Upgrade Specialist in Another World

Despite the barrier gone, Mt. Crimson was still safe thanks to Lao Sha stopping any elemental attack from inadvertently hurting the crafters. Thanks to Lao Sha, no harm befell the mountain and the students could at the very least protect themselves much more efficiently.

The battle was still going strong on the outside of the mountain. Initially caught off guard, the students were now calm-headed enough to follow their fellow students to the back of the mountain for safety.

There weren't as many students in the Crafting School as most schools so it didn't take long for them to group up and retreat to safety. Only a few Soul Ancestors and Soul Exalts were left backing the crowd. They had the confidence to watch out for themselves as they watched the battles outside.

"Kill it!!"

Qi Ning was furious at Lao Sha. Swatting away an attack from Hu Yang, he whirled around to face it.

"Whoosh!!"

An Early-stage Soul King was already enroute to the dog by the time he gave the order and aimed a bolt of violet lightning at Lao Sha!

This lightning-type Soul King was getting on in the years. Despite having reached a level of power most soul cultivators couldn't ever hope to gain, this Soul King wasn't particularly talented in the art. His battle experience, on the other hand, was far more plentiful than his opponent, Song Lin. Thus, it was a relatively easy task for him to break free from his fight with Song Lin to attack Lao Sha. Since he couldn't sense any power from the dog, the Soul King figured it would be an easy matter to kill Lao Sha.

Yes, the dog could swallow elemental energy, but that didn't mean the Soul King couldn't physically strike and kill it.

The Soul King managed to make it close to the dog in a matter of moments due to his innate speed as a lightning-type Soul King. Swinging his right arm, the Soul King threw out a bolt-shaped soul armament toward Lao Sha!

"Ah!!"

Multiple people on Mt. Crimson began to scream in terror for Lao Sha!

"Woof?!"

Fear entered the dog's eyes when it recognized the soul armament coming straight at it. Since it wasn't even a soulbeast, Lao Sha hadn't the proper speed it needed in order to move out of harm's way. So even though the soul armament wasn't even a hundred steps away from it, the dog wasn't going to be able to dodge…

It instinctively curled up into a ball with its paws around its head. Just as he did, a metallic light began to shine out from its body…

"Clang!!"

Sparks flew everywhere when the soul armament collided with the dog. But rather than going through it, the soul armament bounced away while Lao Sha flew backward as if kicked!

"What?!"

The Soul King was naturally perplexed. The soul armament he threw was a low-heaven tier, it should've penetrated the dog's armor!

And since it didn't, that meant the dog was wearing soul armament even stronger than the one he wore…

It made his blood boil with rage. An animal that wasn't even a soulbeast wearing mid or high-heaven tier soul armaments when even he didn't have armor like that? Grabbing hold of the reflected soul armament, he chased after Lao Sha to put it down for good!

While his soul armament didn't manage to break Lao Sha's armor, it did manage to hurt the dog. If he could get close to the dog then he didn't even need a soul armament to kill it. A physical strike would be more than enough to provide enough concussive force to kill it!

"Whoosh!!"

He managed to get within ten steps of Lao Sha when he was ready to attack. But right before he did…

A shiver ran up his spine, as if he was on the verge of dying. Abandoning Lao Sha, he whirled around just in time to see a golden streak of light right in front of him!

"Ha!!"

A burst of violet light exploded from the Soul King. Wielding a longsword, he delivered a massive slash onto the light!

"Clang!!"

"Crack!"

There was a loud cracking sound as the low-heaven tier longsword in his hand snapped in two the moment it struck the golden light. Horrified, he watched helplessly as the golden streak of light exploded with renewed vigor into his heart!

"Pcht!!"

His body felt as if it had been drenched with a bucket of ice-cold water before it started to shut down…

The golden streak of light flew out from the other side of his chest before flying away and returning to the outstretched palm of Tang Xinyun.

Now that the light was gone, everyone could see what kind of soul armament it was.

A small golden soul armament the shape of a shuttle.

Equipment Grade: High Heaven

Elemental Affinity: Metal

Upgrade Level: +11

Attack: 8000

Additional Attack: 5200

Equipment Effect: Gain double the penetrative force when thrown in exchange for half the distance and double the soulforce used.

+10 Additional Effect: 50% Chance to apply Rupture upon a successful attack.

Wounds caused by this are 4x harder to heal.

