After finishing the day's lessons with Linghu, Gu Tong hurriedly said goodbye to Huo Yuhao and ran toward Jiang Yixi's quarters.
At that moment, he had already begun to develop a vaguely different understanding of the talent body martial souls possessed in the field of soul tools.
As soul masters with the mental attribute, Gu Tong and Huo Yuhao indeed possessed advantages in the field of soul tools that ordinary people could scarcely match.
Through their spiritual power, and especially their eye martial souls, they could observe minute changes in soul power circuits.
But Gu Tong believed that, when it came to precision and flexibility in actually engraving core arrays, Jiang Yixi, whose martial soul was her hands and whose mind was more meticulous, probably had the edge.
As for that brute Wang Yanfeng...
Huo Yuhao and Gu Tong agreed that they should just let him serve as a host for soul tools.
"Senior Brother Gu and I can 'see' how the most intricate soul power circuits should be engraved."
Huo Yuhao stroked the engraving knife the Heavenly Soul Royal Family had specially procured for him, and Jiang Yixi's nimble hands surfaced in his mind.
Xue Heng had not appointed Jiang Yixi captain of the Star-Binder Knight Squad without reason.
Unlike Wang Yanfeng, who treated his hands as fists and palms and followed a path that emphasized strength, Jiang Yixi focused her attention on the fingers of her martial soul, placing greater emphasis on combining technique with control.
"But when it comes to the actual engraving, Senior Sister Jiang probably has more talent."
Linghu stood before the workbench, carefully examining the soul tools Huo Yuhao had engraved.
"Unbelievable," he murmured to himself.
Before him, a full three soul tools made by Huo Yuhao were arranged in a neat row.
The lowest-level one was the lighting device Linghu used as a teaching aid, while the highest-level one was actually a Soul Guidance Ray, a Level 2 soul tool.
"From no foundation at all to a Level 2 Soul Engineer in a single day. What kind of talent is this?"
At Linghu's praise, Huo Yuhao merely smiled modestly without explaining much.
On the Tianxuan Continent, he had witnessed Master Cheng upgrade the Heavenly Scale Ancient Halberd for the Martial Ancestor, seen the Martial Ancestor strengthen the Blood Spirit Puppet, and even watched how the Nine-tailed Spirit Fox repaired the Devouring Heavenly Corpse.
It could be said that, in terms of experience with artifact refinement, even a Level 9 Soul Engineer could not catch sight of Huo Yuhao's back.
Not to mention that Huo Yuhao had Linghu and Electrolux guiding him at every moment as he made soul tools.
If he still could not quickly master the techniques of making soul tools with all that, Huo Yuhao felt he might as well go find Clear Sky Castle and have them give his brain a thorough hammering with a Clear Sky Hammer after Ring Detonation.
"Huh, wait."
At the thought of Clear Sky Castle, an idea suddenly flashed through Huo Yuhao's mind. The Clear Sky Hammer, forging...
He asked Linghu, "Mr. Linghu, do you think the tempering process in soul tool production shares anything in common with forging?"
Linghu paused at his words. "Forging? A blacksmith's craft?"
"Yes, blacksmithing."
Huo Yuhao nodded. "I read in History of the Heaven Dou Empire that ten thousand years ago, blacksmiths had a rank called Divine Craftsman. They could turn decay into wonder, forging ordinary iron into divine weapons."
"So I was wondering, if we combined blacksmiths' forging techniques with the metal tempering used in soul tools, could we forge even more remarkable metals to improve the quality of soul tools?"
"Or simply make soul tools with entirely new functions?"
"For example, during the initial material processing stage, we could put the metal through Hundred Refinement, Thousand Refinement, or even simply imitate the Divine Craftsman Lou Gao and use blood to awaken the metal's spirit. That way..."
Huo Yuhao paused, thinking of the spirit treasures on the Tianxuan Continent that possessed intelligence.
"Could we make soul tools that possessed spirituality and could grow alongside their owners?"
"Even if we couldn't, ten thousand years ago, the Tang Sect could forge Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus and Rainstorm Pear Blossom Needles through blacksmithing alone. There's no reason more advanced soul tools couldn't raise their upper limits through forging techniques."
