Chapter 36: Watch Closely, This Is How She’s Used
The wooden soldier was also part of the Forest Scepter, so the moment it kicked him, an inscrutable message appeared in his mind.
[Spirit Unsealing · Bronze as a Mirror · Perfectly replicates target’s clothing, hair, accessories, makeup, appearance, voice, Spirit Artifact.]
[Selecting — Spirit Artifact]
[Target Spirit Artifact: Forest Scepter]
[Introduction: As the king of this game, the Life Star God is always watching you.]
[Level: C]
[Spirit Unsealing · Soldier Summoning: Turn wood into soldiers (can summon one wooden soldier every three months). The combat quality of wooden soldiers refers to a first-stage Body Refinement Master, with a chance to produce wooden generals with basic intelligence.]
A C-class Spirit Artifact had only one skill, unlike Alpha-class Spirit Artifacts where one Spirit Unsealing contained three skills, not to mention the two-stage Spirit Unsealing that came later.
Replication was merely a minor ability of an Alpha-class Spirit Artifact.
“Swoosh—”
Ten wooden soldiers vanished from their spots and instantly appeared around Xia Feng in the air. Their faces were expressionless, and they were about to unleash a combined punch, but their movements suddenly froze. They dropped from the air like a computer crashing.
Bang, bang, bang—
Dust flew.
The expected scene did not arrive, and the audience’s tense expressions turned astonished and confused. “What’s going on?”
“Look at Xia Feng’s hand…” someone’s mouth slowly opened wider, incredulously.
“…Is that the Forest Scepter?”
“Let’s drop the ‘is that’.”
“Outrageous! What’s going on with this Tom! He actually has a Spirit Artifact?”
“It’s fake, right? Is this kid really going to turn the tables?” The guy who swore he’d eat shit for free earlier became inexplicably nervous.
“And what’s with identical Spirit Artifacts?”
“So this is your Spirit Artifact’s ability?” Mushroom’s eyes widened, filled with excitement. Her small fists were clenched under her sleeves, and her previously low and worried emotions vanished, replaced by hope for a comeback.
The referee’s room was also in chaos. The chief referee hastily asked into the intercom, “Control room! What’s happening?”
Someone’s deep voice replied through the intercom, “Reporting to the chief referee, there are no abnormal energy reactions on-site, no evil god power, and the contestants are normal… but there’s a weak spirit energy reaction.”
“Spirit energy… reaction?” Everyone was extremely surprised.
“Is this… Xia Feng’s Spirit Artifact power?” Chen Xingdao subconsciously walked closer to the window, his sharp eyes fixed on the black-haired student in the arena. He spoke with a hint of disbelief, “So that’s how it is… There’s actually such a Spirit Artifact ability in this world.”
Freya also stared at the arena with her rosy lips slightly parted, lost in thought. But upon hearing Chen Xingdao’s praise from beside her, she suddenly snapped back to reality.
She glanced warily at Chen Xingdao, who had a look of interest on his face, and a vague sense of foreboding filled her.
The entire venue was a cacophony of curses and exclamations.
Mu Qingtong, seated on the high platform, maintained a gentle smile throughout. Her beautiful eyes were calm, but at this moment, she subconsciously narrowed her golden eyes, her gaze intensifying as she stared intently at the arena.
“So this is your spirit energy power, quite interesting~” A satisfied smile curved her lips. As expected, this opponent always managed to give her some unexpected surprises.
She was becoming more and more interested in this junior student.
The situation on the battlefield was now somewhat stagnant. After Xia Feng landed, the surrounding wooden soldiers circled him but were stuck on the ground, not moving. The female wooden general’s eye-like red light dissolved and reformed repeatedly.
Yan Xujia, further away, stood frozen in place, stunned. It took him a long time to recover, as he clearly sensed that the connection between himself and the wooden soldiers had been severed!
He looked at the scepter in his hand, then looked up and stared intently at the scepter in Xia Feng’s hand, his expression fluctuating. Today was truly bizarre.
“Xia Feng! What exactly did you do to my Spirit Artifact?!” he roared in anger.
Xia Feng playfully toyed with the scepter in his hand. It felt no different from ordinary wood, except for the green gem in the center of the shaft, which emitted a scorching glow. It felt warm and comfortable to the touch.
Through the scepter, he could vaguely sense his connection to the ten wooden soldiers around him, feeling as if he could control them with a single thought.
However, controlling ten at once was very taxing; five was his limit.
As he was thinking this, the connection to five of them suddenly broke. He looked up and saw five wooden soldiers and the female wooden general retreat to Yan Xujia’s side, surrounding and protecting him.
After the shock of the sudden incident, Yan Xujia quickly regained his composure and sorted out the current situation.
