Chapter 487 - 299: Sympathetic Detonation, Soul Capturing (Part 2)

Chapter 487: Chapter 299: Sympathetic Detonation, Soul Capturing (Part 2)

Yu Fei suddenly materialized in front of the mech, his sword poised to strike. The Tier 7 long-range model was in grave danger, but in the nick of time, its two mechanical eyes flared crimson as they fired two superheated beams of light.

But Yu Fei had already vanished, reappearing behind the mech. He thrust Zhanming straight forward, aiming for the machine’s energy core.

Before the blade could even touch it, a frantic warning flared from his enhanced senses. Relying on his lightning-fast reflexes, he fled the spot once more.

A metal buzzsaw sliced down where he had just been, while from another direction, a shell shimmering with an eerie light appeared.

"BOOM!"

A massive explosion erupted, followed by a chain of secondary detonations. The Tier 7 long-range mech was gone, and shattered fragments of the buzzsaw flew through the air.

Yu Fei looked over and, to his surprise, saw an expression of regret on the faces of the two sneaky ambushers.

It was bizarre. They were clearly mechs without discernible facial features, yet Yu Fei could distinctly sense their emotions.

Clearly, the two of them had used the lifeless Tier 7 mech as bait in a trap for him.

That terrifying, eerie shell was the handiwork of a Tier 8 mech. It had four cannon barrels mounted on its shoulders, one of which shimmered with that same ghostly light.

The Tier 7 mech unfolded twelve mechanical arms, its saws and gears of all sizes spinning wildly. The thrusters on its back flared to life, glowing blue as it charged toward Yu Fei.

The Tier 8 mech behind it was obviously a ranged unit. Its form unfolded in a bizarre transformation, turning it into a veritable battle fortress. It deployed two large and three small cannon barrels, along with two sniper rifles and three rapid-fire machine guns!

The main cannon, with a caliber over thirty centimeters, flashed with a spectral blue light and fired without warning.

"BOOM BOOM BOOM! BANG BANG!"

Yu Fei’s pupils shrank. With no time to think, he instantly teleported several kilometers away. An eerie light flashed, and the one-kilometer area at the epicenter of the blast was almost completely annihilated. All surviving mechs and components vanished, and the ground was gouged into a massive crater, as if struck by a meteorite.

’This thing’s offensive power is insane!’

Before the dust could even settle, the buzzsaw mech charged at him like lightning. Yu Fei was about to unleash his boundless Sword Qi to finish it in one blow, but a sudden, piercing premonition of danger made him teleport away instantly.

Clearly, the Tier 8 fortress-like ranged mech wouldn’t give him the chance for a straightforward fight; it intended to annihilate him with its overwhelming firepower.

’But that’s impossible!’

He might have been more cautious against a Tier 8 melee model, but a clumsy giant like this was completely helpless against his teleportation ability.

"VMMM!"

Countless streams of Sword Qi began to converge on his sword, Zhanming, and a terrifying aura coalesced in his hands.

The enemy seemed to sense the threat, intensifying its barrage, but every shot hit empty air. A moment later, it began to reconfigure its form, intending to flee, but Yu Fei wasn’t about to give it that chance.

He rapidly closed the distance, teleporting between the streams of Sword Qi he was continuously firing to approach at incredible speed.

He had no choice. The earlier bombardment had completely scrubbed the area clean of his residual aura!

"Strike!"

The terrifying, massive sword descended like a bolt of lightning. The Energy Shield deployed by the Tier 8 mech didn’t last even a second before it shattered, and the machine was torn apart.

The spectral blue energy core flared brightly, and Yu Fei instantly teleported more than ten kilometers away.

A terrifying mushroom cloud billowed upwards. Several shockwaves of energy erupted from the epicenter, and nearly all the other mechs that had luckily survived up to this point were annihilated in the self-detonation.

Yu Fei faintly glimpsed the silhouette of a buzzsaw mech. It lasted less than a second in the blast before it too vanished, triggering its own smaller explosion.

That had to be the Tier 7 buzzsaw mech.

To be on the safe side, Yu Fei shifted back another ten kilometers.

About five minutes later, the area finally settled. The ground where the Tier 8 mech had self-destructed was exceptionally clean. Normally, the intense heat and concussive force should have left behind vitrified, glass-like crystals, but he found nothing of the sort.

This patch of ground was unnaturally clean, just like any other area devoid of mechanical junk.

