It was ironic that life force could be used to summon the Army of Anubis when life and death were opposing powers. Yet, it was life force Zheng used to summon several Anubis Warriors.
Infinitesimal control allowed Zheng to utilize energy in minor amounts instead of letting the Bracelet of Anubis drain all his energy like it used to. Once the life force of the Ents entered his body, he summoned several warriors as expected. Gandalf and the Ents frowned upon seeing these monsters with the head of a dog and bodies of men.
Despite believing these monsters were from evil summons, Gandalf and the Ents agreed to Zheng due to the pressure of the hundreds of thousands of the Mordor army. The Ents would focus their energy to Zheng and had him summon the Army of Anubis.
“The Anubis warriors can stand against even the Uruk-hai with battle Qi. Three meter tall bodies and nearly unkillable as long as their heads weren’t destroyed. They can ignore gravity, although not to the degree of the Army of the Dead. However, an army of ten thousand Anubis warriors could probably break through the Black Gate with ease and bring havoc to the orc army behind it!” Zheng said to Gandalf with certainty.
Gandalf originally opposed Zheng after seeing the strength of the Army of Anubis. He worried most to the possibility of Zheng losing control of the monsters. Ten thousand of these monsters would wipe themselves off from Middle Earth. And then Zheng shut him down with one question.
“Without these monsters, can a fifteen thousand army take down Mordor?”
The answer was… no.
However, under the aid of the Ents, men had a safe retreat. To Gandalf’s knowledge, a majority of the Mordor army did not possess worthy strength. The army was composed of mostly half-orcs. What Mordor could not replenish with the lost of the hundred thousand army were ordnances. Thus, they could view the remaining Mordor army as an army of eighty thousand. Yet, even at eighty thousand, when given the advantage of garrison, were nothing a fifteen thousand human army could break through.
The decision was difficult but they had no alternative.
Zheng was still wrapped up like a mummy. ChengXiao’s techniques were to be praised. He found a pile of green leaves and added some disgusting, translucent caterpillars then mashed them into a viscous liquid. He rubbed the liquid all over Zheng’s body, reliving him from the pain that would result in the process of infection. All accomplished in a place without antibiotics, without medical equipments, and without pain killers.
“Don’t pull such a face. You don’t like a man rubbing all over you. Neither do I like to rub all over a man! Damn it. If I can, I want to touch those massive boobs…” ChengXiao said with feebly.
Zheng didn’t know whether he should laugh or be mad. He endured the tingling from the liquid. “Bullshit. My face is wrapped in bandage. Which eye of yours saw my expression? Enough with this. I say, do you feel Heng and YingKong changed a little?”
ChengXiao glanced at Heng then carefully studied YingKong. A while later, he said. “Uh… it seemed that her boobs jiggled when she gripped her sword. Did the cloth wrapped around her boobs loosened?”
“… Forget it. There’s nothing I can talk to you about.” Zheng closed his eyes. He gave up talking and peacefully endured the tingling pain over his body.
Heng and YingKong indeed changed. Maybe they didn’t notice the changes themselves. Heng’s eyes were determined when he held an arrow in hand. It differed from how he used to avoid looking the target with his eyes. YingKong’s movements were slightly slower. However, the angle of her attacks came from more cunning angles. Zheng could only see with one eye and his injuries limited his view. But he could see the clarity in YingKong’s eyes. The hatred… seemed to have disappeared, or perhaps hidden.
What ought to come would eventually come. The group began their journey as soon as they could, carrying along their worry over the other members of team China. Dawn of day three, this fifteen thousand people group embarked on their final journey, marching toward Mordor!
“… So you used a verbal promise of the future as a condition, to recover the woods of Isengard from trees within ten years? Where did you obtain such superb means?” Zheng asked Neos.
Neos replied casually while eating a piece of chocolate. “There are a lot of items that can achieve this in the exchange system. It’s nothing to brag about. Same as you forming a trading deal with the powers of this world.”
That was when Zheng remembered Neos was an intelligent character. He laughed awkwardly. “You know of our trade with the elven Queen?”
Neos nodded. “Yes. Just now. From you.”
Zheng almost wanted to smack himself on the face. He asked in a mutter. “Right, the newbies from yesterday… that wasn’t us. You know? The notifications of the newbies being killed.”
Neos ate another piece of chocolate. “Of course. If your team were to kill the newbies, you would have done it long ago. Or at least when you still have power instead of waiting until you become a mummy. Either someone wants to kill you so he killed the newbies to direct our hatred, or the newbies of both our teams died. It’s simple.”
Zheng had no words in reply. He suddenly noticed he disliked being next to these intelligent types. It was like they could see through everything he was thinking. Not a comfortable feeling.
(I will find a time and put you together with Xuan. Your facial expressions must be fabulous when you can’t even save the color of your undies.) Zheng maliciously thought.
At any rate, the group of fifteen thousand approached Mordor. The terrain became more horrendous which bothered the Ents the most. The burnt ground was unbearable to them. If it wasn’t the promise with men to reach the Black Gate, they would have returned to the woods.
Despite the horrendous terrain, the group did not encounter any obstacles on their way. A few days later, they arrived outside the Black Gate. It spanned over a hundred meters in width and over fifty meters in height. The gate creaked open upon their arrival. A single rider walked out.
He rode a black horse, wore a full helm and armor in black, covering every feature he had and leaving only a grotesque mouth. His teeth disgustingly stained in yellow.
“My master, Sauron the Great, bids you welcome. Is there any in this rout with the authority to treat with me?” The Mouth of Sauron said.
The characters met eyes with each other. Aragorn went up front. “Let the Lord of the Black Land come forth! Let justice be done upon him!”
Gandalf stopped Aragorn. “We do not come to treat with Sauron, faithless and accursed. Tell your master this: The armies of Mordor must disband. He is to depart these lands, never to return.”
The Mouth of Sauron expressed a sarcastic form. “You might have learned my master has retrieved the One Ring. The One Ring will finally rule over Middle Earth. Do you wish to know how my master obtained the One Ring? The two little Hobbits, their flesh was so delicious. Their screams under torture… haha.”
The characters listened in silence. Aragorn took a deep breath then rode his horse forward.
The Mouth of Sauron said. “And who is this? Isildur’s heir? It takes more to make a king than a broken Elvish blade.”
Before he finished his words, Aragorn cut the Mouth of Sauron’s head with a quick, hard, slice. The body collapsed to the ground.
“Sauron!” Aragorn shouted at the Black Gate. “Do you still remember this sword? It killed you once. It will now kill you again! Come. Let us bury you!”
The Black Gate made a dull sound. It was as though multiple gears were turning. And then it slowly swayed open. In under a minute, the gate was fully opened, revealing and endless army of orcs behind it. The number they could see with their eyes struck terror into their hearts.
Aragorn turned around and looked at his troops. He gripped Andúril tightly. Waiting for the moment to initiate attack.
Not far behind Aragorn…
“Ents. You can focus energy onto me. Let all the Ents send your energy. Thousands? Ten thousands? Twenty thousands? Let’s see how many Anubis Warriors I can summon!”
The capacity of infinitesimal control was difficult to explain. It was an insight into power, an insight of oneself. Unlocking the fourth stage was the prerequisite of entering such state, even just the initial fourth stage. While in infinitesimal control, you can feel the distribution of force even if you take just a simple step. As you get more experienced, you could utilize the force you used in this step to gain extra speed. Infinitesimal control was absolute precision of control over strength and energy.
Once the Ents’ energy entered Zheng’s body, he quickly directed it into the Bracelet of Anubis. He pointed to the land in front as he had always done. The empty area standing between the Mordor and men armies began to change. Large number of the Anubis warriors appeared. By large number, there were over ten thousand.
This area no longer had enough room to fit the still appearing army. As their number continued to increase, the Anubis warriors stacked on top of each other. Some climbed onto the cliffs. Their ability to ignore gravity rid them of the danger of being on cliffs.
(Ten thousand… twenty thousand… thirty thousand. They are still coming. Shit, hit the jackpot.) Zheng expended all the life energy that entered his body. An army of forty thousand monsters stood between the Mordor and men armies. The monsters were three meters tall and had the head of a dog and the body of a human. Their bodies formed by sand and soil. They carried a long shaped weapon. The monsters roared.
Zheng controlled the Bracelet of Anubis with his mind. He directed the attack to the sea of orcs in front. An Anubis warrior leaped onto a half orc nearest to it, pressed it onto the ground. The long shaped weapon sliced from top to bottom and split the half orc into halves while it screamed.
Forty thousand Anubis warriors roared then marched at the half orcs with the momentum of war horses charging. The front line ran up the Dark Gate. The orcs wailed with terror. They fired the arrows in their hands but the arrows only pierced through the monsters. A body of sand did not fear the arrows. A few unlucky ones got hit in the head by Explosive Shots and their bodies turned back into sand.
The half orcs and orcs were weaker than the Anubis warriors. The monsters attacked without fear of death. Their size advantage allowed them to strike from top to bottom. The march did not reach the same destructiveness of the riders’ charge but it was not far behind. The formation of the orc army collapsed. Many orcs fee as they screamed… Perhaps they did not fear a battle against men but monsters of sand that wouldn’t die brought them fear.
Aragorn and Theoden met eyes with each other then turned to their troops, the riders and infantries. The army shouted their war cries. As the Army of Anubis broke deep into the Mordor army, this was the chance to bring down Mordor, a chance that would never come a second time!
“Warriors of Gondor! For mankind! For the future! For the defeat of the Dark Lord! Charge!” Aragorn charged in front of the army. His riders and infantries followed.
Theoden also shouted. “Riders of Rohan! Bring forth death and destruction! Death!” He also led in front of his riders. The strongest force of this age charged.
Zheng sat on his Nightmare. He did not have the ability to participate in battle. He looked at his team members who were next to him and said. “Lan, have you found Xuan and the rest?”
Lan nodded. “Yes. They seem to be on a stand off with some people. The Nemesis are also there. Let me send you the image.”
Zheng said to the others. “Heng, go meet with them. Your arrows are powerful. You might be able to give them some help. YinKong stay here and protect us…”
YinKong said. “No. Let me go. I… want to see someone.”
Zheng looked at her with surprise. Her eyes were filled with determination as she looked straight at Zheng.
After a while, Zheng said. “Then… be careful. And bring an end to this past if you can!”
YinKong nodded. She ran toward the location from the psyche scan image. Zheng led the others to the border of the battlefield. The scan marked a special target there… the Dark Lord Sauron!
On a stand off with Xuan were two members from East America. ZhuiKong wasn’t by his team so as soon as they met with the Nemesis, Xuan surrounded them without giving them a word. He completely ignored their threats of ZhuiKong taking revenge on team China.
“That’s not a possibility. He has things he need to do. And the thing you need to do is… wait.” Xuan calmly said.
HaoTian gave these two people a look of sorrow. It was not a certainty but he felt that their deaths had been decided. Xuan was waiting for the right time to kill. He was not the kind of person to take his losses without return after losing four newbies to ZhuiKong. Xuan would seize back the points they lost. As to HaoTian himself, death was probably not that far in the future either.
YinKong wasn’t aware of what was happening at Xuan’s group. She continued running until a familiar figure appeared in front of her. The man with long hair smiled at her.
YinKong felt an explosion inside her head. A big wave of killing intent emerged all at once.Yet, she then recalled the scene she experienced inside the Valley of Harrowdale. That man with a gentle smile… The him in the past truly cherished her and all his brothers and sisters. That man was the person in front, Zhao ZhuiKong.
He gave YinKong a look of surprise. “Not bad. You learned to conceal your killing intent. We are both assassins. So remember, never show your killing intent before your target dies.” He slowly walked toward YinKong.
YinKong clenched her teeth. She stared without a word as he walked past her. The moment their bodies crossed path, she asked. “What are you going to do?”
“To kill your comrades of course. Was there a need to ask?” ZhuiKong kept a smile on his face and said without turning around.
YinKong slashed her sword without a second thought. The invisible sword sliced through his upper body. Yet, there was no feeling of cutting into anything. A second later, she found two fingers placed by her neck. ZhuiKong had moved to her back before she realized. The sword merely sliced through a shadow.
“You are not a good girl to block me. I can’t afford to offend the other man but this one is at his weakest. Plus, he hasn’t reached the power I was hoping. Death is the best for him. Otherwise, he disgraces that strongest potential.” ZhuiKong said, smiling.
YinKong stared coldly. “If you want to kill him… or them, you will have to walk over my dead body! Haven’t you wanted to kill me for so long already? Why not just do it now?”
ZhuiKong tilted her head up by the chin. He moved to the front of her then kissed her lips. Strangely, YinKong didn’t bite him this time nor expressed hatred. Two lines of tears rolled down her pearlescent face. Her tears couldn’t stop as he kissed her.
“ZhuiKong, you had your reasons right? The you that had always protected me and everyone, you had your reasons right?” As their lips separated, YinKong calmly said but the shine on her eyes were dim.
ZhuiKong’s smile faded. Along with it was the coldness in his eyes. It felt complex, unable to express himself in words, and with a hint of vulnerability. This psychopathic assassin actually showed vulnerability.
“YinKong, I…”
As soon as his eyes showed humanity, his body quivered as if he was going through an extreme pain. He uttered one word at a time. After he said only the second word, a wave of frost rose behind him. Several ice spears shot through the frost with a force that aimed to pierce through the two of them!
ZhuiKong’s eyes instantly changed back to sharp and cold. Without turning his head, he grabbed YinKong with one arm and moved a dagger to his back with the other. The dagger quickly blocked the ice spears as they approached him. He used the force from the impact to leaped forward.
The two of them were standing on the hillside. This leap brought him off the cliff that was several hundred feets above the ground. However, ZhuiKong floated down along with the wind. Three seconds later, YinKong discovered his secret. He somehow floated in the wind like a piece of paper, unaffected by the acceleration from gravity. He floated down at a steady speed that wouldn’t damage him upon landing. It was as if he jumped from a two meter high place.
The frost did not stop spreading after they reached the bottom of the cliff. They heard Gungnir’s mad shout. “Come! Come kill me! Didn’t you subdued me and my team with a sneak attack? Didn’t you skinned them right in front of me? Didn’t you castrated me then buried me alive in the swamp? I am here right now! Come kill me!”
This was indeed the voice of Gungnir, leader of team Northern Ice Land. He had used his Ice Age. The skill had limited duration like Zheng’s Destruction but its AOE power way surpassed Destruction. The several hundred cubic meter area of frost quickly expanded and turned the hillside into a large frozen boulder by the time ZhuiKong and YinKong landed. The roar of the frost was pressing down from twenty meters above the two.
“Fuck! I used up all my saved energy stones! Fuck sustain and surviving! I will kill you first even if I am going to turn into a ghost! This is the strongest power of Logia Devil Fruits! I am nature! Who dares to rival nature?”
Gungnir had obviously gone insane. His voice echoed from the most intense part of the frost. As he continued to release his power, a thick layer of ice covered a thousand meter area, despite Mordor being a place of fire, and being so near to Mount Doom.
ZhuiKong did not showed any concern at the frost chasing after him. He casually walked with YinKong in his arms. But his actual speed was much faster than the frost. The two parties ran with one chasing the other.
ZhuiKong jumped on top of a boulder then suddenly stopped. He smiled at the approaching frost. “I am curious… You mentioned energy stones, correct?”
The frost split up and surrounded the two people instead of sweeping at them. Gungnir’s voice came through. “Correct! I admit I am not qualified to use the strongest power of Logia fruit. The power of the Hie Hie no Mi rivals the force of nature. Only those who unlocked the fifth stage and gained control over energy can possess such power. I rely on energy stones to use this power!”
ZhuiKong nodded. “Oh, good then…” He stomped several times with his foot. The force shattered the boulder he was standing on. At the same time, the frost swept at him and YinKong.
Right before the frost reached the two people, boiling water and steam rose from the ground around them. The water froze upon coming in contact with the frost but it continued coming out as if there was an endless supply. In just two seconds, they heard Gungnir’s wails.
“The fourth stage has an ability called infinitesimal control. Every time I touched the ground, I can feel what is buried underneath. The rebound force from the ground, the flow of water, the lava. The mountain over there is a volcano. Underneath the ground here is the water from a hot spring. Its temperature is quite high.” ZhuiKong said.
He didn’t merely stomped the ground several times as they could see with their eyes. Every one of his stomps was formed by dozens of stomps in continuous succession. The hundred stomps he did created a resonance that shattered the ground. Then the hot spring and steam burst out from around him. His mastery of infinitesimal control was beyond imaginable.
“And then look at how much time you spent chasing. How much energy do you have left? I think you can freeze this area. I am standing in the center. Freeze my feet and I won’t be able to run.” He said with a smile.
The frost that was Gungnir collided with the hot water and steam. Each impact reduced the intensity of the frost’s coldness by a little. The steam’s temperature way exceeded the boiling point of water. This steam was trapped in the ground all this time and its temperature kept increasing. Endless steam burst out from the ground at this opportunity. Even the two people in the middle felt the heat, not to mention the frost that was taking the steam directly.
The frost finally broke through the steam but it could no longer remain its form. Gungnir appeared in front of them with his upper body in human form and his lower body remained part of the frost. ZhuiKong wasn’t in the mood to waste time talking with him. He flashed by Gungnir. The next moment, Gungnir’s head was in his hand.
“Such a powerful ability… Unfortunately, you don’t have the potential. You are also not the cute unripe apple… Yo, YinKong. I will spare your comrades for now. You have to tell him that if he doesn’t want to die, grow as fast as he can. He’s still too weak.”
ZhuiKong was carrying YinKong with one arm and holding Gungnir’s headless body with the other. He threw the body at a spot where the steam was weakest. As the body blocked the steam, he jumped on the body then again. The next moment he had already left this steaming area.
