Chapter 653: The Trick of Shadow Division

Chapter 653: The Trick of Shadow Division

The shadow exchange took the Black-Clothed Man by surprise, catching him off guard.

However, he reacted quickly, his agile movements allowing him to raise his arm just in time to fend off Lin Nuo’s attack.

Both sides took a step back, neither making a move, locked in a tense standoff.

Yet Lin Nuo’s shadow clones continued to swirl around the Black-Clothed Man. While each clone was merely an illusion, any one of them could turn real in an instant, making the shadow exchange happen in the blink of an eye.

This made the Black-Clothed Man far more cautious, not daring to make reckless moves for fear of falling into Lin Nuo’s deadly trap.

Perhaps he needed to eliminate these shadows first; otherwise, Lin Nuo could use them against him again.

He began to channel his spirit energy, masking any changes in his breath, making it seem like he had no energy at all.

Having cultivated this skill himself, he could pull it off flawlessly and suddenly explode with power, catching the opponent off guard.

But Lin Nuo was astute, sensing the subtle shifts in energy. His trickery wouldn’t fly with Lin Nuo; he could see right through it.

If anyone wanted to play dirty, he could play that game to the end.

All of the shadow clones ceased their swirling and immediately shifted direction, locking on to the Black-Clothed Man, rushing toward him in unison.

From all directions, shadows surged forth. While each shadow was fake, they weren’t entirely without substance. Each had the potential to deliver a lethal blow—real and unreal, deception infused with reality, ever-changing and unpredictable.

As for Lin Nuo, he remained completely still, watching the Black-Clothed Man intently, ready to react to any of his moves.

He had to take it seriously; otherwise, he might very well get killed by this mysterious figure. While Su Kexin and the others claimed he was Su Lingjiang, there was no solid evidence to confirm this.

Even if it was him, no one could say what kind of person he had become, or if he still embodied the chivalrous spirit of a true knight.

That seemed unlikely now; he was sneaking around in a mask, attacking like a villain creeping through the shadows.

This was a battlefield, not a friendly spar—the slightest detail could trigger a fatal outcome.

He wasn’t about to allow a stranger to take him down; the experience of this major villain in combat wasn’t something to be underestimated.

As the multitude of shadow clones surged forth, the Black-Clothed Man had to be on guard against every single one.

Eliminate them all.

With a sudden outburst of energy, the Black-Clothed Man unleashed a wave of force that radiated outward, dispersing all shadow clones into nothingness.

Just like that.

After dissipating all the shadows, the Black-Clothed Man swiftly lunged at Lin Nuo, appearing before him with lightning speed, seizing this opportunity to deliver a critical blow.

A heavy fist swung down.

Bang!

The fist wind crashed downward, striking the trees with a thunderous impact, bringing them to ruin.

This punch aimed to annihilate Lin Nuo, intending to smash him into pieces.

However…

The punch connected with Lin Nuo but didn’t land fully.

His fist passed through Lin Nuo as if striking nothing but a shadow, causing a loud crash and a chaos behind him.

A shadow?

The Lin Nuo that was hit dissipated like smoke, not a drop of blood to be seen. The Black-Clothed Man was baffled; this should have been the real body, and with the shadows gone, how did it turn back into a shadow?

He was momentarily stunned, and in that instant, Lin Nuo appeared from the side, floating similarly but merely observing the Black-Clothed Man without attacking.

Then, where the shadows had just vanished, new shadows sprang up, dispersing and rushing toward the Black-Clothed Man.

The Black-Clothed Man was astonished; the disappearing shadows should have been from the main body, yet here they were reappearing in the same place.

This touched an area of ignorance for him—this was a scene he had never witnessed. Disappearing shadows reappeared, surrounding and attacking him anew.

Here they come again.

The Black-Clothed Man repeated his earlier tactic, unleashing a powerful surge of energy to eliminate all the incoming shadows.

But soon, the shadows resurrected from their previous locations, appearing one by one, not all at once.

A couple at a time, they rushed in sequentially. The Black-Clothed Man had to use his external energy to eliminate the shadows batch by batch, endlessly repeating the cycle. After eliminating each wave, he had to adjust his position because the shadows would respawn in their original locations.

The complexity of the shadows surpassed his expectations; he couldn’t completely eradicate them.

Using external energy to remove the shadows was a method most martial artists opted for, as long as their cultivation held the upper hand, removing the shadows wouldn’t be too difficult.

But Lin Nuo had turned shadow play into a masterpiece, swapping between real and shadow, and the resurgence of shadows caught the Black-Clothed Man off guard. After multiple attempts to eliminate the shadows, he had developed a habit of using external energy whenever the shadows appeared.

To his surprise, multiple waves of shadows came rushing in at once, too fast for him to handle—he could only eliminate one wave at a time, while the shadows returned rapidly and began encroaching upon him.

Shadow Exchange.

In an instant, Lin Nuo’s real body swapped with a shadow, drawing closer to the Black-Clothed Man while he was still unprepared.

He struck.

Lin Nuo’s right hand pressed against a Dao Fu, channeling spiritual energy, unleashing a powerful palm strike at the Black-Clothed Man.

Bang!

The Black-Clothed Man had a formidable spiritual energy shield, barely managing to block Lin Nuo’s strike, yet he was still pushed back several paces.

Lin Nuo pursued, and the Black-Clothed Man sent a palm strike toward the ground, releasing a wave of energy that struck the earth with a thunderous boom, throwing up thick clouds of dust that split the battlefield in two.

The Black-Clothed Man leaped backward, landing on the branches, arms crossed, gazing at Lin Nuo.

This was quite a duel; neither side had sustained serious injuries. He mused that the boy’s palm strike hadn’t breached his spiritual shield to inflict major harm, so he must have held back some strength.

Of course, he hadn’t revealed all his power either; this was merely a test of skill.

He had witnessed a unique shadow technique before, and that boy wielded it with extraordinary finesse, nearly getting the jump on him.

At that moment, the masked Black-Clothed Man was finally ready to speak:

“Not bad; your skills exceeded my expectations. You are fully qualified.”

“You can talk? I thought you were mute. Qualified for what?” Lin Nuo retorted, not pursuing further due to the man’s strong spiritual shield.

“Protect them well.”

“What? What the heck are you blabbering about? Are you really Su Kexin’s dad?” Lin Nuo questioned.

The Black-Clothed Man didn’t respond; he paused briefly and then slightly turned away.

“Take them away. Your wife, your family.”

With that, a gust of wind surged beneath his feet, and he vanished like the wind.

“What the hell? Riddler, may you die a thousand deaths.”

Lin Nuo cursed inwardly, not continuing the pursuit; there was no telling if it was a trap.

Perhaps he really was Su Kexin’s father, just here checking on his family?

What a grumpy old man; if he cared about others, he should just take off the mask and reveal himself. What skeletons did he hide?