Chapter 540: The Black-Armored Man Returns

Buzz!

The heavy spear, wrapped in surging phase force, pierced through Li Luo's body like a raging flood dragon, then slammed heavily into the tree wall opposite, instantly cracking the incomparably hard silver tree wall with fissures.

"Huh?"

Having landed a hit, the black-armored man let out a surprised exclamation. His gaze looked toward Li Luo's figure, and that figure was gradually dissipating.

"An illusion?"

The black-armored man was somewhat surprised; he hadn't expected that his thunderous strike upon revealing himself would land on empty air.

"What a cunning little rat."

A cold, sinister laugh came from beneath his faceplate, and then he directly roared out. The howl was like thunder, like a storm of sound waves, exploding within this tree wall area.

Boom!

The sound waves spread, and the scene before them seemed to shift. Then two figures shot out in a sorry retreat, crashing into the tree wall with muffled groans.

It was Li Luo and Lu Ming.

Li Luo wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, a trace of lingering fear in his eyes. This black-armored man had come too suddenly, and this person was also cunning and ruthless—appearing and immediately going for the kill. That spear's momentum was like wind and thunder, utterly impossible to dodge. If he hadn't made some preparations earlier, having Lu Ming activate the illusion phase power in advance to create a misdirection, he would likely have truly been pierced through by that spear by now.

"Thank you," he said to Lu Ming.

Lu Ming's jade hand tightly gripped her slender long sword, her gaze icy as she stared at the black-armored man ahead. Clenching her silver teeth, she said: "Don't say useless things. What's going on with this person? How can there be someone else here?"

"Didn't that Elder Elder Ling Yu say before that the 'strange disaster' of the Blackwind Empire might have human factors behind it? If our guess is correct, this black-armored man is one of them. It's even possible that the upheaval of the Thunder Sound Tree came from their hands," Li Luo said with a grim expression.

Lu Ming's expression shifted slightly as she said in disbelief: "They drove the strange beings into a disaster—what benefit does that bring them?"

She had also seen the damage those strange beings wreaked upon this land as they ran rampant; it was truly cruel to an unbearable degree.

"You ask me, who am I supposed to ask?" Li Luo sighed.

"It's you again, little rat. I failed to kill you in Zhenjiang City last time, yet you've delivered yourself to my doorstep." The black-armored man's palm clenched, and the heavy spear that had pierced Li Luo's illusion shot back, caught in his grasp. Beneath the faceplate, eyes brimming with killing intent locked onto Li Luo.

"So it really is you."

Li Luo's gaze also turned quite icy. When the latter had attacked earlier, he had sensed a vaguely familiar fluctuation. Now hearing what the other had said, it was clear that this black-armored man was the same one from Zhenjiang City.

"Last time someone saved you. This time, you probably won't be so lucky." The black-armored man's hoarse voice brimmed with killing intent.

Then he said no more nonsense. Astonishing, surging phase force swept out like a storm, and that powerful pressure crashed toward Li Luo and Lu Ming in waves like a great tide. Under such pressure, the two already felt an abnormal heaviness in their bodies.

The gap between them and their opponent was truly

too great.

"Sigh, Li Luo, I knew following you would bring nothing good." Lu Ming sighed, her slender jade hand already reaching for the Spirit Mirror, ready to crush it and escape at any moment.

Facing a true Earth Fiend General rank expert, the two of them at the Phase Master realm simply could not resist.

"Don't rush."

Li Luo's expression remained fairly composed, cold glints surging in his eyes. The black-armored man before him should be around the Fiend Palace realm. An enemy of this level was indeed very tricky, but it wasn't truly completely impossible to match.

He glanced at the crimson bracelet on his wrist. If it truly came to a desperate moment, this trump card should be brought out to be used.

Lu Ming saw his still-composed demeanor and was somewhat surprised and doubtful. Could Li Luo still have a means to contend with an Earth Fiend General rank expert?

"Putting on airs."

The black-armored man scoffed at Li Luo's calm, then stopped wasting words. The heavy spear in his hand trembled, and in the next instant, a torrent of phase force roared out alongside the spear tip, like an angry dragon breaking through the sky, pouring directly toward Li Luo and the other in a manner like mercury spilling across the ground.

Where the spear-tip torrent passed, even the void seemed to tremble, the sound like a wailing cry.

Under such an offensive, Li Luo and Lu Ming seemed like travelers standing beneath a mountain peak, a crushing pressure bearing down upon them.

Utterly unable to match it.

Lu Ming clenched her silver teeth, the jade fingers gripping the Spirit Mirror slowly applying force.

Li Luo's palm covered the crimson bracelet, phase force erupting from his palm.

Boom!

