A Natural Pair

Wang Dong's pink-blue eyes widened abruptly. "Can a single Class 9 Soul Tool shell wipe out an entire city? Soul Tools are that powerful?"

Huo Yuhao reached out and rubbed Wang Dong's little head. "There's no need to panic so much. Whether a faction is truly powerful still depends on top-tier strength like Limit Douluo. Before the Sun-Moon Continent finds anyone capable of contending with the Three Douluo Kingdoms' top experts, war won't begin."

But Wang Dong did not reply. She merely stared blankly at the tabletop for a long while before saying gloomily, "Then what's the point of Soul Master cultivation? No matter how powerful a martial soul is, can it really block a cannon shell?"

"How could it be pointless?" Huo Yuhao picked up the nearly assembled Class 3 Flying Soul Tool and set the final core formation into place. "No matter how strong a Soul Tool is, it still needs someone to operate it. Soul Power is the foundation. Even if a Soul Tool capable of killing a Limit Douluo truly appears someday, would the Sun-Moon Empire have a Soul Master capable of controlling it?"

"The Sun-Moon Empire lacks high-level Soul Masters. That's why the continent only appears so peaceful right now."

He paused, looked at Wang Dong, and softened his voice. "Actually... sometimes I think that unifying the continent might not be entirely bad."

Wang Dong suddenly looked up, as if she had heard some heresy. "Unification? What about all the great sects? Spirit Hall wanted to unify everything back then, and it threw the whole world into chaos!"

"Evil?" Huo Yuhao's gaze drifted out the window toward two young boys roughhousing as they passed by. "History is written by the victors. Besides, a temporary war can be for the sake of a longer peace."

He turned back to Wang Dong, his tone calm but serious. "The ones who suffer most in war are never the top Soul Masters or the geniuses. They're ordinary people without strength, and low-level Soul Masters who die on the battlefield for no reason at all. Look at the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect. It seems powerful, but isn't it constantly on guard against others?"

Wang Dong opened her mouth, wanting to argue, only to find that she had nothing convincing to say.

Huo Yuhao placed the assembled Flying Soul Tool on the table. Its metal shell gleamed coldly under the sunlight. He tapped its core formation plate with his fingertip, his voice crisp. "Come on. Try this Class 3 Flying Soul Tool."

Wang Dong turned to stare at the Flying Soul Tool on the table—three pale-blue soul crystals were embedded in its silver-gray metal frame, while faint light flowed across its core formation plate beneath the sun. It looked exquisite yet powerful.

Under normal circumstances, Wang Dong would have snatched up the Soul Tool and rushed outside to test it long ago. Yet now, she actually seemed conflicted.

Huo Yuhao raised a brow and nudged the Soul Tool toward her. "This is the first Soul Tool I've ever made. Don't tell me you're afraid of falling?"

Wang Dong glared at him. "Did you forget what my martial soul is? My martial soul is the Light Goddess Butterfly. I can fly on my own. Why would I be afraid of falling?"

As she said that, her expression even became a little downcast. "It's not that I don't want to help you test it. It's just... I've always had an instinctive aversion to Soul Tools. The moment I touch one, I feel uncomfortable all over."

Huo Yuhao froze. He had never known that Wang Dong disliked Soul Tools. After all, in the future scenes, she had been the kind of person who could pick up a Soul Tool and use it without hesitation.

He looked at Wang Dong's faintly furrowed brows. His fingers unconsciously rubbed the edge of the Soul Tool as he muttered, "That shouldn't be possible..."

Seeing how incredulous Huo Yuhao was, Wang Dong somehow found the strength to suddenly reach out and grab the Soul Tool he had just made. "But you're my best friend. I have to help you with this."

Huo Yuhao had just started to reach out to stop her when Wang Dong went completely still...

"Why don't I feel that way when I touch the Soul Tool you made?"

Wang Dong's fingertips pressed tightly against the Soul Tool's metal casing. The silver-gray metal was slightly cool, yet it did not give off the slightest energy fluctuation that made her uncomfortable. She could even clearly sense the Soul Power circulating within the core formation plate, like a gentle stream resonating strangely with the Light Goddess Butterfly's Soul Power inside her—not clashing, but softly blending together like melting snow in spring.

This was completely different from every Soul Tool she had ever touched before.

Back in the sect, even touching the lowest-grade Soul Tool would make her feel as though her mind had been stuffed with a tangled mess of threads. Her Soul Power would churn nauseatingly. But now, as she held the Soul Tool Huo Yuhao had made, all she felt in her palm was a cool touch and an indescribable sense of familiarity.

"How could this be..." Wang Dong muttered. Her phoenix-like eyes were filled with disbelief. She even instinctively sent a tentative stream of Soul Power into the Soul Tool. The rejection she had expected never came. Instead, it flowed as smoothly as a drop of water joining a river.

