Capture Alive

The tall middle-aged Roam man actually had something strapped to his back—a nearly coffin-like case, pitch-black all over and forged from some special alloy. The metal case was two and a half meters tall and nearly a meter wide, with several indicator lights flashing upon it. Some kind of device seemed to be operating inside it. Gu Xiechen's claws, carrying destructive force, came slashing down unpredictably. The Roam man, who had just swept past within two meters of Gu Xiechen, immediately lost his composure. He hurriedly turned and retreated, blue light flashing fiercely in his eyes.

An invisible Mental Shockwave crashed into Gu Xiechen. His heart rate skyrocketed to a terrifying six hundred beats per minute. Blood seeped continuously from his pores, and Gu Xiechen instantly became a man covered in blood. His Dao embryo nearly went mad as it spewed out pure energy, constantly enhancing his physical capabilities. One stream of energy transformed into a powerful, resilient spiritual wave and shot straight toward Gu Xiechen's head. The two Mental Shockwaves collided violently just outside his brain.

With a muffled groan, golden stars flashed before Gu Xiechen's eyes. He lashed out wildly four or five times with his claws before staggering backward.

The blue light in the Roam man's eyes dimmed. He cried out in alarm. The metal case on his back had been struck several times by Gu Xiechen's claws, sending sparks flying everywhere. Hidden force erupted from the claws, and the Roam man felt as though he had been hit by a train. Unable to control his body, he too tumbled forward miserably for more than ten meters. Golden stars also swam before his eyes. His Mental Shockwave had been forcibly rebounded by Gu Xiechen, and his brain had suffered a severe concussion as well.

"Die!"

Having just steadied himself, Gu Xiechen pulled two oval grenades from behind his belt. With a savage grin, he pulled the pins and hurled them with all his strength.

Two bursts of blue light exploded outside the blue flames swirling around the Roam man. Massive electromagnetic radiation, accompanied by a piercing shriek, enveloped the caught-off-guard Roam man. The specially made electromagnetic bombs battered the energy shield of the Roam man's Energy Armor. After a burst of blinding electrical fire, the blue flames around his body suddenly shrank to barely an inch thick.

The Roam man cursed and staggered several steps forward before turning back to unleash another Mental Shockwave at Gu Xiechen. This time, he nearly exhausted every ounce of strength he had. A brilliant blue beam, resembling a high-energy laser, shot from between his brows and flew straight at Gu Xiechen.

"Break!" Gu Xiechen crossed his claws. The skin, muscles, blood vessels, and meridians on his palms and fingers instantly became as transparent as white glass. Strands of dreamlike white chill shot from his finger bones, which gradually turned strangely translucent as well.

Gu Xiechen unleashed the secret killing move recorded in the supplementary volume of the all-encompassing Hanyuan Zhen Dian—Snow Soul Divine Claw—with all his strength. Ninety-nine percent of his Innate Qi gathered in his claws. The pure Innate Qi raced through the tiny meridians and acupoints in his claws along bizarre paths. In an instant, the Innate Qi condensed at his claw tips transformed into Snow Soul True Qi, capable of piercing metal and stone, freezing blood, and shattering flesh.

His almost demonic claws slashed down viciously, meeting that blazing blue mental wave head-on.

Amid a piercing, high-frequency cracking sound, vast clouds of nearly tangible white icy mist sprayed from Gu Xiechen's claws. The blue mental wave was knocked diagonally aside. The Roam man flew backward and let out a terrified roar. He had lost control of his all-or-nothing Mental Shockwave. The mental wave crashed into the forest on Gu Xiechen's right. More than a dozen towering trees, each nearly a meter thick, rapidly disintegrated from their roots amid strange booming sounds. In the blink of an eye, all of them became fine wood chips that scattered through the air.

A faint hiss came from Gu Xiechen's rigid claws. The Snow Soul True Qi condensed at his claw tips had nearly been shattered by the Roam man's Mental Shockwave. Large amounts of fine white ice crystals now drifted continuously from between Gu Xiechen's fingers.

The terrified middle-aged Roam man glared furiously at Gu Xiechen. After his mind had suffered repeated heavy blows, he finally failed to suppress his injuries. Great streams of golden blood spurted from his nostrils.

"Human! I'll remember you!"

The middle-aged Roam man dipped a finger into the golden blood pouring from his nose and barely gathered enough mental power to trace a strange pattern in the air.

"By the glorious ancestors of the Holsom Family, I, Gilt Holsom, swear that I will personally cut off your head!"

After glaring viciously at the rigid Gu Xiechen, Gilt Holsom turned and staggered away, continuing his escape.

A sinister, low whistle slipped from between Gu Xiechen's teeth. His heartbeat had surged to seven hundred beats per second, and he gathered the immense new strength pouring from his heart into his right arm. Ignoring the damage such recklessness might inflict upon the meridians in that arm, Gu Xiechen silently circulated the Hanyuan Zhen Dian. In a flick of his hand, he unleashed eighteen consecutive Cloud Severing Palms from the supplementary volume of the Hanyuan Zhen Dian!

The widened, solidified meridians trembled under the dreadful pressure. The veins in Gu Xiechen's right arm bulged thick and high, while the skin of that arm swelled until it was almost shining and transparent!

Eighteen pale palm winds, dotted with faint fluorescence and as elusive as thin clouds floating at the highest reaches of the morning sky, shot from Gu Xiechen's right palm.

