Blacksmith Association
After a moment, Xu Jiujiu turned her gaze away from Jin Li and back to Huo Yuhao was sitting behind the desk.
A subtle mischievous glint flashed in her beautiful eyes, and a slight smile played on her lips as she asked, "Is this your... girlfriend?"
Huo Yuhao remained calm upon hearing this, simply shaking his head slightly. "Just a friend, here to help."
Upon hearing Xu Jiujiu, Xu Jiujiu couldn't help but turn her head to glance at Jin Li was nestled on the sofa.
She doesn't look like she's here to help at all; she looks more like Huo Yuhao's pampered little girlfriend on vacation.
However, as the eldest princess of the Star Luo Empire, she had an excellent sense of propriety and did not dwell on the matter too much.
During this time, she and Huo Yuhao had frequent contact due to their cooperation on the Spirit Pagoda, and their relationship was no longer as reserved and distant as it had been at the beginning. They spoke and acted much more casually.
She walked a few steps to the guest chair opposite Huo Yuhao's desk, elegantly adjusted her skirt and sat down, then immediately steered the conversation to business.
"I've already made contact with the Smiths Association in the Star Luo Empire for you. When are you planning to go there?"
After a moment's thought, Huo Yuhao tapped his fingers lightly on the table twice and made a decision. "The sooner the better, I'll go tomorrow."
Xu Jiujiu, he nodded and made a mental note of it.
After a moment of silence, she couldn't suppress her curiosity and asked again, "Actually, I've always been curious, what exactly did you want to do with the Smiths Association?"
Blacksmithing is not considered a respectable profession on the continent. Although there are Soul Master among them, most of them have mediocre Martial Souls, and those with talent become Battle Soul Master.
Therefore, seeing that Huo Yuhao seemed to attach some importance to the Smiths Association, Xu Jiujiu naturally couldn't help but be curious.
Huo Yuhao didn't hide anything, explaining calmly, "While the array design and energy circuit are the core of Soul Tool's power, the materials used in its construction are equally important and cannot be ignored."
"The ultimate power and stability of a Soul Tool are like the amount of water a bucket can hold; it depends not on the longest plank, but on the shortest plank."
"No matter how ingenious the formation or how efficient the energy circuit, if the metal material supporting it is of substandard quality, lacks purity, or has an uneven internal structure, then the upper limit of this Soul Tool is locked from the very beginning."
After listening to these words for Xu Jiujiu, her beautiful eyes were still full of doubt.
She tilted her head slightly, her fingers unconsciously twirling a strand of golden hair that fell beside her shoulder. "Material? Rare metals are just like that, aren't they? What new tricks can you possibly come up with?"
Huo Yuhao's lips curled up slightly, revealing a mysterious smile. He lowered his voice and said, "The current methods of forging and processing rare metals on the continent are too crude. Whether it's the Star Luo Empire Royal Workshop or the Sun Moon Empire's Mingde Hall, they are still at a very primitive stage in terms of metal refining and forging."
After Xu Jiujiu, a sharp glint flashed in her beautiful eyes.
Having been immersed in politics and business for many years, she possessed an informational sensitivity far exceeding that of ordinary people. Although Huo Yuhao only spoke casually, she had already gleaned crucial information from those few words.
She quickly leaned forward slightly, her tone urgent yet calm, and asked, "So you mean you've mastered a new method for making materials? A method that can maximize the properties of rare metals?"
Looking into her eyes, which were so bright they seemed to be shining, Huo Yuhao didn't deny it, but nodded and smiled, "You could say that."
"If Sister Jiujiu is interested, you can come with me to the Smiths Association tomorrow."
"These technical things can't be explained just by talking; seeing them with your own eyes is much better than anything else."
Without the Xu Jiujiu hesitation, she replied in a clear and decisive voice, "Okay, I'll come find you first thing tomorrow morning."
She knew what the method of creating materials that could directly enhance the power of Soul Tool meant for the Star Luo Empire, so how could she possibly miss it?
Even if it's just to catch a glimpse from the sidelines, she has to go.
In the northern part of Star Luo City, near the city wall, stands a magnificent five-story building.
This building stands out conspicuously among the surrounding low-rise houses and shops, not because it is luxurious or exquisite, but quite the opposite, because it is too rugged.
The entire building is constructed from large, unpolished blocks of bluish-gray granite. The stone walls are thick and sharp, and the windows are narrow and small. From a distance, it doesn't look like a respectable clubhouse, but rather like a small military fortress.
The building's exterior walls are covered with dark green vines, and the mottled marks left by the erosion of time can be faintly seen between the cracks in the stones, indicating that it has been around for quite some time.
As the morning sun slowly rose above the eastern city wall, pale golden light spilled over the battlements, casting a soft and warm hue over the empty streets.
Three figures walked slowly from the distance of the street, bathed in the pale golden morning light. Their shadows were stretched long and thin by the rising sun, swaying gently on the stone pavement.
From afar, you could see a large number of people already standing under the gate of the rugged building at the end of the street.
These people were all men, ranging in age from their early twenties to their fifties or sixties.
But they all have one thing in common: they are all extremely muscular.
Some were broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, others had broad shoulders and thick waists; their muscles made their clothes bulge, and their arms were even thicker than the thighs of ordinary people.
They were the blacksmiths of the Star Luo Blacksmith Association, their physiques honed by decades of hammering, exuding a primal sense of power.
Upon learning that Star Luo Empire was coming in person today, the entire Smiths Association, led by Chairman Zhu Wen, made preparations to welcome her well in advance.
After waiting at the entrance for about half an hour, three figures finally appeared at the street corner, walking slowly towards us.
There was no entourage or imposing royal guards accompanying them; only three young men and women walked side by side.
On the left was a tall, slender girl with long, Lie Yan red hair; on the right was a stunningly beautiful woman in an elegant, moon-white dress with her blonde hair tied up with a jade hairpin; and walking right between them was a boy who looked even younger.
Zhu Wen, the president of the Smiths Association, had seen her for Xu Jiujiu and recognized her as the eldest princess of the Star Luo Empire from the crowd at a glance.
However, the one walking at the front at this moment was not Princess Xu Jiujiu, who was of noble Xu Jiujiu, but this boy who looked no more than fourteen or fifteen years old.
This startled Zhu Wen slightly. Who was this young man who could make the Star Luo Empire Princess willingly take a step behind?
Zhu Wen searched his mind rapidly, and soon his eyes lit up, a look of realization appearing on his dark face, which was marked by the passage of time.
He had watched the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Fighting Tournament two years ago.
What left the deepest impression on people about that final was not the Shrek Academy team's last battle, but the thrilling battle that broke out between the boy named Huo Yuhao and his father Dai Hao, the White Tiger Duke, under the spotlight after the match.
From then on, everyone in the Star Luo Empire knew that Huo Yuhao had parted ways with the White Tiger Lineage; his surname was Huo, not Dai.