Level 8 Soul Master

After digesting all the insights brought by his God-tier Soul Tool talent, Jiang Che sat in silent meditation for a moment. When he opened his eyes again, all restlessness had faded from his gaze, leaving behind only a clear, crystalline clarity.

The bottleneck that had kept him stuck at the peak of the seventh level for a month shattered like thin ice meeting a raging fire in the face of his God-tier talent.

The eighth-level core array patterns, soul power flow nodes, and material fusion techniques that had once baffled him were now crystal clear in his eyes. Every detail and every connection was laid bare; his Soul Tool Eye activated passively, automatically revealing the optimal solutions and risk points for all the soul tool materials and blueprints before him.

He raised his hand to gently stroke the starry pattern on the back of his hand, and the Tian-Shu Carving Knife leaped into his palm once more. The dark cyan blade flowed with a warm, divine radiance, and the star patterns on the hilt resonated faintly with his soul power.

Jiang Che took a deep breath, cast aside all distracting thoughts, and threw himself heart and soul into the forging of an eighth-level soul tool.

This time, he did not rush for success. Instead, following the brand-new insights in his mind, he re-selected the materials for forging an eighth-level close-fitting defensive soul tool—Millennium Profound Ice Iron, Star Gold, and Phantom Spirit Silver. Each was a rare metal perfectly suited for the environment of the Far North and possessed top-tier defensive capabilities.

With the blessing of his God-tier Soul Tool talent, his control over material purification reached its zenith. His soul power output was precise to the millimeter, stripping away every trace of impurity from the metals. He kept the temperature of the smelting furnace in a perfect range, and the liquid metal flowed slowly within, without a single ripple.

Shaping, casting, quenching, and polishing—he performed every step with the fluidity of flowing water, no longer experiencing the slightest hesitation.

Steps that previously required repeated troubleshooting were now performed perfectly by instinct; his once-crude crafting methods had been completely replaced by the top-tier techniques brought by his talent.

In just half an hour, the embryo of a close-fitting soft armor had taken shape. It was smooth and warm to the touch, faintly glowing with a lustrous sheen, far surpassing all the seventh-level soul tool embryos he had previously forged.

The true key lay in the inscription of the eighth-level core array.

Before, he would have had to be extremely cautious just outlining the basic patterns of an eighth-level array, terrified of making even the slightest error. But now, as Jiang Che gripped the Tian-Shu Carving Knife and turned his wrist, the blade fell upon the soft armor embryo with a continuous, rhythmic clicking sound, never once faltering.

The blade moved like a dragon or a snake, the lines flowing with extreme grace. The complex and profound eighth-level defensive array took shape bit by bit under his knife; the array patterns were precise and flawless, the soul power meridians connected seamlessly.

His Soul Tool Eye operated constantly, and any deviation, no matter how minute, was instantly detected and corrected. The Tian-Shu Carving Knife was indestructible, carving through the hard metal embryo as if it were nothing, not only meeting no resistance but also automatically drawing in soul power to integrate into the array, allowing the array and the soul tool embryo to fuse perfectly, greatly increasing the success rate and quality of the soul tool.

Time slipped away, and the only sounds left in the laboratory were the light scraping of the carving knife against metal and Jiang Che's steady, long breaths. He was completely immersed in the forging, his soul power surging slowly, resonating with the soul tool arrays in the laboratory.

As the final stroke of the array pattern was inscribed, Jiang Che abruptly injected his own soul power into the soul tool, drawing the soul power of heaven and earth into the soft armor.

In an instant, the entire piece of soft armor erupted with a brilliant silver light. Intricate array patterns flickered across its surface, emitting a thick and sharp defensive aura. A pressure far exceeding that of a seventh-level soul tool swept through the entire laboratory, causing the metal walls to tremble slightly and the soul power particles in the air to churn wildly.

Jiang Che reached out and grasped the newly formed eighth-level defensive soul tool. A warm sensation traveled to his fingertips; the soul tool was in perfect harmony with his soul power, without the slightest barrier.

He could clearly feel the formidable power of this soul tool. Originally capable of defending against the peak of the eighth ring, with the blessing of the Tian-Shu Carving Knife, it could now not only withstand the full-force attack of an ordinary Titled Douluo but also automatically trigger a defensive barrier, adapting to all his combat scenarios in the Far North.

And at the very moment the eighth-level soul tool was fully formed, it signified that Jiang Che had broken through the bottleneck between the seventh and eighth levels, officially stepping into the realm of an eighth-level Soul Master.

Jiang Che felt a wave of clarity in his mind, his understanding of the path of soul tools reaching a new level. Whether it was array inscription, material fusion, or soul tool design, he had achieved a qualitative leap.

He looked down at the panel before him, where a line of clear text slowly emerged:

[Eighth-level Soul Master (Completed) 1/3]

The bottleneck that had plagued him for a whole month had been broken with ease under the blessing of his God-tier Soul Tool talent and the Tian-Shu Carving Knife, without even requiring much effort.

A smile of relief tugged at the corners of Jiang Che's mouth. He gripped the eighth-level defensive soft armor in his hand, his eyes filled with certainty.

With his God-tier Soul Tool talent and the aid of the Tian-Shu Carving Knife, let alone an eighth-level Soul Master, even challenging a ninth-level Soul Master like Qian Duoduo, or even the legendary tenth-level Soul Master, was no longer an unreachable dream.

He stored the newly forged eighth-level defensive soul tool into the Ring of the Overseer, and without pausing, he took advantage of his excellent state to begin forging an eighth-level soul weapon.

With the blessing of his breakthrough in cultivation and his God-tier talent, the forging process was even smoother. In less than half a day, a soul sword that shimmered with a cold light and was inscribed with an eighth-level attack array had taken shape. The blade was sharp, filled with soul power, and its power far exceeded that of ordinary eighth-level long-range soul weapons.

Jiang Che put away the long sword, felt his brand-new Soul Master cultivation within, and slowly stretched his limbs.

Three months of study, from repeated setbacks to a sudden breakthrough, and now to the effortless mastery of eighth-level soul tool forging—it all felt like a lifetime ago.

He looked at the soul tool notebook gifted by Qian Duoduo, a flicker of determination in his eyes.

Now that he was an eighth-level Soul Master, he already had ideas for solving many of the problems in the notebook. Given time, he would surely master this notebook completely, fulfill his promise to Qian Duoduo, and go even further on the path of soul tools, building a solid foundation for the future of the Shrek Soul Tool Department and for dealing with the crisis of the Sun Moon Empire in the future.

After tidying up the laboratory equipment, Jiang Che gripped the cyan token and turned to walk out of the laboratory.

The sunlight spilled through the windows of the laboratory building onto him, his entire being radiating the high spirits of one who had just broken through to an eighth-level Soul Master and a Titled Douluo.

At this moment, his soul tool level had broken through, his combat power had soared once again, and he had the soul ring rewarded by the system, which meant he no longer had to worry about not finding a suitable soul ring when heading to the Far North.

According to the soul ring information displayed on the panel, that most suitable soul ring should be similar to a God-bestowed Soul Ring, both generating a soul ring age based on the limits of his own body's endurance.

The difference was that the system's version could also generate different types of soul rings based on the nature of his martial soul.