ZhuiKong released YinKong after they arrived at an empty place. He did not look at YinKong again before he disappeared, leaving only his last words.
“Do your best to grow stronger, YinKong… And then I will come back to kill you.”
Zheng didn’t know he just made a roundabout on the edge of hell. YinKong’s existence caused ZhuiKong to give up assassination on them. Zheng would not be a match for ZhuiKong given his physical condition at the moment, even if he managed to enter Destruction. Furthermore, what would have come was an assassination. There was probably no one who could withstand ZhuiKong’s assassination.
Zheng very luckily knew nothing about what had happened. The situation was under his monitor by relying on Lan’s psyche scan. He made contact with Xuan’s mind. This was not the time to speak in detail but Zheng kindly informed Xuan he would get beaten up badly.
“Even though I still don’t know what you have done or are planning to do. But I can tell you with certainty that you need to be prepared for what I have for you once we return to God’s dimension.” His tone was sweet rather than vicious. However, this sounded weird when combined with the content of his words.
“Oh.” Xuan responded as if he wasn’t concerned of the threatening in the least bit. “There are two things I need to remind you. First, Sauron’s death. The best case is our team obtaining this reward if possible. Second, about the time. The countdown begins once all five teams gathered at Mordor. Four teams are here. The last team, team Northern Ice Land is probably wiped. Thus, we must seize the One Ring into our hand at this final duration.”
Zheng turned serious. “For Sauron… it’s going to be difficult. We don’t know his strength but it is unlikely he will be weaker than the final Ringwraith. The Ringwraith took me a so much effort to take down. I can’t even move now. If Sauron comes… to be honest, I have no confidence in taking him.”
Xuan calmly said. “Let Heng and YinKong do it. You always rely too much on your own power. You are only a member of team China. Even though you are worried about the other team members’ safety, you also have to trust them. Begin the attack at Sauron once YinKong returns.”
A rare scene was happening at Mordor prior to their conversation. The enormous Mordor army was being pushed back due to the participation of the Army of Anubis. Tens of thousands of Anubis warriors chased after the orcs. The alliance could only serve as their backup. They followed closely behind the Anubis warriors, finishing off orcs that were lying on the ground and wailing.
The Anubis warriors knew no such thing as fatigue nor injuries. Their only goal was to charge forward and kill all living beings in front. The orc army was gradually pushed away from the Dark Gate. As the army was going to collapse, a giant in full armor appeared in the center of the orcs.
The armor was eight meters in height. The giant wielded a mace. Its body emitted an aura of black mist. Wearing on the finger of its left hand was a ring radiating a dark light. This giant in armor was the Dark Lord, Sauron!
He swung the mace at the incoming Anubis warriors. A black gust swept onto the Anubis warriors and corroded the monsters away in an instant. The corrosion consumed these sand and soil bodies and the dead bodies of orcs lying on the on the ground, leaving an empty land behind. This single attack from Sauron wiped off thousands of Anubis warriors.
“This scene… relived again!” Gandalf gazed at the corroded land in the distance and exclaimed. “History wrote men and elves came together in an alliance. Three elven kings entered the war with the three great rings. Yet, Sauron stopped the alliance all by himself. The alliance was at the verge of being destroyed. If Narsil hadn’t cut the One Ring from Sauron’s hand, men and elves might not exist at this age.”
The movie characters looked toward Zheng with a sense of helplessness. He was the trump card in the plan. His strength shown in the fight against the Balrog and in the battle at Helm’s Deep was beyond the imagination of the movie characters. Thus, it was decided that Zheng was the main force of this battle, the strength to rival Sauron at the chance that he revived.
No one could have guessed that Zheng suffered such severe injuries in Gondor. He could no longer carry on this responsibility. Yet, Sauron’s power struck terror into their hearts. The movie characters could not come up with any mean to take down Sauron.
“If things have come down to this…” Aragorn sighed. “I will lead the attack. Narsil once countered Sauron and it will do so again today! What I need is to cut the One Ring off his hand. My only fear is the corrosion of his aura. It’s so powerful that I might not even be able to go near…”
Gandalf gripped his staff. “I can provide you with barrier to block off the corrosive aura. However, this barrier does not stand a chance against Sauron’s direct attacks.”
The movie characters met eyes. Gimli yelled. “Not to worry! We will all fight with you!”
Legolas nodded. “We came all the way from Rivendell. For what? To bury the Dark Lord… We have come to the final stop of our journey. We will fight until death takes us!”
Gimli sighed. “How ironic this is. A dwarf will die fighting alongside an elf.”
Legolas laughed. “What if… he dies fighting alongside a friend?”
“Friend…” Gimli’s eyes looked out of focus. He nodded heavily. “Right! He fights to death alongside his friends!”
While the movie characters exchanged words, the Army of Anubis had nearly been wiped. Half the army was lost after killing so many orcs. Sauron’s display of power quickly consumed the remaining Anubis warriors. The orc army still had tens of thousands remaining but their courage was shattered at this point. It was commanding presence of Sauron that kept them from fleeing. Their ability to participate in the battle was insignificant. Yet, Sauron exerted such a dominating pressure by himself. The full body armor walked forward. Each stride contained unstoppable force. This pressure forced the army of men to back with each step. They saw clearly how he annihilated the Army of Anubis.
Aragorn watched the army backing off. The Ents stayed outside the Dark Gate. This battle would be over if they lost their morale to Sauron… And if they failed to kill Sauron, the annihilation of men would be destined once he recouped his power!
“Fight! For our survival!” Aragorn unsheathed Anduril. A bright silvery light glittered on the battlefield. He yelled and the warhorse charged toward Sauron.
“To battle!” Gimli shouted and charged on feet. He was not riding a warhorse.
“For freedom!” Legolas took a deep breath. He stacked three arrows on his bow. The arrows aimed at the center of Sauron’s forehead.
“To bring death to our foes!” Theoden seized a lance from a troop. The lance was nearly four meters in length. He charged toward Sauron on his warhorse.
Aragorn and Anduril were the first to approach Sauron. The silvery light had the ability to disperse the black mist. The corrosive mist could not do any harm to Aragorn. Gandalf also enveloped him in a barrier. Aragorn sliced at the arm wielding the One Ring.
“How long has it been? Heir of Isildur! Do you attempt to kill me again?” Sauron’s deep voice echoed through the armor. His mace was over five meters in length. It moved extremely quick at his swing and clashed with Anduril. Clank! Aragorn felt a powerful force upon his hand. His battle Qi stood no chance against this force. He was sent flying away. The warhorse fell to the ground as blood gushed out of its mouth. The warhorse died under this attack.
Aragorn was knocked away over five meters. Gimli charged up to Sauron before he could pull the mace back. Instead of hacking at Sauron’s arm, Gimli hacked his axe at the joint of the armor. The impact brought forth a clank. He possessed strength above that of men and battle Qi and yet the strike merely left a tiny mark on the armor. The mark was centimeters deep into the armor. However, his hand was also wounded between the thumb and index finger.
“How tough it is!” Gimli exclaimed. Then he felt the pain on his abdomen as Sauron kicked him away. The kick broke through the barrier Gandalf placed on him. Fortunately, the barrier also reduced the force of the kick. Gimli was sent flying ten meters away instead of reducing the main characters of this movie by a dwarf.
The two people who charged in the front became wounded in just several seconds of the fight, while they didn’t cause any notable damage to Sauron. Sauron walked up to Aragorn in two steps and readied his attack. Just then, Legolas released his three stacked arrows at his head.
The power of the first of the three arrows grew exponentially. Its speed way surpassed the limit of what the human eye could catch. Bong! The arrow pierced through Sauron’s helm. The helm did not explode even after taking such a powerful shot. Its material was beyond anything they knew. The only damage the arrow caused was a hole the size of the arrowhead.
Sauron showed no sign of being wounded. There was not a bit of delay in his actions as he smashed the mace at the ground, where Aragorn was seemingly going to be turned into a paste. He rolled to the side and dodged the mace by a hair. The mace struck a large hole at the ground, which would have definitely taken Aragorn’s life.
Theoden also reached Sauron. Battle Qi exploded from his body. He thrusted the lance right at Sauron’s back. The lance pierced into the chest and out the other side. Without a moment of delay, Theoden drew his sword then sliced at Sauron’s arm.
However, Sauron reacted faster than he expected. The mace turned around and smashed over at Theoden before the sword reached Sauron’s arm. The sword shattered instantly. Theoden was knocked away just like what had happened to Aragorn. The difference being the mace struck right into him while Aragorn blocked it with his sword. The chance of Theoden living was slim.
“Ah!” The movie characters and the riders howled.
Aragorn climbed back up and charged at Sauron once more. His face was covered in blood. Gimli spit out a mouthful of blood then rushed behind Aragorn. Legolas stacked three arrows at his bow again.
“Lan, provide us with psyche scan… Heng and YinKong, do you see Sauron? Kill him!”
Zheng yelled from the center of the group. He no longer had the ability to participate in the battle but he could still issue commands as the leader. Coordination of members within the team was his expertise.
Heng took a deep breath. He drew his bow to full. He was only holding one arrow but the presence he exerted exceeded Legolas’s three arrow Explosive Shot. The Charged Shot was ready.
At the same time, YinKong appeared not far behind Sauron. Her steps followed a peculiar pattern as she approached Sauron, seemingly without a sound and without having any presence.
The mace struck toward Aragorn with the momentum of ten ton force. Along with it was the black mist that swept at Aragorn. However, the moment the Charged Shot fixed its target at Sauron, he pulled the mace back in front of his body with unbelievable speed. A magic circle emerged in the air between him and the arrow. The magic circle rotated. The mysterious symbols radiated with a black light.
On the far end of the battlefield, SongTian looked down with complicated feelings. His broken arm had stopped bleeding. However, smoking was coming off the wound as if it was being corroded.
“… Team China. Their potential is even higher than team Devil’s.” He said with worry.
Adam sat beside him. He was doing calculations on a piece of paper. He replied without taking his eyes off the paper. “Yes. Team China has higher potential. Their specializations complement each other. They are still weak but once they grow, they will have a talented individual in every field. Didn’t Luo YingLong said he was killed by a physical bullet from a sci-fi weapon? Even most powerful weapon, Space Compression Cannon, cannot not break through his defensive magical item and kill him in an instant unless there is a unique ability in addition to the sci-fi weapon. If this is the case, the user of this sci-fi weapon must be an individual of extremes in both strong and weak. However, as long as Zheng Zha exists in this team, he will not be held back by his weakness. Similarly, this archer is even more powerful in mid-range distance.”
“So.” Adam raised his head and said in a serious manner. “The only ones worth noting in team China are Zheng Zha and Chu Xuan. Every other member is a typical player who possesses critical flaws. However, their potential does exceed team Devil’s potential in a sense.”
SongTian sighed as he turned to Adam then to the blonde woman behind Adam. The woman was playing with a glob of light. The light changed shapes as she kneaded it like a liquid. It even tried to change by itself to please her. Luo YingLong seemed rather miserable.
“What about us?” SongTian sighed.
Adam lowered his head again. “We didn’t suffer much loss. Given you and Luo YingLong’s strength, we can quickly gain a large amount of points and rewards by heading back to our previous movies. However, these are not that useful to us anymore. We lost at ‘influence’ this movie. We no longer have the chips to go against team Devil until we can defeat team China the next time we meet. SongTian, be prepared for a long journey. You have to keep growing. Same to Luo YingLong. He might be our strongest force in the future. Stronger than you…”
SongTian turned his head away quietly. “Yes. He has taken off on a different path. If absolute power is Dao (path), we are walking the enlightenment path. We comprehend all that exist to achieve this path. His path is one of force. A force beyond all that exist, beyond the path itself. He will become the path.”
Team Celestial did not react too strongly. Adam’s plan failed in the end but no damage was done to the root of their team. None of the core members died. Even though they obtained little in terms of rewards, they also obtained information of other teams. An accurate perception of team China at their own perspective was especially important. Adam had begun his calculation ever since he obtained these information. He kept his head down at the paper and no one knew what he was calculating.
Team Celestial could still talk to each other. Team East America was left with only two people. ZhuiKong spared Zheng and his group so he went back to Xuan and retrieved two of his team members. Well, for the retrieval, he killed one of his own member right in front of Xuan and left with the head while laughing. His expression and actions sent chills right into people’s guts. Kampa and WangXia pulled out their weapons as a sign of vigilance at once. Gando was shaking from the shock and urged WangXia to take out his robot.
“Relax. I am not in a good mood… I probably won’t kill anymore until the end of this movie. Well then, let us meet again in the next team battle, team China.” ZhuiKong turned back and gave them a smile. He then left with the other team East America member, who also could barely stand from the scare yet still followed behind ZhuiKong.
Once the two people left, ZhuiKong stopped on a hillside that could see into the battlefield. He stared at Sauron until YinKong appeared. A smile crept up his face.
“Grow. Keep growing. Until we meet again, then…” He covered his face with his hand and laughed. A liquid flowed out between his fingers, just a little that could barely get noticed.
On the other end, Sauron was aimed by two bows. Neither Heng nor Legolas fired yet because the mace blocked the arm that wielded the One Ring. They could not fire even if they wanted to. The riders charged at Sauron without regard for their own lives. Their king had died in this battle. The riders’ loyalty overcame their fear of Sauron.
It was these brave riders who broke the stalemate. Sauron could not move freely as he showed worry of Heng and Legolas. He used non-physical attacks when the riders charged at him. The rotating magic circles were his best defense. They corroded any rider who ran into the circles into withered bones, and then into ashes. Yet, this appalling scene did not stop the riders. As thousands of them charged, Gandalf began his chanting.
Gandalf’s chanting concluded and several translucent barrier walls emerged in the air. The walls collided onto the magic circles. Both of these magics dissolved. The first hundred riders in the front charged at Sauron as they cried, which forced Sauron to use his mace. He raised he hand wielding the one ring. A misty cloud filled his palm. Heng and Legolas fired their arrows at the same time, both targeting the arm that wielded the ring. These two arrows hit the arm one after the other.
The arrows pierced into the black mist enveloping Sauron’s arm. The mist consumed Legolas’s arrow. The powerful corrosiveness of the mist corroded the life force and the arrow at once. Sauron merely trembled for a moment. A large portion of the mist dissipated but no damage was done to him. However, the following Charged Shot penetrated the arm at a speed beyond the eyes could capture. It then disappeared in the distance.
Heng collapsed after he fired the arrow. He no longer had the ability to participate in the rest of the battle. In contrast, Legolas’s arm was shaking but he managed to placed three more arrows on his bow and aimed them at Sauron. Sauron lost two third of his arm. It was kept on his body by a piece of the armor. The black mist extended down from his arm seemingly in an attempt to repair the armor.
The front line of the riders reached Sauron. Their spears and swords struck his body, causing ding-dongs from the armor. Yet, they were unable to damage Sauron. A black light radiated from the ring he was holding in the air. Black mist surged from the ring and consumed the riders attacking him. The mist kept expanding, reaching the riders and archers further away. Two seconds later, a thousand meter area of the battlefield was covered in the mist.
“YinKong!” Zheng was shocked then he shouted. Qi and blood energy rushed through his body. He seemed to have disregarded his injuries and wanted to charge into the battlefield because YingKong was sneaking behind Sauron. She had been inside the mist the whole time.
Before Zheng could make his next move, he saw the light behind Sauron became distorted. It was the phenomenon of uneven air density, and which was a sign of… The Shining Air Wave!
The movements in the Shining state pushed the black mist away from her body. YinKong attacked at the instant where Sauron’s attack reached its peak. The Air Wave sliced off the remaining part of Sauron’s arm. There was no time to worry about the corrosion. YinKong jumped into the black mist and grabbed the broken arm.
Then… the half awake and half dreamy feeling struck. As Zheng opened his eyes, the bright sphere of light floated in front of him. To his side, YinKong’s left arm was corroding away. Her right arm was holding onto the broken arm.
Showing posts with label Vol 16. The Lord of the Rings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vol 16. The Lord of the Rings. Show all posts
Chapter 31
The flame from the explosion quickly spread to the nearby orcs. The seemingly dim purple flame had exceedingly high temperature. Any contact with the flame instantly burned the orcs to ashes, and then the ashes burned to nothingness. No word other than terrifying could be used to describe the flame. The good thing was there weren’t that much of them that dropped from the Taijitu. The spread stopped at the two hundred meters mark and they consumed all the orcs within the radius. The full power of the cauldron would definitely turn the land in a thousand to several thousand radius into a barren. It was the reason Luo YingLong said he could not utilize the full power of the skill. It was too powerful.
Zheng lay on the ground. His body was burnt and black. Any normal person would have died from such injury. The burn covered over 95% of the body, including one of his eyes. He was more similar to a charcoal than he was human, basically at the brink of death.
Yet, under this state, drastic changes were happening underneath the burned skin. The DNA optimized through this battle became the blueprints, using the Qi and blood energy as the source of energy, the DNA of the dragon a supplement, and the ancient DNA within him as the center, his flesh rapidly reconstructed. Zheng was still awake. He knew that this body would only appear while he entered the fourth stage. The amount of energy required by the body was enormous. He could not sustain the consumption indefinitely unless he were to reach the fifth stage.
(Not dead… I managed to live.) Zheng let out a sigh of relief. Exceptional pain was still attacking his whole body but he immediately recalled what happened. Luo YingLong was attacked the moment before he was going to be burned to death. That attack broke through his barrier. The state of his death was also unique. His body quickly disintergrated to particles. Zheng had only seen such death once… Zero’s unique ability, Mystic Eyes of Death Perception!
The Gauss Sniper Rifle could completely annihilate anything, no matter what magical items they had or how strong the person was, as long as you grasped the line of death. The loud gunshot was also the sound of the Gauss Rifle.
