Volume 9 Chapter 73: Black Fish Heavy Armor

Lucky was always sleeping in a backpack on Lin Xi's back. Even when Lin Xi and Changsun Wujiang were chatting, it never woke up. However, all of a sudden, this Black Foxcat who was sleeping and cultivating suddenly felt a bit of uneasiness, as if there was a bit of dangerous aura coming from the distant forest, rousing it awake.

Lin Xi also suddenly stopped.

Gao Yanan, Bian Linghan and the others were all on guard, nervously crowding around the stretcher.

It was already the last of the darkness before the sun rose again, the world peaceful. Even some of the small bugs who moved about at night vanished without a trace, only the noises of fish swimming in Heaven's Lens Lake sounding from time to time.

"What is it?"

Gao Yanan carefully examined her surroundings, but she didn't notice anything. She couldn't help but suppress her voice and ask this.

Lin Xi made a signal to remain silent, his brow furrowing.

He could feel Lucky on his back waking up. The moment Lucky woke up, he also sensed a trace of strange uneasiness.

Only, in an instant, that feeling that made him feel uneasy suddenly disappeared again.

Could it be that they were targeted by Heaven's Lens Mermaids?

Lin Xi knew that Lucky's perception was far stronger than his own. As such, he turned his hand and lightly patted his back.

Lucky quickly made its way out of his back, its four claws grabbing his clothes, flipping over his shoulder and hanging from his chest. When it saw Lin Xi's inquiring look, it shook its head in confusion.

Its perception was indeed much sharper than Lin Xi's, but perhaps because they were still extremely far away, it couldn't tell what direction that extremely faint trace of dangerous aura came from either. At this time, the extremely dangerous aura seemed to have completely disappeared as well, as if it was mistaken.

Splash!

Right at this time, a loud noise of something entering water sounded.

This sound was much louder than that of normal fish making contact with water. One's very first guess would be that this was a huge splash, likely an object whose size wasn't small that fell into the water.

The atmosphere became even more strange.

Lin Xi's brows furrowed tightly together.

After just a few breaths of time, Lucky's four claws that grabbed onto his clothes suddenly tightened. Then, it immediately loosened a claw, pointing it towards the forest ahead. Its dark eyes also flickered with a bit of a nervous expression.

Right now, it sensed a dangerous aura again, only, this dangerous aura was different from the extremely faint, almost misconception like aura. It was the killing intent of many cold metal objects moving.

Lin Xi and the others still haven't sensed these auras that were extremely clear for Lucky, but both him, Gao Yanan and the others, from Lucky's movements, understood that there was definitely something dangerous nearby. Without any hesitation. Lin Xi raised his palm and then Bian Linghan silently climbed onto a large tree beside them.

After just five or six breaths, great rustling noises sounded from the forest ahead. The feeling it gave off was just like as if a wall was currently moving through the forest.

Massive black figures could be faintly made out.

The first glimmer of dawn was currently shining down from the horizon.

Both sides saw each other at nearly the same time.

Soul weapon heavy armor!

What appeared from the forest almost directly on the other side of them were twelve sets of heavy armor soul weapons.

These soul weapon heavy armors were black, the armor on their bodies like the bodies of centipedes, composed of many joints. The helmet was completely sealed, the armor covered in dark green water plant shaped runes. As such, the very first impression these soul weapon heavy armors gave others was that glossy giant black fish covered in water plants were standing there.

In the hands of the 'giant black fish' were black heavy spears and a thick round shield with sharp edges.

Yunqin Empire's soul weapon heavy armors were always things that intimidated the world. However, Yunqin Empire's standard armors had all underwent many years of real combat tests and countless workmanship upgrades, having strict requirements in terms of practicality and exterior appearance. This type of strangely shaped black fish-like armor definitely didn't display Yunqin's military might, so any cultivator could tell with a single glance that these were definitely not Yunqin Empire's standard armor, but rather a privately cast soul weapon heavy armor made by Yunqin's civilians.

However, regardless of whether it was the empire's standard soul weapon heavy armor or the privately made soul weapon heavy armor, every single set used up large amounts of rare metal and other materials, and some of the rune applying materials couldn't be reused. Even if they were matured standard armors, using the border army's most commonly seen Green King and Green Wolf Heavy Armors as an example, when ten sets were intended, only six or seven sets would ultimately become finished goods.

That was why the price of every single set of soul weapon heavy armor would be extremely shocking. Normally, in a powerful Yunqin field battle army, there would still only be thirty to forty sets of soul weapon heavy armors.

As one would expect, the shocking value represented precisely shocking fighting strength. Thirty sets of soul weapon heavy armors, when matched with an ordinary heavy armor army's assault, would become a giant steel millstone.

Soul weapon armors were precisely things to help lower level cultivators kill higher level cultivators.

Lin Xi could easily understand this concept... because every set of soul weapon armor, in his mind, was like an 'Iron Man suit'.

Everyone knew that Wenren Cangyue had many private armies under him, storing up a considerable amount of powerful, non-standard military equipment.

