Translator: Zen Translations Editor: Zen Translations
Under the effect of the Touch of Darkness, Zhou Weiqing’s senses were increased to the max. In truth, being too close to their target may not always be a good thing for an archer, and many of Zhou Weiqing’s archery skills actually required some distance to use. Without sufficient distance, there just wasn’t the time and space to make use of many of the special effects and changes. However, in terms of raw power, a close distance was always brought it to the max.
Once again, the Overlord Bow’s drawstring drawn to the max, and an even louder sound rang out against Lin TianAo’s shield. Even such a powerful defense like his was shaken slightly, but the only effect of it was to cause the yellow light around the shield to brighten.
“Good arrow!” The one who exclaimed wasn’t Lin TianAo, but instead the red-robed man who had been standing the the side watching the entire fight.
Anyone with a decent eye could clearly see how powerful the arrow was with that twisted drawstring method was. With Zhou Weiqing’s strength, added to the double explosive power of the Overlord Bow and the unique archery method, its power could almost match that of Yun Li’s full powered blow earlier. This was the power of archery.
Yun Li had already stealthily reached behind Lin TianAo, and he took action. Like a sleek feline, he bounded in, twisting his wrist as the sharp spike appeared once more in his hands. Flourishing the spike, a ‘Double Compressed’ – Compressed Spatial Cannon was once again used upon it, striking straight towards the dead center of Lin TianAo’s back.
Zhou Weiqing did not stop firing all this time, as arrow after arrow streamed out in a steady flow, forming a line like a comet striking towards Lin TianAo.
Under such an explosive pincer attack, Lin TianAo was unable to move his shield to protect his back. After all, his greatest problem now was the restriction on using a single hand and being unable to move, causing him to not be able to use many of his powers. Without question, his choice not to move his shield was because he felt Zhou Weiqing’s arrows posed a greater threat than Yun Li’s attack, as such his main focus was in front.
A thick layer of bright yellow light rose forth from Lin TianAo at the instant before Yun Li’s attack reached him, causing his body to seem to go through an immense change.
A dirt-like yellow coloured armor seemed to envelop Lin TianAo’s entire body, and even the shield in his hand seemed to develop a rocky exterior, and a thick aura seemed to envelop him.
With a loud crashing sound, the Consolidated Sharp Spike slammed savagely into the yellow armor around him, cracking it and causing it to dissolve into yellow light. However, the cracked and broken portion was just a very tiny piece, and Lin TianAo still stood, unmoved.
“Rock Armour!” Yun Li cried out softly.
This Rock Armour was similar, but also way beyond the previous Stone Skin skill that Ma Qun had used in the past. The Stone Skin skill only had a four star rating, and could only come into its own from a three-jeweled cultivation level onwards. On the other hand, the Rock Armour had a nine star rating, and was one of the top defensive skills of the Stone Attributes. For a Heavenly Jewel Master like Lin TianAo who was already at the five-Jeweled level, coupled with his own natural tough defense, it made his body like a fortress!
What depressed Yun Li the most was that he could tell that the original Rock Armour shouldn’t be this strong. After all, he was using his full strength with several Skills melded together along with his own Consolidated Equipment Weapon. However, the Rock Armour used was unleashed through his five-Jewel Assembly Set Equipment Shield. He did not know how much of a boost that had, but definitely it had boosted it more than his own Double Compression’s effect.
That was to say, even if Lin TianAo just left his back open for Yun Li to launch attacks, he still wasn’t able to damage him at all!
Damn, is this fellow really a five-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master? Even a Zong Stage Heavenly Master shouldn’t be this tough!
At that point, Yun Li simply decided to stop attacking, staring at Lin TianAo with full concentration. At the same time, he started recovering his energy, preparing himself for another full-powered strike while awaiting Zhou Weiqing’s signal. With him at the back, at least it would cause Lin TianAo to have to leave some focus on him. Furthermore, for the powerful Rock Armour to be unleashed from the Five-Jeweled Assembly Set Equipment Shield, it would likely have quite a large drain upon his energy reserves.
The Overlord Bow in Zhou Weiqing’s hands displayed its insane firing rate. It was almost impossible to see how he actually fired the arrows, and the only thing that could be seen was the constant barrage of sounds and blinding lights puffing out on Lin TianAo’s shield as the arrows streamed against it. Furthermore, such a continuous flow of attacks was not even very draining on Zhou Weiqing’s Heavenly Energy, as he only needed to maintain the Consolidated Overlord Bow, while he was only depending on physical strength to fire the arrows. This was also one of the greatest advantages of him using the twisted bowstring archery method. At this point, as Zhou Weiqing was using that firing method, his Overlord Bow was constantly spinning quickly, causing it to seem like a misty illusive shield of his own.
