Because there was no comparison, Zhou Ziwei didn't know what the natural recovery speed of spiritual energy would be like at a higher level. But he guessed that, judging from the level of this strange man in burlap, the natural recovery speed of his spiritual energy was probably about the same as the speed at which he wielded the black iron branch in his hand. Even if it wasn't completely equal, it was probably close. Otherwise, this guy in burlap would never have been able to remain so calm and composed for so long.
Since the monster was so certain, Zhou Ziwei knew that continuing the stalemate was pointless. He smiled slightly, slowly gathering a large amount of attribute-less energy from his dantian into his palm, enough to unleash a killing move at any moment. Then he spoke to the burlap monster, "What do you want from chasing me all this way? Why are you silent when you see me?"
"Young man..." Upon hearing Zhou Ziwei speak, the burlap-clad monster's eyes flashed with intense killing intent once again. He gritted his teeth and said fiercely, "I have been guarding that thousand-year-old earth spirit spring for over a decade, and I have finally waited for it to gush forth spiritual energy. But you, young man... dare to steal an entire ball of spiritual energy from the spring right before my eyes! Hmph... If the earth spirit spring hadn't spewed out slightly more spiritual energy than usual this time, I fear I wouldn't have been able to successfully advance to the Great Spirit Master realm. This is truly intolerable! If you, young man, cannot give me a reasonable explanation today, I will show you just how terrifying the wrath of a Great Spirit Master can be."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ziwei's heart stirred slightly. He pondered to himself: The memories he received from Ono Yuko said that the advancement of a Spirit Warrior's realm could only be achieved through slow, gradual cultivation. How come, judging from the old monster's words, it seemed that he had simply absorbed a few more wisps of that so-called "earth spiritual energy" and directly advanced to the realm of a Great Spirit Master? Uh... this monster is already a Great Spirit Master. This... a Great Spirit Master seems to be a rather high-level existence among Spirit Warriors. Even with Ono Yuko's knowledge, she only seemed to know that there were only a few Great Spirit Masters in the world. As for the Divine Spirit Master, who is one level higher than a Great Spirit Master... that seems to exist only in legends, and at least one hasn't appeared for over a hundred years.
This means that... in this era, a Grand Spirit Master is practically the pinnacle of all spiritual warriors, and now, in front of Zhou Ziwei, this monster that looks like a thousand-year-old zombie is actually such a pinnacle existence.
Of course... saying that this old zombie is the pinnacle of spiritual warriors is probably not entirely accurate. After all, according to the old monster, he has only just broken through to the Great Spirit Master realm. Each realm of a spiritual warrior involves a huge leap. From the initial step into the Great Spirit Master realm to truly reaching the peak of the Great Spirit Master realm, there is still a considerable gap.
Nevertheless, for Zhou Ziwei, this was an unprecedentedly powerful existence. Compared to the burlap freak in front of him, the so-called top ten assassins controlled by the black market assassin network were nothing more than a bunch of clowns.
If given a choice, Zhou Ziwei would most likely have avoided provoking this monster. But little did he know that such a creature would exist within the range of his Six-Syllable Mantra. And the timing of his mantra was so coincidental that it snatched food from the old monster's mouth. No wonder the creature was so relentlessly attacking.
Zhou Ziwei really wanted to say to this old zombie: I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to steal food from your mouth. Please be magnanimous and don't hold it against a junior like me!
However, Zhou Ziwei knew that in front of such a powerful person, the more he showed weakness and respect, the more he might be looked down upon and trampled on.
So in the end, Zhou Ziwei did not choose to compromise, nor did he try to explain anything. He simply flicked his left hand, and three butterfly darts suddenly appeared out of nowhere, like three real flying saucers, swirling and dancing on his fingertips. From a distance, anyone who did not know the truth would definitely think that the three flying saucers were living things, rather than some kind of hidden weapon or magical artifact.
"What kind of explanation do you want from me? If you want to fight, then do it now. If you don't want to fight, then you should go find a place to take a shower and brush your teeth! You've been stuck in one place for more than ten years, it must be really hard on you, old man. You must be stinking by now!"
