At first, Zhuihun thought that the quarter of the part was trapped in the alloy knife and had not broken free. However, after searching carefully with his consciousness, he found that this was not the case, because he could no longer sense the existence of the missing part.
You should know that this ever-changing magical artifact has been nurtured by Zhuihun with spiritual power and soul consciousness for decades, and they have almost developed a blood-like connection.
But now he can't feel the missing part at all, which means that the black steel bar has completely lost contact with him, and the imprint of his consciousness and spiritual power left inside has been completely erased.
Cold sweat instantly streamed down Zhuihun's forehead. Ever since he obtained this ever-changing magical artifact, he had cherished it as if it were his own life. Every morning and evening, he would take the time to carefully wipe every part of the artifact from top to bottom, never slacking off.
Perhaps it was precisely because of this that he was able to develop an unparalleled tacit understanding with this magical artifact, and thus be able to wield it with the same ease and control as if it were his own arm in battle.
Over the decades, this ever-changing ability has become almost an integral part of Zhuihun's being.
To have a part of your body inexplicably disappear would be very unpleasant for anyone.
"You brat...you actually dared to steal my spiritual weapon...Quickly...give it back to me...where did my piece of spiritual weapon go?"
The reduction in the number of versatile magical artifacts immediately threw Zhuihun into a daze. For a moment, he couldn't even care about his daughter, and his desire to fight Zhou Ziwei also faded away. Even if he were to fight... he would have to get back the part of his precious magical artifacts that he had lost first.
So while questioning Zhou Ziwei, he first put away the black gold sword that had finally managed to break free from Zhou Ziwei's encirclement of alloy knives.
With a few swift flashes of dark light, the black gold sword completely merged into the armor-like, ever-changing magical artifact on Zhuihun's body.
"I'm sorry... I'm afraid I won't be able to return it to you."
When Zhou Ziwei saw that Zhuihun had put away his weapon and seemed to have no intention of continuing the fight, he quickly put away the alloy sword that had been extended into the air and had grown to resemble a large Guan Dao.
With just a thought, the alloy knife flowed into Zhou Ziwei's alloy suit like water.
At the same time, Zhou Ziwei carefully transformed the large fireball that had condensed in front of him into attribute-free energy and absorbed it back into his body.
However, this constant flow of energy in and out will definitely consume a lot of energy.
However, the fact that the released fireball could be retrieved is already quite remarkable, and even if some losses are incurred, it is worthwhile.
It's better than detonating something pointless!
"Why can't you pay me back?"
Upon hearing Zhou Ziwei's words, Zhuihun immediately became anxious. He took two steps forward, his eyes red, and roared, "You brat, do you want to steal my treasure? Let me tell you... this ever-changing magical artifact is my lifeblood! If you... if you dare to swallow my lifeblood, then I'll..."
"Stop...stop it...let's not talk about something so disgusting, okay? Who swallowed your manhood..." Hearing Zhuihun mention that Zhou Ziwei had swallowed his manhood, and thinking of the narrow meaning of the word "manhood," Zhou Ziwei felt a chill run down his spine. He cursed inwardly, "This shameless old man dares to take advantage of me! Even if I'm really thirsty and want to flirt with someone, I can go to Chu Qiutang or your nominal daughter Emily. I would never flirt with an old man like you! But you old bastard actually slandered me by saying I swallowed your manhood...Pah...just thinking about that thing is disgusting! Why would I swallow that thing? To use it as an aphrodisiac?"
"Hmm?" Upon hearing this, Zhuihun's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly said, "It's best that you didn't swallow my manhood, then... hand over my manhood!"
Zhou Ziwei was completely taken aback by this old man's words. After a long while, he could only manage a bitter laugh and say, "Well... I really can't return your... manhood, because... because... although I didn't swallow your manhood, my... my manhood swallowed your manhood. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Zhou Ziwei almost cried as he said this... The phrase "your lifeline" and "my lifeline" was just too awkward.
Zhou Ziwei had assumed that Zhuihun wouldn't understand his explanation, but to his surprise, Zhuihun's eyes widened immediately upon hearing Zhou Ziwei's name, and he exclaimed in horror, "You...you mean, your...your alloy knife...it actually devoured a part of my spiritual weapon!"
