Chapter 156 Fierce Battle

The leader was not wearing a helmet, had a sinister face, and his eyes swirled with an abnormal silver-white vortex—a fifth-order mental being.

The five people behind him possessed profound auras, all at the fourth rank. There were also four others who were slightly weaker, but still at the peak of the third rank.

The ten people subtly formed a circle, blocking all exits.

“Ruan Ning,” the leader of the mental system spoke, his voice like sandpaper scraping, “the Shen family’s ‘Shadow Guard,’ ordered to take you back. If you cooperate, you can suffer less.”

As he spoke, his eyes flashed with silver light, and an invisible yet heavy and viscous spiritual energy field spread out, attempting to interfere with and suppress the consciousness and supernatural abilities of everyone in the field.

Zhou Min's face paled; her third-tier spiritual power felt like it was stuck in quagmire, its circulation disrupted. Lin Yan and Shen Yan also felt their heads spin slightly, their movements seemingly a beat slower. Da Huo shook his head irritably, spitting out a mouthful of sparks.

Ruan Ning's gaze swept over the ten people, lingering briefly on the leader of the mental system before moving away, as if he had only seen a slightly inconvenient decoration.

"Just you guys?" she said calmly, her tone devoid of emotion.

The leader of the psychic faction's eyes turned cold: "Make your move! Capture them alive!"

The order was given, and the ten men instantly sprang into action!

The five fourth-tier shadow guards had a clear objective and rushed straight at Ruan Ning.

They worked in perfect harmony. The man on the left thrust out his hands, both palms glowing red, and a torrent of blazing white flames roared out, engulfing Ruan Ning's upper body—a fourth-order fire element.

A man on the right gave a low shout and clashed his fists together. Visible shockwaves spread out in a fan shape, the air exploded, and the ground pebbles bounced—a fourth-order shockwave.

A figure in front of him blurred into three indistinct afterimages, wielding a dagger crackling with dark blue lightning, and stabbed at Ruan Ning's vitals from three tricky angles—a combination of fourth-order speed and lightning.

A person behind him crouched down and pressed the ground, causing the concrete floor of the warehouse to shake violently. Seven or eight stone spikes, as thick as bowls and with sharp tips, suddenly pierced through the soil and blocked Ruan Ning's escape route—a fourth-order earth element.

Another person did not attack directly, but instead formed a hand seal. Ruan Ning's body suddenly dimmed, as if he had fallen into a viscous shadow swamp, and his movements became obviously sluggish—a fourth-order shadow binding.

Five fourth-tier beings, wielding fire, shockwave, lightning spikes, earth spears, and shadow control, intertwined their five supernatural abilities into a deadly net that instantly enveloped Ruan Ning!

At the same time, the four third-tier shadow guards attacked Zhou Min, Lin Yan, and Shen Yan in pairs, with fierce offensive.

The last leader of the mental system activated his mental field with all his might, suppressing Zhou Min and the other two, and constantly sending out mental spikes to interfere with Ruan Ning's judgment.

A great battle erupted instantly!

Faced with the combined attack of five fourth-tier fighters, Ruan Ning made a move.

Instead of taking the hit head-on, she moved with lightning speed, taking a half-step to the left front. This seemingly simple step precisely avoided the core impact zone of the shockwave and the two stone spikes that first pierced the ground.

At the same time, she raised her left hand and lightly pressed it against the surging torrent of flames.

"凝".

The temperature in the air plummeted, and the dense moisture instantly condensed in front of her into a crystal-clear, arc-shaped ice shield half a meter thick!

The torrent of flames slammed into the ice shield with a hissing sound. The ice and fire clashed fiercely, white mist billowed, and the outermost layer of ice shield melted rapidly. However, new layers of ice kept condensing and replenishing the ice shield from the inside, managing to withstand the violent attack!

The moment the flames were blocked, the three afterimages of lightning spikes were already upon them! Ruan Ning's right hand, fingers pointing like knives, drew three azure trajectories in the air, which were actually three highly compressed, sharp-edged ice blades, precisely meeting the three afterimages!

Ding! Ding! Pfft!

The two afterimages were shattered by the ice blades, turning into lightning and dissipating. The third afterimage slightly deflected, and the ice blade grazed past it, but Ruan Ning flicked her fingertip, and a small ice crystal exploded silently, spreading a chill. The speed of that afterimage visibly slowed down, and Ruan Ning easily dodged it by sidestepping.

