Three Arrows, Three Kills

Shadow Blade was surprised to see Ji Xinghuo return.

But it did nothing to shake his determination to kill Ji Xinghuo.

That brief eye contact earlier—although he had no idea why such a weak Aberrant had noticed him—meant he had to silence him no matter what. Otherwise, if he called the police, the swordsmen of the Sharp Sword Bureau would arrive immediately. Then he would have no way to escape.

"You actually dare aim a bow at me? Ridiculous!"

Shadow Blade's eyes were full of contempt.

What he did not know was that the world in Ji Xinghuo's eyes was utterly different from what he saw. In fact, no one on Earth had ever experienced the world from such a perspective.

The entire world slowed down!

Ji Xinghuo felt as though someone had pressed a slowdown button. Time seemed to pass dozens of times more slowly. More accurately, his thoughts had become dozens of times faster.

The images in his vision played frame by frame.

Everything was revealed down to the tiniest detail.

His brain was like an ultra-high-speed quantum computer, processing in an instant massive amounts of information that would normally take dozens of minutes or even hours to comprehend.

He saw tiny bumps on the concrete street, their chaotic patterns like the surface of sandpaper; beams of light from the streetlamps, each one distinct. Since it had rained not long ago, countless tiny droplets floated in the air, forming a small-scale Tyndall effect beneath the lights that ordinary people could not see;

The Golden Privet planted along the roadside had just been trimmed. The cuts on its golden leaves were rough, and droplets left on them reflected the neon lights;

In the distant sky, one floor of a skyscraper was a banquet hall, where people were toasting one another;

Ji Xinghuo could even tell from a man's lips that he was urging someone to drink.

"If you don't drink, you're disrespecting me!"

These images and pieces of information flashed through Ji Xinghuo's mind, finally locking onto Shadow Blade. At that moment, the other man's appearance, traits, and movements were completely laid bare before him.

Distance: 105 meters. Speed: 29 meters per second.

There were sixteen wounds on his body, all cut by an extremely sharp and thin weapon; the most serious wound was on the outside of his left leg, very deep and likely reaching the bone, reducing his speed considerably; excessive blood loss had left his face pale and his pupils slightly unfocused, while his limbs and torso showed a degree of incoordination, most likely due to some kind of neurotoxin; he ran without making a sound—this was Silent Art; the dim glow gathered in his hand was an invisible blade, Shadow Blade's core ability, Shadow Blade; his earlier merging into the darkness was Shadow Stealth; his footsteps were quick and light, carrying a unique swaying rhythm, a habit brought by Lost Track Steps;

As he sprinted, he dragged a nearly invisible shadow behind him, as though a layer of dark light was flowing, ready to be activated at any moment—the sign that Residual Shadow was about to be unleashed.

Five abilities. At least a Super Esper!

Ji Xinghuo was utterly fearless.

At that moment, the very concept of fear did not exist in his mind. He only felt that, in this state, he was a god!

He perceived all things and could do anything!

Ji Xinghuo sensed the compound bow in his hands. Illusory rays of light leaped out from the void, as though guided by the river of time, forming a translucent dotted line that extended from the arrowhead toward the enemy rushing at him.

That dotted line was his shooting trajectory. It had not yet happened, but he already knew the outcome! As the arrowhead moved, different possibilities appeared one after another.

Ji Xinghuo rapidly changed his aim several times—eyes, throat, heart—but none of them could threaten his opponent. The arrows would always be easily dodged or knocked away. If he hit a non-vital area, he could not kill the man in one strike, and he himself would die immediately afterward.

Light and shadow interwove in his vision, layer upon layer, as countless pieces of information and possibilities were calculated in an incomprehensible form.

Finally, the image froze!

Ji Xinghuo fired the first arrow, targeting a billboard standing by the road over ninety meters away.

His practice arrows were made of carbon-aluminum composite, very light. To suit the powerful high-poundage bow, they had been deliberately weighted to thirty-five grams.

Whoosh...

With a sharp whistle, the arrow pierced the billboard's casing and struck a capacitor inside, instantly short-circuiting the electrical box and triggering a chain reaction.

Bang! The billboard, over five meters tall, exploded.

One of its glass panels shattered into countless fragments that sprayed in all directions. Several broken wires fell to the ground, spitting flickering electrical sparks.

It had rained recently, leaving a shallow layer of water on the ground.

At that very moment, Shadow Blade approached the puddle.

His reaction was swift. He did not dare risk stepping on ground that might be electrified, so his figure flashed aside. He veered left, close to the building wall, and continued charging toward Ji Xinghuo.

Ji Xinghuo stood outside the entrance, pressed against the wall as well.

He fired the second arrow.

But it missed.

At least, in Shadow Blade's eyes, the arrow's trajectory was half a meter too far left. It could not possibly hit him, so he ignored it.

"In the end, he's only an Elementary Esper. It's already commendable that he has the courage to face me."

"It's only natural for him to mess up."

With those thoughts, Shadow Blade closed another few dozen meters in an instant.

His gaze locked onto the young man standing there with a bow. A third arrow was already nocked on the compound bow, its tip lowered toward his chest. The young man seemed not to fully understand the situation. Even if that arrow hit his chest, he would not die.