“It’s not an illusion, but its effect is exactly the same as mine. It really is a replication…” His eyes flickered as he looked at the scepter in Xia Feng’s hand. He had only seen such Spirit Artifacts in strange and fantastical novels, which often came with numerous side effects and limitations. He wondered how Xia Feng’s was.
With this thought, Yan Xujia glanced at the female wooden general, and his eyes lit up. “Right, this idiot isn’t as familiar with the Forest Scepter as I am. He didn’t win the control of Serena against me. This is a flaw in his Spirit Artifact. The fake is just the fake; it can never surpass the real thing!”
His thoughts raced, and Yan Xujia grinned and clicked his tongue, looking up. “Xia Feng, so this is why you have the confidence to challenge me?”
He had to admit that the guy surnamed Xia had indeed exceeded his expectations several times, disrupting his offensive schemes. But that didn’t matter.
As long as this darn replication ability wasn’t perfect, and had flaws, Xia Feng still wouldn’t be able to defeat him.
“Serena, go, end this farce.” He raised his scepter.
The red light in the female wooden general’s linear eyes lit up again, and she lowered her head, speaking in a deep voice, “Yes, Master!”
“Clang—”
The fifth chime of the arena clock sounded, indicating that only two minutes remained.
By now, everyone had no time to focus on how many seconds Xia Feng had left to lose. They were all staring at the sky screen with tense expressions, wondering about the outcome of this match: would Yan Xujia win, would it be a draw, or would Xia Feng win?
Bang, bang, bang, bang—
The ten wooden soldiers darted around the arena like ninjas, creating a chaotic scene and kicking up sand.
In the waiting room, Panda stood by the window, sighed with his eyes closed.
“What’s wrong? Little fatty, who do you think will win?” Zhao Jie asked.
Panda ignored the nickname the middle-aged man had given him and simply shook his head. “Serena is the key. Xia Feng’s final trump card has a significant flaw; he can’t win against Yan Xujia.”
“Then why did you sigh?”
“I never expected Xia Feng to have another trick up his sleeve. My plan is completely disrupted,” Panda said, shaking his round head helplessly. “I was supposed to take this opportunity to completely cripple him, what a pity…”
“But it’s fine; at least the goal of attracting hatred has been achieved— Huh?”
Panda’s words suddenly stopped as his gaze refocused on the arena, his tone changing. “What’s this now?”
After obtaining the Forest Scepter, Xia Feng clearly felt that due to his lack of experience, his control over this Spirit Artifact was far inferior to Yan Xujia’s. Even if the five wooden soldiers could fight Yan Xujia to a standstill, he couldn’t control the remaining wooden general.
Apart from slowing down the opponent’s actions, there was nothing else he could do.
“Bang—”
He dodged Serena’s whip kick, enduring the stinging pain of air whistling past his ears, and used the momentum to leap back again.
Serena’s red light flickered, pressing her advantage.
Seeing this, Xia Feng knew that relying on replication alone would likely not lead to victory. Replicated Spirit Artifacts required time to adapt before their full effect could be realized, which was the only flaw of the replication ability.
“Distracted on the battlefield? You’re asking for death!” Suddenly, a man’s teasing laugh echoed from behind him.
Xia Feng was not surprised. He pulled back his sword hilt to block an attack. Yan Xujia, however, warily retreated several steps, trapping Xia Feng in the center with Serena on his left and right.
By now, both of them had exhausted their spirit pressure. All that remained was the clash of Spirit Artifacts and martial arts techniques.
Yan Xujia performed a beautiful flourish with his sword, a playful smile on his lips. “Xia Feng, if this is your trump card, then it ends here!”
!
Xia Feng blinked and smiled without speaking. Replication wasn’t his trump card.
Before the match, he had already used the Unsolvable Stone to temporarily perfect the Spirit Artifact. Optimization and “Remove the false and preserve the true” were now in an activated state.
However, he didn’t intend to use “Remove the false and preserve the true.” After all, replication and optimization were still within the acceptable range for Spirit Masters. “Remove the false and preserve the true” directly seized the opponent’s Spirit Artifact, which would be too shocking to use in public.
“Serena, he’s unstable on his lower body. Focus on attacking his lower body,” Yan Xujia narrowed his eyes.
“Yes, Master!” Serena nodded solemnly and, leaving an afterimage, charged directly at Xia Feng.
Full of killing intent!
Xia Feng stood calmly in place and slowly aimed the scepter at the charging Serena, softly saying, “Optimize—”
Serena’s charge did not slow down at all. Like a beast descending from a mountain, she enveloped Xia Feng with a terrifying aura. The moment she approached, her entire brown, wooden body suddenly disintegrated into hundreds of fragments, which then landed on Xia Feng’s body from all directions like armor fusing together.
[Selected Spirit Artifact: Forest Scepter]
[Introduction: As the king of this game, the Life Star God is always watching you.]
