Volume 40, Chapter 557.3: Awakening

“I know that. But I also heard that you expended close to sixty percent of our stationary soul cannon shells. Is that true?”

“Cough! Cough! Tha-That’s true. I can’t believe second senior brother betrayed me!” Huo Yuhao sighed.

Xuan Ziwen simply gave an emotionless reply. “Soul tools are meant to be used anyways. He couldn’t have betrayed you in the first place. The most important thing is whether you managed to witness the effects of the explosions. Were the effects up to our expectations? I can’t believe you just used over ten thousand stationary soul cannon shells so casually. You really are a failure! Why couldn’t you have mixed in some fake shells instead of only using real ones? You know well enough that it wouldn’t have been able to breach the Radiant City’s defenses anyways.”

Huo Yuhao let out an awkward laugh. “I didn’t think that much back then. The situation was already tense enough. But I admit I was wrong to have used so many shells, Teacher Xuan.”

Xuan Ziwen waved his hand to dismiss Huo Yuhao’s apology. “Our stationary soul cannon shells must still be lacking power. The fact that we only expended the energy in their defensive soul tools after firing over ten thousand shells proves that we need to improve our cannon shells. We should at least caused their soul tools to overheat. It really wasn’t worth it to fire all of those shells. Anyways, I have recently made some adjustments to our cannon shells. Now, we will start categorizing the different shells we plan to manufacture.”

“Huh? How do you plan to categorize them?” Huo Yuhao asked curiously.

Xuan Ziwen explained, “Previously, when we were manufacturing the stationary soul cannon shells in bulk, they were largely built for huge explosions. They would destroy whatever was in their way with high temperature and heat, as well as their explosiveness. Because of this, most of the current protective soul barriers—especially linked defensive barriers—are built to counter the combination of heat, temperature and explosiveness. Just now, Caitou gave me a report on the events which occurred during the battle. It seems like Tai Ah’s effects far exceeded my expectations.”

Tai Ah was the Class 9 stationary soul cannon shell which had penetrated the defenses of the Sun Moon Empire’s Palace. It was also personally designed by Xuan Ziwen.

“Hence, I have decided to vary the types of stationary soul cannon shells we will manufacture in the future. We will have shells which will provide ranged offensive capabilities and penetrative capabilities. To be honest, shells which can penetrate barriers often have better effects. Recently, I have come up with a new stationary soul cannon shell called the Clustered Piercing Shell. Its manufacturing cost is almost twice that of the stationary soul cannon shell you came up with. This was because it requires rare metals to construct. However, you can only imagine how powerful its destructive ability is! Previously, I had already rushed out the first batch of these Clustered Piercing Shells. If you are leaving for an operation again, you can bring some of them along with you.”

Huo Yuhao said, “I am afraid we won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. The current situation is not looking good and thus, I have made new plans.”

Xuan Ziwen raised his hand to stop Huo Yuhao from continuing. “Don’t talk to me about what goes on outside. As long as the Tang Sect is still around, I will never leave this place. I am only concerned with my own research. As for the other things, the responsibility will lie in all of your hands. Now that you have already become a Class 9 soul engineer, there’s nothing left for me to teach you. What you can achieve will depend on how hard you work. I have also heard about the mass manufacturing of human-shaped soul tools in the Sun Moon Empire. Haha! This idea might not be as good as it seems. Just give me some time to think about this, and I will let you know what I feel about it. With the current soul tool technology available, even Teacher Kong might not be able to manufacture a human-shaped soul tool without any undesired side-effects.”

“Teacher Kong? Who’s that?” Huo Yuhao asked.

Xuan Ziwen glared at Huo Yuhao and said, “He is my teacher. The Hallmaster of the Sun Moon Empire’s Hall of Consecration! He is also the most powerful soul engineer in the entire Sun Moon Empire. He is your grandmaster.”

“Cough! Cough! I didn’t know someone like that existed. You never mentioned him to me before, right?” Huo Yuhao was very startled to hear that.

Xuan Ziwen glared at him before reprimanding him. “That’s not my fault. You can only blame yourself for being dumb. Just use your head to think. As a young man back then who was only a Class 9 soul engineer, how could I become the lead researcher at the Virtuous Hall if not for special reasons? They only gave me the title because I was Teacher Kong’s disciple. Almost half of the Class 9 soul engineers in the Sun Moon Empire have received some sort of guidance from Teacher Kong. In fact, Teacher Kong is so great that I don’t even know where his limits lie. He’s definitely not weaker than any Ultimate Douluo, and should be extremely dangerous. In my opinion, Xu Tianran must have gotten Teacher Kong’s support. If not, it would not have been so easy for him to become the Emperor!”

Huo Yuhao started to become a little worried. Even though Teacher Kong was his grandmaster, he was on the enemy’s side! It was definitely not a good thing to have such a strong opponent.

“Teacher Xuan, in that case, I will be beginning my closed-door cultivation. You can work hard, but do remember to take care of your health.” Huo Yuhao said.

Xuan Ziwen waved his hand as though he were chasing a fly away. “You may take your leave. Next time, if you don’t have anything important to say, please don’t come and waste my time. Also, you can rest assured that after eating your Qiankun Fortune Pills, I won’t be dying anytime soon. Now that I think of it, all of you are treating my laboratory as a sweatshop! I am but an oppressed laborer.”

