Above the ice.
Other than a lone desolate island, there was nothing but an endless expanse of ice and snow.
Fierce winds howled across the land, and snowflakes swirled down from above.
Watching the ghostly figure of the approaching Wind God Envoy, Jiang Ning once again loosed an arrow from his bow.
The arrow left the string, cutting through the air.
Before it had even reached its target, another arrow of refined iron appeared in his hand.
Without hesitation, he nocked the arrow, drew the bow to its full stretch, and infused the arrow with the power of wind and thunder. The storm surrounding him surged into it, and faint streaks of lightning crackled along its surface.
Meanwhile
The Wind God Envoy did not dare to be careless as the arrow hurtled toward him.
Moments ago, he had witnessed firsthand the fate of the Star Guardian, who had underestimated his opponent.
That man had tried to block the arrow with his bare fist only to be sent plunging through the ice and vanishing beneath the lake, yet to resurface.
With such a grim precedent, how could he afford to be careless?
In the next instant
Faced with this terrifying arrow, which seemed to summon wind and thunder, the Wind God Envoy raised both hands.
His vast internal energy transformed into an unending tide, counteracting the immense force carried by the arrow.
Mere moments later
The arrow's power weakened, allowing him to deflect it with a flick of his hands. The projectile whizzed past him, embedding itself into the ice.
Boom!
A deafening explosion erupted. The lake's frozen surface shattered, sending ice chunks weighing thousands of pounds flying over ten feet into the air. Water sprayed skyward, reaching heights of nearly thirty feet.
A brilliant blue glow flashed beneath his feet.
The sheer force of that arrow had pushed him back a full hundred zhang.
"This archery… is insane!!" he marveled inwardly.
He had never encountered such terrifying archery in his entire life.
Yet today, he was witnessing it from a mere youth from a small county town.
The next moment
His heart sank abruptly.
Another thunder-charged arrow was already streaking toward him.
As it tore through the air, a storm howled in its wake, punctuated by bursts of lightning.
Facing such an arrow, which could summon celestial phenomena, he had no intention of trying to block it directly.
He steadied his footing, locked onto the incoming arrow, and narrowed his eyes.
"I refuse to believe he can keep firing these monstrous arrows indefinitely!"
He sprang forward, charging straight at the incoming arrow.
On the other side
Jiang Ning loosed one arrow after another without pause.
If his opponent could not even overcome his archery, how could he be qualified to fight him?
After all
He wasn't even using a bow that suited him. Even at full draw, it could only unleash thirty percent of his true power.
The difference in might between arrows fired with thirty percent strength and those fired at full strength was like night and day.
In truth, his current archery was being severely limited by his equipment.
Furthermore, even his three-stage limit-breaking Wind Thunder Archery was not his strongest technique.
Under such conditions, if his opponent couldn't withstand his archery, what right did he have to fight him?
One arrow after another, more than ten in total, yet Jiang Ning had not taken a single breath to rest. However, the battle remained at a standstill.
The Wind God Envoy was still a full kilometer away.
Every arrow that struck him failed to inflict serious damage.
In the Wind God Envoy's hands, Jiang Ning saw the true power of martial arts that utilized internal energy.
By now, Jiang Ning's internal energy had reached an oceanic magnitude.
Yet his ability to wield it was still crude at best.
It was much like the legendary Guo Daxia from his previous life's martial arts novels brimming with internal power but lacking the techniques to fully utilize it.
In Jiang Ning's eyes, internal energy and internal power share profound similarities.
He, too, had immense internal energy but no proper martial arts techniques to channel it effectively.
For now, he could only use it in the simplest ways enhancing his fists and kicks.
The Wind God Envoy, however, was different.
Every one of Jiang Ning's arrows was countered using intricate internal energy techniques.
The sophistication of these techniques made Jiang Ning envious.
If he had such techniques, his combat strength would rise to an entirely new level.
Especially in the future as his internal energy continued to grow and evolve mastering such techniques would become even more crucial.
At the same time
After neutralizing more than ten of Jiang Ning's devastating arrows, the Wind God Envoy's breathing had grown noticeably heavier.
The repeated counters had consumed half of the internal energy within his dantian.
"What a monster!"
"This level of archery… he's used it over ten times, and he still hasn't reached his limit?!"
Watching yet another Wind Thunder Arrow streaking toward him, the Wind God Envoy felt his heart sink further.
His internal energy was already half-depleted.
But Jiang Ning showed no signs of exhaustion.
Once his internal energy ran dry, he would be forced to endure Jiang Ning's arrows with his bare body.
And he had already witnessed firsthand what would happen then.
At this thought, his gaze flickered toward the Star Guardian behind him.
Ever since emerging from the water, the Star Guardian had been lurking behind him, using his injured right arm as an excuse.