The burlap-clad strange man was staring intently at Zhou Ziwei, wondering how he would find a way to back down if Zhou Ziwei were to apologize respectfully, so as not to escalate the conflict.
Originally, after breaking through the barrier that had troubled him for many years and leaping to the Great Spirit Master realm that he had longed for, this old monster was already feeling arrogant and thought he should be the number one person in the world. So after his strength underwent a qualitative transformation, he immediately chased after him, determined to tear the guy who stole a mouthful of his earth spiritual energy to pieces.
However, when the burlap monster saw that Zhou Ziwei seemed to be standing there without using any spiritual artifacts used by spiritual warriors, and was being held up by a gust of wind without falling, the burlap monster's heart immediately began to pound with anxiety.
The burlap freak was a seasoned veteran of the martial world. He had seen all sorts of masters when he was out there, but he had never seen anyone who could stand in mid-air without any magical artifacts. So... the burlap freak was instinctively afraid. If Zhou Ziwei was willing to give him a way out and save face for him, the burlap freak would probably take the opportunity to back down and endure the impact of this incident on him.
It's even possible that she might have developed a fondness for his talent and wanted to forge a positive relationship with Zhou Ziwei.
Even though he was a little scared, he couldn't show the slightest abnormality on his face. He had to keep a deadpan expression and show a do-or-die attitude.
Seeing his stubborn demeanor, Zhou Ziwei concluded that this guy was difficult to talk to and there was nothing to say to him; only fists could reveal the truth.
Now that the junior had put it so bluntly, how could the Azabu Monster possibly refuse? If he refused again, wouldn't he lose all face?
"Since that's the case..." The burlap monster inwardly groaned, but could only say viciously, "Then... junior, you shall die for this old man!"
After saying this, the burlap monster shouted loudly, and his hand trembled slightly. Eighteen small black iron leaves flew out from the black iron branch. The eighteen leaf-shaped sub-spiritual weapons fell off the black iron branch and immediately floated in mid-air, forming a tight and stable formation. Then, in a semi-encircling shape, they flew fiercely towards Zhou Ziwei.
Seeing that the strange man in the burlap sack didn't throw out all the black iron branches in his hand to fight, but only used the eighteen leaves on top of the branches, Zhou Ziwei couldn't help but gasp inwardly. He thought to himself: Sure enough... the design of this guy's magical artifact looks rather strange. It really is the Seed Mother Linked Magical Artifact that Ono Yuko has longed for. It is a kind of artifact that can be used together or separated and controlled separately.
However, while this mother-and-child linked spiritual artifact is powerful, it is also quite difficult to use. After all, the size of the Black Iron Branch itself is already enormous. Controlling such a spiritual artifact alone is not particularly different, but controlling the mother spiritual artifact while also controlling more than a dozen child spiritual artifacts that have detached from it is not just twice or even twice as difficult.
However, once Zhou Ziwei truly began to face his enemy, he no longer felt any fear. Being able to fight alongside someone with abilities almost identical to his own... that should be considered one of the greatest joys in life!
"Boom—" Seeing the ten black iron leaves transforming into a large net-like pattern and descending from the sky, Zhou Ziwei shouted angrily, reached out and waved his hand. The massive amount of attribute-less energy that had been gathering power in his palm for a long time underwent a small transformation and was then... sent out all at once.
However, Zhou Ziwei's enormous energy was not directed at the eighteen black iron leaves that came down from the sky, nor did he intend to use his soul power to forcibly resist them.
His immense energy drifted diagonally downwards, landing on a waterfall at least three hundred meters high not far below the two of them.
As a Great Spirit Master, the burlap freak, though only specializing in spiritual energy cultivation, could not possibly be someone who had never seen the world, given his current achievements. Therefore, when Zhou Ziwei released that large ball of energy with a wave of his hand, he was slightly startled. He clearly sensed how enormous the energy released by Zhou Ziwei's wave of his hand was, and it was a strange energy that he had never encountered before.
