"Lightning Release: False Darkness!"
Ten Shadow Clones simultaneously unleashed advanced Lightning Release, and ten lightning spears struck Xu Wenwu like lightning.
Xu Wenwu, who was already somewhat bewildered by Li Chuan's Ninjutsu that created ten clones, was shocked to see this and quickly released the Ten Rings to form an energy defense in front of him.
However, Ninjutsu is different from magic; its main focus is destructive power, especially Lightning Release Ninjutsu, which explodes with particularly high energy intensity. Even the power of the Ten Rings could not deflect all of it and could only barely defend and resist.
Just as the Ten Rings were restricted by the Lightning Release, Li Chuan had already used the Body Flicker Technique to quickly arrive beside Xu Wenwu, placing the elder wand against his forehead.
"Alright, it's over, Stupefy!"
The Stupefy Curse accurately hit Xu Wenwu, causing him to roll his eyes and faint on the ground.
The Ten Rings were Xu Wenwu's weakness. When the Ten Rings were restricted and all their energy was used for defense, the energy empowering him would naturally decrease significantly, making it very easy for him to be defeated.
If he hadn't considered keeping him alive, one punch from him just now could have blown Xu Wenwu's head off.
As Xu Wenwu fainted due to the Stupefy Curse, the Ten Rings, without a host to control them, immediately retracted all their energy and fell to the ground.
He dispelled the Shadow Clone Technique, picked up the Ten Rings, and placed them on his left and right arms respectively. Instantly, a peculiar energy flowed from the Ten Rings into his arms, and then into his body.
At this moment, Li Chuan felt that the cells within his body were also undergoing strange changes under the influence of the Ten Rings' power.
At the same time, due to the empowerment of the Ten Rings' power, he felt his strength had once again greatly improved.
"It really is a strange weapon."
Li Chuan took off the Ten Rings, and that peculiar energy dissipated. His cells returned to their normal state.
The power of the Ten Rings is like the power of Dormammu that Ancient One draws from the Dark Dimension; both are external powers. When used, they can enhance one's strength and allow the body to remain immortal, but once not used, they lose their corresponding effects.
This is not the immortality he seeks, but it can serve as a short-term substitute, at least much better than methods like the magical stone, Horcruxes, and Reanimation Jutsu.
Even if he goes to the Immortal Cultivation World, achieving immortality is not that easy. Having the power of the Ten Rings at least gives him an additional layer of security.
Moreover, he also discovered an advantage of the Ten Rings: after activating their power, the side effects he experienced from using the Eight Gates would be greatly reduced.
The Eight Gates is a forbidden Ninjutsu that temporarily grants immense power by opening the Chakra pathways that restrict it within the human body.
It requires a strong body as a foundation, and the longer it is maintained during use, the greater the damage to the body. Opening the final gate results in an explosive increase in power, but after use, the body will directly collapse and die.
Because Li Chuan had injected Number One Enhancement Agent containing Super Soldier Serum and Hulk cells, his body was strong enough, and his cell repair ability was also strong, so he could maintain the Eight Gates for a longer duration, and the side effects would be much smaller.
Yet, he still couldn't maintain it for a long time.
However, the special energy infused into his body by the Ten Rings could greatly alleviate the burden on his body after opening the Eight Gates, extending his Eight Gates duration by at least more than double.
If his body becomes even stronger in the future, perhaps even opening all Eight Gates will not result in death.
The only downside might be the origin of the Ten Rings. It's unclear where they truly came from; anyway, given the power of the Ten Rings, they are probably either artifacts of some ancient god or weapons of some advanced Universe civilization.
Moreover, they constantly emit some kind of signal, which might bring him some trouble in the future.
Overall, it's still good. It provides considerable help to his current strength. As for future matters, they can be dealt with in the future. After all, Earth already faces many crises.
First, strengthen oneself. Only by being strong enough can one resist crises.
"Revive Quickly!"
Putting away the Ten Rings and temporarily tossing them into a small cloth bag, Li Chuan took out the elder wand and dispelled Xu Wenwu's Stupefy Curse.
Xu Wenwu opened his eyes and found that the Ten Rings were no longer in his hands, realizing that the tide had turned:
"Please don't harm my two children."
"You have two choices: kneel and submit to me, or die!
Submit to me, and I will resurrect your wife, reuniting your family. Choose death, and I will also send your family to reunite."
Li Chuan looked down at Xu Wenwu and slowly said.
Xu Wenwu, without the Ten Rings, was just a slightly stronger ordinary person. He posed no threat to Li Chuan, and killing him offered no benefits.
It would also lead to his subordinates, scattered across various locations, retaliating wildly. Although he wasn't afraid of ordinary people retaliating, having to deal with occasional sniper rifles, Rocket launchers, and street assassinations would be very troublesome.
Crucially, he also didn't have the time to go around and clear out the Ten Rings Gang's key members one by one.
As for taking over, that was even less likely. If he killed Xu Wenwu, those Ten Rings Gang members wouldn't just pledge allegiance to him. He didn't possess any 'kingly aura,' and Xu Wenwu's organization, built over a thousand years, wouldn't be so easily taken over.
It's the same problem: he didn't have time to waste on this issue.
So, it was better to directly subdue Xu Wenwu. This way, he could indirectly control the vast Ten Rings Gang through Xu Wenwu. A phone call would suffice for any matters, saving time and effort.
He also didn't have to worry about Xu Wenwu betraying him, because he could use Edo Tensei to resurrect Xu Wenwu's wife, and then at any time release the Edo Tensei, causing Xu Wenwu to lose his wife.
Xu Wenwu's wife was his strongest leash on Xu Wenwu.
Even if this leash didn't work, it wouldn't be too late to kill him then. Without the Ten Rings, Xu Wenwu was no stronger than an ant in his eyes.
"Can you really resurrect my wife?"
Xu Wenwu looked up at Li Chuan, his eyes filled with hope.
Previously, he thought Li Chuan's words about resurrecting his wife were likely false, but given the current situation, the other party seemed to have no need to deceive him, and the abilities the other party had just displayed also gave him some confidence.
"Of course, I have no reason to lie to you, but the premise is that you must have her ashes preserved."
Li Chuan had already conducted an Edo Tensei Ninjutsu experiment last night and confirmed that in the Main World, the Edo Tensei effect could also work.
This was also within his expectations, as the resurrection of a person in this World seemed not to be unprecedented.
For example, Ghost Rider, Gekko Knight, and so on.
As for whether this would attract the attention of some Dimensional Demons, like the Hell Lord Mephisto, with Ancient One alive, no Dimensional Demon would dare to openly come to Earth.
Besides, Xu Wenwu's wife was not an important target valued by the various demons; no one would care about such a thing.
Thanos snapped his fingers, wiping out half of the Universe's population, and then Hulk snapped his fingers, resurrecting them, yet no one intervened.
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right nobut who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/TripleCrown
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"