Young Noble Be Monster Slaying

Chapter 301: Jiuli Soul Armor

With his teacher's story and what Senior Sister Jiang told him, Chu Liang was able to piece together the life story of the Whale-Riding Immortal.

In the first half of his life, the Whale-Riding Immortal was as carefree and powerful. He was basically like the protagonist of a novel.

However, he later married a woman with a mysterious background, which led to the annihilation of his entire family. He then roamed around for reasons unknown—whether he was seeking to find his wife or avenge his family remained unclear.

Nevertheless, Chu Liang wouldn't be concerned for a powerful being at the eighth-realm.

After returning to his small cabin, he immediately sat down eagerly, ready to unbox the reward.

Recently, he had been preparing for the Mount Shu Summit and participating in consecutive matches, leaving him no time to descend the mountain to slay monsters and obliterate devils. Naturally, he had no chance to farm for rewards. After such a long time, he was itching with anticipation.

Moreover, he killed a big one this time.

As he entered White Pagoda in his divine sense, he saw a huge golden apparition filling up an entire cell. When Chu Liang approached and pressed the refine button, he unexpectedly felt nervous.

His heart raced with excitement, and his hands trembled.

Boom.

After a flash of dazzling light, a white glow emerged, appearing quite substantial. Information about the valuable item then surfaced in Chu Liang's mind.

[Jiuli Soul Armor: A powerful armor imbued with the Battle Soul of an ancient vicious beast. This armor craves blood. Besides its strong defensive capabilities, whenever your attack harms a living being, the attached beast soul can absorb some of the blood-stained aura and use it to restore your strength. Additionally, when someone else's attack harms you, the beast soul can reflect a portion of the attack back to them. Warning: Do not attack yourself.]

This is a good reward!

Upon first glance, Chu Liang immediately knew that this was definitely a good item.

Armor-type enchanted tools were relatively rare in the world of immortality cultivators.

Defensive enchanted tools were much rarer than offensive ones because they needed to be flawless and cover a large area with enchanted formations. Crafting them required significantly more time and energy than creating offensive tools. Consequently, many artificers chose to focus on enhancing the power of offensive enchanted tools instead.

Most defensive enchanted tools, like the Green Leaf Umbrella crafted by Wen Yulong, provided instant defense, requiring you to activate the enchanted tool when facing an attack.

Compared to instant defenses, clothing or armor that provided continuous defense was naturally more convenient and practical.

However, crafting enchanted tools with the function of continuous defense was several times more difficult and posed a significant challenge for artificers. If it weren't so challenging, such useful items would undoubtedly be widely available.

Enchanted tools that provide both continuous defense and additional powers were rare treasures, typically obtained by luck and seldom found.

The Jiuli Soul Armor before him was such a valuable item.

Its two effects were extremely enticing. The first was that when the wearer injured another person, the armor would absorb some of the blood-stained aura and strengthen the wearer.

The effect of the blood-stained aura was likely to enhance strength and replenish vitality. This meant that if Chu Liang attacked others, it would increase his strength, and if he were injured, it would also quickly heal part of his wounds.

The second effect was even more powerful: when attacked by others, the soul armor would reflect part of the damage back to the attacker. This meant that any attack would result in the attacker getting hurt as well.

Of course, although this all sounded powerful, the effectiveness still depended on the intensity of the attacks.

To know how strong the defense of this armor was, a test was needed.

However, Chu Liang couldn't hit himself—this was a stern warning in the Jiuli Soul Armor's instructions.

This warning made sense.

If Chu Liang attacked himself, the first effect would be triggered, absorbing some of his blood-stained aura and restoring his own strength and vitality.

Simultaneously, the second effect would be triggered, reflecting part of the damage back to the attacker... which would be Chu Liang himself.

Then the reflected damage would trigger the first effect again, repeating the process over and over.

Although the intensity would gradually weaken, theoretically, it could continue indefinitely. If Chu Liang didn't take off the soul armor, he could be stuck in an endless cycle of self-harm for the rest of his life.

As Chu Liang thought about it, he found it quite amusing. While he was pondering, he heard a loud laugh outside.

"Heheheh! Brother, how are you?"

...

Who else could it be if not Lin Bei?

Having just gone through a major battle, he was completely unscathed. The Mount Shu Sect had very few casualties this time, and Chu Liang had already confirmed before returning to his cabin that none of his close friends were injured, which gave him peace of mind.

After cleaning up the battlefield, Lin Bei was eager to see Chu Liang. After all, anyone who witnessed him wielding the Violet and Azure Twin Swords would be astounded.

Lin Bei, being a close friend of Chu Liang, naturally wanted to check in on him.

“You’ve really made a name for yourself now. After today, your name will be known by everyone across the nine provinces and four seas,” he said enviously.

"The force unleashed was from an external source," Chu Liang replied with a smile, not saying much more.

It was fine for him to talk about the Violet and Azure Twin Swords, but he wasn't sure if he could tell another soul about the immortal art, Longevity of Heaven and Earth.

