Chapter 38: The World's Number One Weapon Martial Soul? It's Time to Step Aside
"Xiao Chen? What… is this?"
Guang Ling stepped forward, staring at the longbow in Fan Chen's hands—one that bore an astonishing resemblance to his own martial soul. Shock was written plainly across his face.
"Well, I just wanted to see whether entering the Demon Armor Possession state would strengthen anything. And then… it turned out like this."
To be honest, Fan Chen himself was completely dumbfounded. It had all happened in the span of a single instant.
The longbow in his hands had simply transformed into the form it now took.
"Try to recall the details carefully. Think it through—no rush."
Guang Ling didn't press him. Though he was extremely curious about how Fan Chen had managed this, moments like these were precisely when impatience would do more harm than good.
"Let me think… it was like this…"
Fan Chen carefully retraced everything that had just happened. Thanks to Bai Ze's innate enhancement of memory, his recall ability was nearly photographic.
Even though everything had unfolded very suddenly, he could still clearly remember the entire process.
At the time, he really had just wanted to test whether wearing the Demon Armor would increase the power of his archery.
Then, at the instant the Reversed Edge Demon Armor manifested and made contact with the longbow, a surge of energy transferred from the armor into the bow in his hands.
This power wasn't soul power, and his own soul power hadn't been consumed at all.
It felt more like a special energy unique to the Reversed Edge Demon Armor itself. When a portion of it was split off and infused into the longbow, Fan Chen distinctly felt the energy within the armor dip slightly.
Once that energy covered the bow, Fan Chen instantly gained full control over all of its properties—as if the weapon were an extension of his own body. Using it felt completely natural.
The arrows he fired could even be condensed directly from his own soul power, and their might far surpassed that of ordinary arrows.
As for why the appearance resembled Guang Ling's martial soul so closely, it was likely because that longbow had left the deepest impression on him.
"Simulation? Replication? What kind of ability is this? If it can copy Guang Ling's martial soul, does that mean it can also copy someone else's soul skills?"
"That shouldn't be possible, right? If it could even replicate soul skills, that would be downright heaven-defying. Fan Chen wouldn't even need to train his own abilities anymore—he could just copy ours."
...
The group immediately launched into a heated discussion over Fan Chen's newly revealed ability. Meanwhile, Guang Ling directly summoned his own martial soul.
Two longbows of nearly identical shape—but entirely different auras—appeared before everyone's eyes.
"Xiao Chen, repeat what you did earlier."
As he spoke, Guang Ling also assumed a shooting stance.
Fan Chen instantly understood his intent. Without another word, he raised his longbow as well, aiming into the distance alongside Guang Ling.
Whoosh—
Whoosh—
Two arrows shot forth almost simultaneously.
A moment later, two thunderous booms echoed from afar.
Qiangu Junyu and Qiangu Junhuai immediately dashed toward the source of the sound.
When they arrived at the impact site, what greeted them were two massive craters.
One of them was shrouded in a faint layer of frost, clearly Guang Ling's handiwork.
The other belonged to Fan Chen.
This made one thing abundantly clear—Fan Chen could replicate the form of Guang Ling's martial soul, but not its inherent attributes or special effects.
But just as the two thought that was all there was to it, Qiangu Junyu suddenly frowned.
Sensing something amiss, he stepped up to the crater created by Fan Chen and lightly touched its surface.
In the next instant, the solid fractures collapsed entirely, crumbling into fine powder that scattered into the air.
"This is—?!"
Qiangu Junyu's pupils shrank sharply.
Qiangu Junhuai, sensing the anomaly as well, hurried over to take a look—and was equally stunned by what he saw.
Seeing that the two had gone completely still, the others in the distance grew curious and moved over as well.
By the time everyone had gathered around, the brothers finally snapped out of their shock.
The very first thing they did was go looking for Fan Chen.
"Xiao Chen, can you transform other weapons as well?"
