"I hope Clan Leader Yuanen will give it some serious thought. Sometimes, you only get one chance."
Xie An naturally wasn't going to tell Yuanen Zhentian that his family had an ancestor named Er Ming who could stabilize their bloodline, ensuring that every generation had a Limit Douluo.
A transmigrator's advantage was all about having information others didn't!
Yuanen Zhentian pondered for a moment, then finally said with some hesitation, "I trust Hall Master Xie's character. With the Federation's support, I also have faith in the War God Temple's finances."
"Given the War God Temple's resources, I believe producing Three-Word Battle Armor won't be difficult."
"But as for Four-Word Battle Armor for a Limit Douluo..."
Yuanen Zhentian didn't continue, but Xie An understood what he meant.
There was only one God Craftsman on the continent: Zhen Hua. Although he wasn't old yet, every instance of Heavenly Forging was undoubtedly extremely taxing.
It was no exaggeration to say that an ordinary God Craftsman would already be considered highly productive if, over the course of his life, he forged enough metal to outfit two-digit numbers of Four-Word Battle Armor users.
That was why the First War God of the War God Temple still wore only Three-Word Battle Armor.
Only Limit Douluos qualified to forge Four-Word Battle Armor.
Of course, that was with the exception of Tang Wulin, the God Craftsman.
Hearing Clan Leader Yuanen's concerns, Xie An pondered briefly, then finally made up his mind.
"To be frank, Clan Leader Yuanen, I gained something from this campaign against the Demon Plane, and my cultivation has improved somewhat."
As he spoke, Xie An released his aura. Its power was far beyond anything a Limit Douluo should possess, and everyone's expressions changed.
"Hall Master, you've reached God Rank!"
At Xie An's words, everyone present cried out in shock. Long Tianwu was the first to ask him directly.
Yuanen Zhentian was just as astonished. Everyone at the banquet stopped eating and stared intently at Xie An.
God Rank! That was God Rank! How long had it been since the Douluo Plane last had a God-Rank expert?
To say nothing of anything else, with just two or three God-Rank fighters, they could truly call upon the power of the Plane Laws and stand against the Abyss Plane.
Wasn't the reason the Abyss Plane had been able to fight the Douluo Plane all this time that the Douluo Plane had no God-Rank experts to stop the energy of Abyssal Creatures from returning to the Abyss after they died?
If the Douluo Plane had God-Rank experts stationed there, they would be empowered by the plane itself.
Meanwhile, if the Abyssal Sage King tried to invade the Douluo Plane, the plane would suppress him.
With that shift in the balance of power, the Abyssal Sage King would never set foot in the Douluo Plane lightly.
To put it even more dramatically, if God-Rank beings could keep the energy of Abyssal Creatures from returning, the Abyss Plane should have fled long ago. If it waited too long, the Douluo Plane might counterattack.
As the Divine Realm's former direct territory, the Douluo Plane had quite a bit of prestige.
Xie An waved a hand lightly and smiled. "Reaching God Rank isn't that easy. But my current state can't be described simply as Quasi-God, either."
"If you insist on a comparison, my strength is somewhat like Yun Ming's when he's empowered by the Golden Ancient Tree."
"Of course, I might be a little weaker. After all, I've never experienced being empowered by the Golden Ancient Tree."
"But there is a drawback. I can only maintain this state for a very short time. After that, I'll be back to ordinary Quasi-God strength."
At the end, Xie An added one more thing. Only he knew how long he could truly maintain this state.
At the same time, Xie An cursed the Master of the Douluo Plane, Tang Hao, a few more times in his heart. This Plane Master had certainly done a fine job.
First, he'd allowed Soul Masters to advance rapidly, continually improving the Battle Armor and Mecha systems and steadily increasing humanity's strength.
But when it came to Spirit Beasts, he'd done nothing. Otherwise, the Silver Dragon King wouldn't have hated humanity so deeply.
If that were all, Xie An, as a human who had benefited from it, wouldn't have had the nerve to curse the hand that fed him.
But for Tang Wulin's sake, the Douluo Plane had kept restrictions in place on the most crucial step to God Rank.
If something went wrong halfway through that so-called ten-thousand-year plan, humanity could be wiped out completely.
Xie An had fought in the Blood God Legion for decades, watching his subordinates die one after another with his own eyes.
Over the past six thousand years, humanity had lost far too many people fighting the Abyss Plane.
Cursing the gods in his heart, Xie An continued, "To be frank, Clan Leader Yuanen, I'm an Eight-Star Saint Craftsman. After this breakthrough in cultivation, I feel there's a chance I could become a God Craftsman."
Yuanen Zhentian was deeply shaken. To be honest, the instant the War God Temple Master before him revealed his aura, Yuanen Zhentian had already felt like pledging his clan's allegiance to the War God Temple on the spot.
In the Soul Master World, strength ultimately reigned supreme.
Still, for the sake of his clan's future, Yuanen Zhentian restrained himself and didn't immediately announce that they would join the War God Temple.
"Hall Master Xie, I promise you this: if you truly forge God-Rank Metal, my Yuanen Clan will move as one."
"Even if you don't manage to forge God-Rank Metal, I'll still send people to accompany you to the War God Temple."
"Tiandang, didn't you want to go to the War God Temple? Once you've finished eating, get your things together, say goodbye to Yehui and your mother, and go with the War God Temple Master."
Yuanen Tiandang was overjoyed, but out of politeness, he didn't leave the banquet immediately.
Xie An was pleased and satisfied with Yuanen Zhentian's words. Smiling, he said, "Better to seize the day than wait. Why don't I try Heavenly Forging after the banquet?"
"Isn't that a little too hasty?" Yuanen Zhentian asked hesitantly.
"Once you understand one principle, you understand them all. At the level of a Limit Douluo, surely you understand that, Brother Zhentian?"
"Good! I was thinking too narrowly. After the banquet, I'll have someone prepare a quiet place at once."
"Then let me offer my congratulations in advance, Hall Master. May you succeed and become a God Craftsman."
"Thank you for your kind words, Brother Zhentian. But this toast isn't for me. It's for our ability to serve humanity together."
Yuanen Zhentian's eyes flickered. "Good! A toast to our ability to serve humanity together!"
Xie An smiled and clinked glasses with Yuanen Zhentian. The banquet continued amid laughter and cheerful conversation.
"..."
Yuanen Zhentian soon had a secluded chamber prepared for Xie An to use.
Xie An began adjusting his state of mind inside the chamber.
Ever since absorbing the Demon Plane's origin power, Xie An had been in a rather curious state.
First was the improvement in his spiritual power.
The Douluo Plane itself was actually a sphere. If a God-Rank expert could rise above the plane's boundaries and look down upon the entire plane,
then Xie An's spiritual power was currently beneath that boundary.
At times, Xie An could even briefly transcend that boundary. But whenever he tried to go further and experience that state, he found himself back beneath it.
Next was the improvement to the Half-God Position mentioned earlier.
His previous God Position could only be called a Demigod Divine Position.
But after this breakthrough, the Half-God Position could now be called a Quasi-God Divine Position.
As for his Soul Power, Xie An examined it closely and found that its total amount hadn't increased.
However, a small portion of his Soul Power had turned purplish gold.
Unfortunately, after examining the purplish-gold Soul Power carefully, Xie An found that it still didn't qualify as Divine Power.
Although Xie An didn't know exactly how Divine Power differed from Soul Power, he was certain that this purplish-gold force wasn't Divine Power.
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