"If this path is viable, I believe it could let Heaven Dou overtake on a bend and even leave Sun Moon far behind."
Linghu abruptly slapped the table and sprang to his feet.
"A stroke of genius!"
His voice carried excitement he could scarcely conceal. "Young Master Huo, you truly are a monster!"
Linghu paced back and forth, his body trembling continuously.
He worked through the possibilities of Huo Yuhao's proposal in his mind.
"Combining forging techniques with soul tools..."
"If we could achieve a breakthrough in the very essence of the materials... then even if the Sun Moon Empire monopolized certain rare metals, we could still create something entirely new!"
"And because of these new metals' properties, the Sun Moon Empire would have no way to predict our soul tools' effects! Nor could they copy our path! Because they wouldn't even know we'd revolutionized the very essence of the metals!"
A fervent light shone in his eyes. "If body martial souls have a Second Awakening, then this would undoubtedly be a Second Awakening for soul tools!"
But very soon, Linghu's expression turned troubled.
"But ever since soul tools rose to prominence, traditional forging techniques have declined."
"Even the Tang Sect, which represented the pinnacle of forging techniques, was wiped out."
"Now that the Tang Sect has faded and Clear Sky Castle remains secluded from the world, how are we supposed to cultivate a Divine Craftsman?"
Huo Yuhao pondered for a moment before saying, "I'll be going to Heaven Dou City in a few days. I'll seek an audience with His Majesty and ask him to locate Clear Sky Castle, to see whether we can obtain their insights into forging."
"If we can't, then Clear Sky Castle will only have itself to blame for being left behind by the tide of the times, just like its ally, the Tang Sect."
"I'll also visit the Tang Sect's old site. Perhaps I can find some forging legacy there."
Speaking of the Tang Sect reminded Huo Yuhao of Tang Ya and Bei Bei, whom he had met in the Star Dou Great Forest.
Since the Tang Sect had long cooperated with Shrek Academy, might Shrek Academy's books also contain information on forging?
Ever since soul engineers rose to prominence, blacksmiths had been relegated to the lowest ranks of society.
Huo Yuhao believed that Shrek certainly would not treasure those basic forging techniques as core documents.
With Long Aotian heading to Shrek as an exchange student, perhaps he might reap a great harvest.
"Besides," Huo Yuhao said, soothing Linghu's emotions, "Mr. Linghu, don't forget my Spiritual Detection soul skill."
At Huo Yuhao's words, Linghu's eyes lit up. "You mean..."
Huo Yuhao nodded. "My Spiritual Detection can observe minute changes inside metals. Combined with the Body Sect's Heaven-Man Unity Realm, perhaps we wouldn't need a Divine Craftsman in the traditional sense."
The methods of those artifact refinement masters on the Tianxuan Continent flashed through his mind. "Spiritual power as the hammer, soul power as the fire, or spiritual power as the fire and soul power as the hammer. We could forge in this way."
Linghu could not help drawing in a sharp breath.
He suddenly felt that perhaps the Body Sect was truly the place best suited to developing soul tools.
Just then, Gu Tong, who had gone to find Jiang Yixi, arrived with her.
"Senior Brother Gu," Huo Yuhao said, turning around, "sorry for the trouble, but please go find Senior Brother Wang as well."
"Wang Yanfeng? What do you need him for?"
Gu Tong was puzzled. "With that reckless temperament of his, he can't handle delicate work like this."
Huo Yuhao grinned. "Who says? Since he's a member of the Body Sect, we can't let him sit idle."
"Mr. Linghu and I just came up with a new idea. All we're missing now is a human-shaped forging hammer."
Gu Tong tilted his head, not understanding Huo Yuhao's thinking.
At that moment, however, he felt he could see a trace of Du Busi in Huo Yuhao.
"Oh, all right. I understand."
Gu Tong had a clear understanding of his position as the crown prince's study companion.
Thus, despite the countless questions in his mind, Gu Tong could only obediently follow Huo Yuhao's wishes and go to the Martial Training Hall to find Wang Yanfeng, who was practicing his punches.