(So it was Zero… Where is he? Why is he here at this time? Could it be… Xuan?) Zheng’s thoughts naturally came to this conclusion. He wasn’t sure but if there was someone who could accomplish this, it must be Xuan! And it was only Xuan that would let his own teammate be a bait while he planned everything behind their backs.
(No matter what, it’s safe now. Zero shouldn’t have any problem if he doesn’t use the Mystic Eyes continuously. Luo YingLong is dead so there’s only a woman left. She probably won’t dare to show herself. The sniper rifle isn’t a joke.) Zheng breathed out then suddenly several arrows nearly hit him before he realized them. That gave him a good scare that it hurt. He forgot where he was in. This was a battlefield. Even without team Celestial, the orcs were not nice characters. He had the ability to kill them, or at least leave at will if he still had the strength but the situation was rather negative. He was lying on the road between the orc army and the city wall. Death was inevitable since he couldn’t move a finger.
(Real? I’d rather die to Xiuzhen than to the orcs… The Xiuzhen attacks are truly powerful…) Zheng watched as the orcs approached. Those arrows were a test to see if Zheng had any strength left. The orcs approached him cautiously seeing that he remained lying there. The gunshot didn’t sound again. Zero must have been knocked unconscious by the Mystic Eyes. Only ten meters left between the orcs and Zheng.
(How ironic to die like a joke… So death still comes.) Zheng was over five hundred meters from the city wall. Not far, but the troops were barely holding their defense, not to mention having the ability to come save him. Zheng closed his eyes in resign. Just then, the bright sound of bugles came from the distant and grabbed the orc army’s attention. They abandoned the charred human and ran outward.
A war horse ran into sight from the horizon. Riding on its back was a middle aged man in full armor. He frowned upon seeing the countless orc army. There were still eighty thousand orcs left after sieging for such a long time and getting killed by Zheng and Luo YingLong’s magical item.
The middle aged man took a deep breath then raised his arm. Numerous riders charged up from behind. These were elite riders. They wore heavy armors and carried spears. Even the war horses were equipped with barding, exposing only their eyes. The riders spanned a section of the horizon, their numbers uncountable.
“Éomer! Take your eored down the left side. Gamling, follow the King’s banner down the center. Grimbold, take your company right, after you pass the wall. Forth, and fear no darkness!” The man was Theoden, king of Rohan. He shouted to the marshalls then turned to the riders at his back.
“Arise! Arise! Riders of Théoden! Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered! A sword-day! A red day, ere the sun rises!” The riders raised their spears with his words. Theoden drew his sword then charged. “”Ride now, ride now, ride! Ride for ruin and the world’s ending!”
“Death! Death! Death!” He repeated. The riders roared after him, their blood boiling. Theoden shouted. “Forð Eorlingas!” He led the riders in a charge toward the orc army.
The scene of the riders charging was astonishing. The clops of the horses gradually reached sync. The charge gave off such a staggering aura despite having only five thousand riders. Some orcs watched with unease.
Half-orcs had no where near the strong bodies of the Uruk-hai and couldn’t use the long lances. They held out their spears against the charge. Their archers rained arrows.
Yet, normal arrows were deflected from the heavy armor of the riders. Only the Explosive Shots were powerful enough to knock them off their horses. However, these were few in numbers. The charge was speedy. By the time a few hundreds fell, they had reached within ten meters of the orc army.
The orcs felt as though a steel wall pushed its way toward them. The riders stepped over their first line of defense. The subsequent riders almost instantly crushed the fallen orcs into a paste. No living beings could stop the riders from charging. The trolls could stop a horse at the most but the impact would knocked them away several meters then they got run over by the following riders. Despite having only five thousands, the riders were like the point of a knife. They easily sliced into the gigantic orc army. The orc army began to collapse under the charge. Thirty thousand had been killed in the charge!
Theoden was exceptionally valiant. The glow of his battle Qi never faded. All the half orcs, orcs, and trolls fell to pieces as he rammed into them. His spear pierced numerous foes. The riders centered around Theoden and charged toward the heart of the orc army.
Just when everyone thought victory was immenent, the ground trembled violently. Everyone heard a strange bugle call. Ten seconds later, massive beings walked into the battlefield from the side. These were elephants dozens of meters in height, much larger than elephants of the real world. There were approximately a hundred of them. Their numbers were much higher than portrayed in the movie.
Zheng didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He thought he might perhaps survive this battle but then the Oliphaunts came. And unfortunately, he was in the way of the Oliphaunts. A hundred of them meant there was almost no chance of missing him. The Oliphaunts walked slow but only relative to their size. Their actual movement speed was similar to that of the riders. Zheng saw one Oliphaunt heading his way. In a few more steps, he would become one with the ground…
Boom! A huge boulder hurled onto the Oliphaunt. It didn’t knock the Oliphaunt onto the ground but still struck it off its course. Zheng looked through the corner of his eyes. Hundreds of Ents ten meters in height were coming out from the woods.
These shocking changes were coming one after another. It seemed as though every type of army was going to make their appearance in this battle. Accompanying the entrance of the Ents were tens of boulders lopped in the air similar to those from the catapults. The boulders crashed into the Oliphaunts. Ten of them immediately struck to the ground.
Riding on top each Oliphaunt were ten humanoids. They recognized the threat of the Ents and turned the Oliphaunts to the Ents. The Ents responded by charging out of the woods toward the Oliphaunts.
The beings from both sides were massive. The Oliphaunts were several dozen meters in height and the Ents ten meters. It might seem the Ents were no match but their numbers tripled that of the Oliphaunts. Their bodies far exceeded the toughness of humans. The massive beings collided into each other after a short dash.
The earth trembled as if an earthquake took place. Ten Ents in the front line were swept away but then thirty more Ents grabbed several Oliphaunts and attempted to flip them over. Species with arms were more agile than those without, at least in the case of close range battles.
The fall of the Oliphaunts stirred up another round of trembling. Zheng had given up in watching the battle of monsters. Whether it be the Oliphaunts or Ents, they would all bring death to him if any were to land on him. It was rather sad that someone who unlocked to the fourth stage, who was at the top of the ladder in the movie worlds lay on the ground in such bad luck, seemingly losing his last breath any second.
“Ho. Is this Zheng? How pitiful do you look… Perhaps you have always been accompanied by bad luck.” A voice suddenly sounded along with footsteps of several people.
Zheng opened his remaining eye abruptly. It was team Africa standing in front of him. Neos was seemingly staring at him with a faint smile, which made Zheng’s heart skipped a beat.
(Right, the rings are still on my finger… The flame burned my clothes but the rings are still intact… Team Africa. No one will know that they did it if they kill me without making a fuss now. And team China will be out of an important member.) Zheng stared at Neos.
Neos brought out a chocolate bar then spoke while he ate. “Richard, pick him up. We are entering the city. Victory for this battle is set. The chaotic battle might spread to us if we stay. We will speak after we are inside the city… What I owe you, I pay you back.” Neos turned to Minas Tirith.
(Fuck. Make it clear that you are saving someone instead of showing the face of a murderer. That scared me…)
Shortly after the group climbed up to the wall, a green wave rushed into the battlefield. The orc army and the powerful Oliphaunts were thin as a piece of paper in front of the green army. This was the Army of the Dead. Their speed was extremely fast. Their bodies were illusionary aside from their blades. They moved, ignoring gravity. For a while, the battlefield turned into a green sea. The victor of this battle… was men!
Winning the siege at Minas Tirith did not mean winning another battle. Far away from Minas Tirith, inside the dark gate of Mordor, explosions occurred one after another. Boulders and rocks fell to the ground with each explosion. Several huge explosions later, the mountain broke apart into a landslide, which attracted the attention of Sauron and the orc army.
“SongTian! How many more varieties of Sword Aura do you have left? Sword of Wind, Sword of Earth, Sword of Fire, Sword of Water. Where is that strongest Sword of Gold? Show me!” ZhuiKong shouted with excitement. His body became blurry. It seemed as though he became a ribbon of light that dashed at SongTian. All the boulders on his way broke apart into dust. He left a ploughed trail on the ground.
SongTian looked in a worse condition than ZhuiKong. However, his actions had not slowed down. He stabbed the plain looking sword into the ground. As the ribbon of light dashed toward him, he drew out the sword in lightning speed.
“Earthen hurricane!” The sword came out of the ground, pulling rocks and soil along it. A mini hurricane began to form as the sword whirled in the air. The hurricane absorbed the rocks and dirt.
The ribbon of light collided with the hurricane, resulting in a violent explosion. Shockwaves spread out and the mountain began another landslide just as before.
By the time the shockwaves and dust settled, SongTian and ZhuiKong looked to the hill not far away. Hundreds of people were running toward them. When these people came closer, they noticed these weren’t humans but uncanny creatures. Along with the creatures were Xuan and members of team China.
ZhuiKong smiled at Xuan. “Our business has been clear. What are you looking for me for? Oh, have I forgotten to tell you the cost of interrupting my fight… is extremely high.”
Xuan adjusted his glasses. “O, don’t mind us. You can continue with the fight. I am only going to kill Adam.” He raised his head slightly and looked over to Adam, standing on another hill to the back of SongTian. A Caucasian woman stood beside him. The two of them were speaking to each other.
SongTian was focused on ZhuiKong until Xuan said these words. He turned to Xuan abruptly. His eyes filled with killing intent.
At the same time, HaoTian stepped in front of Xuan and shrugged at SongTian. “I am sorry. I also don’t want to be your enemy. How about you don’t attack me since we knew each other? Wah…”
SongTian slashed his sword from the distance. An invisible air blade sliced a trail on the ground. However, it ended in a dull sound of impact when it reached a few meters within HaoTian. A mysterious visible wave appeared in front of him and blocked the air blade.
ZhuiKong seized the opportunity and flashed toward SongTian. When he returned to his position, he gained a cut on his chest that was deep enough to see his bones. However, his hand was holding an arm. SongTian lost one of his arms. Fortunately, it wasn’t the arm that he used to hold his sword.
“The fun’s spoiled. I wanted to have a good fight with you but it doesn’t seem possible now. You actually dared to move your attention away in a fight with me… Next time. If team Celestial doesn’t get wiped, I will fight you next time.” He threw the arm to his back then leaped off the mountain. His words then came through to the others.
The Nemesis behind Xuan had already readied their bows. The bows were crafted from wood. The bows used by Uruk-hai were too small for the Uruk-hai Nemesis who had heights of several meters. They needed three meter long bows to utilize their potential. A hundred of the Nemesis stacked two arrows on their bows. It was the beginning motion of the Explosive Shot.
ZhuiKong left quickly after seeing this. He didn’t fear any fight with his speed and combat strength and no one had the ability to keep him here. SongTian didn’t hold back with his air blade. It had the power of slicing through mountain but HaoTian blocked it with an invisible ability. ZhuiKong on the other hand didn’t necessarily have more powerful attacks as his assassinations were technique based. He wasn’t certain he could break through the invisible wall in three seconds, while the hundred Explosives shots could kill him for certain in the same time frame.
“So, let team Celestial end in a wipe.” Xuan did not show any courtesy. He didn’t even look at ZhuiKong leaving. With a swing of his arm, the Nemesis drew their arrows to full. SongTian, who was only a hundred meters away, was exposed under the power of the Explosive Shots.
SongTian gave a snort. As he raised his sword, Adam stood up and yelled. “Stop it, Xuan. I admit you won this round… Let’s end it like this. We will stay here quietly until the end of this movie. What do you say?”
Xuan looked at him and the woman behind. “Not possible. Judging by the information I collected previously, are more dangerous than team Devil. Everyone else from team Celestial can live, but you must die. This is indisputable. In order to prevent your team from reviving you, the best course of action is to wipe team your team. There is no settlement to have.”
Adam looked to HaoTian. He quickly shrugged. “Adam, there’s nothing I can do. Don’t look at me like this. Don’t worry. I believe I will soon… I understand Xuan’s personality more than you do. My death is certain no matter what. I merely live a little longer than you. Haha…”
HaoTian was an optimist. It seemed like he wasn’t worried about dying soon. Adam suddenly said. “Fine then. Let’s all die together. The continental oscillator has been planted. The switch is in my heart. Come kill me, Xuan.”
Xuan frowned. He gave a serious look at Adam.
Adam received it unperturbed and also spoke in a serious manner. “There aren’t actually that much hatred between us. We are only worried by the other person’s development. You worry about team Celestial under my lead and so am I on team China? Furthermore, you have an individual with phenomenal potential just like our Cultivator, Luo YingLong. All in all, we are only worried. There’s no need to come to an end where one side must die. Our true enemies are supposed to be team Devil, who have overwhelming power over our teams.”
Xuan did not reply. He drew out his two Gauss pistols, then slid them back into his sleeves. He repeated the motion several times before he muttered. “Fine. I will let you go. But I need the energy stones you have with you. Don’t tell me there aren’t any. The phone Luo YingLong threw away isn’t in the exchange system. It should be a sci-fi technology built using a design exchanged from God. The phone contained several energy stones. Of course, I can also assume you don’t have energy stones. In that case, I will kill the two people by your side. Kill yourself if you will, we will die with you.”
Adam lifted a ring from his finger after hearing Xuan spoke. “A Na Ring. Your leader should be able to use it. There are some other items aside from energy stones. The total value is approximately a rank S reward.”
The two of them knew the other’s thoughts partially. They were both concerned and tried to put the stress on the other party when in fact, neither person wanted to die. Adam didn’t. Xuan as of now didn’t. Team China possessed the advantage. And as long as Adam’s own life wasn’t threatened, he wouldn’t commit suicide even if team China were to kill the other two members. However, this broke the balance Xuan had in mind…
There was another person in this world. Zhao ZuiKong wasn’t a merciful person. If he guessed it correct, ZhuiKong was now heading to that direction with the goal… “Keeping them might serve as a turning point.”
Without hesitation, Xuan commanded a Nemesis to walk up and take the ring. He threw the ring to HaoTian. At the same time, everyone from team China heard four consecutive notifications. The newbies were killed. The killer could only be ZhuiKong who just left.
Zheng’s heart skipped a beat as he heard the notifications. They won the battle at Minas Tirith but the clean up and rescues would take more time than the battle. Zheng was among the critically injured. There was not one piece of him still intact. The Charms of the Three Pure Ones weren’t showing their effect. It seemed like such severe injuries could only be treated in God’s Dimension.
Lan found Zero with psyche scan. YingKong then carried Zero, who was unconscious, back from the peak of a mountain. Zero woke after receiving Qi from Zheng. That was when Zheng finally learned Xuan was still alive and what he was doing all along.
“Didn’t die… Don’t worry, he will soon. I am going to beat the shit out of him once we return to God’s Dimension… Or I will straight up murder him. What do you think?” Zheng laughed. He gripped his fist.
Before Zheng finished speaking, they heard the notifications. Four consecutive deaths seized their voice.
Heng jumped off from the floor and yelled. “Four. Four people. Xuan, Kampa, WangXia, Gando. Could it be them?”
Zheng took a deep breath and said. “Not necessarily. It might be the newbies. Xuan has a group of Nemesis with him.”
Heng hesitated. “But isn’t HaoTian the one controlling the Nemesis? What if he freed himself from Xuan’s control. Wouldn’t that be terrible?”
Zheng glared at him. Dude wouldn’t pick something nice to say instead of unfortunate guesses, like Xuan and the other veterans were already killed. Heng noticed he was being pessimistic. He gave awkward laugh then lowered his head.
Zero remained calm. He pulled out a metallic plate from his pocket. The others saw him opened the plate then closed his eyes without making any noise.
A while later, he opened his eyes. “It’s fine. They are alive. It seemed the newbies got attacked. He said they will be waiting for us at Mordor.”
The rest of the group let out a sigh of relief. Zheng then said in a fierce tone. “Fuck, these guys make people worried. The next time I see them… The next time I see them…” Zheng sighed heavily and didn’t continue.
The battle finally concluded. After the rescues were over, Aragorn led the Army of the Dead to the top of Minas Tirith. Denethor sat on his knees intimidated. Everyone witness his power in the battle. The Army of the Dead signified Aragorn as the last heir of Gondor. He ousted Denethor from the position of steward. He then gave his first order to assemble the army and launch an attack at Mordor.
Unfortunately, the nearly invincible Army of the Dead did not follow. The dead dissipated into the wind. If they had this army. no amount of Mordor troops could rival them, not even Sauron himself.
“The final battle… at Mordor is in two days. Gather rations and infantries stationed at other places. With the addition of the Rohan riders, we will have an army of fifteen thousand. This is the time to attack Mordor!”
Inside the throne room at the top level of Minas Tirith, Aragorn discussed the upcoming strategy with others. Gimli asked. “How many troops does Mordor have remaining? A hundred thousand of their army had been buried here. We should be able to take down Mordor easily.”
Aragorn and Gandalf met eyes then gave a bitter smile. Gandalf caught their attention. “Ahem. Mordor still has… uh, an army of approximately twenty thousand. That was a conservative estimate. The half-orcs has strong reproductive capacity. I can’t estimate how big of an army he has amassed. He did not participate in the siege, which means there’s a bigger army with him. He only just retrieved the One Ring. As the One Ring’s power grows, the three Elven Rings will lose their power. His expedition to conquer the continent will begin once he recovered to his peak.”
Gimli lowered his head and muttered. “You mean this is our only chance?”
Aragorn confirmed Gandalf. “Yes. Our troops and horses are tired but we must defeat Sauron before he recovers his full power then destroy the One Ring. King of Rohan, does your army require resupplies? Their weapons must have been damaged in the battle.”
Theoden nodded. “Wait for the counts before resupplying. Two days are enough rest for the troops.”
