HRB600E

The dust settled.

Tang San panted heavily. He hadn't put away the Clear Sky Hammer in his left hand. The thrill of unleashing that power had left him a little addicted.

He looked at the Soul Beast before him, now powerless to resist, and a cold glint flashed in his eyes.

"Uproot the weeds and leave no roots."

The Tang Sect's principle: mercy toward your enemies is cruelty toward yourself.

Tang San's gaze was icy. He raised the Clear Sky Hammer high in both hands and aimed it at the Golden Sun Crown Sunflower, preparing to deliver the final blow to this king among Soul Beasts.

"It's over!" Tang San swung down, the wind from his hammer howling!

But just as the pitch-black hammerhead was about to touch the ground—

Clang—!!!

The crash of metal against stone rang out explosively.

The world's foremost weapon-type Martial Soul, unstoppable only an instant ago, had halted in midair. It could not move forward another inch.

He looked up in shock.

At some point, Su Yun had appeared before him like a divine weapon descending from the heavens, holding one hand aloft.

Amid the billowing dust, what had blocked the Clear Sky Hammer's killing blow was a thick iron rod, pitch-black from end to end and radiating an ancient, weighty aura.

Its surface was covered in rough, mysterious spiral ridges, like a sleeping black dragon coiled around it. It stretched across the space between heaven and earth, bearing a terrifying pressure that seemed to suppress the seas and hold the universe in place.

What kind of divine weapon could withstand his blow?

As the dust began to clear, Tang San gazed reverently at the inscription engraved on the surface of the peerless artifact. He froze.

GB/T1499.2-HRB600E High-Strength Seismic-Resistant Hot-Rolled Ribbed Steel Bar (φ32mm)

What the heck? ⚆_⚆?

HRB600 meant that this steel bar had a yield strength of 600 megapascals.

It was a figure that would have been despair-inducing in the age of cold weapons.

It meant that even a cross-section no bigger than a fingernail could easily support six tons—equivalent to an adult African elephant standing on one foot without causing it to snap.

Faced with this modern industrial beast, its atomic structure locked in place and strong enough to withstand an earthquake of magnitude eight, Tang San's Clear Sky Hammer, still without a Soul Ring, was indeed...

A little outmatched.

"Big Brother Su?" Tang San asked in confusion, the murderous intent still not entirely gone from his eyes. "What are you doing? It's not dead yet. If we don't kill it now, what if it fights back as it dies..."

Su Yun said nothing. He simply applied a little force, flicking the Rebar upward and knocking the Clear Sky Hammer aside.

"We need a different way to kill it. One with more ceremony."

"A more... ceremonial way to kill it?"

Tang San stared blankly at Su Yun. He still held the Clear Sky Hammer in a downward-swinging pose, but the murderous fury had already faded.

"Exactly."

Su Yun gave his wrist a flick. The heavy Rebar spun nimbly in his hand, then landed on the ground with a heavy clank, kicking up a ring of dust.

He looked down at the Golden Sun Crown Sunflower, barely clinging to life, with half its flower head crushed flat.

"Xiao San, traditionally hunting Soul Beasts is what savages do. You kill the goose that lays the golden egg, get a dead Soul Ring, and waste the Soul Beast's own vitality."

"Back in my hometown, we believe in sustainable development and win-win cooperation..."

"Or, to put it more plainly, labor dispatch."

"Labor... dispatch?" Tang San and Yu Xiaogang, standing some distance away, were both stunned.

The concept was far too advanced for the people of Douluo Continent.

"Simply put, we don't kill it."

Su Yun pointed to the Golden Sun Crown Sunflower.

"Instead, we sign a contract with it. We preserve its intelligence and let it live inside your body as an energy life-form, becoming your Soul Spirit. It gives you a Soul Ring and Soul Skill, and you nourish it with Soul Power so it can evolve. Everyone benefits. You're the employer, and it's the employee."

"H-How is that possible?!"

Yu Xiaogang finally came to his senses. Forgetting his fear, he stumbled over and shouted,

"Absurd! Unheard of! How could such a thing possibly exist in this world?!"

"Just because you can't do it, Grandmaster, doesn't mean nobody else can."

Su Yun didn't even glance at Yu Xiaogang. He simply crouched down and lightly tapped the Golden Sun Crown Sunflower's flower head with the rough Rebar in his hand.

Clang! Clang! The crisp metallic knocks made the plant tremble.

"Hey, big guy, quit pretending to be dead. I know you can understand me."

Su Yun pushed up his Sunglasses and flashed a benevolent smile.

"You have two choices."

"Either the guy beside me with the hammer smashes you to pieces, and you become a mindless ring of light."

"Or you sign a contract of servitude with my brother... no, an employment contract. Follow him from now on, and you'll have the good life. Sure, you'll lose your freedom, but you'll still be alive in another form."

The Golden Sun Crown Sunflower, which had been pretending to be dead, immediately displayed an overwhelming will to live.

Ignoring its broken stem, it desperately wrapped its two remaining leaves around Su Yun's Rebar. Its enormous flower head bobbed like a rattle drum, shaking sunflower seeds all over him.

I'll sign! I'll sign! I'll sign right now! As long as I get to live, I'll work like an ox—or even like a workhorse!

"That's more like it."

Su Yun put away the Rebar with satisfaction, then turned to Tang San, who was staring at him in a daze.

"Xiao San, come over. I'll teach you an incantation. It's a method for forming a contract."

This method, naturally, came from Bai Ze's copied notes.

In its current form, it was a case of overwhelming superiority through a technological leap.

Tang San had lived two lives, after all, and his comprehension was exceptional.

He mastered the essential principles after hearing it just once.

He took a deep breath, put away the Clear Sky Hammer, and sat cross-legged in front of the Golden Sun Crown Sunflower.

"Let's begin."

Tang San formed a hand seal. A gentle mental force shot from between his brows and enveloped the Golden Sun Crown Sunflower.

Hum—

Guided by the Contract Array, the enormous Golden Sun Crown Sunflower began to disassemble itself.

It dissolved into streams of dense, golden liquid light.

The light was filled with a warm, sacred aura.

Like water, the golden radiance flowed along the Blue Silver Grass Tang San held out and slowly entered his body.

"This is absurd... Absolutely absurd..."

Yu Xiaogang stood to one side, unable to believe what he was seeing.

Blue Silver Grass, which Yu Xiaogang's theories had classified as a Trash Martial Soul, seemed like a seed revived by a long-awaited rain as soon as it touched this light of the same origin. It awakened in an instant!

Crack!

It seemed as though the sound of a shackle snapping came from inside Tang San.

"Ugh..."

Tang San couldn't help letting out a low moan.

But it wasn't pain. It was a pleasure so intense that his soul trembled.

It was like someone who had spent more than a decade locked in a dark dungeon opening the door for the first time and seeing the brilliant sunlight.

Then, an astonishing sight unfolded.

The unremarkable Blue Silver Grass in Tang San's hand began to grow wildly.

Its blades, originally no thicker than a finger, instantly grew wider and longer.

The outer skin began to crack and peel away, revealing new, crystalline tissue inside, dazzling like a blue sapphire!

At the center of each azure blade, pale golden veins emerged clearly. They pulsed like blood vessels, greedily absorbing every trace of warmth and light sent by the Golden Sun Crown Sunflower.

Nobility.

Imperial authority.

An endless cycle of life.