However, the shadowy bindings, like maggots clinging to a bone, continuously increased the resistance around her. The remaining stone spikes on the ground also changed direction and stabbed again!

Ruan Ning's eyes narrowed slightly, and she held back no longer. Her sixth-level mental power erupted, like an invisible storm, forcefully dispersing some of the shadow bindings and interference from the mental field! Her perception and reaction speed recovered to most of their previous levels.

Faced with the stone spikes coming from her feet and behind her, she lightly stomped her feet.

"Frozen".

Extremely cold white frost exploded from the center of her feet and spread instantly!

The stone spikes that were about to pierce the ground were quickly covered with a thick layer of ice, their forward momentum abruptly halted, frozen in place! A small patch of ground around them also turned into a smooth ice surface.

"What?!" The fourth-tier earth-elemental shadow guard's expression changed as he felt his connection to the stone spikes being forcibly severed by an extremely cold force.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Ruan Ning suddenly accelerated, breaking free from the encirclement of stone spikes. At the same time, she flicked her fingers repeatedly, sending several fine, yet incredibly concentrated, ice needles silently towards the shadow guard who had released the Shadow Binding.

The Shadow Guardian became alert and immediately erected a shadow shield in front of him. The ice needles shot into the shadow, making a soft "sizzling" sound. Although they did not penetrate, they caused the shadow shield to fluctuate, further reducing its binding force.

In the brief exchange, Ruan Ning, seemingly surrounded, defused the first round of fatal attacks and even countered some of the control by relying on precise judgment, extreme ice control ability, and a sudden burst of mental power.

However, these five fourth-tier shadow guards were clearly well-trained; their initial attack missed, but they remained calm. The fire-type shadow guard and the shockwave-type shadow guard exchanged a glance and simultaneously changed their tactics!

The fire-type shadow guards no longer pursued area attacks, but instead highly compressed the flames, condensing them into several crimson and scorching fire whips, which lashed and entangled like living creatures, specifically targeting Ruan Ning's limbs and joints.

The Shockwave Shadow Guard switched to a double-fist barrage, sending solid shockwave fist imprints through the air, forcing Ruan Ning to either meet the attack head-on or dodge, disrupting his rhythm.

The lightning-type shadow guards split into five figures, making it difficult to distinguish the real from the fake, and they circled around Ruan Ning at high speed, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

The Earth-type Shadow Guards changed their strategy, no longer conjuring stone spikes, but instead continuously creating small-scale quicksand traps and sinkholes to restrict Ruan Ning's movement.

The Shadow Guardians did their best to maintain the Shadow Swamp and attempted to use the shadows as tentacles to entangle it.

The five-person tactics changed, and their offensive became more dense and difficult to deal with, clearly depleting Ruan Ning's supernatural abilities and mental strength.

On the other side, Zhou Min, Lin Yan, Shen Yan, and Da Huo were also locked in a fierce battle.

Zhou Min's mental strength was severely suppressed. Faced with the rapid attack of a third-tier wind-element shadow guard, she could only barely use mental shocks to interfere with the opponent and dodge with her movement techniques. She was in great danger, and her arm had been cut open by wind blades.

Lin Yan faced off against a third-tier enhanced shadow guard. The opponent was slightly stronger than her, had rich combat experience, and used ruthless techniques. Relying on her exquisite swordsmanship and ruthless spirit, Lin Yan traded blows, temporarily achieving a stalemate, but she already had several bloody scratches on her body.

Shen Yan was facing two third-tier Shadow Guards at the same time, one of the metal element and the other of the water element.

He used his third-tier metal-type ability to control metal fragments in the warehouse to attack, but was interfered with by the opponent's metal-type shadow guards. The water-type shadow guards also harassed him from a distance with water arrows and ice spikes, putting him on the defensive. His left shoulder was grazed by an ice spike.

The raging fire was the most ferocious, and its fourth-tier flames posed a great threat to the Shadow Guard. However, it was under the special "attention" of the mental leader, who would occasionally send a mental spike at it, making it irritable and distracted.

Meanwhile, the Shadow Guards seemed to have prepared special fire-resistant equipment and restraint tools for it, preventing it from quickly defeating its opponent and instead keeping it entangled by the three of them.

The situation seemed to be unfavorable for Ruan Ning's team.