Chapter 728 - 38: The Counterattack
The bowstring was looped around his fingertip, and the tension coursed not only through the bow but also across Chen Zhou’s nerves.
He could smell it; the bloody scent on the black-robed man was drawing ever closer, as if tracking him, lurking either to his sides or overhead.
As he moved closely along the jade-like tree trunk, he suddenly heard a heavy thud.
In the instant Chen Zhou turned his head, a dark shadow immediately descended from the sky, akin to a fierce bird swooping down on its prey.
"Watch out!"
Before Paul could utter the words, the black-robed man leaped down from the tree, gripping his long saber with both hands, swinging down with the force to split a mountain.
Had an ordinary person faced such a sudden attack, they wouldn’t have been able to react at all.
But Chen Zhou was no ordinary person.
In that critical moment, he raised his longbow, using the bow arm to firmly withstand the blow from the black-robed man, while simultaneously retreating backward.
A painful wail sounded as the blade sunk three-quarters into the bow arm, dragging the longbow downward for some distance.
By the time the black-robed man withdrew his long saber, the bow arm was almost cleaved in half, its layered structure collapsing with creaks and groans.
Losing the longbow in a single clash, Chen Zhou, having felt the strength of the black-robed man, was even more certain this was a tough opponent.
He decisively abandoned the longbow and the arrow in his other hand, drawing out a long spear from behind, his gaze fixed on the black-robed man—
Only up close could one observe how bizarre this person’s attire truly was.
The black robe was made from a matte fabric that could greatly obscure his figure in dim lighting, making it invisible to ordinary people with less keen eyesight.
Under the black robe, the man wore light armor, with diamond-shaped protrusions on his chest and waist, making his build appear particularly robust.
Chen Zhou guessed those protrusions might be metal plates installed within the armor to fend off damage.
The black-robed man wore a mask that blurred his facial features; the mask had no decoration or significant texture, only a pair of dispassionate, gray pupils.
Those eyes showed no emotional fluctuation, as if missing the ambush was within his expectations.
Noticing the target had grown alert, the black-robed man cast a deep look at Paul behind Chen Zhou, then glanced at the three restless, tooth-baring saw-toothed tigers, making the same choice as before—
To run.
Taking a step forward, he feigned a slash with his saber, but midway through, he sheathed his saber and turned, all actions flowing seamlessly. The black-robed man pushed off a nearby tree trunk, leaping forward several meters in an instant.
Failing to cut the grass at its root will allow trouble to grow boundless.
Knowing the black-robed man favored ambushes and was highly skilled, concealing himself so well even Chen Zhou found it hard to detect, how could he dare let him escape?
Without wasting time instructing Paul on whether to wait or leave, Chen Zhou tossed the quiver aside next to the longbow and decisively gave chase after the black-robed man.
...
Since the end of the island challenge, Chen Zhou had rarely met anyone who could match his speed.
Even agile Japanese Ninjas could only barely evade his attacks when he wielded the Bone Hammer; once he set it down, the victor was swiftly determined.
Yet this mysterious black-robed man was a rare formidable opponent in his life.
Maybe the black-robed man’s absolute speed wasn’t faster, but his movements were exceptionally strange, using the trees to alter direction repeatedly or grabbing branches to propel forward through "swing" momentum.
The black-robed man had a lead of seven or eight meters at the start, which Chen Zhou diminished to three or four meters after a few minutes of pursuit. If not for the black-robed man’s speed dropping slightly due to exhaustion, the chase might have lasted even longer.
...
While Chen Zhou was surprised by the black-robed man’s speed, the latter was equally astonished by Chen Zhou’s pace.
Realizing he couldn’t shake his pursuer with speed alone, the black-robed man changed tactics, beginning to climb upward—
The jade-hardened ancient tree had branches close together at the crown, forming "aerial pathways" that allowed for more flexible shifts than on the ground.
Chen Zhou feared nothing on earth, only when people sought the high ground.
His weight was too much for the slender high branches of the jade ancient trees. If the black-robed man shifted his escape route overhead, it would be hard for Chen Zhou to pursue when encountering narrow branches.
Watching the black-robed man ascend swiftly, like a spider clinging to the bark, Chen Zhou grew anxious, quickening his pace as he relentlessly pursued.
Unlike the black-robed man’s hand-and-foot climb, Chen Zhou only used his toes to propel from crevices in the bark, shooting himself upward more than a meter at a time.
If the black-robed man climbed like a spider, Chen Zhou ascended like a rocket.
After changing tracks, the black-robed man not only failed to widen the gap, but the distance between them closed even further.
The long spear was clenched tightly in Chen Zhou’s right hand, and with just his left hand, he maintained balance as he continued upward without slowing.
Three meters, two meters...
The sharp spearhead darted like a snake’s tongue beneath the black-robed man, making him realize there might be no escaping this fierce battle.
...
One black and one brown figure rapidly ascended upon the thick tree trunk.
When they were about 10m above the ground, the upper shadow’s momentum suddenly paused, then swept downwards sideways, drawing a white arc as it swung at the brown shadow below.
With a clang.
The spearhead collided with the blade, and Chen Zhou, holding the spear in one hand, parried the black-robed man’s long saber, striking like an agile dragon toward the man’s chest.