Seeing this, the Wind God Envoy couldn't say much.
After all, he was the one who had received the divine decree.
And the Star Guardian's injuries were real his right wrist and palm had been completely stripped of flesh, leaving only pristine white bones.
Even the bones bore deep, unhealable cracks.
Such wounds were far from minor.
The next moment
Faced with the incoming arrow that had already reached him
He once again unleashed his inner energy, firmly controlling the arrow to prevent the power contained within it from detonating.
As the momentum weakened, he flicked his wrist, sending the arrow veering past him and plunging straight into the lake beneath the ice.
Boom
A tremendous noise erupted from behind him the sound of ice shattering, water exploding into the air, and blue electric arcs spreading beneath his feet.
The Wind God Envoy did not look back.
Huff
He exhaled sharply.
Then, he saw another terrifyingly powerful arrow shot from the cliffside by Jiang Ning.
"This is bad!"
His heart sank.
He could feel that another tenth of his inner energy had been depleted from his dantian.
Now, his remaining inner energy was barely half of what it had been.
Once his inner energy was exhausted, a fifth-rank cultivator like him would be barely stronger than a sixth-rank Jade Bone Realm practitioner.
Moments later
The Wind God Envoy's breathing grew noticeably heavier.
The gradual depletion of his inner energy made his physical decline more evident.
His condition was worsening.
Meanwhile, atop the cliff, Jiang Ning maintained the same steady pace, firing arrow after arrow.
"I can't keep this up!"
Seeing Jiang Ning, a thousand zhang away, once again unleash a fearsome arrow, the Wind God Envoy gritted his teeth.
"I can't outlast this brat!"
At that moment, he made a decisive choice.
The next instant
His body began to expand rapidly as if inflated by some unseen force.
His height grew larger and larger.
Eight feet... eight and a half feet... nine feet...
Behind him, the Star Protector watched in shock.
"The Wind God Envoy is already at his limit he's transforming!"
He muttered to himself, "If it were me, I'd approach from underwater! Pride is meaningless in battle!"
Just then
A streaking arrow, trailing white vapor in its wake, slammed into the transforming Wind God Envoy.
Boom
A deafening explosion erupted.
Electric arcs surged in all directions.
The surrounding snow was blasted into the air, rising several zhang high.
On the cliff
Jiang Ning, who had been drawing his bow taut, slowly relaxed his grip.
Within a single breath
As the electric arcs dissipated and the snow settled, the Wind God Envoy's new form was revealed.
His height had reached a staggering twelve feet.
His muscles were as solid as black iron.
Thick, bulging veins crisscrossed his body like writhing worms beneath his skin.
The iron-forged arrow that had just been fired was now embedded firmly in his chest muscles.
Then
Jiang Ning saw something strange.
Beneath the Wind God Envoy's arms, lumps of flesh bulged outward.
A moment later, two new arms burst forth from the swelling flesh.
Then, beneath those four arms, two more lumps formed and ruptured, revealing yet another pair of arms.
In the blink of an eye
Two arms became four. Four arms became six.
The Wind God Envoy's eyes were now as dark as the abyss, pitch-black and devoid of any impurity.
Lowering his gaze, he looked at the iron arrow lodged in his chest.
A massive hand reached up and gripped the arrow.
Squelch
With a simple tug, he pulled it out.
A chunk of flesh came away with it, spilling a small pool of dark blood.
From the wound, wriggling flesh tendrils rapidly emerged, pulsating like maggots.
Within a single breath
The wound vanished without a trace.
Now
The six-armed Wind God Envoy looked up at Jiang Ning, standing atop the cliff.
He took a single step forward.
Boom
His massive body made the ice tremble.
And with that step, two more towering legs sprouted from his lower body.
Six arms. Four legs.
This was his current form.
It was also the Divine Scion state of the Protectorate Divine Beings.
A form that brought him closer to the Flesh and Blood God the supreme being with three heads, six arms, and four legs.
Behind him, the Star Protector saw this and instinctively shrank behind a thousand-pound block of ice.
"He's already in the Divine Scion state... Jiang Ning forced him to his limit!"
"But now, the Wind God Envoy is going all out he has to end this quickly!"
The Star Protector knew all too well.
The longer one maintained the Divine Scion form, the more devastating the toll on one's sanity.
The closer one came to the abyss, the more irreversible the descent.
Even a Protectorate Divine Being one more attuned to the Flesh and Blood God was not exempt from this fate.
The fact that the Wind God Envoy had transformed so decisively meant that the pressure Jiang Ning had put on him was overwhelming.
"But this battle will soon be over."
"Jiang Ning's archery is incredible, but his close combat must be his weakness!"