Seeing as the mood took a downturn, Gandalf said. “Don’t feel despair. The Ents agreed to accompany us to the gate of Mordor. They could not enter the burning regions of Mordor but they could smash the gate with boulders, easing our entrance. They can gather their life force to provide our troops with a protective barrier. Our chance of victory is much greater. Sadly, Zheng suffered critical injuries. You would have been the best person to take on Sauron.”
The rest of the movie characters nodded. They were well aware of Zheng’s strength after fighting together for so long. Gandalf also witnessed his fight against Luo YingLong.
Zheng thought of another thing. His whole body was wrapped in bandage, which made him look like a mummy. It was difficult for him to make any movement. He did the only thing he could, nod at Gandalf and said. “Gather all the force of the Ents at one point? If they can summon… Gandalf, can you take me to the Ents after the council is over?”
Gandalf looked at him confused but nodded.
They recalled the battle and discussed it in details. People walked out from the throne room when evening came. The two kings stayed to have a conversation in private. Gandalf pushed Zheng down the city (Zheng was sitting on a crude wheelchair built by Heng. It was extremely ugly.) Soon, the two exited the city and headed to the woods.
The Ents naturally couldn’t enter the city. Disregarding their size, the Ents didn’t like stones much. They favored woods, humidity, soil, and rivers.
“Can you try to channel energy into my body? I will take control of this energy. Please don’t worry.” Zheng entered the fourth stage. At the same time, he took out the Bracelet of Anubis.
Zheng lay on the ground. His body was burnt and black. Any normal person would have died from such injury. The burn covered over 95% of the body, including one of his eyes. He was more similar to a charcoal than he was human, basically at the brink of death.
Yet, under this state, drastic changes were happening underneath the burned skin. The DNA optimized through this battle became the blueprints, using the Qi and blood energy as the source of energy, the DNA of the dragon a supplement, and the ancient DNA within him as the center, his flesh rapidly reconstructed. Zheng was still awake. He knew that this body would only appear while he entered the fourth stage. The amount of energy required by the body was enormous. He could not sustain the consumption indefinitely unless he were to reach the fifth stage.
(Not dead… I managed to live.) Zheng let out a sigh of relief. Exceptional pain was still attacking his whole body but he immediately recalled what happened. Luo YingLong was attacked the moment before he was going to be burned to death. That attack broke through his barrier. The state of his death was also unique. His body quickly disintergrated to particles. Zheng had only seen such death once… Zero’s unique ability, Mystic Eyes of Death Perception!
The Gauss Sniper Rifle could completely annihilate anything, no matter what magical items they had or how strong the person was, as long as you grasped the line of death. The loud gunshot was also the sound of the Gauss Rifle.
(So it was Zero… Where is he? Why is he here at this time? Could it be… Xuan?) Zheng’s thoughts naturally came to this conclusion. He wasn’t sure but if there was someone who could accomplish this, it must be Xuan! And it was only Xuan that would let his own teammate be a bait while he planned everything behind their backs.
(No matter what, it’s safe now. Zero shouldn’t have any problem if he doesn’t use the Mystic Eyes continuously. Luo YingLong is dead so there’s only a woman left. She probably won’t dare to show herself. The sniper rifle isn’t a joke.) Zheng breathed out then suddenly several arrows nearly hit him before he realized them. That gave him a good scare that it hurt. He forgot where he was in. This was a battlefield. Even without team Celestial, the orcs were not nice characters. He had the ability to kill them, or at least leave at will if he still had the strength but the situation was rather negative. He was lying on the road between the orc army and the city wall. Death was inevitable since he couldn’t move a finger.
(Real? I’d rather die to Xiuzhen than to the orcs… The Xiuzhen attacks are truly powerful…) Zheng watched as the orcs approached. Those arrows were a test to see if Zheng had any strength left. The orcs approached him cautiously seeing that he remained lying there. The gunshot didn’t sound again. Zero must have been knocked unconscious by the Mystic Eyes. Only ten meters left between the orcs and Zheng.
(How ironic to die like a joke… So death still comes.) Zheng was over five hundred meters from the city wall. Not far, but the troops were barely holding their defense, not to mention having the ability to come save him. Zheng closed his eyes in resign. Just then, the bright sound of bugles came from the distant and grabbed the orc army’s attention. They abandoned the charred human and ran outward.
A war horse ran into sight from the horizon. Riding on its back was a middle aged man in full armor. He frowned upon seeing the countless orc army. There were still eighty thousand orcs left after sieging for such a long time and getting killed by Zheng and Luo YingLong’s magical item.
The middle aged man took a deep breath then raised his arm. Numerous riders charged up from behind. These were elite riders. They wore heavy armors and carried spears. Even the war horses were equipped with barding, exposing only their eyes. The riders spanned a section of the horizon, their numbers uncountable.
“Éomer! Take your eored down the left side. Gamling, follow the King’s banner down the center. Grimbold, take your company right, after you pass the wall. Forth, and fear no darkness!” The man was Theoden, king of Rohan. He shouted to the marshalls then turned to the riders at his back.
“Arise! Arise! Riders of Théoden! Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered! A sword-day! A red day, ere the sun rises!” The riders raised their spears with his words. Theoden drew his sword then charged. “”Ride now, ride now, ride! Ride for ruin and the world’s ending!”
“Death! Death! Death!” He repeated. The riders roared after him, their blood boiling. Theoden shouted. “Forð Eorlingas!” He led the riders in a charge toward the orc army.
The scene of the riders charging was astonishing. The clops of the horses gradually reached sync. The charge gave off such a staggering aura despite having only five thousand riders. Some orcs watched with unease.
Half-orcs had no where near the strong bodies of the Uruk-hai and couldn’t use the long lances. They held out their spears against the charge. Their archers rained arrows.
Yet, normal arrows were deflected from the heavy armor of the riders. Only the Explosive Shots were powerful enough to knock them off their horses. However, these were few in numbers. The charge was speedy. By the time a few hundreds fell, they had reached within ten meters of the orc army.
The orcs felt as though a steel wall pushed its way toward them. The riders stepped over their first line of defense. The subsequent riders almost instantly crushed the fallen orcs into a paste. No living beings could stop the riders from charging. The trolls could stop a horse at the most but the impact would knocked them away several meters then they got run over by the following riders. Despite having only five thousands, the riders were like the point of a knife. They easily sliced into the gigantic orc army. The orc army began to collapse under the charge. Thirty thousand had been killed in the charge!
Theoden was exceptionally valiant. The glow of his battle Qi never faded. All the half orcs, orcs, and trolls fell to pieces as he rammed into them. His spear pierced numerous foes. The riders centered around Theoden and charged toward the heart of the orc army.
Just when everyone thought victory was immenent, the ground trembled violently. Everyone heard a strange bugle call. Ten seconds later, massive beings walked into the battlefield from the side. These were elephants dozens of meters in height, much larger than elephants of the real world. There were approximately a hundred of them. Their numbers were much higher than portrayed in the movie.
Zheng didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He thought he might perhaps survive this battle but then the Oliphaunts came. And unfortunately, he was in the way of the Oliphaunts. A hundred of them meant there was almost no chance of missing him. The Oliphaunts walked slow but only relative to their size. Their actual movement speed was similar to that of the riders. Zheng saw one Oliphaunt heading his way. In a few more steps, he would become one with the ground…
Boom! A huge boulder hurled onto the Oliphaunt. It didn’t knock the Oliphaunt onto the ground but still struck it off its course. Zheng looked through the corner of his eyes. Hundreds of Ents ten meters in height were coming out from the woods.
These shocking changes were coming one after another. It seemed as though every type of army was going to make their appearance in this battle. Accompanying the entrance of the Ents were tens of boulders lopped in the air similar to those from the catapults. The boulders crashed into the Oliphaunts. Ten of them immediately struck to the ground.
Riding on top each Oliphaunt were ten humanoids. They recognized the threat of the Ents and turned the Oliphaunts to the Ents. The Ents responded by charging out of the woods toward the Oliphaunts.
The beings from both sides were massive. The Oliphaunts were several dozen meters in height and the Ents ten meters. It might seem the Ents were no match but their numbers tripled that of the Oliphaunts. Their bodies far exceeded the toughness of humans. The massive beings collided into each other after a short dash.
The earth trembled as if an earthquake took place. Ten Ents in the front line were swept away but then thirty more Ents grabbed several Oliphaunts and attempted to flip them over. Species with arms were more agile than those without, at least in the case of close range battles.
The fall of the Oliphaunts stirred up another round of trembling. Zheng had given up in watching the battle of monsters. Whether it be the Oliphaunts or Ents, they would all bring death to him if any were to land on him. It was rather sad that someone who unlocked to the fourth stage, who was at the top of the ladder in the movie worlds lay on the ground in such bad luck, seemingly losing his last breath any second.
“Ho. Is this Zheng? How pitiful do you look… Perhaps you have always been accompanied by bad luck.” A voice suddenly sounded along with footsteps of several people.
Zheng opened his remaining eye abruptly. It was team Africa standing in front of him. Neos was seemingly staring at him with a faint smile, which made Zheng’s heart skipped a beat.
(Right, the rings are still on my finger… The flame burned my clothes but the rings are still intact… Team Africa. No one will know that they did it if they kill me without making a fuss now. And team China will be out of an important member.) Zheng stared at Neos.
Neos brought out a chocolate bar then spoke while he ate. “Richard, pick him up. We are entering the city. Victory for this battle is set. The chaotic battle might spread to us if we stay. We will speak after we are inside the city… What I owe you, I pay you back.” Neos turned to Minas Tirith.
(Fuck. Make it clear that you are saving someone instead of showing the face of a murderer. That scared me…)
Shortly after the group climbed up to the wall, a green wave rushed into the battlefield. The orc army and the powerful Oliphaunts were thin as a piece of paper in front of the green army. This was the Army of the Dead. Their speed was extremely fast. Their bodies were illusionary aside from their blades. They moved, ignoring gravity. For a while, the battlefield turned into a green sea. The victor of this battle… was men!
Winning the siege at Minas Tirith did not mean winning another battle. Far away from Minas Tirith, inside the dark gate of Mordor, explosions occurred one after another. Boulders and rocks fell to the ground with each explosion. Several huge explosions later, the mountain broke apart into a landslide, which attracted the attention of Sauron and the orc army.
“SongTian! How many more varieties of Sword Aura do you have left? Sword of Wind, Sword of Earth, Sword of Fire, Sword of Water. Where is that strongest Sword of Gold? Show me!” ZhuiKong shouted with excitement. His body became blurry. It seemed as though he became a ribbon of light that dashed at SongTian. All the boulders on his way broke apart into dust. He left a ploughed trail on the ground.
SongTian looked in a worse condition than ZhuiKong. However, his actions had not slowed down. He stabbed the plain looking sword into the ground. As the ribbon of light dashed toward him, he drew out the sword in lightning speed.
“Earthen hurricane!” The sword came out of the ground, pulling rocks and soil along it. A mini hurricane began to form as the sword whirled in the air. The hurricane absorbed the rocks and dirt.
The ribbon of light collided with the hurricane, resulting in a violent explosion. Shockwaves spread out and the mountain began another landslide just as before.
By the time the shockwaves and dust settled, SongTian and ZhuiKong looked to the hill not far away. Hundreds of people were running toward them. When these people came closer, they noticed these weren’t humans but uncanny creatures. Along with the creatures were Xuan and members of team China.
ZhuiKong smiled at Xuan. “Our business has been clear. What are you looking for me for? Oh, have I forgotten to tell you the cost of interrupting my fight… is extremely high.”
Xuan adjusted his glasses. “O, don’t mind us. You can continue with the fight. I am only going to kill Adam.” He raised his head slightly and looked over to Adam, standing on another hill to the back of SongTian. A Caucasian woman stood beside him. The two of them were speaking to each other.
SongTian was focused on ZhuiKong until Xuan said these words. He turned to Xuan abruptly. His eyes filled with killing intent.
At the same time, HaoTian stepped in front of Xuan and shrugged at SongTian. “I am sorry. I also don’t want to be your enemy. How about you don’t attack me since we knew each other? Wah…”
SongTian slashed his sword from the distance. An invisible air blade sliced a trail on the ground. However, it ended in a dull sound of impact when it reached a few meters within HaoTian. A mysterious visible wave appeared in front of him and blocked the air blade.
ZhuiKong seized the opportunity and flashed toward SongTian. When he returned to his position, he gained a cut on his chest that was deep enough to see his bones. However, his hand was holding an arm. SongTian lost one of his arms. Fortunately, it wasn’t the arm that he used to hold his sword.
“The fun’s spoiled. I wanted to have a good fight with you but it doesn’t seem possible now. You actually dared to move your attention away in a fight with me… Next time. If team Celestial doesn’t get wiped, I will fight you next time.” He threw the arm to his back then leaped off the mountain. His words then came through to the others.
The Nemesis behind Xuan had already readied their bows. The bows were crafted from wood. The bows used by Uruk-hai were too small for the Uruk-hai Nemesis who had heights of several meters. They needed three meter long bows to utilize their potential. A hundred of the Nemesis stacked two arrows on their bows. It was the beginning motion of the Explosive Shot.
ZhuiKong left quickly after seeing this. He didn’t fear any fight with his speed and combat strength and no one had the ability to keep him here. SongTian didn’t hold back with his air blade. It had the power of slicing through mountain but HaoTian blocked it with an invisible ability. ZhuiKong on the other hand didn’t necessarily have more powerful attacks as his assassinations were technique based. He wasn’t certain he could break through the invisible wall in three seconds, while the hundred Explosives shots could kill him for certain in the same time frame.
“So, let team Celestial end in a wipe.” Xuan did not show any courtesy. He didn’t even look at ZhuiKong leaving. With a swing of his arm, the Nemesis drew their arrows to full. SongTian, who was only a hundred meters away, was exposed under the power of the Explosive Shots.
SongTian gave a snort. As he raised his sword, Adam stood up and yelled. “Stop it, Xuan. I admit you won this round… Let’s end it like this. We will stay here quietly until the end of this movie. What do you say?”
Xuan looked at him and the woman behind. “Not possible. Judging by the information I collected previously, are more dangerous than team Devil. Everyone else from team Celestial can live, but you must die. This is indisputable. In order to prevent your team from reviving you, the best course of action is to wipe team your team. There is no settlement to have.”
Adam looked to HaoTian. He quickly shrugged. “Adam, there’s nothing I can do. Don’t look at me like this. Don’t worry. I believe I will soon… I understand Xuan’s personality more than you do. My death is certain no matter what. I merely live a little longer than you. Haha…”
HaoTian was an optimist. It seemed like he wasn’t worried about dying soon. Adam suddenly said. “Fine then. Let’s all die together. The continental oscillator has been planted. The switch is in my heart. Come kill me, Xuan.”
Xuan frowned. He gave a serious look at Adam.
Adam received it unperturbed and also spoke in a serious manner. “There aren’t actually that much hatred between us. We are only worried by the other person’s development. You worry about team Celestial under my lead and so am I on team China? Furthermore, you have an individual with phenomenal potential just like our Cultivator, Luo YingLong. All in all, we are only worried. There’s no need to come to an end where one side must die. Our true enemies are supposed to be team Devil, who have overwhelming power over our teams.”
Xuan did not reply. He drew out his two Gauss pistols, then slid them back into his sleeves. He repeated the motion several times before he muttered. “Fine. I will let you go. But I need the energy stones you have with you. Don’t tell me there aren’t any. The phone Luo YingLong threw away isn’t in the exchange system. It should be a sci-fi technology built using a design exchanged from God. The phone contained several energy stones. Of course, I can also assume you don’t have energy stones. In that case, I will kill the two people by your side. Kill yourself if you will, we will die with you.”
Adam lifted a ring from his finger after hearing Xuan spoke. “A Na Ring. Your leader should be able to use it. There are some other items aside from energy stones. The total value is approximately a rank S reward.”
The two of them knew the other’s thoughts partially. They were both concerned and tried to put the stress on the other party when in fact, neither person wanted to die. Adam didn’t. Xuan as of now didn’t. Team China possessed the advantage. And as long as Adam’s own life wasn’t threatened, he wouldn’t commit suicide even if team China were to kill the other two members. However, this broke the balance Xuan had in mind…
There was another person in this world. Zhao ZuiKong wasn’t a merciful person. If he guessed it correct, ZhuiKong was now heading to that direction with the goal… “Keeping them might serve as a turning point.”
Without hesitation, Xuan commanded a Nemesis to walk up and take the ring. He threw the ring to HaoTian. At the same time, everyone from team China heard four consecutive notifications. The newbies were killed. The killer could only be ZhuiKong who just left.
Zheng’s heart skipped a beat as he heard the notifications. They won the battle at Minas Tirith but the clean up and rescues would take more time than the battle. Zheng was among the critically injured. There was not one piece of him still intact. The Charms of the Three Pure Ones weren’t showing their effect. It seemed like such severe injuries could only be treated in God’s Dimension.
Lan found Zero with psyche scan. YingKong then carried Zero, who was unconscious, back from the peak of a mountain. Zero woke after receiving Qi from Zheng. That was when Zheng finally learned Xuan was still alive and what he was doing all along.
“Didn’t die… Don’t worry, he will soon. I am going to beat the shit out of him once we return to God’s Dimension… Or I will straight up murder him. What do you think?” Zheng laughed. He gripped his fist.
Before Zheng finished speaking, they heard the notifications. Four consecutive deaths seized their voice.
Heng jumped off from the floor and yelled. “Four. Four people. Xuan, Kampa, WangXia, Gando. Could it be them?”
Zheng took a deep breath and said. “Not necessarily. It might be the newbies. Xuan has a group of Nemesis with him.”
Heng hesitated. “But isn’t HaoTian the one controlling the Nemesis? What if he freed himself from Xuan’s control. Wouldn’t that be terrible?”