Slightly startled, the burlap monster unconsciously slowed down its attack, intending to wait for Zhou Ziwei's counterattack before making a move.
Unexpectedly, Zhou Ziwei's swing sent the strange energy elsewhere. Just as he was slightly stunned, a deafening roar suddenly came from the waterfall below. Then... the burlap monster watched in disbelief as the section of the waterfall, which was originally several dozen feet long, suddenly flew out of the waterfall before his very eyes. It then rolled in the air, and the long section of the waterfall transformed into a ferocious, clawing water dragon that flew up into the air and suddenly appeared in front of Zhou Ziwei. The water dragon, with its huge body several dozen feet long, blocked Zhou Ziwei's way, facing the eighteen black iron leaves, revealing a row of gleaming white teeth made entirely of water.
The burlap monster was completely stunned. He had seen far more strange and bizarre things in his life than an ordinary person would encounter in several lifetimes. However, his supposedly knowledgeable mind almost went blank when he witnessed what was happening before his eyes.
What is this thing? How did he do it? Who is he? How can he turn ordinary water into a dragon? This is terrifying!
Terrified, the burlap monster almost completely abandoned the idea of continuing the attack. With a thought, he stopped all the black iron leaves at a distance of thirty meters from Zhou Ziwei. If they went any further, they would hit the water dragon that was circling and flying in the air. The burlap monster was quite worried, wondering just how powerful this white dragon transformed from a water dragon really was.
In contrast, the burlap monster would rather face Zhou Ziwei's attack directly, even if Zhou Ziwei was a powerful Grand Spirit Master whose realm was much higher than his own.
People are always more prone to fear of the unknown, and this fear is especially strong when it comes to the unknown that represents ancient legends. So... in the end, the burlap monster didn't dare to attack the giant water dragon directly. Instead, he spread out the eighteen black iron leaves again, pressing down on Zhou Ziwei from all directions in an absolutely encircling manner...
Volume 3, King of the City, Chapter 539: Capturing the Spirit Weapon
Under the precise control of the strange man in burlap, the eighteen black iron leaves were like eighteen life forms with their own distinct thoughts, fluttering and pressing towards Zhou Ziwei's location in different ways.
Zhou Ziwei had to admire him. The realm of a Great Spirit Master was indeed extraordinary. Based on the abilities displayed by this burlap monster, even Zhou Ziwei, a freak with millions of soul powers, would find it difficult to accomplish certain things, while the burlap monster did it with great ease.
However, the burlap monster was clearly frightened by the giant water dragon that Zhou Ziwei had summoned with a casual gesture. The attack of the eighteen black iron leaves seemed somewhat hesitant. Not only did the eighteen black iron leaves not dare to hit the seemingly imposing water dragon, but even the black iron leaves that circled around it no longer had the sharp aura they had before, and even their speed seemed to have slowed down considerably.
Clearly... the burlap monster had no confidence in killing Zhou Ziwei with a single blow; most of the eighteen black iron leaves were actually probing attacks.
Even if it's a probing attack, if Zhou Ziwei doesn't handle it well, he might still not be able to escape unscathed. Zhou Ziwei is well aware of this.
Facing these eighteen sharp, blade-like black iron leaves, Zhou Ziwei dared not be careless in the slightest. As for the three butterfly darts that were still dancing at his fingertips, he had no intention of using them. After all, his opponent had launched eighteen black iron leaves in one go, and if he only used these three butterfly darts to fight back, it would be far from enough.
And what about that ferocious-looking water dragon? Does it really have the ability to contend with the opponent's magical artifact? Zhou Ziwei smiled bitterly to himself.
Transforming water into a dragon is not a difficult task for Zhou Ziwei, who has a basic grasp of the use of water energy. However... making this transformed water dragon seem to come alive and be able to fly away from the earth's gravity is quite a challenge.
Zhou Ziwei had to shrink the size of the water dragon considerably, and the remaining large amount of attribute-less energy was condensed into wind energy, which was spread into circles like clouds and mist to support the rather heavy body of the water dragon.
