Silver Armor

Yu Xian had no illusions about being able to beat the current white ape. His sole objective was to buy time. Nora glanced at Chen Ling, then nodded. "All right, be careful." If leaving Chen Ling alone here led to any mishap, Nora would never forgive herself. Though she wanted to go and assist Yu Xian, she obediently stayed behind. Yu Xian stepped out of the VIP box. His body flushed crimson in an instant, followed by a dense swarm of tiny bubbles erupting across his skin—enough to make anyone with trypophobia shriek on the spot. Immediately after, silver threads woven from Silver Blood rapidly spread over the bubbles, forming a suit of silver armor. This time, the silver threads he spun were extraordinarily fine. Woven tightly together, the armor showed no hint of being knit from thread; instead, it possessed crisp, chiseled contours and a mirror-smooth finish, giving off an aura of absolute invulnerability. "Salty Fish, you look insanely cool!" Zhang Shou yelled excitedly, staring at Yu Xian's transformation and the badass armor before him. A suit of armor like this was every guy's ultimate dream. Zhang Shou felt that if he could wear it, his courage would spike by a thousand percent, letting him stand tall even before the Progenitor. "All right, let's split up. You go rescue the spectators, and I'll keep the giant ape busy!" Yu Xian clenched his fists, making sure the armor wouldn't hinder his movement, then spoke to Zhang Shou. This was no time for messing around. Zhang Shou nodded, turned, and dashed off, while Yu Xian headed in the opposite direction. Inside the arena cage, Zhou Tai gripped the heavily wounded Bai Jinlong in his hand. He weighed him slightly, laughing with deep malice. "Thank you so much. You've helped me discover the true path to becoming stronger. As a reward... let me show you what real power and speed feel like!" With that, he hurled Bai Jinlong with tremendous force. Bai Jinlong smashed right through the alloy cage in an instant, hurtling violently toward the spectator stands. Just before Bai Jinlong slammed into the ground, however, a silver blur flashed past, catching him in midair. Zhou Tai frowned, looking at the silver-armored figure cradling Bai Jinlong. Unable to gauge his opponent's depth for the moment, he refrained from making a rash move. The two sides settled into a quiet standoff. Yu Xian had thought he was already overestimating the giant ape's strength beforehand, but the moment he caught Bai Jinlong, he realized he had still sold the beast short. The instant of impact had nearly snapped the silver threads on his body, and the Blood Energy bubbles underneath burst in rapid succession. Even after both cushioning layers absorbed the brunt of the kinetic energy, the arms he used to catch Bai Jinlong still fractured. Of course, it was only a minor hairline fracture; with his constitution, the injury healed in the blink of an eye. Fortunately, when designing the armor, he had gone all-out for visual impact, drawing inspiration from countless movies and shows to give it the unmistakable presence of a supreme master. As long as he stood motionless, no one could tell where his true strength lay. Evidently, his imposing appearance intimidated Zhou Tai, and neither side made the first move. Meanwhile, the three Transcendent fighters outside the cage backed away quietly. Though they possessed Bee-rank strength, standing before the giant ape provided them with zero sense of security. Yet their subtle movement shattered the delicate balance between Yu Xian and Zhou Tai. Power never came from thin air; though Zhou Tai had used the unique nature of the brain-hugging neural worm to deeply awaken the Zhuyan bloodline within the giant ape, the process had severely depleted the beast's vitality. The giant ape's body desperately needed replenishment. With enough food, the ape could grow even stronger, perhaps even reaching the Eagle rank. His gaze shifted, instantly locking onto one of the middle-aged men, and his body pounced toward the target the very next second. Yu Xian had been keeping a close eye on him the entire time, so the moment the ape moved, Yu Xian reacted as well. A strand of silver thread shot out, coiled around the targeted man, and yanked him backward. The middle-aged man felt only a terrifying gale from an incoming fist bearing down on him. Right before he was pulverized, his body was dragged rapidly in reverse, and by the time he regained his senses, he was sitting firmly in a stadium seat. "Hah... hah... hah..." Belatedly realizing he had just brushed past the Gates of Hell, the middle-aged man broke into a cold sweat, gasping frantically for air. While the giant ape launched its leap, the other two had smartly sprinted away. By the time Zhou Tai brought the ape back to its feet, the surrounding area was already deserted. "Your opponent is me. Don't even think about harming innocent people," Yu Xian said to Zhou Tai, his voice modulated through the two layers of bubbles inside the armor. He was worried Zhou Tai might recognize his natural voice. If Zhou Tai realized he wasn't actually that strong, things would turn ugly fast. *Thump!