack mode. While the power of this form of energy attack may not be as fierce as thermal energy, it is superior in that it can be precisely controlled and used with great flexibility.
If Zhou Ziwei had used attribute-less energy to convert into heat and create a violent fireball that struck Protector Mo, it would have been impossible to conceal. Anyone would immediately recognize that it was Zhou Ziwei who unleashed it. Furthermore, the explosive power of the fireball would have been immense; even if Zhou Ziwei had wanted to suppress it, he would have struggled. In that case, he might have had no choice but to collect Protector Mo's remains… Of course, how many shattered bones he would have collected is still an unknown quantity…
Seeing Protector Mo being electrocuted into such a miserable state, the old swindler felt quite satisfied, but due to the power of Protector Mo's father, he didn't dare to go too far. After carefully testing Zhou Ziwei's intentions and seeing that Zhou Ziwei didn't intend to kill Protector Mo, he carefully dragged Protector Mo into the tent, then took out some healing medicine he carried with him and haphazardly fed some to Protector Mo.
Of course, what he fed Protector Mo were just some ordinary medicines to promote muscle growth, improve blood circulation, and replenish vital energy. As for medicines to treat lightning strike injuries, he didn't have any on him, so he could only wait until they arrived in Xianjing and hand this spendthrift son over to his own father to deal with.
The old charlatan didn't dare treat Protector Mo's injuries until he tested Zhou Ziwei's intentions. It wasn't that he had the keen eyes to see through Zhou Ziwei's schemes, but rather that he mistakenly believed that Zhou Ziwei, the divine son, could directly communicate with the supreme creator god. Therefore, he naturally dared not disobey Zhou Ziwei's wishes.
Poor Protector Mo was unconscious for an entire day before finally waking up just as the ostrich beast was about to arrive in Xianjing City. However, perhaps because he had been deeply hypnotized by Zhou Ziwei, although he was awake, he was still not quite lucid. He lay there groaning and moaning, his eyes sometimes confused and sometimes filled with fear, which made the old charlatan guarding him sigh incessantly.
This is the consequence of blaspheming the gods... Hopefully, the younger generation in the temple, who are almost all like Protector Mo, will be awakened by this!
Zhou Ziwei never went back into the tent. For others, the sunlight here was too harsh and glaring, especially for beautiful women. Chu Qiutang was worried that if she lived in this awful place for two or three months, she would probably become darker than an African.
However, for Zhou Ziwei, this abundant solar energy was a good source of energy for him to absorb and increase his attribute-less energy. A whole day of sun exposure would immediately fill a very pleasing energy lake in his almost bottomless middle dantian.
Moreover, absorbing attribute-less energy in this way is safe and has no side effects, making it much more pleasant than absorbing it directly in a raging fire.
Because the heat particles released by the giant fireball in the sky are drawn into Zhou Ziwei's body by the suction force generated by every pore on his body as soon as they get close, no matter how hot the sunlight is, it will not cause much damage to Zhou Ziwei's skin.
However, Zhou Ziwei felt that his newborn skin was so fair and tender that it was almost unbelievable, to the point that women would be jealous. This was not a good thing, and he had no intention of changing careers to become a gigolo.
Therefore, Zhou Ziwei had to deliberately reduce his efficiency in absorbing heat energy, allowing the sunlight to fully irradiate his skin before being absorbed into his body.