Such a large water dragon is naturally quite heavy. The wind energy used by Zhou Ziwei to support it and allow it to move freely in the air is more than three times the water energy required to form this water dragon.
Fortunately, in ancient Chinese legends, dragons are mysterious beings that can breathe clouds and mist, so when the magnificent water dragon soared into the sky, the hazy clouds and mist around it didn't look out of place at all.
That's all the water dragon can do; it's basically only good for scaring people. If the burlap monster hadn't been so cautious and had just unleashed a barrage of the eighteen black iron leaves he controlled, the water dragon, which looked so imposing, would probably have been riddled with holes with just one impact.
As for now... the burlap monster avoided a direct confrontation with the giant water dragon, but as long as his eighteen black iron leaves injure Zhou Ziwei's main body, then... no matter how majestic the water dragon appears, in the burlap monster's eyes, it will inevitably become a paper tiger that looks good but is useless.
"Roar—" Zhou Ziwei roared, but... his roar was made using the principle of air vibration, making it resound like a long dragon's roar from the mouth of the water dragon, giving people a sense of boundless domineering aura.
At the same time, Zhou Ziwei had no choice but to make the water dragon quickly flick its tail, and like an extremely agile dragon with its own life, it retreated back to Zhou Ziwei's side, and head to tail, quickly coiled around Zhou Ziwei's body several times, actually completely protecting Zhou Ziwei in its protective embrace.
Fortunately, the burlap monster was still hesitant and cautious with its eighteen black iron branches, slowly probing the enemy. Otherwise, if the burlap monster had shown the same boldness it had when dealing with the flying squadron, and had fired all eighteen black iron branches at top speed, Zhou Ziwei would have been seriously injured, if not killed, by such a thunderous attack.
Now, with a thought, Zhou Ziwei completely concealed his body within the water dragon, preventing the eighteen black iron leaves controlled by the burlap monster from bypassing the water dragon and directly attacking Zhou Ziwei's body.
If he wants to harm Zhou Ziwei, he must first defeat the ferocious water dragon.
The burlap monster was slightly taken aback, then gritted his teeth. Although he was afraid, as a great spirit master, he had to maintain his pride. Although his courage had been shattered when Zhou Ziwei summoned the water dragon, retreating without a fight was something a great spirit master like him could never do.
The burlap freak was clearly also Chinese, as evidenced by the fact that before even meeting Zhou Ziwei, he had used a wisp of his spiritual consciousness to speak Chinese in Zhou Ziwei's mind. And now, when facing Zhou Ziwei in person, he spoke entirely in Chinese. However, this guy clearly had the air of an old-fashioned person, and his tone and word choice had a touch of antiquity.
And the older the person is, the more they identify with traditional Chinese culture.
In ancient Chinese culture, one of the most awe-inspiring creatures is the "dragon." The dragons in Chinese legends are completely different from those in the West. While dragons in Western legends are also powerful, they are generally ferocious and monstrous beasts. Such creatures naturally become targets for warriors to slay, serving as foils to highlight the existence of heroic figures.
However, in China, the dragon is a noble and sacred being, exuding an unparalleled aura of dominance from its very core.
Although the Azabu Monster knew that the water dragon in front of him could not be a real dragon, he still had a deep-seated awe for it and dared not directly confront this seemingly extraordinary water dragon.
But now... seeing that Zhou Ziwei was completely surrounded by this water dragon, he had no choice but to... roar, and the eighteen black iron leaves spun again, actually re-condensing together, and head to tail, transforming into the shape of a fledgling eagle. Then, flapping its wings made of black iron leaves, it rushed towards the head of the giant water dragon like lightning.
It's likely that the burlap monster sensed that the water dragon was too powerful, and that if the eighteen black iron leaves were scattered, they would have no effect at all. So he decided to gather all the power of the eighteen black iron leaves and test it out first.
As the burlap monster flew up in the form of the fledgling eagle made of black iron leaf, he himself drove the bare black iron branch backward more than ten meters. Clearly, he intended to flee if he did not gain any advantage from this probing attack.
