Chapter 1 I've Found the Enemy

"I've found the enemy. Their coordinates are at my location, four kilometers ahead."

[Please wait for backup. Ranged attacks are locking on.]

"Okay, I'll hold them off for now."

The brief exchange was only a moment. Before that, from the figure leaping high into the clouds, burst a blazing light like a small sun.

Expressionless, Su Zhou held the spirit iron staff high. The weapon provided by the Zheng Nation government transformed into a pillar like a magnetic storm electrical ring, with visible thick electric arcs like winding dragons clinging to it, flashing with terrifying aura.

Then, one million points of standard spirit energy, in an instant, were all released.

*Boom!* As the entire spirit iron staff was instantly heated to crimson, an electromagnetic flow with strength comparable to a small lightning bolt condensed at its tip into a blue-violet lightning bolt. It transformed into a dragon-shaped lightning serpent that went straight into the sky, into the rain clouds!

In the next instant, as the Shepherd of Souls gasped and raised a spirit energy shield in shock, a violent thunderbolt, like a raging tide descending from the sky, crashed down on the cargo ship where the Shepherd of Souls was located!

*Crack!* The lightning strike was blocked by the spirit energy shield, but it shattered it, turning it into a sky full of spirit light fragments. For a time, the air was filled with high-temperature steam formed by evaporated rainwater, and even the entire cargo ship had traces of black scorch marks from the stray lightning!

"Five Thunder Method, Dao Saint?! Heavenly Thunder Strike!?"

"No, even if that old guy rejuvenated, he wouldn't be this young!"

For a moment, the Shepherd of Souls didn't connect the young voice with the unbelievably strong ability, but when it saw the figure far away, already deep in the clouds, releasing violent currents again, seemingly wanting to guide another lightning strike, the Shepherd of Souls couldn't help but feel a chill: "Could it be that young man from the Holy Selection Trial!?"

But there was no time to think carefully. Faced with a heavenly thunder strike at least a few kilometers away, even the Shepherd of Souls didn't have many counterattack methods.

What's more, above the dark sky, lightning like dragons and snakes winding through the sky lit up again!

Imperial Five Extremes Divine Thunder True Method!

Scattered electric arcs burst out in the atmosphere. The bright flashes illuminated one side of the sea, reflecting everything on the surface clearly—it could be seen that in the surrounding, more distant sea, countless sea beasts waiting at the edge were surrounding this area, and they all looked up to the sky in awe, looking up at the figure in the thunderclouds.

The lightning fell rapidly, followed by a roar! The huge lightning strike hit the cargo ship, blasting the towering bridge into an explosion, causing a raging fire. The Shepherd of Souls, who had already hid in the cabin, was nowhere to be seen.

As the rain poured down, Su Zhou silently gathered another million points of spirit energy—before advancing, he had 150,000 points of spirit energy. After advancing to Extraordinary, he had nearly 800,000 points. After condensing the spirit energy organ: digestive system, his normal spirit energy reserve was nearly three million points, and with the 'eye' he had condensed recently, his full spirit energy even reached an astonishing five million points!

An average mid-stage Extraordinary's spirit energy fluctuates between one million and three million points. His spirit energy reserve had already reached the level of a high-stage Extraordinary. If he added the rapid spirit energy recovery of the Heaven-Human Cycle, in thunderous weather, he could unleash thunder for an entire day with almost no consumption!

"Hiding, or preparing a counterattack?"

In the pitch-black rain clouds, lightning flashed, and the lightning of nature was controlled by Su Zhou with his spirit energy, transforming into his power. But Su Zhou didn't immediately control them to attack, but calmly waited: "Judging by the time, it should be about time."

At this moment, it could be seen that in the distant horizon, bursts of red light lit up, approaching rapidly with a shrill whistle.

It was the rocket artillery of the South Sea Fleet... and missile strikes!

Although he didn't know why, in Zheng Nation, things that could hit four hundred kilometers were also called rocket artillery, but anyway, it was rocket artillery. Like a torrential rain, the pouring rocket artillery and missiles locked onto that small cargo ship and bombarded it without hesitation!

*Boom, boom, boom!!!* The roar of artillery fire resounded through the sky. With the positioning system carried by Su Zhou to assist in locking on, countless firepower almost instantly evaporated the sea area, causing it to boil. The violent shockwave stirred the atmosphere, even stirring up a gale with a speed exceeding one hundred meters per second. A huge cloud of smoke like a mushroom cloud rose directly, carrying scorching black smoke and fire!

The coverage area was within a few kilometers. Even the sea beasts surrounding the area in the distance were frightened and turned to flee—fortunately, they hid relatively far away. Otherwise, getting a little closer, the shockwave and aftermath would have left them all dead.

Generally speaking, being hit by such a round would be fatal to even an Extraordinary. Su Zhou felt that even if he advanced to the Lord realm, he probably wouldn't be able to fare well facing this bombardment head-on, and would be blasted into powder... but soon, his eyes narrowed, and he sensed something was wrong.