Upgrade Requirement: 400 Soulpoints

This extraordinary soul armament was something Bai Yunfei got from the corpse of Lin Xiangtian after his battle. With the ability to gain double the penetrative force, Bai Yunfei decided to upgrade the high-heaven tier soul armament and gave it to Tang Xinyun. Since she was an Early-stage Soul King, having this type of soul armament would be beneficial for her. In this case, the soul armament wasn't something the lightning-type Soul King could handle.

"Whimper…"

'Snarling' as it rose unsteadily to its feet, Lao Sha started to whimper a bit. But when it saw the concerned looks Tang Xinyun gave it, the dog stopped its whimpering and gave her a determined expression as if to say, "I'm fine."

"Damn it!!"

Qi Ning howled furiously when the Soul King died. He was so furious that he wanted to kill Tang Xinyun and Lao Sha himself, but Hu Yang wasn't giving him the option to. Every time he tried to break away, Hu Yang would follow. The crafters knew how vital Lao Sha was and moved appropriately to provide the best defense they could muster.

And so the battle continued with Lao Sha absorbing any elemental energy heading toward the mountain while Tang Xinyun stood by its side protectively. This way, neither the mountain nor its students were harmed.

"Bzz…"

Something in the air began to buzz, causing multiple people to look around themselves warily.

Those from the Wind Lightning School and Soul Refining School were worried the hum meant the barrier was going to reactivate itself, but they realized a moment later that wasn't the case. The source of this humming didn't sound anything like a barrier or the work of a soul cultivator, but they still couldn't put their finger on what exactly it was.

Those from the Crafting School, however, began to light up with glee at the sensation!

Every single person on the battlefield could sense the importance of this sensation. Whether they were from the Crafting School or against it, this was a moment of high tension!

"What?!"

Huo Zhenting was the first to realize what was going on when the soul armament in his hand began to act abnormally.

Given the decades he had this soul armament, Huo Zhenting had an unbelievably deep connection with it. Right now…he could feel the soul armament tremble!

It was trembling! In his hand! And it was seemingly trembling from…fear?!

Could a soul armament feel fear?!

The next moment Huo Zhenting saw a flash of red light travel at him. Alarmed, he swung his sword up to defend himself!

"Clang!"

The attack was parried, but Huo Zhenting felt his sword-arm grow numb for some reason. Confused, he looked down at his soul armament to see the reason.

"What is this?!"

He shouted in confusion. The soul armament in his hand no longer 'felt' as lively as it was before! The strength from his sword was definitely a lot weaker than before! And…the soulforce he transmitted into the soul armament wasn't taking as well as it did before.

It was as if the soul armament was having difficulty taking in his soulforce. It was treating his soulforce—and by extension himself—as a stranger!

Furthermore…he could sense from the attack just now that the soul armament of his enemy was a lot stronger now too!

What in the world was going on!

While Huo Zhenting was trying to figure out what was going on, Yang Yao had an abnormally excited expression on his face!

"Heavenfire!!"

The wave of energy now being ushered through the battlefield belonged to the guardian of their school, Heavenfire!

This was the power of a 'domain' formed by not a soul cultivator, but a…soul armament!

People all over the battlefield were beginning to realize the changes happening within their soul armaments. The crafters were happily fighting with renewed energy while those from the Soul Refining School or Wind Lightning School were horrified to find their soul armaments performing 'weaker' than usual. Using them required more soulforce than before and for results far below the usual!

They didn't have as much soul armaments as the crafters did, but every Soul King had at least one or two soul armaments, whether it was a weapon or armor to wear. They grew to rely on those soul armaments in their battles after using them for so long. So to have their soul armaments change like this so suddenly caught them all off guard.

If a soul cultivator were to use a soul armament with far weaker results than before, it would without a doubt shake them up. This in turn would alter how they fight for the worse and cause panic. Two of the enemy Soul Kings had already lost connection with their long-ranged soul armaments and were killed straight off the bat by the crafters!

"Damn!! What is going on here! Why didn't Dongfang Ming tell us about this?!"

Qi Ning howled once more out of fury.

"Boom!!"

In another part of the battlefield, the fight between Kou Changkong and the Half-emperor had made a new development. With his white longsword bolstered and the enemy soul armament weakened, Kou Changkong was able to deal a stunning blow on the Half-emperor and send him packing.

The Half-emperor was furious. As someone that should be dominant over every other Soul King, the Half-emperor was somehow finding himself on the losing edge against this Peak Late-stage Soul King.

Green light began to pour out from his body even before he could steady himself. He was preparing for another attack!

But before he could release it, the air around him began to hum abnormally. Eyes-widening, the Half-emperor began to look terrified!