The rhythm of life in the Star Dou Great Forest was primal and profound. For Huo Yuhao, it had become a strange but comforting metronome for his existence. Dawn brought the spiritual nourishment of the Purple Demon Eyes.
The day was filled with Bi Ji's patient tutelage and the quiet, steady circulation of the Mysterious Heaven Technique. The nights were for rest, reflection, and conversations with the companions residing in his soul.
It was during one such quiet night, while reviewing the vast library of knowledge within the book Elder Huo had left him, that a new, insistent desire took root. He had been a recipient of kindness, of protection, of nurturing. He had been given a home. It was time, he decided, to give something back. It was time to fulfill the other half of his promise.
It was time to build.
The next morning, after his cultivation, he approached the gathering of Ferocious Beasts. Di Tian was observing the mists over the Lake of Life, Bi Ji was tending to a patch of glowing spirit herbs, and Xiong Jun was, as usual, scowling at a particularly large rock as if contemplating whether to punch it.
Huo Yuhao, clutching the Life Guardian Blade for courage, bowed respectfully. "Lord Di Tian, Aunt Bi Ji."
Di Tian turned his regal gaze upon him. "You have a request, child?"
"Yes," Huo Yuhao said, his voice a little shy but firm. "I wish to begin my work on Soul Tools. I have practiced the theories from… the knowledge I was given. I believe I am ready to begin practical application. I will need some raw metals to work with."
Xiong Jun let out a derisive snort. "Finally getting to the human trinkets, are we? Don't waste our time, brat. If you can't forge a claw that can split a mountain, then don't bother."
"Xiong Jun," Bi Ji's voice was a gentle chiding. "Patience. A great tree begins as a single sprout. What do you need, Yuhao?"
"For practice, some simple iron ore would be best," Huo Yuhao explained. "But for the project I have in mind… I will need two specific metals mentioned in the book. Blue Cloud Steel, for its ability to retain energy, and a small amount of Crystal Copper, for its properties in amplifying soul power."
Di Tian considered this for a moment. The boy had shown remarkable progress in his cultivation and control. His potential was undeniable. It was time to see if his other promised skills were as potent. "Very well. The veins of metal run deep beneath this forest. It is a simple matter to acquire them." He gave a curt nod to a subordinate beast lurking in the shadows, who vanished instantly to fulfill the command.
Within the hour, several large chunks of raw ore were placed before Huo Yuhao. One was a dull, reddish-brown iron ore, another a beautiful, cloudy-blue metal, and the last was a small, crystalline piece that shimmered with an inner light.
Huo Yuhao stared at the raw materials, a new problem dawning on him. "I… I will also need a forge. And a hammer."
The beasts looked at him, then at each other, confused.
It was the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, the Auspicious Beast, who had been listening with keen interest, who padded forward.
"A forge," she said, her voice a melodious chime that was both youthful and wise. "In your memories, I saw a place where humans use great fire to shape metal. I have fire."
To demonstrate, she opened her mouth and breathed out a tiny, perfectly controlled jet of brilliant, golden flame. It danced in the air, no bigger than a candle flame, yet it radiated an intensity that made the air around it warp. It was the flame of the Ultimate Fire, one of her innate attributes as the Emperor Auspicious Beast.
Huo Yuhao's eyes lit up with joyous relief. "That's perfect! Can you… can you control its heat?"
"I can," she said, a hint of pride in her voice. The flame intensified, turning a blinding white-gold, then subsided back to a gentle flicker. "Just tell me what you need."
"This is wonderful!" Huo Yuhao exclaimed. "With your fire, we can make a forge anywhere! As for the hammer… I will forge that first."
And so, an unlikely partnership was born. The small human boy, inheritor of a god's legacy, and the Emperor Auspicious Beast, the very embodiment of the Soul Beasts' destiny, became a smithing team at the heart of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Huo Yuhao selected a flat, massive granite rock as his anvil. He placed the chunk of iron ore upon it.
"Okay," he instructed, his nervousness replaced by a focused intensity. "I need the fire hot enough to make the metal glow a bright cherry-red, but not so hot that it melts into a puddle. It needs to be soft enough to shape."
The Auspicious Beast nodded, concentrating. A steady stream of golden flame enveloped the iron ore. It was a masterful display of control. The flame licked and caressed the metal, never wavering, its temperature holding at the precise point Huo Yuhao had requested. The ore quickly began to glow with intense heat.