"Not dead yet! No, unharmed!"

With his spirit vision, he could clearly see that in the area focused on by the artillery fire, a ship-shaped, huge spirit body was slowly sinking, seemingly wanting to take advantage of the chaos of being bombarded by concentrated fire, and transform into a ghost ship to hide deep in the sea.

In fact, that was indeed the case. The reason why the Extraordinary stage was called Extraordinary was because they always had a set of methods to avoid ordinary physical attacks. Su Zhou himself could rely on hiding in thunderclouds, remotely detonating missiles with strong electromagnetic currents, and deflecting artillery fire to deal with such attacks. There was no reason why the Shepherd of Souls could only be beaten!

"Does it still have a way to counterattack?"

At this moment, the Shepherd of Souls didn't have any other thoughts. Of course, it was running away with the ship, which was condensed with all of its assets—counterattack? Fight? Fight against a high-stage Extraordinary lightning magic master and an entire fleet? The leader of the mysterious organization wasn't crazy. When it was time to run, it had to run!

"Don't even think about running!"

But after seeing this, Su Zhou immediately shouted—his previous accumulation of power in the thunderclouds was to prevent this! Without hesitation, Su Zhou immediately urged all his strength, controlling the thunderclouds to strike down lightning!

Even the former national preceptor, who was only at the peak of awakening, could continuously strike down lightning, causing dozens of Wind Riding Swordsmen to faint. Su Zhou's talent was even better than the national preceptor's, his level was higher than the national preceptor's, he had also obtained its inheritance, and the environment was also better than it was then, so naturally he could do even better than the national preceptor!

In the pitch-black rain clouds, endless thunder exploded, causing the sky to be filled with blue-violet lightning! As Su Zhou swung down the spirit iron staff he held high, pointing at the spirit body cargo ship where the Shepherd of Souls was located, lightning bolts immediately seemed to have locked onto their target, continuously piercing through the atmosphere and smashing onto the cargo ship!

*Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!* In an instant, five heavenly thunderbolts struck down, causing the Shepherd of Souls, who had merged with the cargo ship, to tremble violently. Snatching it out of the joy of escaping the Zheng Nation fleet's attack, it couldn't help but let out a sharp cry. The ear-piercing spirit sound carried endless resentment and anger, transmitting directly towards Su Zhou in the sky!

'Soul-Breaking Spirit Sound'!

But not to mention that Su Zhou had been listening to spirit sounds for more than ten years and had a firm will, he had originally eaten the evil soul of the Twilight True Devil, and had also fought a fierce life-and-death battle with the national preceptor Devil Emperor to the point of tearing out each other's hearts and lungs. In addition, with the strengthening of the Sacred Geometry Pentagram, his soul was as solid as iron. The Shepherd of Souls' full-force Soul-Breaking Spirit Sound felt to him at most like pulling out a fingernail. A little spit would make it better, so it wasn't worth mentioning at all.

"Keep smashing!"

Su Zhou didn't care about the aesthetics of battle at this time. He relied on his far superior attack range and the thunderous weather to bombard the target from a few kilometers away! If he had Extraordinary power, who would reason with him or fight fair head-on? He was unilaterally bombing. If the enemy didn't have ranged attack methods, they could crawl!

*Boom!* The blue-violet flash brought a violent thunderous rumble. In the sky, countless lightning bolts crisscrossed, forming a lightning net like five dragons crossing the sky, and then smashed towards the cargo ship!

At the same time, the second wave of fleet attacks arrived again, forcibly forcing the Shepherd of Souls to maintain its spirit body state, pointlessly taking Su Zhou's lightning attacks head-on.

"Ahhh! Hateful!"

The Shepherd of Souls was truly deeply rooted. In addition, the physique of the Celestial God race was indeed extraordinary. After taking so many lightning strikes, it was still not dead. It should be known that an ordinary high-stage Extraordinary would have half of their body charred by now from such an attack, but it still had the rationality to think, and even plan a counterattack: "Once he finishes striking with lightning, it will be time to counterattack! I can still support a few dozen seconds of Underworld assimilation, which can transfer the damage... Ahhh!"

But there was no time to think too much, because who knew how many lightning strikes had already fallen, shocking its soul body and nearly causing it to lose its breath and dissipate.

Su Zhou didn't know what the enemy was thinking, nor did he need to know. The spirit iron staff he was using as a lightning-conducting medium was nearly half-废 (damaged/useless), but there was still a distance of a dozen lightning strikes before it was completely scrapped. If it really couldn't work, he would use his physical body to conduct lightning, risking one of his arms. Today, he would kill this Spirit Descent Society leader here!

But it was obvious that the enemy wasn't as durable as he thought.

It could be seen that the entire spirit body cargo ship was disintegrating under the continuous lightning strikes, and a humanoid figure flashing with deep gray spirit light was roaring as it flew out of the disintegrating spirit body cargo ship. It glared furiously at Su Zhou in the high sky, and then raised its hand, with a deep gray fourteen-sided crystal in its palm. It was the soul body crystal left over from the advancement ceremony.