At the same time, the Wind God Envoy came to the same conclusion as the Star Protector.
In his view, Jiang Ning was too young. With limited time in martial cultivation, he couldn't possess such astonishing archery skills while also excelling in close combat.
Thus, he had initially believed that as long as he could get close to the desolate island, he could complete his mission.
However, faced with Jiang Ning's terrifying archery, he gradually realized that he couldn't even approach the island at all.
He was constantly kept at bay a thousand zhang away by the arrows.
With his speed, a distance of a thousand zhang was merely a matter of three breaths.
Yet, against Jiang Ning's archery, this mere thousand zhang had nearly drained his internal energy and kept him from advancing an inch.
No longer hesitating, he decisively transformed into his Divine Scion form.
As he took on the six-armed, four-legged Divine Scion state, his transformation was far stronger than that of other members of the sect.
Not only did he gain an almost immortal body, but his self-healing speed far surpassed that of an ordinary Divine Scion.
Additionally, his physical strength increased to an even greater extent.
In this form, he could now completely disregard the arrows that had previously posed a great threat to him.
"Come again!!"
The Wind God Envoy roared toward Jiang Ning, his voice like the howl of a monstrous beast, echoing through the wind and snow, reaching Jiang Ning's ears with crystal clarity.
Hearing these words, Jiang Ning chuckled.
Once again, he nocked an arrow, drew his bow to full tension, and held his breath for half a beat.
Snap!
The arrow tore through the air, accompanied by the roar of wind and thunder.
A thousand zhang away.
Seeing the arrow streaking toward him once more, the Wind God Envoy grinned, revealing a cruel smile.
His massive body moved.
Boom!
The ice beneath his feet shattered instantly.
His towering frame surged forward, sending waves of air rolling out, lifting endless snow into the sky.
In an instant.
The arrow was already in front of him.
This time, however, the Wind God Envoy no longer had the slightest fear.
He raised one of his massive arms and swatted at the arrow.
Boom!
Wind and thunder exploded as arcs of electricity spread outward.
Yet, what had once been a force he feared was now nothing more than an itch.
The crackling lightning coursing over his body failed to harm him.
The arrow left only a bowl-sized wound on his palm, and though its force caused his momentum to slow slightly, that was all.
His advance paused for just a moment.
Then, the Wind God Envoy's speed surged once more, while the wound in his palm rapidly healed as flesh wriggled and regenerated.
Next.
As another arrow came at him.
He casually swiped at it with another massive palm.
Again, his movement slowed for a fraction of a second before accelerating once more.
After several consecutive arrows.
The fully transformed Wind God Envoy remained completely unscathed.
The wounds left by the arrows that had once posed a deadly threat had already healed without a trace.
"This is insane!!"
Jiang Ning couldn't help but be amazed as he watched the Wind God Envoy closing in, now only three hundred zhang away.
Just moments ago, the Wind God Envoy had struggled desperately against his storm arrows, barely managing by expending his internal energy.
Yet now, in his Divine Scion form, he was handling them with ease.
The gap between his strength before and after transforming was unimaginable.
"Fortunately!"
"Fortunately, I have not slacked off in my training!"
"Otherwise, against such a formidable enemy today, I would have no choice but to flee for my life."
Jiang Ning stowed away his nearly broken longbow into his spatial ring.
Then, standing atop the cliff, he quietly awaited the Wind God Envoy's arrival.
This battle, he was looking forward to.
Such a powerful opponent was the perfect test of his strength.
A test of all the effort and cultivation he had put in.
On the other side.
As the Wind God Envoy continued to close the distance, he saw Jiang Ning's actions.
"Not running?" His heart tensed for a moment.
His mind, which had been clear just a moment ago, was instantly clouded by anger.
"Arrogant!!!" he bellowed.
The words reached the ears of the Star Protector behind him.
The Star Protector shook his head slightly.
"As expected! Even a Guardian Deity struggles to maintain ordinary rationality after transforming into a Divine Scion!"
Then, he turned his gaze toward Jiang Ning on the cliff.
"Could it be that this Jiang Commander has another trick up his sleeve?"
"Or does he believe he can fight a transformed Wind God Envoy in close combat?"
Considering this possibility, the Star Protector shook his head once again.
"Impossible!"
"The Divine Scion form of the Wind God Envoy has nearly reached the strength of an ordinary Fourth Grade martial artist."
"This Jiang Commander how could he possibly contend with that in close combat?"
Once more, he shook his head, reaffirming his thoughts.
Even so.
A deep sense of curiosity arose within him.
He was eager to see what exactly Jiang Ning would do next.
After all, Jiang Ning had seen that his arrows no longer posed a threat to the transformed Wind God Envoy.
Yet he still made no move to flee or fight.
Why?!!
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