A moment later, at the soul tool testing grounds.
As the sole spectator of this contest, Kong Deming currently wore a solemn expression.
In the center of the arena, Huo Yuhao stood perfectly still. A golden light flowed deep within his eyes as he raised his right hand, revealing a palm enveloped in a layer of silvery radiance.
At this moment, even though Huo Yuhao had only just broken through to the Level 30 cultivation rank, he was easily parrying Xu Tianzhen's relentless attacks using nothing but pure mental power.
Kong Deming stared at Huo Yuhao's hand... or rather, he was staring at the silvery light coating it.
"Soul Armor..."
Kong Deming murmured unconsciously.
His student's talent was truly terrifying. Had he spent these past few months in the laboratory specifically to complete the Soul Armor?
The concept of Soul Armor had originally been a hypothesis proposed by Kong Deming himself. He had provided the template, intending for it to be the path Huo Yuhao would take in the future.
However, things hadn't gone as expected. His student was far too heaven-defying; he had effortlessly produced the Battle Armor scheme, which possessed feasibility far surpassing that of the Soul Armor.
It was because of this that Kong Deming had gifted him the Bright Divine Soul Gold and let his student choose his own path.
He had thought Huo Yuhao would retreat in the face of such difficulty. Who would have guessed that this student of his was clearly not the type to back down? He had actually produced a finished version of the Soul Armor.
As Kong Deming observed closely, he noticed that Huo Yuhao's Soul Armor—which currently only covered his palm—could not only extend countless mental threads to influence, control, and bind enemies, but it also immensely amplified Huo Yuhao's mental power, soul power, and most importantly, his martial soul!
It was a sense of transformation that Kong Deming found difficult to describe. At that moment, Huo Yuhao's martial soul seemed to undergo an earth-shattering change, almost like a... martial soul true body!
A realization flashed through Kong Deming's mind.
Yes, it was the martial soul true body! When Huo Yuhao used the Soul Armor, it was as if he were using his martial soul true body!
As everyone knew, a Soul Master's strength underwent transformations at the ranks of Soul Elder, Soul King, Soul Saint, and Titled Douluo.
The jumps at Soul Elder and Soul King were due to obtaining higher-level soul rings and powerful soul skills. But the Soul Saint rank was entirely because of the martial soul true body!
And now, Huo Yuhao's perfected Soul Armor actually allowed a person to possess the effects of the martial soul true body ahead of time!
This... was breathtaking.
The new waves push the old, and the old waves die on the beach...
Kong Deming let out a soft sigh. In the arena, a nearly imperceptible smile played on the lips of Huo Yuhao, who had been monitoring his teacher's emotions.
One had to remember that his persona in the Sun Moon Empire was that of a genius soul tool engineer with wild imagination and powerful execution!
So, after four or five months of seclusion, how could he convince everyone if he didn't pull out some research results to show off?
Withdrawing his attention from Kong Deming, Huo Yuhao looked at Xu Tianzhen in front of him. She was currently wrapped entirely in mental threads for the seventh time, with only her head sticking out, yet she still refused to admit defeat, flopping around like a salted fish. He found it quite amusing.
In Xu Tianzhen, he saw the image of his own Sister Skydream lazily refusing to get out of bed in the morning.
With a light chuckle, Huo Yuhao spoke:
"Princess Tian Zhen, are we still fighting?"
"You! Let me go if you have the guts! I'll fight you again! I... eh?" Xu Tianzhen froze because the mental threads binding her were indeed all retracted.
She hurriedly struggled to her feet, preparing to drop a few more harsh words before running away—after all, she had already determined that she was currently no match for the boy across from her.
But the moment she looked up, she saw the youth smiling. His right hand extended countless mental threads, and each thread was linked to a Level 5 hovering soul tool cannon. They were packed so densely they looked like a wall.
At a glance, there were at least a hundred!
One person, with a Soul Elder cultivation, controlling over a hundred Level 5 hovering soul tool cannons?!
Are you serious, bro?!
You're using cheats!!! No... you just never turned them off, did you!
As the possessor of the Sun Moon Imperial House's inherited martial soul, the Sun, and being the most talented individual in the entire royal family of her generation, Xu Tianzhen had always been the one crushing others. Who would have thought she'd encounter a cheater here!!!
"Stop! I was wrong! I surrender!"
Without a shred of "princess" grace, Xu Tianzhen surrendered at lightning speed.
Huo Yuhao nodded with a smile, retracting the sky full of hovering soul tool cannons. He then spoke gently: "Well played, Princess Tian Zhen."
With that, Huo Yuhao turned and walked over to Kong Deming.
"Teacher."
"Yuhao..." Kong Deming sighed softly, then asked directly without hesitation: "What you used just now was the Soul Armor, correct?"
"As expected, I can't hide it from Teacher." Huo Yuhao nodded, raised his hand, and summoned his Soul Armor once again.
"Battle Armor focuses on the physical body, enhancing a person's soul power and physique and increasing strength. This is very impressive, especially for Soul Masters.
"However, I am more of a soul tool engineer, a researcher. To me, physical enhancement isn't of much use. I would rather enhance my observation skills, as well as my control over soul power and mental power.
"Thus, I began researching the Soul Armor along those lines."
Huo Yuhao briefly explained his thoughts, then took out a notebook and handed it to Kong Deming.
Kong Deming took it. At the first glance, his pupils constricted. At the second, he began to read carefully. At the third, a mix of regret and relief appeared on his face.
This was the manufacturing method for Soul Armor. His student, as always, had no intention of keeping secrets and had handed the method over directly. But...
It was something he could look at but couldn't use!
In these pages, every step of the manufacturing process was written clearly. However, he couldn't do it! Not just him—in the entire Sun Moon Empire, there was probably no one besides Huo Yuhao who could manufacture Soul Armor!
Simply because between every line of these instructions, there was a requirement for control over soul power that far exceeded one's own realm. If one couldn't achieve that, they couldn't even manage the first step of engraving the soul tool formation!
"It seems you have found your own path... However, according to the logic in your notes, Soul Armor acts on the martial soul, while Battle Armor acts on the body. These two might not be in conflict. Perhaps you can try to combine them."
Kong Deming regained his composure.
Huo Yuhao shook his head. "No rush."
I can't exactly say that I've already completed three sets of Battle Armor, can I?
Acquired Spiritual Metal only required a bit of forging by a Spirit-Forging Blacksmith to naturally become Spirit-Forging metal.
And as it happened, Huo Yuhao had no shortage of Acquired Spiritual Metal, and Qiu'er was capable of Spirit-Forging. Thus, Huo Yuhao's Battle Armor had been completed quite naturally.
As for the Soul Armor he had used just now, it was also crafted from a portion of that Bright Divine Soul Gold after it underwent a second forging.
"Um..."
Xu Tianzhen suddenly popped her head up, raising her hand high. Her deep purple eyes were glowing as her gaze landed squarely on Huo Yuhao:
"Boss, I want to learn this! If you teach me, I'll even warm your bed for you!"
Kong Deming: ???
Huo Yuhao: ???