In the next instant, without any words, a deep gray light ball as deep as death condensed in its palm, and a thick aura of deathly resentment and curses, enough to kill hundreds of people instantly, was condensed into a small point, and even the surrounding atmosphere was faintly distorted.

Then, it erupted.

[Law Decree Death Ray]

The moment the deep gray ray appeared, all the light along the way dimmed, and the world seemed to only have black and white left. All the light and color seemed to be swallowed into the underworld, and only the deep gray light stream extended straight towards the distant horizon, as if it wanted to pierce through the sky and clouds.

And the moment the opponent raised his hand, Su Zhou immediately activated the Sacred Geometry Pentagram's ability, soul acceleration.

His soul surpassed his physical body, allowing him to enter bullet time. In Su Zhou's eyes, all the rainwater in mid-air was condensed as if time had stopped—but even so, because the enemy's attack was at the speed of light, in the little bit of time before the opponent actually launched the attack, he only managed to slightly tilt his body, raising his left hand to block in front of him.

The ray burst out, hitting Su Zhou's left hand.

But immediately afterwards, Su Zhou saw that the counterattack ray, which seemed to condense the Shepherd of Souls' entire strength, shattered like water hitting a rock the moment it hit his left hand. The overflowing spirit light flowed out from the gaps between his fingers, and then scattered into the distance.

[True Spirit Undying]

Throughout the entire process, he only felt that his left hand was a little cold, as if it had lost a lot of vitality. He would probably have to eat a few more meals to replenish it... As for some deeper, more absolute attack, it was suppressed by some greater absoluteness.

"What kind of fancy stuff is this?"

Su Zhou blinked, unable to help but feel a little puzzled—when that ray was shot out just now, the situation really changed, so that he even thought that he might have to waste another hand... Strange, it seemed like he would lose a hand every time he encountered a slightly stronger enemy? But this time it was obviously not necessary. His left hand was at most a little heavy, feeling like the stiffness of playing with ice for too long when he was a child.

"Don't be silly, remember to dodge this kind of ray next time you see it. You're only okay because you have 'True Spirit Undying', which makes you immune to most law decrees. Otherwise, if it was a disintegration spell of the same level, you would probably have to... lose two fingers this time." Ya La reminded him with telepathy at this time: "You really need a defensive magic tool. You always rely on your physique to resist, which really worries snake."

"Isn't True Spirit Undying just for showing off?" Su Zhou was even more shocked: "Didn't you say this ability was useless at the beginning?"

*Pa.* Ya La didn't answer. Su Zhou didn't continue to say more. He directly clenched his fist, causing the remaining deep gray ray spirit light to shatter instantly, turning into spirit light like a sky full of rain.

"What?!"

[What?!]

Not to mention the Shepherd of Souls, who was shocked and stiff in place, even Yan Sheng, who was watching the live broadcast in real time, exclaimed in shock, unable to maintain the calm state that should be maintained: [It can even block the Law Decree Death, is his life force hundreds of times that of ordinary people?!]

"Even a Law Decree Death that can kill a blue whale with one strike... I've already advanced to Extraordinary, and even added a Celestial God factor crystal as a catalyst... it didn't even knock off one of his fingers?!"

In fact, more than that. Even without True Spirit Undying, this Law Decree Death would not be able to kill Su Zhou. Of course, Ya La wouldn't tell Su Zhou this. Enemy attacks should be dodged instead of being taken head-on. He couldn't rely on immortality and act recklessly. He had to gradually cultivate the good habit of being cautious.

"Wait, you can withstand the Death Law Decree of the Undead Mentor, you are also a Celestial God race, there is no need for us to..."

At this time, thunder rang out again in the sky. The Shepherd of Souls' eyes were filled with despair. It already knew that after its final counterattack had not worked, its defeat had become a foregone conclusion, so it found every opportunity to try to carve out a way to survive for itself.

Control the sea beasts to escape? But the nearest sea beasts were still a few kilometers away, and this was at sea. The excess souls had been eaten by itself, and even its Underworld core ghost ship cargo ship had collapsed... To be honest, the Shepherd of Souls had a lot to say. It felt that its existence should not die here so easily.

But Su Zhou never chatted with enemies, unless he needed to stall for time himself—so in the next instant, dazzling thunder light condensed into a thick lightning pillar, tearing apart the clouds and atmosphere, submerging the Shepherd of Souls in the high temperature and violent roars that caused the seawater to vaporize and rise.

Lightning streaked across the sky, so that all the light paled in comparison.

The fleet's third wave of artillery fire attacks also arrived again, completely covering the entire area, and even the air was shattered.

When all the smoke and steam were blown away by the gale, a deep gray evil soul floated on the still churning high-temperature sea surface, scattering unwilling soul light.

The leader of the Celestial God Spirit Descent Society, ninth on the global dangerous Extraordinary wanted list, code-named 'Shepherd of Souls'.

Confirmed dead.