[Level: C]
[Optimization Successful—]
[Spirit Unsealing · Soldier Summoning → Evil King’s Soldier Summoning: After turning into a great general with one point, you are the true king of the generals. You can fuse with the wooden general to make it your armor. The armor can directly withstand at least two C-class Spirit Robe strong attacks. 2. You can easily control wooden soldiers using wooden generals. 3. Combat quality (including but not limited to smell, hearing, sight, nerve reaction, combat intuition, etc.) doubles. 4. The basic intelligence of wooden generals is improved, and simulated emotions may appear.]
“This is quite interesting~” Xia Feng said with delight, clenching his giant brown wooden fist.
The wooden armor did not feel abrasive as expected, but rather like a soft and warm wrap. He liked this optimized ability; he felt filled with power.
The sudden change not only stunned the nearly ten thousand spectators but also left Yan Xujia frozen in place, his teeth parting and closing as if something were stuck in his throat.
“You— you—” His low tone suddenly rose, filled with rage. “Xia Feng! What the hell did you do!!”
Yan Xujia could clearly sense that the connection between himself and Serena had not been interrupted, yet he could not control her.
“M~ Master! Save me~~” Serena’s voice was no longer mechanical and stiff, but lively and emotional, her mature voice trembling.
Yan Xujia’s breath hitched, and his pupils slowly dilated.
Xia Feng, however, frowned. He looked down at his palm and clearly felt that after Serena developed human-like emotions, she began to actively resist.
In her mind, she could already distinguish who the true master was and who was the evil plunderer.
“Behave yourself!” Xia Feng clenched his fist and commanded coldly.
But clearly, Serena would not engage in dialogue with anyone other than her true master. After a low, trembling whimper, she began to thrash her body wildly.
However, her wooden body had already deconstructed and reconstructed onto Xia Feng, forming a brown-green armor like Iron Man without a helmet. No matter how she struggled, it was in vain.
“You— you guy! You guy!!” Yan Xujia finally recovered from his shock, a wave of inexplicable humiliation surging through him. It was just a Spirit Artifact creature, so why did it feel so strange? He gritted his teeth. “Scum! Let Serena go right now!”
Xia Feng looked up, raised his hand, and gently clenched his fist, a villainous smile appearing on his face.
“Watch closely, this is how she’s used!”
Yan Xujia: “!!!”
In the blink of an eye, Xia Feng had turned into an afterimage and vanished from his spot, reappearing behind Yan Xujia.
“So fast!” Yan Xujia exclaimed in terror as he turned to block, but he was still a moment too slow. Bang!! A punch landed on his abdomen, his eyes bulging wide as he doubled over and coughed up blood.
“Master!!” Serena cried out.
However, Xia Feng directly followed up with a knee strike to Serena, *crack*— A crisp bone-cracking sound came from Yan Xujia’s lower cheekbone. The intense pain contorted his face, causing him to drool, but before he could recover, Xia Feng delivered a side-spinning kick with a whistling sonic boom, knocking him senseless.
He spun through the air, his mind a muddled mess, zooming across and hitting the ground with a *zi——*, plowing a groove twenty meters long before stopping, dust billowing.
“Ugh—” Yan Xujia groaned in pain for a while, clutching his abdomen like a rotten shrimp. His dandy noble demeanor was long gone. He struggled to get up with his hands and feet, his voice hoarse with rage. “Scum! You scum! I’m going to kill you!!”
But before he could finish speaking, ten wooden figures quietly surrounded him, blocking out the remaining daylight.
Caught in the dimness, Yan Xujia stiffly looked around, his face filled with fear. “What— what are you doing!”
A path parted through the crowd, and Xia Feng walked over slowly. At the same time, Serena’s trembling, soft cry could be heard, “Master, I~ I’m sorry, I really can’t control myself~~”
Yan Xujia’s chest inexplicably ached: “!!!”
If a wife was a man’s earthly companion, then a Spirit Artifact was a man’s soulmate.
It was one thing for Xia Feng to replicate his Spirit Artifact, but it was even more unbearable than killing him that the replicated version was used better than his own!
His expression turned as dark as water, his eyes filled with venom as he glared at Xia Feng. “What exactly is this ability of yours?!”
Xia Feng smiled faintly, not bothering to answer him. He simply waved his hand and said in a light tone, “Beat him.”
Upon receiving the order, the ten wooden soldiers swarmed forward.
Yan Xujia’s eyes widened in terror, and he reflexively turned to look at the referee’s room, but it was too late. His facial features were covered by two wooden hands, and his limbs were forcibly restrained by three wooden soldiers in an awkward posture.
Then, the remaining five wooden soldiers began a street-fight-style barrage of punches and kicks, and under Xia Feng’s will, they occasionally “accidentally” kicked him in the lower region.
Beautiful screams echoed throughout the ten-thousand-person arena.
