A wry smile appeared on Tang Wulin''s face. "I don''t know what happened, either, but it appears that your martial soul really is quite closely rted to my bloodline."


    Sima Jinchi nodded in response. "I could sense during ourst battle in the Star Battle Net that I had made a breakthrough to be a Titled Douluo, but I returned to normal after logging out. I came to find you in the hope of sparring with you to see if I can make this breakthrough in real life, but I didn''t think that I''d encounter all of this. What happened back there? Did you actively exert control over me?"


    Tang Wulin shook his head. "I''m not sure what happened, either. When your Dragonying Saber evolved, I was struck by an instinctive feeling that I should adopt my martial soul true body form, and at the time, it felt as if your Dragonying Saber had be a part of my body. After that, I used it to attack before I really even knew what I was doing."


    Sima Jinchi''s lips twitched upon hearing this. It didn''t take a genius to realize what had happened. He had always thought that his Dragonying Saber martial soul stood at the pinnacle of this world, but not only was it closely rted to Tang Wulin''s bloodline, it was clearly a subsidiary entity to his Golden Dragon King bloodline! With his pride and ego, this was quite a bitter pill to swallow. However, he had to admit that just being with Tang Wulin was clearly taking him closer to making that elusive breakthrough.


    Tang Wulin shrugged in a resigned manner at the sight of Sima Jinchi''s dark expression. "This isn''t necessarily a bad thing; we''re friends, after all."


    Sima Jinchi opened his mouth, and he really wanted to deny any friendly affiliation with Tang Wulin, but he couldn''t bring himself to do so. After all, Tang Wulin had saved his life not long ago, and saying something like that would be far too hurtful.


    A''Ruheng chuckled, "You should just resign yourself to your fate; it''s not necessarily a bad thing to act as a weapon for my junior disciple brother! Besides, it''s not like you can change anything anyway."


    Sima Jinchi turned to A''Ruheng with a vicious look on his face. "I''d advise you not to run your mouth! I haven''t even exacted my revenge on you yet; you better be on your guard in case I chop you into pieces!"


    "Come at me!" A''Ruheng raised his eyebrows in a provocative manner.


    "Yuxue, what''s that gun that''s equipped to your mecha?" Tang Wulin pretended not to be able to hear the quarrel taking ce as he turned to Long Yuxue, who was resting nearby.


    She had already emerged from her ck mecha at Tang Wulin''s request, and his question instantly drew A''Ruheng and Sima Jinchi''s attention, both of whom also turned to appraise Long Yuxue.


    Even Bear Lord hadn''t been able to ward off an attack from her giant gun, and no matter how conceited they were, they weren''t delusional enough to think that they could fare any better. As such, both of them were quite curious to hear Long Yuxue''s response. Had modern technology really already developed to such an extraordinary extent? If even Limit Douluos could be killed so easily with modern weaponry, then what was the point in cultivating for Soul Masters like them?


    Long Yuxue remainedpletely expressionless as she replied, "This is the newest technology developed by our legion''s research facility; it''s called heavy ionser."


    "Heavy ionser?" This was the first time that they had heard of such a thing.


    Long Yuxue took an indifferent nce at A''Ruheng and Sima Jinchi. "This is confidential military information that can''t be disclosed to outsiders."


    Sima Jinchi and A''Ruheng''s expressions stiffened in unison upon hearing this.


    Tang Wulin nced at them before turning back to Long Yuexue. "They''re a part of our Blood Dragon Squad, so they should count as members of our legion; if it''s not a strictly confidential matter, can you make an exception for them?"


    "Yes yes! Please tell us," A''Ruheng urged as he nodded in an eager manner.


    Sima Jinchi was working hard to put on an aloof disy, but he was unable to disguise the burning curiosity in his eyes. No one wanted to face such terrifying indefensible attacks in the future!


    Long Yuxue paused momentarily beforeplying. "Alright, you don''t need to know exactly how these weapons work anyway. The redsers that everyone else used are protonsers. Protonsers are very special in that they possess extremely potent prative properties, allowing them to be able to pierce through virtually all energy and physical defenses. However, protonsers aren''t very powerful, and they''re like normal beams of light that aren''t harmful to the human body. However, after research and development, we''ve been able to use these protonsers as bridges over certain distances. When thesesers reach a certain depth into one''s body, we can ignite thesesers through these bridges in order to damage a target''s body from the inside, thereby resulting in direct damage to one''s internal organs. This technology is already quite mature in our legion, but due to its extreme destructive power, it''s something that''s currently only avable to our legion. As for the heavy ionser that I used, that''s still in its experimental phase, but to exin it in simple terms, it''s a more powerful version of protonsers.