If he told Lin Bei, it was basically akin to telling the entire world.

Lin Bei was Mount Shu's unofficial spokesperson, spending his days gossiping with the disciples of various immortal sects in the square at Heaven-Reaching Peak.

Of course, he wasn't just giving out information; he had also gathered a lot of secrets about the other immortal sects.

"How did you do it?" Lin Bei asked out of curiosity, which Chu Liang had expected.

"Let me ask the elders and I will tell you later. First, I need your help with something," Chu Liang said.

"Uh? What is it?" Lin Bei asked.

"Hit me," Chu Liang said.

Lin Bei was so confused.

As he stared at Chu Liang, his gaze shifted from admiration and envy to shock and confusion, then to hesitation and nervousness...

He vaguely remembered that not long ago, Chu Liang was a master of the tortoise-shell bondage method. What had he gone through in such a short time to undergo such a transformation?

Seeing his expression, Chu Liang immediately guessed what was on his mind and said, "I just got a defensive enchanted tool and need your help to test its effect."

"Oh, I see," Lin Bei clearly heaved a sigh of relief.

With a thought, the Jiuli Soul Armor appeared on Chu Liang's body.

It didn't appear very tight, and the craftsmanship seemed somewhat rough, resembling thick armor woven from some kind of beast hide. However, the dense blood-stained aura and fiendish qi it emitted were terrifying.

As Chu Liang infused it with foundational qi, he activated the hidden mode with his divine intent. In an instant, a brilliant flash of radiance enveloped him, and the leather armor disappeared from sight, leaving no trace on Chu Liang's body.

Although it became invisible, the heavy feeling of wearing it remained, providing a great sense of security.

As Lin Bei sensed the aura of the armor, he immediately guessed the origin of the enchanted tool Chu Liang was wearing. This was definitely loot he had obtained from the recent battle with the diabolical sect.

In this great battle, the members of the diabolical sect fled in disarray, leaving behind their helmets and armor. Despite how poor many of the diabolical disciples might have been, they certainly had some savings. There was bound to be a significant amount of loot.

Although Mount Shu would collect the loot centrally, some useful enchanted tools might be privately kept by disciples, and the sect wouldn't mind much.

Chu Liang reminded him, "Just use a tenth of your strength. This armor will reflect part of the attack back to you."

"Is it really that powerful?" Lin Bei smiled, gathering a tenth of his foundational qi, and smacked Chu Liang on the shoulder.

Given Chu Liang's physical resilience, even without armor, Lin Bei's smack wouldn't cause him any injuries, so Chu Liang wasn’t worried about any accidents happening.

Bang! A resounding thud echoed through the air.

Lin Bei's palm strike landed on Chu Liang, and immediately, a powerful wave-like force surged back with explosive intensity!

Bam—

Lin Bei was thrown over ten zhang away, tumbling through the air before finally sitting up.

"What the heck?" he exclaimed, still somewhat stunned. "I used a tenth of my strength, but at least seventy to eighty percent of it bounced back. This armor is too powerful."

While Lin Bei was thrown back, Chu Liang felt a trace of blood-stained aura entering his body.

However, the effect was not significant. It was likely because the damage to Lin Bei was minimal, resulting in low absorption.

However, the rebound of the force was a pleasant surprise for him.

The reason for such a strong rebound was likely because Lin Bei used minimal force. If the force had been greater, the enchanted tool's effect wouldn't have been as strong. There must be a limit.

If this armor allowed a rebound of seventy to eighty percent of every attack, it would mean that not even the top twenty weapons in the Catalog of the Mortal World's Ten Thousand Treasures could prevail against it. This was simply impossible.

He quickly helped Lin Bei up and said, "Because you used minimal force, the proportion of the force that rebounded was high. If you used more force, the proportion of the force that rebounded should be smaller."

"Really?" Lin Bei asked skeptically.

"It should be true," Chu Liang said with a smile. He paused for a moment before adding, "Do you want to try again?"

Lin Bei had just taken a hard fall. He rubbed his sore butt and quickly shook his head. "Let's not. That really hurt!"

Before Lin Bei could finish speaking, Chu Liang suddenly noticed a figure behind Lin Bei.

It was Daoist Yan, who was dressed in flowing white robes.

At this moment, Daoist Yan, who usually wouldn’t show a change of expression, was looking at the two of them with a puzzled and surprised look. She had likely overheard their conversation.

Chu Liang jumped at the sight of Senior Aunt Yan. "Senior Aunt Yan, what a surprise! What brings you here? We were..."

"No need for explanations. You have the freedom to do what you want.” Daoist Yan interrupted, shaking her head. "The sect leader wishes to see you. I also have questions, which is why I've come to inform you personally."

Chu Liang's brow furrowed deeply as these thoughts raced through his mind.

Noooooo! What do you mean you don’t need an explanation? What freedom?

You can ask any questions, but please, can I at least explain?

Pleaseeeeeeeeee...