He quickly equipped the Eternal Tree Heart and immediately felt his vitality double in strength. This new vitality also fostered endurance, significantly boosting his ability to withstand damage and sustain prolonged combat.
After a short rest, and as the countdown ended, Lin Xiao had to hastily prepare to confront the adversary of the 34th floor of the Sky Tower.
As the dazzling white light dissipated, a figure wearing full-body cyan armor, floating above the ground, stood silently in place. Through the joints of the armor, it was apparent that instead of flesh and blood, the being was composed of blinding lightning. From behind the visor of the thick helm, cyan lightning streaked out; the figure held a lightning whip crackling with electrical energy in its right hand. Rings of lightning continuously radiated from its floating feet, sending tingling sensations from a distance.
As soon as the unknown creature fully materialized, a burst of lightning erupted beneath it, sending an immensely thick Lightning Ring undulating outward like waves, swiftly passing over Lin Xiao.
The terrifying high temperature and scorching heat swept across, carrying with it an enormously powerful mental shock that momentarily stunned him. When he regained consciousness, the residual lightning energy covered his entire body. His clothes were reduced to ash, his skin was charred black and smoking, and every movement caused agonizing pain in every muscle.
Meanwhile, the Lightning Ghost raised its hand holding the lightning whip and pointed, sending a lightning bolt from the tip of the whip onto Lin Xiao, stunning him momentarily. An irresistible pulling force came over him, and Lin Xiao felt his strength being rapidly drained.
At the same time, the lightning ion field, after expanding outwards for a thousand meters, rapidly returned, making him endure the pain and dizziness once more. Thick layers of his muscles turned charred black.
By the time Lin Xiao came to his senses, he was badly beaten by a wave of attacks. The critical issue was that the Lightning Ghost was continually drawing his power. In just this short while, over 7,000 kilograms of his 15,000-kilogram strength had been sapped away, with more still being drained. The Lightning Ghost, gaining over 7,000 in strength from him, struck him with a Lightning Strike that turned one of his arms to charcoal, a terrible impact kicking up vast swaths of black ash.
"What a terrifying ability!"
Fortunately, his life force had increased significantly, and with a 300% life recovery speed, he could visibly see the charred flesh regenerating.
But his foundational life force was not high; even with a 300% increase, it was not particularly strong.
Without any hesitation, Lin Xiao entered an invincible state. Time Roaming instantly negated all the accumulated damage and interrupted any skills, transforming into streaks of light that penetrated the Lightning Ghost from behind. But during the piercing moment, a bolt of lightning from the Lightning Ghost stunned him for about half a second.
By the time he regained consciousness, half of the one-second Time Lock had passed.
A series of attacks battered the Lightning Ghost with sparks flying, but once the Time Bubble ended, a sudden backlash from seven or eight lightning strikes had him grimacing in pain.
This thing appeared to possess a Talent for lightning reflection, reflecting a strike of lightning back at the attacker with each hit. Although not as stunning as reflected Skill lightning, the regular attack frequency was extremely high.
After a barrage of attacks, he was left dazed and buzzing, while the Lightning Ghost remained unscathed.
Although he had interrupted the power-draining skill, the previously drained 7,000-plus strength had not returned. The remaining strength of less than 8,000 kilograms was hardly significant on the 34th floor, nowhere near enough to injure the opponent.
When the Lightning Ghost regained its senses, it stretched out its left hand towards the sky and grasped. Suddenly, the dome above resounded with violent thunder, and within the twisting Void, streaks of lightning converged to form a massive Lightning Ball. With a ’crack’ and a burst, a thick bolt of lightning struck Lin Xiao, making him stagger.
Before he could react, the Lightning Ghost’s lightning whip struck down, causing another stagger, followed by another ’crack’ above his head, and another bolt from the moving Lightning Ball thundered down.
"Damn it!"
Lin Xiao was at a loss for words. To attack was to be rebounded by lightning, to not attack was to be bombarded by the pursuing lightning. With the Lightning Ring covering the entire Fighting Space, providing no chance of escape and also possessing a controlling nature, on top of the disgusting power-draining ability, his opponent’s powers were too repulsive.
Right, to him, it was just repulsive, and actually easier to deal with than the previous level.
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He was more afraid of those who were thick-skinned and could not be killed, rather than these overwhelmingly powerful attackers. As long as they did not instantly kill him, the 34th floor was no different from the tenth, all destined to be taken out in one go.
With a quick internal analysis of the situation, Lin Xiao decided to dodge for a while and wait for the sapped attack strength to recover before making a move. With his strength nearly halved, he feared a combo wouldn’t be fatal, knowing he only had one chance.
The Lightning Ghost’s lightning ring covered the entire map, but the overhead lightning storm ball could not attack the whole area and only targeted those near the Lightning Ghost. Lin Xiao used Time Roaming to move through the Lightning Ghost and appear at the edge of the Fighting Space on the other side. Although he was immediately stunned by the rebounding lightning, the Lightning Ghost was also Time Locked and entered a full four seconds of complete mental stasis and 100% reduced speed, remaining still in place.
He then skulked around the edge of the Fighting Space, getting bombarded and battered, all while biding his time.