The force of the Cloud Severing Palm was supremely yin and soft. Its palm wind drifted unpredictably like a hunting spirit snake, making it extremely difficult to evade. If cultivated to the Great Vehicle realm, each palm contained nine hundred layers of hidden force. It excelled at injuring internal organs and striking through obstacles. Gu Xiechen had focused chiefly on the incomparably powerful Snow Soul Divine Claw over the years and had not devoted much effort to the Cloud Severing Palm, yet each of his palm winds still contained three hundred layers of hidden force!

The eighteen palm winds traced one eerie path after another through the air like ghosts before finally striking Gilt Holsom squarely in the back as he fled at high speed. Five thousand four hundred layers of hidden force erupted at once. The energy shield of Gilt Holsom's Energy Armor dutifully weakened each layer of hidden force by seventy percent. The remaining thirty percent passed smoothly through the alloy case and burst ferociously into Gilt Holsom's body.

It was as though a Heavenly God had swung a world-splitting hammer and struck Gilt Holsom in the back with all its might. Gilt Holsom howled miserably and flew forward with both feet lifted more than a foot off the ground. After a horrifying impact, he slammed face-first into a giant tree three meters thick. His majestic three-meter-tall body sank more than a meter deep into the trunk. Gilt Holsom wailed several times before barely crawling out of the tree.

By then, Gilt Holsom's high, proud nose had been smashed flat, yet the flames of his Energy Armor were instead blazing even brighter!

After the sustained barrage of attacks, the main power system in Gilt Holsom's Energy Armor had exhausted all its energy. The emergency backup system immediately began recharging the armor. Blue flames nearly a meter thick once again coiled around Gilt Holsom. He looked back in terror at Gu Xiechen, who stood where he was, gasping for breath. Gritting his teeth, he pressed hard on an inconspicuous button on the belt of his Energy Armor.

A tiny injector within the armor pierced Gilt Holsom's body. A Roam-made stimulant spread throughout his body in less than half a second.

With a stifled roar toward the sky, the dim blue light in Gilt Holsom's eyes suddenly flared. A violent gust rose beneath his feet, and he fled forward as though flying.

Gu Xiechen gritted his teeth and was about to continue attacking Gilt Holsom when a sharp pain suddenly erupted from the meridians, blood vessels, and muscles around his heart.

The energy pouring from the Dao embryo had already exceeded the limits of what Gu Xiechen's body could endure. With all the qi within him exhausted, Gu Xiechen no longer had the strength to continue fighting.

Just as Gilt Holsom was about to escape, a rumble like muffled thunder suddenly came from the sky.

Eight heavy armed helicopters from the Hell Angels Mercenary Group raced in from behind, skimming the treetops. The rocket pods hanging beneath the short wings on both sides of the helicopters let out piercing shrieks at once. Clouds of smoke and fire thoroughly obscured most of the eight helicopters. In just eight seconds, all 576 fifty-millimeter rockets in the sixteen rocket pods were fired.

Each rocket dragged a long tail of flame through the air. In the end, nearly every rocket struck Gilt Holsom, who shone like a giant blue light bulb within the forest.

It had to be said that the glowing, three-meter-tall Gilt Holsom made a perfect target!

Thunderous explosions rang out without end. The energy shield that had just recovered around Gilt Holsom's Energy Armor rapidly melted away beneath the smoke and fire.

Gilt Holsom was blasted more than three hundred meters away. He coughed up blood in great mouthfuls, and the skin over his body had been charred black. Had the alloy case on his back not blocked most of the force from the rocket explosions, Gilt Holsom would already have been torn to pieces.

Having just injected a stimulant, Gilt Holsom had overdrawn his life essence. At that moment, his mental power had reached its peak.

Furious and utterly terrified, Gilt Holsom barely turned around in midair. Blue light flickered in his eyes as dozens of violent Mental Shockwaves, trailing faint blue paths, blasted toward the eight roaring heavy armed helicopters.

"Ha!"

An angry roar tore through the air like thunder. Prajna, wielding a golden staff, leaped high from the cabin of one helicopter. His left hand formed half of a White Lotus Lion Seal as he swung it fiercely forward. Several Mental Shockwaves aimed at his helicopter instantly vanished without a trace.

Fighters of the Hell Angels Mercenary Group who had reached the Innate realm also rushed from the other seven helicopters. Together, they shattered Gilt Holsom's hasty counterattack.

Gu Xiechen barely regulated the qi within his body. The Hanyuan Zhen Dian was indeed wonderfully profound. As long as his feet stood upon the earth, he could draw in earth qi and endlessly produce True Qi. Within only a few breaths, he had recovered thirty percent of his cultivation. Letting out several strange laughs, Gu Xiechen lowered his body and shot toward Gilt Holsom's falling form as swiftly as a shooting star.

Before Prajna and the other seven fighters could even land, Gu Xiechen had already caught Gilt Holsom ahead of them, smiling broadly.

An electromagnetic grenade completely shattered the last thin layer of energy shield around Gilt Holsom. Gu Xiechen then smashed a fist into the back of Gilt Holsom's head.

With a muffled groan, Gilt Holsom rolled his eyes back and fainted.

The Bearded Commander's furious curses came through the headset. "Good work, boys! Damn it, Evil Dragon, Prajna, you bastards, get back here and reinforce us!"

The sound of gunfire and artillery fire grew increasingly dense from the forest ahead.

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