"Teacher Zhou Yi, where are we going?" Huo Yuhao followed Zhou Yi to a gray building. When they entered, he was surprised to discover that every gate here was made of metal. A faint vibration came from beneath his feet, accompanied by the rumble of machinery.
Huo Yuhao immediately understood what this place was: the location of Shrek Academy's Soul Tool System.
"You'll know once we go inside." Zhou Yi smiled faintly. With a flip of her wrist, she embedded a Hexagonal Silver Token into Gate Number Twelve in front of them.
With a surge of Soul Power, the gate opened sideways with a click.
"Fan Yu!" Zhou Yi's sudden shout caused the two-thousand-square-meter room to fall into a brief vacuum. Everyone stopped whatever they were doing.
Before long, a burly man about a meter eighty tall, with broad shoulders and a narrow back, appeared in front of Zhou Yi. He wore plain clothes, and his face was slightly dirty. It was obvious that he had hurried over and had not had time to tidy himself up.
"Zhou Yi? What brings you here?" Fan Yu, the burly man, looked at Zhou Yi in confusion.
"This is Huo Yuhao." Zhou Yi pushed Huo Yuhao in front of Fan Yu. In that instant, Huo Yuhao suddenly felt that this burly man was going to eat him alive.
"Huo Yuhao, come with me!" Fan Yu eagerly pulled Huo Yuhao to a Soul Tool Testing Ground and pointed toward the targets standing in the distance.
Come on, I've already switched to the Time Element. Every one of my Soul Skills is for control, and I don't have a single detection skill, let alone All-Directional Sharing.
Huo Yuhao's powerful Time Control was based on his extraordinary Mental Power, so the strength of his Mental Power was crucial.
"Caitou!" Fan Yu called out. Before long, a burly man with dark skin and a height of two meters came before Huo Yuhao. He had an honest-looking face and was bald.
"Teacher, you called for me?" The young man looked respectfully at Fan Yu and asked after saluting.
Fan Yu then looked at Huo Yuhao and said, "Yuhao, my name is Fan Yu. I'm a teacher of the Soul Tool System, as well as a Rank 8 Soul Tool Master. I hope you can cooperate with me to complete an experiment."
"Please go ahead." At Fan Yu's indication, Huo Yuhao stood together with He Caitou.
"Caitou, we're going to fire at moving targets. Yuhao, I know your Martial Soul can freeze time within a certain range. Can you reduce the range and freeze time only within roughly ten meters?" Fan Yu asked expectantly.
"I can." Huo Yuhao nodded, understanding Fan Yu's purpose.
"Good!" Fan Yu turned around to make arrangements. At the same time, He Caitou looked over and smiled honestly. "My name is He Caitou. You can call me that from now on, little brother."
Huo Yuhao nodded. "Hello, He Caitou. My name is Huo Yuhao."
Huo Yuhao and He Caitou walked to the front of the Metal Railing. He Caitou slapped his belt, and a flash of light passed by. A Metal Tube, a meter and a half long and about fifteen centimeters in diameter, appeared in his hand. Various patterns were engraved on it.
He Caitou handled it with practiced ease. He pressed the back of the Metal Tube twice with his right hand, then quickly slapped his waist with his left hand. A piece of Prism Metal fell into his palm.
After combining the three parts, He Caitou gave a low shout and hefted the cannon barrel onto his shoulder. The honest look had vanished from his face, replaced by an extremely solemn expression. Standing beside him, Huo Yuhao sensed the faint killing intent radiating from him and could not help nodding. Truly, one could not judge a person by his appearance.
"Teacher, I'm ready. Huo Yuhao, let's begin!" After He Caitou finished speaking, Two Yellow One Purple Soul Rings appeared beneath his feet, and dense black light flickered inside the metal cannon barrel.
The appearance of a White Soul Ring, a purple Soul Ring, and a black Soul Ring beneath Huo Yuhao's feet caused He Caitou to be slightly startled. However, he quickly adjusted himself.