When faced with a seemingly invincible and powerful being, the Sack Monster has no habit of fighting to the bitter end. Deep down... he is an assassin, and an assassin's principle is to flee far away if the first strike fails.
Although he had stopped being an assassin for many years in order to protect that thousand-year-old spiritual spring, this ingrained habit was still impossible to change.
"Whoosh—" The fledgling eagle that Wu Tieye had transformed into seemed to come alive, drawing a slightly curved arc in the air before charging straight towards the water dragon's head without hesitation, seemingly intending to have a head-on collision with the water dragon's head to see whose head was harder.
However, at this moment, the seemingly majestic water dragon seemed to feel that its prestige had been shamelessly challenged. It once again displayed a furious expression and let out a deafening roar. At the same time as this roar, a dazzling flash of fire suddenly shot out a blazing fireball from its wide-open maw.
A water dragon suddenly spat out a fireball?
The moment the enormous fireball shot out of the dragon's mouth, the burlap monster felt a brief mental lapse. Had the dragon really come to life? This... breathing fireballs was a kind of dragon magic, right? But... how could a water dragon breathe fireballs? Shouldn't water and fire be incompatible?
The burlap monster didn't react for a moment. Perhaps it was because he hadn't been an assassin for many years, and had spent over a decade sitting in a cave, that his mind had become somewhat rusty. At this moment, he was actually thinking about the idiotic question of why a water dragon would breathe fireballs, forgetting to dodge in response. Or perhaps he simply wanted to test the true strength of this water dragon, so he didn't control the fledgling eagle formed from black iron leaves to react at all, and just went straight at it, colliding heavily with the blazing fireball...
With a deafening roar, like a thunderclap, a fireball the size of a football exploded upon contact with the fledgling eagle, instantly transforming into a dazzling white light that vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye. The fledgling eagle, composed of eighteen black iron leaves, was naturally and without a doubt disintegrated upon impact, turning into tattered, leaf-like fragments that drifted and fell in all directions.
“A good opportunity.” When the burlap freak had just unleashed eighteen black iron leaves, Zhou Ziwei had already tried to use his powerful soul force to control them. However, when he extended his soul force, he immediately discovered that each of the small black iron leaves seemed to have an invisible barrier. This invisible barrier should be a special means of protecting soul force. In other words, generally speaking, once such a so-called spiritual artifact is occupied and controlled by one person’s spiritual energy, another person can no longer penetrate it with the same spiritual energy.
Otherwise, if a martial artist controls a magical artifact to kill another martial artist, wouldn't the other martial artist, as long as their spiritual cultivation surpasses that of the former, be able to remain invincible forever simply by gaining control of that magical artifact?
That's impossible, of course. There's a special technique in the forging of these magical artifacts that allows them to only contain one type of spiritual energy. Once it's controlled by one person's spiritual energy, it will reject any other person's spiritual energy from penetrating into it. No matter how powerful your spiritual energy is, you can only suppress it to a certain extent. If you want to take control, you'd better kill the owner who controls this spiritual energy first!
The eighteen black iron leaves controlled by the burlap monster were just like that. Although Zhou Ziwei had some understanding of the characteristics of this magical artifact from Ono Yuko's soul memories, he was still unwilling to give up. After trying it just now, he immediately found that it was indeed the case. It seemed that as long as the burlap monster's spiritual energy was still left in these black iron leaves, then he would not be able to take control of these black iron leaves.
Furthermore, if a martial artist uses a magical artifact for a long time and constantly nurtures it with their own spiritual energy, this spiritual energy will develop an instinctive aversion to spiritual energy other than the owner's aura.
This means that if a spiritual artifact is nurtured by a person for a long time, it will have the ability to recognize its owner. Even if the artifact loses the control of its original owner, it will be quite difficult for others to control it with spiritual energy. Even if they succeed temporarily, the artifact may still repel the spiritual energy that originally occupied and controlled it when the original owner's spiritual energy arrives, and then accept the control of the spiritual energy that it is familiar with.
