Eternal Moon

Once he had the materials, Mu Xuanheng didn't immediately start forging.

He chose to improve himself first.

"What do you mean by handing me this?" Gu Yuena asked when Mu Xuanheng offered her the Whale Rubber.

"Soften it. My fire isn't as hot as yours."

Even while concealing her full strength, Gu Yuena's flames were hotter than his.

While the flames roasted the Whale Rubber, he washed the Sheng Sheng Fruit nearby.

Gu Yuena pinched off a small piece and held it to his lips. Mu Xuanheng didn't think much of it and bit down.

"You didn't even think to blow on it. Good thing I blew on it for you first."

Gu Yuena repeated the process. Mu Xuanheng saw her pinch off some Whale Rubber, bring it to her lips, and gently blow on it to cool it before offering it to him.

He plucked a Sheng Sheng Fruit and held it to her lips. "Don't just blow on it. Have some yourself."

The firelight lent a rosy hue to both their faces.

Before they knew it, the Lingzhi, Sheng Sheng Fruit, and Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Glue had all gone down.

Whale Rubber already had an aphrodisiac side effect, and as luck would have it, the mild, gentle Pine Fir Lingzhi and Sheng Sheng Fruit only intensified it.

Their eyes gradually took on a different look.

"Can I step outside for a moment?" Mu Xuanheng didn't want her following him.

"Sure."

The instant he stepped outside, ice and snow covered him. The Snow Empress appeared at once, enveloping him in a chill.

"Hmph. Playing with fire and getting burned. You're walking right into the very mire you talked about."

Mu Xuanheng took deep breaths of the cold air to ease the Whale Rubber's effects. "That's why I have you, isn't it? Snow Empress, I suddenly really want to hug you."

The Snow Empress summoned an even fiercer blizzard. "There's a beautiful woman inside. Go hug her instead. She's feeling the effects of the Whale Rubber, too."

The Snow Empress placed a hand over his heart, and the chill quickly dispelled his lust. "I'm getting more and more curious about who she is."

Inside the room, Gu Yuena felt the temperature change outside. She blinked, and her desire faded. "The act is working pretty well. A few more efforts, and I might be able to test that promise."

When Mu Xuanheng returned, he said, "Sorry, I cooled off with some ice water. Are you all right?"

"When you went out, I rinsed myself with ice water, too."

Neither of them mentioned the side effects of the Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Glue. They were simply showing off their strength.

"Let's start making the Battle Armor."

"What are you planning to call your armor?"

Mu Xuanheng then explained the rules for naming Battle Armor to Gu Yuena. He had copied the system from The Legend of the Dragon King wholesale.

Gu Yuena thought for a moment. "You want to make four-word Battle Armor, too?"

"Why not?"

"Of course you can!"

Mu Xuanheng said, "We'll be wearing one-word Battle Armor at the Soul Fighting Tournament. I wonder if it'll shock the world—and help delay the arrival of war."

Battle Armor wasn't meant to exist in this era. Mecha needed to develop first, then slowly evolve into it.

Only the two of them could push things forward so directly.

One provided the ideas; the other put them into practice.

"Will we take part in the Soul Fighting Tournament, too?"

"We will. They should already be having the preliminary rounds—a big melee—right now."

In the Soul Fighting Zone, Xuan Zi gathered all the core disciples and started his big melee.

This time, though, they only needed five people.

"Wait, aren't two people missing? Why aren't Mu Xuanheng and Gu Yuena here?" Dai Huabin, as usual, jumped in to make a fool of himself.

Everyone heard Dai Huabin's shout, but no one treated him like a person. He was a complete idiot.

When no one answered, he kept at it. "Are they not allowed to participate? Or are they afraid we'll all gang up on them?"

The less anyone acknowledged him, the more he carried on. "That's it! Everyone, shout with me: 'Rigged!'"

"Rigged! Rigged! Rigged!" He shouted three times, but no one joined in—not even his fiancée, Zhu Lu.

He looked around. "Why aren't you shouting? This is rigged! Don't you know that?"

