Chapter 870
Everyone exchanged astonished glances with one another, and Xu Xiaoyan exclaimed, "My God, Boss; what have you been up to during the past month? If you encounter another opportunity that can bring such drastic enhancements in just a month, make sure to call us up so we can join you! You're a Saint Blacksmith now? Doesn't that mean you can even start forging metals for our suits of three-word battle armor now?"
Tang Wulin smiled, and said, "Not quite. I've only just recently become a Saint Blacksmith, and I need some time to consolidate. Besides, even if I can forge metals of that caliber, none of us will be able to use them before we become seven-ring Soul Sages anyway. Without a martial soul true body as a foundation, there's no way we can use suits of battle armor created from soul refined metals, so let's not get ahead of ourselves here, and focus on constructing our suits of two-word battle armor first.
"However, now that I've mastered soul refinement, I'm planning to forge alloys that consist of fusions of four different types of metals for our two-word battle armor. That way, they'll be far superior to other suits of two-word battle armor. Aside from attaining wings, each suit of two-word battle armor will be able to solidify a soul skill, and those soul skills aren't limited by martial souls. You guys should think carefully about this and ideally decide on a soul skill that someone else among us knows rather than one of your own soul skills."
Solidifying soul skills referred to using special circuits to seal a soul skill into a suit of battle armor. The power of that soul skill would depend on the Soul Master's cultivation rank and the power of their battle armor. After attaining suits of three-word battle armor, they would be able to solidify an additional soul skill.
For example, one of Tang Wulin's soul skills could be solidified into Xie Xie's battle armor, but this process required 100% cooperation from the Soul Master in possession of the soul skill.
"Boss, I want to solidify that claw ability of yours!" Xie Xie immediately said.
Tang Wulin immediately burst into laughter upon hearing this. "You sure dare to dream! Setting aside the fact that this is one of my bloodline soul skills, which may not even be possible to solidify, you don't have my strength, nor my Golden Dragon Dreadclaws to supplement that skill anyway, so it's not suitable for you. Among all of you, only Yuanen possesses enough strength to unleash a good portion of my Golden Dragon Annihilation Claws' power. Of course, she'll only be able to attain that skill if it's possible for my bloodline soul skills to be solidified."
Tang Wulin continued, "I think there's a decent chance that this should be achievable. Furthermore, the more metals used in a spirit alloy, the more capacity it would have, so it may not be impossible for us to solidify some of our teachers' soul skills. At the very least, we should be able to choose all soul skills below the seven-ring level. However, it's important to keep in mind that we should choose soul skills that have good synergy with our existing abilities rather than just going for a powerful soul skill."
Two-word battle armor was a completely different concept from one-word battle armor. Strictly speaking, only after attaining a suit of two-word battle armor could one become a true battle armor master. Of course, exceptions had to be made for Tang Wulin and the others, who all possessed suits of battle armor that were created from spirit alloys.
At this point, both Yuanen Yehui and Yue Zhengyu had already become six-ring Soul Emperors, so they had built the foundation required to attain suits of two-word battle armor. Everyone else was also quite close to becoming Soul Emperors.
Xu Lizhi was especially excited. If he could attain a suit of two-word battle armor, then he'd be able to solidify a powerful offensive soul skill, and that would go a long way to making up for his biggest shortcoming. At the very least, he'd be able to play attacking roles in battles as well.
"Alright, let's have another match, and don't hold back. I need to see the full extent of your powers so I can decide what your suits of battle armor require the most," Tang Wulin said with a smile.
Even though none of them were able to use suits of battle armor crafted from soul refined metals at this point, with his foundation as a Saint Blacksmith, Tang Wulin was confident that he'd be able to forge spirit alloys consisting of at least four or even five different types of metals. Of course, when forging these spirit alloys, he had to consider the natures of the battle armor soul skills that everyone wanted to solidify.
This was one of the main benefits of having a super blacksmith when crafting suits of battle armor. The higher the caliber of the battle armor, the more the blacksmith had to play a pivotal role in its construction.
For a normal blacksmith, spirit refinement would already be quite difficult, and spirit metals could also be used to create suits of two-word battle armor without being fused into alloys, but the battle armor's soul skill capacity would naturally be quite lackluster. Due to the lack of quality of metals used, there were many suits of two-word battle armor that couldn't even solidify any soul skills.
Zhen Hua was so influential across the entire continent because he was the only Divine Blacksmith on the entire continent, and his involvement was mandatory in the construction of the best suits of four-word battle armor.
If Tang Wulin were to announce to the world that he'd become a Saint Blacksmith, he'd never have to worry about being out of work ever again.
Feng Wuyu was a Titled Douluo, so the prospect of approaching him for forging services was rather intimidating, but Tang Wulin was still young, and there would undoubtedly be many Soul Masters eager to work with him.