Zhou Ziwei glanced at Zhuihun with some surprise, then nodded and said, "That's roughly the idea! My weapon is a bit special. It's different from the spiritual weapons used by other spiritual warriors. It's not as sturdy or sharp as a real spiritual weapon, and it can't be used to fly and attack with spiritual power. However... it has a unique ability to devour and assimilate various metallic substances. Just now... a small part of your manhood was devoured by it, and... it quickly turned into part of that weapon, becoming one of the raw materials for the alloy. And this thing can only fuse with other metals, but it has no ability to separate the metal that has already been fused in, so... I can only apologize to you."
On the surface, Zhou Ziwei appeared helpless and embarrassed, but inside he was secretly overjoyed, muttering to himself with glee: Serves you right… If you, you old bastard, hadn't bothered with the details and had attacked me so recklessly, I'd have swallowed your manhood, so what could you do about it… Pah… Who swallowed his manhood? It was my manhood that swallowed his… Uh… that doesn't quite sound right, but whatever, you deserve it. Let's see if you dare use that piece of junk on me again. If you dare use your manhood again, I'll just eat it all up… Ah… Pah…
The alloy armor did indeed devour a portion of the black gold greatsword, and it seemed to be doing so quite quickly. If it weren't for the fact that Soul Chaser reacted quickly and poured ten times the spiritual power into those hands to finally free the black gold greatsword, if it had been delayed by just ten or eight seconds, the entire black gold sword would have been completely swallowed up, leaving not even a trace.
Although this black gold sword is just a small spiritual weapon that was separated from the Hundred Transformations Spiritual Weapon, in terms of its size, it is less than one-tenth of the entire Hundred Transformations Spiritual Weapon. Even if the whole sword were to be lost, the loss to the overall combat power of the Soul Chaser should not be significant.
However... Zhuihun has always treasured this Hundred Transformations as if it were his lifeblood. Even losing a tiny bit of it would make him so heartbroken that he wouldn't be able to sleep for days. So, Zhou Ziwei's alloy armor swallowed a quarter of the black gold greatsword in one go, which is quite a lot.
The alloy suit felt very satisfied and was currently burping contentedly, happily digesting its spoils...
Zhou Ziwei could clearly feel the heartfelt joy emanating from the independent soul of the alloy suit, and he could also sense that the alloy suit was undergoing a significant qualitative change after absorbing that portion of precious black gold.
The metallic properties of the entire alloy suit became increasingly superior, with improvements in impact resistance, ductility, sharpness, and so on. After the addition of that portion of black gold, all of these properties seemed to have seen significant advancements.
This change was so obvious that even Zhou Ziwei could feel it, which shows how fast it happened.
In fact, ever since the alloy suit swallowed the black iron branch it had seized from the burlap monster, its performance has changed dramatically.
However, the last change was like a slow simmer, the whole process was extremely slow, so slow that even Zhou Ziwei, the owner, did not notice it.
If it weren't for that change, when the alloy blade and the black gold greatsword collided in mid-air today, the alloy blade would have been instantly cut in two without any hesitation.
In that case... no matter how difficult Zhou Ziwei's alloy knife was, it simply wouldn't be able to stick to that black gold sword.
If you can't even stick to it, how can you devour it?
This time, the alloy armor benefited greatly, absorbing the black gold from the spiritual artifact, which was far superior in both quantity and quality to the previous one. As a result, the quality of the alloy armor immediately rose to a new level after being fused with the black gold.
If such good things happen a few more times... it's possible that this alloy armor could grow to be comparable to a spiritual weapon, or even surpass it.
The thought that his alloy armor might one day be upgraded into a powerful spiritual artifact or one of similar quality to a real spiritual artifact made Zhou Ziwei's heart burn with excitement.
But after hearing what Zhuihun said next, Zhou Ziwei realized that he was far too easily satisfied. It turned out that things were much more terrifying than he had initially imagined.
"A divine artifact...it's actually a divine artifact!" Zhuihun was stunned for a moment, then his eyes blazed with fury, like a wolf that hadn't eaten for half a month seeing a lively little rabbit right in front of him, or like a lecherous wolf who had been locked up in prison for ten years and had never even seen a female fly, suddenly seeing a beautiful woman completely naked crawling into his bed...
In short, at this moment, Zhuihun looked at Zhou Ziwei with eyes full of the greed that every human being could possibly possess, and then kept swallowing his saliva, saying, "It can freely transform, can devour metal, can self-advance, can automatically protect its master... This... this really is a legendary divine artifact!"
