"Bai Qi, are you interested in Soul Tools?"
Holding Huo Yutong's hand, Huo Tian turned to look at Bai Qi, who was gripping the Class 7 laser cannon tightly.
The five of them had reached the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest, and Bai Qi had been playing with the Soul Tool in his hands the entire way.
"Yes! Master, this thing is so easy to use. You don't even have to think!"
Bai Qi nodded. Back when he wandered around, he had only heard of Soul Tools. Now that he had one in his hands, he treasured it immensely.
Bai Qi was a simple brute who disliked thinking too much, so he felt that Soul Tools suited him perfectly.
"If you're interested, you can try joining the Soul Tool Department when we get back! But even after you start working with Soul Tools, you mustn't neglect your cultivation."
Huo Tian immediately gave Bai Qi a stern look. Since Bai Qi was interested in Soul Tools, he could hardly stand in his way too much.
After all, in Huo Tian's eyes, Soul Tools did nothing but delay cultivation progress in the early stages. At the very least, it would not be too late to study them after reaching Soul Saint.
Over the years at Shrek Academy, the conflict between the Martial Soul Department and the Soul Tool Department had grown increasingly severe, mainly because the Martial Soul Department had always believed that the strength of one's Martial Soul was a Soul Master's foundation, while relying on Soul Tools was merely taking shortcuts.
Mu En also wanted to develop the Soul Tool Department vigorously, but the Martial Soul Department's people repeatedly obstructed him. Since he was still seriously injured, he could not readily fall out with them.
The Martial Soul Department controlled most of the academy's cultivation resources. Mu En feared that they would make life difficult for the Soul Tool Department, so he had never dared to support it openly all these years.
Now that Huo Tian had grown strong, Mu En intended to use him to break the deadlock and see whether he could resolve the two factions' long-standing conflict once and for all.
The five strode toward Shrek City. There were many Soul Hunting teams on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest, as well as traveling markets.
The traveling markets mainly sold low-level Soul Beasts, Soul Bones, Soul Beast corpses, and many other resources. After ten thousand years of development, the area on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest had been steadily shrinking.
Huo Tian thought about how, now that he was the Azure Cloud Sect's sect master, he would certainly need to develop Soul Tools vigorously in the future as well. However, he had yet to find a proper foundation for the sect.
Huo Tian gazed at Shrek City in the distance. Wasn't the city before him an excellent foundation? Sooner or later, he would inherit the positions of Sea God Pavilion Master and Shrek City's city lord.
Huo Tian decided that he would seize Shrek Academy's body to serve as the Azure Cloud Sect's foundation. It truly would fall into his lap without any effort.
"Master, how powerful have Soul Tools become now?"
Huo Yutong tugged at Huo Tian's fingers and tilted her head up, looking at him with eyes full of curiosity.
"Little Yutong, the strongest Soul Tools now should be comparable to a Limit Douluo!"
"In one-on-one combat, a Limit Douluo is stronger, but in group battles, Soul Tools are stronger!"
Huo Tian lowered his head to look at Huo Yutong, then turned toward Bei Bei and Tang Ya beside him. The two were flirting.
Noticing Huo Tian's gaze resting on them, Bei Bei and Tang Ya immediately returned to normal.
"Bei Bei, Tang Ya, have you ever considered combining Tang Sect Hidden Weapons with Soul Tools?"
A book on Tang Sect Hidden Weapons appeared out of thin air in Huo Tian's hand. The yellowed, tattered book fluttered continuously in the breeze.
"For example, the second-ranked Torrential Pear Blossom Needle!"
Huo Tian turned the book to the second-to-last page on Hidden Weapons, which contained the Torrential Pear Blossom Needle's design and required materials.
Huo Tian could not help marveling at the precision of the Torrential Pear Blossom Needle's engineering. If it were made into a Soul Tool and the needles inside replaced with Soul Missiles, how spectacular would that be?
As the king of single-target attacks among Tang Sect Hidden Weapons, the Torrential Pear Blossom Needle could fire twenty-seven Pear Blossom Needles at once, with enough power to seriously injure a Titled Douluo.
"Ah, I've really never thought about that."
Tang Ya immediately jogged over to Huo Tian and looked at the Torrential Pear Blossom Needle. In the past, she had always firmly believed that Tang Sect Hidden Weapons were the strongest, and Soul Tools had nothing to do with them.
Tang Ya had always been so obsessed with Tang Sect Hidden Weapons. Ten thousand years ago, Tang Sect Master Tang San had used Guanyin's Tears to injure the Angel God, Qian Renxue, which was enough to demonstrate their power.
Bei Bei also leaned his face closer curiously to see what this was all about. Although he had always lived in the Shrek Inner Court, he had never had much exposure to Soul Tools.
"Ordinary Tang Sect Hidden Weapons are already powerful enough to hurt a Titled Douluo. If we upgraded them into Soul Tools, could you imagine their power?"
Huo Tian spoke with a serious expression while the other four stood beside him and listened silently, nodding from time to time.
Although Huo Tian belonged to the Martial Soul Department, he had basically mastered both departments' theoretical knowledge. His current theoretical knowledge was no less than that of the two departments' deans.
Huo Tian's current knowledge of Soul Tool theory was fully sufficient for him to pass the Class 6 Soul Engineer examination. He had been busy cultivating all these years and had yet to truly try his hand at making Soul Tools.
"Brother Huo, what you're saying does seem to make sense, but they're already difficult to make. If we incorporated Soul Tools into them, wouldn't the difficulty rise another level?"
Bei Bei voiced his opinion: Tang Sect Hidden Weapons were mainly cast from iron, and their materials also required extremely high precision.
Soul Tools might not necessarily work in that regard.
"So, just because it can't be done for now doesn't mean it won't be possible in the future!"
Huo Tian put the book on Hidden Weapons back into his Soul Tool, and the five continued along the road.
Bai Qi's right arm was tired too, so he put the Soul Tool back into his storage Soul Tool Ring. Looking at the four people beside him, he felt as though he were daydreaming.
In the past, Bai Qi had endured countless people's abuse, and others had even called him a damned cripple. But after meeting Huo Tian, Bai Qi felt that not everyone in the world was bad.
When Huo Tian and the others first met Bei Bei and Tang Ya, Bai Qi had been wary, afraid that Bei Bei would disdain him or mock him for being disabled. But after spending time together, he felt that Bei Bei was a very good person too.
Seeing Bai Qi beside him lost in thought, Huo Tian did not disturb him. Although Bai Qi appeared cheerful on the surface, the wounds deep in his heart could not possibly heal all at once.
Huo Tian decided to have Bai Qi wear a suit of armor and then put on a particular mask, which would also suit the characteristics of his Martial Soul.
Huo Tian tried to probe Bai Qi's heart with his Soul Power, but it was immediately repelled upon contact. The crack in Bai Qi's heart would occasionally release a trace of demonic energy.
Huo Tian was also puzzled about Bai Qi's true identity. The system had only given him the conclusion of Heavenly Fiend Lone Star and nothing further.
It was precisely his heart that had kept Bai Qi alive all these years. All his power came from his heart.