New Mission

At that, Ziyang turned to Gu Yue and asked, "Gu Yue, do you want to take over the grilling for me?"

Gu Yue said nothing and naturally took his place. Her technique was somewhat clumsy, clearly her first time doing it, but like Ziyang, she was obviously a natural talent.

The way she turned the skewers carried a strange rhythm, as though even the frequency at which the fat dripped had been calculated.

"What is that elemental sphere of yours?" Gu Yue suddenly asked, though her gaze remained on the skewers. "We can suppress your elemental power."

Ziyang split open a crab, and the roe inside its shell glistened with oil in the dusk. "It's my second soul skill, Point."

"Point?"

"That's right." Ziyang poked at the charcoal with an iron skewer. Sparks scattered, tracing tiny arcs through the air. "How should I put it? Like the feeling that everything has a starting point."

He did not know how to explain his soul skills either. Aside from his first soul skill, he could not make sense of the second or third ones at all.

The endpoint could not be Point too, could it? And the timeline was Thread, right?

Gu Yue's hand paused as she turned the skewers, but she was not surprised. How could anyone possibly share the details of their soul skills?

"Not a bad soul skill."

"I suppose." Ziyang smiled. "I'm not an Elemental Envoy like you. My elemental affinity probably isn't as high as yours."

At that moment, Gu Yue fell silent. As she looked at Ziyang, the elements around him were incomparably intimate with him, even more so than with herself.

The sea breeze suddenly stopped. The charcoal gave off one last crackle, and the embers flickered in the dusk.

"You're wrong about that," Gu Yue said.

Ziyang was confused and was just about to ask when Na'er rose to her feet and walked to his other side, deliberately blocking Gu Yue's line of sight.

"Stop talking. They're about to burn." Her voice carried a hint of resentment. How had these two started chatting?

Ziyang looked down at the reddened crab in his hands, then at Na'er, and finally at Gu Yue. With the two girls on either side of him, he felt as though he were standing in a dangerous zone.

"Should we grill some more?" Ziyang asked. "Should I get more ingredients?"

"Okay," Na'er answered naturally, though her gaze remained fixed on Gu Yue.

"Do as you like." Gu Yue suddenly withdrew her hand, turned, and walked back beneath the parasol.

Ziyang crouched down in front of the grill again and tossed a handful of fresh charcoal onto the embers. Na'er sat to his left with her knees hugged to her chest and her chin resting in the crook of her arms. Her eyes fell on Ziyang's face as she asked curiously, "Ziyang, who do you think is prettier, me or Gu Yue?"

Hearing that bizarre question, Ziyang felt that his emotional intelligence was not up to the task. He glanced at Gu Yue, then at Na'er, and finally said, "Teacher is the prettiest."

Leng Yaoyu was not surprised to hear that.

She lay on the beach blanket with a towel still covering her face, revealing only half her red hair, like a fire burned halfway down. The sea breeze carried her muffled voice over, lazy and faintly amused. "Ziyang, come over after you finish grilling."

Ziyang nodded without giving it much thought.

Na'er's gaze immediately sharpened and shifted straight toward Leng Yaoyu. She wanted to see where she fell short.

Upon closer inspection, the gap was indeed enormous.

Under the parasol, Gu Yue turned a page in her book, the paper making a crisp rustling sound.

She did not care much about such things.

Before long, Ziyang stood and brushed the sand from his knees. He walked toward the beach blanket, his footsteps making faint crunching sounds against the cooling hot sand.

Leng Yaoyu lifted the towel from her face and sat up. Her red hair draped over her shoulders, still speckled with grains of sand. She did not look at Ziyang, instead gazing toward the horizon, where dusk was inch by inch swallowing the last of the light.

"Tomorrow, we're going to Heaven Dou City. Prepare yourselves properly."

"Teacher, do you have a mission in Heaven Dou City?" Ziyang asked doubtfully.

"I do." Leng Yaoyu turned to him. "There are some matters I need to handle there. While we're at it, I can take you to meet the legendary Divine Blacksmith."

"A Divine Blacksmith?" Ziyang was rather curious about that.

"Divine Blacksmith Zhen Hua." Leng Yaoyu spoke the name as though spitting out a pebble. "The only Divine Blacksmith on the Douluo Continent, and the creator of Four-Word Battle Armor."

At some point, Na'er had wandered over from the distance. She said nothing, merely crouching beside Ziyang with the same curiosity about the Divine Blacksmith.

Gu Yue also sat up, filled with curiosity toward this Divine Blacksmith.

The greatest difference between soul beasts and soul masters was undoubtedly Battle Armor.

Leng Yaoyu also gave Ziyang and the others a detailed explanation of the Divine Blacksmith's existence.

He had become famous in his youth, yet he was never arrogant. He worked tirelessly, beginning as the president of a Blacksmith Association in a small city and climbing step by step to the pinnacle, eventually becoming the president of the Blacksmith Association's headquarters. He was also currently the continent's sole Divine Blacksmith.

Before his appearance, creating Four-Word Battle Armor required several Saint Craftsman-level blacksmiths working together, with the full support of a Titled Douluo. Even after expending untold effort, they could barely complete it. Yet that sort of Four-Word Battle Armor was not a true creation and could only be considered half-step Four-Word Battle Armor.

It was only after he became a Divine Blacksmith that Four-Word Battle Armor crafted by his hands began to be passed down through the world. It could be said that he held a position of immense importance across the entire continent. He himself possessed countless honors as well.

Ziyang calculated carefully. That guy had actually become a Divine Blacksmith when he himself was just over six years old. (In the original story, when Tang Wulin was fourteen, Zhen Hua had been a Divine Blacksmith for nearly eight years.)

"Teacher, but none of us are blacksmiths. Even if we go, we won't be able to learn anything, right?"

Ziyang could not help being curious. Austin Griffin could not possibly be the one to go, could it? It happened to need to learn blacksmithing.

"No. I'm going to collect a piece of Heaven-Refined Metal to improve my Battle Armor weapon." Leng Yaoyu explained that although she had already upgraded her Four-Word Battle Armor, her Battle Armor weapon—something few people equipped—still needed some refinement.

After all, far too many people in this world needed Zhen Hua to forge their Battle Armor. Only in recent years had he completed all the Battle Armor orders from the major powers.

Ziyang blinked, unable to stop himself from imagining his own Battle Armor. Would an elegant and luxurious white-and-gold color scheme be better, or a dangerous and alluring purple-and-black one?

After thinking it over, he decided on the latter. Only that could highlight how handsome he was.

Austin Griffin suddenly sneezed, feeling as though someone was looking down on it.

"Understood, Teacher," Ziyang replied.

Suddenly, as dusk fully settled over the horizon, a layer of milky-white mist rose over the sea like a crumpled piece of silk. Lights came on aboard the distant cruise ship, while specks of light also appeared along the shore on the other side.

"It's about time. Let's head back." Leng Yaoyu stood and walked straight toward the cruise ship. "Na'er, Gu Yue, follow me."

Ziyang rose as well, leaving atop Austin Griffin's back.

Only Austin Griffin felt as though it had suffered some societal injustice. It silently knocked over a nearby sandcastle to vent its dissatisfaction.

The next day, Ziyang and the others set off for Heaven Dou City.