And just at the instant Li Luo was about to trigger the Three-Tailed Heavenly Wolf's power, suddenly extremely sharp Thunder Light tree thorns shot out explosively from the tree wall behind him, directly colliding with the heavy spear's gleam. Immediately, a violent shockwave swept outward, sending both Li Luo and Lu Ming flying back.

The two quickly steadied themselves, then looked ahead with somewhat surprised and doubtful gazes.

The spear-gleam torrent there had been forcefully resisted. At the same time, tree thorns continuously grew out from the surrounding tree walls, all aimed at the black-armored man from afar.

"This is..." Lu Ming's beautiful eyes widened.

"It's the Thunder Sound Tree's power."

Li Luo was also stunned for a moment, then his gaze turned to that silver tree heart and he smiled: "It seems although the detoxification earlier wasn't completed, at least it let it regain some control over a bit of power."

The palm covering the crimson bracelet slowly withdrew.

The Thunder Sound Tree's intervention was a pleasant surprise.

Buzz!

And at this moment, the tree thorns covered in Thunder Light all around shot explosively toward the black-armored man, low rumbling thunder sounds rising, swift as lightning.

Seeing this, the black-armored man let out a fierce roar. The heavy spear in his hand swept, and one saw rolling phase force surge, as if forming a massive phase force vortex around him. The vortex spun, erupting with terrifying tearing force, and those tree thorns wrapped in Thunder Light, once sucked in, rapidly turned to powder.

"Hmph, Thunder Sound Tree, don't try to show off here. If you could fully control your power, I naturally wouldn't dare stay. But if you think you can defeat me with just this remnant strength, that's far too naive." The black-armored man laughed coldly.

Every swing of his heavy spear seemed to carry the force of a mountain peak, churning the vortex, making the phase force vortex increasingly violent.

"Thunder Sound Tree, the power you can wield right now is extremely limited. You can't hold out much longer. Once your power is exhausted, I can still easily crush those two little rats to death."

"You want to escape my lord's control? That's nothing but a dream."

The black-armored man's ghastly voice kept echoing within this tree wall area.

The silver tree heart also began to tremble violently at this moment. It seemed to be trying to wield more power, but the jet-black poison thorns embedded in it slowly sank deeper, beginning to suppress it.

"Li Luo, it can't hold out much longer. Should we help?" Lu Ming's willow brows knit tightly at the sight.

"The black-armored man hasn't been fully held back. He's still keeping strength in reserve, waiting for us. If we approach carelessly, we might just play into his hands," Li Luo said cautiously.

He thought for a moment, a flash of light in his hand, and he pulled out the Silver Falcon Bow.

He thought for a moment, a flash of light in his hand, and he pulled out the Silver Falcon Bow.

Then he drew back the bowstring, channeling his resonant power into it, and instantly a light arrow, like a falcon of light, shot forth at extreme speed, aimed straight at the black-armored figure.

Clang!

However, the light arrow was blocked by the black armor covering the black-armored figure's body. A crisp sound rang out, and the light arrow directly shattered, scattering into specks of light.

Yet on the black armor, not even a single arrow mark had been left behind.

Li Luo felt a bit awkward.

This fellow's strength was already formidable, the resonant power around his body was vast and powerful, and this black armor was clearly no ordinary object either—its defensive power was extremely astonishing. With this armor on his body, the black-armored figure could truly be said to have wings added to a tiger.

But just as the black-armored figure had said earlier, the power that the Thunder Roaring Tree could wield was extremely limited, and this power was rapidly weakening as time went on.

So the Thunder Roaring Tree could not hold out for much longer.

Once the Thunder Roaring Tree's power was completely exhausted, they would once again fall into a perilous situation.

And just as Li Luo was thinking about how he could use this time to pose a threat to that black-armored figure, he and Lu Ming suddenly saw in surprise that the tree wall beside them was slowly cracking open at this moment. A section of silver branch stretched out from within, and then the branch split from its center, revealing a silver-tipped wooden arrow, about a foot long, looking unusually rough, under their gaze.

The silver wooden arrow was very ancient and simple, with no patterns emerging on its surface, but that silver color was exceptionally pure. Vaguely, Li Luo even had a feeling that the wooden arrow before him seemed to be condensed from thunder itself.

"Inside this, an extremely astonishing thunder force is compressed and condensed," Lu Ming's beautiful eyes lit up. She possessed the Lei Xiang, so naturally her perception of this was a bit keener. This silver wooden arrow was transformed from an extremely pure thunder energy.

Li Luo also revealed a look of wonder in his eyes. Clearly, the Thunder Roaring Tree was handing this extraordinary thunder arrow to him because it wanted him to use this one arrow to take down the black-armored figure before them.

Tch, this Thunder Roaring Tree, it really has become a spirit.