pjbooks Chapter 56 is quite interesting.
Chapter 56 is quite interesting.
In the void, the Thirteenth Apostle's gaze slowly fell upon the three.
Those pure golden pupils shone blindingly in the darkness, like two stars enveloped in lava. His gaze swept over Ye Wuhen, then to Zhou Tianze, then to Luo Qinghe, and finally returned to Ye Wuhen. The whole process was slow and casual, as if he were looking at a few reasonably thriving weeds by the roadside.
"It's been three hundred years."
He spoke.
The sound was soft, yet it echoed in the boundless void, as if coming from all directions simultaneously, or as if it exploded directly in the depths of everyone's soul. The tone was deep and magnetic, carrying an ancient languor that had been tempered by countless years.
"Three hundred years ago, you were the first humans to arrive here."
He tilted his head slightly, his long, silvery-white hair slipping down his shoulders and drifting slowly in the air. A faint, ambiguous smile appeared on his handsome, almost unreal face.
"Ye Wuhen." He pronounced the name, his tone as flat as if he were reading an insignificant list. "Thirty years ago, you broke into the First Apostle's Hall and came out alive. You were the first person in human history to emerge alive from the Apostle's Hall. At the time, I thought, 'That's interesting.'"
His gaze shifted to Zhou Tianze.
"Zhou Tianze, ten years ago, in the Seventh Apostle Hall, you destroyed the Apostle's projection, forcing the Seventh Apostle's true form to take action. Although you were defeated, it's not bad that you managed to escape alive. That eye is both the price you paid and a medal you earned."
Then he looked at Luo Qinghe.
"Luo Qinghe, eight years ago, in the Eleventh Apostle Hall, you used your ice-based abilities to freeze the Apostle's projection attack. A defensive counterattack—the first time a human Awakened had done this in the Apostle Hall. Your left arm was crippled, but you survived."
He looked away, the smile on his lips deepening.
"Three people, three SSS-level talents, thirty years of combat experience—the strongest combination of human awakened beings in history. Do you think you're qualified to stand here?"
In the void, his voice suddenly turned cold.
The veins on Ye Wuhen's hand, gripping the sword, bulged.
On Zhou Tianze's short spear, the electric arcs pulsed faster and faster, yet grew dimmer and dimmer.
On Luo Qinghe's right palm, ice flowers were condensing, but they began to shatter the moment they condensed.
"Do you know?" The Thirteenth Apostle's voice rang out again, returning to its lazy, nonchalant tone, "For the past three hundred years, I have been watching every step forward, every breakthrough, every time humanity's awakened beings thought they had reached a new height."
He raised his right hand, his long, pale fingers making a light stroke in the air.
A screen of light appeared, displaying a series of images flashing by—the image of Ye Wuhen walking out of the First Apostle Hall covered in blood thirty years ago, the image of Zhou Tianze losing his left eye in the Seventh Apostle Hall, the image of Luo Qinghe standing despite his crippled left arm… Each image was their most glorious, most tragic, and most honorable moment.
"You think you're growing, getting stronger, and getting closer to us step by step. But what you don't know is—"
He gently clenched his fist, and the light screen shattered, turning into countless points of light that dissipated.
"What you call growth is nothing more than me allowing you to grow. What you call becoming stronger is nothing more than me getting bored and wanting to see just how far ants can jump."
In the void, there was a deathly silence.
"As for the hope you speak of, it is merely a gift from us."
He smiled dismissively.
Such an arrogant attitude angered the three people present, and even angered countless viewers watching the live stream.
"This guy is way too arrogant!!"
"Ye Wuhen, teach him a lesson!"
"Damn it, what thirteenth apostle? You'll see!"
...
The Thirteenth Apostle's voice echoed softly in the void. The curve of his lips didn't even deepen; he simply maintained that ambiguous smile, his golden pupils reflecting three taut faces.
Zhou Tianze was the first to make a move.
There was no probing, no holding back. In a mere 0.3 seconds, the lightning energy within him surged from its dormant state to its peak. Silvery-white arcs of electricity erupted from every pore, transforming his body into a humanoid bolt of lightning. His short, silvery-white hair stood on end, each strand crackling like an electrified metal wire. His eyes—including the prosthetic eye—blazed with a blinding white light.