* *Thump-thump!* *Thump-thump-thump...* Zhou Tai narrowed his eyes at Yu Xian. The Zhuyan's ability—the war-drum heartbeat—resonated instantly. Yet Yu Xian felt nothing at all. If Zhou Tai could actually make his heart beat, he would have thanked him instead; unfortunately, vampires had no resting pulse, rendering them completely immune to this ability of the Zhuyan. *It didn't work?* Zhou Tai thought, re-evaluating Yu Xian with even greater wariness. Truth be told, Yu Xian standing there motionless exuded the pure demeanor of a top-tier powerhouse. Between the mirror-sleek armor and the fluttering hem of his coat, he radiated an overwhelming presence. Moreover, the crimson lenses covering the helmet's eye slits shielded his gaze, leaving Zhou Tai with no way to read his emotions through his eyes. In truth, those crimson lenses were formed from Blood Energy, which not only offered decent protection but also enhanced Yu Xian's vision. Under the dual enhancement of Silver Blood and Blood Energy, his dynamic vision was exceptionally sharp, which was why he could track Zhou Tai's movements so clearly. Under different circumstances, Zhou Tai might have had the patience to remain in a drawn-out standoff with Yu Xian, but not now. First of all, this was an arena on human territory; the longer he lingered, the more perilous it became. Second, the giant ape was starving and desperately needed nourishment. He couldn't afford to waste time. He forced the white ape to grab the alloy cage, abruptly unleashing a burst of monstrous strength. The cage, once firmly anchored into the concrete floor, was ripped out by its roots and hurled straight at Yu Xian. Honestly, the spectacle was staggering, and even Yu Xian was startled by the sheer scale of the attack. Yet Yu Xian's reflexes were lightning-fast. The Blood Energy bubbles under his feet provided tremendous elasticity; bending his knees, he leapt into the air. The moment the cage hurtled toward him, he placed both hands against it and shoved off, using the counterforce to vault backward. Several silver threads instantly latched onto a ceiling chandelier and pulled him up, narrowly evading the cage's trajectory. *Boom!* A deafening crash echoed, churning up rolling clouds of dust. The cage smashed heavily into the spectator stands, making the entire arena shudder. The impact crushed the seating into deep hollows and spiderwebbed the surrounding walls with massive cracks. Had that cage landed squarely on Yu Xian, it likely would have snapped his body in half. Even if it wouldn't kill him, the pain would have been excruciating. *Terrifying!* Looking down at the twisted wreckage of the cage, Yu Xian felt the threat far exceeded even Jin Sheng. "*Hooo!*" A plume of steam vented from the giant ape's mouth. That sudden burst of exertion had drained a significant amount of its stamina as well. It was a pity the attack had missed, wasting precious energy for nothing. Yet through Yu Xian's maneuver, Zhou Tai grasped a crucial detail: when facing the ape's attacks, Yu Xian's response was to dodge rather than take them head-on. That meant Yu Xian's physical strength was undoubtedly inferior to his own. Next came the test of speed! If his speed and power both far outstripped Yu Xian's, he could bring this battle to a swift conclusion. First, he needed to widen his attack radius. Zhou Tai glanced around, then directed the giant ape to stride down to the arena edge, directly ripping away two large safety barriers in front of the spectator stands. Holding a barrier in each hand, his reach abruptly expanded from two meters to ten. As long as Yu Xian stepped within ten meters of him, he could swat him like a fly. On the other side, Yu Xian raised a brow beneath his visor when he saw the giant ape tear away the barriers. The next instant, Zhou Tai commanded the giant ape to kick off the ground with both legs, propelling forward like an artillery shell straight toward Yu Xian while swinging the barriers with both arms in a crushing pincer strike. Yu Xian's hands flicked, sending four silver threads darting like wild silver serpents across the oncoming barriers. The silver threads forged from Silver Blood were made not only of silver, but also of Yu Xian's own blood. Having received Nora's promise of twenty jin of silver, his reserves were abundant; even after forming the armor, he had plenty of thread left for offense and defense. Of course, unleashing a dense, suffocating web of threads with a casual wave of his hand—as he had done in his earlier fight against Zhou Tai—was out of the question here. In his armored state, he could split off at most four to five silver threads, with a maximum reach between fifty and three hundred and fifty meters. Even so, that was more than enough. In a flash, the two barriers crossed over Yu Xian, only to shear apart into fine fragments. Amid the shower of drifting debris, Yu Xian stood with his armor gleaming as pristine as ever, oozing pure, untouchable swagger.