Three-Day Vigil

Xu Jiawei listened to Xu Jiujiu's words and sighed, "It seems that even a powerhouse like Dean Yan can have moments where he misses the mark."

"Soothe the Duke of White Tiger. Also, prepare some healing elixirs to send to the future Pavilion Master of the Sea God Pavilion; ensure no hidden injuries remain."

Xu Jiawei summoned two guards and dispatched them to notify those below to prepare a gift for Huo Yuhao.

"Brother, that excuse sounds flimsy. Do we really need to go out of our way to send gifts?"

"Jiujiu, the Sun Moon Empire is developing faster and faster, and the pressure on the Star Luo Empire is increasing. We desperately need Shrek Academy, and since Huo Yuhao is a citizen of the Star Luo Empire, no gesture is too excessive."

After Xu Jiawei explained this, he rubbed his brow. He could already sense the seeds of war; at this moment, he had to spare no effort to win over Shrek Academy.

"Then how should we handle the Duchess of White Tiger? After all, she has ties to our royal family. If Dai Huabin's death causes her to lose her sanity, what then?"

Xu Jiujiu reminded Xu Jiawei, considering the Duchess's background and her connections to the royal family.

"That is indeed a problem. If she makes a move against Huo Yuhao and it is mistaken for our royal family's tacit approval, that would be bad. Have the Heavenly Fiend Douluo make a trip there in a while."

"I recall the Duke of White Tiger has another son named Dai Luoli. Tell the Duchess that if Dai Yueheng and Huo Yuhao cannot become friends, then Dai Luoli will be the next Duke of White Tiger."

Xu Jiawei spoke with a stern expression.

"Understood, brother. I will go arrange it now."

Xu Jiawei watched Xu Jiujiu leave and sighed, "Dai Hao, oh Dai Hao, how could you force away a genius with such talent?"

Xu Jiawei sighed with some regret.

Inside the Duke of White Tiger's mansion, the Duchess was frantically smashing various pieces of porcelain.

"The son of a servant—how dare he kill my son! How dare he!"

"Send everyone I can mobilize to Shrek Academy! I want to kill him! Let him die in some forgotten corner just like his mother, to be buried with my son!"

Hearing this, a guard nearby was about to speak up to dissuade her when a deep, masculine voice rang out.

"The Duchess would do well to abandon that thought. You cannot touch Huo Yuhao. His Majesty the Emperor has already ordered you to kneel before his mother's grave for three days to offer a proper apology."

The Heavenly Fiend Douluo had just arrived at the Duke of White Tiger's mansion when he heard the Duchess's hysterical roar.

"You want me to kneel and apologize to that servant Huo Yun'er? That is impossible! Even if I die, I will never apologize to her. I will definitely kill Huo Yuhao to avenge my son!"

The Duchess had always looked down on Huo Yun'er; how could she accept such an order?

"As a Title Douluo, my personal arrival already represents the attitude of His Majesty the Emperor. Don't forget, you have another son. Or is it that you can only calm down once both sons are dead?"

The Heavenly Fiend Douluo was, after all, a Title Douluo. The Duchess's previous words had shown a complete lack of respect, and his tone turned cold.

The Duchess felt a chill run down her spine upon hearing this, and she asked with a sense of sorrow.

"Has the Star Luo royal family truly abandoned all old ties? My mother was also a member of the royal family..."

"His Majesty the Emperor has already been very mindful of old ties by only asking you to keep a three-day vigil for Huo Yun'er. If I hadn't come personally to convey the Emperor's will, do you think you would still be sitting in the position of Duchess?"

The Heavenly Fiend Douluo interrupted the Duchess, delivered his final response, and left without looking back.

Outside the Duke's mansion, the low tombstone Huo Yuhao had erected for Huo Yun'er was long gone, replaced by a tall stone tablet engraved with: "Tomb of the Benevolent Mother, Huo Yun'er."

The Duchess walked to Huo Yun'er's grave in a daze and knelt down with a thud. Her eyes, just like Huo Yun'er's had been back then, lost their luster.

Just like Huo Yun'er in the past, for the sake of Dai Yueheng, she had no choice but to kneel for these three days.

Dai Hao had already been quite dissatisfied with her over the matter of Huo Yun'er. Now that Huo Yuhao had become one of the heirs of Shrek Academy, let alone seeking revenge, she was the one who would likely be mocked by the servants from now on.

By the time the three-day vigil passed, Dai Hao had not returned once. The Duchess finally lost her last shred of hope and fell ill, bedridden.

When Huo Yuhao heard of this, his emotions no longer fluctuated much. If the Duchess died of illness, it would be a case of tit for tat; if she didn't, it wouldn't matter if he made another trip later.

After his spiritual power reached the peak of the Spirit Domain Realm, Huo Yuhao's ability to manipulate fate had improved once more. For those with extremely low luck, he could slowly strip away their fate from a distance.

The servants who had harmed Huo Yuhao and Huo Yun'er in the past were mostly ordinary people or low-level spirit masters; all of them were now marked by Huo Yuhao with fate-stripping.

In just one month, they would reach the end of their lives.

Huo Yuhao compared the memories in his mind and stripped their fates one by one, without missing a single person.

These people would slowly feel the world's rejection of them growing stronger day by day, eventually dying in despair and pain.

No longer thinking about those dying people, Huo Yuhao focused on observing the metal in front of him.

Among all the knowledge related to battle armor, design was the easiest part to master. With the assistance of the Divine Abyss, Huo Yuhao had perfectly grasped everything related to design.

However, the forging of metal and the crafting of battle armor were not such simple matters.

Forging had a clear threshold. Huo Yuhao had only used one halo, so it was naturally impossible to directly elevate his forging and crafting to the level required to make battle armor.

Therefore, this improvement was more about the elevation of his knowledge.

Since he had learned the theory, it was time for practice.

The first piece of battle armor Huo Yuhao designed was for the right arm. The materials selected were Deep Silver, Blue Pregnancy Copper, and several rare ice-attribute metals.

As Deep Silver was the easiest metal to forge and the most compatible with other metals, it would certainly serve as the primary material for his early battle armor.

First-word and second-word battle armors were mainly to lay the foundation for future armor. Later on, Huo Yuhao planned to use the Ice Extreme Divine Crystal as the main material to integrate into the armor to create third-word battle armor.

Therefore, the compatibility of the metals for the first and second-word armor was crucial.

Huo Yuhao took out a piece of Deep Silver and began to temper it according to the forging methods in his mind. Relying on his powerful spiritual power, he precisely found every angle to strike with his forging hammer.

Soon, as Huo Yuhao's forging process progressed, the Deep Silver began to shrink. The hundred-fold forging was already complete, and it was now continuously approaching the thousand-fold mark.

Thousand-fold forging did not require high-level forging techniques, as long as the forging method did not go wrong; it did not yet involve the level where the metal gained a spirit.

Thus, as Huo Yuhao's final hammer fell, a piece of thousand-fold forged Deep Silver lay quietly on the forging table.