Chapter 64: with translation of chapter title

Fan Yu once told Huo Yuhao that different Soul Masters have their own habits when using engraving knives while making core formations, but anyone who can become a top-tier Soul Master will possess their own style.

Huo Yuhao is still exploring his own style, but on Juzi he has already seen a formed style.

Juzi, while using the engraving knife, gives a feeling of lightness and agility; the orange-red engraving knife looks like a ball of fire, yet it merely touches the metal used to engrave the core formation and immediately leaves, never lingering; her flowing motions are like her lightly caressing the metal with this engraving knife. Metal shavings keep falling, yet they never drift away; the fine patterns actually give a feeling of supernatural craftsmanship.

The two of them stood and sat like that, one quietly engraving while the other silently watched from the side; time passed unnoticed.

Outside the sky gradually darkened, while the laboratory's soft lights turned on by themselves, maintaining brightness in the room. Yet neither Huo Yuhao nor Juzi noticed this change.

One was focused on making, the other watched as if intoxicated.

For Huo Yuhao, today's gains were enormous; in the morning he received theoretical guidance from Teacher Xuanziwen, but for him the afternoon hours of standing were even more important.

As the saying goes, theory combined with practice; Juzi was equivalent to giving him a brilliant practical lesson. Especially after verifying part of what Xuanziwen had explained in the morning, a brand-new door for Soul Masters is slowly opening before him.

After an unknown amount of time, Juzi let out a sigh: "Mm, finally done." The earlier silver-white metal had now become a square core formation; the formation's lines were horizontal and vertical, and if Huo Yuhao hadn't seen it himself, it would be hard to imagine these lines were etched in midair without any tool's assistance.

"Why aren't you using auxiliary tools?" Huo Yuhao spoke for the first time after seeing her finish.

"Ah!" Juzi was obviously startled by him; in an instant, a burst of intense orange-red light erupted from her body, and countless oranges shot toward Huo Yuhao, accompanied by a howling sound like a tornado.

Huo Yuhao also didn't expect her reaction to be so intense; his combat instinct made him react instinctively.

Crystal-clear diamond ice crystals instantly covered his body; the frenzied impact of countless oranges could not make him retreat even half a step, being bounced off by the Ice Emperor's Guard and scattering everywhere.

But at that very moment, Huo Yuhao's pupils contracted sharply; he clearly felt that among the multitude of oranges, ten or more had silently stuck to his body, and an unprecedented strong sense of danger suddenly rose.

His keen spiritual perception allowed him to judge instantly; emerald light flashed, a shadow behind him flickered and vanished, and a layer of green light emanated from his body outward and then retracted.

Within a ten-meter diameter, everything instantly froze—whether the flying oranges or Juzi herself, who had turned around and stared at Huo Yuhao in shock—all remained in a strange state of stillness.

The next moment, those oranges landed one after another, emitting loud crackling sounds like stones hitting the ground.

Huo Yuhao first checked his own body; indeed, on the Ice Emperor's Guard, ten or more oranges were tightly attached, but they had now become ice balls; in the extreme cold, their original function had disappeared.

Carefully pinching one of them, he was astonished to feel that its skin was as soft and elastic as a real orange; his spiritual probe instantly penetrated it, and Huo Yuhao couldn't help but be shocked—inside this tiny orange lay a core formation as complex as a fourth-rank soul tool, plus a small vortex-shaped energy-gathering formation; however, the soul power inside was completely frozen, otherwise he could hardly imagine what would happen next.

Without doubt, the beautiful Juzi's martial soul is indeed as her name suggests; this food-type martial soul itself lacks aggression, but its confusion effect is not small—if his perception weren't high enough, he would likely suffer a great loss, being blown apart at close range by over ten fourth-rank soul tools, even his Ice Emperor's Guard couldn't withstand it! Of course, there's a good chance Juzi stopped upon realizing it was him. But Huo Yuhao cannot gamble his life on that.