Yu Fei didn’t know how the Shenxiao Corps handled these situations. Evidently, his reward for eliminating the Tier 8 mech was zero, apart from the feedback from his Invincible Will.

He continued to carry out extermination missions, seeking to encounter more types of mechs and sharpen his real-world combat experience.

Later, Yu Fei discovered that not every Tier 8 mech produced such a terrifying self-detonation when destroyed. Those without "talent gems," or the melee-type mechs, would usually just destroy their own internal structure upon defeat, leaving behind only a fiery fluid sealed within a crystal and a small, sealed box.

Yu Fei tried to open them by force. When the crystal broke, the fiery fluid within simply dissipated. When the small box was forced open, its contents turned into a handful of black powder, its material properties unidentifiable.

He saved a few of each type of fire crystal and black box in his storage space, leaving the rest for the people from the Shenxiao Corps to deal with.

The next day, Yu Fei returned to the City of the End. He needed to say his goodbyes to Zhuo Feiming before returning to the Red Sun Realm to cultivate by consuming the Great Sun Golden Flame.

This was the nature of Body Refining Techniques. Without an infusion of high-end resources, progress was a matter of slow, steady accumulation over days and months.

According to the records, there were no shortcuts for cultivating the Great Sun Glaze Body. It was a top-tier Dharma Body that, under normal circumstances, only a select few Grandmasters were even qualified to attempt. The only way forward was to rely on the Great Sun Golden Flame for a gradual, step-by-step transformation to eventually reach completion, at which point one might have the chance to cultivate the Vast Heaven True Form.

Generally speaking, taking the Great Sun Glaze Body from introduction to perfection was a process measured in decades. It simply couldn’t be rushed, and there were no other methods.

This wasn’t unique to the Great Sun Glaze Body. Other top-tier Dharma Bodies were the same.

Yu Fei chose a relatively secluded location to leave a Profound Crystal Stone anchor. After his breakthrough to the Gang Qi realm, his divine soul had grown stronger, increasing the number of anchors he could place to twelve, which was more than enough for his needs.

"I’m heading out! I left you enough provisions for ten thousand people. I’ll be back in half a month to drop off another batch."

Zhuo Feiming was very satisfied. With a heaven-defying spatial ability like Yu Fei’s, handling battlefield logistics was a piece of cake.

’It’s just that the quality of the ingredients he prepared is a little lacking.’

"When you get out, find Meng Jun. I’ve had him prepare a batch of supplies for you to bring back. There are only 500 members of the Shenxiao Army here, so it’ll be more than enough!"

"And with your help, the extermination operation is moving along swiftly. I estimate we’ll be able to leave this godforsaken place in about three more months!"

Instead of teleporting away directly, he followed the Cross-Border Black Fog back to Tianwen University. He planned to say a quick word to Ren Feng and then depart.

"Wait for me, I’m coming right now!"

Ren Feng’s voice over the communicator was urgent as he flatly refused to let Yu Fei leave just yet.

"You were just going to leave like that? The custom meta-energy battle armor you asked me to order is finished. Don’t you want it?"

"Sorry, I forgot about it!"

Yu Fei felt a bit apologetic. After receiving the Red Lotus Battle Armor from Zhuo Feiming and then awakening his Electromagnetic Induction talent, the importance of the meta-energy armor had plummeted in his mind. He had completely forgotten about it.

Ren Feng’s voice was a complex mix of emotions, tinged with envy.

"Just how loaded are you? You spent that many merit points on a custom suit of meta-energy armor and then didn’t give it a second thought! Damn it, my old man is a Martial Saint, you know? And I’m still scraping by every day!"

Yu Fei just smiled and said nothing.

"Come on. You were in a rush to get to the Tiangong Ruins before, but now that you’re back, you’ve got to try some of Tianwen’s local specialties!"

It was a small gathering. Including Tang DanDan, there were only three of them. Cuisine was an indispensable part of a Martial Artist’s life, and the restaurant Ren Feng had chosen served dishes that were sweet but not cloying.

Just as Yu Fei was about to take his leave, Ren Feng requested a sparring match.

"I have a feeling you’re powerful, but I want to know exactly *how* powerful. Don’t forget, I took first place in the Celestial Pride Positioning Competition."

Ren Feng’s gaze was resolute. At their level, everyone cultivated various Secret Techniques and had their own unique trump cards, which allowed them to sense the approximate strength of their opponents.

He understood that he was probably no match for Yu Fei, but he was desperate to find out just how wide the gap between them was.

"Alright!"