Shackles of Humanity

As they chatted, a sudden, inexplicable tension rose in Luo Kai, and he couldn't help but stand up and look around.

Li Hong seemed to have noticed something as well. He fell silent and closed his eyes, as if trying to sense his surroundings.

The airship was flying at an altitude of about three to four thousand meters. Below lay an endless wilderness, silent and dark.

Luo Kai suppressed his accelerating heartbeat, feeling somewhat puzzled. Just then, an even more intense sense of crisis washed over him, and the speed of his Qi and Blood Circulation began to rise uncontrollably.

Li Hong's eyes shot open, his expression changing drastically. "Enemy attack!" Faint traces of white light rose from his skin, forming a thin film that enveloped him as he snatched a large, golden sword from nearby.

Everyone else on the airship grabbed their weapons, looking around and bracing for a fight.

In the star-filled sky, one particular Star grew brighter and brighter. No, that wasn't a shooting star—it was a projectile trailing a long, fiery tail.

At the same time, Luo Kai's heart pounded faster and faster. The hair on his body stood on end as an indescribable sense of crisis flooded him. His eyes began to turn red, and his Qi and Blood Circulation spun to its peak, completely out of his control.

The projectile was incredibly fast, closing the distance in just a few breaths. It was an oval, black sphere trailing a long, fiery tail, like some kind of missile.

Li Hong roared and hurled his greatsword. The entire blade, now coated in a layer of white light, shot forward like a meteor to meet the projectile head-on.

BOOM! A brilliant white light erupted before Luo Kai's eyes. In that daze, it felt as if all of Heaven and Earth were engulfed in it. The light was dazzlingly brilliant, yet also desolate and cold. It seemed as if all creation would be reduced to ash, utterly annihilated beneath its glow.

An immeasurable heat washed over him, and his body began to burn from the outside in. It was just like the time he had been immolated by the Black Flame; soon, his entire body would be incinerated. At that very moment, a figure stepped in front of him and grabbed his shoulder.

Luo Kai lost consciousness for a fraction of a second. When he came to, he was plummeting rapidly. Above, the airship had become a massive fireball. Li Hong, who was holding him, was charred black, but his eyes still radiated a piercing white light.

The two of them slammed into the ground, creating a deep crater. Li Hong straightened up, his back slightly hunched, and stared at the massive fireball in the sky, his eyes filled with fury.

Luo Kai managed to stand as well. Li Hong had absorbed most of the impact from the fall, so apart from some charred skin, Luo Kai wasn't seriously injured. However, a violent Energy seemed to cling to his skin, frantically trying to seep inside him. His resilient cells immediately began to fight back, repelling the invasive Energy.

That white light was terrifying, like an incredibly powerful bomb. Besides the massive shockwave, its heat felt like it could purify anything. If Li Hong hadn't shielded him, he would have died for sure. With lingering fear, he asked, "What was that?"

Li Hong's voice was grim. "Heresy! You wait here. I'm going to see if anyone else survived."

Just as they climbed out of the crater, a strange object appeared nearby. It was a humanoid machine over four meters tall, built from dark black metal, like a Mecha from a science fiction film. Its left arm was a long blade, and it carried a device resembling a rocket launcher on its back. Its red, glowing eyes locked onto Li Hong, and it charged forward with heavy strides.

"What is that?" Luo Kai rubbed his eyes in disbelief. 'To think that Mecha actually exist in this world.'

With a dark expression, Li Hong said, "You wanted to know what Extraterrestrial Creatures look like? Well, this is it!"

With that, he stomped his foot, snatched up a golden greatsword from the ground, and charged the Mecha-like creature.

Li Hong moved like lightning, leaping high into the air. The golden greatsword in his hand radiated a piercing white light, and he swung it down at the Mecha as if it were a giant Light Saber.

The Mecha raised the long blade on its arm high to meet the attack. Their clash produced a deafening bang, sending ripples through the air. A visible shockwave expanded outward, blasting a large crater where they stood and flattening all the surrounding vegetation.

'The aftershocks from their fight are far stronger than when Su Chengbo and Big Beard were sparring. What kind of creature is that Mecha? It has the Power of a Body Master, yet I can't sense any frequency coming from it at all. Even a rock emits a frequency!' The shockwave forced Luo Kai back several steps, and he was horrified.

After that one full-power exchange, Li Hong abandoned a direct confrontation. Instead, he began to circle the Mecha creature at high speed, his greatsword a blur of white light as he delivered a flurry of spinning slashes.

The Mecha creature was clearly much clumsier in comparison and was instantly covered in gashes. But the black metal body possessed an astonishing Healing Ability; the cuts on its surface were mending at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The battle reached a stalemate. The Mecha creature's body was incredibly tough, and Li Hong couldn't seem to damage it.

Luo Kai wanted to help, but his hands and feet were bound by black shackles, leaving him willing but powerless. He could only hop around, searching for his weapons. He had been carrying three in total, but Li Hong had confiscated all of them.

The airship had exploded thousands of meters in the air, so his weapons must have been scattered far and wide. After looking around, he only found a carbonized corpse. It was one of the five Swordsmen. Though the body was charred, it still tightly gripped a golden greatsword. The surface of these swords seemed to be coated in Gold, making them glitter conspicuously.

He picked up the greatsword and tried to strike his shackles, but only a faint mark appeared before quickly vanishing. He sighed to himself and looked back at the fight. Li Hong's movements had slowed; the explosion on the airship had clearly injured him badly.

This was the perfect time to escape, but Luo Kai hesitated. If not for Li Hong, he never would have survived that purifying white light.

After a moment, the Mecha-like creature suddenly split down the middle—first into two, then immediately into four. Their bodies shrank to be much smaller than an adult, only about a meter tall. After shrinking, their speed increased explosively, and they transformed into four black shadows that swarmed Li Hong with a torrential assault.

The situation shifted once more. Li Hong was forced onto the defensive. The white light emanating from him intensified, forming a film that enveloped his body to block the attacks.

Once a person reached the Body Master realm, it became difficult to make physical progress through conventional means. They had to seek out external Energy to break through their limitations. Li Hong had tempered his body with Light Energy, allowing him to release the latent Light Energy within him to fight his enemies. In scientific terms, he could convert Light Energy into a kind of plasma shield, which greatly increased his attack Power when on the offensive and his Defense when warding off blows.

However, all things in the universe must obey the law of conservation of energy; all Energy requires a process of conversion, absorption, and release. Li Hong had already expended most of his Energy on the airship to block the explosion, and now, the Light Energy within his body was nearly depleted.

Luo Kai saw the film of white light around Li Hong growing fainter and grew anxious, fearing he would soon be killed. The line between friend and foe was already blurry. If Li Hong hadn't saved him, he would have fled long ago. But now, he couldn't just stand by and watch him die.

'If my body can't help, I'll have to rely on my Spiritual Power.' He sat cross-legged on the ground and sent out the frequency of his consciousness, summoning the omnipresent water molecules and Evil Energy from Heaven and Earth.

There was very little Evil Energy in this area, but water molecules were abundant. Soon, dark clouds gathered in the sky, and a torrential downpour began. Tangible yet formless currents of water converged, creating a Water Tornado that swept toward the battlefield.

Water was the gentlest form of Energy between Heaven and Earth. Luo Kai hadn't yet figured out how to use it for a direct attack, but he could certainly use it to hinder his enemies.

Compared to the immense Power of the Mecha creatures, the water currents were insignificant. However, as the water grew in volume and density, the land battle transformed into an aquatic one. Now, the creatures could only exert sixty or seventy percent of their full Power, at most.