"Dai Huabin, is there something wrong with your brain? If those two came, what would be left for everyone else?" Wang Dong couldn't take Dai Huabin's senseless behavior anymore and was the first to call him out.

The second-year core disciples immediately piled on, mocking Dai Huabin.

The upper-year core disciples knew his reputation, too, and joined in right away.

Xu Sanshi, Jiang Nannan, Bei Bei, and He Caitou weren't sure whether they should join the public pile-on.

Xuan Zi had been floating in midair for a while. At last, he finished his chicken leg. "I knew you wouldn't be satisfied."

Mu Xuanheng, who was busy working, was hauled over by Xuan Zi.

"Damn, Old Man Xuan? Are you crazy? I just finished my Battle Armor and haven't even tried it on yet!" His fierce resistance looked rather cute in the face of the massive gap in Soul Power between them.

"You little brat, you've been using my name to show off outside. Now you owe me. Get down there and beat them up."

Xuan Zi tossed Mu Xuanheng straight into the Melee Arena.

Xuan Zi shouted, "I've brought you someone. You can try ganging up on him."

Mu Xuanheng brushed a stray lock of hair from his forehead. "You all seem pretty free. Can't you fight each other?"

A terrifying pressure from the wind appeared out of nowhere, pressing precisely on every person there.

The pressure adjusted to each person's Soul Power Level, making everyone bend their knees without exception.

"Who suggested bringing me here?"

Everyone's head turned on its own, and they looked at Dai Huabin.

Mu Xuanheng might have hesitated if it were someone else, but Dai Huabin really didn't know how to behave.

After the attempted ambush at the Treasure Appraisal Fair, he had no patience for Dai Huabin. He walked over calmly.

Each step landed on Dai Huabin's heart like a boulder crashing down. "Don't pick a fight next time."

His dragon claw lightly swept across Dai Huabin's arm, snapping the bone cleanly. Dai Huabin let out a scream. Mu Xuanheng said, "You'll be fine in half a month if you avoid training and fighting. I'm giving you a chance."

He calmly walked out of the arena, and no one stopped him.

Dai Huabin thought he was a demon. Mu Xuanheng thought he'd been a little too kind.

The melee unfolded much as it had in the original story, except that Xu Sanshi and Jiang Nannan chose to withdraw at the end.

Xu Sanshi hadn't awakened his Black Tortoise Shield, and Jiang Nannan believed her talent was inferior to the others'. So they gave up.

Xuan Zi shook his head and let it go. As far as he was concerned, the result was already good.

Without Mu Xuanheng and Gu Yuena using large-scale Soul Skills to sweep the field, Huo Yuhao hadn't been eliminated, which was exactly what he wanted.

The only unexpected participant was He Caitou.

Xuan Zi took them, along with Wang Yan, and began explaining the purpose of the melee.

As for Mu Xuanheng, who'd been hauled over, all he could do was fly back on his own.

Gu Yuena stood outside to meet him. She knew who Xuan Zi was and hadn't suspected that he would hurt Mu Xuanheng.

Mu Xuanheng flew back in a hurry and landed.

"How did it go? How much is left of your share?"

Gu Yuena smiled. "It's done. I can handle the remaining engravings myself."

With a thought, her Battle Armor flew out and fitted perfectly over her body.

"What's your Battle Armor called?"

"You tell me first."

"Let's say it together."

"Eternal Moon."

Gu Yuena smiled brightly. "I knew you'd say that. I've already thought of a name for my two-word Battle Armor, too. I'll call it Yue Heng. What about you?"

Mu Xuanheng's Battle Armor fitted over him, and together with Gu Yuena's, they shone like twin lotus flowers. "Since yours is called Yue Heng, mine will naturally be Eternal Moon."

Without Spirit Forging, Battle Armor couldn't merge into the body.

Nothing was perfect from the outset. The greatest meaning lay in crossing into a new era.

From this moment on, no Soul Master of the same rank could match them; the strongest of them were merely relics of an old era. Even the two of them had been no more than the pinnacle of Soul Masters 1.0 until the day before. From today onward, they had entered the age of Soul Masters 2.0: crushing opponents of the same rank, invincible against those a rank higher, and slaying those two ranks above.