Chapter 977: A Predicament

Upgrade Specialist in Another World

Bai Yunfei was pleased by the reactions he was getting.

He had to avoid the worst-case scenario at all costs: being surrounded. Even if he suddenly sprouted two more sets of arms and could kill hundreds of people, it was still very dangerous to waste any energy if he could avoid.

To be stalled was to be in even greater danger. The longer he was stalled, the greater the danger.

What he had to do was find a hole in their ‘net’ and break free of this encampment. Being chased would be a great deal more manageable in that case.

Bai Yunfei had faith in his abilities. He was fast and capable of extended battles with his soulforce regeneration. Those two factors combined made him a very capable person in running away.

Unfortunately for him, the situation wouldn’t go as he’d like… 

    ……

“Where do you think you’re going?!”

Someone’s voice exploded through the skies just then!

Bai Yunfei felt his speed start to drop the moment when he heard the voice. The soulforce in his body grew agitated for a moment before he let out a small grunt!

A soul attack!

He was hit by the soul attack of a Late-stage Soul King!

It was unfortunate for him that the Soul Sentinel Scarf or Yun’s Soul Ring had failed to activate in defense against the soul attack. Probability wasn’t something so biased that additional effects would activate whenever convenient for Bai Yunfei each time.

Bai Yunfei felt like a hammer had been slammed into his head with how dizzy he felt. His defenses weren’t able to fully mitigate the effects of the soul attack and the flames around his body flickered wildly due to the loss of control.

But he was still a Late-stage Soul King and was also in possession of plenty of spirit-boosting soul armaments. The Soul Sentinel Scarf might not have activated, but the soul attack wouldn’t be too debilitating to him. It’d only be a momentary lapse of speed.

But that momentary lapse of speed was the last thing Bai Yunfei needed. When he recovered, a dark shadow crossed his face… 

Two figures were standing in front of him!

A Mid-stage and a Late-stage Soul King!

“Damn!!” Bai Yunfei cursed to himself.

Accelerating, he took off into the direction of the Late-stage Soul King!

“What is this!” The blue-robed elder cried out in astonishment. He put his all into that soul attack just now and expected it to do a little more damage. How had Bai Yunfei recovered so fast from it?!

A giant fireball flew at him while he pondered that question as Bai Yunfei made his rapid approach!

“Hmph!” He sneered. This fireball was an affront to his power, and he felt quite scornful by Bai Yunfei’s attempts. Large amounts of soulforce started to rise out from his person before a giant ball of water formed in front of his hand. His soulforce continued to flow into the fireball to expand it while a dark sliver of light soon took shape inside of it.

“Booom!!!!”

The two balls of energy exploded against each other with devastating force. Despite the ball of water’s smaller size, the power within it was still of comparable levels to the fireball. The +10 additional effect of Bai Yunfei’s Ardent Sun Glove had been stopped!

This man Bai Yunfei was facing was a Late-stage Soul King, after all. He had been at this level of power for at least a dozen years and had plenty of experience in the manipulation of elemental energy. Bai Yunfei hadn’t reached the same level of manipulation as he had, as it required many more months of being a Soul King. 

So Bai Yunfei was inferior in that aspect to the Soul King.

“Whoosh!!”

The Heaven’s Thunder was let loose by Bai Yunfei to go straight after the Mid-stage Soul King.

The Mid-stage Soul King was an elder wearing black robes and had a sword in hand. Pointing his sword, the elder shot a beam of energy out from the tip to smash into the Heaven’s Thunder. 

The two collided against one another with a clang, sending the Heaven’s Thunder back.

“……”

Both attacks were equally powerful but were unable to gain the higher ground of the other.

“Swoosh!”

The explosion brought forth from the balls of fire and water hitting each other caused a tremendous shockwave of energy to assault the water-type Late-stage Soul King!

And while that was happening, Bai Yunfei came forward to strike with the Fire-tipped Spear!

“Clang!!”

At the moment it looked like the spear was about to stab into the elder…a metallic object stopped the spear from going any further forward!

In the water-type Soul King’s hand was a two-meter-long rod the color of the ocean. He had used this rod somehow to stop Bai Yunfei’s attack.

Having successfully stopped the Fire-tipped Spear, the man flicked his wrist so that the rod rotated around to strike at Bai Yunfei’s throat in return!

But then the Soul King realized something off with the Bai Yunfei in front of him. From where there once was one Bai Yunfei, there was now…three!

The +12 additional effect of the Fire-tipped Spear: Doppelganger!

“Bang!”

The rod struck the Bai Yunfei in front of the Soul King with a light thud and penetrated straight through his throat. But rather than blood coming out from the wound, the Bai Yunfei in front of the Soul King had simply turned into smoke instead!

And while the Soul King was busy dealing with what that meant, the Bai Yunfeis on his left and right were lashing out with two identical Fire-tipped Spears!

The Soul King swung his weapon to the right, parrying that spear while he turned himself around to have the other spear strike his back! Sparks flew when the spear landed onto him, revealing a dark-black piece of armor underneath his robes.

The rod circled around to hit one of the Bai Yunfei squarely on the waist and cleaved him two, turning that Bai Yunfei into smoke after it connected.

His choice to block one and allow the other spear to hit him had been a gamble. Fortunately for him, a doppelganger of Bai Yunfei had only half the strength of the original and wasn’t strong enough to fully penetrate through his armor!

Bai Yunfei was deeply surprised by the Soul King’s rapid reactions. His decisive ability was practically instantaneous and definitely beyond what Bai Yunfei expected. This man was far stronger than Qin Long and Qin He had been, and the three of them were all Late-stage Soul Kings!

Even more unfortunate for Bai Yunfei was the affinity of the Soul King. He was a water-type Soul King. In the Five Elements theory, water subdued fire. Therefore, the water-type Soul King had an advantage over Bai Yunfei.

He had a brooding expression on his face after he saw his doppelgangers fail to do any damage to the Soul King. The Fire-tipped Spear floated around his person as he tried to think about what to do, but before he could come up with a plan….

He sensed something coming at him from his right!

“Bzzz….”

The Cataclysmic Seal erected a barrier around him immediately, stopping a golden beam of light from hitting Bai Yunfei and allowed it to leave behind only a ripple over the surface of the barrier.

But that left Bai Yunfei temporarily distracted from the Late-stage Soul King who decided to pull away to gain some distance from him.

    ……

Things weren’t looking good for Bai Yunfei.

He was starting to look worried a bit. His two newest foes weren’t as weak as he hoped, and it felt like he wouldn’t be able to kill them off just as easily as the previous two.

His best advantage over a Late-stage Soul King would most likely be the Soul Sentinel Scarf when it reflected a soul attack onto them. By using that effect, Bai Yunfei had a decent chance of securing the opportunity to kill the Late-stage Soul King. The Yun’s Soul Ring also gave Bai Yunfei a decent chance to strike, but it was only a small window compared to the Soul Sentinel Scarf. 

And it was only something he could make use of once each. If his enemies knew about this there’d be no way they’d be willing to use a soul attack again. In the end, the Soul Sentinel Scarf and the Yun’s Soul Ring wouldn’t help him then.

Then there was the +13 additional effect of the Fire-tipped Spear. It was also a very great move to use, but that required a great deal of soulforce that he wasn’t willing to use so easily… 

“Swish! Swish!!”

As if not planning to give Bai Yunfei any more time to think, a second beam of golden light traveled through the skies to strike down Bai Yunfei while the water-type Soul King sent a wave of water out at him!

And as if to make matters even worse, even more enemies were starting to draw close to him!