Hot yet bubbling lava-like magma, unusually tinted in a deep azure blue that seemed to swirl with inner flames, flowed through the jagged obsidian trenches as Ji Wuye's imposing figure stood out starkly against the surreal backdrop.
The charred black silk of his martial robe fluttered behind him like raven's wings as he leapt through the air with effortless grace, and came to an abrupt stop, landing softly on the balls of his feet.
Ji Wuye's angular face remained stoic, yet his crimson eyes betrayed a glimmer of intrigue as he muttered calmly, "As expected, you're always one step ahead."
His pale locks of hair, white as fresh snow, danced across his sharp features as a hot breeze stirred the depths, his gaze falling upon the ground where the fallen Celestial Ore rested—a shallow pit.
The Celestial Ore, massive and roughly the size of a boulder, glimmered faintly under the dim azure glow radiating from the molten flows.
Its outer shell was a deep midnight black, speckled with tiny silver-white flecks that gave it the appearance of a fragment of the night sky brought to earth.
Upon closer inspection, the surface wasn't static but seemed to ripple and shift like liquid obsidian, the silver flecks rearranging themselves in slow, mesmerizing patterns that danced across the faceted surface.
But Ji Wuye's sharp crimson eyes, quickly focused on what surrounded the ore. Humanoid figures—dozens of them—stood ominously in the pit, each only reaching about the height of his waist.
Their entire bodies appeared to be forged from the same midnight-black metal as the Celestial Ore, shimmering faintly with streaks of cosmic light that pulsed like a heartbeat, ebbing and flowing across their forms.
The veins of ethereal light beneath their metallic skin flowed and ebbed, gathering intensity in their chest cavities where a core of energy seemed to reside.
As soon as these metallic sentinels detected Ji Wuye's presence, their gazes intensified, burning with hostile intent.
SWOOSH!
Without warning, the metallic guardians moved as one. In an instant, the humanoid figures sprang into action, their speed and reflexes rivaling that of a martial artist in the 4th realm.
The air cracked around the metallic guardians as they broke through it, leaving rippling distortions and sonic booms in their wake. Their metallic feet scraped against the obsidian stone, sending cascades of violet sparks flying as they launched themselves forward in a blurring flurry of movement.
They were startlingly fast—many of them had already traveled halfway across the cavernous distance toward Ji Wuye in mere moments.
On the other hand...
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[!] Your passive skill, Quick Adaptation (B), has been triggered!
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A faintly glowing, transparent screen materialized before Ji Wuye's crimson pupils in the fraction of a second before the first guardians reached him.
On this ethereal display, guiding arrows and predictive calculations appeared over each of the humanoid figures rushing toward him, mapping out the exact weaknesses in their movements and attacks, making their every action as readable as an open book.
Yet, Ji Wuye's expression remained remarkably calm, his angular features an inscrutable mask despite the maelstrom closing in around him.
His lips parted slightly, drawing in the searing heat radiating from the azure magma flows through the obsidian trenches below, while his chest expanded steadily, flaring subtly as he absorbed the charged air into his lungs.
Instead of retreating from the oncoming onslaught, he bent his knees, rooting himself to the ground in a low, steady stance. His hands remained empty yet spread wide, reaching outward from his chest like the wings of an arching phoenix, palms poised and facing away from his body.
At the same time, faint azure tendrils of Qi began to circulate through his body, originating from his Lower Dantian. The ethereal energy streamed like a flowing river into his Twelve Meridians, enveloping his entire form in a shimmering, oscillating membrane of protective power.
SWOOSH!
More Qi coursed from his Lower Dantian in a crescendo, condensing and concentrating in shimmering coils into his outstretched palms.
And then...
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Black Thunder Doctrine - First Move, Black Thunder Clap!
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BOOM!
A deafening shockwave rippled through the air with the force of a thunderclap as Ji Wuye struck his palms together with explosive force.
The resulting blast obliterated everything in its path, shattering the countless metallic humanoid figures into countless shards and fragments in an instant as the destructive shockwave detonated outwards.
SWOOSH!
The obsidian trenches below, which once channeled rivulets of azure magma through a spiderweb of jagged, cracked terrain, collapsed under the sheer seismic force unleashed. The fractured ground quaked and flattened altogether, merging into the shallow pit where the fallen Celestial Ore rested amidst rubble and cosmic debris.
The Black Thunder Clap—a foundational move of the Black Thunder Doctrine, the martial art of the Black Thunder Emperor.
The technique was designed to violently compress and amplify the practitioner's Thunder Qi into an ear-splitting shockwave of pure sonic force. When executed properly, the cataclysmic release could rupture an opponent's meridians, temporarily disrupting their Qi flow in devastating fashion.
Yet, in this moment, Ji Wuye's expression betrayed a slight frown as he observed the aftermath of his strike with sharp crimson eyes. "It's really...weak," he muttered.
Just as he expected. Without Thunder Qi, or the inner art of the Black Thunder Emperor himself, what Ji Wuye had unleashed was only a crude imitation—a fraction of the true power the technique was capable of.
Instead of a concussive, meridian-shattering thunder strike, it was merely a rudimentary force-based shockwave—closer to a strong gust of wind than the earth-shattering move it emulated.
However, thanks to Ji Wuye using twice Qi as a substitute for Thunder Qi, combined with his physique—now approximately 1.5 times stronger than that of the Black Thunder Emperor—the shockwave's power had increased dramatically, amplifying its effect to nearly five times its original strength.
The enhanced force generated a brutal burst of air pressure, expanding its destructive range and becoming the primary reason the humanoid figures had been destroyed.
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[!] You have killed Level 30 - Mini Starforged Sentinels!
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[!] You have killed Level 30 - Mini Starforged Sentinels!
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[!] You have killed Level 30 - Mini Starforged Sentinels!
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...
At the same time, continuous notifications lit up before Ji Wuye's glowing crimson pupils as transparent screens flickered in his view.
Slowly, Ji Wuye straightened his back, while his piercing gaze shifted to survey the newly formed pit before him.
Bubbling, scorching hot azure magma lava filled the freshly leveled ground below, gushing and brimming over the edges with intense, searing heat. Floating amidst the roiling, molten currents were the fragmented pieces of the Mini Starforged Sentinels' shattered metallic bodies.
The jagged, midnight-black shards tumbled and spun lazily in the viscous cerulean magma, occasionally catching the dim light and reflecting it in brief, brilliant star-like flashes across their faceted surfaces.
Strangely, despite the lava's extreme temperatures—heat that should have melted and liquefied even the most metals—the cosmic fragments remained defiantly intact, unaffected by the lava's destructive.
They drifted like obsidian islands in a sea of azure flames, neither melting nor diminishing under the punishing conditions.
Meanwhile, rather than immediately approaching the beckoning Celestial Ore glimmering in the center of the newly formed pit, a slender jian materialized in Ji Wuye's grip.
And then—
CLANK!
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[!] Your passive skill, Deflecting Blows (B), has been triggered!
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