A patrol team from the Beiluo Shimen Clan was advancing along the road.
Whether it was the Stone Lizard People or the Dagon people, their faces were vigilant. The Goraks in the sky also strained to listen to every rustle of the wind, scanning every corner around them.
Suddenly, the Dagon people’s captain in the middle of the team looked up, then fell backward, an arrow lodged in his eyes.
This attack came without any warning.
As it was daytime, the Gorak spotted the direction from which the arrow had come instantly, screaming loudly. They faintly saw a human standing on a large stone ahead, his figure flashed, then became transparent, but it was enough to pinpoint his position.
Another Dagon person drew his bow with the fastest speed, shooting a resonating arrow into the sky.
Some Goraks also dove toward the captain’s corpse, trying to pick up the Resonance Crystal to report the situation here to the watchtower.
The figure in front flashed again—this time, they all saw clearly. It was indeed a human, holding a bow and continuously shooting arrows at them at a very high rate.
As soon as they saw him clearly, his arrows arrived as well.
But the arrows missed everyone and flew over their heads, actually hitting the just-launched resonating arrow, immediately interrupting the sound it made.
The Dagon people were dumbfounded.
He was also an archer, mastered the bow and arrow, and had never imagined someone could hit an arrow in flight, especially from such a distance!
Before he could recover, another arrow shot toward him, directly penetrating through his mouth.
Immediately afterward, the Gorak who had just picked up the Resonance Crystal was also shot dead. The arrow not only pierced through his body but also shattered the Resonance Crystal in the process.
The remaining Goraks went crazy with fear, desperately flying into the sky, only to become corpses falling one by one.
The Stone Lizard People shouted loudly, raising their shields and leading other Stone Lizard People in a mad sprint.
The team’s only Vine Spirit rapidly expanded, its vines and branches weaving into a wall, shielding the remaining Dagon people’s Goraks at the front.
The Stone Lizard People were already charging out.
They were fast, holding their shields in front, with eyes peeking out above the shields locked onto the enemy on the huge rock.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh...
Arrows flew their way, one Stone Lizard after another falling during the charge.
The Stone Lizard People realized their shields seemed to offer no real defense; any slight exposure of their body would allow the enemy’s arrows to seize the moment. The armor-piercing arrows penetrated the gaps in their armor, easily entering their bodies—even if the shots weren’t fatal, they still lost their fighting capability.
They had already lost half their number and only covered a hundred meters.
Under these circumstances, no one could reach the enemy’s position. The road also offered no sufficient cover, placing them in a dilemma.
Just as they hesitated whether to form up and retreat, an explosion suddenly came from behind.
Then came a series of screams.
Turning around, they saw the branches of the Vine Spirit were ablaze, and those hiding behind the branch wall, the Dagon people and Goraks, had been turned into porcupines by arrows shot from who knows where.
In an instant, only a few Stone Lizard People remained alive in the entire patrol team; they hadn’t even managed to send any signal.
A Stone Lizard People yelled, "Get to him, this is our only chance..."
He hadn’t finished shouting when an arrow pierced through his head.
The Stone Lizard People’s will wasn’t crushed; their blood was cold, their hearts were cold, and they knew nothing like fear. Holding their shields, they continued the charge. As expected, the Stone Lizard People fell one by one, with the farthest only making it another hundred meters from the enemy.
Ji Xinghuo jumped down from the giant rock, quickly approached, and casually fired a few arrows, ending the lives of several Stone Lizard People who were still struggling.
He took two minutes to cut down the spoils and Alien Species, picked up Qing Hong lying in ambush along the roadside, and swiftly left.
While moving away, he opened his interface.
[Spiritual Origin Ability: 28]
Ji Xinghuo invested all the newly acquired Spiritual Origin Ability into the Rotating Magnetic Field. This was the second patrol team he had hunted today.
The progress of the Rotating Magnetic Field increased to (Second Level 255/1699).
He could feel the range of the magnetic field sensing had extended a bit further, and his mood was very high.
Hunting during the day was indeed more difficult than at night, but as he had guessed, the Beiluo Shimen Clan couldn’t possibly have that many legendary strength individuals to set traps and ambush him.
As long as he kept a greater distance and scrutinized his hunting targets more carefully, there wouldn’t be much problem.
Unless the Beiluo Shimen Clan stopped patrolling.
But that was almost impossible. Without patrol teams, human Bounty Hunters would become even more unscrupulous, causing more casualties.
Without the patrol teams, the Beiluo Shimen’s army would have to shrink back to their forts, bastions, and watchtowers, only able to defend passively, which was unacceptable politically, militarily, or publicly to both the upper echelons and civilians of the Beiluo Shimen.
This was a defense system formed over many centuries and wouldn’t be easily changed because of one Bounty Hunter.
The primary response of the Beiluo Shimen, then, was to eliminate him.
"I will never hunt in the same place twice."
"Every time I strike, it must be at least twenty kilometers apart, and there must also be no pattern."
"If the situation isn’t right, don’t hesitate—I must retreat immediately."
Ji Xinghuo set several principles for himself and also summarized some experiences.
He was already three to four kilometers away from where the patrol team was annihilated when he was about to breathe a sigh of relief; his magnetic field sensor detected an anomaly.
"Someone’s catching up!"
Ji Xinghuo felt a chill in his heart and immediately focused his sensing. There was a high-speed moving magnetic field 800 meters behind him, with the shape suggesting it was a Dagon person but the strength wasn’t particularly exaggerated, not legendary.
"Good that it’s not legendary."
He felt slightly relieved, then puzzled, "How did this Dagon person find me?"
