It was all too clear for Bai Yunfei, even if he wasn’t fighting right now, that he was powerless. The battle taking place in front of him was one he wasn’t capable of fighting in. All he could do was watch.
But that didn’t mean he couldn’t influence the battle somehow. Participation was limited, but definitely possible, he just needed the proper timing for it.
A bright flash of red light popped into life next to Bai Yunfei before something dropped from it into Bai Yunfei’s hand.
It was the Cataclysmic Seal.
A string of notifications appeared in his head.
Elemental Affinity: Fire, Earth
Upgrade Level: +14
Attack: 5000
Additional Attack: 25000
Soul Compatibility: 100%
Equipment Effect: 5% Chance to inflict Confusion for 3 seconds (10% Chance if the head is struck).
10% Chance to stun the target for 5 seconds (20% Chance if the head is struck).
50% Chance to hurl the target.
Effects cannot be stacked.
Cooldown of 5 seconds.
+10 Additional Effect: When attacking, there is a 30% chance to activate ‘Constricting Flames’ and inflict a 30% decrease in mobility for a maximum of ten seconds.
Cooldown of 1 minute.
+12 Additional Effect: In exchange for soulforce, summon a shield made of elemental earth. The more soulforce used, the stronger the shield. The total defense of the shield cannot exceed the attack of the weapon. (Ineffective against mind-based attacks).
+13 Additional Effect: Magnify the size of this equipment. Attack remains the same. Can be controlled remotely.
+14 Additional Effect: Upon collision with another weapon, there is a chance for this weapon to absorb it and gain one of the effects as a Hidden Effect. Time is required for the other weapon to be fully absorbed, but once absorbed, gain a permanent stat boost in attack proportionate to the other weapon's attack.
Up to 3 Hidden Effects can be stored, with the earliest one being overwritten by default. Any Hidden Effect can be removed, but only one Hidden Effect can be in effect at any given time.
Cooldown of 1 hour before Hidden Effect can be swapped again.
If the weapon is higher in tier than the weapon it is trying to absorb, the chance of success is 50%
For each tier greater than this weapon, the rate of success drops by 15%.
Weapons tree tiers greater than this one cannot be absorbed.
The amount of attack absorbed is dependent on the weapon's grade. No other weapon can be absorbed until the previous one has been fully absorbed.
Hidden Effect 1: 10% Increase in attack (Enabled).
Hidden Effect 2: 50% Additional damage to wood-type targets.
Hidden Effect 3: Automatic restoration upon extreme damage.
Upgrade Requirement: 300 Soulpoints
……
“The ability to regenerate? That’s super useful, especially for a defensive-type soul armament! It’s not too useful for the Cataclysmic Seal, but it’s still worth the protection, I think I’ll keep it for now…”
This third hidden effect the Cataclysmic Seal gained came from the shell-shaped soul armament it had just absorbed.
The second hidden effect came from after he killed Nether and absorbed the hatchet from his Late-stage Soul Emperor companion. And the first hidden effect came from when he was first testing out the Cataclysmic Seal’s new abilities.
Bai Yunfei actually had another soul armament absorbed into the Cataclysmic Seal. It was before they traveled to the Fate School, but the hidden effect was rather useless and so Bai Yunfei had it erased. Bai Yunfei was pleased, this was quite the ability to have.
The absorption of a soul armament took some time to be completed, so Bai Yunfei didn’t want to randomly absorb soul armaments left and right during a battle. It’d be quite dangerous in a fight since he wouldn’t be able to use the hidden effects right away.
Excluding the shell-shaped soul armament, the three soul armaments the Cataclysmic Seal absorbed spanned across the three heaven subtiers. That allowed the Cataclysmic Seal to jump from an attack power of 5000 to 5330. The additional attack remained untouched.
……
After his investigation was completed, Bai Yunfei stored away the Cataclysmic Seal to resume watching the battle.
“Beating Gu Lianhun shouldn’t be a problem anymore. We just need to wait until ancestor Shen and senior Frostfeather manages to get the decisive blow in…”
The battle was getting more and more impressive, but it was also becoming more clear on who the victors would be. Bai Yunfei could already see the ending and was starting to grow excited.
