That was a real villain—suspicious, fickle, untrustworthy, and vicious.

While his left hand was still making an inviting gesture, his right hand had already launched an attack on his opponent.

The next second, the rock, faster than a cannonball, pierced through Honghu's body...

"Hmm?" However, Blackbeard, witnessing this scene, revealed a hint of surprise.

"Hmph... he's got more to him than I thought." Immediately afterward, Mad-Eye, whose abilities were restricted by shackles, commented with a sneer.

Clearly, at that moment, only Blackbeard and Mad-Eye, the two "captains," saw what Honghu had done; and the officers on Blackbeard's ship, at least for three or four seconds after the rock was thrown... were all fooled by Honghu.

Whoosh—bang!

Soon, the rock that had passed through Honghu's "body" struck a tree in the forest, directly breaking the tree in half.

It was only when the tree broke and fell that Blackbeard's officers belatedly realized... that the "Honghu" pierced by the rock just now was merely an afterimage.

Chi chi chi—

In the same instant, the sound of light arrows piercing the air resounded.

These light arrows came very strangely, as if more than a dozen people were launching attacks from all directions at the same time, but looking around... apart from small points of light exploding in the night sky, there was no sign of Honghu or anyone else.

"Heh... can't underestimate them, these travelers from another world..." Facing this fierce barrage, Blackbeard stood on the spot as if nothing had happened, muttering to himself.

When those light arrows flew to about a meter around Blackbeard, they struck his "protective aura shield" and were all disintegrated.

Although the captain seemed relaxed, his crew did not have such god-level passive defense; those few officers still had to rely on their own physical skills or abilities to deal with Honghu's attack.

For a time, the four of them were in a flurry...

The worst off was Nessru, because in addition to protecting himself, he also had to protect Mad-Eye, so unfortunately he was hit by an arrow in this wave of rapid, continuous attacks.

"It's been ten seconds, that should be enough, right?" When the continuous firing of light arrows had lasted for exactly ten seconds, Blackbeard spoke again, saying this.

Before he finished speaking, Honghu really reappeared.

Honghu, who reappeared, stood lightly on the water surface like a floating leaf, still holding his Bow of Light in his hand; at this moment, his face looked very bad... not the kind of "bad" of "being pierced through the body by a rock," but the kind when physical and spiritual energy were rapidly declining.

"Hah..." After slightly adjusting his breathing, Honghu looked at Blackbeard and said with a wry smile, "Putting aside your despairing defensive ability... your dynamic vision can actually keep up with and see through my moves... it really makes me feel a bit frustrated."

"Hmph..." Blackbeard sneered, "There's no need to belittle yourself... that Flying Scythe Kick just now was the fastest I've ever seen... not to mention, you can perform remote attacks with a high degree of accuracy while using that kind of explosive movement technique." He paused, "Unfortunately... there is a qualitative difference in the level of power between you and me, and in the face of this difference, skill loses its meaning."

"Heh heh..." Honghu heard this, and his wry smile turned into a miserable smile, "Then... I can only try to use willpower to overcome this gap."

"Oh?" Blackbeard seemed to have sensed something from the other party's expression and words.

However, this time... Honghu did not give him time or room to think.

Quick as lightning!

A flash of white light was seen, and Honghu, who was still standing on the water surface a moment ago, had already appeared beside Blackbeard in this instant.

"With just you..." And Blackbeard also completely understood the other party's intention at this time.

In the second that he uttered the first three words, Honghu had stretched out his arms straight and placed them in front of him, his palms aimed at him.

"...want to perish together with..." And when Blackbeard uttered the second half of this sentence, a startling white light burst out from Honghu's palms.

Boom—

In an instant, a ball of blazing white spiritual energy exploded close to Blackbeard's side; at this distance, his "protective aura shield" naturally could not be activated.

Even Blackbeard was somewhat injured.

[Name: Holy Covenant·Burning Lotus]

[Skill Card Attributes: Active Skill, disappears after five uses (35)]

[Skill Category: Fighting Spiritual Art]

[Effect: Overlapping palms, releasing a powerful spiritual particle explosion]

[Consumption: Spiritual Energy Value 1]

[Learning Conditions: Fighting Proficiency D, Spiritual Art Proficiency A]

[Remarks: One of the "Thirty-Six Holy Covenants" of the Zhui Ling Temple, it can only be fully utilized by mastering another unique skill of the temple, "Vajra Soul," otherwise the caster will suffer a certain degree of damage backlash at the moment the skill is activated.]

Looking at the description, one can tell that the skill used by Honghu was not the complete version.

