The original Holy Spirit Cult had plenty of high-level combat power, but when it came to wealth, they were actually quite poor—most other factions were far richer than them.
However, everything changed after they seized control of the Dou Ling Empire.
All the treasures hoarded by the royal family and the accumulated wealth of the empire's nobles were completely swept clean by the Holy Spirit Cult.
More importantly, the cult showed zero restraint in spending that fortune. As long as they could purchase powerful soul tools from the Sun Moon Empire, they threw around rare metals and gold soul coins without hesitation.
This kind of reckless spending forced the Star Luo Empire and the Heavenly Soul Empire to grit their teeth and follow suit.
Even though both empires knew perfectly well that the Sun Moon Empire's willingness to trade was definitely not out of goodwill, they had no choice. If they didn't want their top powerhouses being slaughtered by the Holy Spirit Cult's evil soul masters wielding advanced soul tools, they had to equip their own elites with similar weapons.
After all, the enshrined experts of Star Luo and Heavenly Soul weren't idiots. If their safety couldn't be guaranteed, and they weren't given sufficient benefits, why would they risk their lives for the empires?
To properly arm their warriors with soul tools, both Star Luo and Heavenly Soul bled themselves dry.
Still, the soul tools they bought from the Sun Moon Empire did not disappoint—each one lived up to its description in power and performance, even surpassing expectations.
But this situation—where three of the four major powers were purchasing Sun Moon Empire's soul tools—spelled disaster for Shrek Academy.
The soul tools produced by Shrek's own Soul Tool Department couldn't compare at all. In terms of power or durability, they were leagues behind. Especially crucial items like Invincible Shields—the Sun Moon Empire's quality utterly crushed Shrek's.
As a result, Shrek Academy's casualties in the ongoing war skyrocketed. Those above the Soul Sect level were hit particularly hard, suffering heavy losses in every battle.
Of course, this rising death toll finally woke up those stubborn old fossils in Shrek who clung to the so-called "soul master traditions" and their past glory. They were forced to admit the importance of soul tools.
To reduce student deaths, even Shrek Academy had no choice but to join the others in purchasing Sun Moon Empire's soul tools.
Like Star Luo and Heavenly Soul, they not only distributed them to frontline fighters but also kept some for research within the Soul Tool Department.
After studying them carefully, they reached a chilling conclusion—
Every single soul tool was identical. From core to outer design, not even the slightest difference existed.
You had to understand—even when the same soul engineer crafts two soul tools, slight differences are inevitable due to variations in technique. The power might be similar, but the outer structure will always have small discrepancies.
Yet this enormous batch of soul tools was completely uniform. Did this mean…the Sun Moon Empire had mastered mass production of soul tools?
That terrifying thought left everyone in Shrek's Soul Tool Department in despair.
They'd been huffing and puffing, struggling to catch up to the Sun Moon Empire's technology—only to realize the other side had already left them miles behind, out of sight.
Even Mu En, after hearing the news, fell silent for a long time, looking as though he had suddenly aged many more years.
The gap between them and the Sun Moon Empire was growing wider by the day. Meanwhile, those "wise" people of the Sea God Pavilion had dragged Shrek into the quagmire of war against the Holy Spirit Cult. The future of Shrek looked darker than ever.
"Hey, Yuhao… can't you let me try wearing your Doukai (Battle Armor) just once?"
Xiao Hongchen practically drooled as he gazed at Huo Yuhao, eyes full of envy. The blue-and-white Doukai Huo Yuhao was wearing was the very armor of Xiao Hongchen's dreams.
Ever since learning how much a Doukai could enhance a soul master's abilities, Xiao Hongchen had been dying to know what it felt like to wear one.
However, Huo Yuhao could only spread his hands helplessly and reply,
"No can do. This is my exclusive Doukai. Even if you put it on, it wouldn't work for you."
Hearing that, Xiao Hongchen visibly wilted, but the hunger in his eyes didn't fade at all.
For any soul engineer, such a Doukai was the ultimate dream.
Off to the side, Xu Tiannan couldn't resist teasing him.
"Come on, Xiao—didn't Yuhao already teach you how to make a Doukai? With your skill level, crafting one that's exclusive to you shouldn't be that difficult, right?"
Ji Juechen nodded in agreement, though his gaze remained fixed on the armor adorning Huo Yuhao.
Though Ji Juechen was a sword fanatic who cared for nothing but the blade, even he couldn't deny that if given a chance to obtain a set of Doukai, he would never turn it down.
He also understood that while he himself knew next to nothing about soul tools, Huo Yuhao and Xiao Hongchen—his best friends aside from Jing Ziyan—would surely help design and build one for him.
Ever since that fateful encounter in the Douhun Arena, Ji Juechen had become close friends with the three of them. Upon hearing that Huo Yuhao had emerged from the lab and successfully developed a functional Doukai, the trio immediately dropped everything—even Xu Tiannan's planned duel—to come and see it for themselves.
It was worth noting that, though Ji Juechen still couldn't beat Xiao Hongchen consistently, their fights now often ended in draws, which gave him confidence to challenge Xu Tiannan next.
Hearing Xu Tiannan's roundabout encouragement, Xiao Hongchen sighed helplessly.
"Even if I can make one, with my current skill and power, I could only forge a One-Word Doukai. But Yuhao's armor—that's a Two-Word Doukai! "
Once, Xiao Hongchen had considered himself the greatest genius in history—but standing next to Huo Yuhao, he felt completely crushed.
Not only was Huo Yuhao stronger as a soul master, but his talent as a soul engineer was downright monstrous.
Xiao Hongchen still couldn't figure out how Huo Yuhao had even come up with the concept of the Doukai, let alone successfully created it.
Even the classification system—One-Word Doukai, Two-Word, Three-Word, and even Four-Word—had all been established by Huo Yuhao himself.
He didn't yet have the strength to build higher-grade Doukai, yet he had already designed the entire framework. That was what made him truly terrifying.
As for Huo Yuhao, he brushed off the question casually.
After all, when it came to developing the Doukai, Gu Yuena had given him tremendous help.
As expected of a god-level being—even though she'd never dealt with soul tools before, her terrifying learning ability meant that becoming the strongest soul engineer on the entire Douluo Continent was only a matter of time.
Several months ago, Gu Yuena had already reached the level of a Rank-9 Soul Engineer.
In fact, the very Doukai Huo Yuhao was wearing had been designed by Gu Yuena herself, later refined and completed by the two of them together.
The only issue was—despite being a Two-Word Doukai, Huo Yuhao still hadn't decided on a name for it.
A wrong name could cause an uproar, and just thinking about that made his head ache.
...
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