"Do you want to try it? Or should I go first?"
An Yi patted the icy metal shell and turned to look at her.
Bibi Dong hesitated. Although they had developed this thing together, it was still the first finished model. It had never been tested in practice, and no one knew whether unexpected problems might arise.
An Yi looked at her and shook his head in amusement. "Forget it. I'll go first. Even if something does go wrong, I won't die in there."
With that, An Yi pressed a hidden mechanism on the chest, opening the front armor of the cultivation armor. He turned, stepped inside, and put it on.
As the armor closed, An Yi began injecting Soul Power into the formation nodes inside it.
"Hum-"
The Soul Guidance Circuits inside the cultivation armor lit up one by one.
At the center of the faceplate, a gray crystal glowed pale blue. The light then spread along the internal circuits, quickly illuminating the entire suit of armor.
Inside the armor, An Yi could clearly feel a crushing pressure descend on him from every direction as soon as the Soul Guidance Circuits activated.
The more Soul Power he injected, the stronger the pressure became, until he was forced to circulate the Soul Power in his body to actively resist it.
But when the pressure rose to a certain threshold, it stopped.
It stopped increasing before it had even reached the limit of what An Yi's body could withstand.
After closing his eyes and feeling it out inside the armor for a while, An Yi cut off his Soul Power output. With a hiss of releasing pressure, he pushed open the chest plate and stepped out.
"How was it?" Bibi Dong stepped forward and asked, a little nervous.
An Yi rolled his shoulders and shook his head. "For me, the effect still isn't good enough. My Soul Power is only at Level 70 right now, but my physical strength is comparable to that of a Titled Douluo above Level 90."
"Although I increased the pressure multiplier to a certain extent when I designed the Soul Guidance Circuits, within the limits of what the conditions allowed, the maximum Soul Power I can output at Level 70 still can't drive the formation to produce enough pressure to bear down on a Level 90 body."
"Give it a try. This thing should be useful to you. Your Soul Power and physical strength are evenly matched."
Bibi Dong took a deep breath, nodded, and stepped into the cultivation armor.
As the hatch closed, she began trying to release her Soul Power.
The next instant, a powerful pressure surged in from every direction like a tide!
It wasn't just physical pressure on the body and Soul Power. An Yi had also ingeniously incorporated a mental suppression formation into the core circuit, almost perfectly simulating the combined suppressive effects of the Sea God's Light!
Driven by Bibi Dong's vast Soul Power at Level 88, the terrifying pressure this suit of soul guidance battle armor exerted on her was undoubtedly an enormous challenge.
Caught off guard, Bibi Dong let out a muffled grunt, her legs nearly giving way. It was her first time experiencing this kind of suppression!
After quite a while, Bibi Dong realized that more than half of her Soul Power had already been rapidly consumed. Only then did she stop her Soul Power output, open the armor, and step out, drenched in sweat.
Her eyes, usually as lifeless as stagnant water, were astonishingly bright.
"This thing... really did work."
An Yi took a clean handkerchief from his robes and casually wiped the fine beads of sweat from her forehead. He chuckled. "As long as it works."
Feeling his touch on her forehead, Bibi Dong's expression immediately grew a little awkward. She snatched the handkerchief from his hand. "I'll do it myself."
An Yi didn't mind. He turned to examine the silver-white hunk of metal and rubbed his chin as he suggested:
"How about I change the color for you? Silver-white all over looks too monotonous. How about I redo it in silver and purple? It would suit your bearing."
Bibi Dong paused in the middle of wiping her sweat. "There's no need to go to all that trouble, is there?"
"I can't see what it looks like when I'm cultivating inside it anyway."
An Yi shook his head. "That won't do. I'm not the sort of person who does things carelessly. Whatever I make has to be both practical and beautiful."
"Besides, this cultivation armor still needs further improvements. This is only the first generation. When I make a better version later, I'll have to redesign its appearance anyway."
"Right, when you wear this to cultivate in the future, don't just stand there like a fool, passively resisting the pressure. You have to move around. That'll do a better job of squeezing out your potential."
"If you were just going to lie there and endure the pressure, couldn't I have simply designed it as a pod? Why go to all the trouble of making it into a humanoid mech?"
Bibi Dong nodded thoughtfully. "I understand."
The sun dipped toward the west, and the light in the little garden gradually dimmed.
An Yi gathered the blueprints from the table. "It's getting late. Let's stop here for today."
Bibi Dong didn't get up. She looked at the cultivation armor in front of her, then at An Yi as he put away the blueprints. She seemed to think of something, and after hesitating for a moment, she finally spoke.
"An Yi."
"Hmm?"
"Why?"
An Yi's movements paused briefly, and he turned to look at her. "Why what?"
Bibi Dong pressed her lips together, her gaze settling on his face. "Why... are you so good to me?"
Ever since the first day they recognized each other, An Yi had been taking care to look after her feelings.
He asked her nothing. He didn't ask what she had been through over the years or why she was so cold to Qian Renxue, but everything he did made her feel as though he knew it all.
She didn't understand. They had known each other for only a month back then, so why would he go this far?
An Yi looked at her. After a moment of silence, he pulled out a chair and sat down again.
"That's a rather complicated question, which is why I've kept avoiding it, even though you've asked me so many times."
"To be honest, I don't want to answer, but if you insist on an answer, I can give you one."
"First, I've seen you at your best, and I... can't forget it."
An Yi raised his eyes and looked straight into hers. "Even though you've changed now, in my eyes, you're still the same Bibi Dong you were back then."
Bibi Dong's heart trembled, and her gaze instantly grew complicated. Unable to look An Yi in the eyes any longer, she abruptly turned around, leaving him with only the sight of her slender back.
An Yi paid it no mind and continued, "Second, there are things I want to do that I need your help with, and for those things, I need you to become Pope. That's why I'm helping you."
"As for the last point, it has to do with the future."
An Yi picked up his teacup and gently swirled it. "I said before that I wasn't interested in becoming a god for the time being, but just because I'm not interested doesn't mean others aren't. If someone else became a god and sat on my neck to take a shit, I couldn't accept that either."
"And I still need some time to develop. If possible, I hope you'll be my protective umbrella. If you grow stronger, or even become a god, I can carry on living free and easy."
After hearing him out, Bibi Dong couldn't help laughing. "I'm still only a Soul Douluo. How can I be your protective umbrella? As for becoming a god, that's even further out of reach."
"It's not as though you have to become a god right now. There's still plenty of time." An Yi set down his teacup, his tone suddenly turning more serious. "Besides, I do hope you'll give up the Rakshasa inheritance you carry. That thing really will change you beyond recognition."