Of course, if he really got the complete version, he wouldn't even be able to use it, because the complete version of [Holy Covenant·Burning Lotus] directly added the condition of "must master the Vajra Soul Heart Sutra" to the "Learning Conditions" column.

So, where can this "Vajra Soul" be found? There are two ways... first, look for it in the Horror Box; second, naturally, according to the hints in the skill description, find the place called "Zhui Ling Temple" in a script world of Thriller Paradise, and then try to get the monks inside to teach you.

In short, this is a matter of chance; at least Honghu hasn't learned it yet. Therefore, after using this move on Blackbeard, Honghu himself inevitably suffered heavy damage.

Seconds later, after the intense white light dissipated, Blackbeard looked intently and found that Honghu had disappeared again, and this time... Blackbeard couldn't even capture the other party's aura.

"Tch... 'Perishing together is fake, taking the opportunity to escape is the real deal...'" Blackbeard glanced at the wound on the outside of his left arm and spat unhappily.

Just now, knowing that the aura shield could not be triggered, Blackbeard instinctively raised his arm to block the attack, and as a result... his left arm was blown into a bloody mess, the wound so deep that the bone was almost visible.

On the other hand, at the same time that Blackbeard was speaking, his four officers had just recovered from the temporary "blinding" effect caused by the white light.

"Heh..." Only Mad-Eye saw everything very clearly, because when the eye exposed outside was blinded by the white light, he quickly removed his monocle, revealing the other eye under the eye patch (many pirates would wear a monocle on their normal eye, so that when the surrounding light changed drastically, they only needed to remove the eye patch and use that 'spare eye' to regain their vision; in addition, wearing an eye patch could also, to some extent, make the opponent careless or intimidate the enemy), "You should be glad that that kid doesn't seem to be very good at close combat, and his ranged attacks will trigger your protective aura shield... otherwise, your injuries would probably be even more serious..."

"You call this an injury?" After hearing Mad-Eye's words, Blackbeard was unwilling to show weakness in his attitude, and immediately put on an indifferent look, asking in reply.

Mad-Eye was choked by his words, so he turned his head and stopped mocking.

"Hmph... you self-righteous brat, don't think I don't know what you did..." After a while, Blackbeard's wound had almost healed. At this time, he suddenly muttered to himself a few times and walked to Nessru's side.

Just as Nessru was about to ask the captain what he was going to do, Blackbeard raised his hand and turned his palm to face Nessru's calf, which had just been shot by a light arrow.

Immediately afterward, a "hiss" was heard, and a small piece of light gravel, about the size of a crushed diamond, flew out of Nessru's wound and was quickly adsorbed into Blackbeard's palm.

"Captain... what is this?" Nessru asked, looking at the light gravel with suspicion.

"It's some kind of 'tracking beacon' he left behind." Blackbeard answered, "Hmph..." He gave a sneer that was not a smile and continued, "That kid is very clever... the moment I threw the stone at him, he analyzed the situation very clearly.

"From his point of view—he definitely has no chance of winning in a fight; to escape, he must escape far enough, to a distance where I can't detect him, to be considered safe.

"But... retreating to that kind of distance is the same as 'losing track' of us, which he can't accept, so he put on that good show for us just now..."

"Hmm... I see." Mr. Woge, who was next to him, understood almost completely when he heard this, and immediately responded, "Judging from the extreme speed he used when he used the Flying Scythe Kick... if he really wanted to run, he could have run away the moment you threw the stone, Captain, showing your intention to attack. He chose to stay... either he was confident of winning, or he had another purpose."

"That's right." Blackbeard took over the topic and looked at Nessru beside him, "And when you were shot by the light arrow, his purpose was achieved; logically speaking, he should have retreated immediately at that time, but he was still not in a hurry to leave... because he was smart enough, he knew that he had to make another effective and powerful attack attempt to divert our attention and conceal the hidden hand he left behind."

"Uh..." Nessru's brain wasn't fast, but it was better than the Marx Brothers. He could still keep up with the captain's train of thought, "Heh... heh heh..." After figuring it out, he laughed, "Then now, isn't he just wasting his efforts?"

"It's more than just wasting his efforts..." Blackbeard said, crushing the light gravel in his hand and scattering it into the wind, "That last move that kid launched at me... obviously exceeded the scope of his ability to control it. In the instant when the white light was about to block my vision, I clearly saw... that his hand was blown apart like mine." He shrugged and smiled sinisterly, "Hmph... that's what you call trying to steal a chicken only to lose the rice used to lure it."