Chapter 39: Demon Weapon Simulation—Is Di Tian About to Make a Move?
The title of the world's number-one auxiliary martial soul belonged to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. However, it still had a formidable opponent, the Nine-Star Begonia.
If not for the fact that only a single Nine-Star Begonia martial soul could exist in each generation, the throne of "number one" would likely have changed hands long ago.
As for the title of the world's number-one beast martial soul, it was occupied by the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. Even so, the Star Luo Empire's imperial martial soul—the White Tiger—was just as formidable. If the two were to truly clash, who would win and who would lose was far from certain.
Yet when it came to the title of the world's number-one weapon-type martial soul, for countless years, it had been monopolized by the Clear Sky Hammer of the Clear Sky Sect.
There was simply no rival to speak of. Even the Seven Kill Sword martial soul, renowned for its peerless offense and slaughter, was unable to contend with it.
The reason was simple—the Clear Sky Hammer martial soul was too strong. So overwhelmingly powerful that even the Spirit Hall felt fear toward it.
Back then, the current strongest expert, the ninety-ninth-rank Qian Daoliu, had once suffered a narrow defeat at the hands of Tang Chen, the strongest expert of the same generation from the Clear Sky Sect.
Although Tang Chen had disappeared for many years, his remaining prestige still lingered. Coupled with the sect's profound foundation, the title of "number one sect in the world" had yet to be challenged by anyone.
And yet now, Qiangu Junyu and Qiangu Junhuai were actually claiming that this title should be handed over to someone else. How could that not be shocking?
"I won't explain much more. See for yourselves."
"Xiao Chen, strike the ground with your staff. Use as much strength as you can."
Qiangu Junhuai shouted at Fan Chen, then took the initiative to retreat backward.
The others, though confused, followed suit and pulled away to create some distance.
Fan Chen himself had no idea what was going on, but he was also eager to discover what hidden secrets still lay within him.
So he swung the long staff in his hands and smashed it down violently against the ground beneath his feet.
Boom—!
A thunderous crash echoed as rock shattered apart, and the ground trembled slightly, like a small-scale earthquake.
Dust and debris rolled up, completely engulfing Fan Chen.
Startled by the terrifying power, Golden Crocodile Douluo and the others immediately circulated their soul power to blow the dust away, then rushed toward Fan Chen's position.
The originally flat ground had completely caved in from that single strike. A massive pit now lay before everyone's eyes.
The pit was about half a meter deep, with a diameter of roughly three to four meters.
Fan Chen stood at the edge of the pit. The Reverse Edge Demon Armor on his body had already vanished.
The ever-changing long staff in his hand had reverted to its original form—the Xuan Iron Staff.
"What terrifying strength."
If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Golden Crocodile Douluo would never have believed that this was caused by Fan Chen.
"This is… annihilation!"
Guang Ling crouched down and gently scooped up some of the debris from the ground.
But rather than calling it dust, it was more accurate to say it was stone ground down into extremely fine particles.
After all, the training ground had long since been fully paved with solid stone.
These stones had all been carefully selected, sturdy enough to withstand the vast majority of attacks below the three-ring Soul Elder level.
The fact that such a pit could be formed indicated that the power of that strike had already surpassed the three-ring Soul Elder level.
"Damn it, this kid's basically cheating, isn't he? One swing and it's like this?"
Off to the side, Xiong Kuohai was equally stunned by the scene. As a strength-type soul master, he knew all too well how difficult it was to produce this level of destruction—especially without using any soul skills and relying purely on raw strength.
Even a Clear Sky Hammer user at the same cultivation level as Fan Chen wouldn't be able to pull this off.
"An annihilation attribute. Any weapon this kid conjures up carries this attribute enhancement."
Attribute augmentation on weapon-type martial souls was nothing unusual. Even an ordinary dagger martial soul would possess a basic attribute like [Sharpness], allowing it to be far keener than common blades.
