Direct Promotion to the Inner Court

Upon hearing Mu En's arrangements, Yan Shaozhe and Xian Lin'er immediately expressed their approval.

Many of the resources Huo Yuhao would need in the future were now clearly accounted for, leaving him with nothing further to worry about.

"I hereby announce that Huo Yuhao is granted a permanent seat in the Sea God Pavilion and is promoted directly to the inner court. If there are no objections, we shall adjourn."

As Mu En's final words fell, the Sea God Pavilion meeting concluded successfully, and the various elders departed one by one.

Huo Yuhao looked at Mu En, somewhat bewildered. "Elder Mu, I've been promoted to the inner court just like that?"

Seeing Huo Yuhao's dazed expression, Yan Shaozhe stepped forward to explain first:

"What else did you expect? Should I come to the outer court to pick you up every time we hold a Sea God Pavilion meeting?"

"Let's go. Go back and pack your things, and I'll bring you back."

"Then, Elder Mu, I'll be going now. I'll come find you for a chat when I have time." Huo Yuhao offered a greeting and followed Yan Shaozhe out.

"Go on, child." Mu En watched as Huo Yuhao left Sea God Island, his mind drifting back to his own youth.

If only that had never happened back then, Xiaoyao, Xishui.

Mu En whispered to himself, then took out the Dragon Core and gazed at it with a sense of melancholy.

"The child's current physical constitution cannot yet absorb the power of the Dragon Core. He must at least wait until he reaches level 60 and absorbs a hundred-thousand-year soul ring."

"Yuhao, break through to level 60 as quickly as you can. I'm afraid my time is running out."

Having been severely injured by the baleful aura of the Dragon Core in his early years, Mu En's lifespan had been drastically reduced. He had only a few years left, and holding on until Huo Yuhao became a Soul Emperor would be extremely difficult.

On the other side, Huo Yuhao watched with a speechless expression as Yan Shaozhe lifted his entire soul guidance laboratory.

Ever since Huo Yuhao had casually mentioned the enhancement effects of Four-Character Battle Armor, Yan Shaozhe had become extremely enthusiastic.

"Yuhao, stop packing. It would be troublesome if you lost any blueprints. I'll just help you move the whole thing."

Huo Yuhao helplessly followed Yan Shaozhe, who was carrying his laboratory, back to Sea God Island.

Sea God Island could effectively increase one's cultivation speed, with the only drawback being that leaving was a bit of a hassle, though Huo Yuhao rarely had time to go out anyway.

It just meant that Wang Dong and Huo Yuhao would have no chance to meet.

After the freshman assessment, Wang Dong had moved back to the dorms.

After learning about Huo Yuhao's upbringing, Wang Dong had hoped to apologize to him and explain the conflicts from when they first enrolled.

However, because Huo Yuhao was busy crafting a full set of First-Class Battle Armor before the Sea God Pavilion meeting, they had agreed to have a meal together when they had time to clear up the misunderstanding.

Now, it seemed that would be postponed indefinitely.

In his laboratory on Sea God Island, Huo Yuhao continued to hone his spirit forging skills and began the construction of his Two-Word Battle Armor.

In the blink of an eye, five months passed. Huo Yuhao's success rate with spirit forging had become extremely high, and he had successfully crafted the first component of his Two-Word Battle Armor.

His soul power had finally reached level 40, and it was time to head out to obtain his fourth soul ring.

During these six months, Huo Yuhao had entrusted Electrolux to research the method of creating Soul Spirits, and they were nearing success.

Currently, soul beasts under a thousand years could be directly contracted as Soul Spirits, while those over a thousand years still required Electrolux to personally assist with the contract using his divine sense.

Yan Shaozhe had also brought Ma Xiaotao to see Huo Yuhao several times, requesting his help to suppress her evil fire.

During each suppression, a group of elders would stand guard around Huo Yuhao, terrified that something might happen to him.

Ma Xiaotao had been warned by Yan Shaozhe early on not to speak out of turn.

Every time, she would simply watch Huo Yuhao with curiosity, wanting to know what was so extraordinary about this future Pavilion Master of the Sea God Pavilion.

Huo Yuhao and Ma Xiaotao were acquaintances, but due to reasons from the original timeline, Huo Yuhao did not particularly like her, and the two had never become close.

Huo Yuhao's soul rings were now the responsibility of the academy, so his previous deal with Yan Shaozhe was no longer valid. In the end, Yan Shaozhe gave Huo Yuhao two hundred-thousand-year soul bones as compensation.

Unfortunately, neither of these soul bones possessed spirit or ice attributes.

One was a hundred-thousand-year Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear left arm bone, and the other was a hundred-thousand-year Evil Demon Orca King left leg bone.

Huo Yuhao decided to keep them for now; if he couldn't obtain soul bones with matching attributes later, he would consider absorbing these.

Late on the night Huo Yuhao broke through to level 40, a knock sounded at his laboratory door. Huo Yuhao opened it with a look of resignation to find a furtive Yan Shaozhe standing outside.

"Dean Yan, why are you always sneaking around? Didn't Elder Mu already agree to us using thousand-refined metals to trade for the emerging soul guidance devices from the Sun Moon Empire?"

"Sigh, Yuhao, you don't understand. Following your plan, the Combat Soul Guidance Department and the Martial Soul Department have undergone reforms."

"The Soul Guidance Department has been renamed the Soul Guidance Research Institute, and since the Martial Soul Department added the Combat Soul Guidance Department, its expenses have been growing by the day."

"If I hadn't seized the initiative and proposed to Elder Mu early on to trade thousand-refined metals for soul guidance devices from the Sun Moon Empire, the price difference would have been snatched up by the Research Institute again. The Martial Soul Department is truly struggling to make ends meet."

"Fine, here is this batch of thousand-refined metals. Also, I've reached level 40 and need to obtain a fourth soul ring of around 50,000 years." Huo Yuhao replied.

"No problem. I'll accompany you to obtain the soul ring. Pack your things, Yuhao, and we'll set off tomorrow."

"Alright. I've actually finished one component of the Two-Word Battle Armor I was making for Teacher Fan Yu, so I'll drop it off when we pass by the outer court tomorrow."

"Good, then I'll pick you up at 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 issue where the wearer had to participate in the crafting process to fuse with the armor, Huo Yuhao utilized the property that metals could be blood-bound during spirit forging, allowing Fan Yu to blood-bind all the metals required for this set of Two-Word Battle Armor.

In this way, Fan Yu did not need to participate in the crafting.

It wasn't that he was being secretive or unwilling to teach; he had actually already taught Fan Yu.

But the problem was the ten-thousand-year knowledge gap. Fan Yu couldn't directly comprehend things with the help of a halo like he could, so his learning speed was somewhat slow.

According to Huo Yuhao's estimation, it would take about another six or seven years for Fan Yu to be able to independently craft First-Class Battle Armor.

Huo Yuhao intended to craft a set of Four-Character Battle Armor for Fan Yu in the future; as his early-stage angel investor, the return on investment had to be maximized.

Time quickly arrived at the next day. After handing the first piece of battle armor to Fan Yu, Huo Yuhao and Yan Shaozhe set off on the journey to find a 50,000-year spirit-type soul beast.

After using Fate Awakening to temporarily boost his luck, Huo Yuhao began searching for the soul beast he needed this time—the Silver Hero Beast—under the guidance of Tian Meng.

As the soul beast Huo Yuhao ideally wanted for his fourth soul ring, it would grant him his third ability to copy the soul skills of others.