Zheng glared at him. Dude wouldn’t pick something nice to say instead of unfortunate guesses, like Xuan and the other veterans were already killed. Heng noticed he was being pessimistic. He gave awkward laugh then lowered his head.
Zero remained calm. He pulled out a metallic plate from his pocket. The others saw him opened the plate then closed his eyes without making any noise.
A while later, he opened his eyes. “It’s fine. They are alive. It seemed the newbies got attacked. He said they will be waiting for us at Mordor.”
The rest of the group let out a sigh of relief. Zheng then said in a fierce tone. “Fuck, these guys make people worried. The next time I see them… The next time I see them…” Zheng sighed heavily and didn’t continue.
The battle finally concluded. After the rescues were over, Aragorn led the Army of the Dead to the top of Minas Tirith. Denethor sat on his knees intimidated. Everyone witness his power in the battle. The Army of the Dead signified Aragorn as the last heir of Gondor. He ousted Denethor from the position of steward. He then gave his first order to assemble the army and launch an attack at Mordor.
Unfortunately, the nearly invincible Army of the Dead did not follow. The dead dissipated into the wind. If they had this army. no amount of Mordor troops could rival them, not even Sauron himself.
“The final battle… at Mordor is in two days. Gather rations and infantries stationed at other places. With the addition of the Rohan riders, we will have an army of fifteen thousand. This is the time to attack Mordor!”
Inside the throne room at the top level of Minas Tirith, Aragorn discussed the upcoming strategy with others. Gimli asked. “How many troops does Mordor have remaining? A hundred thousand of their army had been buried here. We should be able to take down Mordor easily.”
Aragorn and Gandalf met eyes then gave a bitter smile. Gandalf caught their attention. “Ahem. Mordor still has… uh, an army of approximately twenty thousand. That was a conservative estimate. The half-orcs has strong reproductive capacity. I can’t estimate how big of an army he has amassed. He did not participate in the siege, which means there’s a bigger army with him. He only just retrieved the One Ring. As the One Ring’s power grows, the three Elven Rings will lose their power. His expedition to conquer the continent will begin once he recovered to his peak.”
Gimli lowered his head and muttered. “You mean this is our only chance?”
Aragorn confirmed Gandalf. “Yes. Our troops and horses are tired but we must defeat Sauron before he recovers his full power then destroy the One Ring. King of Rohan, does your army require resupplies? Their weapons must have been damaged in the battle.”
Theoden nodded. “Wait for the counts before resupplying. Two days are enough rest for the troops.”
Seeing as the mood took a downturn, Gandalf said. “Don’t feel despair. The Ents agreed to accompany us to the gate of Mordor. They could not enter the burning regions of Mordor but they could smash the gate with boulders, easing our entrance. They can gather their life force to provide our troops with a protective barrier. Our chance of victory is much greater. Sadly, Zheng suffered critical injuries. You would have been the best person to take on Sauron.”
The rest of the movie characters nodded. They were well aware of Zheng’s strength after fighting together for so long. Gandalf also witnessed his fight against Luo YingLong.
Zheng thought of another thing. His whole body was wrapped in bandage, which made him look like a mummy. It was difficult for him to make any movement. He did the only thing he could, nod at Gandalf and said. “Gather all the force of the Ents at one point? If they can summon… Gandalf, can you take me to the Ents after the council is over?”
Gandalf looked at him confused but nodded.
They recalled the battle and discussed it in details. People walked out from the throne room when evening came. The two kings stayed to have a conversation in private. Gandalf pushed Zheng down the city (Zheng was sitting on a crude wheelchair built by Heng. It was extremely ugly.) Soon, the two exited the city and headed to the woods.
The Ents naturally couldn’t enter the city. Disregarding their size, the Ents didn’t like stones much. They favored woods, humidity, soil, and rivers.
“Can you try to channel energy into my body? I will take control of this energy. Please don’t worry.” Zheng entered the fourth stage. At the same time, he took out the Bracelet of Anubis.
Chapter 30
The land in a hundred-meter radius around Zheng floated up fifteen meters. Inside this land was he, Luo YingLong and many half-orcs. Luo YingLong circled the area on his sword. All the half-orcs were shredded into pieces. He then jumped off the sword. There was now only he and Zheng on the land.
“It’s quiet now. Come. Let us have a good fight. The last time we fought your clone, we saved a few Caucasians from him using our numbers advantage. There’s no one to disturb us now. Let me see if the power of your unlocked stage can rival the power of Xiuzhen!” He shouted.
Zheng threw away the broken arm in his hand. He had entered a berserk state but he didn’t leap at Luo YingLong mindlessly. He straightened his posture. His hands reached for his ribs. Following a crackling sound, he pushed a dislocated rib back into its original position.
Luo YingLong curled his lips. “Look at your stupid face. Don’t you know to buy some high-level charms? How can you come into the battlefield unprepared when you are someone that reached the fourth stage? You are strong but the abilities God has are infinite. Some of the abilities are prominent only in offensive stats. I might have to abandon my body if I get surprise attacked by those abilities. Haha.”
Zheng didn’t say a word. After he relocated his bones, he roared then charged at Luo YingLong. Luo YingLong stood there and watched him as though he wasn’t concerned about Zheng. “Slow down. Let me explain my items first. These are crafted from Xiuzhen abilities. The only thing they have to do with God’s Dimension is the valuable materials. And being able to use them is feat of my Xiuzhen. Next, about my abilities, they are also…”
Zheng rushed up to him using the double steps. The movement speed from this technique was extremely fast. Luo YingLong had only spoken a few sentences when Zheng’s hand reached for his face. Qi and Red Flame crossed over around his claw. Boom! A violent fire flared up from his claw. However, before the fire came close to Luo YingLong, a golden light spanned out from his body and blocked off the fire.
“…they are also Xiuzhen!” Luo YingLong shouted. He lowered his body into a horse stance. His palm struck Zheng’s abdomen. The strike wasn’t fast. However, in the center of the palm was the symbol of the eight trigrams.
Zheng’s other hand intercepted Luo YingLong’s palm. As soon as they came in contact, his hand trembled as though he was hit by an electric shock. The character representing thunder printed onto Zheng’s chest.
“Borrowing from the force of heaven and earth! Thunder shock!” Luo YingLong retrieved his hand. Yet, a glowing golden sign remained on Zheng’s chest. Luo YingLong gave a shout then electricity discharged from the sign. The clothe near it burned to ashes in an instant. The electricity struck Zheng and sent him back over ten meters. He lay on the ground trembling.
“Be careful. The person who falls off the platform loses… Do you know why I lifted the platform? Because not even I can defend against arrows in such quantity, especially shots that came from two arrows simultaneously. I won’t even have the chance to support my items if I take ten of those shots at once. The item will shatter immediately. Hoho. I wonder how strong you have to be in order to overcome the numbers advantage.” Luo YingLong shrugged as he walked toward Zheng.
Zheng stood up after only a while of lying there. He looked almost unharmed aside from the blood by his lips. Luo YingLong knew that his shock attack could electrocute an elephant. The reason Zheng could still stand was probably due to the power of the fourth stage. Infinitesimal control allowed him to restrict or neutralize the electricity with Qi or other forms of energy.
(Activate Destruction to its peak. Focus the attack to a single point. The result of this battle lies on this instant!) Zheng stood in place. His eyes were still completely red. The lust for blood never receded and instead grew more intense as blood flew down the corner of his mouth. As Luo YingLong began to approach him, his Qi and Blood Energy surged violently.
Luo YingLong sensed the danger and stopped his steps. “What other self created or exchanged ability do you still have? The fourth stage boosts the power of these abilities but normal abilities have no way of breaking my defense…”
Before he finished talking, Zheng roared to the sky. The bat wings suddenly grew. Then. He disappeared from Luo YingLong’s sight.
“What is?”
Pah!
Luo YingLong was feeling the abnormality and suddenly pain registered from his front. He was sent flying backward ten meters. He didn’t even have the time to figure out what happened to his barrier when something weighted down on his chest. He saw Zheng’s knee striking down at his throat. It pressed down on the golden barrier to its extreme. The barrier was almost touching the skin of his throat. One could tell how much force the knee was exerting.
(Destruction at full strength… Modify the third, seventh, and tenth sets of genes. Drain Qi from the Na Ring to repair the body. Drain Blood Energy to maintain Destruction. Body limit after modification… twenty seven seconds!)
“Aou!” Zheng roared with insanity. He didn’t wait for Luo YingLong’s next action. He retrieved his knee then struck Luo YingLong’s face with his fists. His punches broke the sound barriers. Every punch was followed by a sonic boom. The immense force compressed the air around him then the air exploded. Visible shockwaves spread from the center of explosion. In less than thirty punches, Zheng’s clothes became shredded pieces from the shockwaves.
This power once shattered a dragon’s chin. Under the strength and speed of the attacks, the golden light of the barrier was pushed to the other parts Luo YingLong’s body, unable to return to their original location in time. A few dozen punches later, pah! Zheng’s fist hit Luo YingLong’s face. The force passed through him and into the land below. Cracks spread through the hundred meter platform. Zheng paid no attention to it. His fists continued landing on Luo YingLong’s face while the cracking became larger and larger.
“Separate! Borrowing from the force of heaven and earth! Spiral Separation!” Luo YingLong still managed to utter words under such mad attacks, although his words were barely discernible.
Following these words, Zheng felt that his punches were landing on cotton. His strength couldn’t touch anything and a spiraling force redirected his fists. However, infinitesimal control wasn’t so easily defeated. Zheng stopped punching straight downward. His hands rotated in the opposite direction of the spiraling force. His hands moved so fast in Destruction that he created a spiraling force of his own. The two forces collided then an enormous force struck Luo YingLong in the chest. The force penetrated him and went into the platform. Bang! The platform began to collapse from the cracks.
“Borrowing from the force of heaven and earth! Ten Ton Mountain!”
Zheng used Luo YingLong’s ability to his advantage and crushed the platform beneath. He pressed onto Luo YingLong’s body and struck several more punches. Luo YingLong vomited a big mouthful of blood then began chanting again. Following the chant, he fell faster than Zheng and disappeared among the broken rocks in the next instant.
Both the orc and human armies were shocked with their eyes and mouths wide open as the platform shattered. The fight was visible from the middle level of the city. The powers they displayed were simply monstrous. It seemed like a battle between the gods and giants in the legends.
Zheng roared again and pushed his arms open, sending the rocks near his body away. He then looked over to Luo YingLong who was standing ten meters away and wiping blood off his mouth.
“The fourth stage is indeed powerful… So this is your self created ability. Also powerful. Along with infinitesimal control, you can match up to my strength…” Luo YingLong’s expression turned ferocious.
He shouted. “Then you are qualified to take this attack that I originally prepared it for the psychopath… Vanquishing Formation!
Cauldron of the Eight Trigrams!”
Any person who reached the fourth stage had his unique combat style. Of course, it wouldn’t change principally from before. An archer would still be an archer instead of running up to the enemy with a sword. A caster would still be a caster. They develop further within what they were most skilled in.
To Luo YingLong’s knowledge, SongTian excelled at breaking through brute force with techniques, Zhui YinKong excelled in speed beyond comprehension, Clone Zheng excelled in utilizing infinitesimal control to an extreme level. The Zheng in front of him… he wondered what caused him to develop the technique that exchanged damage to his body for a short moment’s strength. He could see the increase in strength would be followed by damage to the body that would strip him of continual fighting ability. However, he was unstoppable within his time. “Simply impressive. I probably can’t sustain ten seconds for real… Are you a psychopath? How could you have created such an impressive ability. Exerting and destroying your own body to the extreme.”
Luo YingLong stood on the flying sword and shot up to the sky. Zheng chased closely with Geppo. The gap between them was only a few meters and it was shortening. Luo YingLong pulled out eight little flags from his pocket. He threw the flags down. The flags grew in the wind. In just a moment, they reached several meters big each. The flags circled Zheng and began descending. Zheng felt the weight of his body increased by a hundred folds. He couldn’t help but fell down to the ground.
Luo YingLong finally stopped to catch his breath. He looked down to see the area inside the flags in a mess. Dust whirled as Zheng moved. He was attacking the flags with all his might. Each attack was accompanied by violent shaking of the whole flag. Yet, these seemingly cloth made flags confined him in the center. He couldn’t escape from the confinement despite the terrifying power of Destruction.
“Give up! This Fabao (magical item) took me eighty one days of full concentration and numerous valuable raw materials to craft. The requirement to utilize its full power is Nascent Soul stage. But even at the limited utilization, it can still confine you until your death. I have not seen anyone that can escape from its attack!” Luo YingLong said fiercely, although his hands were forming various signs as fast as he could. He channeled Xiuzhen energy at its maximum output. Zheng’s force would have broken out of the confinement if not for this.
(Man… he’s strong. I underestimated him. His strength has become like his clone, nearly throwing me behind in the race… Damn it!) Luo YingLong felt increasingly irritated. Then he vomitted a mouthful of blood. However, that actually made him felt better.
(He even broke my Dummy Signet. What terrifying destructive force that was… Then he broke my bones by merely grazing past with his fist… Both he and his clone are crazy. What kind of organism did they inherit? Is it the strongest monster that surpassed the saints?) Luo YingLong cursed. He manipulated his Xiuzhen energy to repair his injuries. Once he suppressed the pain, he stood firm. His steps followed the shape of the Triones while his hands formed two signs.
He chanted the spell. “Cauldron of the eight trigrams! Heaven, lake, fire, thunder, wind, water, mountain, earth!”
The characters representing these eight words of truth emerged on the flags following his chant. The trigram figure associated with each character appeared on the back of the flags. The flags began to rotate as the chanting continued. Zheng felt the surrounding pressure grew exponentially and pressed him down in the center of the flags, unable to move. He reacted quickly with great strength as he drew out Tiger’s Soul. Qi channeled into the sword and a layer of light blade barrier enveloped his body.
“Purple flame of Tushita, mystics of the eight trigrams! I command you…”
“Cauldron of the purple flame and eight trigrams!”
The sound of Luo YingLong’s voice grew increasingly distant as he uttered the last word. It felt as though the Xian from the heaven spoke. A Taijitu appeared beneath him. The Taijitu began to rotate along with the consumption of his Xiuzhen energy. Purple flames ignited on top of it. The flames gathered into globs then dropped down into the flags.
These flames hit Zheng’s light blade barrier. One, two. Cracks began to appear on the barrier. Zheng repaired the cracks with Qi the moment they appeared. Infinitesimal control allowed him to utilize his Qi in fine precision. However, he was aware that his death was imminent because the purple flame started burning around him after they fell off the barrier. He activated his Red Flame also, but it only barely blocked the heat. The purple flame’s temperature was as hot as the Balrog’s flame. Furthermore, these flames did not dissipate. They continued to burn as the flags rotated. A few more globs dropped down and created a sea of fire within the center of the flags!
(Going to die? Am I… going to die?) Zheng’s consciousness came back while he was still in the unlocked mode at this life and death deciding moment. However, the situation was already desperate. Death was only one or two seconds away.
Bang! A loud bang echoed. A golden light exploded in brilliance around Luo YingLong. However, this light then shattered. He reached for his chest with his hand and touched it without uttering a sound. His body began to disintegrate beginning at his chest. Two seconds later, his whole body disintegrated into particles. A dazzling light came out from the disintegrated head and flew west.
“That’s basically it. Zero unlocked the first stage and has undergone training. The probability of success is approximately 60%. Of course, each person is different when it comes to the actual time of action. Some people can exert their full potential and some can only exert half due to stage fright. However, Zero is one worth placing my trust in. I believed he can make it 100% at that critical moment.” A black haired young man with glasses sat in front of another black haired young man.
A moment of silence followed. The other young man said with a sarcastic smile. “You still like to measure human lives with data so much… what do you think comrades are? Data?”
“No.” He answered calmly. “Not data. Humans.”
The other young man was surprised then he laughed. “I lost. You’re always so rational. When are you going to give us a quarrel? Please, show some human nature.”
The man with glasses was Xuan, who died in Helm’s Deep. Yet, he was unharmed as he sat in front of the other black haired young man. And this man was the new member of team China, HaoTian.
Xuan looked at HaoTian in a serious manner. Several minutes later, HaoTian couldn’t help but said. “I get it. Ask what you want. You can find it directly in my head if I don’t want to answer you anyway. Though the information might come out incomplete and might damage my brain.”
“Correct.” Xuan said with certainty. HaoTian shrugged.
Xuan adjusted his glasses. “There are a few questions I haven’t figured out. First. This is your first time entering God’s Realm, correct? How did you team up with Adam who’s in team Celestial? Based on my deduction, you have no means of contacting them in this movie. The only possibility is you two met. However, you haven’t entered this realm at the time. So it must have happened in the real world.”
HaoTian gave a straightforward reply. “You’re right. That’s the case. I lied in the beginning. Adam accidentally entered God’s Realm. He came up with the same method you did. I found out from the records in the Chinese government that you schemed the leader of team China to communicate your information and no one was wiped. The items are also presevered. Adam used the same method. Then I obtained some information about the regions, leaders, team Celestial and Devil. Adam gave me a phone that can contact other users anywhere within the same Earth as you guessed.”
“Oh.” Xuan’s expression didn’t change. Though the people next to him changed their expressions drastically. This scheme was crazy.
HaoTian continued. “Adam met team Devil a few movies after he entered team Celestial. He said he met your clone there and an extremely powerful person. That power almost reached a level where it could ignore any kind of wit. He didn’t want to see his plan fail so we began planning at that time. I went to China and hypnotized myself to enter team China. If you and that other person exist in this team, I would display my strength to gain your trust. The best result is to become an important figure in the team and once we run into team Celestial, we will wipe the team. Then I only have to complete some bonus missions or kill a few unimportant members of team Celestial to survive. I would become the leader of team China and join team Celestial afterward. After that, I will commence our theft plan…
To steal the whole God’s Dimension! We are a band of thieves! How could we forgo such a huge treasure? How could we forgo such a story of a battle of wits? Haha…”
Xuan showed no sign of anger. He nodded, acknowledging HaoTian’s words. It seemed that he had known of HaoTian’s plan all along.