Xie Xie sidled up to Tang Wulin with a concerned look on his face. After all, a two-on-five battle was heavily skewed against their favor. He asked in a low voice, "Are we really going to be able to win, Boss? My battle armor hasn't completely recovered yet, so I won't be able to help you much!"
Tang Wulin glared at him, and scoffed, "Where's your backbone? Don't forget that Yuanen is looking at you!"
Xie Xie chuckled, "I have confidence as long as you're by my side, Boss! Let's teach them a good lesson here!"
Yue Zhengyu raised an eyebrow in response. "I'm not sure who's going to be teaching the lessons here!"
Both sides retreated and faced off on the trial grounds.
Yuanen Yehui, Ye Xinglan, and Yue Zhengyu stood at the front of their group with Xu Xiaoyan and Xu Lizhi bringing up the rear. All of them immediately donned their suits of battle armor without any hesitation.
As for Tang Wulin, he'd been wearing his suit of battle armor this entire time. In the face of five of his friends, a very serious expression had appeared on his face. This was not going to be an easy fight.
Xu Lizhi had already begun chanting incantations, producing one steamed bun after another. There were Bloodthirsty Red Bean Buns, Sturdy Crystal Buns, Puncture BBQ Pork Buns... From the looks of it, he was preparing one of each of his buns for everyone.
Tang Wulin immediately yelled, "Begin!"
There was no way that he could wait until Xu Lizhi created all of the steamed buns that he wanted. In that case, the battle would essentially already be decided from the outset.
Tang Wulin rushed forward while Xie Xie vanished into thin air behind him.
At this moment, Tang Wulin could clearly sense a sharp aura that was elevating relentlessly behind him, indicating that Xie Xie was accumulating power while on the move! As expected, he had only lost to Tang Wulin in such a pitiful manner due to Tang Wulin's overwhelming bloodline domination.
Ever since Yuanen had accepted his confession, Xie Xie had been working harder than ever, and he certainly wasn't as weak as that first battle had made him out to be.
On this occasion, he was an ally of Tang Wulin's, and everything was completely different. Not only was Tang Wulin's bloodline no longer intimidating him, it was stimulating his own bloodline instead, stirring it into an excited frenzy. He could feel that he was able to accumulate power a lot faster and more efficiently as he moved forward behind Tang Wulin.
Even though his bloodline power wasn't directly enhanced, it was being stimulated to such an extent that he was able to muster up 120% of the power that would normally be available to him. This was the vast difference between standing against Tang Wulin as an enemy and standing behind him as an ally.
Even in the face of five opponents, Tang Wulin still charged ahead like a fearless giant dragon that was about to bare its fangs.
Right at this moment, a ring of light suddenly appeared right in his path, and his heart jolted as he immediately switched directions, rushing off to the side to evade it.
Those were Xu Xiaoyan's Starwheel Shackles, and if he'd reacted any later than that, he would've been ensnared by it. That was an absolute control soul skill, and getting caught in it would completely nullify the momentum that he'd built up. Even so, his momentum had still been hampered somewhat as he'd just been forced to take evasive measures.
Yuanen Yehui stuffed a Bloodthirsty Red Bean Bun into her mouth before leading the charge. Yue Zhengyu conjured up another holy sword in his hand before raising it high up into the air, sending a pillar of Light of Judgment crashing down directly toward Tang Wulin.
In a five-on-two battle, they held an absolute advantage, so their battle style naturally changed accordingly.
After Yuanen Yehui consumed her Bloodthirsty Red Bean Bun, she caught the Sturdy Crystal Bun, which Xu Lizhi had hurled at her using the Tang Sect's hidden weapon hand techniques, and ate that as well. A layer of crystalline light immediately surfaced around her body, thereby significantly bolstering her defenses.
A series of Astral Chains connected all five of them, and Tang Wulin's lips twitched slightly upon seeing this.
As expected, with Xu Lizhi and Xu Xiaoyan on their side, the entire dynamic of the battle had changed! If it were a two-on-three battle, he'd have absolute confidence in his ability to secure victory, but two-on-five was a different story altogether.
After Xu Xiaoyan summoned her Astral Chains, she pointed at Tang Wulin with a smile on her face, and Tang Wulin immediately took evasive measures, only for nothing to happen.
Xu Xiaoyan then stuck her tongue out at him with a goading smile on her face.
Tang Wulin's eyes narrowed slightly, and he suddenly took a step forward. He brought his right arm behind his body before swinging it forward with tremendous might, sending his Golden Dragon Spear hurtling toward Xu Xiaoyan like a bolt of golden lightning.
Tang Wulin's current strength was downright terrifying, and with the enhancements of his battle armor and Golden Dragon Body, even a seven-ring Soul Sage would have to treat this Golden Dragon Spear attack with extreme caution.