Book 1 Chapter 26: Fighting for vengeance! (3)
Correct, everything which had happened earlier had been Bai Yunfei deliberately putting on a show! Including not using weapons, including being caught up by Li Shi, including deliberately revealing that the soft armor on his body was a soul item, and including fighting Li Shi to a stalemate…
All this was done to prevent Zhang Yang from fleeing!
He and Li Shi were indeed comparable in power, but that was true only to the extent that they were on the same level of soulforce! He also had soul techniques and such soul items as the soft armor, the Fire-tipped Spear and the Glacial Piercer! It could be said that if he had gone all out right from the beginning of the fight against Li Shi, Li Shi would have been killed earlier by him!
However, he did not do so, because if he had shown that he was very powerful, Zhang Yang would definitely have run away without hesitation after noticing how fearsome he was. Even though he could have killed Li Shi very quickly, he would not have been able to kill him in an instant. As long as he had been stalled for a short period of time, this would have been enough for Zhang Yang.
If the battle had turned into a running fight, it would have been very disadvantageous to Bai Yunfei. Therefore, he could not afford to scare Zhang Yang away and had to draw him into the battle instead!
So, after killing Du Xin with a surprise attack, he engaged in a fight with Li Shi and deliberately acted as if they were neck and neck in power, and even deliberately revealed that the soft armor on his body was a soul item. Having gone through the battle on Mt. Blackwood, he already somewhat understood how valuable these soul items were. Therefore, using them as a bait, he was able to lure Zhang Yang into the fight.
In fact, the exhaustion he showed after fighting for a long time was mostly an act, because he basically had not used so much strength and soulforce as the opponents thought he had. The golden soft armor on his body was not only a soul item but also a +10 upgraded soul item!
(Goldsilk Soul Armor’s properties)
Item grade: Low rare.
Upgrade level: +10.
Defense: 267.
Additional defense: 139.
+10 Additional effect: When attacked, it has a 5% chance of increasing defense by 50% for 3 seconds.
Upgrade requirement: 64 soul points.
This soft armor was none other than the soul item of Han Xiao, the chieftain of the Blackwood Stronghold. After killing him, Bai Yunfei had naturally obtained this item. Relying on the upgraded armor’s high defense and its occasionally triggered additional effect, in fact the force he had to endure every time he took a blow with the soul armor was negligible.
Of course he could not let the opponent know about this. Moreover, how the situation was deliberately made to look by him caused Zhang Yang to feel that as long as he joined the fight and teamed up with Li Shi, they would definitely be able to defeat the enemy with great ease and obtain the soul item on his body!
When Zhang Yang finally could not help joining the battle, Bai Yunfei started the actions of the second step without hesitation.
Surrounded by two opponents, if the fight had dragged on, he would really have ended up in a difficult position. Therefore, at the first moment he had to dispose of Li Shi, who had been fighting him for a long time and had already become familiar with his ‘rhythm’. Moreover, he had to do this fast, ruthlessly, surprisingly and in only one blow!
Therefore, he seized a chance and used the soul technique he had been saving for a long time for the first time, knocking him back.
However, the most crucial thing was the follow-up pursuing attack! The Fire-tipped Spear was no doubt powerful, but if it did not pierce into a vital part, he would not be able to kill in one hit. However, if its additional effect was triggered, this would be enough to kill the enemy regardless of where it hit!
But the explosion effect of the Fire-tipped Spear had only a 10% chance of being activated, which could be said to be very low, therefore, Bai Yunfei used the new killing blow he had mastered recently — Threefold Thrust!
Applying the overlapping attack method of the Overlapping Waves Art to the spear techniques, the Threefold Fist Force was stretched up to the tip of the spear, hence the name ‘Threefold Thrust’.
One attack of the Threefold Fist Force was actually three overlapping attacks. So, a thrust of the spear using the Threefold Thrust was equivalent to three almost continuous attacks, greatly increasing the chance of triggering the additional effect.
