BOOM!

Gu Yang’s arms deformed and he coughed up a mouthful of blood as he smashed into the ground.

“No, I’m done! Guo Ran, this isn’t exchanging pointers. You just wanted to torment me!” Gu Yang put away his manifestation, and the runes around his body dimmed. Blood still dripped out of his mouth.

“Hehe, Gu Yang, now you can’t torment me! I, Guo Ran, am finally a real badass, hahaha!” Guo Ran was covered in golden armor. He was standing in the air, waving two sabers.

Long Chen, Guo Ran, and Gu Yang had found a private place for Guo Ran to test his new power. He had naturally chosen Gu Yang as an opponent.

After the baptism of the blood essence stone, Guo Ran was finally capable of unleashing the power an Empyrean should have. Then when he added on his armor, his power rose to a monstrous level. Gu Yang had used his full strength but hadn’t been able to receive even three of Guo Ran’s attacks.

“A typical case of a brat who forgets the pain after the scar fades. If it weren’t for boss, I could definitely still crush you!” said Gu Yang irritably.

Before, even if Guo Ran’s killing power had been above Gu Yang, in a one against one fight, since Gu Yang knew Guo Ran’s tricks, he would still be able to beat Guo Ran in his armor.

However, now Guo Ran’s power had grown explosively, and Gu Yang was instantly beaten. Seeing Guo Ran’s petty and pleased appearance, Gu Yang was naturally irritated.

“Haha, that’s because boss is wise and knew I lacked the daring of a brave fighter. My gratitude toward boss overflows like a torrential river, like the endless stars in the sky…” Guo Ran landed and removed his armor, smiling. His goosebump-raising flattery streamed out of his mouth.

“You don’t need to be too thankful to me. The blood essence stone was just one part. When you absorb the blood soul stone, I’ll make sure to help you out just like last time.” Long Chen patted Guo Ran on the shoulder. That expression seemed to say, “I look favorably upon you.”

“Boss… I’m just a forger. I don’t need that much soul energy. I feel like I already have enough…” Guo Ran began to back up, but Long Chen grabbed him.

“Just look at how cowardly you are. What are you afraid of? The blood soul stone will allow you to recondense your Yuan Spirit, and it will feel like you’re advancing to Spirit Transformation again. I was just scaring you a bit. Anyway, getting back to business, can you turn this thing into a weapon?” Long Chen took out a strange triangular blade.

“What… what is this?!” Guo Ran jumped in shock. The ice-cold feeling from this blade almost froze his soul.

This blade was something Long Chen had obtained in Purgatory. It was the weapon of the Skinners. However, for some reason, after he brought it back, he found that their power had sharply dropped. They didn’t have the same effect as in Purgatory. He could touch it as much as he pleased without feeling the pain from back then.

However, even if he could touch them, if it was stabbed into someone’s body, then even if they were an Empyrean, they would stiffen. The strange energy within it caused incomparable pain and would make people lose their ability to react temporarily.

Unfortunately, this triangular blade was too strange and almost looked like a carpenter’s tool. The handle was a circular arc with two hooks. Let alone using this in battle, just holding it wrong would injure the user.

This strange weapon could only be used by the Skinners with their strange arms. That was why Long Chen wanted to see if Guo Ran could change it a bit.

“I can try.” Guo Ran’s eyes immediately began to blaze with a fiery light. He summoned his forging table and activated the smelting tool. However, curiously, the triangular blade didn’t change color no matter how he roasted it. Even after an hour, it was still ice-cold. The three of them were all dumbfounded. Just what kind of material was this?

After six hours, the triangular blade finally reddened from the heat. However, at the same time, strange black marks appeared on it.

Guo Ran carefully placed it on his forging table and tried to see if he could change its shape. His hammer smashed down and sparks flew. The blade instantly exploded into sharp fragments that shot out in every direction.

Those sharp fragments instantly pierced Long Chen, Guo Ran, and Gu Yang. Gu Yang let out a howl. The pain in his body was intense, but it was the pain in his soul that was unbearable. It was like countless needles were stabbing it. There was no way to express it with words. That pain was enough to kill someone.

Long Chen also felt the pain, and his veins bulged as he forcibly resisted it. He formed a few hand seals, and those fragments were forced out of his body. He then slapped Guo Ran in the back.

Guo Ran’s body shook as those fragments were forced out of his body. As the closest one, he had been struck by the most. He had lost consciousness from the pain.