Volume 3, King of the City, Chapter 629: Too Shameless
Is this a legendary artifact?
Zhou Ziwei was so taken aback by Zhuihun's words that he almost tripped and fell. Was he reading a novel or playing a game? Even such a cool term as "divine artifact" had appeared... Was life too unrealistic, or were people's imaginations too poor? In any case, when Zhou Ziwei first heard the term "divine artifact," he felt like he was struck dumb with shock.
"That's right, it's definitely a divine artifact."
The way Zhuihun was behaving was increasingly like that of a lewd old man in front of a beautiful little girl, which made Zhou Ziwei feel a chill run down his spine. He immediately had an urge to pin this lewd old man to the ground and beat him up.
"Oh, right..." Zhuihun suddenly remembered something, and stepped forward anxiously, grabbing Zhou Ziwei's shoulder and asking urgently, "It is said that divine artifacts possess their own intelligence, otherwise they would not be able to protect their masters automatically. But this is too shocking. I want to know... does your divine artifact... truly possess its own intelligence?"
Uh... its own intelligence... I wonder if the independent soul I created counts as the intelligence of this alloy suit itself?
Although Zhou Ziwei was muttering to himself, he was soon horrified to discover that this alloy suit definitely possessed its own intelligence, because he suddenly realized that in many situations, this alloy suit was simply acting on its own and was not obeying his commands as its master.
You said your essence is just a piece of clothing, and a piece of clothing is moving around for no reason... Well... it would be fine if other things developed their own intelligence, but as a piece of clothing, it has its own intelligence. What if it suddenly decides to go somewhere to watch the excitement when it's bored? Then wouldn't its owner, Zhou Ziwei, be in danger of suddenly becoming naked while walking down the street at any time?
Such a terrifying thing is absolutely possible, because the alloy suits are becoming increasingly autonomous, like now...
Zhou Ziwei glanced sideways at the liquid metal, which was slowly creeping up the wrist of the Soul Chaser and crawling bit by bit towards the alloy suit that was transformed from the armor of the Hundred Transformations, and said with a bitter face, "I think you guessed right, this thing really has developed its own intelligence and is becoming more and more disobedient to my commands... It's even doing petty theft, it's really... a disgrace to its master!"
Zhuihun had been staring intently into Zhou Ziwei's eyes, eager to hear if this terrifying, legendary artifact was real. He was completely oblivious to the slow, intrusive attack on his wrist until he heard something strange in Zhou Ziwei's words and followed his gaze. He was horrified to discover that two gleaming silver metal bands had appeared on his arms, extending upwards and almost completely enveloping them.
Then, Zhuihun clearly felt that the magical artifact on his body, the Hundred Transformations, was shrinking little by little, just like a piece of cheese being eaten by a mouse.
"No—" Upon realizing this, Zhuihun was terrified and cried out in agony. He then suddenly activated the ever-changing magical artifact on his body, which transformed into its battle form. With a "whoosh," it turned into streaks of black light and forcefully broke free from the encirclement of the two metal bands. In mid-air, it spontaneously combined to form the shape of a giant axe.
The moment Zhuihun was freed from his restraints, he hurriedly retreated six or seven steps as if fleeing for his life, until he reached the outside of the restroom, where he finally stopped, still shaken.
With such a powerful struggle from Zhuihun, the two metal straps that had secretly climbed onto Zhuihun's shoulders were instantly severed into pieces by the chaotic black light, and countless metal fragments fell to the ground.
Seeing this scene, Zhuihun was slightly taken aback, and his heart began to pound. He was really not sure whether Zhou Ziwei's weapon could be considered a legendary divine artifact.
Logically speaking, this thing actually possesses its own intelligence, and can even steal things on its own initiative without any command from its master. This... this thing not only has its own intelligence, but the level of its intelligence is obviously quite high.
Zhuihun believed he had some discernment; he had noticed the deep astonishment and shame on Zhou Ziwei's face and realized that his spiritual artifact was being stolen by that divine artifact.
Therefore, he was completely convinced that the two metal strips that had quietly climbed onto his body were definitely the work of the artifact itself, and had nothing to do with its owner, Zhou Ziwei.
A weapon that can make such a decision on its own is practically sentient. If this weapon can't be called a divine weapon, then what is?
What Zhuihun didn't expect was... the durability of this divine artifact seemed far too poor! It was actually broken into pieces by Baibian's forceful struggle. This... it wasn't even as sturdy as an ordinary spiritual artifact. This seemed to be far from the legendary divine artifacts. So Zhuihun couldn't help but feel a few more doubts.
