I will eventually become a god through sheer hard work.

The countless roots, wood chips, and debris cast numerous shadows upon each other under the sunlight.

Shadowflame is the ability to turn shadows into black flames; the larger and deeper the nearby shadows, the stronger this skill becomes.

In the darkness of night, when moonlight shines on the earth, although there are patches of shadow, the light is too thin and the shadows are not deep enough for the flames to spread.

The stronger the light, the deeper the shadow it can cast.

At this moment, high in the air, in the afternoon, the sunlight, though not as intense as at noon, was still quite strong.

In the deep shadows cast by countless pieces of wood and debris, Xue Jing drew out a thick stream of black energy.

The airflow transformed into burning black flames, which then morphed into a pitch-black crow with white, hollow eyes.

One, two, dozens, hundreds.

Everyone present widened their eyes, staring at the dense swarm of Shadowflame Ravens emitting silent cries.

"what is that?"

"A crow? Alive?"

Xue Jing pointed at the leader of the sky pirates, and hundreds of crows immediately flapped their wings and swooped down on him fearlessly.

The amethyst Gatling gun swept across the incoming crows, but they were extremely clever and dodged in the air. Although some were inevitably hit and shattered, most of them continued to get closer to the sky pirate leader.

Freed from the pressure of being targeted by bullets, Xue Jing immediately and without hesitation performed a somersault, black plates materializing from his feet. Using this momentum, he pushed off and charged towards the leader of the sky pirates.

The black longsword reappeared in his hand.

The first crow struck the sky pirate leader, exploding into black flames that burned on his amethyst armor, leaving a shallow dent.

"This is……"

The pirate leader, Zhong Ge, narrowed his eyes.

The Gatling gun in his hand immediately transformed, with several crystalline blades growing from his wrist. The gauntlets on his forearm separated from his wrist and upper arm, turning into a roller structure.

The same thing happened to the other arm. Then, with both hands facing the oncoming flock of crows, the amethyst blades began to spin at high speed, turning into two meat grinders.

The flock of crows crashed into the meat grinder, instantly exploding into black flames that annihilated the crystals. But as soon as there was a gap, the sky pirate leader immediately had the amethyst armor multiply and grow to fill it.

While he was busy dealing with the crows, Xue Jing himself had already come to his side, carrying a long black sword.

"—Black Sky Blade: Eye Piercing Flow"

The dragon's vertical pupil, piercing through the vast sea of ​​clouds, reflected the sparse 'lines' and 'dots' on the Sky Pirate Leader's body.

He swung his black longsword, slashing down along a subtle 'line' on the opponent's neck.

Black light flashed.

The blade cleaved open the gaps in the amethyst armor that were invisible to the naked eye, and the longsword touched flesh.

"Cha-"

A huge gash was slashed open in the leader of the sky pirates' neck, and blood gushed out like a fountain.

"Brother Zhong!!"

Upon seeing this, the other two air pirates, a man and a woman, immediately changed their expressions.

"Still dare to get distracted?" The Void Blade, who was fighting them, narrowed his eyes.

She held two sharp blades in her hands, while three more flew around her in the air.

In an instant, she swiftly slashed out with both hands, her speed unbelievable. She completed the slash, switch blades, slash, switch blades, and slash in half a second.

With a flash of five blades, the male air pirate named Wanbang was instantly dismembered into more than a dozen pieces.

At the same time, gunshots rang out.

A bullet was fired from the plane's cabin door, piercing the female air pirate's left abdomen.

She covered her abdominal wound and turned to run away without hesitation.

Xu Ren wanted to give chase, but the other party took out a capsule, put it in his mouth and swallowed it.

In just a few seconds, the flight speed suddenly increased, and the distance between them widened instantly.

Seeing this, Xu Ren stopped and turned to look at Xue Jing.

Black flames filled the sky, roots, tentacles, and debris; a black knight wielding a sword; an opponent nearly cleaved in two.

Xu Ren narrowed his eyes slightly and sighed:

"ISE is known for its many fighting methods, but this time it's a case of a fake ghost running into a real ghost."

"Just how many more tricks does this person have up his sleeve?"

"Is this the chosen one of God?"

……

(I've been really slacking off lately, so I'm adjusting my sleep schedule and will update more tomorrow.)

Chapter 148 Primarch Returns, Shadowflame Lv5, Mythical Battle! (4K)

In the sky, Xue Jing cleaved through the air pirate leader's armor with a single slash and was about to continue his pursuit.

At this moment, the twin instincts that had been activated all along sounded an alarm again.

Without any hesitation, a thin black plate materialized in front of him. He pushed off with his back foot and quickly retreated away.

The moment he left, the sky pirate leader underwent a change.