HaoTian was anxious and asked. “How could you know our plan? It was designed at a place beyond where you can sense. There’s no way for you to know. Furthermore, didn’t you die? I am certain I heard the notification of your death. The surveillance through the broken cellphone left in Helm’s Deep also confirmed your death… Is it a skill that can deceive God? Or is it a device or item that created an illusion on me?”
Xuan nodded. “You’re correct that I died. This body currently speaking to you is merely a zombie. The plan began since the information I obtained from Galadriel… Galadriel has a method of preserving the soul because the elves can come back to life once their souls return to Telperion. This method requires the presence of a high elf which I didn’t have. So I resorted to rely on the blessing of Galadriel. Secondly, souls can neither speak nor move. I wouldn’t have been able to do anything even if my soul continued to exist for twenty days. Something else was required to allow my body to move, to allow my soul to reside in my body, and to protect my body. This was the leaf of Telperion.”
Xuan touched his forehead. “I suspected you since your entrance to team China. Your actions were normal, nothing extraordinary. You could be seen as a new comer to this realm, except that you have a little knowledge of it. Unfortunately, you encountered team Celestial in your first movie. You wouldn’t have exposed your first flaw otherwise. You showed interest at an action that had no personal benefit to you. Hence I handed all the items to you.”
HaoTian pointed at the back of his head and gave a bitter smile. “This thing is your true intention. I pondered over the use of this thing but I never expected it to be a single use item… Then that means the Uruk-hai Nemesis are your baits. Nice scheme! You planned to feign death in the beginning, right? You deceived me so that I would send the message of your death to Adam. His paranoid personality will lead him to assume your death as fake. As a result, he would not send their strongest member, SongTian, to the siege of Minas Tirith because he and SongTian can easily survive the movie even if they lost the battle. They will find a place to stay until the of the movie. Thus, team Celestial would lose but not end in a wipe. While team China would be the big winner that overpowered team Celestial.”
HaoTian shook his head. He was wearing a silver metallic circlet. The circlet was the device used to hypnotize the Uruk-hai Nemesis. He used this device without worry after he learned of Xuan’s death in order to gain control of the Nemesis army. As to the other function of the device, it was a part of a bigger device which was in Xuan’s hands. The main device could control and destroy a person’s brain via strong electrical currents. The process of putting it on was fairly complex so it would only work when the wearer was willing to do so or he was captured. Unfortunately for HaoTian, he put it on willingly by himself.
“Partially. The rest of the movie is basically set after this victory when team Celestial was forced to hold back. They can now either confront us with the risk of being wiped or hide until the end comes. Having you put the device on is also a reason. You have a high chance of not doing so if I don’t die. And finally, this was someone’s request.” Xuan said calmly.
HaoTian was surprised and stared at him. “Someone’s request? Telling you to die?”
“No. He didn’t tell me to die.” Xuan shook his head. “He informed me of the number of members team Celestial has, each person’s combat level, and Adam’s location. His only request is for me to create a situation where he can fight SongTian one on one. I think Zhao ZhuiKong is on the way to team Celestial right now. We also have to hurry. It’s time to set out. All Uruk-hai Nemesis, Kampa, WangXia, and Gando, pick up your weapons and wipe team Celestial!”
On a mountain somewhere within Mordor, ZhuiKong smiled at the two people in front of them. These two were Adam and SongTian. SongTian gripped onto a plain looking singled edged Chinese sword (dao) with a stern expression. ZhuiKong held a delicate dagger in his hand. They were obviously in a stand off despite their contrasting expressions.
Adam touched his forehead and said. “… The dots are connected. Xuan was scheming like I described, correct?”
ZhuiKong shrugged. “How can I know what you psychopaths plan? And I am too lazy to guess what’s in your heads. Anyway, since my clone trusts him in team Devil, he should be someone capable instead of those boasting their intelligence. That was why I gave it a try. The end result actually developed to this point. I don’t even know how he did it. But whatever… Haha. SongTian, you took an arm from me in the last battle. Take another arm again today!” ZhuiKong laughed with insanity then he disappeared from their sights.
SongTian reacted immediately. He stabbed his sword forward. By this time, ZhuiKong reappeared in front of him. SongTian dragged the sword within the space between them. His speed grew increasingly fast then he slashed downward before ZhuiKong could close in on him. A whirlwind erupted. After it moved past, the ground was shredded. Wind sliced the rocks into pieces.
“Impressive infinitesimal control. Sweeping the wind with your sword. You confined every bit of force inside the whirlwind. SongTian, the power of your aura with swords have grown.” ZhuiKong stood on a boulder next to SongTian. His clothes were filled with cuts.
“Same with you.” SongTian replied. His clothes suddenly ripped apart as he spoke. ZhuiKong’s attack touched him but only his clothes.
ZhuiKong breathed out. “The stages of close combat goes from hitting with a weapon, to using techniques with the weapon, then to using aura. You’ve reached the stage of the aura of swords. What you need to do is to refine your strength and increased the power of your aura. Let the battle begin. I am getting excited already!”
Adam muttered. “Zhao ZhuiKong, why did you choose to cooperate with team China? Only for an opportunity to fight SongTian? Or is there another intention?”
ZhuiKong replied without turning his head to Adam. “I am an assassin, not a warrior. Do you expect me to come straight to you and get ganged on instead of finding the opportunity to challenge him? I know you are aware of the potential of Luo YingLong more than anyone else. He’s growing every single day. It’s only a matter of time before he surpasses SongTian. Although he isn’t strong enough to join the battle between SongTian and me right now, I have to admit that magical item he crafted can post threat to me. Get it? If the rest of your team don’t die, especially Luo YingLong, how I can fight you without worrying? How can I… wipe team Celestial without worrying?”
Zheng didn’t die. Luo YingLong suddenly died at that critical moment and the formation went out of control. Zheng felt forces pulling on his body as though they were going to rip him apart. He had to squeeze his body with all his might. He was still inside the fourth stage yet he somehow retained control over his consciousness. At this moment, he entered a profound and abstruse state.
He felt as though he could sense the structure of his DNA. This sensation wasn’t expressed in images nor numbers. Yet, the structure was extremely defined. Information regarding each gene appeared in his head, the weak genes, the strong genes, the genes governing bursts of strength, the genes governing endurance, the genes governing energy, the genes governing self-healing…
(It’s hot. I need genes that can withstand heat and genes that toughen the body.)
The eight flags stopped rotating. However, the purple flames did not. They flowed faster and faster then flashed in a bright light. The flames exploded.
“It’s quiet now. Come. Let us have a good fight. The last time we fought your clone, we saved a few Caucasians from him using our numbers advantage. There’s no one to disturb us now. Let me see if the power of your unlocked stage can rival the power of Xiuzhen!” He shouted.
Zheng threw away the broken arm in his hand. He had entered a berserk state but he didn’t leap at Luo YingLong mindlessly. He straightened his posture. His hands reached for his ribs. Following a crackling sound, he pushed a dislocated rib back into its original position.
Luo YingLong curled his lips. “Look at your stupid face. Don’t you know to buy some high-level charms? How can you come into the battlefield unprepared when you are someone that reached the fourth stage? You are strong but the abilities God has are infinite. Some of the abilities are prominent only in offensive stats. I might have to abandon my body if I get surprise attacked by those abilities. Haha.”
Zheng didn’t say a word. After he relocated his bones, he roared then charged at Luo YingLong. Luo YingLong stood there and watched him as though he wasn’t concerned about Zheng. “Slow down. Let me explain my items first. These are crafted from Xiuzhen abilities. The only thing they have to do with God’s Dimension is the valuable materials. And being able to use them is feat of my Xiuzhen. Next, about my abilities, they are also…”
Zheng rushed up to him using the double steps. The movement speed from this technique was extremely fast. Luo YingLong had only spoken a few sentences when Zheng’s hand reached for his face. Qi and Red Flame crossed over around his claw. Boom! A violent fire flared up from his claw. However, before the fire came close to Luo YingLong, a golden light spanned out from his body and blocked off the fire.
“…they are also Xiuzhen!” Luo YingLong shouted. He lowered his body into a horse stance. His palm struck Zheng’s abdomen. The strike wasn’t fast. However, in the center of the palm was the symbol of the eight trigrams.
Zheng’s other hand intercepted Luo YingLong’s palm. As soon as they came in contact, his hand trembled as though he was hit by an electric shock. The character representing thunder printed onto Zheng’s chest.
“Borrowing from the force of heaven and earth! Thunder shock!” Luo YingLong retrieved his hand. Yet, a glowing golden sign remained on Zheng’s chest. Luo YingLong gave a shout then electricity discharged from the sign. The clothe near it burned to ashes in an instant. The electricity struck Zheng and sent him back over ten meters. He lay on the ground trembling.
“Be careful. The person who falls off the platform loses… Do you know why I lifted the platform? Because not even I can defend against arrows in such quantity, especially shots that came from two arrows simultaneously. I won’t even have the chance to support my items if I take ten of those shots at once. The item will shatter immediately. Hoho. I wonder how strong you have to be in order to overcome the numbers advantage.” Luo YingLong shrugged as he walked toward Zheng.
Zheng stood up after only a while of lying there. He looked almost unharmed aside from the blood by his lips. Luo YingLong knew that his shock attack could electrocute an elephant. The reason Zheng could still stand was probably due to the power of the fourth stage. Infinitesimal control allowed him to restrict or neutralize the electricity with Qi or other forms of energy.
(Activate Destruction to its peak. Focus the attack to a single point. The result of this battle lies on this instant!) Zheng stood in place. His eyes were still completely red. The lust for blood never receded and instead grew more intense as blood flew down the corner of his mouth. As Luo YingLong began to approach him, his Qi and Blood Energy surged violently.
Luo YingLong sensed the danger and stopped his steps. “What other self created or exchanged ability do you still have? The fourth stage boosts the power of these abilities but normal abilities have no way of breaking my defense…”
Before he finished talking, Zheng roared to the sky. The bat wings suddenly grew. Then. He disappeared from Luo YingLong’s sight.
“What is?”
Pah!
Luo YingLong was feeling the abnormality and suddenly pain registered from his front. He was sent flying backward ten meters. He didn’t even have the time to figure out what happened to his barrier when something weighted down on his chest. He saw Zheng’s knee striking down at his throat. It pressed down on the golden barrier to its extreme. The barrier was almost touching the skin of his throat. One could tell how much force the knee was exerting.
(Destruction at full strength… Modify the third, seventh, and tenth sets of genes. Drain Qi from the Na Ring to repair the body. Drain Blood Energy to maintain Destruction. Body limit after modification… twenty seven seconds!)
“Aou!” Zheng roared with insanity. He didn’t wait for Luo YingLong’s next action. He retrieved his knee then struck Luo YingLong’s face with his fists. His punches broke the sound barriers. Every punch was followed by a sonic boom. The immense force compressed the air around him then the air exploded. Visible shockwaves spread from the center of explosion. In less than thirty punches, Zheng’s clothes became shredded pieces from the shockwaves.
This power once shattered a dragon’s chin. Under the strength and speed of the attacks, the golden light of the barrier was pushed to the other parts Luo YingLong’s body, unable to return to their original location in time. A few dozen punches later, pah! Zheng’s fist hit Luo YingLong’s face. The force passed through him and into the land below. Cracks spread through the hundred meter platform. Zheng paid no attention to it. His fists continued landing on Luo YingLong’s face while the cracking became larger and larger.
“Separate! Borrowing from the force of heaven and earth! Spiral Separation!” Luo YingLong still managed to utter words under such mad attacks, although his words were barely discernible.
Following these words, Zheng felt that his punches were landing on cotton. His strength couldn’t touch anything and a spiraling force redirected his fists. However, infinitesimal control wasn’t so easily defeated. Zheng stopped punching straight downward. His hands rotated in the opposite direction of the spiraling force. His hands moved so fast in Destruction that he created a spiraling force of his own. The two forces collided then an enormous force struck Luo YingLong in the chest. The force penetrated him and went into the platform. Bang! The platform began to collapse from the cracks.
“Borrowing from the force of heaven and earth! Ten Ton Mountain!”
Zheng used Luo YingLong’s ability to his advantage and crushed the platform beneath. He pressed onto Luo YingLong’s body and struck several more punches. Luo YingLong vomited a big mouthful of blood then began chanting again. Following the chant, he fell faster than Zheng and disappeared among the broken rocks in the next instant.
Both the orc and human armies were shocked with their eyes and mouths wide open as the platform shattered. The fight was visible from the middle level of the city. The powers they displayed were simply monstrous. It seemed like a battle between the gods and giants in the legends.
Zheng roared again and pushed his arms open, sending the rocks near his body away. He then looked over to Luo YingLong who was standing ten meters away and wiping blood off his mouth.
“The fourth stage is indeed powerful… So this is your self created ability. Also powerful. Along with infinitesimal control, you can match up to my strength…” Luo YingLong’s expression turned ferocious.
He shouted. “Then you are qualified to take this attack that I originally prepared it for the psychopath… Vanquishing Formation!
Cauldron of the Eight Trigrams!”
Any person who reached the fourth stage had his unique combat style. Of course, it wouldn’t change principally from before. An archer would still be an archer instead of running up to the enemy with a sword. A caster would still be a caster. They develop further within what they were most skilled in.
To Luo YingLong’s knowledge, SongTian excelled at breaking through brute force with techniques, Zhui YinKong excelled in speed beyond comprehension, Clone Zheng excelled in utilizing infinitesimal control to an extreme level. The Zheng in front of him… he wondered what caused him to develop the technique that exchanged damage to his body for a short moment’s strength. He could see the increase in strength would be followed by damage to the body that would strip him of continual fighting ability. However, he was unstoppable within his time. “Simply impressive. I probably can’t sustain ten seconds for real… Are you a psychopath? How could you have created such an impressive ability. Exerting and destroying your own body to the extreme.”
Luo YingLong stood on the flying sword and shot up to the sky. Zheng chased closely with Geppo. The gap between them was only a few meters and it was shortening. Luo YingLong pulled out eight little flags from his pocket. He threw the flags down. The flags grew in the wind. In just a moment, they reached several meters big each. The flags circled Zheng and began descending. Zheng felt the weight of his body increased by a hundred folds. He couldn’t help but fell down to the ground.
Luo YingLong finally stopped to catch his breath. He looked down to see the area inside the flags in a mess. Dust whirled as Zheng moved. He was attacking the flags with all his might. Each attack was accompanied by violent shaking of the whole flag. Yet, these seemingly cloth made flags confined him in the center. He couldn’t escape from the confinement despite the terrifying power of Destruction.
“Give up! This Fabao (magical item) took me eighty one days of full concentration and numerous valuable raw materials to craft. The requirement to utilize its full power is Nascent Soul stage. But even at the limited utilization, it can still confine you until your death. I have not seen anyone that can escape from its attack!” Luo YingLong said fiercely, although his hands were forming various signs as fast as he could. He channeled Xiuzhen energy at its maximum output. Zheng’s force would have broken out of the confinement if not for this.
(Man… he’s strong. I underestimated him. His strength has become like his clone, nearly throwing me behind in the race… Damn it!) Luo YingLong felt increasingly irritated. Then he vomitted a mouthful of blood. However, that actually made him felt better.
(He even broke my Dummy Signet. What terrifying destructive force that was… Then he broke my bones by merely grazing past with his fist… Both he and his clone are crazy. What kind of organism did they inherit? Is it the strongest monster that surpassed the saints?) Luo YingLong cursed. He manipulated his Xiuzhen energy to repair his injuries. Once he suppressed the pain, he stood firm. His steps followed the shape of the Triones while his hands formed two signs.
He chanted the spell. “Cauldron of the eight trigrams! Heaven, lake, fire, thunder, wind, water, mountain, earth!”
The characters representing these eight words of truth emerged on the flags following his chant. The trigram figure associated with each character appeared on the back of the flags. The flags began to rotate as the chanting continued. Zheng felt the surrounding pressure grew exponentially and pressed him down in the center of the flags, unable to move. He reacted quickly with great strength as he drew out Tiger’s Soul. Qi channeled into the sword and a layer of light blade barrier enveloped his body.
“Purple flame of Tushita, mystics of the eight trigrams! I command you…”
“Cauldron of the purple flame and eight trigrams!”
The sound of Luo YingLong’s voice grew increasingly distant as he uttered the last word. It felt as though the Xian from the heaven spoke. A Taijitu appeared beneath him. The Taijitu began to rotate along with the consumption of his Xiuzhen energy. Purple flames ignited on top of it. The flames gathered into globs then dropped down into the flags.
These flames hit Zheng’s light blade barrier. One, two. Cracks began to appear on the barrier. Zheng repaired the cracks with Qi the moment they appeared. Infinitesimal control allowed him to utilize his Qi in fine precision. However, he was aware that his death was imminent because the purple flame started burning around him after they fell off the barrier. He activated his Red Flame also, but it only barely blocked the heat. The purple flame’s temperature was as hot as the Balrog’s flame. Furthermore, these flames did not dissipate. They continued to burn as the flags rotated. A few more globs dropped down and created a sea of fire within the center of the flags!
(Going to die? Am I… going to die?) Zheng’s consciousness came back while he was still in the unlocked mode at this life and death deciding moment. However, the situation was already desperate. Death was only one or two seconds away.