Someone like Guang Ling, on the other hand, possessed a rare elemental enhancement—each of his attacks carried the corrosive power of ice-element energy.
As for the Clear Sky Hammer martial soul, its attribute was power—pure, extreme power.
The initial weight of the Clear Sky Hammer could already reach five hundred jin, and that weight would continue to increase as the wielder's cultivation level rose.
At present, the heaviest known Clear Sky Hammer was the one wielded by Tang Chen, weighing a staggering eighteen thousand jin. Every swing of it carried earth-shattering, world-destroying might.
Yet Fan Chen's attribute amplification was downright absurd—far more outrageous than even the Clear Sky Hammer martial soul.
That was because what he possessed was the Annihilation attribute. Put another way, it was the power of destruction itself.
This was an ultra-rare attribute, something that the Clear Sky Hammer's pure strength enhancement simply could not compare to.
If both were used to smash a stone, the Clear Sky Hammer might shatter it into pieces, an extremely spectacular sight. Fan Chen, on the other hand, could pulverize it directly into powder.
Visually, it might not look as shocking as the destruction caused by the Clear Sky Hammer, but anyone with even a bit of insight would understand the true terror of its actual power.
"Annihilation attribute! No wonder you were all so excited."
Golden Crocodile Douluo and the others finally understood completely. For weapon-type martial soul users, breaking the Clear Sky Hammer's title as number one was a lifelong pursuit.
"Um… Master, can you all calm down later? If you don't save me right now, your disciple here is about to get solo-killed by this stick."
At this moment, Fan Chen had completely drained every last bit of strength from his body due to that previous strike.
Unleashing such destructive power with less than rank 20 soul power was impossible without paying a price.
And Fan Chen's price was total exhaustion. While it wasn't as bad as before—when using just two skills would completely drain his soul power and knock him unconscious—his current state wasn't much better.
With no soul power left, he was nothing more than an ordinary six-year-old child.
Now, with a one-hundred-and-eight-jin staff pressing down on him, it was no different from Five Finger Mountain pinning Sun Wukong—there was absolutely no way for him to resist.
"Oh—right, I got so busy staring at the pit that I almost forgot about you."
Golden Crocodile Douluo hurried over and helped Fan Chen up.
Fan Chen shot him a helpless look.
"Master, I swear I'm going to get played to death by you sooner or later. Can you be a little more reliable?"
You'd rather stare at a pit than spare me a glance—what, is there money buried down there or something? You just keep staring at it.
"I'll be more careful next time, alright?"
Seeing Fan Chen's slightly resentful little gaze, Golden Crocodile Douluo could only scratch his head and laugh awkwardly.
After this brief interlude, once Fan Chen's soul power had recovered, Golden Crocodile Douluo and the others conducted several more tests.
In the end, they concluded.
Fan Chen's new ability was called Demon Weapon Simulation (a name Fan Chen came up with himself).
Its main function was to consume the energy within the Reverse Edge Demon Armor to simulate the appearance of other people's martial souls. These could be attached to ordinary carriers or directly constructed purely from energy, though the consumption in that case was extremely high and not recommended at the moment.
The attached attribute was Annihilation Power, capable of inflicting devastating destruction upon targets, with an innate armor-piercing effect.
As for any other effects, they were currently unknown and would require further observation.
"Another new ability. This kid is a treasure from head to toe. Honestly, why don't we let him choose a new master? I feel like Xiao Chen only chose you because he had never seen us before."
"I agree. After all, a rough brute like you doesn't know how to take care of kids."
"Get lost. Keep trying to steal my disciple, and I'll rip off your third leg."
Not far away, hidden in the shadows the entire time, Di Tian silently took everything in.
A faint trace of killing intent spread from his body.
He had sensed a threat in Fan Chen's existence. If allowed to grow successfully, Fan Chen would become an absolute calamity for soul beasts.
"Looks like this mission needs an extra clause added."
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End of Chapter