But at that moment, another unbelievable scene unfolded. The metal fragments that had been forcibly severed by Bai Bian seemed to come alive. After falling to the ground, they melted into metal spheres. These spheres rolled and gathered together, forming a larger metal sphere. This larger metal sphere then slowly rolled to Zhou Ziwei's feet, and then... it seemed to turn into layers of reverse-flowing mercury, merging into Zhou Ziwei's shoes, and then layer by layer upwards, merging with Zhou Ziwei's entire outfit.
When Zhuihun saw this, his eyes almost popped out of their sockets. He pointed at Zhou Ziwei in horror and said, "You...you...your clothes are...your magical artifact!"
Seeing that he couldn't hide it any longer, Zhou Ziwei stopped denying it and nodded, saying, "That's right, my clothes are a bit special. They're actually made of a very special alloy, and... they can automatically transform and change color. But... are you really sure it's the divine artifact you're talking about? I feel like its strength isn't even as good as an ordinary spiritual artifact."
Upon hearing this, Zhuihun's eyelids twitched violently a few times, then he gave a soft hum and said, "Your artifact seems to be a bit weak for now, but... it can actively devour high-grade metals and assimilate the properties of those metals. In other words... it's a weapon that can grow. What does it matter if it's a little weak now? As long as it develops slowly and allows it to devour some spiritual artifacts, it will soon become more powerful than ordinary spiritual artifacts."
Moreover… it seems to possess self-healing abilities, which means its growth potential is enormous, practically limitless. My Hundred Transformations artifact, while indeed a high-end spiritual artifact, far surpassing ordinary ones, is still just a spiritual artifact. It lacks its own sentience and therefore cannot grow. So… it only weakens gradually with the erosion of time and damage from battles. In fact, it has been declining day by day since its creation. But your artifact is completely different. It only grows stronger as it absorbs more metal, just like now… God… you wretched artifact have stolen a huge chunk from my Hundred Transformations… Ouch… you robber!”
Only later did Zhuihun realize that the two metal straps had secretly crawled onto his body, causing his ever-changing magical artifact to shrink in size once again. He knew without asking that the shrunken portion had been devoured by Zhou Ziwei's shameless artifact. Good heavens… shouldn't a divine artifact possess an inherent nobility? But Zhou Ziwei's artifact was more shameless than a rogue, more despicable than a robber…
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ziwei smiled sheepishly and said, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry... I'll definitely warn him next time so he won't steal your magical artifacts again... I'm really so sorry."
To be honest, Zhou Ziwei was a little afraid that this thing would get addicted to stealing food and would sneak off to steal more food later. And if it left his body, wouldn't Zhou Ziwei be left naked in public?
Zhuihun snorted speechlessly, then touched the pitiful spiritual weapon on his body that had already suffered two major losses. He thought to himself that it seemed his wish to have a good spar with Zhou Ziwei was going to be dashed.
This guy has a divine artifact in hand, so he's not too afraid of the Soul Chaser. But the problem is that Zhou Ziwei's divine artifact is really too despicable. As soon as it comes into contact with my spiritual artifact, it will shamelessly stick around and try to steal my spiritual artifact... If it steals from me a few more times, my Hundred Transformations will be ruined.
Anyway, Zhou Ziwei didn't dare to approach Zhou Ziwei again, let alone compete with him. However... seeing Emily still lying naked in the water curtain in the air, seemingly oblivious to her fate, Zhuihun couldn't help but get angry.
His daughter was the apple of his eye, even more important than his manhood. If he were to lose her, he would accept the loss of his manhood as well. He would not let this little bastard who wanted to take advantage of his daughter get away with it.
So Zhuihun immediately glared at Zhou Ziwei, his eyes narrowing, and said, "You brat, what have you done to my daughter? Why did you... why did you strip her clothes off? Even if you want to pursue Emily, well... I don't really object, but you have to let her do it willingly! But now she's like this... you... you're clearly forcibly molesting her... humph... if you don't give me a reasonable explanation today, I... I'll risk this ever-changing magical artifact and fight you to the death!"
Zhuihun spoke these words with a fierce tone, and the ever-changing armor on his body had long been stirring under his conscious control, seemingly ready to strike at any moment in his anger.
