Shackles of Humanity

The mecha creature angrily let out a mechanical, rustling hiss. One of its clones immediately shot out of the Water Tornado and charged toward Luo Kai. Its speed was incredible; it was on him in the blink of an eye.

Luo Kai jolted in alarm. His hands and feet were bound, leaving him completely defenseless. He hastily clutched the greatsword he was holding and swung it.

Only now, facing the mecha creature head-on, did Luo Kai realize how terrifying it was. Its combat skills were supreme, and its ability to gather and process information was incredible. It could predict his next move from the slightest twitch of a muscle, making it feel like he was fighting a computer-controlled being.

Fortunately, once Luo Kai entered a combat state, his Essence Qi and Spirit would focus with unprecedented intensity. His consciousness expanded, gathering every bit of information from his surroundings. His brain became like a computer, constantly categorizing data and calculating the optimal countermeasure.

The simplest defensive techniques he had ever learned flashed through his mind. He employed the Deflection Attack he had just learned days before, swiftly identifying and deflecting the weak points in his opponent's assault. Gradually, he entered a profound, almost mystical state of clarity. He felt as if the creature's movements were slowing down. 'Or is it my own perception of time that has slowed?'

Meanwhile, the Water Tornado had begun to dissipate. Luo Kai was still far from being able to split his focus. As he scrambled to defend himself, Li Hong, now without the aid of the rushing water, was in grave danger. His speed dwindled, and the white light enveloping him flickered unsteadily.

Anxiety gripped Luo Kai. With his hands and feet still bound, he could barely manage to defend himself; attacking was out of the question. The only reason he could even manage a Deflection Attack was because the mecha creature's clone, despite its immense speed, was clearly much weaker in Power than the original. Otherwise, deflecting its blows would have been impossible.

The situation grew more desperate. Wounds were now appearing on Li Hong's body. He suddenly turned and shouted to Luo Kai, "The only weakness of these creatures of Heresy lies in their consciousness point! Whether it's the clone or the main body, each has one! If you can find it, you can kill them! By the same token, the shackles on your body also have a consciousness point! They aren't controlled by a primary consciousness, only by instinct. Find it, and you can break them!"

Luo Kai took a deep breath, trying to shift his Spirit and focus it on his shackles. Everything in the universe exists in a constant state of vibration. Likewise, the consciousness of a living being is also in a perpetual state of vibration. This vibration could be understood as a Magnetic Field. To perceive the fluctuations in this field's frequency, one had to match their own frequency to it, much like tuning a radio to receive a specific signal.

His first step was to lock onto the frequency of the shackles, then use his own consciousness to replicate it and find a point of resonance. It was somewhat like cracking a combination lock, but while a numerical combination is finite, the potential variations of a frequency are infinite.

A sharp pain in his shoulder yanked him back from his mental efforts. The situation simply wouldn't allow him the peace of mind to crack this code; the slightest lapse in concentration would be fatal.

Meanwhile, Li Hong was covered in his own blood. The mecha creature was simply terrifying. Its metallic form was incredibly resilient, granting it a near-Undying Body, and it could perfectly mimic any human attack, having mastered physical Body Techniques to the point of perfection. If Li Hong had been at full strength, he might have stood a chance, but as he was, he was no match for it.

"Kid, it was good knowing you!" Li Hong spat out a mouthful of blood, turning to give Luo Kai a faint smile. Then, his entire body began to swell. His skin ripped apart as streaks of white light poured from the fissures.

BOOM! His vision was once again flooded by that familiar white light, as if a miniature sun had erupted from the ground. Heaven and Earth, and all creation within, were consumed by its brilliance. All matter closest to the epicenter of the blast was instantly vaporized.

Luo Kai and the mecha clone before him were flung far into the distance by a tremendous force. The capillaries throughout his body burst, and he blacked out for several seconds.

When he came to, he staggered to his feet, dazed. A massive crater lay before him. Li Hong and the mecha creature had vanished without a trace. Beside him, the mecha clone, now severed from its primary consciousness, was rapidly collapsing into a large sphere.

It took him a long moment to piece his memories back together. Li Hong was dead. But his final, self-destructive attack had also killed the mecha creature.

Luo Kai stared blankly at the devastation, until the large sphere beside him began to screech and grind. Its form dissolved into a mass of liquid metal that constantly morphed, shifting through countless shapes and colors. One moment it would take a humanoid form, the next an animal, but it never looked quite right—always some unnatural amalgamation, as if its system was glitching.

'The damned thing is still alive!' A cold glint flashed in Luo Kai's eyes as unstoppable rage surged through him. The faint Evil Energy within his chest finally sensed his violent emotions and began to roil violently. He raised his hand and thrust it forward, a thin tendril of Black Flame erupting from his fingertips.

The all-corroding nature of the Black Flame proved effective against the monster. However, even as the flame ate away at it, the creature constantly repaired itself. Before long, the Black Flame's Energy was depleted, and the bizarre creature had only shrunk slightly in volume.

Luo Kai didn't have much Evil Energy stored in his body—enough for only two or three more uses, which was nowhere near enough to eliminate the monster.

He was blinded by rage. He began to recklessly burn his own qi and blood, simultaneously drawing upon the ambient Evil Energy between Heaven and Earth. The Evil Energy here in this desolate wilderness was incredibly thin, yet he could feel his weapon. The Severing Blade, saturated with malevolent Evil Energy, was resonating with the frequency of his consciousness. As if sensing its master's furious wrath, the Severing Blade suddenly rose into the air and flew several hundred meters to land in Luo Kai's hand.

At the same time, Luo Kai's blood began to turn from red to black. As it stained the Severing Blade, the weapon erupted in a gout of Black Flame. It seemed his own blood had ignited it. The Curved Long Saber was completely wreathed in Black Flame, resembling a burning torch.

He swung the saber, cleaving into the mecha creature's amorphous body. The black Evil Flame completely engulfed it. Plumes of green smoke billowed up as the sphere of the mecha creature rapidly shrank. Finally, with a soft POP, it dissolved into a cloud of black mist. The mist should have dissipated into Heaven and Earth, but instead, it seemed drawn to the frequency of Luo Kai's consciousness. It condensed once more and began to seep into his body through every pore.

This black mist, to his surprise, contained a vast and incredibly pure reserve of Evil Energy. It was utterly devoid of the negative emotions that usually accompanied Evil Energy, as if it had been filtered, leaving behind nothing but a mass of pure Energy. Soon, his chest was once again filled to the brim with Evil Energy.

A long while later, Luo Kai collapsed onto the ground. He gazed up at the slowly rising sun, and his thoughts gradually calmed.

'Other forms of Energy in this world, like Light Energy or Elemental Energy, originate from Heaven and Earth. But Chaos Energy comes from a being's consciousness and is only released upon death. That's why it always carries the unfulfilled desires and resentments of the deceased. Yet this mecha... it held no such negative emotions, no resentment at all. Is it truly just a machine, devoid of the emotions that define intelligent life? Or could it somehow filter them out?'