As Lin TianAo blocked the constant barrage of arrows from Zhou Weiqing, he couldn’t help but marvel to himself. By now, he had an even greater desire to win this bet. Originally, his target was only Yun Li, but now he found out that this three-Jeweled youth in front of him was even more interesting. In terms of competing Consolidating Equipment Masters, he had even fought to a draw with Yun Li, and his combat ability was even much greater! Although he could not totally see how the twisted bowstring archery method worked, but he could feel the power of the attacks he was taking. Furthermore, with Zhou Weiqing’s firing rate, if he could get that little fellow as his Follower, it would be like having an artillery battery on his side in a battlefield. Although Lin TianAo’s defense was extremely powerful, his attack capabilities, especially in terms of long ranged attacks, was extremely limited. Zhou Weiqing’s archery skill could be even be called as being able to face a hundred just by himself, and if in collaboration with his own defensive capabilities, would allow Zhou Weiqing to fully unleash his full damage without any worry.
In Lin TianAo’s mind, he was already thinking about how he and Zhou Weiqing would fight together on a battlefield. After all, although Zhou Weiqing’s archery was extremely powerful, but its destructive explosive power was still lacking in comparison to his Demonic Right Leg, and could not possibly break through his shield easily.
If they were betting on Lin TianAo running out of Heavenly Energy, it would also be a mistake. Only Lin TianAo knew this secret. After all, a five-Jeweled Assembly Equipment should usually be extremely draining. However, his greatest advantage was that every time an additional Jewel was added to his Assembly Set Equipment, it would gain a special attribute, and one of the attributes added for his shield was actually to reduce to amount of Heavenly Energy used. This greatly reduced the drain on him, and also allowed him to sustain his top defense for a much longer time, as he was able to use some of his opponent’s attacks as his own strength. As such, not to mention just the time for a single incense stick, even if it were two full hours, he could still maintain his top form.
As for Yun Li, unless he once again used his full attack, the Rock Armour was sufficient to block him. And at Yun Li’s current condition, he was likely only able to unleash such a full powered attack once more. Lin TianAo had already thought his plan through – when Yun Li launched his full power attack, even if he had to take some damage, he still would not move. Furthermore, the Skills Socketed on his shield was not just the Rock Armour. Out of the five, two were supporting, and the other three were all fully defensive.
By now, the incense stick in the red-robed man’s hands had already more than a third burned down, almost reaching the halfway point. Zhou Weiqing still continued firing arrows. Due to the spinning of the Overlord Bow, Lin TianAo was not able to see the expression on Zhou Weiqing’s face.
In truth, what the rest did not know was that the reason why Zhou Weiqing was continuously firing arrows was because he was trying to come up with a plan. After all, with his Alexandrite Cat’s Eye Jewel, he had many more skills than most people. Furthermore, he had two sockets in his Overlord Bow to use them with. As such, he had many possible ways to deal with enemies, and he was trying to come up with the best way to overcome Lin TianAo.
All of a sudden, Zhou Weiqing’s eyes lit up as an idea dawned upon him. The next instant, his next arrow suddenly changed.
As the arrow flew out, it arced with a beautiful silver light. The red robed man’s eyes flashed in an interested cold light as he observed it. However, Lin TianAo did not notice it, after all he had been using his shield to block the attacks, but due to the size of the shield, it was also affecting his vision. Along with the sheer speed of Zhou Weiqing’s firing rate and his moving bow, he basically didn’t have the time and energy to observe Zhou Weiqing’s actions closely.
With a loud bang, the arrow once more slammed into the shield.
Its strength and power was no different from the previous arrows, with the only difference being the silver light on the arrow.
As the thick silver light erupted out, Lin TianAo suddenly felt his body tighten as he was enveloped in the silver glow. After passing through the shield, the silver light diminished quite a lot, and Lin TianAo shrugged out his arm, moving the shield upwards a little, causing the silver glow imprisoning him to shatter, disappearing into the air.
About a fifty percent weakening effect. A gleam appeared in Zhou Weiqing’s eyes as he made an accurate observation and estimation.
That arrow earlier had been imbued with the Spatial Shackles Skill. His thought was to test out the effects of control and support skills on Lin TianAo.
Without question, using a direct attack from the front, none of Zhou Weiqing’s skill or even combination of skills would be able to break through Lin TianAo’s defense, at least not at their current cultivation level difference. However, no matter how powerful Lin TianAo’s shield was, it was still not able to negate all control or support skills. Even so, with his test, he had found out that the shield was able to neutralize almost 50% of the support or control skills’ powers. That was a truly terrifying effect. In addition to the difference in cultivation level, most of Zhou Weiqing’s control skills would not be of much use. Even still, Zhou Weiqing still had a faint smile on his face.
In this world, there was no such thing as an absolute defense. Even for Lin TianAo with his unbelievable defense, it was close, but there was still some things which he could exploit.
“Yun Li, strike now!” Zhou Weiqing shouted out. Having come up with a plan, he did not hesitate any further.
Earlier, when Yun Li saw Lin TianAo’s body flash with a silver light, his eyes had lit up as well. As a Consolidating Equipment Master, he quickly understood that it meant Zhou Weiqing’s bow was socketed. However, he was quickly disappointed as Zhou Weiqing’s arrow was the rather useless Spatial Shackles Skill.