With a slight shake of his body, the dozen or so oranges stuck to him were instantly shaken off; Huo Yuhao used Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon to gently draw and release them, and they floated down onto a more distant lab table.

Only then did Huo Yuhao press his right hand onto Juzi's shoulder, and the icy aura released by the Eternal Frost Domain was gradually withdrawn by him.

Although Juzi is a five-ring Soul King, under the freezing of the Eternal Frost Domain she would need at least a quarter hour to thaw herself, and that's with Huo Yuhao activating the domain at its lowest level while avoiding harming her.

"It's so cold." Juzi shivered, her delicate frame trembling slightly, and she immediately sat back in her original seat; her formerly rosy lips now turned purplish, and her gaze at Huo Yuhao held anger mixed with a hint of shock.

"What are you doing?" Juzi asked angrily.

Huo Yuhao gave a wry smile: "Senior, if you hadn't overreacted, I wouldn't have done that!"

Juzi snorted angrily, pointed at Huo Yuhao's nose and said, "You wait!" After saying that, she snatched up the core formation she had just made and stormed off angrily.

Huo Yuhao rubbed his nose, feeling helpless inside; he hadn't meant to offend that senior, but in that situation he couldn't have not resisted.

He didn't think much more; it was already late, so he first went to the cafeteria to eat something casually, then returned to his dorm and immediately began meditating.

Unlike ordinary Soul Masters who must gradually enter a state of empty-minded tranquility in meditation, Huo Yuhao, after gaining a second consciousness sea, discovered he could fully divert a thread of mind to think during cultivation; this undoubtedly greatly enhanced his comprehension ability.

This is the case now. Although it's only the first day of study, he has absorbed a large amount of knowledge; he needs sufficient time to correlate it with what he already learned, thereby improving his understanding and recognition of the most advanced soul-tool knowledge.

In the blink of an eye, three days have passed. Over these three days, Huo Yuhao received meticulous theoretical guidance from Xuanziwen; although he hasn't attempted to craft a soul tool, these three days have given him a completely new understanding of soul-tool knowledge. However, since the first day he hasn't seen that Juzi senior again; she seems to have vanished into thin air.

The fourth day—

"Anything?" Chen Qiye said indifferently, looking at the four people blocking the door.

"Who let you into our lab?" the petite girl named Keke said aggressively, pointing at Chen Qiye. Tsk, I knew Huo Yuhao's sudden bathroom break meant no good.

As she spoke, she had already walked over to Chen Qiye, hands on hips, indeed showing some imposing momentum.

Chen Qiye said coldly: "Then how should I address you?"

"Uh..." the petite girl staggered, her momentum deflating, "Never mind that—who let you into our lab?"

Chen Qiye leisurely crossed his legs and said lightly: "Who allowed it? Don't you have a sense of it in your heart?" "You!" Keke's expression froze.

"Keke, stop wasting words with this little bastard. What do you think you are?" the tall youth walking in front said with a look of contempt.

"Compared to you, I can at least be considered human." Qin Wangyu glanced at the tall youth without leaving a trace and said lightly: "And what are you?"

Trying to give me a show of force? Nice try.

The tall youth said: "What a sharp-tongued little brat; if I don't give you a lesson today, you really think we're vegetarians?" As he spoke, two yellow, three purple, and five black soul rings rose from under his feet.

Chen Qiye glanced at him lightly, and six blood-red soul rings appeared.

What!?

Chen Qiye's pupils instantly turned red, and a white halo spread from his body; moreover, the air in the entire laboratory seemed to become completely distorted, so that when the four Juzi looked at him, they felt everything around them was no longer clear.

Although the four Juzi have not yet joined Mingde Hall, as fourth-year students of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy they can be considered the academy's absolute elite. Huo Yuhao attacked them—how could they just sit and wait for death? Juzi's reaction was the fastest: countless oranges shot simultaneously at Chen Qiye's somewhat distorted figure, while the handsome youth beside her raised both hands, tossing out six dark-gold hexagonal small boxes; a dark-gold light shield protected all four of them, and this happened before the white halo released by Huo Yuhao even reached them.

