246 Soul Guard (1/2)

”They all have a serious flaw in their cultivation system,” Bai Tianyi frowned. ”Their bodies are weak like paper, they cannot handle the attacks that we throw out, and they will almost instantly die.”

”We were lucky this time,” Xue Wei suddenly said. ”They did not take us seriously and allowed us to get close. If they launched attacks the moment they saw us, then we would have to battle through wave after wave of spiritual energy, and it would take us much longer to get close enough to deal the killing blows.”

”If we ever get close,” Bai Tianyi nodded. ”Especially Hei Gou and Lin Xiao have to be wary when they fight against spiritual energy attacks, considering that their soul is rather weak. They will easily fall prey to their opponents.

”Spiritual energy attacks are split into various kinds similar to Qi attacks. Some of them aim for the soul of their opponent, while others materialize the spiritual energy and use it to strike the physical body.”

”We are lucky that we are in Yan Dalu where the physical body is their weakness,” Bai Tianyi explained to everyone while Hei Gou rummaged through the corpses' pockets, looking for valuables. ”The experts here focus on materialized attacks to attack their opponent's bodies, as that is their weak point. Specializing in soul attacks is not that useful since most warriors of Yan Dalu have a strong soul, so we have to use this to our advantage.”

Hei Gou nodded his head. Although he was looking for treasure, his full focus was on Bai Tianyi's words.

”For now, we have to abuse the fact that we have superior physical strength,” Lin Xiao said. ”Our fame might eventually resound throughout the entirety of Yan Dalu, but no matter what actually happens, we better expect that people will start preparing against us. Since this is the case, we need to kill as many as we can before they become wiser.”

”I know a skill that you and Gou should practice,” Bai Tianyi said after a brief hesitation. ”It is specially made for people with weak souls. It is a defensive method that will shroud your soul with Qi. This way, as long as they do not have a spiritual energy base higher than your Qi bases, then you should be safe.”

”Unfortunately, it is not easy to train it and it will take time! But if we consider the fact that you might die if we do not do it, I think that it is without a doubt our best decision.”

”Why did you not teach us this skill before?” Hei Gou asked, slightly nonplussed, but Bai Tianyi just sent him a glance. ”I use spiritual energy,” he explained, ”but here I am, basically making the two of you untouchable by a spiritual energy user. If you were to betray me, would that not be the same as picking up a stone only to drop it on my own foot?”

”Did you expect us to betray you?” Hei Gou asked with wide open eyes full of surprise and slight indignation.

”Well, you never know,” Bai Tianyi just shrugged his shoulders. It was clear that he felt no remorse having said the words he spoke. In fact, he was as casual as usual.

”Okay, Tianyi told us about it now, so that's enough,” Xue Wei finally said. He knew that if he did not stop them, then it would end up with Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi being at each other's throats, barking at one another and wasting time.

Bai Tianyi took a step back. He was after all Xue Wei's contracted sword. Although he seemed human, he had given up his humanity for eternal life.

It was times like these that people could sense the fact that he had lost his humanity. He would say hurtful things without noticing it, and he would do anything in his power to benefit himself and Xue Wei. And the only reason he would benefit Xue Wei was because of their soul contract.

Hei Gou stopped arguing as well. However, his eyes displayed some displeasure with what Bai Tianyi had said. Lin Xiao, on the other hand, was completely stunned.

Bai Tianyi had treated them like friends on the way, constantly bantered and having fun with them, yet now he said he never knew when they might betray him. This showed that he had doubts about them!

Xue Wei understood that Bai Tianyi's words were not as serious as they sounded. Although it made him sound as if he were constantly waiting for them to betray him, it was just as much a question about self-preservation. He was not willing to use his abilities unless necessary.

Now that Xue Wei had stopped the argument, Bai Tianyi could feel that the atmosphere had cooled. Nonetheless, he was not dumb, so he was acutely aware that the conflict was because of the words he had said, but he did not regret saying them.

In this world, everyone would do their best only if they had some sort of benefit from it. Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi were without a doubt linked together because of their soul contract, so everything that benefitted one would benefit the other.

Hei Gou was, on the other hand, someone with whom they only shared friendship. There was no heavenly oath that he was aware of to keep them together or keep him from betraying Xue Wei.

Not to mention, Bai Tianyi had been strong at the beginning. He had been the one to look after them, but now he was the weakest in the group, tied with Xue Wei. Although his combat ability was outstanding, it was not enough to make him the anchor of the group any more.

But what Bai Tianyi had that the others lacked sorely was knowledge and experience. Although his personality had changed slightly and he had become more inhuman, he had retained his vast repertoire of knowledge and understanding, allowing him to be completely objective, unswayed by emotions at all.

Xue Wei saw how Bai Tianyi found two empty jade slips and imprinted the information about the defensive ability that he was talking about and handed it to Hei Gou and Lin Xiao.