Soul-Guided Communicator

"Ling Yuan, you scared me to death!" Bibi Dong was both embarrassed and annoyed by her sudden appearance and blunt teasing. "Y-You were peeking!"

"How was I peeking? I was looking openly." Ling Yuan spoke righteously, then pointed at Bibi Dong's face and ears, laughing even harder. "And besides, Lady Saintess, your face and ears are so—red!"

"Red? It's red because I soaked in the hot spring. The steam made it red."

"Ah, yes, yes, of course~"

"It was from soaking in the hot spring and the steam. It definitely wasn't because His Holiness the Pope flirted with me."

"Ling Yuan, if you keep talking nonsense, I'm really going to get angry!"

Bibi Dong stamped her foot in embarrassment, turned, and ran toward her room. "I'm ignoring you!"

"Hey, wait for me." Ling Yuan laughed and chased after her.

Late at night, most of Yelin City's lights had gone out.

Footsteps echoed through the second-floor corridor of the Hot Spring Inn.

Knock, knock.

A knock sounded outside Qian Xunji's door.

"Come in."

The door opened, and Falling Devil Douluo slipped inside, carrying a rather heavy-looking metal chest.

He closed the door behind him and bowed respectfully. "Your Holiness, the items required for your urgent message have been urgently gathered from the various branches and are all here."

"Mm. You've worked hard, Jiang Mo."

Qian Xunji looked up from behind his desk, his gaze falling on the chest as a trace of satisfaction appeared on his face. "Did the trip go smoothly?"

"Everything went smoothly, but..."

Falling Devil Douluo carefully set the chest down in the open space at the center of the room, unable to resist casting a curious glance at it.

"This subordinate is slow-witted and does not understand why Your Holiness urgently gathered rare minerals such as Outer-Heaven Meteorite Iron, Deep Sea Sinking Silver, and Star Sand."

"Although these materials contain special energy, they are extremely hard and difficult to smelt or forge. Even Spirit Hall's finest craftsmen rarely manage to make suitable weapons or armor from them."

He truly could not understand why the Pope had suddenly taken an interest in such obscure materials.

Qian Xunji gave Jiang Mo a mysterious smile. "You'll understand in time."

"This will be the beginning of a small change for Spirit Hall... no, perhaps for the entire continent."

Jiang Mo was left even more confused by those words and that smile, but it was not his place to ask further. He could only suppress his doubts. "Yes, this subordinate understands."

"If Your Holiness has no further instructions, this subordinate will take his leave."

"Go."

"Thank you, Your Holiness."

Falling Devil Douluo withdrew from the room and carefully closed the door behind him.

The room fell silent once more, and Qian Xunji immediately opened the heavy chest.

Inside were not whole pieces of material, but metal and ore chunks of various shapes that had already been roughly cut or refined.

There were also some supplementary materials whose names he did not know, but which the system had marked as necessary.

"System, bring out the complete blueprint and manufacturing process for the Level 1 Soul Guidance Communicator. I want the most detailed version."

[Received.]

The next second, a flash of white light appeared on his desk.

Then the white light vanished, revealing a stack of blueprints.

Qian Xunji began examining them. They contained detailed structural diagrams for the Core Conduction Crystal, Resonance Array Baseplate, Energy Stabilization Ring, casing, and more.

Qian Xunji took a deep breath. Even with memories from his previous life and the system's assistance, the sight of blueprints so far beyond Douluo Continent's current level of craftsmanship gave him a headache.

This was far more complicated and exciting than handling the Pope Palace's official documents.

"Whatever. Let's get to work!"

He rolled up his sleeves and, following the system's instructions, took out the Angel Carving Knife. He began processing the most important piece of Starry Blue Crystal, preparing to create the core conduction component.

Soul Power control had to be extraordinarily precise. Too much, and the crystal would crack; too little, and the impurities would remain.

Time quietly slipped away amid his concentration...

During his first attempt to carve the basic Resonance Array, Qian Xunji had overestimated himself.

Although the Angel Carving Knife was easy to wield and emitted a faint purifying holy radiance that calmed his mind, there was still a deviation in the force of his cuts and the rhythm of his Soul Power infusion.

Hiss...

The baseplate was already ninety percent complete when, as he connected the final node, its light suddenly became chaotic before dimming. A crack appeared in the center of the pattern.

[First production attempt failed. Cause: insufficient Soul Power output stability, resulting in energy overload at the terminal node.]

[Recommendation: practice basic fine Soul Power control for three hours.]

Qian Xunji looked at the ruined material and sighed, but he was not discouraged.

"Again!"

On the second attempt, he miscalculated the proportion of Star Sand when processing the metal band for the Energy Stabilization Ring.

The third time...

The fourth time...

Outside the window, the sky quietly changed from pitch-black to white.

Qian Xunji's eyes were bloodshot. His casual clothes were covered in all kinds of metal powder and crystal dust, and several smudges of soot streaked his face, making him look quite disheveled.

Yet the light in his eyes only grew brighter. That focus and dedication made it feel as though he had returned to his previous life, staying up late to overcome some technical problem.

The materials in the chest dwindled at a visible rate.

The chest, once full, now contained only enough material for another two or three attempts at most.

At that moment, someone knocked on the door, followed by Bibi Dong's voice.

"Teacher, shall we go have breakfast together?"

"No. You all eat. I'm busy."

Outside the door, Bibi Dong wondered curiously, Busy? What is Teacher busy with?

He was the Pope, so he surely had many matters to handle.

"Alright, Teacher."

As Bibi Dong left,

Qian Xunji shook his slightly stiff wrist and picked up the last baseplate, one the size of a pigeon egg.

This was the final baseplate of sufficient quality to withstand the core array.

"It has to... succeed."

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and adjusted himself to his best state.

Then he opened his eyes. A faint golden gleam flashed within them as he gripped the Angel Carving Knife between his fingers and lowered it without the slightest tremor.

The instant the blade tip touched the baseplate, fine Soul Power flowed through the carving knife like the most precise brush, leaving marks upon the hard Deep Silver.

Dots, lines, arcs, rings... one rune after another was carved with precision, connecting together to form an increasingly complex pattern.

Qian Xunji immersed his entire mind in the task, as though time outside had stopped.

Who knew how long passed before the carving knife completed its final stroke.

The array pattern on the baseplate suddenly lit up. Then the light withdrew inward, and every line seemed to come alive, slowly circulating within the baseplate to form a perfect, self-sustaining miniature Soul Power circulation system.

[Core Conduction Array—production successful. Quality: Excellent.]

Qian Xunji let out a long breath. He had succeeded. After nearly exhausting all the high-grade materials and suffering several failures, he had personally created the first true Soul-Guided core array on the Douluo Continent.