The amethyst armor covering its entire body began to writhe rapidly as if it were alive, and countless crystal spikes burst forth from its surface. Each spike was tens of meters long, and they were so densely packed that they looked like a giant amethyst sea urchin.

The burst of spikes was fierce and fast, and the tip of each spike was extremely sharp. If Xue Jing hadn't retreated quickly, he would have been pierced with countless bloody holes.

Xue Jing conjured several thin plates in the air and moved nimbly to stand on the fuselage of the plane, looking up at the giant 'sea urchin'.

"What exactly is that thing?"

He asked with a frown.

The phantom blade flew to his side, hovering in the air, and also looked at the sea urchin, speaking:

"That's ISE, officially named [Implant Silicon Based Organic Exoskeleton]."

"It was made from a special type of boundary creature called 'Living Crystal Seed,' making it a true 'living armor.'"

"By surgically implanting the ISE into the spine and connecting it with the nerves, it can be controlled like the hands and feet."

"ISE can absorb human energy and freely deform, multiply, and perform other operations... Depending on the grade of the raw material living crystal seed, the strength of the ISE produced will also be different. The ISE used by this sky pirate is at least B3 grade or higher."

Xu Ren spoke at an extremely fast pace, and finished explaining ISE in less than ten seconds.

"...Skilled ISE users can use a technique called 'Primary Reversion,' surrendering their body and mind to the ISE in order to revert to their biological form during the 'Living Seed' period..."

As Xu Ren spoke, the 'sea urchin' not far away seemed to respond to her words and began to change.

All the crystals softened, curled up, and retracted, condensing into a huge purple spherical crystal on the sky pirate leader's body.

Then, the sphere began to wriggle and change, first being stretched into a rectangle, and then gradually developing edges and corners, as if an invisible artist was sculpting it.

Head, limbs, tail...

A short while later, what appeared before Xue Jing and the others was a creature that looked very much like a wolf.

It is nearly fifteen meters long, with long and elegant limbs, huge and sharp claws and teeth, and a purple crystalline body, except for its red eyes.

"Roar--!!"

The giant amethyst wolf opened its mouth and roared violently, causing the air to vibrate and distort, forming a shockwave. Xue Jing, who was standing on the plane, was blown backward along with the plane.

The illusory blade was also blown backward by the shockwave. She managed to stop herself, then put her fingers behind her ear, and heard her teammate Xiaojing's voice through the communicator.

"team leader!……"

Upon hearing this, Xu Ren's expression changed, and he quickly said to Xue Jing:

"Xiao Jing roughly measured the data, and the overall danger level of this 'living crystal seed origin' is at least level 5!"

Xue Jing stretched his arm out in front of his eyes to block the strong wind, his eyes slightly narrowed as they peeked out from under his black helmet.

"Captain Xuren... go into the cabin and then move the plane away from here."

He spoke.

Xu Ren knew perfectly well that he was no longer of any use here except to hold them back, so he nodded and immediately flew to the cabin door, had the mandrill open the door, and then hid inside.

After she went inside, Xue Jing took a deep breath, mustered her strength, bent her legs slightly, and burst forth with power, shooting herself higher into the air.

He moved his fingers, and the dark red seeds beside him sprouted countless thick roots, casting numerous shadows on each other in the sunlight.

He then opened the panel.

[Possessing Divinity: 962]

Xue Jing turned his gaze to the Divine Skills panel.

【Shadowflame Lv4 (Divinity required for upgrade: 962/800)】

The pirate leader's ISE strength is quite high. At the current level, Shadowflame, whether in terms of its own annihilation and destruction or its strength after being activated into matter, can hardly cause any damage to the opponent.

Although Xue Jing was not hit by the opponent's attacks, judging from the doubled instinctive warning signs, they were clearly a great threat to him.

Now that he has used 'Primarch Return', he has clearly become much stronger.

If we don't upgrade soon, we might really lose.

Faced with the choice between upgrading Plant Pact from Lv2 to Lv4 or Shadow Flame to Lv5, Xue Jing did not hesitate and focused his attention on Shadow Flame.

In the current situation, what he needs most is pure combat power.

Upgrading Plant Pact to Lv4 might make it more versatile than Shadow Flame, but Shadow Flame is currently his strongest skill, representing the upper limit of his combat power in a certain aspect.

Therefore, upgrading this skill will directly raise his skill ceiling, making it the best choice in the current situation.

Xue Jing clicked on the upgrade option.

【Shadowflame Lv5 (Divinity required for upgrade: 162/1200)】

The next moment, Xue Jing's jet-black armor burst forth with countless black flames and blazed fiercely.

From the shadows cast by the intertwined roots, he drew out countless thick streams of black energy, which surged toward his body.