Of course, Bai Yunfei did not put all his hopes on this either. Had the effect failed to be activated, he would have revealed his final trump card, the Glacial Piercer, to kill Li Shi at all costs!
However, fortunately for him, when the Threefold Thrust hit the opponent, the Fire-tipped Spear’s additional effect was successfully triggered. Moreover, it caused an explosion after piercing into the opponent’s stomach, killing him right away…
After killing Li Shi, Bai Yunfei did not begin to attack a stupefied Zhang Yang immediately because the side effect of using the Threefold Thrust was rather serious, at least several times greater than that of using the Threefold Fist Force once. In several breaths after using it, his entire right arm was almost completely numb. Only thanks to this did Zhang Yang have a chance to retreat.
When Zhang Yang began to shriek in terror, he happened to have just recovered. Without saying a word, he charged up immediately, holding the spear in his hands.
At first Zhang Yang still wanted to say something, but seeing the opponent coming at him, he did not dare to be distracted anymore. With an expression full of anxiety, he exerted himself to deal with the incoming spear blurs.
Zhang Yang’s dagger looked rather luxurious and even had some small diamonds embedded in its handle, and it did not seem to be of poor quality either. It should be made from top-grade materials. However, it was definitely not a soul item.
As a disciple of the Glacial School and the young master of the Zhang family, even though he normally did not put his effort into training, under the guidance of his father, he had still become fairly powerful. The timings of his offensive and defensive moves were just perfect. Momentarily, he and Bai Yunfei were unexpectedly evenly matched.
Bai Yunfei had fought Li Shi several dozen rounds earlier and had just unleashed his soulforce to use the Threefold Fist Force and Threefold Thrust continuously so his current condition was far worse than before. However, there was no panic on his face at all. Brandishing the spear elegantly, he forced the opponent to retreat every time he wanted to close in on him to attack.
After fighting for a while, facing an incoming thrust, Zhang Yang leaned to one side, avoiding it by a hair’s breadth, at the same time he swung his right arm out, aiming to cut Bai Yunfei’s throat with his dagger.
However, this strike did not seem to have a good range. If Bai Yunfei leaned backwards slightly, the dagger would not be able to cut him at all. But, right when Bai Yunfei thought that he could avoid this blow and was preparing to withdraw the spear to attack again, something unusual suddenly happened!
Zhang Yang’s unbent right arm suddenly became longer by nearly one and a half inch, thrusting the dagger straight at Bai Yunfei’s throat!
This is a soul technique, Long Arm Fist!
It had a very ordinary name, was a soul technique of the lowest tier and was also the only soul technique Zhang Yang had mastered so far. It was not very powerful either. Just as its name implied, it was a soul technique which allowed the arms to stretch a bit further.
However, sometimes it could be unimaginably effective, for example, at present!
Zhang Yang had been restraining himself all along, and only now did he use this soul technique. This was because he wanted to catch the opponent by surprise and put it to the best use possible.
Facing the dagger which was suddenly shifted to aim at the side of his neck, even though Bai Yunfei was startled, he did not panic. He gave up attacking immediately and bent backwards abruptly again. The tip of the blade grazed him, causing a small wound on his chin, several drops of blood oozing out. However, despite having prevented this blow from cutting his throat, he lost his balance and fell backwards.
His eyes glittering with ferocity, Zhang Yang gave the dagger in his hand a flip, instantly switching from a forward grip to a reverse grip, and thrust it straight at Bai Yunfei’s throat!
While falling backwards, Bai Yunfei pulled his right hand back. The spear in his hand immediately disappeared. At the same time as Zhang Yang flipped his dagger, he made a flick with his right hand, shooting a dagger straight at Zhang Yang’s face.
Seeing that his dagger was about to pierce into the opponent’s throat, Zhang Yang already had a look of ecstasy in his eyes. However, when he saw Bai Yunfei suddenly shoot a streak of cold light at him like a flash with a flick of his right hand, he was extremely frightened and could no longer keep up his attack. He then leaned his head to one side forcefully without hesitation, avoiding the flying dagger.
In the blink of an eye, another dagger came at him!