Initially skeptical that the Dagon person was just passing by, Ji Xinghuo was certain after two to three seconds that the other party was coming straight for him, moving very fast, already less than seven hundred meters away.
The Beiluo Shimen Clan also had a professional template similar to Flying Steps, excelling in long-distance running and very rapid small-scale movements and changes of direction, roughly similar to the features of Flying Steps.
Ji Xinghuo immediately activated the Rotating Magnetic Field, and his speed surged.
However, he found his speed still inferior to his opponent’s as the distance between them gradually decreased.
In at most ten minutes, he would be caught up.
The stamina and Star Power of Flying Steps were both excellent, especially the stamina, ranked among the top three in all professions, otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to sustain their long-distance running.
Once caught up, the opponent would be unharmed, while his own Star Power would have been greatly depleted.
Not only was the power shifting from one to the other, but the legendary warriors might have been on their way during these ten minutes of delay.
The longer the delay, the less favorable it was for himself.
"If I can’t shake him off, then I’ll just have to kill him!"
Ji Xinghuo didn’t hesitate, but he didn’t stop running immediately; instead, he released Qing Hong and continued running forward for a few hundred meters, charging up a low hill and stopping at the top. The vegetation on this hill was sparse, offering a high vantage point that allowed a clear view of the surroundings.
He spotted the incoming Dagon person at a glance.
As expected, the opponent was a super-fast Flying Step, dressed in tight blue battle clothes with a pair of Superpower Battle Boots on his feet, each step covering over five meters, the step frequency extremely high, his posture fluid, moving over rough terrain as if it were flat ground, his long tail swinging back and forth to maintain balance.
Ji Xinghuo remained calm as the Dragon Falcon Eagle Bow was already aimed at the enemy.
In just a dozen seconds, the Dagon person had run into his firing range, and Ji Xinghuo immediately loosed the bowstring, sending a Titanium Aluminum Alloy Arrow flying straight towards the enemy’s eyes.
The Dagon person reacted very quickly, slightly altering his steps and dodging the arrow.
Meanwhile, he advanced several tens of meters.
He was already at the foot of the hill, slightly tilting his head up, his round, fish-like eyes locked on Ji Xinghuo atop the hill, revealing a cold murderous intent.
An arrow flew straight at him, and the Dagon person ingeniously deflected it with his Scimitar.
As the Dagon person charged up the hill, he still had enough energy to roar, but his words were cut off by a loud crack of thunder.
Qing Hong, already hiding in the grass, spat out a bolt of lightning, striking the Dagon person’s back.
Chances were slim for anyone else to dodge it.
However, this Dagon person’s reactions were unbelievably fast, blurring his body the moment the lightning was released. The lightning struck his afterimage, while his real body seemed to teleport forward approximately four meters, his speed once again surged, continuing his charge toward the hilltop.
In that moment, the Dagon person’s speed fully exploded, now exceeding fifty meters per second.
In just two or three seconds, he would be face to face with Ji Xinghuo, his Scimitar cutting through the air at high speed, emitting a whistling sound.
Even though the Dagon person’s physical strength was not outstanding, under high speed, any attack he made possessed terrifying lethality.
The Dagon person’s thought processes also accelerated to the limit, the world seemed to slow down in his eyes, Ji Xinghuo’s movements looked like slow motion, and he could see every action Ji Xinghuo made, even the arrows shot were clear in their trajectory.
Ji Xinghuo rapidly fired an arrow, targeting the Dagon person’s eyes.
The Dagon person slightly tilted his head, the arrow whizzing past his ear.
He drew closer to Ji Xinghuo again, the distance now less than thirty meters. At his current speed, it would take only half a second to enter attack range, a Flash Step would be enough to slash at Ji Xinghuo’s neck.
Suddenly, the Dagon person noticed a slight flicker in the enemy’s right eye.
But it had no effect, as if it were an illusion.
The Scimitar in the Dagon person’s hand was raised, aiming at Ji Xinghuo’s neck.
The fingertips of Ji Xinghuo’s right hand, just released from the bowstring, lit up with an electric light, a bolt of lightning jumping between his palm, invisible bodily magnetism amplifying the current, Star Power invested in an instant, converted into electric energy.
The Dagon person and Ji Xinghuo could now see the look in each other’s eyes, both filled with coldness and murderous intent, neither backing down.
With a crack, a silver lightning bolt burst forth from Ji Xinghuo’s fingertips.
The Dagon person had long been wary of Thunderbolt Hand. The moment the lightning struck, he deployed another Flash Step, his figure flickering forward, aiming to arrive at Ji Xinghuo’s side. His blade was almost touching Ji Xinghuo’s skin, and he almost saw his enemy decapitated.
However, he couldn’t see behind him where the lightning suddenly changed direction.
Thunderbolt Hand struck the Dagon person’s back, the powerful current paralyzing his whole body, causing unbearable pain, nearly causing him to drop his Scimitar.
At this time, he was only two steps away from Ji Xinghuo.
As Ji Xinghuo released the lightning with his left hand, he had already dropped the bow and drawn his Thunder Blade, swinging it towards the empty space on his left.
As if pre-rehearsed a thousand times by chance, the uncontrollable body of the Dagon person crashed into the blade, his neck competing with the sharpness of the blade.
The blade of the Thunder Blade flashed with a glint of electricity.
Blue blood splattered, a large fish head flew up, the Dagon person’s head hit the ground, his round eyes still filled with the joy of killing his enemy.
Spiritual Origin Ability +18
Ji Xinghuo sheathed his sword, seeing the information pop up on the screen.