Although his spiritual weapon would obviously suffer some hidden losses against Zhou Ziwei's divine weapon, at this stage, the strength and toughness of Zhou Ziwei's divine weapon are still too poor. Even if Bai Bian cannot fundamentally damage this divine weapon with super regenerative ability, it is still possible to temporarily shatter the divine weapon and then kill its owner.
Of course, during this process, a portion of his magical artifacts will definitely be consumed by the alloy armor.
However... if Emily was really bullied by Zhou Ziwei, then even if he suffered some hidden losses, Zhuihun would accept it. After all, as the King of Assassins, he would never allow his daughter to be bullied.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ziwei could only shake his head helplessly. With a thought, he awakened Emily, who had been in a state of self-protection and had fallen into a coma, through a mysterious soul connection.
Emily, who had just woken up, was still a little dazed. She didn't notice that there were two more people in the bathroom, nor that she was currently being held in mid-air by a ball of water. As soon as she opened her eyes, she jumped up excitedly, grabbed Zhou Ziwei's neck, and exclaimed, "Ah... I was so scared! That fireball was terrifying... Oh my god... Did I really create that fireball myself? It was so scary... I thought I was going to die again... Huh..."
As Emily spoke, she lowered her head and carefully examined Emily's alluring body, even reaching out to stroke her full breasts and rounded thighs. Surprisingly, she showed no shame at being naked in front of a bunch of boys. Instead, she tilted her head in confusion and said, "It's so strange... I clearly remember... my body felt like it was charred by the fireball's intense heat, but... how come I can't see any burns now? My skin even seems smoother than before!"
Zhou Ziwei was thoroughly provoked by Emily's series of flirtatious actions. Only because that old bastard Zhuihun was still there did Zhou Ziwei dare not act too recklessly. Otherwise... even if he couldn't actually sleep with this girl, he would at least take advantage of her a little.
"Oh... I'm sorry, it was my oversight. I didn't expect that the fireball spell you learned for the first time would be able to unleash such terrifying power, causing you to get injured. It's my fault for not protecting you properly, so... naturally I have to take responsibility for healing you, otherwise... your fiercely protective father would probably eat me alive!"
As Zhou Ziwei spoke, he rolled his eyes at Zhui Hun in an annoyed manner.
At this moment, Zhuihun finally understood what had happened and exclaimed in horror, "What happened, Emily...you...you were injured just now...how are you? Is it serious?"
Emily then noticed that her father and Chu Qiutang were also there. She gasped in surprise and quickly hid behind Zhou Ziwei. She then said in a sweet voice, "Daddy... how could you be so mean? I'm not even dressed yet, how could you... oh my... this is so embarrassing."
Hearing this, Zhuihun was speechless. How come you're so shy in front of your father, but you're completely unashamed in front of Zhou Ziwei? Uh…daughter, do you really think that boy is just a clueless kid? My dear daughter, don't be fooled by his facade…
Although he felt somewhat unbalanced, seeing his daughter so shy, he, as her father, naturally had to be a little more discreet. He had been so worried about his daughter's life or death that he hadn't noticed whether she was dressed or not. Now that he saw her still alive and kicking, he felt embarrassed to meet her like this. So he quickly asked Chu Qiutang to fetch one of Emily's clothes and helped Emily put it on.
Once Emily was dressed and ready, the group sat down again in the guest room's living room. Zhuihun questioned her carefully once more and finally understood the whole story. He realized Zhou Ziwei hadn't been taking advantage of his daughter; the scene was clearly him treating Emily's burns. However… his preconceived notions lingered, and he was still worried that his beautiful, almost angelic daughter would be defiled by Zhou Ziwei, this wolf in sheep's clothing. He knew… Zhuihun was an experienced man; he'd long been aware of the affair between Zhou Ziwei and Chu Qiutang. And Zhou Ziwei sometimes didn't seem to care, often making quite a racket with Chu Qiutang in the hotel. Even though the hotel had good soundproofing, and ordinary people couldn't hear those sounds, how could he, the King of Assassins, not hear them?
The thought of Zhou Ziwei, a little kid less than 1.2 meters tall with a childish face, ruining a beautiful woman who was at least 1.7 meters tall and had a stunning appearance... made Zhuihun feel guilty for Zhou Ziwei. However, since it was consensual between the two of them, no matter how much Zhuihun couldn't stand it, he wouldn't interfere. But... he would absolutely not allow such a thing to happen to his own daughter.