Evenly Matched

At a thought from Zhuang Hong, a set of Dark Red Armor enveloped him, and a long blade extended outward from his hand.

He watched the black-robed man warily, intending to test the depths of his strength.

Sweeping his gaze around, he immediately took in all the Mantis Monsters closing in on him.

Very quickly, a route away from Earth took shape in his mind.

"As long as I take out those two Mantis Monsters, I can temporarily break out of the encirclement, then clear out the Mantis Monsters first."

Though these Mantis Monsters seemed numerous, they posed no threat to Zhuang Hong whatsoever. What concerned him was the black-robed man behind them.

Having made up his mind, Zhuang Hong did not hesitate. He immediately sprang into action, raising his blade to meet the two lunging Mantis Monsters and casually slashing twice.

Swish, swish!

The two Mantis Monsters were instantly beheaded and fell dead to the ground.

Zhuang Hong also successfully broke out of the encirclement and widened the distance.

Seeing his two Mantis Monsters die beneath the other's blade in an instant, the black-robed man showed a look of astonishment. "Huh? A Core Combination Insect?"

But he soon sneered. "But it seems to be only a low-level Core Combination Insect. Since such a treasure has fallen into my hands, there is no way I can let it go. As long as I swallow him, hehehe..."

As if he had imagined himself invincible throughout the universe, his eyes brimmed with excitement. He immediately Manipulated all the remaining Mantis Monsters to pounce on Zhuang Hong.

Yet, contrary to the black-robed man's expectations—

Every Mantis Monster that surrounded Zhuang Hong was cut down with a single slash, utterly incapable of resisting.

In the blink of an eye, more than twenty Mantis Monsters had been reduced to fewer than ten, and their numbers continued to plummet at an astonishing rate.

Only then did the black-robed man completely calm down, cold sweat pouring down his body.

Run!

The black-robed man sent all the Mantis Monsters to surround and obstruct Zhuang Hong, while he himself rapidly traversed space and fled.

Zhuang Hong was in the midst of slaughtering the Mantis Monsters when he discovered that the black-robed man had run away, leaving him somewhat surprised.

He had worried for quite some time that the other party might be some terrifyingly powerful expert.

However, he did not immediately give chase. Instead, he continued cutting down the remaining Mantis Monsters.

What if the black-robed man was deliberately showing weakness, luring him into pursuit, only to catch him off guard and kill him...

Zhuang Hong felt it was safer to clear out these Mantis Monsters first.

Besides, the black-robed man would not be able to get far anytime soon.

Very soon, Zhuang Hong finished off the remaining Mantis Monsters, then pursued the black-robed man with his blade in hand.

The black-robed man's running and spatial traversal were a little faster than Zhuang Hong's, but with the Ejection skill assisting his movement, Zhuang Hong instead drew closer and closer.

Seeing that he could not escape, the black-robed man's expression turned vicious. He drew out a long whip studded with sharp barbs and turned to lash it at Zhuang Hong.

Crack!

The whip's tip struck empty air with an explosive snap.

Zhuang Hong emerged from another direction, watching the other party with curiosity and vigilance as thick streams of Fine Silk quietly probed toward him from every direction.

Sensing Zhuang Hong's method, the black-robed man snorted coldly and swept his long whip in a circle. With a swish, it cleared away every strand of Fine Silk Zhuang Hong had sent out.

Zhuang Hong raised his hand and aimed it at the gray-robed man.

Ejection!

Pfft, pfft, pfft!

A large number of fingernail-sized armored nail-cones shot forth in a concentrated barrage, as swift as rifle fire.

Yet the black-robed man traversed into another space and evaded them.

Flying attacks were not very effective against natural enemies capable of traversing space, because they could evade everything simply by hiding in another space. Thus, flying attacks could only be used to contain and interfere with the enemy; to kill them, one still had to rely on close combat.

Having made his judgment, Zhuang Hong advanced with his blade.

The black-robed man, meanwhile, swung his long whip at Zhuang Hong.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The long whip whistled through the air with sharp explosive reports, its force immense. Any trees or rocks it struck shattered and crumbled like foam.

Even clad head to toe in armor, Zhuang Hong did not dare let the whip strike him lightly. He could only dodge again and again, unable to draw close, while seeking chances to shoot nail-cones at his opponent.