Bang! A loud bang echoed. A golden light exploded in brilliance around Luo YingLong. However, this light then shattered. He reached for his chest with his hand and touched it without uttering a sound. His body began to disintegrate beginning at his chest. Two seconds later, his whole body disintegrated into particles. A dazzling light came out from the disintegrated head and flew west.
“That’s basically it. Zero unlocked the first stage and has undergone training. The probability of success is approximately 60%. Of course, each person is different when it comes to the actual time of action. Some people can exert their full potential and some can only exert half due to stage fright. However, Zero is one worth placing my trust in. I believed he can make it 100% at that critical moment.” A black haired young man with glasses sat in front of another black haired young man.
A moment of silence followed. The other young man said with a sarcastic smile. “You still like to measure human lives with data so much… what do you think comrades are? Data?”
“No.” He answered calmly. “Not data. Humans.”
The other young man was surprised then he laughed. “I lost. You’re always so rational. When are you going to give us a quarrel? Please, show some human nature.”
The man with glasses was Xuan, who died in Helm’s Deep. Yet, he was unharmed as he sat in front of the other black haired young man. And this man was the new member of team China, HaoTian.
Xuan looked at HaoTian in a serious manner. Several minutes later, HaoTian couldn’t help but said. “I get it. Ask what you want. You can find it directly in my head if I don’t want to answer you anyway. Though the information might come out incomplete and might damage my brain.”
“Correct.” Xuan said with certainty. HaoTian shrugged.
Xuan adjusted his glasses. “There are a few questions I haven’t figured out. First. This is your first time entering God’s Realm, correct? How did you team up with Adam who’s in team Celestial? Based on my deduction, you have no means of contacting them in this movie. The only possibility is you two met. However, you haven’t entered this realm at the time. So it must have happened in the real world.”
HaoTian gave a straightforward reply. “You’re right. That’s the case. I lied in the beginning. Adam accidentally entered God’s Realm. He came up with the same method you did. I found out from the records in the Chinese government that you schemed the leader of team China to communicate your information and no one was wiped. The items are also presevered. Adam used the same method. Then I obtained some information about the regions, leaders, team Celestial and Devil. Adam gave me a phone that can contact other users anywhere within the same Earth as you guessed.”
“Oh.” Xuan’s expression didn’t change. Though the people next to him changed their expressions drastically. This scheme was crazy.
HaoTian continued. “Adam met team Devil a few movies after he entered team Celestial. He said he met your clone there and an extremely powerful person. That power almost reached a level where it could ignore any kind of wit. He didn’t want to see his plan fail so we began planning at that time. I went to China and hypnotized myself to enter team China. If you and that other person exist in this team, I would display my strength to gain your trust. The best result is to become an important figure in the team and once we run into team Celestial, we will wipe the team. Then I only have to complete some bonus missions or kill a few unimportant members of team Celestial to survive. I would become the leader of team China and join team Celestial afterward. After that, I will commence our theft plan…
To steal the whole God’s Dimension! We are a band of thieves! How could we forgo such a huge treasure? How could we forgo such a story of a battle of wits? Haha…”
Xuan showed no sign of anger. He nodded, acknowledging HaoTian’s words. It seemed that he had known of HaoTian’s plan all along.
HaoTian was anxious and asked. “How could you know our plan? It was designed at a place beyond where you can sense. There’s no way for you to know. Furthermore, didn’t you die? I am certain I heard the notification of your death. The surveillance through the broken cellphone left in Helm’s Deep also confirmed your death… Is it a skill that can deceive God? Or is it a device or item that created an illusion on me?”
Xuan nodded. “You’re correct that I died. This body currently speaking to you is merely a zombie. The plan began since the information I obtained from Galadriel… Galadriel has a method of preserving the soul because the elves can come back to life once their souls return to Telperion. This method requires the presence of a high elf which I didn’t have. So I resorted to rely on the blessing of Galadriel. Secondly, souls can neither speak nor move. I wouldn’t have been able to do anything even if my soul continued to exist for twenty days. Something else was required to allow my body to move, to allow my soul to reside in my body, and to protect my body. This was the leaf of Telperion.”
Xuan touched his forehead. “I suspected you since your entrance to team China. Your actions were normal, nothing extraordinary. You could be seen as a new comer to this realm, except that you have a little knowledge of it. Unfortunately, you encountered team Celestial in your first movie. You wouldn’t have exposed your first flaw otherwise. You showed interest at an action that had no personal benefit to you. Hence I handed all the items to you.”
HaoTian pointed at the back of his head and gave a bitter smile. “This thing is your true intention. I pondered over the use of this thing but I never expected it to be a single use item… Then that means the Uruk-hai Nemesis are your baits. Nice scheme! You planned to feign death in the beginning, right? You deceived me so that I would send the message of your death to Adam. His paranoid personality will lead him to assume your death as fake. As a result, he would not send their strongest member, SongTian, to the siege of Minas Tirith because he and SongTian can easily survive the movie even if they lost the battle. They will find a place to stay until the of the movie. Thus, team Celestial would lose but not end in a wipe. While team China would be the big winner that overpowered team Celestial.”
HaoTian shook his head. He was wearing a silver metallic circlet. The circlet was the device used to hypnotize the Uruk-hai Nemesis. He used this device without worry after he learned of Xuan’s death in order to gain control of the Nemesis army. As to the other function of the device, it was a part of a bigger device which was in Xuan’s hands. The main device could control and destroy a person’s brain via strong electrical currents. The process of putting it on was fairly complex so it would only work when the wearer was willing to do so or he was captured. Unfortunately for HaoTian, he put it on willingly by himself.
“Partially. The rest of the movie is basically set after this victory when team Celestial was forced to hold back. They can now either confront us with the risk of being wiped or hide until the end comes. Having you put the device on is also a reason. You have a high chance of not doing so if I don’t die. And finally, this was someone’s request.” Xuan said calmly.
HaoTian was surprised and stared at him. “Someone’s request? Telling you to die?”
“No. He didn’t tell me to die.” Xuan shook his head. “He informed me of the number of members team Celestial has, each person’s combat level, and Adam’s location. His only request is for me to create a situation where he can fight SongTian one on one. I think Zhao ZhuiKong is on the way to team Celestial right now. We also have to hurry. It’s time to set out. All Uruk-hai Nemesis, Kampa, WangXia, and Gando, pick up your weapons and wipe team Celestial!”
On a mountain somewhere within Mordor, ZhuiKong smiled at the two people in front of them. These two were Adam and SongTian. SongTian gripped onto a plain looking singled edged Chinese sword (dao) with a stern expression. ZhuiKong held a delicate dagger in his hand. They were obviously in a stand off despite their contrasting expressions.
Adam touched his forehead and said. “… The dots are connected. Xuan was scheming like I described, correct?”
ZhuiKong shrugged. “How can I know what you psychopaths plan? And I am too lazy to guess what’s in your heads. Anyway, since my clone trusts him in team Devil, he should be someone capable instead of those boasting their intelligence. That was why I gave it a try. The end result actually developed to this point. I don’t even know how he did it. But whatever… Haha. SongTian, you took an arm from me in the last battle. Take another arm again today!” ZhuiKong laughed with insanity then he disappeared from their sights.
SongTian reacted immediately. He stabbed his sword forward. By this time, ZhuiKong reappeared in front of him. SongTian dragged the sword within the space between them. His speed grew increasingly fast then he slashed downward before ZhuiKong could close in on him. A whirlwind erupted. After it moved past, the ground was shredded. Wind sliced the rocks into pieces.
“Impressive infinitesimal control. Sweeping the wind with your sword. You confined every bit of force inside the whirlwind. SongTian, the power of your aura with swords have grown.” ZhuiKong stood on a boulder next to SongTian. His clothes were filled with cuts.
“Same with you.” SongTian replied. His clothes suddenly ripped apart as he spoke. ZhuiKong’s attack touched him but only his clothes.
ZhuiKong breathed out. “The stages of close combat goes from hitting with a weapon, to using techniques with the weapon, then to using aura. You’ve reached the stage of the aura of swords. What you need to do is to refine your strength and increased the power of your aura. Let the battle begin. I am getting excited already!”
Adam muttered. “Zhao ZhuiKong, why did you choose to cooperate with team China? Only for an opportunity to fight SongTian? Or is there another intention?”
ZhuiKong replied without turning his head to Adam. “I am an assassin, not a warrior. Do you expect me to come straight to you and get ganged on instead of finding the opportunity to challenge him? I know you are aware of the potential of Luo YingLong more than anyone else. He’s growing every single day. It’s only a matter of time before he surpasses SongTian. Although he isn’t strong enough to join the battle between SongTian and me right now, I have to admit that magical item he crafted can post threat to me. Get it? If the rest of your team don’t die, especially Luo YingLong, how I can fight you without worrying? How can I… wipe team Celestial without worrying?”
Zheng didn’t die. Luo YingLong suddenly died at that critical moment and the formation went out of control. Zheng felt forces pulling on his body as though they were going to rip him apart. He had to squeeze his body with all his might. He was still inside the fourth stage yet he somehow retained control over his consciousness. At this moment, he entered a profound and abstruse state.
He felt as though he could sense the structure of his DNA. This sensation wasn’t expressed in images nor numbers. Yet, the structure was extremely defined. Information regarding each gene appeared in his head, the weak genes, the strong genes, the genes governing bursts of strength, the genes governing endurance, the genes governing energy, the genes governing self-healing…
(It’s hot. I need genes that can withstand heat and genes that toughen the body.)
The eight flags stopped rotating. However, the purple flames did not. They flowed faster and faster then flashed in a bright light. The flames exploded.
Chapter 29
Luo YingLong’s shout contained an extraordinary sense. Zheng felt a shock in his brain. He subconsciously exited the fourth stage then leaped backward before he deactivated Destruction.
“You don’t have to be so careful. You can easily go back into the fourth stage before my attack kills you given your reaction speed. I just want to have a talk with you right now.” Luo YingLong shook his head.
Zheng laughed coldly. “What is there to talk? We will fight if that’s what you want! I don’t have time to hold a conversation with you here. Your team members are running over. Are you hoping to delay me until they arrive?”
Luo YingLong was surprised then he laughed, almost tearing himself. “You’re funny. Those two are merely minor characters. Please. You shouldn’t even care about their existence. But are you really him? That aloof, apathetic, and powerful demon… he would never say what you just said. He looks forward to a bunch of people challenging him. Don’t worry. I will repay my debts and grudges before our fight. First is the debt I owe you!”
“Repay me?” Zheng was confused. He looked at this hot-headed guy weird. Luo YingLong almost couldn’t control his rage and strike him for that weird look.
Luo YingLong took a deep breath and continued. “Fuck. Don’t challenge my patience! Let me finish first… to be accurate, I am not indebted to you but to your clone. I don’t know why but Caucasians had always been the majority in team Celestial. There were only two Asians and one of them was a mixed blood. Blacks were even fewer in number. I was promoted from a leader after all so the Caucasians didn’t really dare to overstep the mark on me. However, me and the mixed blood Asian couldn’t escape being bullied. That lasted until we met your clone. He killed the two strongest Caucasians in my team. One of them had a similar ability to me in that even if his body was destroyed, as long as his core exists, he can be retrieved by team members and get revived back in God’s Dimension. However, your clone has a terrifying dark flame that burned the man’s soul. I thought I was going to die next but he spared me. He told me… Chinese are outnumbered in this realm. Having another powerful person who survives is going to count. So I survived that battle.”
Luo YingLong faked a cough. “Don’t assume that I am sentimental. A man should have the courage to bear everything that happened in his life. Your clone won’t deign to care about me repaying the favor. And I have nothing to repay him. However, you as the original is still weak. No matter what, I have to repay you once. Then we will leave our lives to fate and fight for our respective teams!”
Luo YingLong looked at the two members flying over on their devices then turned back to Zheng. “Are you feeling that the fourth stage is powerful, but you lose control of your conscious? The strongest person in my team have reached the end of the beginning stage. He regained control of his conscious. I also met two people in mid fourth stage. One of them is your clone… Ahem. Don’t look down on me that I am only at the third stage. I am way stronger than you when it comes to an actual fight! There’s no doubt.”
Zheng asked. “Are you here to boast your strength? Hurry up and speak your intention.” He moved Tiger’s Soul, getting ready to attack at any time.
Luo YingLong faked another cough to cover the embarrassment. “The beginning of the fourth stage wakes over 90% of a person’s hibernating genes. The most powerful of those genes will merge into your original genes and compensate for your deficiencies. As such, you gain abilities and attributes that you otherwise would have to exchange from God. The perfection of your genes gives you powerful enhancements… But there’s a question. Which of your genes are the most powerful? Genes from single celled life? From reptiles? From aves? The answer is genes left from the saints who created this realm. Or maybe… genes from the enemies of ancient humans!”
Zheng felt a shock. He was beginning to understand what was happening and why when he first entered the fourth stage, he had thoughts of killing all humans and descendants of the saints.
Luo YingLong continued. “This is Adam’s conjecture, our strategist. His intelligence is at a really high degree. He believes the saints obtained victory, but they became a completely different species from humans. They had different genes, different powers, and different values. It’s like modifying a fish’s genes into an elephant. The only thing that’s not an elephant will be its mind. When the saints reproduced with humans, they weren’t able to pass down their genes. So, they hid their genes among the hibernating genes. Only when a person reaches the fourth stage will these genes be awakened. However, the enemies of humans could also hide their genes in human genes. Uh. Adam calls them mega atavism.”
He gave a cold laugh upon seeing Zheng’s dumbfounded expression. “Are you so narrow minded? No matter how much you change, you are still you. I disagree with SongTian and Adam’s view. They believe that descendants of human enemies must be eliminated. You awakened the genes of human enemies while SongTian awakened the genes of the saints. But are you really going to annihilate mankind? The most you are going to do is return to the real world and live however you want or become a king. If you’re a psychopath you will be like Zhao ZuiKong, but he’s still just a serial killer. Who would actually want to annihilate mankind without a good reason? A sword is always a sword. It will always depend on its user… Genes are genes. No matter how much power they contain, how much killing desire is within, they are still your tools!”
He had a solemn expression much different from that hot-headedness. At this moment, he was a strong man with thoughts of his own. “What I want to tell you is try your best to overcome the killing desire of your genes. Enemies of ancient humans possess mad instincts to kill. If you can’t overcome it, you will never be able to return once you reach mid-fourth stage. The conscious of your genes will control you. Look at that psychopath ZuiKong. He’s never going to return… This is the first thing I will repay you. Don’t lose yourself to your genes! We have to hurry, those two are going to be here soon.”
Zheng suddenly asked. “You have been acting, right? Acting like a hot-head who doesn’t think. Why do you have to do it?”
Luo YingLong smiled bitterly. “Cultivation brings me success and doom. I am only at the third stage but have already obtained such an overpowered skill. I might even be able to rival the saints one day. Yet, what you don’t know is, from the information I gathered in the movies, the deaths of the saints might be related to cultivation… I can’t be sure. Anyway, if I seek a more powerful position or if I act smarter with such huge potential, how do you think the brain and strength of my team will treat me? I probably won’t make it through three movies. I am still a step behind SongTian. If I died, my core will return to Adam’s hand… I will slowly make it through my time. Time is always in short supply for cultivation. I spent most of my points returning to the Legend of Zu. If I didn’t smash the cellphone per Adam’s order, I wouldn’t be able to speak to you like this… Enough with the digression. The second thing is related to your strength and boundary.
It’s pretty easy to understand. In cultivation term, the word is enlightenment. A lot of times in training, one accumulates a high level of energy but low unlocked stage hindered him from breaking through to the next level. You have reached a high boundary. The gap between third and fourth stage is night and day. What you lack now is strength!”
Seeing the two members of team Celestial was near, Luo YingLong hurried with his words. “The fourth unlocked stage is also called the stage of infinitesimal control. The awakening of your genes is control within your body. And outside your body, you will feel every minute change of force. You deflecting the morning star was a perfect embodiment of infinitesimal control. Every bit of strength you use in this state will become a hundred times stronger. Your strength is still weak. Rely on infinitesimal control and create your own abilities. Once you can feel the flow of every force, your own abilities will easily come!”
“Then!” A white and a black man landed behind Luo YingLong. He shouted. “Let’s fight! Zheng!”
The first to rush up and initial attack wasn’t Luo YingLong. The black man behind him came up front. He roared at the sky. An illusionary black bear emerged next to him. And then a black panther, black tiger, and black elephant. The illsuionary animals merged into his body.
(They do look fierce… but why are all the animals black?) This strange thought came to his mind though only for an instant. The black man charged at him like thunder. Ta-ta-ta. The slate ground couldn’t stand his force and exploded with his steps.
Zheng had only the time to slash across as the black man approached fiercely. The man countered his sword with a punch. Right before his fist came in contact with the light blade, a panther emerged from the fist and tightly bit onto the light blade. He then struck his other fist at Zheng.
Zheng attempted the pull his sword out of the panther but failed. He countered the strike with a punch of his own. He was caution and covered his hand with a layer of Qi. Just as he had suspected, an illusionary tiger’s mouth emerged around the black man’s fist. Its teeth bit toward Zheng’s hand. Zheng was shocked and immediately used Instant Destruction followed by a Fist Gun, shattering the tiger. He heard the sound of bones cracked. The black man backed with a cry.
Luo YingLong’s eyes brightened as he yelled. “Nice! Is this your self created ability?”
Zheng couldn’t find the time to reply for being in battle. He entered the fourth stage the moment the black man backed off. No human troops remained in this area anymore. The unlocked mode was unlike Destruction’s short duration. It would be a waste not to use such a powerful power. Although his lack of strength hindered this power, it was enough to deal with these three!