The appearance of twelve sets of outwardly strange soul weapon heavy armor meant that they could only be Wenren Cangyue's subordinates.

Lin Xi and the others didn't expect to actually encounter a rarely seen soul weapon heavy armored troop here. Their bodies all went slightly rigid at this time.

Meanwhile, this soul weapon heavy armored troop seemed like they didn't plan on encountering anyone here either. When they saw Lin Xi's small troop, they were also immediately stunned.

...

"Our luck really is too great, actually running straight into a soul weapon heavy armor troop."

The moment their eyes met, Lin Xi reacted, inwardly sighing.

It was clear that the other party didn't come for the sake of intercepting them, but rather to carry out some type of mission. Both sides accidentally ran into each other.

"Who are you all?"

Lin Xi didn't hesitate, calmly speaking out first.

After saying this, he immediately used a voice only Gao Yanan and the others could hear to quickly ask, "Do you all know what kind of soul weapon heavy armor this is?"

Jiang Xiaoyi and the others remained silent, not replying.

Silence meant they didn't know.

Gao Yanan shook her head slightly. She knew more than the average cultivator, but she had never seen any records of this type of privately made soul weapon heavy armor.

Lin Xi's brows jumped slightly.

The reason why he secretly asked about what type of soul weapon heavy armor these were was because he knew the chances of Wenren Cangyue's private army betraying him was extremely small, it might be hard to avoid a battle after this. While rushing through Lost Forest, there might always be great danger, so he had to do his best to preserve his unique ability. That was why if they really had to fight, he was going to first try to see if they could win. Moreover, ever since he understood the reasoning behind cultivation, he couldn't help but become a bit of a martial idiot like Li Ku, the stronger his opponent, the greater the pressure the opponent had on his mind, the more he couldn't help but feel the urge to give it a try.

Because he still had the ability to do everything over again, this type of urge became even stronger for him.

However, most cultivation idiots weren't true idiots, they all made decisions through their own rationality. Lin Xi understood extremely clearly that only State Master level cultivators had a chance of destroying soul weapon heavy armors with pure soul force strength. As for cultivators like himself and Gao Yanan, they could only attack these soul weapon heavy armors' weakest points.

Almost all privately smelted soul weapon heavy armors had more flaws than Yunqin standard heavy armors, because these great workshops, despite also having some brilliant and shocking craftsmen, their numbers still couldn't compare to the royal court's craftsmen. The intellect of a single person could sometimes change the special part of a single set of soul weapon heavy armor, for example, increasing the speed of dash, especially shocking attack power, particularly nimble mobility, but a single person usually couldn't think perfectly for all aspects, impossible for them to compare to decades of continuous modifications and improvements. There was no way for privately made soul weapon heavy armors to experience so much real combat tests. Even if they did discover some type of flaw, due to the limits of craftsmen and workshops, it would also be difficult to effectively improve on them.

That was why the strengths and weaknesses of privately made heavy armors would basically be known by all cultivators.

However, these privately made heavy armors seemed to be extremely rare. This meant that they could only find out where to attack these heavy armors after fighting against them... Moreover, regarding these heavy armors' power and soul force consumption, how long Soul Expert level cultivators could continue fighting for while wearing them, these numbers were completely unknown. The difficulty of fighting against this type of soul weapon heavy armor would naturally be even greater.

...

It was almost exactly as Lin Xi suspected.

When they heard Lin Xi's questioning, these twelve sets of armors that made him feel like he was facing twelve 'black fish generals' didn't display the slightest trace of friendliness. The soul weapon heavy armor at the very front spoke with an extremely cold voice. "You all don't need to ask who we are... because you all are definitely not people loyal to Great General Wenren, so we are destined to be enemies."

"What if I tell you all that this person is the current crown prince?"

Lin Xi calmly pointed at Changsun Wujiang behind him. "As long as he is saved, not only would your previous sins be completely redeemed, you all would also establish world shocking merit. Are you all truly willing to walk down a path of no return with Wenren Cangyue?"

The twelve sets of soul weapon heavy armor exchanged a few looks, their cold eyes seemingly simultaneously displaying pleasant surprise and expressions of ridicule.

"You are too immature."

The soul weapon heavy armor in the lead looked at Lin Xi in mockery. "We were acting on orders to hurry over and coordinate in the assassination of the crown prince to begin with."

Du Zhanye's body shook once again. Normally speaking, cultivators who needed soul weapon heavy armors to increase their own strength were definitely not high level cultivators, because the runes of soul weapon heavy armors could only tolerate a set degree of soul force. The highest output of a set of soul weapon heavy armor was constant, but even if it was the most ordinary soul weapon heavy armor, its power would be roughly equivalent to Soul Master level. However, the defenses of the armor covering one's body were something even higher level cultivators couldn't compare to.

In her opinion, there was no way they were these twelve sets of soul weapon heavy armors' match.

"It seems like this really is just too great of a coincidence." However, Lin Xi's voice instead remained extremely calm, to the extent where he was even a bit expectant.