Chapter 219: Chapter 219: The Three-Zhang Self

What shocked him even more was that the Linn Character Technique seemed to hold other secrets. He found that he could instinctively and smoothly execute the various methods employed by the Self God he had condensed, just by projecting his consciousness into it.

This was truly astonishing.

The Sea of Consciousness was his own world. With a single thought, his Self God could turn heaven and earth upside down within it. ’If I could project this power into reality, I wonder what that would be like.’

"Master, I’m all right now. I’ve subdued this Dragon Scale Armor."

As he spoke, Xu Yunfan raised his arm, watching the Dragon Scale Armor leaves that stopped at his wrist. He tensed and relaxed his muscles slightly, and the armor plates shifted in response.

’So strong!’

Although he had used the Linn Character Technique and his Self God to erase most of the Dragon Scale Armor’s spirituality, costing it a great deal of power, the trade-off was that he could now control the armor freely, unlike the passive nature of the Gilded Mace.

Most importantly, with every move he made, the Dragon Scale Armor granted him a huge boost in power.

’Faster, stronger!’

Xu Yunfan lightly tapped a finger against his chest plate. The jet-black scales suddenly shimmered with flowing, dark-gold patterns, like a slumbering Flood Dragon turning over in the moonlight.

As he stretched his arms, countless inverted dragon scales opened and closed in unison, emitting a sharp twang like the snapping of a guzheng string. The spirit of the Red Flood Dragon still whimpered deep within the scales, but it was now firmly suppressed by the spiritual will forged from the Linn Character Technique.

Xu Yunfan suddenly spun and threw a punch. A sonic boom exploded from the afterimage, and a blast of Qi Force, clearly visible to the naked eye, sent a huge splash of magma erupting from the Molten Rock Pool ahead.

As he pulled back, the armor on his elbow scraped against a stone pillar in the cave. A five-foot-thick section of the granite slid off at an angle as if cut by a hot knife through butter. Before the stone dust from the cut could even rise, it was scorched into green smoke by the Evil Qi emanating from the armor.

Seeing this, Xu Yunfan knew. The Dragon Scale Armor he wore no longer had any will to resist.

He immediately turned and equipped the Thunderfire Qilin Hammer and the two Profound Steel Mechanism Boxes.

With a slight flicker of his thoughts, the muscles in his back rippled. The plates of the Dragon Scale Armor extended, stretching several inches to firmly encase the sockets for the Mechanism Boxes.

He gave them a slight tug. They didn’t budge an inch.

’Interesting. This Dragon Scale Armor probably has quite a few other ingenious features.’

A Tier Eight Divine Weapon, in his eyes, had almost transcended the very concept of a Divine Weapon.

Zhan Yan walked over to Xu Yunfan, his expression one of awe. He wanted to touch the armor but seemed hesitant and intimidated.

Xu Yunfan smiled. "It’s alright, Master. Go ahead and touch it, just be careful of the sharp edges of the scales."

Hearing this, Zhan Yan cast aside his hesitation. His coarse fingers slowly swept across the armor, feeling its slight, scorching heat. With just a light brush, several scratches appeared on his palm.

He ran both hands over the patterns of the Dragon Scale Armor on Xu Yunfan’s body, his eyes welling up with hot tears.

"Divine Weapon Ridge... we’ve finally brought out its ultimate legacy. Master, your disciple has fulfilled your lifelong wish."

Looking at Zhan Yan’s expression, one of a man with no regrets left in life, Xu Yunfan understood that most of his master’s ambition had faded.

He couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. His master had toiled for fifty or sixty years and was now nearly ninety. Finally, after three decades, a great weight had been lifted from his heart.

"Yunfan, you’ve done well! You’ve done so well!"

"You certainly made me work to find you..."

The voice trailed off. Qin Lie and Chu Mo had just burst through the crimson mist, followed by the Crown Prince of the Daqian’s Yuwen Family, Yuwen Chengji, dressed in robes whiter than snow.

Seeing Zhan Yan’s hands all over Xu Yunfan, his emotional expression one of ultimate fulfillment, Qin Lie’s lips twitched several times, but in the end, he said nothing, pressing them tightly shut.

Beside him, Chu Mo swallowed hard a few times. He suddenly recalled the time he had first entered Divine Weapon Ridge as a young teenager, when Zhan Yan had vehemently insisted on scrubbing his back for him.

