96: Divine Bomb

Zhou Xing was originally looking through some information about the City of Vigilance.

Suddenly, he received a message from Bei Chen.

Out of trust for Bei Chen, he didn't think much of it and set off directly after a quick pack.

He was familiar with the place Bei Chen mentioned; it was a spot where many Chiefs often gathered for meals.

Not long after, just as Zhou Xing pushed open the door, he felt a bone-chilling cold.

In the hall ahead, the Chiefs were slumped in their seats in various odd positions,

a few were even snoring loudly, clearly sleeping soundly.

He soon spotted his own Chief, Bei Chen, who was face down on the dining table, obviously fast asleep.

'You're finally here.'

A deliberately raspy voice came from the shadows. Following that, a figure completely shrouded in a black robe slowly rose, a faceless mask concealing their features, leaving only the eyes visible.

It was Li Qing, who had been waiting for a long time.

For a moment, Zhou Xing couldn't determine the other person's identity.

At this moment, Zhou Xing was extremely vigilant, the divinity within him on the verge of erupting at any time: "Who are you? What happened to Chief Bei Chen and the others?"

"System, detect the other party's divinity. I need to confirm their identity."

[Detected the other party contains "god of frost" divinity fragments (53%) and "god of steel" divinity fragments (52%)]

[Identity confirmed as the Luo City Chief the host has met before—Li Qing]

Zhou Xing's pupils suddenly contracted. The opponent was actually the Luo City Chief, but he didn't know the purpose behind this.

Li Qing didn't answer, merely raising a hand gently.

Immediately, the ground beneath Zhou Xing's feet turned into liquid metal, and dozens of silver chains coiled around his limbs like venomous snakes.

In an instant, Zhou Xing felt the flow of divinity within his body become sluggish.

"Give up resisting. This is a special divinity suppression technique; it's impossible for you to use your divinity for a short period."

The black-robed person slowly walked toward Zhou Xing.

At this time, Zhou Xing bit the tip of his tongue hard, the sharp pain allowing him to temporarily shake off some of the influence.

Ice and fire elements erupted around him, attempting to shatter the chains, but the other person simply snapped their fingers, and the ice-fire power was directly neutralized by an invisible force.

"Don't waste your energy." The black-robed person extended a hand wearing a black glove, special ice crystals condensing at the fingertips. "I need a little of your blood, not too much. I advise you to be cooperative, otherwise..."

"System, use stored energy to help me break free from the restraints first!"

"Received. Initiating emergency mode. Estimated consumption: 24% of reserve energy."

Before the words even faded, a powerful aura erupted from Zhou Xing's body, and the coiling chains shattered inch by inch.

Li Qing hadn't expected Zhou Xing to be able to escape the restraints, and her movements slowed by half a beat.

In that very instant, Zhou Xing's right hand made a grasping motion, and a spike of fused ice and fire power shot toward Li Qing's throat.

Meanwhile, Zhou Xing's figure flickered as he rapidly retreated.

"Chief Li Qing, what is your purpose in doing this? I don't believe I've offended you?"

Zhou Xing's words caused Li Qing, who was about to continue her attack, to freeze for a moment, clearly very surprised that Zhou Xing could guess her identity.

At the same time, the ice-fire spike suddenly exploded three inches away from Li Qing's mask.

"Truly rare. How did you know my identity?"

Li Qing no longer intended to keep hiding and took off her mask.

"Was it hard to guess? All the Chiefs present have very good relationships, especially you. Chief Bei Chen said before that your friendships go back many years.

It's understandable if two or three didn't use divinity to neutralize the alcohol, but with so many Chiefs all drunk and only you missing, a little thought makes it basically certain.

Of course, I was just testing it out just now; after all, there were other possibilities."

Zhou Xing answered bluntly.

To be honest, if it weren't for the System, it really would have been hard for him to judge for a while.

"Quite clever. In that case, why not consider my request?" Li Qing's eyes flashed as she spoke to Zhou Xing.

Simultaneously, her hands quickly overlapped, and energy surged around her body.

In the next moment, Zhou Xing felt the surrounding air become viscous, and invisible pressure flooded in from all directions.

His bones groaned under the unbearable weight; clearly, this pressure was not something his current Realm could withstand.

Zhou Xing gritted his teeth, his knees almost touching the ground.

Before Zhou Xing could even take control, the "starfall" armor on his body automatically activated upon sensing danger.

Instantly, all the pressure vanished without a trace.

"Divinity armor?" Li Qing's expression turned ugly. She had been careless, failing to consider that with Zhou Xing's status, how could Bei Chen not give him some good items for self-defense?

"But so what? How long do you think you can hold out with that?" She thought for a moment; the rewards Dawn City gave for Zhou Xing's competition would only take effect after going to the Special Training Camp, and even a decent divinity armor could only withstand a few attacks from the Celestial Phenomenon Realm at most.

Looking at Zhou Xing, who was now enveloped in a light shield, she flicked her long sleeves. Dozens of ghostly blue light beams shot out, slamming hard against the protective shield formed by starfall.

By now, the starfall armor was fully activated. Sensing the crisis, a honeycomb-like defense matrix instantly emerged on the light shield.

The light shield only swayed slightly, completely blocking the attacks.

"I'd like to see how long you can hold out."

The armor's defense exceeded Li Qing's expectations, but she didn't believe it could last forever.

Subsequently, ice spikes and numerous weapons transformed from metal bombarded the armor's defense in an overwhelming deluge, yet they only left faint marks on the surface.

The defense limit of the starfall armor was the Late Stage of the Celestial Phenomenon Realm. Li Qing was only at the Early Stage; even as a dual-element Awakened One, she wouldn't be able to break the defense within three minutes.

What Li Qing didn't know was that at the first moment he sensed something was wrong, Zhou Xing had already dialed Wei Guangming's communication channel.

"Chief Li, if I'm not mistaken, you want my blood because you intend to trade it with Divine Gene? Or are you a plant from Divine Gene within The Watchers?"

Zhou Xing wasn't panicked at all. With Wei Guangming's strength, he might have already rushed over and be observing from the shadows.

"You are very clever. Originally, I only intended to take some of your blood to exchange for some resources with Divine Gene. After all, at our level, every advancement requires massive resources and a bit of luck.

But since you've guessed it directly, I can't let you live. Capturing your whole person to trade with Divine Gene will get me even more."

As soon as she finished speaking, Li Qing's thought moved, and a special silver sphere appeared in her hand.

Zhou Xing's pupils shrank.

Dammit, it's a divinity bomb.

Zhou Xing was no longer a novice; he had some understanding of powerful one-time-use weapons.

A divinity bomb was a powerful weapon created by continuously compressing various divinity energies through a process similar to nuclear fusion.

Once it exploded, even an Awakened One at the Peak of the Celestial Phenomenon Realm could be heavily injured.

Because they were difficult to manufacture, highly destructive, and prone to causing divinity erosion, they were strictly banned by all parties.