(Making two steps in extremely quick succession will create a resonance of the force on the ground for an instant and in turn generate an explosive power. Speed will increase by over 100%…) The thought suddenly came into his mind as he saw the black man retreating. He had no time to verify its validity. Zheng used the technique at once. When he exerted the two forces in an extremely short amount of time, the slate under his feet exploded. The counter force pushed his feet. It was at this moment that he finally understood why Luo YingLong said the fourth stage allowed for ability creation. This sense of the flow of force made the feat no longer difficult!
While the black man was retreating, the woman began chanting a spell. A white light enveloped the man. His wrist was healing in visible speed. By the time Zheng charged over, the man’s wrist had returned to normal. He roared. The illusionary black bear that entered his body surfaced. The black man’s body quickly enlarged and reached three times its previous size when Zheng reached him. He was like a giant with buffed muscle. His fist struck toward Zheng along with terrifying pressure.
Zheng sensed danger before the fist even touched his body. He leaped down to the lower level of the city to dodged the strike. The pressurized air around the fist pulverized the slate ground. A large piece of slate fell off to the lower level.
Although Zheng had no control while in this stage, he still had consciousness. He thought the black man was merely a brute with only strength and not one to be feared. How could someone like him become a member of team Celestial? Team Celestial wasn’t undefeatable after all. However, in the blink of an eye, the man’s hand was healed and his strength grew. This punch was probably more than he could take.
Luo YingLong showed no sign of helping. He sat down on his flying sword and laughed. “Zheng, I told you. Strength isn’t merely your unlocked level nor stats, abilities, or enhancements. True strength is the power to kill your enemy! No matter which stage you unlocked, no matter what enhancements you have, the power than can kill your enemy is the strongest power! Haha. My friend here enhanced four tier A animal souls and Muscle Mass Enhancement of Younger Toguro. He’s second to SongTian when it comes to close combat strength and destructive power… Defeat him or you aren’t even worth me lifting my hands.”
The black man followed Zheng down the level. The panther surfaced on his body while he leaped. He seemed extremely agile. As soon as Zheng landed, the man’s fist struck down. Fortunately, Zheng dodged in time. The fist blasted a hole on the ground.
(So this is the true power of team Celestial’s members. Such power lives up to the name of the team.) Zheng’s mind was thinking but his body was moving by itself. He stepped twice and charged at the black man. Fist Gun struck the man’s abdomen. The man wasn’t slow to react either, even though he only unlocked to the second stage. His reaction speed was at a high level. The illusionary elephant surfaced as the Fist Gun hit him. There was a thump as though the fist hit a tire. The man was knocked back several meters.
All these happened in just an instant. Zheng was already rushing over by the time the black man landed. Yet, he couldn’t get to make his next attack. A beam of light shone down from above. The beam bounded him in the center. The black man struck his palms at Zheng without a moment of hesitation. It was the tiger hovering his body this time.
The black man pushed Zheng into the thick city wall. Following a loud bang, the two of them pushed through the wall, stirring up a cloud of dust. The dust covered up the two of them.
The woman cried with delight. “Great! Binding Light can only bind him for an instant but it was enough to kill him. Hehe. This fourth stage user is garbage.”
Luo YingLong glanced at her with a smirk. The Caucasian woman was a newbie to team Celestial. Her powers weren’t bad but she was bottom tier in the team. She wouldn’t know of the terror of clone Zheng. Luo YingLong didn’t bother talking to her because he heard the sound of punches landing on a body from within the dust.
(This Zheng wouldn’t really be so garbage? And I spoke so much to him in advance. It seems like a waste of effort. Is he really the original of the demon?) Luo YingLong was having doubts but he didn’t show any expression. He continued to quietly stare at the dust cloud. After the dust settled, the scene wasn’t as they had expected where the black man should be beating up Zheng. Zheng was holding on the man’s neck and lifted him up.
He had a pair of black bat wings on his back, though the wings were small. His teeth was biting on the man’s arm. He tore the man’s flesh off and swallowed it. With one hand holding on the man’s neck, his other penetrated the man’s abdomen.
“Aouuu!” Zheng roared then he pulled his hands. The black man was torn in halves from the middle. Blood and organs splattered Zheng’s body.
“Has it begun? Haha. This is the true fourth stage. The powerful genes within the body is awakening. Haha…” Luo YingLong laughed with a sense of madness. His expression was totally different from the person he was. His finger pointed at Zheng then the sword carried him flying toward the wall. It seemed as though he had turned into a green light and he reached the top of the city wall in an instant.
Zheng’s bat wings were less than twenty centimeters in length. It didn’t look fitting to his body. He instantly raised his head as Luo YingLong flew to his top. His eyes were completely red without any trace of human consciousness. He was a beast that lusted for blood.
Luo YingLong was not surprised and continued to laugh. “Come. Come. I won’t bully you with my flight ability since your bat wings aren’t grown… Borrowing from the force of heaven and earth! Up!” He clapped his hands together. A faint eight trigrams appeared in between his palms as he opened them. The land spanning a hundred meters around Zheng was pushed off the ground.
“You don’t have to be so careful. You can easily go back into the fourth stage before my attack kills you given your reaction speed. I just want to have a talk with you right now.” Luo YingLong shook his head.
Zheng laughed coldly. “What is there to talk? We will fight if that’s what you want! I don’t have time to hold a conversation with you here. Your team members are running over. Are you hoping to delay me until they arrive?”
Luo YingLong was surprised then he laughed, almost tearing himself. “You’re funny. Those two are merely minor characters. Please. You shouldn’t even care about their existence. But are you really him? That aloof, apathetic, and powerful demon… he would never say what you just said. He looks forward to a bunch of people challenging him. Don’t worry. I will repay my debts and grudges before our fight. First is the debt I owe you!”
“Repay me?” Zheng was confused. He looked at this hot-headed guy weird. Luo YingLong almost couldn’t control his rage and strike him for that weird look.
Luo YingLong took a deep breath and continued. “Fuck. Don’t challenge my patience! Let me finish first… to be accurate, I am not indebted to you but to your clone. I don’t know why but Caucasians had always been the majority in team Celestial. There were only two Asians and one of them was a mixed blood. Blacks were even fewer in number. I was promoted from a leader after all so the Caucasians didn’t really dare to overstep the mark on me. However, me and the mixed blood Asian couldn’t escape being bullied. That lasted until we met your clone. He killed the two strongest Caucasians in my team. One of them had a similar ability to me in that even if his body was destroyed, as long as his core exists, he can be retrieved by team members and get revived back in God’s Dimension. However, your clone has a terrifying dark flame that burned the man’s soul. I thought I was going to die next but he spared me. He told me… Chinese are outnumbered in this realm. Having another powerful person who survives is going to count. So I survived that battle.”
Luo YingLong faked a cough. “Don’t assume that I am sentimental. A man should have the courage to bear everything that happened in his life. Your clone won’t deign to care about me repaying the favor. And I have nothing to repay him. However, you as the original is still weak. No matter what, I have to repay you once. Then we will leave our lives to fate and fight for our respective teams!”
Luo YingLong looked at the two members flying over on their devices then turned back to Zheng. “Are you feeling that the fourth stage is powerful, but you lose control of your conscious? The strongest person in my team have reached the end of the beginning stage. He regained control of his conscious. I also met two people in mid fourth stage. One of them is your clone… Ahem. Don’t look down on me that I am only at the third stage. I am way stronger than you when it comes to an actual fight! There’s no doubt.”
Zheng asked. “Are you here to boast your strength? Hurry up and speak your intention.” He moved Tiger’s Soul, getting ready to attack at any time.
Luo YingLong faked another cough to cover the embarrassment. “The beginning of the fourth stage wakes over 90% of a person’s hibernating genes. The most powerful of those genes will merge into your original genes and compensate for your deficiencies. As such, you gain abilities and attributes that you otherwise would have to exchange from God. The perfection of your genes gives you powerful enhancements… But there’s a question. Which of your genes are the most powerful? Genes from single celled life? From reptiles? From aves? The answer is genes left from the saints who created this realm. Or maybe… genes from the enemies of ancient humans!”
Zheng felt a shock. He was beginning to understand what was happening and why when he first entered the fourth stage, he had thoughts of killing all humans and descendants of the saints.
Luo YingLong continued. “This is Adam’s conjecture, our strategist. His intelligence is at a really high degree. He believes the saints obtained victory, but they became a completely different species from humans. They had different genes, different powers, and different values. It’s like modifying a fish’s genes into an elephant. The only thing that’s not an elephant will be its mind. When the saints reproduced with humans, they weren’t able to pass down their genes. So, they hid their genes among the hibernating genes. Only when a person reaches the fourth stage will these genes be awakened. However, the enemies of humans could also hide their genes in human genes. Uh. Adam calls them mega atavism.”
He gave a cold laugh upon seeing Zheng’s dumbfounded expression. “Are you so narrow minded? No matter how much you change, you are still you. I disagree with SongTian and Adam’s view. They believe that descendants of human enemies must be eliminated. You awakened the genes of human enemies while SongTian awakened the genes of the saints. But are you really going to annihilate mankind? The most you are going to do is return to the real world and live however you want or become a king. If you’re a psychopath you will be like Zhao ZuiKong, but he’s still just a serial killer. Who would actually want to annihilate mankind without a good reason? A sword is always a sword. It will always depend on its user… Genes are genes. No matter how much power they contain, how much killing desire is within, they are still your tools!”
He had a solemn expression much different from that hot-headedness. At this moment, he was a strong man with thoughts of his own. “What I want to tell you is try your best to overcome the killing desire of your genes. Enemies of ancient humans possess mad instincts to kill. If you can’t overcome it, you will never be able to return once you reach mid-fourth stage. The conscious of your genes will control you. Look at that psychopath ZuiKong. He’s never going to return… This is the first thing I will repay you. Don’t lose yourself to your genes! We have to hurry, those two are going to be here soon.”
Zheng suddenly asked. “You have been acting, right? Acting like a hot-head who doesn’t think. Why do you have to do it?”
Luo YingLong smiled bitterly. “Cultivation brings me success and doom. I am only at the third stage but have already obtained such an overpowered skill. I might even be able to rival the saints one day. Yet, what you don’t know is, from the information I gathered in the movies, the deaths of the saints might be related to cultivation… I can’t be sure. Anyway, if I seek a more powerful position or if I act smarter with such huge potential, how do you think the brain and strength of my team will treat me? I probably won’t make it through three movies. I am still a step behind SongTian. If I died, my core will return to Adam’s hand… I will slowly make it through my time. Time is always in short supply for cultivation. I spent most of my points returning to the Legend of Zu. If I didn’t smash the cellphone per Adam’s order, I wouldn’t be able to speak to you like this… Enough with the digression. The second thing is related to your strength and boundary.
It’s pretty easy to understand. In cultivation term, the word is enlightenment. A lot of times in training, one accumulates a high level of energy but low unlocked stage hindered him from breaking through to the next level. You have reached a high boundary. The gap between third and fourth stage is night and day. What you lack now is strength!”
Seeing the two members of team Celestial was near, Luo YingLong hurried with his words. “The fourth unlocked stage is also called the stage of infinitesimal control. The awakening of your genes is control within your body. And outside your body, you will feel every minute change of force. You deflecting the morning star was a perfect embodiment of infinitesimal control. Every bit of strength you use in this state will become a hundred times stronger. Your strength is still weak. Rely on infinitesimal control and create your own abilities. Once you can feel the flow of every force, your own abilities will easily come!”
“Then!” A white and a black man landed behind Luo YingLong. He shouted. “Let’s fight! Zheng!”
The first to rush up and initial attack wasn’t Luo YingLong. The black man behind him came up front. He roared at the sky. An illusionary black bear emerged next to him. And then a black panther, black tiger, and black elephant. The illsuionary animals merged into his body.
(They do look fierce… but why are all the animals black?) This strange thought came to his mind though only for an instant. The black man charged at him like thunder. Ta-ta-ta. The slate ground couldn’t stand his force and exploded with his steps.
Zheng had only the time to slash across as the black man approached fiercely. The man countered his sword with a punch. Right before his fist came in contact with the light blade, a panther emerged from the fist and tightly bit onto the light blade. He then struck his other fist at Zheng.
Zheng attempted the pull his sword out of the panther but failed. He countered the strike with a punch of his own. He was caution and covered his hand with a layer of Qi. Just as he had suspected, an illusionary tiger’s mouth emerged around the black man’s fist. Its teeth bit toward Zheng’s hand. Zheng was shocked and immediately used Instant Destruction followed by a Fist Gun, shattering the tiger. He heard the sound of bones cracked. The black man backed with a cry.
Luo YingLong’s eyes brightened as he yelled. “Nice! Is this your self created ability?”
Zheng couldn’t find the time to reply for being in battle. He entered the fourth stage the moment the black man backed off. No human troops remained in this area anymore. The unlocked mode was unlike Destruction’s short duration. It would be a waste not to use such a powerful power. Although his lack of strength hindered this power, it was enough to deal with these three!
(Making two steps in extremely quick succession will create a resonance of the force on the ground for an instant and in turn generate an explosive power. Speed will increase by over 100%…) The thought suddenly came into his mind as he saw the black man retreating. He had no time to verify its validity. Zheng used the technique at once. When he exerted the two forces in an extremely short amount of time, the slate under his feet exploded. The counter force pushed his feet. It was at this moment that he finally understood why Luo YingLong said the fourth stage allowed for ability creation. This sense of the flow of force made the feat no longer difficult!
While the black man was retreating, the woman began chanting a spell. A white light enveloped the man. His wrist was healing in visible speed. By the time Zheng charged over, the man’s wrist had returned to normal. He roared. The illusionary black bear that entered his body surfaced. The black man’s body quickly enlarged and reached three times its previous size when Zheng reached him. He was like a giant with buffed muscle. His fist struck toward Zheng along with terrifying pressure.
Zheng sensed danger before the fist even touched his body. He leaped down to the lower level of the city to dodged the strike. The pressurized air around the fist pulverized the slate ground. A large piece of slate fell off to the lower level.
Although Zheng had no control while in this stage, he still had consciousness. He thought the black man was merely a brute with only strength and not one to be feared. How could someone like him become a member of team Celestial? Team Celestial wasn’t undefeatable after all. However, in the blink of an eye, the man’s hand was healed and his strength grew. This punch was probably more than he could take.
Luo YingLong showed no sign of helping. He sat down on his flying sword and laughed. “Zheng, I told you. Strength isn’t merely your unlocked level nor stats, abilities, or enhancements. True strength is the power to kill your enemy! No matter which stage you unlocked, no matter what enhancements you have, the power than can kill your enemy is the strongest power! Haha. My friend here enhanced four tier A animal souls and Muscle Mass Enhancement of Younger Toguro. He’s second to SongTian when it comes to close combat strength and destructive power… Defeat him or you aren’t even worth me lifting my hands.”
The black man followed Zheng down the level. The panther surfaced on his body while he leaped. He seemed extremely agile. As soon as Zheng landed, the man’s fist struck down. Fortunately, Zheng dodged in time. The fist blasted a hole on the ground.
(So this is the true power of team Celestial’s members. Such power lives up to the name of the team.) Zheng’s mind was thinking but his body was moving by itself. He stepped twice and charged at the black man. Fist Gun struck the man’s abdomen. The man wasn’t slow to react either, even though he only unlocked to the second stage. His reaction speed was at a high level. The illusionary elephant surfaced as the Fist Gun hit him. There was a thump as though the fist hit a tire. The man was knocked back several meters.
All these happened in just an instant. Zheng was already rushing over by the time the black man landed. Yet, he couldn’t get to make his next attack. A beam of light shone down from above. The beam bounded him in the center. The black man struck his palms at Zheng without a moment of hesitation. It was the tiger hovering his body this time.
The black man pushed Zheng into the thick city wall. Following a loud bang, the two of them pushed through the wall, stirring up a cloud of dust. The dust covered up the two of them.
The woman cried with delight. “Great! Binding Light can only bind him for an instant but it was enough to kill him. Hehe. This fourth stage user is garbage.”
Luo YingLong glanced at her with a smirk. The Caucasian woman was a newbie to team Celestial. Her powers weren’t bad but she was bottom tier in the team. She wouldn’t know of the terror of clone Zheng. Luo YingLong didn’t bother talking to her because he heard the sound of punches landing on a body from within the dust.
(This Zheng wouldn’t really be so garbage? And I spoke so much to him in advance. It seems like a waste of effort. Is he really the original of the demon?) Luo YingLong was having doubts but he didn’t show any expression. He continued to quietly stare at the dust cloud. After the dust settled, the scene wasn’t as they had expected where the black man should be beating up Zheng. Zheng was holding on the man’s neck and lifted him up.
He had a pair of black bat wings on his back, though the wings were small. His teeth was biting on the man’s arm. He tore the man’s flesh off and swallowed it. With one hand holding on the man’s neck, his other penetrated the man’s abdomen.
“Aouuu!” Zheng roared then he pulled his hands. The black man was torn in halves from the middle. Blood and organs splattered Zheng’s body.
“Has it begun? Haha. This is the true fourth stage. The powerful genes within the body is awakening. Haha…” Luo YingLong laughed with a sense of madness. His expression was totally different from the person he was. His finger pointed at Zheng then the sword carried him flying toward the wall. It seemed as though he had turned into a green light and he reached the top of the city wall in an instant.
Zheng’s bat wings were less than twenty centimeters in length. It didn’t look fitting to his body. He instantly raised his head as Luo YingLong flew to his top. His eyes were completely red without any trace of human consciousness. He was a beast that lusted for blood.
Luo YingLong was not surprised and continued to laugh. “Come. Come. I won’t bully you with my flight ability since your bat wings aren’t grown… Borrowing from the force of heaven and earth! Up!” He clapped his hands together. A faint eight trigrams appeared in between his palms as he opened them. The land spanning a hundred meters around Zheng was pushed off the ground.
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