Gu Lianhun’s strength was heavily diminished due to the Interdimensional Phantasm. The man was a Mid-stage Soul Saint, but not even he would be able to fight with his true strength if there wasn’t any energy for him to manipulate. The elemental energy his own body was producing wasn’t nearly enough to fight against two Early-stage Soul Saints, even if his soul wasn’t injured. How long would Gu Lianhun last at this rate?
It wasn’t all smiles on Bai Yunfei’s side, however. A few more minutes and the Interdimensional Phantasm would disappear along with their greatest advantage. It wouldn’t be nearly as easy to defeat Gu Lianhun then, and neither would they be able to stop him if he tried to flee.
Shen Pojun and the Frostfeather Saint both knew this, thus why their attacks were getting progressively more aggressive. Likewise, Gu Lianhun was also trying his best to survive through the storm and begin his counterattack once the Interdimensional Phantasm was gone.
Ten minutes passed already, meaning only five minutes remained. If things continued the way they were going right now, then killing Gu Lianhun within the time limit seemed unlikely.
“Ancestor Shen or senior Frostfeather haven’t used their strongest attacks yet, but neither has Gu Lianhun. It’s a little risky right now…and we can’t push Gu Lianhun too much. If he decides to self-destruct here…we can’t die here…I should begin the preparations for that…”
As he pondered silently to himself, Bai Yunfei sent a message into the Core World…
……
“Boom boom boom boom…”
So frequent were the explosions that it seemed like a never-ending chain of explosions. Shen Pojun and the Frostfeather Saint were attacking relentlessly while Gu Lianhun was ardently defending. The space in between them all was a mixture of red, white, and black light as the three fought for victory. Gu Lianhun couldn’t even be seen within the chaos anymore.
That being said, Gu Lianhun was now wielding a sword whose blade was entirely jet-black like the night. Each swing of his sword brought forth another wave of elemental darkness from it.
“Clang!! Crack…”
It happened when Gu Lianhun parried the Flame Dragon Crescent Blade with his blade. The two blades struck with a resonating ‘gong’ before one of the weapons let out a cracking sound!
Gu Lianhun blanched—the jet-black sword in his hand had a crack in it now!
This was his strongest weapon and was a high-heaven tier soul armament with an attack of at least 8000. That in itself was quite the feat, but…how could it possibly compare to the +12 Flame Dragon Crescent Blade?
Every time Shen Pojun used his soul armament to attack, Gu Lianhun had no choice but to use his sword to parry it. For the ten and so minutes they had been fighting so far, the sword had parried so many blows that it was at its limits, it couldn’t endure any longer!
“Swoosh!!”
Swiveling around as if this had been predicted, the Flame Dragon Crescent Blade made a full rotation to make a sweeping motion at his side!
Gu Lianhun snarled, he had no choice but to parry the blow again with his sword!
“Clang! Crack!!”
But unfortunately for Gu Lianhun, the blow that came from the opposing soul armament was nearly twice as powerful as the last one!
+12 Additional Effect: Convert and store enemy energy into this weapon. When enough energy is amassed, unleash a blow at 200% attack.
No longer capable of weathering the attacks, the sword in Gu Lianhun’s hand cracked all over and shattered into multiple pieces!
“Ugh!!”
The effect was instantaneous. Gu Lianhun let out a grunt of pain as his body trembled with pain. But to his credit, he managed to suppress the blood from escaping his mouth.
The sword had been just as compatible with him as his shell-shaped soul armament. When it broke, Gu Lianhun was forced to endure yet another heavy blow to his soul!
“Boom!”
“Boom!!”
As he reeled backward from the pain, two devastating attacks came forth from Shen Pojun and the Frostfeather Saint to capitalize on the moment!
Now was the time for Shen Pojun and the Frostfeather Saint to go for the killing blow. They had to make use of this moment to finish off Gu Lianhun with their strongest move!
“You wish to kill me? Fools! It won’t be that easy! Ahhh!!!”
Howling with a maniacal glint in his eyes, Gu Lianhun let loose a flurry of soulforce from his body. Despite the pain he felt and the injuries he sustained, the amount of power he radiated right now was far greater than before!
It was a showdown involving three Saints. Each one was using their final attacks to finish off this battle once in for all!
……
Meanwhile, on another side of the battlefield, Bai Yunfei was going through the preparations for his ‘final attack’ too.
His eyes lit up when he felt the spike in energy from the Saints. Determined, he turned around…
“It’s time! Is everyone ready?”