With no other choice, Zhuang Hong could only circle around in search of an opportunity.

They tangled back and forth like this for a long while, yet neither suffered so much as a scratch.

They seemed evenly matched.

Crack!

The gray-robed man lashed out once again, and Zhuang Hong dodged. The whip struck the ground, instantly blasting out a long, narrow trench.

But this time, instead of retracting the whip as usual, he took the initiative to close in on Zhuang Hong.

The next instant, the long whip seemed to come alive, turning into a long snake that coiled toward Zhuang Hong's ankle.

Zhuang Hong's heart jolted, and every hair on his body stood on end.

Ejection!

Boom!

With a thunderous blast beneath his feet, Zhuang Hong launched himself into the air. At the critical moment, he dodged the whip's entanglement and rapidly retreated to widen the distance.

Looking at that long whip again, lingering fear remained in his heart.

He had nearly fallen for it.

But this very opportunity had allowed his Fine Silk to secretly wrap around the other party's hands and feet.

Zhuang Hong suddenly clenched his left hand.

Swish!

Several strands of Fine Silk abruptly pulled taut, yanking the unprepared black-robed man to the ground.

"Not good!" As the black-robed man reacted and tried to use his sharp hooks and barbs to sever the Fine Silk, even more strands suddenly shot up and wrapped around his arms, temporarily restricting his movements.

Pfft, pfft, pfft!

Three nail-cones abruptly shot from Zhuang Hong's hand, striking the black-robed man's whip-holding hand and splashing up three bursts of blood.

The black-robed man released the whip in pain. The long whip fell, and with a hook from Zhuang Hong, it was flung far away.

Having lost his weapon, the black-robed man was wrapped into a rice dumpling by Zhuang Hong in an instant and slammed heavily to the ground.

A long spike grew from Zhuang Hong's hand and pointed at the black-robed man's head.

Terror filled the black-robed man's face as he immediately begged loudly, "Wait! Spare my life! I'll trade you a treasure! Only I know about this treasure!"

So he really possesses intelligence...

This was the first intelligent natural enemy Zhuang Hong had encountered since he began traversing space. In truth, he did not want to kill the other party so simply.

At the very least, he needed to get some useful information from him.

But Zhuang Hong did not quite trust the black-robed man.

After some thought, he first generated numerous spikes to firmly nail the black-robed man down, then used even more Fine Silk to bind him.

Only after confirming that the other party could no longer resist did he ask, "What treasure? Who are you? Why can you traverse space? Tell me what you know, and perhaps I will let you leave."

The black-robed man froze for a moment. "You still don't know?"

Then he immediately changed his tune. "If I tell you, will you let me leave?"

Zhuang Hong said, "That depends on your performance. And if you refuse to speak, I'll kill you immediately. Think it over yourself."

The black-robed man called himself Hei Jinhua. He was a Parasite Beast from the Dragon Court Mixed Domain. During a chaotic battle, he had miraculously picked up a Treasure Pointer and escaped here, where he happened to encounter Zhuang Hong.

He did not know exactly what kind of treasure it was. He only knew that many people had been fighting over it, triggering a large-scale melee.

According to Hei Jinhua, the Infinite Space was inhabited by all kinds of races born with the ability to traverse space freely. They were collectively known as Void Spirits, and Parasite Beasts were merely one of them.

The Void Spirits had strict ranks, divided according to the color of the Source Power within their bodies. From weak to strong, they were Strange Beasts (white), Clear Pattern Beasts (cyan), Core Combination Beasts (blue), Rising Spirit Beasts (purple), True Spirits (red), Origin Spirits (orange), and Holy Spirits (gold).

Both Zhuang Hong and Hei Jinhua were third-rank Blue Core Combination Beasts. Among the many Void Spirits, they were already considered middle-tier.

Of course, Hei Jinhua had only heard all this from others. The highest-ranked being he had personally seen was a True Spirit radiating Red Source Power. It was said that there were even higher ranks above Holy Spirits, but he did not know what they were.

"As for why you have been attacked by all kinds of Void Spirits..."

At this point, Hei Jinhua could not help baring his teeth in a grin. "Because you are different from us Void Spirits. Strictly speaking, you cannot be called a Void Spirit at all. You are a Mayfly."