Chu Mo’s sinister expression twisted even further. The hair on his body stood on end as an inexplicable rage flared up within him.

"Zhan! I never thought you were into *this*. No wonder you were so enthusiastic with me back then."

Zhan Yan froze for a moment, then realized what was being implied. He snatched his hands back as if electrocuted and flew into a rage, any feelings of seeing old acquaintances completely suppressed.

"Chu! Back then, our master whipped you until you were covered in wounds from your training! I was kind enough to scrub your back and apply medicine, and this is how you see me?!"

His beard and hair stood on end like an enraged lion. He saw the two of them charge in, seething with Evil Qi, and then looked at the frowning Yuwen Chengji.

How could Zhan Yan not understand? These two had betrayed them. Lv Cheng and the others outside Divine Weapon Ridge had likely met a terrible fate.

"Where is Junior Brother Lv?"

Qin Lie raised his Yanling Saber, saying nothing.

Chu Mo sneered endlessly, his hand tightly gripping his Nine-Section Whip, his knuckles white. He stared intently at the Dragon Scale Armor on Xu Yunfan. He was stunned at first, but then his eyes grew brighter and brighter, his unconcealable greed nearly bursting from his gaze.

Yuwen Chengji was also staring intently at the Dragon Scale Armor on Xu Yunfan. His eyes darted about, his expression first one of ecstasy, then shifting to a hint of annoyance.

"You think you’re worthy of wearing that Treasure Armor?"

How could he not see that the armor belonged to the ranks of Divine Weapons?

Most Divine Weapons in the world were armaments; Treasure Armor was exceptionally rare. A single suit was worth three weapon-type Divine Weapons.

Xu Yunfan raised an eyebrow, lifted his chin slightly, and made a throat-slitting gesture, all without a word.

Yuwen Chengji’s expression was a mask of unconcealed killing intent and impatience.

"Take that Treasure Armor from him! Take it!!"

"Lin."

Without the slightest hesitation, Xu Yunfan once again formed the Linn Character Seal with a single hand.

The moment the Linn Character Seal was formed, the chaotic emotions in his mind swiftly calmed. His own feelings became placid, his eyes turning into pools of still water, like a clear mirror reflecting Qin Lie and Chu Mo.

The churning waves of distracting thoughts in his Sea of Consciousness seemed to be pacified by his reawakened Self God, who sat enthroned at the center, suppressing everything.

Qin Lie and Chu Mo were both Bone Marrow Cleansing Grandmasters. Although he now had the Dragon Scale Armor and his Linn Character Technique had reached Minor Achievement, he was, after all, only in the Flesh Refining Realm.

To fight across two major realms, he would need to go all out just to be their equal.

His Super Sensing State quietly unfurled once more. Within a thirty-foot radius, every rustle of wind and movement was clear in his mind.

Xu Yunfan touched his Gilded Mace, then in the next instant, he drew and reverse-gripped the Thunderfire Qilin Hammer.

’In this state, I should test this first. The Gilded Mace isn’t fully under my control and consumes too much Qi Blood Strength. With the Dragon Scale Armor, I’ll have plenty of time to switch weapons if I need to.’

His right heel crushed the obsidian underfoot. The characteristic bronze hue of the Profound Steel Hundred-Forged Body spiraled up from the small of his back to his shoulder blades. He shot forward like a cannonball, arriving in an instant.

Just as Qin Lie’s Yanling Saber slashed to within three inches of his face, Xu Yunfan’s finger suddenly flicked the end of the hammer’s handle. The seven-foot-long Thunderfire Qilin Hammer shot up like a venomous dragon raising its head, its head precisely locking onto the third blood groove of the Yanling Saber.

CLANG!

Before the vibrations from the saber’s blade could even reach his hand, Xu Yunfan had already driven his left knee toward Qin Lie’s abdomen. The knee strike was infused with Spiral Force, amplified by the Dragon Scale Armor. As the armor leaves opened and closed, the fabric of his pants was incinerated into ash by the scorching aura the armor emitted.

’Such terrifying strength! And I can’t disperse that Spiral Force at all. I have no choice but to take the hit head-on with my body.’

Qin Lie stumbled back three steps, each step leaving a three-inch-deep footprint in the molten rock. His face was flushed red, and the veins on his forehead bulged.