Relying on the additional vitality and endurance amplified by the Eternal Tree Heart, as well as his multiple restorative abilities, and even using Time Roaming to extend his life amidst the bombardment, he resiliently held on until his drained strength recovered. He didn’t hesitate to transform into a stream of light, reversed flying through the Lightning Ghost to its rear side, enduring the reflected lightning and the relentless downpour from the sky’s lightning storm ball as he unleashed a furious assault.
Lin Xiao left no avenue for retreat, using all eight remaining Time Roamings to employ Time Acceleration, relentlessly attacking during its duration.
When the total of twelve Time Locks and the accumulated Time Bubble ended, the myriad amounts of stored damage were released in the last second. The Time Locked Lightning Ghost’s body collapsed on the spot, turning into an intensely hot surge of lightning energy dispersing in all directions.
Lin Xiao, victorious!
Specks of white light gathered at the dispersing location of the lightning deluge and once again burst forth with an item.
Upon retrieving the orb, Lin Xiao saw, to his surprise, that it was a skill from the Lightning Ghost:
"Unstable Current: Passive Skill. Harness the power of lightning to boost one’s own moving speed by 50%. Every 3 seconds, unleash a lightning pulse within a 50-meter radius that inflicts damage equal to 25% of one’s own strength on the surrounding enemies. Upon receiving a skill attack, retaliate with a Lightning Strike equivalent to 100% of one’s own strength against the target, stunning them for 0.5 seconds, and purify a random buff from the target."
Strictly speaking, this should be the Lightning Ghost’s Talent, now turned into a skill. Although its effects are fixed and cannot be upgraded, this does not detract from the skill’s power.
Without any hesitation, Lin Xiao learned the skill, making it his first one.
Indeed, tackling the challenges of the Sky Tower would yield enormous rewards. Although equipment skills rarely dropped, when they did, they were exceptional, whether it was the Eternal Tree Heart or this skill.
Lin Xiao anticipated that there would be rewards for the next two levels, thirty-five and thirty-six.
And these were just the rewards for passing the levels, not the final settlement rewards.
As the countdown slowly decreased, Lin Xiao deliberately increased his distance from the center to avoid being caught off guard. After all, it was the last two levels. Judging from the previous Guardians, one could tell how difficult the following would be, and one could easily be defeated in an instant.
Three...
Two...
One...
A blinding white light descended from the sky, and the dazzling red light forced Lin Xiao to squint. A wave of intense heat rushed over him, and the temperature in the Fighting Space soared rapidly.
Soon, accompanied by a clear chirping sound, the white light vanished, and a burst of flame spread outwards in all directions.
With a thought, Lin Xiao activated the Unstable Current. A ring of lightning pulses emerged from beneath his feet, and he suddenly felt as if a force was lifting him up, lightening his body immensely.
In the eternal darkness, the first ray of sunlight from the Guardian of Light flickered faintly. Over billions of years, this sentient beam of light accumulated infinite energy, culminating in a supernova explosion. Infinite rays of Origin Light scattered in all directions, igniting star after star, illuminating the cold Void.
After a long cycle of Reincarnation, a star named Phoenix gradually became sentient, shedding its stellar form to take on a biological one, spreading its light and heat into the dark Void.
An echo of the newly born Phoenix entered the Chaos Territory and successfully left its mark on the thirty-fifth floor of the Sky Tower.
As the blinding flames exploded, a Flaming Bird made entirely of fire, with a body stretching a hundred meters long, appeared at the dome of the central Fighting Space. Terrible, white-hot flames jetted out of the Phoenix, automatically targeting the only humanoid in the area.
In just a matter of seconds, the temperature inside the arena had risen to sixty or seventy degrees and continued to climb.
The white-hot flames were not very fast, but they were homing and launched a new attack every three seconds, quickly accumulating more than a dozen streaks in the air.
The Phoenix circled the high altitude of the Fighting Space and returned to its original position. It opened its eyes and shot out two streams of white-gold flames, its gaze fixed on Lin Xiao. The giant fiery wings lifted and swept down, and fierce flames gushed out, converging into four clusters of flames around the Phoenix. In just a few seconds, they solidified into four smaller flaming birds that launched fireballs at Lin Xiao with each open-beaked cry.
Feeling the temperature in the Void rising endlessly as if there was no end, Lin Xiao knew he could not wait any longer. His figure flashed, transforming into a streak of light that passed through the Phoenix and appeared above its head.
"Hmm!"
It felt like being in a sea of fire; even though the nearby flames had been frozen in time and immobilized, fire was everywhere, and he was in the center, constantly being scorched.
Lin Xiao gritted his teeth, gripping the sword tightly and slashing down fiercely. He stared hard as his blade cut through empty space.
He swiftly circled the ten-meter spherical area, finding nothing but the fiercely burning Phoenix flames, and no physical entity.
"Could it be entirely made of flames?" he thought, sensing trouble. If the Phoenix had no physical form, how would he fight it?
Unwilling to give up, Lin Xiao took advantage of the Phoenix being temporarily stunned by the Time Roaming, with four seconds of halted thought, to withstand the terrifying heat and move back and forth within its body. However, without the time freeze to suppress the flames’ heat, moving within the Phoenix’s body became too much for him to bear.
In one second, his skin blackened. In two seconds, the flesh under his skin carbonized. In three seconds, his bones were almost scorched, and his consciousness began to blur.