Huo Yuhao gave an awkward smile and thought to himself. How can any of us force you to do something you don’t want to do with that temper of yours?!

After leaving Xuan Ziwen’s laboratory, Huo Yuhao entered his own laboratory. Even though he had been absent for quite a while, it had been kept clean by the Tang Sect staff.

Huo Yuhao closed the heavy metallic door and then bolted it. At the same time, he activated the alarm system which would inform anyone who approached the door about his closed-door cultivation.

This was the safest and quietest area within the entire Tang Sect.

Huo Yuhao walked back and forth within his laboratory as he tried to tidy up his thought process. Following which, he leapt onto the bench which he used to build soul tools before sitting down with his legs crossed.

“I can only allow events outside to unfold by themselves. Without any change to the current situation, the Elders in the Academy would never change their strategy. I have also done my best when it came to both the Dou Ling Empire and the Star Luo Empire. Now it is up to them to decide what’s best for everyone and for themselves. The only thing I can do now is make myself as strong as possible, and turn the tide of the battle at its most crucial moment. I can do it, and must do it.”

After convincing himself that his decision was correct, Huo Yuhao clenched his fists and slowly closed his eyes. His body started to relax as the soul power in his body began to circulate on its own.

When Tang Wutong mentioned his status as the Ultimate Soldier, Huo Yuhao immediately understood what she meant. His soul power had been stuck at Rank 89 for a while, and he had been unable to become a Titled Douluo. Even though he was already capable of defeating any normal Titled Douluo, becoming a true Titled Douluo would still enhance his powers—just as it would for any soul master. The more gifted a soul master was, the greater the enhancement.

Furthermore, Huo Yuhao already had his first soul core. Once his second soul core formed, his soul power would be not much different from that of an Ultimate Douluo. In the future, his soul power would also improve at an unimaginable rate.

Huo Yuhao had actually been accumulating soul power all this while. In fact, he had been doing so for a long time. When he acquired the eighth soul ring of his Spirit Eyes in the Ice Sea, his Spiritual Sea had transformed once again, resulting in a huge boost to his spiritual power. Following which, he was influenced by the plants, and improved his understanding of Totality. Now, he had fulfilled all the conditions to push for his second soul core. He was definitely not inferior to any Rank 98 soul master when it came to his spiritual control.

He needed to become stronger in order for his words to weigh more, and for him to possess the ability to better influence the battlefield. This was the plan that Huo Yuhao had finally settled on.

An individual’s effort might be small, but sometimes, he or she might still be able to turn the tables with his or her own efforts. Even though Huo Yuhao might not be able to do so right now, he might gain the ability to do so if he were to become stronger. Since there were no better options, it would be wisest for him to strengthen and enhance his capabilities.

Thus, Huo Yuhao had decided to begin closed-door cultivation.

In fact, the way in which he planned to cultivate was a lot different from what Tang Wutong had in mind.

In Tang Wutong’s opinion, the best way for Huo Yuhao to cultivate his soul core was to use the Resonance method. However, Huo Yuhao disagreed with what she felt. He knew that he had to become as strong as someone like the Beast God. If he could not compare to Di Tian, there was no way he could succeed on the battlefield. Hence, the only option for him was to tread the same path as Di Tian. In fact, he was aiming to do better than him, to become even stronger than the Beast God.

After becoming certain of his target, Huo Yuhao allowed the soul power in his body to circulate on its own. He stabilized the soul core which was near his forehead as he allowed his spiritual power to circulate around his soul core.

Huo Yuhao’s soul core was now the center of all of his power. His spiritual power was revolving around the soul core in its immediate orbit. Following which, his soul power circulated around the soul core on an outer orbit.

If one were to observe his Spiritual Sea, one would notice a gigantic rhombus-shaped sun in the center of it. This sun was his soul core. Even though his spiritual power had become so dense that it was almost solid, it continued to revolve around the soul core.

Following which, Huo Yuhao prepared to attempt to form his second soul core.

According to Elder Xuan, the initiating of his second soul core should be fairly simple after the strenuous initiation of his first soul core. This was because his second soul core would be initiated within the dantian—the place where his soul power was stored. Hence, it should be a lot easier to construct his soul core there.

However, after accumulating his soul power all this while, Huo Yuhao had other thoughts.

Even though it was easy to create one’s soul core in the dantian, it might not be the most beneficial option for his future development.

This was because he was not planning on going for the Resonance cultivation method. He wanted to use the Yin Yang Complement method instead.

The term Yin Yang Complement meant the complementary relationship between opposites. Once he succeeded in the cultivation of his soul core in his dantian, the two soul cores in his body would circulate the surrounding energy in opposite directions. This would allow them to draw upon each other’s strengths and complement one another, just like a pair of gears. His soul power and spiritual power would circulate from his dantian all the way to his forehead.

However, what would happen after Huo Yuhao reached Rank 98?

Even though by then he might already possess the ability to hold his own against an Ultimate Douluo, he would still not be considered as one. In order to reach Rank 99 and become an Ultimate Douluo, he needed to improve himself with his soul cores as his foundation. This meant that he would have to create a third soul core.

If his two soul cores had already occupied the path from his dantian to his forehead by using the Yin Yang Complement method, where else could he initiate his third soul core?

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