Dog Holding a Sword

Facing Huo Yuhao's fanatical, nearly deranged gaze, Ye Guyi expressionlessly rubbed her aching wrist.

She simply could not understand it. He had drained her dry to charge sixty-seven iron canisters, all just to arrive at a cold, lifeless number?

With that time, she could have swung her sword several thousand more times.

Ju Zi approached carrying a glass of juice, looking at the neatly arranged Milk Bottles.

"That's a bit too broad." She spoke softly, instantly pouring cold water over them. "If a second-grade Milk Bottle is used as the unit, then whenever decimals come up, we still have to estimate with 'roughly.'"

Huo Yuhao froze for a moment.

Well, well. As expected of someone who had been an empress dowager in her previous life—she had spotted the fatal flaw in this primitive scale at a glance.

It was like using a huge water vat to measure water. You could not tell whether there was too much or too little.

Xuan Ziwen nodded furiously beside them. "It really is too crude. We have to refine it!"

Though he did not have Huo Yuhao's fanatical obsession with data, as a high-level soul engineer, his pursuit of precision was absolutely pathological.

Over the next few days, the two completely turned into mad scientists. They ate and slept beside the workbench, and countless sheets of draft paper littered the floor.

After repeated calculations, Xuan Ziwen and Huo Yuhao finally settled on dividing the maximum capacity of a second-grade Milk Bottle into one hundred standard increments. That was one hundred soul power units, abbreviated as 100 HL.

With a more precise unit, the previous crude measuring method was completely discarded. The two decided to go all the way and used a composite formation to forcibly cobble together a soul power tester capable of displaying exact readings.

Looking at the simple device with its dial and indicator, Huo Yuhao was filled with accomplishment. From this day onward, the concept of a blue bar had truly been born in this world.

Time flew by, and another month passed.

Early one morning, Ye Guyi finished her final round of sword swings in the courtyard. Golden soul power seemed almost tangible as it continuously surged around her. After breaking through Rank 40, more than a month of consolidation and crushing gravity training had thoroughly stabilized her cultivation. Obtaining her fourth soul ring was officially put on the agenda.

Thanks to her nearly brutal physical training, along with the unreasonable medicinal power of the Red Jade Pills forcefully laying her foundation, Ye Guyi's muscles and bones had reached a terrifying level of strength. According to the data Huo Yuhao had tested, the limit for an ordinary soul master's fourth ring was around five thousand years, while Ye Guyi would not be burst apart by violent energy even if she directly absorbed a ten-thousand-year soul ring.

Thus, the group set their sights directly on a ten-thousand-year light-attribute soul beast. Xuan Ziwen led the expedition this time. With an eighty-first-rank Soul Douluo acting as muscle, their sense of security was through the roof.

Naturally, Huo Yuhao was going along to broaden his horizons. He had been cooped up in the courtyard doing experiments every day, and his bones were practically rusting.

Ju Zi, meanwhile, had an enormous underground arms deal to hand over and truly could not get away. Before they left, she pinched Huo Yuhao's cheek and stuffed him with a pile of defensive soul tools meant to save his life before finally letting them go.

The Jingyang Mountains were one of the largest mountain ranges within the Sun Moon Empire, stretching across nearly half its territory. This place could be called a paradise for soul engineers. Rich mineral deposits and rare metals coexisted with harsh magnetic fields, giving rise to many bizarre soul beasts unique to the Sun Moon Empire.

Deep in the forest, Xuan Ziwen held a precision detector as he cleared the way ahead. Ye Guyi walked beside him with a short sword in hand, alert to every rustle around them. Only Huo Yuhao was at ease, carrying a compact flying energy-storage core on his back as he cracked sunflower seeds and trailed behind.

"Teacher Xuan, it's been more than half a month, and we haven't even seen a single hair from a light-attribute soul beast." Huo Yuhao spat out a seed shell and complained helplessly.

Most of the Jingyang Mountains were inhabited by metal-attribute or earth-attribute soul beasts. Ten-thousand-year soul beasts were rare in this era to begin with, and light was also a rare attribute. Combined, finding a ten-thousand-year light-attribute soul beast here was no easier than finding a needle in the ocean.

"Quiet. Something's moving." Xuan Ziwen suddenly stopped. A violently flashing, high-energy red dot appeared on the screen of the detector in his hand. There were not only energy fluctuations; the air itself was filled with an exceptionally sharp, cutting presence.

The group quickly concealed themselves and pushed aside the bushes ahead to look. At the edge of a massive mine pit several hundred meters away lay a creature that was impossible to forget at first glance.

It was a unique variant from the Jingyang Mountains—the Sword Wolf, a composite soul beast possessing metal and multiple other attributes.

From the moment they were born, they searched everywhere for rare metals to temper themselves. Through endless slaughter, they fused their flesh and blood with metal, forging themselves into the sharpest blade best suited to them.

This blade would continuously grow and be tempered as they aged, becoming sharper and sharper. The strongest among the Sword Wolf pack would be granted the title of King of Swords.

The one lying at the edge of the mine pit was several times larger than an ordinary Sword Wolf. Without question, it was a King of Swords.

"Well, looks like luck has arrived." Xuan Ziwen lowered the detector, a gleam of fervor appearing in his eyes.

It was a rare Dawn Sword Wolf King, snow-white from head to toe. Golden soul markings representing the light attribute covered its powerful limbs and torso. Even more exaggeratedly, a pair of broad wings grew from its back.

"It's around thirteen thousand years old. It has the light attribute, so it's extremely suitable for this little girl." Xuan Ziwen pushed up his glasses, his gaze fixed firmly on the Wolf King's mouth.

Ye Guyi followed his gaze. The Wolf King was clamped tightly around an irregular blade roughly three feet long, held sideways in its jaws. The blade was entirely gilded gold, its surface flowing with a dazzling, eye-piercing gleam. Even from several hundred meters away, they could feel its sacred, inviolable pressure.

"That's a blade nurtured from Heavenfeather Sacred Gold!" Xuan Ziwen's breathing quickened.

It was a peerless metal imbued with both sacred and light attributes. If placed in an auction house on the Douluo Continent, it would be a treasure that many high-level soul masters would fight over.

Even on the Sun Moon Continent, Heavenfeather Sacred Gold was an excellent material for crafting eighth- and ninth-grade soul tools.

For Ye Guyi, who possessed the Holy Angel Martial Soul, this was not merely the finest possible soul bone; even her future personal weapon was now accounted for.

A perfect match. An absolute perfect match.

Huo Yuhao crouched in the grass, staring straight at the imposing beast ahead.

Honestly, the thing looked incredibly cool overall. It perfectly matched his tastes.

But... for some reason, as he watched the Wolf King clench a greatsword sideways in its jaws and coldly patrol its territory like a sword saint, those famous stupid memes from the internet in his previous life began flooding uncontrollably through Huo Yuhao's mind.

Mighty? Cool?

Huo Yuhao rubbed his chin with a strange expression, unable to suppress the smile at the corner of his mouth. In such a serious setting, when he looked at the majestic Dawn Sword Wolf King, only one phrase remained in his mind—"dog holding a sword." The phrase carried the flavor of a bad joke, yet was remarkably fitting.