    "If protonsers are ignited within a target''s body, then striking a target with a heavy ionser would be like detonating a soul bomb directly within their body. The main w of heavy ionsers and protonsers is that they have a rtively short effective range, and with current technology, they''re only effective within 300 meters. Any further than that, and we won''t be able to urately detonate thesers within the target''s body.


    Long Yuxue''s exnation was a littleplex, and it left both A''Ruheng and Sima Jinchi slightly befuddled. Thankfully, Tang Wulin was able to provide a simpler summarized exnation. "So what you''re saying is that these long-range weapons can disregard the target''s defenses and shootsers that can be detonated within the target''s body?"


    Long Yuxue nodded in response. "That''s the general gist of these weapons. In practice, it''s a lot moreplex to exin, but you can interpret it like that."


    Disregard defenses...


    That was way too insane!


    Sima Jinchi couldn''t help but ask, "Even battle armor and mechas can''t keep out thesesers?"


    Long Yuxue replied, "Suits of battle armor at or above the three-word level and red mechas can keep protonsers at bay, but there''s still a chance for thesesers to break through following sustained periods of striking their target. As for heavy ionsers, only suits of four-word battle armor have been established to be aplete counter. Of course, battle armor of lower calibers can also weaken the effects of thesesers, but that guy from before didn''t have any defensive equipment, so theser was able to detonate directly inside his body. However, his internal constitution must also be extremely powerful. Otherwise, that heavy ionser beam should''ve been able to detonate his internal organs."


    "Gulp!" A''Ruheng gulped nervously as a chill ran down his spine.


    His greatest weapon was none other than his body! He was the future heir of the Body Sect, and he normally didn''t even like to use his suit of battle armor during battle. However, these protonsers and heavy ionsers seemed as if they had been tailor-made to target him! He had thought that his body waspletely impervious after sessfully cultivating the Body Sect''s congenital secret method, but it appeared that his confidence waspletely blind and unfounded!


    Tang Wulin couldn''t help but heave a faint sigh. "Modern technology really is advancing far too quickly. Were these proton and heavy ionser weapons created to target the abyssal ne?"


    Long Yuxue nodded in response. "Protonser technology is already mature, and if those abyssal creatures had managed to break through our defensive line that day, the protonsers would''ve been used on them. Shooting protonsers requires a huge amount of energy expenditure, but it''s extremely effective against living beings without metallic suits of armor, so it had always been designed to target abyssal creatures. In contrast, they won''t be very effective against mechas unless one can target the vital regions of the pilot controlling the mecha. Only after heavy ionsers were invented was this problem rectified. However, heavy ion weaponry is still in the infancy stages of its development, and the one I''m using is currently the smallest one that can be used in a stable manner."


    Tang Wulin, A''Ruheng, and Sima Jinchi were finally feeling a little more reassured after hearing her exnation.


    However, regardless of what the situation was like now, the fact of the matter was that humans had already invented such weapons, so they would end up in the hands of the military sooner orter. It appeared that the Soul Masters of future generations would have no choice but to learn to better use this modern equipment.


    Was this a good thing or a bad thing?


    After developing a deeper understanding of everyone''s abilities, Tang Wulin was feeling a lot more assured. Even though the situation from earlier had been very dangerous, they had still managed to force away a powerful being, who was essentially equivalent in power to a Limit Douluo that wasn''t wearing any battle armor. This indicated that they had the power to oppose some of the most powerful beings in this world.


    "Where do we go next?" A''Ruheng asked.


    Tang Wulin opened his electronic map and used the GPS to ascertain their current location, then pointed toward a certain direction. "We''ll go to Bright City first, then take a soul train further into the continent."


    They were indeed part of the military, but the Blood God Legion had been established in the Skyend Mountain Ranges to defend against the abyssal ne, and if so many of the legion''s ck mechas were to fly into a city at once, they would definitely be discovered by radars, which would lead to a lot of unnecessary problems.


    Of course, Tang Wulin was still rather apprehensive as he mentioned the words "soul train". He had already lost count of the number of idents he''d encountered while traveling by soul train, and it seemed that he and high-speed soul trains simply weren''t meant to be. ......


    Bright City, the capital city of the Douluo Federation. Following the demolition of Shrek City, Bright City had be thergest city on the entire continent. It was situated in the western region of the continent, and resembled a forest of iron and steel.