"Thunder Emperor——Tianxia·Wanxiang!"
He suddenly spread his arms wide to the sides, and countless lightning spears simultaneously materialized in the void. Not a dozen, not dozens, but tens of thousands, densely covering the entire void like a silvery-white forest. The tip of each lightning spear locked onto a specific point on the Thirteenth Apostle's body—throat, heart, dantian, brow, joints, and the intersection of meridians—leaving no blind spots and no omissions.
This is not an attack, it is a saturation bombing.
Zhou Tianze clasped his hands together, making loose fists.
A barrage of spears was fired simultaneously.
Silvery-white lightning illuminated the entire void as bright as day. Countless lightning spears simultaneously bombarded the Thirteenth Apostle from all directions, tearing the air—if there was any air in this void—with sharp hissing. The lightning spears rubbed, collided, and exploded against each other, constantly splitting, reforming, and accelerating in flight, ultimately transforming into an overwhelming torrent of lightning that completely engulfed the Thirteenth Apostle.
At the core of the thunderous torrent, the temperature reaches millions of degrees, enough to instantly vaporize any matter.
The light dissipated.
The thirteenth apostle was still standing there.
He didn't even move. A thin, almost invisible dark golden aura surrounded him, like a close-fitting suit of armor, keeping all the lightning spears out of his body. His black robe was perfectly wrinkle-free, his long silver hair was perfectly styled, and his golden pupils were completely still.
But he lowered his head and glanced at the palm of his right hand.
There was a very thin, charred mark there—a lightning spear had pierced through the gap in the halo, leaving a burn mark on his skin thinner than a hair.
"Not bad," he said, his tone still calm. "The fact that you've met me means you're a little bit better than the one who was blind in one eye before."
Zhou Tianze's face darkened. Not because he was being mocked, but because his attack had used sixty percent of his spiritual power, while his opponent only had a mark on his palm that wasn't even a serious injury.
But he did not retreat. He took a deep breath, and once again gathered lightning spiritual power in his hands. This time, instead of unleashing a barrage of attacks, he compressed all the remaining lightning spiritual power to its limit, condensing it in his right palm into a fist-sized, deep purple lightning core. The color of that lightning core changed from silver-white to deep purple, and from deep purple to almost black—this was the result of the spectral shift after the lightning spiritual power was compressed to its limit, and the energy contained within was enough to erase a mountain range from the map.
He held the Thunder Core in his hand, and his entire body transformed into a streak of light as he rushed toward the Thirteenth Apostle.
Close combat.
Zhou Tianze is not a ranged mage; he is a rare melee fighter among lightning-type awakened individuals. His body has been tempered by lightning spiritual power over a long period, making him far stronger than other awakened individuals of the same level. His speed, strength, and reaction time have all reached terrifying levels under the enhancement of lightning spiritual power.
He rushed up to the thirteenth apostle, his right fist, still wrapped in the deep purple lightning core, smashing towards the apostle's face.
The thirteenth apostle raised his hand and caught the punch.
The moment his palm collided with Zhou Tianze's fist, a dull, metallic thud resounded. A deep purple lightning core exploded in his palm, arcs of electricity radiating outwards, enveloping his entire arm in lightning. His sleeve was torn by the electric arcs, revealing his pale, almost transparent forearm beneath.
But his hand remained completely still.
Zhou Tianze's fist was gripped in his palm, as if it had been welded shut, unable to be pulled back or pushed in.
"The power is not bad," said the thirteenth apostle, "but your lightning is too slow."
In an instant, a burst of blood-red light, seemingly out of nowhere, exploded in Zhou Tianze's chest.
Zhou Tianze was sent flying backward, tumbling through the air more than a dozen times before barely managing to regain his balance. His right hand was split open at the base of his thumb, blood dripping down his wrist, and his entire arm was trembling.
The overwhelming pressure that erupted at that moment made him feel terrified, while Jiang Chen, far away in Jiangzhou, inadvertently revealed a faint smile.
This live stream is finally starting to get interesting.