Chapter 710 - 680: Escape

After his Thunderbolt Step broke through to the Great Success state, Lin Xinghai basically stopped using the Phantom Body Technique. This was because the Phantom Body Technique could only increase his base Speed by two times, while the Thunderbolt Step could increase it by three times.

Although his base Speed wasn’t that high, at only 1,430 points, this bonus became terrifying when amplified ten times by his Time Acceleration Ability.

That’s why, during combat, Lin Xinghai would almost always choose the faster Body Technique.

But that didn’t mean the Phantom Body Technique was useless.

The greatest feature of the Thunderbolt Step was its speed. Especially with a move like Thunder Stepping, its instantaneous burst power was something that even Earth Level Body Technique Martial Arts couldn’t hope to match.

The Phantom Body Technique, on the other hand, focused more on the Body Technique’s evasive and dodging capabilities. In combat, it could create a series of afterimages to confuse the enemy.

Previously, the afterimages he created could only slightly confuse his opponents. With a careful look, one could easily tell which were the afterimages.

But as this Cultivation Technique was cultivated to the Perfection Realm, it would grant an additional ability: using Blood Qi Power to condense a "phantom."

This phantom was identical to the user and could even be controlled with Perception Power.

Condensing a phantom that appeared completely real—this was the greatest use of the Phantom Body Technique.

Of course, for an ordinary person, even if they could conjure a phantom, controlling its movements with Perception Power would easily lead to some flaws in its actions. After all, dividing one’s attention wasn’t so simple.

And any stiffness or sluggishness in its movements would make it easy for others to distinguish between the real body and the phantom.

But Lin Xinghai was different. His powerful Perception Power guaranteed he could control these phantoms with far greater ease.

Most importantly, Lin Xinghai’s Time Acceleration Ability allowed his thoughts to move ten times faster than others, making his control so seamless that no flaws could be detected.

So, in one go, he pushed his Phantom Body Technique to its limit, instantly creating nine phantoms. Including his real self, ten versions of Lin Xinghai appeared on the field.

The ten Lin Xinghais scattered in all directions the moment they appeared.

The only difference was that the shadow beneath one of them seemed to come alive, extending a hand.

But this scene unfolding before it made the hand pause for a moment.

However, the opponent only paused for an instant before immediately grabbing Lin Xinghai’s ankle.

But as the shadow exerted its strength, the Lin Xinghai it had grabbed burst apart with a POP, dissipating into a cloud of Blood Qi Power.

With Lin Xinghai’s phantom gone, the shadow had nowhere left to hide.

The opponent finally appeared in Lin Xinghai’s vision. It was a humanoid creature, but it didn’t seem to be a physical entity. It was more like a phantom, giving off a strange and terrifying feeling.

After destroying the phantom, the creature’s form underwent Vaporization once more.

The next instant, Lin Xinghai saw a pitch-black hand emerge from beneath another one of his phantoms and grip its ankle.

Unsurprisingly, this phantom was also popped and destroyed.

But this scene made Lin Xinghai’s heart clench.

Because he discovered that the opponent’s strange movement ability was incomparably faster than before.

Before, from the moment he sensed danger to the moment the creature extended its pitch-black hand, there had been at least a two-second delay.

But this time, it took less than 0.1 seconds.

As he was mulling this over, the black humanoid figure vaporized again, quickly appearing beneath a third phantom and destroying it.

’Now, Lin Xinghai had begun to figure something out. The time it takes for it to move must be related to the distance.’

The farther the black figure traveled, the more time it needed.

The first time it appeared, it took over two seconds. That was because it had been outside the range of his Perception.

In other words, the creature had locked onto him from over 7,800 meters away and used this strange ability to teleport over and attack.

He had to admit, this ability was truly terrifying—to be able to launch a sneak attack from over ten thousand meters away.

Of course, this discovery was not without its benefits for Lin Xinghai.

’First, if it came from over ten thousand meters away, then it probably doesn’t know what just happened in the battle.’

’In that case, we can use our previous trump cards again, since the opponent won’t be aware of them.’

’Furthermore, I can control the remaining phantoms, have them rush toward the Xinghai Squad while also spreading them out to increase the time the opponent needs for each jump.’

However, Lin Xinghai soon discovered that this delay tactic wasn’t very effective. Even if he increased the distance by several hundred meters, it would only slow the creature down by about 0.1 seconds, which wouldn’t have a major impact on the overall situation.

Moreover, after the strange figure killed another phantom, its next target was Lin Xinghai’s real body.

Under these circumstances, Lin Xinghai had no choice but to create two more phantoms.

It wasn’t that Lin Xinghai didn’t want to create more phantoms. But these incredibly lifelike phantoms each required Blood Qi Power to be condensed. The more realistic the phantom, the more Blood Qi Power was needed.

A phantom like the ones Lin Xinghai was currently creating, which were indistinguishable from the real thing by both sight and Perception Power, required a full 100 points of Blood Qi Power and could only be maintained for one minute.

He had already consumed a considerable amount in the previous battle. He had used Thunder Stepping twice, not to mention unleashing his High Level Shooting Skill three times, each costing 1,000 points of Blood Qi Power.

Those alone had consumed 5,000 points of his Blood Qi Power. Adding in other expenditures, he had now used up more than half of his body’s Blood Qi Power.

Fortunately, the delaying tactic was working. Plus, even while using the Phantom Body Technique, Lin Xinghai still had a Speed of 48,600 points.

After a delay of just two or three seconds, he entered the one-kilometer range of the vehicle convoy.

Upon entering this range, he couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief, as he was now within the effective range of Liu Miaomiao’s Superpower.

Of course, the maximum limit of Liu Miaomiao’s Superpower wasn’t just one kilometer. Her original range was 100 meters, but after the 20x amplification from her Rare Level Mecha, her maximum range could extend beyond two kilometers.

However, at such great distances, she couldn’t lock onto a target with precision, especially with a strange creature like the black humanoid figure.

Therefore, Liu Miaomiao needed to wait for the opponent to enter the area covered by her Perception Power to unleash her Superpower accurately.

The next instant, as the strange black figure once again emerged from the shadow of one of Lin Xinghai’s phantoms, Liu Miaomiao’s Superpower enveloped it at the same time.

Lin Xinghai could see green specks of light floating out from the black figure, and the hand it had extended froze in place.

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A correction: I made a mistake in a previous calculation. The protagonist’s current base Speed is 1,430 points. Therefore, with Thunderbolt Step + Divine Demon Body + Superpower, his maximum Speed should be 62,900 points.