Huo Yuhao was stunned as well. His Spirit Eye opened instinctively, and Spiritual Detection instantly enveloped the Soul Tool. This time, he examined it especially closely—besides the original Soul Power patterns on the core formation plate, there remained an extremely faint trace of his spiritual power, a "mark" left behind exclusively by him as its creator.

"All Soul Tools carry a trace of their creator's aura. Could that be the reason?" Huo Yuhao guessed softly. "But that doesn't make sense. You feel repulsed when you touch other Soul Tools..."

"Don't tell me we're a natural pair?"

"No, no. Two guys would be way too..." As he spoke, Huo Yuhao opened his Spiritual Detection domain and observed Wang Dong's reaction.

Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Detection domain was like a fine net, capturing Wang Dong's reaction with perfect clarity—when she heard the words "a natural pair," the tips of her ears instantly turned red. Her Soul Power became chaotic for half a second, and the fingers gripping the Soul Tool tightened sharply. Yet she stubbornly held her chin high instead of refuting him, merely glaring viciously with those pink-blue eyes like a cat whose tail had been stepped on but who could not bear to bite him.

"What nonsense are you talking about?!" Wang Dong's voice rose half a pitch, carrying obvious panic. "Who, who's a natural pair with you? Stop flattering yourself!"

Though she scolded him, her body honestly did not move away. She even unconsciously pulled the Soul Tool closer to her chest, as if it were some priceless treasure.

Seeing her say one thing and mean another, Huo Yuhao could not help laughing softly. Within Spiritual Detection, Wang Dong's heartbeat was pounding like a drum. The Light Goddess Butterfly's Soul Power leaped joyfully inside her, and golden motes even seeped through her skin, forming a faint shimmer around her hair—that was the sort of Soul Power reaction that only appeared when she was extremely shy yet secretly delighted.

"I was only joking." Huo Yuhao suppressed his smile, though his eyes still held a teasing glint. "But the fact that you don't reject this Soul Tool may indeed have something to do with my spiritual mark."

He deliberately changed the subject, lightly tapping the Soul Tool with his fingertip. "Look at this core formation plate. I mixed some spiritual power guide lines into the patterns I carved. Maybe because you don't dislike me, you can use this Flying Soul Tool."

Wang Dong was indeed distracted. She frowned as she studied the Soul Tool. "Spiritual power guide lines? What are those?"

"It's something I figured out myself," Huo Yuhao explained. "Ordinary Soul Tools rely on metal to conduct Soul Power. It's rigid and wastes a lot of energy. If spiritual power is used as a 'lubricant,' perhaps Soul Power can circulate more smoothly."

This was actually an unconventional method he had devised by combining future Soul Tool technology with the characteristics of his own spiritual power. He had not expected Wang Dong to be completely unreceptive to it.

Wang Dong's eyes lit up, and she forgot all about her earlier embarrassment. "You can do that? Wouldn't that increase a Soul Tool's efficiency several times over?"

"In theory, yes." Huo Yuhao nodded. "But it demands incredibly precise control over spiritual power. For now, I'm the only one who can do it."

"Tch, what's so impressive about that?" Wang Dong sounded disdainful, but inwardly, she admired him greatly. This guy always came up with strange ideas, and they always somehow worked.

Holding the Soul Tool, she suddenly remembered something and looked up at Huo Yuhao. "Then... will I be able to use all the Soul Tools you make in the future?"

The moment the words left her mouth, she regretted them—they had been too direct, as if she were asking him for gifts.

Huo Yuhao was also briefly stunned, then smiled. "If you don't mind."

Wang Dong's cheeks began to burn again. She hurriedly turned and headed for the door. "Who, who said I mind? I just think... it would be a shame to waste them!"

When she reached the doorway, she suddenly stopped with her back to Huo Yuhao, her voice muffled. "Hey, Huo Yuhao."

"Yeah?"

"That thing you said earlier..." Wang Dong's voice was as light as a feather. "Don't tell anyone."

"Which thing?" Huo Yuhao deliberately teased her.

"The..." Wang Dong bit her lip. "The 'natural pair' thing! If anyone else hears it, I—I won't let you off!"

With that, she ran away like a gust of wind, even forgetting to take the Soul Tool with her.

Huo Yuhao watched her fleeing figure, picked up the Soul Tool from the table, and rubbed the lingering golden Soul Power mark that belonged to Wang Dong. A gentle smile rippled through his Spirit Eye.

Perhaps what had allowed Wang Dong to overcome her aversion to Soul Tools was not some so-called spiritual power guide line, but the fact that this Soul Tool had come from his own hands.