Only once he forced the fragments out of Guo Ran did Long Chen go to help Gu Yang. It was a whole hour before Guo Ran woke up.

“Boss, I almost died there! What the hell is this thing?!” Guo Ran was still shivering. Once those fragments had stabbed his body, he had been frozen, unable to move. He had felt like millions of blades were cutting his body and soul. That profound feeling of helplessness was truly horrifying.

“How could I know? The things found in the Netherworld aren’t even written in books. Fuck, it really is painful,” said Long Chen hatefully. That feeling just now was truly terrible. No wonder the Skinners’ victims would scream like that.

“This thing’s too dangerous, and it also targets a person’s will. Without strong enough willpower, a person would immediately submit to the pain and be unable to resist.” Even now, Gu Yang was still pale. But it had to be said that his willpower was far stronger than Guo Ran’s. Even without Long Chen’s help, Gu Yang had been able to force out the fragments.

“Boss, my parents taught me not to play with dangerous things! I feel like we should just give up on it.” Guo Ran had almost died, so he immediately turned coward, not daring to touch it again.

“Do you not feel like you’re stupid right now? What are you so afraid of? Where’s your armor?” demanded Long Chen.

“Oh, right!”

Guo Ran clapped his leg. He summoned his armor. This way, he wouldn’t be injured at all by the blades.

Suddenly, Gu Yang picked up a two-inch fragment and stabbed his own palm.

“Gu Yang, you’re crazy! Even if you can’t beat me, you don’t have to kill yourself!” exclaimed Guo Ran.

Gu Yang slowly took out the fragment. “Just one piece isn’t that intense. I can endure it. We should distribute these fragments to the Dragonblood warriors. They can use the pain to temper their will and reaction speed. It’ll be useful in future battles.”

Long Chen nodded. That was a good idea. If a person’s soul could resist this level of pain, then any attacks involving a spiritual aspect would be less effective on them. This was a good way to raise their resistance toward soul cultivators.

If they could become completely immune to this kind of spiritual pain, it would be very difficult for anyone to affect their souls. Back then, the reason Shen Bijun could control so many people at once was because those so-called heavenly geniuses didn’t have very great willpower.

Just as Gu Yang and Long Chen were discussing the details of this plan, Guo Ran’s hammer smashed onto those fragments, causing them to explode again.

“Fuck!”

Gu Yang and Long Chen both cursed. This little brat was safe and now didn’t care about them. They both dodged, but while Long Chen was fast enough, Gu Yang was a hair slower and stabbed in the leg.

“Boss Gu Yang, this is a kind of tempering. I know you can handle it.” Guo Ran was sorry, but he shamelessly made his tone one of encouragement.

“Guo Ran, put down your hammer. Can you make this into a weapon or not?” asked Long Chen.

“I don’t think I can. This thing is completely immune to my forging arts. No matter how I try it, it explodes. However, when it comes to conning others with it, it should be useful. I’ll make them all explode and then add them to my bombs. Hehe, that power should definitely be good. I can even add some of those pieces to my armor.” Guo Ran laughed excitedly.

“Alright then. I’ll leave these to you.” Long Chen took out six thousand of the eight thousand triangular blades and chains that he had in the primal chaos space, giving them to Guo Ran.

“Boss, you have so many? Then I’ll have to properly plan on what to do with them.” Guo Ran was both excited and startled to see so many of them. He loved strange oddities.

“These things aren’t too important. Let me show you a diagram first. Remember, the space inside has to be extremely great, and the interior must be made of jade or ceramic.” Long Chen took out a diagram he had come up with.

Guo Ran looked at it for a long time. He curiously said, “Boss, why does this thing look so familiar? It looks like a spray bottle.”

“That’s right, it’s a spray bottle. I just changed its form a bit. You don’t need to care about it for now. Just build it according to my specifications. Remember, make sure there’s enough space inside and enough spraying power,” said Long Chen.

“Alright, that’s not difficult. I can make it very quickly. As for these treasures, are they really all mine to play with?” Guo Ran pointed to the blades and chains.

“Take them as your weapons. As long as you leave a few for Gu Yang’s plan to temper the Dragonblood warriors’ souls and willpower, the rest are yours.”

Long Chen waved his hand, letting Guo Ran get to work. He also had Gu Yang take charge of the blood soul stones and blood essence stones.

After arranging that, Long Chen went into an underground cultivation room. He wanted to see how Li Qi and Song Mingyuan were doing with absorbing the earth essence.