Hearing Mu En's arrangements, Yan Shaozhe and Xian Lin'er immediately voiced their approval.
Many of the resources Huo Yuhao would need in the future had been arranged for him. He no longer had to worry about them himself.
"Now I announce that Huo Yuhao will hold a permanent seat in the Sea God Pavilion and advance directly to the inner court. If none of you object, then we can all take our leave."
With Mu En's final words, the Sea God Pavilion Meeting came to a successful close, and the elders each departed.
Huo Yuhao looked at Mu En, somewhat bewildered. "Elder Mu, I'm entering the inner court just like that?"
Seeing Huo Yuhao's dazed expression, Yan Shaozhe hurried to explain:
"What else? Should I come fetch you from the outer court every time we hold a Sea God Pavilion Meeting?"
"Come on. Let's go back and pack your things. I'll bring you back here afterward."
"Then, Elder Mu, I'll be going. I'll come chat with you again when I have time." Huo Yuhao said goodbye, then left with Yan Shaozhe.
"Go on, child." Mu En watched Huo Yuhao leave Sea God Island, remembering his younger self.
If only none of that had happened back then. Xiaoyao, Xishui.
Mu En silently murmured to himself, then took out the Dragon Core and gazed at it with a sigh.
"That child's body still can't withstand the Dragon Core's power. He'll have to wait until he's at least level 60 and has absorbed a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring."
"Yuhao, break through to level 60 as soon as you can. I'm afraid I don't have much time left."
Wounded long ago by the Dragon Core's violent energy, Mu En's lifespan had been greatly reduced. He had only a few years left, and it would be very difficult for him to hold on until Huo Yuhao became a Soul Emperor.
Meanwhile, Huo Yuhao watched, at a loss for words, as Yan Shaozhe lifted his entire Soul Tool laboratory and carried it off.
Ever since Huo Yuhao had casually mentioned how much a Four-Character Battle Armor could improve one's strength, Yan Shaozhe had become extraordinarily enthusiastic.
"Yuhao, don't bother packing. It'd be a pain if you lost any blueprints. I'll just carry the whole thing for you."
Helpless, Huo Yuhao followed Yan Shaozhe, who was carrying his laboratory, back to Sea God Island.
Cultivating on Sea God Island could greatly increase the speed of one's cultivation. The only downside was that going out was a bit of a hassle, but Huo Yuhao rarely had time to leave anyway.
It also meant that Wang Dong and Huo Yuhao had practically no chance of running into each other.
After the freshman assessment, Wang Dong had moved back into the dormitory.
After learning about Huo Yuhao's upbringing, Wang Dong had wanted to apologize and explain the misunderstanding between them when they first enrolled.
But Huo Yuhao had been busy making a full set of First-Class Battle Armor before the Sea God Pavilion Meeting. He had agreed to have a meal with her when they found the time and clear things up.
Now, it looked as if that would be postponed indefinitely.
In his laboratory on Sea God Island, Huo Yuhao continued honing his Spirit Forging and began working on Two-Word Battle Armor.
Five months passed in the blink of an eye. Huo Yuhao's Spirit Forging success rate had become extremely high, and he had also completed the first component of a Two-Word Battle Armor.
His Soul Power had finally reached level 40. It was time to head out and obtain his fourth Soul Ring.
Over the past six months, Huo Yuhao had asked Electrolux to research the Soul Spirit Method, and it was now close to success.
At present, Soul Beasts under a thousand years old could be contracted directly as Soul Spirits. Those over a thousand years old still required Electrolux to personally assist with the contract using his divine sense.
Yan Shaozhe had also brought Ma Xiaotao to visit Huo Yuhao several times, asking him to help suppress her Evil Fire.
Each time, a group of pavilion elders stood guard by Huo Yuhao, afraid that something might happen to him.
Yan Shaozhe had warned Ma Xiaotao well in advance not to say anything careless.
Each time, she simply watched Huo Yuhao with curiosity, wondering what made this future Sea God Pavilion Master so extraordinary.
Huo Yuhao and Ma Xiaotao knew each other, but for reasons related to the original timeline, he didn't particularly like her. They never became close.
The academy had taken responsibility for providing all of Huo Yuhao's Soul Rings, so his earlier deal with Yan Shaozhe no longer applied. In the end, Yan Shaozhe gave Huo Yuhao two Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones as compensation.
Unfortunately, neither Soul Bone had a Mental Attribute or an ice attribute.
One was the left arm bone of a Hundred Thousand Year Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear. The other was the left leg bone of a Hundred Thousand Year Evil Orca King.
Huo Yuhao decided to hold on to them for now. If he couldn't obtain Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones with suitable attributes later, he would consider absorbing them.
Late at night on the day Huo Yuhao broke through to level 40, someone knocked on the door of his laboratory. He opened it with a sigh and found Yan Shaozhe lurking outside.
"Dean Yan, why are you always sneaking around? Elder Mu already agreed to let us trade some Thousand Refinement metal for the new Soul Tools from the Sun Moon Empire, didn't he?"
"Ah, Yuhao, you don't understand. The Soul Guidance Department and the Martial Soul Department have been reformed according to the plans you proposed."
"The Soul Guidance Department was renamed the Soul Guidance Research Institute, and the Martial Soul Department added the Combat Soul Guidance Department. Since then, the Martial Soul Department's expenses have been growing day by day."
"If I hadn't gotten ahead of things and proposed to Elder Mu that we trade Thousand Refinement metal for Soul Tools from the Sun Moon Empire, the Research Institute would've taken the profit from the price difference too. The Martial Soul Department is practically broke."
"All right, here's this batch of Thousand Refinement metal. Also, I'm at level 40 now, so I need a fourth Soul Ring of around fifty thousand years," Huo Yuhao replied.
"No problem. I'll go with you to get your Soul Ring. Yuhao, pack your things. We'll set off tomorrow."
"Good. I've already finished one component of the Two-Word Battle Armor I'm making for Teacher Fan Yu. We'll pass by the outer court tomorrow, so I'll deliver it to him on the way."
"Good. I'll pick you up and take you to the outer court tomorrow." Hearing this, Yan Shaozhe was quite envious. A full set of Two-Word Battle Armor would be enough to increase his strength by fifty percent.
To solve the problem of needing to participate in making a Battle Armor in order to fuse with it, Huo Yuhao had used the fact that metal could be blood-sacrificed during Spirit Forging. He had Fan Yu blood-sacrifice all the metal needed for the Two-Word Battle Armor.
That way, Fan Yu wouldn't have to take part in making it.
It wasn't that Huo Yuhao was hoarding his knowledge and refusing to teach him. He had already taught Fan Yu.
The problem was that there was a knowledge gap of ten thousand years between them. Unlike Huo Yuhao, Fan Yu couldn't use the halo to grasp the concepts directly, so he was learning rather slowly.
Huo Yuhao estimated that Fan Yu would be able to make First-Class Battle Armor on his own in another six or seven years.
Huo Yuhao planned to make Fan Yu a set of Four-Character Battle Armor in the future. As one of his early angel investors, Fan Yu deserved a full return on his investment.
The next day came quickly. After handing the first Battle Armor component to Fan Yu, Huo Yuhao and Yan Shaozhe set off in search of a fifty-thousand-year-old Spirit-type Soul Beast.
After using Fate Awakening to temporarily boost his luck, Huo Yuhao followed Tian Meng's guidance and began searching for the Soul Beast he wanted: the Silver Hero Beast.
His ideal choice to provide his fourth Soul Ring, it would grant Huo Yuhao a third ability to copy other people's Soul Skills.
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