The four also simultaneously released their martial souls; powerful soul tools also need sufficient soul power to be driven to exert maximum effect. The petite girl's shoulder suddenly bore a gigantic cannon barrel wildly disproportionate to her frame, larger than the thunder cannon used by He Caitou earlier, and apparently heavy; meanwhile the tall youth suddenly produced over fifty soul cannons of various styles. Though not a soul cannon turret, the speed of deployment and the number of cannons are already comparable to what a typical soul cannon turret tactic can achieve.

Unfortunately, they were facing Chen Qiye. When that white halo contacted the dark-gold light shield, it passed through as if encountering no obstacle, then easily landed on the four Juzi.

The four's eyes instantly turned white at the same moment; a strong sense of weakness spread through their bodies, their intended actions nearly lagged by a beat, feelings of dizziness, leg weakness, and powerlessness made them stagger, especially the petite girl holding the giant cannon, who nearly couldn't stand.

An ice lotus bloomed on the handsome youth's chest; Chen Qiye's aura stalled, then rose, his cold red eyes seeming to gradually melt into blazing red flames.

In the eyes of Juzi and the others, Chen Qiye at that moment seemed like a long-reigning king; his every gesture exuded majesty, and a terrifying aura like that of a ruler sweeping the world engulfed the entire laboratory.

The four's faces turned deathly pale in an instant, their expressions dazed.

"Ruler of the World" is a domain-like self-created ability Chen Qiye learned when studying under Mu Lao.

Chen Qiye stepped forward and choked the girl's neck; all these changes happened too fast—from his attack to gripping the petite girl's neck took only two breaths.

The petite girl's strength was surprisingly great; even with Chen Qiye pinching her neck she could still resist by twisting, simultaneously striking out with both palms turned outward, and her right foot snapped up, her heel viciously kicking at Chen Qiye's vital spot.

Unfortunately, it was all in vain; her soul-tool shield indeed blocked the bombardment from the tall youth opposite, but that was all—she felt a chill at her neck and instantly went limp, collapsing in full-body paralysis.

With a muffled groan, the tall youth suddenly collapsed, bleeding from his seven orifices, eyes rolling back, and passed out directly.

"Eh? What, what happened?" the late-arriving Huo Yuhan looked at the lab littered with debris, stunned.

At this moment Xuanziwen also arrived, blocking in front of the pallid Juzi; his heart was also filled with shock—he originally would have needed at least a quarter hour to reach the lab, but the sudden alarm startled him, and since he had a receiving device for the access-control soul tool on his person, learning that the incident was in his own lab, this shock was naturally no small matter, and he rushed over immediately.

Seeing the three people fallen on the ground, Xuan Ziwen was also greatly surprised in his heart.

Including Juzi, these four students, after entering sixth grade, were all personally trained by him, so he naturally knew their abilities well: four Soul King-level five-ring Soul Engineers, the elite among elites; under Chen Qiye, three had already fallen, and he had no doubt that if he had arrived half a step later, Juzi would likely have met the same fate.

This child, at such a young age, is surprisingly formidable—no wonder, no wonder.

After first seeing Chen Qiye, Xuan Ziwen went back and looked up information about him, especially regarding the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament.

The records clearly described Huo Yuhao's performance in several important matches, and noted that he must have received guidance from Dragon God Douluo Mu En; among the younger generation of Shrek Academy, he is absolutely outstanding, and will surely be a participant in the next Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament.

After reading the records, Xuan Ziwen's first impression was some skepticism, because he clearly saw that, although the records said Chen Qiye had only one martial soul, they also said that during the competition his soul power cultivation reached over 50 ranks, and he even possessed five 100,000-year soul rings.

(End of chapter)