"Moving targets! Fire!"
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—"
The sound of something cutting through the air rushed toward them. Three Flying Discs appeared in front of them almost simultaneously. The first White Soul Ring beneath Huo Yuhao's feet lit up. Time Freeze activated, and his twin pupils reappeared, gray occupying the centers of his eyes. As the Flying Discs flew, countless gray clock faces suddenly appeared around them.
Then, a miraculous scene unfolded.
The Flying Discs came to a complete halt in midair. Time within a range of ten meters had all been forced to press the pause button.
He Caitou was delighted. With a tremendous boom, a mass of black light flew out of the cannon barrel. Its speed was astonishingly fast, and as expected, all three Flying Discs were blasted to pieces.
He Caitou was overjoyed at the sight. After experimenting for so long, he had finally made a breakthrough. He immediately forgot all about Huo Yuhao and hugged him, spinning around in place.
"Clap, clap, clap—"
Applause rang out from all around the room. Fan Yu and Zhou Yi walked over. Zhou Yi was always known for her strictness, but even she now wore a smile uglier than crying.
Fan Yu said, "Yuhao, your Time Pause is simply miraculous. I dare say that, even across the entire continent, there has never been a Soul Master as unique as you."
"You flatter me." Huo Yuhao shook his head slightly. "Actually, the truly impressive part is the Soul Tool. The future development of Soul Masters will inevitably be combined with Soul Tools."
"Oh?" Fan Yu's eyes lit up. After hearing this, he found Huo Yuhao increasingly pleasing to the eye and could not help asking, "What do you think of Soul Tools?"
"On Douluo Continent, Soul Masters generally place great importance on the level of their own Soul Power. They fundamentally look down on external objects like Soul Tools. Take the Soul Tool System and Martial Soul System of our academy, for example." Huo Yuhao offered a simple comparison.
At these words, even Fan Yu and Zhou Yi could not help admiring Huo Yuhao's courage. The grudge between the Martial Soul System and the Soul Tool System had existed for a long time. One side emphasized its own strength, while the other was the Soul Tool System, which was composed mostly of Support System and Food System Soul Masters. Fundamentally speaking, the Martial Soul System currently held the advantage.
"Yuhao, continue." Fan Yu's expression turned solemn as he interrupted Zhou Yi, who was about to stop him.
"Didn't that war four thousand years ago hurt us enough? After four thousand years of development, the neighboring Sun Moon Empire has long since changed beyond recognition. If they launched a war now, I can conclude that none of the three kingdoms on Douluo Continent today would be their match!"
Huo Yuhao's words were sharp. When he reached this point, Zhou Yi could no longer hold back and directly dragged Huo Yuhao away.
Fan Yu watched the two of them leave. Not long after Huo Yuhao and Zhou Yi departed, Qian Duoduo, the Soul Tool System Vice Dean, walked over with a grim expression.
"Fan Yu, what do you think of what Huo Yuhao said?" Qian Duoduo asked in a deep voice.
"Vice Dean Qian, I think Yuhao is right. Future wars will not be the stage of Soul Masters. Four thousand years ago and four thousand years later—over this span of four thousand years, we have no idea how much our opponent's Soul Tools have advanced. As for us, if we continue to shut ourselves away like this, I'm afraid..."
Qian Duoduo waved his hand, cutting Fan Yu off. As the Soul Tool System Vice Dean and a Rank 8 Soul Tool Master, Qian Duoduo had never managed to break through to become a Rank 9 Soul Tool Master, even though he was a Titled Douluo.
By contrast, the Sun Moon Empire had more than one Rank 9 Soul Tool Master.
"I'll recruit Huo Yuhao into the Soul Tool System. I see hope in this child." A cold light flickered in Qian Duoduo's eyes, as though his old rival, Yan Shaozhe, stood right before him.
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