"You're about to die."

The Shadow Blade in his hand seemed almost tangible as it pulsed with a dim glow.

Against a stronger opponent, the Shadow Blade needed to be attached to a dagger or short sword to unleash its greatest killing power. But the person before him was merely an Elementary Esper. A casual thrust from the Shadow Blade could pierce straight through him, and then slice open his throat with ease.

Clink...

Shadow Blade suddenly heard a collision.

The sound came from very close by. From the corner of his eye, he saw an arrow strike the wall to his front left, change direction in an unbelievable turn, drop in height, and hit his left knee.

It was the arrow that had missed! This was completely beyond his expectations. The point where the arrow struck the wall was only two or three meters from him, leaving him no time to react.

The arrow embedded itself several centimeters into his knee, and an intense pain exploded through him.

"Ugh..."

Shadow Blade let out a muffled groan. The arrow tugged at the wound on the outside of his left leg, and his entire leg could no longer bear weight. His body involuntarily lurched forward more than ten meters, nearly falling.

He barely managed to keep his balance. Before he could feel relieved, he raised his head to look at the enemy ahead.

A diamond-shaped black dot rapidly expanded in his vision.

Pfft! The third arrow shot into his right eye, instantly piercing his brain. Half the arrowhead emerged from the back of his skull.

Shadow Blade's body continued forward under its momentum. After falling, it rolled several meters and stopped right in front of Ji Xinghuo, only a few steps away.

Ji Xinghuo calmly watched the motionless corpse and confirmed that he was dead.

"Whew!"

He suddenly began gasping for breath as he uncontrollably withdrew from the powerful state activated by the Myriad Stellar Eye.

At once, a stabbing pain filled his mind. His physical strength and mental energy plunged to their lowest point, and his body felt completely hollowed out, exhausted and dizzy.

"Bleurgh..."

Ji Xinghuo braced himself against the wall and threw up the barbecue he had just eaten.

It was not because this was his first time killing someone. He did not really feel anything. The vomiting was a physiological reaction caused by the dizziness in his brain, something he could not control. As he vomited, he heard his own heart pounding wildly, and only then did a wave of lingering fear rise within him.

And all of this happened because I looked at you one more time...

"What happened to the Myriad Stellar Eye just now?"

As Ji Xinghuo recalled what had happened, the first thing he did was open the Myriad Stellar Eye interface. He immediately noticed something unusual.

Myriad Stellar Eye Master: Ji Xinghuo

Race: Earth Human

Rank: Elementary Esper

Stellar Force: 1/56

Ability: Thousand Spirit Dexterous Hands (Level 1, 10/47)

Spirit Source Energy: 137

Ji Xinghuo froze.

When he had killed the enemy just now, he had seen something detach from the corpse. It was like wisps of shifting mist-like energy, ever-changing in form. Before he could see it clearly, it vanished, and something seemed to have been added to his mind. He had not expected it to be Spirit Source Energy!

He had spent so long studying Spirit Source Energy without figuring it out, yet he had suddenly obtained it!

"Do I have to kill people to obtain Spirit Source Energy?"

Ji Xinghuo was shocked at first, then his thoughts became complicated. But now was not the time to study what Spirit Source Energy could do.

He immediately called the police on his phone.

He only needed to tap those warning messages to report it. The Department of Public Security would locate his phone and arrive immediately.

By then, someone had already noticed what was happening at the building entrance and turned to run in terror.

Ji Xinghuo examined the corpse on the ground.

He was still shaken. A Super Esper had actually been killed by him!

Suddenly, he spotted something beside the corpse. It had probably fallen from a pocket while the man rolled around before dying. It was shaped like a crystal—transparent and colorless, with an irregular form and sharp edges. Merely looking at it, Ji Xinghuo could sense its abundant "vitality," which caused a slight distortion in the surrounding air.

That vitality was Ether energy. It felt very familiar.

"An Ability Seed?"

Ji Xinghuo felt as though he had seen this crystal before. It looked familiar, yet somewhat different, and he could not recall where he had seen it.

One thing was certain: this had to be an extremely powerful Ability Seed!

After some thought, he bent down and picked it up.

The crystal was very light, almost weightless. Its interior was completely transparent. If not for its unique vitality, tossed by the roadside, it would be no different from a shard of broken glass.

Its texture was not as hard as he had imagined either. It had a slight elasticity, yet was extremely tough, like a piece of jelly.

Ji Xinghuo focused on observing it.

Suddenly, the Myriad Stellar Eye interface automatically appeared in his vision, displaying information he had never seen before.

Ability Seed: Rotating Magnetic Field

Grade: Super-Limit

Fusion Success Rate: 99%

Upgradeable: Yes

Ji Xinghuo's pupils widened, and the hand holding the crystal trembled slightly.

Partly because the crystal in his hand was a Super-Limit Ability Seed, but even more because he was shocked by the Myriad Stellar Eye's function. It could directly display information about an Ability Seed!

Ji Xinghuo stood there in a daze, unable to recover for a long time.

Only when he heard a roar from overhead did he look up and see a medium Aerospace Fighter hovering above the apartment building. Its belly hatch opened, and a glowing figure flew out, plunging at high speed toward where he stood.