Qiangu Junyu's expression was visibly excited as both his hands gripped Fan Chen's shoulders tightly.
"I think I can? Let me try."
Fan Chen wasn't actually certain whether this ability would work. After all, this was the first time he had ever manifested it.
Qiangu Junhuai handed Fan Chen the Xuan Iron Staff used for training, his eyes filled with anticipation.
However, just as he watched Fan Chen expectantly, hoping something extraordinary would happen—
The Xuan Iron Staff showed no reaction at all.
There was no change whatsoever, completely different from what had happened with the longbow earlier.
"Does it not work?"
Disappointment washed over Qiangu Junyu's face. It was obvious how much he cared about this result.
"Sixth, summon your martial soul first."
Golden Crocodile Douluo's voice came from the side. He had already seen through Qiangu Junyu's line of thought—
And had also grasped a key point about Fan Chen's ability.
"My martial soul?"
Qiangu Junhuai still hadn't fully understood Golden Crocodile Douluo's intention, but he complied nonetheless.
His martial soul was the Coiling Dragon Staff. Its overall color leaned toward azure-blue, with dragon-shaped patterns winding around it, exuding a majestic and domineering aura.
Paired with Qiangu Junhuai's natural pressure and presence, the moment Fan Chen saw it, the Coiling Dragon Staff before his eyes seemed to expand countless times over—
As if it were about to topple down and crush him into paste in the very next second.
That sensation vanished just as quickly, and the Coiling Dragon Staff returned to its normal size in his vision.
At that very moment, the familiar feeling returned.
The Reversed Edge Demon Armor once again separated a portion of its power and injected it into the Xuan Iron Staff in Fan Chen's hands.
In the next instant, the Xuan Iron Staff transformed—
Becoming identical in form to the Coiling Dragon Staff.
Qiangu Junyu was instantly overjoyed.
"It actually worked!"
"So that's how it is…"
Golden Crocodile Douluo stepped forward as well. As Fan Chen's master, he had been present for every step of his cultivation.
Back in the Star Dou Forest, Fan Chen had already seen Guang Ling's martial soul, so being able to replicate its form made perfect sense.
However, the Qiangu brothers had never released their Coiling Dragon Staff before. During training, they had always used featureless Xuan Iron Staffs as substitutes.
Moreover, Fan Chen had wielded the Xuan Iron Staff many times before while wearing the Reversed Edge Demon Armor—
Yet it had never transformed.
So there was clearly no rule stating that he could only transform bows and not staffs.
That meant the only explanation lay in this single point.
And reality confirmed Golden Crocodile Douluo's deduction.
Fan Chen's ability could only be triggered on forms he had personally seen.
Anything he had never seen before could not be replicated.
This was the core reason why it hadn't worked earlier, but worked now.
Golden Crocodile Douluo then explained his conclusion to the others.
After hearing it, everyone suddenly understood—
Including Fan Chen himself.
No wonder there had been no reaction earlier. It turned out he simply hadn't seen it yet.
"If that's the case, does that mean I could also replicate other weapon-type martial souls? Like the Clear Sky Hammer or the Seven Kill Sword?"
"In theory, it should be possible. But we'll only know for sure after testing it."
Golden Crocodile Douluo agreed with Fan Chen's reasoning. Since weapon martial souls like Guang Ling's Glowing Feather Bow and the Coiling Dragon Staff could be replicated, there was no reason the Clear Sky Hammer or Seven Kill Sword should be exceptions.
Of course, the prerequisite was that Fan Chen had to see them for himself—
And observe them up close for the best results.
"But let's put that aside for now. Sixth, tell us—what exactly did you discover just now?"
Golden Crocodile Douluo was very curious about what had triggered Qiangu Junyu's earlier excitement.
Hearing this, Qiangu Junyu and Qiangu Junhuai exchanged a glance—
Then spoke in unison.
"We believe… that the title of 'the world's number one weapon martial soul' should be handed over."
—
End of Chapter