Black Armor

The light was dim tonight. Even the bat's echolocating pulses couldn't distinguish whether the movement below was merely swaying branches or something genuinely stirring in the shadows. Just as it prepared to fly down for a closer look, He Lingchuan spoke up: "Don't go down!" The closer they got to Mount Ke, the hotter the divine bone necklace burned against his chest. By the time he caught sight of the shadows below, the necklace felt as if it were about to scorch a hole right through his collarbone. The last time the divine bone necklace had been this agitated was before the steps of Zhaixing Tower in the Heavenly Palace! Back then, the tower had enshrined its pot lid. Now, what was hiding within the shadows of Mount Ke? He Lingchuan reached into his robe, retrieved an object, and adjusted it slightly. A beam of snow-white light shot downward, instantly piercing the shadows in the ruins! This was the shadow-projecting lamp he had filched from the Heavenly Palace's Mount Xu Great Formation. It could shatter even the lamp spirits of Zhaixing Tower's Everlasting Lamps, making it more than qualified to serve as a flashlight now. With a sudden flash, the shadow was laid bare. Caught completely off guard by what was revealed, Dong Rui—who was watching the live feed through an eyeball spider—cursed instinctively: "Holy crap!" That thing was a person! To be precise, a person clad in black armor! Dazzled by the sudden blaze of light, the figure raised an arm to shield his face. He Lingchuan couldn't clearly see his features, but a glint of red light peeked through the gaps between his fingers. Furthermore, black smoke curled around the suit of black armor. When illuminated by the shadow-projecting lamp, the wisping smoke scattered, revealing the fish-scale plates beneath. The armor's style was somewhat archaic, yet every single plate was glossy and pitch-black, with subtle variations in tone that gave it the appearance of a python pattern at first glance. The black-armored man seemed to glare straight at the bat, and he abruptly raised a hand. Sharp as ever, He Lingchuan realized the moment the light hit the figure that they were flying too low. He yanked the bat into a sideways roll. Sure enough, two flashes of dark light streaked past, grazing the bat's wing membranes. Though the attack missed, the projectiles banked in a sharp turn and surged toward the bat once more. Strictly speaking, they were hurtling toward He Lingchuan on the bat's back. For no apparent reason, he simply knew he was the target. This black-armored man harbored pure malice. With a flick of his wrist, He Lingchuan released two sleeve arrows, knocking down the dark projectiles just before they reached the bat. They were two faceted throwing darts. In the next instant, He Lingchuan hauled upward on the horn atop his mount's head. The bat demon puppet flapped its massive wings and shot straight into the air. Immediately after, a shadow swept past beneath them, missing them by merely five zhang. It was the black-armored warrior! After hurling the darts, he had scampered up a tree with agility far surpassing that of an ape. While the bat was dealing with the darts, he had already scaled the treetop, using the leverage to launch himself into a tremendous leap straight at the bat! The bat was currently hovering over twenty zhang above the ground—a height virtually unreachable for any wingless creature. Yet with a light leap, as though his heavy armor weighed nothing at all, this figure easily bounded another ten-plus zhang into the air from the treetop. It was hardly human. The sequence of moves had been fluid and dazzling, and the ground was dark. Had He Lingchuan not reacted with lightning speed, the warrior would have already landed on the bat's back to engage him in close combat. Watching from not far away, Dong Rui broke into a cold sweat. Thank goodness it was He Lingchuan dealing with this thing; close-quarters brawling was definitely not Dong Rui's strong suit. Yet just as the black-armored warrior began to fall back down, something suddenly shot out from behind him, punching clean through the bat's wing! It was a chain, tipped with a barb that was now hooked firmly into the outer edge of the bat's wing. The black-armored man was remarkably heavy, dragging the bat demon puppet down two zhang in an instant. Pained by the blow, the bat lowered its head and unleashed a torrent of corrosive acid. The warrior had intended to haul himself up the chain onto the bat's back, but seeing the acid spray, he had no choice but to throw up his forearm. A shield of invisible force seemed to rise before him, deflecting the corrosive liquid. He Lingchuan slapped the bat's horn, prompting his mount to execute a sweeping aerial flip that flung both the chain and the warrior high into the air. Back when he was preparing to infiltrate Mount Xu in the Heavenly Palace, he had drilled extensively with the bat demon puppet, developing seamless coordination. With this somersault, their positions inverted: for a bizarre moment, He Lingchuan and the demon puppet were below, while the chain and the black-armored warrior hung above them. The sight was as magnificent as it was bizarre. Though the entire maneuver lasted a mere two breaths, He Lingchuan clearly saw the undisguised urgency and craving burning in the warrior's eyes. The moment the chain snapped taut in midair, He Lingchuan hurled Fusheng. His aim was immaculate, and the prized saber never failed him. With a sharp clang, it severed the chain in two! The black-armored warrior was sent hurtling away. After completing the flip, the bat snapped its wings open with a heavy thud, catching the wind to soar once more. He Lingchuan immediately stepped onto its wing membrane and wrenched out the barbed tip of the chain. The moment the black-armored warrior landed on the ground, he tilted his head up to glare at the bat. Seeing that it had already climbed to twenty-four or twenty-five zhang and that there were no tall trees nearby, he let out an indignant, furious roar: "Give it back to me!" He Lingchuan could sense raw, brazen greed and malice radiating from the figure. This creature truly was coming for him. But what did "give it back to me" mean? What did this black-armored person want him to return? The warrior suddenly tore two fish-scale plates from his shoulder and hurled them skyward. With a flash of black smoke, the two plates transformed into two swarms of black hornets, each the size of a fist, buzzing furiously as they swarmed toward the bat. Without waiting for He Lingchuan's command, the bat spewed a mouthful of acid, melting seven or eight of the hornets on contact. They burst into puffs of black smoke, yet within a few breaths, the smoke coalesced back into hornets and resumed the chase. At the same time, the black-armored warrior below pressed a hand against the ground and chanted an incantation. He Lingchuan watched as the soil churned, and a pair of hands abruptly thrust out from a mud pit beside the warrior's feet! Next came a head, an upper torso, legs... Well-traveled and experienced as he was, He Lingchuan couldn't help but frown. "What in the world is that?" It resembled a puppet, standing upright like a human, clad in armor and holding weapons. Yet it wore only half a suit of rust-pitted armor, and in its grip was a wooden mallet handle topped with a solid boulder for a head. Moreover, the missing half of its armor was molded from rock and earth, and half a broken roof tile sat atop the back of its skull. One puppet after another crawled out from underground, taking their places behind the black-armored warrior. Nearly all of them were damaged composites—half armor and weapons, half stone and earth. From He Lingchuan's chest, the soul-snatching mirror let out a soft exclamation: "Soul infusion! This wretched thing trapped deceased souls inside broken armor and patched them up with rock and dirt to assemble an army! What a clever method. Highly inspiring! Yes, very inspiring indeed!" "Can origin power deal with them?" "It should... right?" the soul-snatching mirror mused. "Though these puppets are coated in thick rock and earth, just like turtle shells. If ordinary soldiers can't chop through the outer crust, they'll hardly harm the spirits inside. Divine abilities would definitely work better, of course." He Lingchuan thought for a moment. "Let's conserve our strength. How about we kill with a borrowed knife?" With that, he pointed back the way they had come. Catching his drift, the bat dipped low once more and flew toward the edge of the forest. It possessed two pairs of wings, fore and aft; a single hole through one wing membrane wasn't enough to halt its flight, only slowing its speed by a fraction.