However, now... those eighteen black iron leaves were blasted to pieces upon colliding with the fireball fired by Zhou Ziwei, and the spiritual energy attached to the burlap monster had been scattered. If we don't hurry up and compete for these black iron leaves now, when will we?
"Whoosh—" Zhou Ziwei unhesitatingly launched eighteen streams of soul power, each capturing one of the eighteen tattered black iron leaves. However, he did not expect that even though these black iron leaves had been blasted into such a wretched state, the characteristic of recognizing its master still remained. Although Zhou Ziwei had poured his soul power into them, he was still met with instinctive rejection. He was simply unable to effectively control these eighteen black iron leaves. This showed that these black iron leaves had been in the hands of that burlap monster for quite some time, and it was unknown how many years the monster had nurtured them with spiritual energy.
However... if you think you can make Zhou Ziwei give up like this, then Zhou Ziwei wouldn't be Zhou Ziwei.
Seeing that he couldn't control the eighteen black iron leaves directly, he simply gave up on trying to control them with normal soul power. Instead, he focused on channeling eighteen strands of soul power into the center of the eighteen black iron leaves as if it were free.
As his soul power grew stronger, Zhou Ziwei's control over it was naturally far beyond what it used to be. Now, if Zhou Ziwei wanted to capture an object with his soul, that is, to create an independent soul entity within an object, the object no longer needed to be completely still. Generally, as long as the object was not moving at extremely high speeds and its structure was not very complex, Zhou Ziwei could complete the capture process in a very short time.
"Swish, swish, swish..."
It's done.
Zhou Ziwei held his breath and concentrated, injecting strands of soul power into the eighteen black iron leaves. In the blink of an eye, he created a vivid, independent soul within each black iron leaf, giving it its own soul.
Zhou Ziwei was overjoyed. He then poured his soul power into the black iron leaves again, and this time the black iron leaves no longer rejected his soul power.
Just as Zhou Ziwei took control of the eighteen black iron leaves, the burlap monster, who had been blasted into a daze by Zhou Ziwei's fireball and whose spiritual energy was slightly disordered by it, finally managed to adjust his spiritual energy. Then, seeing that his eighteen black iron leaves had been blasted to pieces by the fireball spat out by the water dragon opposite him, he couldn't help but feel heartbroken.
This black iron is the best raw material for making spiritual weapons. It is a rare and precious material that is hard to find, whether in the secular world or among martial artists. Among spiritual martial artists, this black iron material is even weighed in carats. Its value far exceeds that of platinum, gold, or even jade and diamonds of the same volume or weight.
Moreover, this kind of black iron hasn't been mined for over a hundred years, making it truly priceless. The value of these eighteen black iron leaves is unimaginable to ordinary people, and the manufacturing process is extremely complicated. Now that they've been blasted into this state, repairing them will likely be a very difficult task.
After witnessing the devastating power of the Water Dragon's Fireball attack, the Azabu Monster was filled with even more regret. Why did he have to provoke this guy when he had nothing better to do? Now he had lost everything.
With the eighteen black iron leaves already so badly damaged, it was clear that they could no longer exert any destructive power. The burlap monster immediately had a thought and quickly broke off two small branches from the black iron branch in his hand. He first used these two branches to protect himself, and then his spiritual energy enveloped the eighteen black iron leaves that were floating in the air.
The unlucky fellow, if he hadn't first released two black iron branches to protect himself, but instead directly released his spiritual energy to retrieve the eighteen black iron leaves, Zhou Ziwei probably wouldn't have had the chance to capture those eighteen black iron leaves. But... how could the burlap monster have imagined that this spiritual artifact, which had been nurtured by his spiritual energy for decades and was almost on the verge of developing its own spirit, could actually be tamed by someone else.
Volume 3, King of the City, Chapter 540: Loot
The burlap monster's spiritual energy shot towards the eighteen black iron leaves that were slowly drifting down from the sky like threads. Under normal circumstances, as soon as his spiritual energy came into contact with those black iron leaves, he would immediately and precisely control them as if they were his own limbs.
The burlap monster's original intention was to collect all these black iron leaves first, and then... immediately make a run for it.