Strength Plummets, Battle Armor Blueprints

A thousand miles away, black radiance and golden light flashed.

The figures that appeared were none other than the battered Ye Xishui and Long Xiaoyao.

This time, Long Xiaoyao supported Ye Xishui with concern. His usually tranquil eyes were now filled with killing intent and agitation.

"Xishui, are you all right? If it comes to it, I'll fight him to the death. I'll kill that brat!"

For Long Xiaoyao, the one thing he could never accept was Ye Xishui dying before him. After all, she was the woman he had loved for his entire life.

If she truly died because of Gu Yuena, then even if he had to drag her down with the self-destruction of his Twin Martial Souls, he would find a way to take Lin Yuan with him.

As for Ye Xishui, while she swiftly switched to her Blood Soul Demon Puppet martial soul, her condition had worsened to the extreme.

Her black hair, which she had barely managed to maintain, had suddenly turned much whiter. Her skin no longer possessed the condition that could rival that of a sixteen-year-old girl, instead gradually slackening.

Wrinkles began to emerge across her face, one by one.

For the Ye Xishui of the past, such things had been effortless to conceal. Yet now, she was already struggling even to maintain her appearance.

The fluctuations of soul power around her were chaotic to the extreme, surging and falling, and she had nearly dropped out of the Limit Douluo realm.

Seeing this, the equally weakened Long Xiaoyao seemed to want to transfer his soul power to her. Ye Xishui, however, directly summoned the Reaper Tower.

Only after nearly draining all the resentful souls within it did she barely manage to stabilize her Limit Douluo cultivation.

One had to know how much effort Ye Xishui had put into building the Reaper Tower over the years.

The lives she had slaughtered were counted in the tens of millions.

Her previous strike against Gu Yuena had already consumed a third of it. After this ordeal, the Reaper Tower, this soul tool, was nearly an empty tower.

This alone showed just how terrible a price Ye Xishui had paid this time.

Long Xiaoyao's injuries were somewhat lighter, but his cultivation had still forcibly dropped by a rank, leaving him as nothing more than a Demigod who had barely entered the Limit realm.

Although Ye Xishui's Soul Core had not exploded, her current strength had been severely diminished in every sense.

Not to mention her lifespan. At that moment, Ye Xishui had wavered for an instant.

Did she truly have to keep going?

She did not have much time left. Wouldn't it be better to simply spend the rest of her days with Xiaoyao?

But rejecting all this would be equivalent to denying all her efforts and obsessions over the years, even denying her entire life.

So after shaking her head, Ye Xishui forcibly restored some of her skin's youthful appearance. However, returning to her former peak state was naturally impossible.

"Just who is behind that brat?"

Ye Xishui looked toward the direction of the battle. As a fierce gleam flashed in her eyes, confusion filled them even more.

She was certain that even Shrek Academy could not produce a powerhouse of that level today.

Could it be one of those reclusive sects?

For instance, the Clear Sky Sect?

But in the next instant, she dismissed the idea. Lin Ming's martial soul had absolutely nothing to do with the Clear Sky Sect, and he had already revealed his Twin Martial Souls.

As she looked in that direction, what she felt most now was killing intent toward Gu Yuena.

Why could she be so powerful?

Long Xiaoyao's black hair had also become mostly gray-white. With a soft sigh, he looked at Ye Xishui and cautiously asked in a low voice.

"Xishui, are we still going to do this?"

"You should recover first..."

Ye Xishui nearly gritted her teeth as she wanted to say, why should she?

She had put in so much effort, and Lin Yuan had originally been well suited to their Holy Spirit Cult.

Her goodwill in trying to recruit him had instead left her in this state. She would naturally remember this debt, but she was not stupid.

If she faced Gu Yuena in that state again, she would almost certainly die.

Long Xiaoyao merely sighed. Right now, he truly wanted to say something.

Given their current states, if the two of them faced Gu Yuena—

No joke, even without Battle Armor, Gu Yuena could easily suppress both of them in a one-on-one fight.

Although he could see the unwillingness in Ye Xishui's eyes, neither of them was in a condition to discuss these matters now.

Long Xiaoyao could only turn and leave. Before preparing to treat his injuries, he looked back at Ye Xishui once more.

He seemed to want to say something, but ultimately swallowed the words.

If Long Xiaoyao could have persuaded Ye Xishui, he would not have sunk into this predicament with her for so many years.

Elsewhere...

After giving up on that question, Lin Yuan thought of Gu Yuena's damaged Four-Word Battle Armor.

Why was it damaged?

Could the system have done that to restrict her strength?

At this thought, Lin Yuan stroked his chin in contemplation. If Gu Yuena's Four-Word Battle Armor could be restored and used without restrictions—

Then they would truly have no worries left.

At that moment, Lin Yuan seemed to remember something.

"It can be repaired!"

At Lin Yuan's words, Gu Yuena's eyes lit up instinctively.

Then, with a trace of uncertainty in her voice, she said,

"Young Master, I'm afraid that will be difficult. After all, this era is when the Blacksmith Clan is at its lowest point."

Lin Yuan's expression immediately stiffened as he realized the problem.

Right. In this era, blacksmithing techniques had clearly suffered a complete break in inheritance. All that remained were low-level craftsmen who refined rare metals.

It was questionable whether even a somewhat capable Saint Craftsman existed in this era.

Four-Word Battle Armor was forged from Heaven-Forged Metal by a Divine Craftsman. To repair it—

At the very least, they would need a Divine Craftsman. Moreover, Gu Yuena's Battle Armor had likely incorporated something like the scales of the Silver Dragon King, yet it had still been damaged.

Just thinking about it made the difficulty of repair obvious.

As Lin Yuan rubbed his aching forehead, he seemed to think of something else.

"Gu Yuena, you should know how to design Battle Armor blueprints, right?"

He had nearly forgotten about that. It would be difficult for his cultivation to experience explosive growth in a short time.

But if he possessed Battle Armor, it would be different.

Seeing Lin Yuan's expectant gaze, Gu Yuena naturally smiled and nodded.

"Young Master, of course. I'll design the most suitable set of Battle Armor blueprints for you when the time comes."

Lin Yuan nodded in satisfaction.

With Battle Armor, his strength would definitely undergo a leap.

With that, the two of them resumed their journey back to Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy.

When Jing Hongchen saw the returning Lin Yuan, he nearly fainted from fright.

What kind of person obtained a single soul ring and directly reached rank fifty-nine?

That was right. After fusing with that Soul Bone, Lin Yuan's soul power had risen by another rank.

But when Jing Hongchen recalled the terrifying strength Lin Yuan had displayed, he suddenly felt that it was understandable. Even so, he did not forget to warn him.

"Xiaoyuan, your potential is tremendous, but don't use those old methods of our empire."

Lin Yuan was no fool. He understood that Jing Hongchen was warning him because most of the Sun Moon Empire's rapid cultivation methods naturally came with corresponding secret techniques.

Even Xiao Hongchen had once used such a secret technique in order to defeat Huo Yuhao, forcibly raising himself to Soul Sage.

"I mainly absorbed a soul ring beyond my level, along with that Soul Bone."

As Lin Yuan scratched his head and explained, Jing Hongchen remembered that Lin Yuan still possessed a Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Bone, in addition to absorbing a soul ring beyond his level.

Since no one in the Sun Moon Empire had ever absorbed a Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Bone, there was no clear standard for such matters. Jing Hongchen could only cast Lin Yuan an envious look. After all, the highest-level Soul Bone he possessed was only around seventy thousand years old.

"By the way, come with me."