78: Shadow Barrier - Archer's Protection

Facing Feng Yu's Shadow Greatsword, Zhou Xing remained calm. With a wave of his hand, an Ice Shield surrounded by flames blocked his front.

"Crack!"

Upon collision, cracks appeared on Zhou Xing's Ice Shield before it shattered completely. However, the Shadow Greatsword was also repelled directly, and simultaneously, a burst of flames attached itself to it.

Soon, the entire Shadow Greatsword was rapidly consumed.

But just as it was about to dissipate entirely, the Shadow Greatsword softened and transformed into dozens of chains that coiled toward Zhou Xing.

"Shadow Chains!"

At this moment, energy surged within Zhou Xing's body. Flame energy gathered in his hand, transforming into a massive giant hand of flame energy that grabbed toward the Shadow Chains.

Boom!

Instantly, all the chains were snapped by the grip and were continuously burned away by the high temperatures.

Furthermore, the giant flame hand's momentum remained undiminished as it headed straight for Feng Yu.

"Shadow Armor!"

Feng Yu, unable to dodge in time, had a change in expression. As black mist churned, a layer of Shadow Armor covered his entire body.

Bang!

The giant flame hand slammed violently into Feng Yu's body, sending him flying backward.

However, with the protection of the Shadow Armor and the fact that the giant flame hand had already lost much of its energy against the Shadow Chains,

this strike only caused Feng Yu's blood to churn; he didn't suffer any significant injuries.

At this point, Feng Yu stood up and looked at Zhou Xing: "In that case, I'll let you witness my true strength."

Suddenly, a sharp aura entirely different from shadow power erupted from around him.

This caused Zhou Xing to instinctively think of Ye Wuchen.

Sure enough, Feng Yu clenched his left hand, and a pitch-black energy longbow manifested out of thin air.

This scene also caused many Awakened Ones in the audience to cry out in surprise.

Feng Yu was actually a dual-system Fusion Awakened One. Besides being a god of shadow, he was also a divine Awakened One of the 'god of archery'.

The longbow in his hand was the manifestation of the god of archery's ability. Although condensed from energy, it was actually much more powerful than an average Divine Weapon.

Zhou Xing was also quite surprised.

However, if Feng Yu truly thought he could win just by adding another divine ability, he was being too naive.

At this moment, Feng Yu's figure became blurred again, as he split into three afterimages that scattered away.

Simultaneously, four figures, including the original body, drew their bows and notched arrows at the same time.

"Soul-Chasing Life-Taking Arrow!"

Four arrows shot through the air, tracing eerie arcs. During flight, each arrow split into three, and twelve cold glints completely sealed off all of Zhou Xing's evasion routes.

"Ice-Fire Barrier!"

Ice and fire energies continuously surged between Zhou Xing's hands. In an instant, he constructed a barrier several meters in diameter centered on himself, with dual layers of ice and fire power constantly intertwining.

The moment Feng Yu's arrows approached, they were completely annihilated.

"Taste my move, Inescapable Net!"

At this time, Feng Yu's voice came from not far away. As his bowstring vibrated, countless arrows as fine as ox hair shot out.

The trajectories of these arrows in the air were completely unpredictable, like a torrential rainstorm leaving Zhou Xing with nowhere to hide.

Moreover, these arrows were now accompanied by ear-piercing shrieks that made one feel dizzy.

Zhou Xing's Ice-Fire Barrier only held for a few seconds before reaching the brink of collapse.

Zhou Xing's eyes narrowed, and he instantly pressed his palms together: "Frozen World: Absolute Zero!"

Instantly, the two abilities Zhou Xing had recently acquired combined perfectly, and the entire arena transformed into a world of ice and snow.

The trajectories of all the arrows became sluggish. Including Feng Yu, everyone could feel that extreme freezing power; while his movements were hindered, he also had to constantly consume energy to resist it.

Zhou Xing seized this opportunity and raised his right hand high: "Ice Burst!"

In a split second, a terrifying explosive force swept across the entire arena, directly engulfing both Zhou Xing and Feng Yu.

The sudden eruption was something no one could have predicted.

One had to know that under the effect of Frozen World, the entire arena was already completely covered in ice and snow; there was absolutely nowhere to hide from the explosion.

Outside the arena, if Elder Tong Xuan hadn't sensed that Feng Yu's aura was still there, he might have forcibly charged onto the stage to declare Zhou Xing's victory and end the match.

Because the power of this Ice Burst was continuously accumulating and stacking; its intensity had already reached the Late Control Stage and was still increasing.

If it continued, there was no guarantee that the arena, which was supposed to withstand Celestial Phenomenon Realm attacks, wouldn't collapse directly.

Meanwhile, the moment the words "Ice Burst" were uttered at the center, Feng Yu's face changed drastically.

He could clearly sense a massive crisis of life and death.

"Shadow Barrier: Bow God Body Protection!"

In an instant, Feng Yu mobilized all the energy in his body to completely wrap himself in a pitch-black cocoon formed of shadow energy.

Simultaneously, the longbow in his hand vibrated continuously. In the next moment, it actually manifested on its own atop Feng Yu's energy cocoon and began to spin rapidly clockwise.

Then, the entire longbow suddenly shattered on its own, forming countless particles of energy light that surged toward the Shadow Cocoon, finally forming a dark gray barrier.

Patterns of a bow continuously surfaced upon the barrier.

Boom!

At this time, the explosive force surged over, completely covering the Shadow Cocoon.

When the explosion ended, the ground of the entire arena had completely collapsed, forming a massive deep pit.

As for Zhou Xing, his body was currently covered by a layer of crystalline ice armor with fire meridians flowing inside; he looked completely unharmed.

After all, no matter how powerful the explosion from an Ice Burst attack was, it would not affect him personally.

What he had condensed on his body now was an Ice-Fire Battle Armor he had previously figured out.

According to his tests, the Ice-Fire Battle Armor was enough to grant immunity to 70% of elemental ability damage, and its defense was twice as effective as the Frost Silence Battle Armor.

However, although his Control over the dual systems of ice and fire was perfect, the success rate of forming the Ice-Fire Battle Armor was still not very high.

Just now, he had specially tried it out just to be safe.

Under the sympathetic gazes of many, Feng Yu's figure also appeared at the edge of the arena.

The large cocoon condensed around him had long been completely destroyed by the power of the Ice Burst. At this moment, there was basically no part of Feng Yu's body left unscathed; he looked like a man made of blood.

His mask had long since shattered, revealing a fairly handsome face.

Currently, Feng Yu's aura was unstable. Leaning against the edge of the arena, he could barely even maintain a standing position.

"Cough, cough... Zhou Xing, your strength is very great. Regarding the trial in the wilderness before, we only joined forces out of an intention to plunder points.

However, I still have one strongest strike. If you can take it head-on, I will be truly convinced."

Feng Yu's light cough brought up blood foam, but his gaze was full of anticipation as he looked at Zhou Xing.

"Fine, I also want to see the strongest method after the god of shadow and the god of archery are combined. Do you need time to recover?"

Feng Yu's proactive apology was somewhat unexpected to Zhou Xing, and his attitude became a bit more amiable.

"No need. Prepare yourself carefully; I haven't fully mastered this move myself, so consider it an attempt."

Feng Yu waved his hand, then gritted his teeth and forcibly suppressed the injuries in his body to stand up.

Looking at Zhou Xing, he reached out his hand, and the longbow reappeared. Then, Feng Yu directly bit his finger and smeared blood onto the bowstring.

Under the watchful eyes of many, a blood-red long arrow slowly took shape, and ancient divine runes even appeared on the shaft of the arrow.