Huo Yuhao picked up a heavy, dense rock to use as a makeshift hammer. Now came the true test. He activated his Spirit Eyes.
In his normal vision, the glowing iron was just a hot lump. But in the vision of his Spirit Eyes, it was a matrix of energy. He could see its internal structure, the dense, uniform iron interwoven with darker, duller spots—impurities. The book had described this phenomenon, a secret known only to the highest level of blacksmiths in his future self's time: the ability to spiritually perceive the flaws within metal.
'This is it,' he thought, his heart pounding with excitement.
He lifted the rock and brought it down on the glowing ore. CLANG!
The sound was jarringly loud in the quiet clearing. His first blow was clumsy, sending sparks flying. But he didn't falter. He struck again, and again, his focus absolute. He wasn't just randomly beating the metal; he was targeting the impurities his Spirit Eyes revealed. With each powerful blow, he could see the dark spots being squeezed out, forced from the structure of the iron.
The Auspicious Beast watched, fascinated. To her, it looked like a small boy hitting a rock with another rock. But she could feel the subtle shifts in the metal's aura with each strike. She saw his complete, unwavering concentration, the violet glint in his eyes, and understood that something far more profound than simple smithing was taking place.
It was a slow, laborious process. Huo Yuhao's arms ached, and sweat poured down his face, but he didn't stop.
The Mysterious Heaven Technique circulated within him, granting him stamina far beyond that of a normal boy his age.
After what felt like hours of rhythmic hammering, he had folded the iron upon itself dozens of times, purifying it to a degree that would make a master blacksmith weep with envy.
Finally, he began to shape it, forming a heavy, square head and a thick handle. He instructed the Auspicious Beast to douse the fire, and he plunged the glowing hammerhead into a trough of cool water Bi Ji had brought.
A great hiss of steam erupted, and when it cleared, a crude but perfectly balanced and incredibly dense forging hammer lay on the anvil. His first creation.
He held it up, a triumphant grin on his face. It was heavy, solid, real.
Skydream's voice cheered in his mind. 'Not bad, kid! Not bad at all! You made a thing! Now make a weapon so we can go beat someone up!'
Over the next few days, Huo Yuhao fell into a new obsession. He practiced. He took the remaining iron and forged simple shapes—rods, plates, spheres.
He learned the feel of the metal, the rhythm of the hammer, the precise heat needed for each task. The Auspicious Beast was his constant companion, her curiosity growing with each passing day. She found the process of creation, of taking raw earth and fire and turning it into something new and useful, to be utterly captivating.
Once he was confident in his forging, he moved on to engraving. He took a flat iron plate he had forged and held the Life Guardian Blade.
The moment he gripped its hilt, he felt a connection, a flow of energy between his soul and the blade. It felt less like a tool and more like an extension of his own finger.
He chose the simplest design from the book: a Class 1 Soul Power Thruster array. He took a deep breath, channeled his spiritual power, and touched the blade to the metal.
There was no resistance. The Life Guardian Blade forged from Life Gold, cut into the iron as if it were soft clay. Guided by the perfect stereoscopic vision of his Spirit Eyes, he carved the intricate lines of the formation array. His hand was steady, his control absolute. The lines were impossibly smooth, flawless in their execution.
When the last line was carved, he injected a tiny wisp of his Soul Power into the array.
The lines lit up with a faint white glow. A gentle pulse of force emanated from the plate, pushing a few loose leaves away. It was weak, almost pathetic in its power, but it worked.
He had done it. He was officially a Class 1 Soul Engineer.
The Ferocious Beasts, who had been watching from a distance, stirred.
"Hmph. It made a puff of wind," Xiong Jun grumbled, though his tone lacked its usual bite.
"The principle is sound," Zi Ji observed, her analytical gaze dissecting the glowing array. "To store and release power through a metallic medium… interesting."
Di Tian remained silent, but a flicker of approval showed in his eyes. The seed was sprouting.
Now, Huo Yuhao was ready for his real project.
He sat with the Auspicious Beast, a large, smooth leaf and a piece of charcoal between them.
"I want to make a gift for Aunt Bi Ji," he explained, his voice filled with a quiet determination. "She is a healer. Her power is life energy itself. I cannot make anything to make her stronger at healing. But I can make something to help her share her healing."
His mind was buzzing, combining different concepts he'd read in the book. There were storage-type soul tools designed to hold Soul Power like a battery. There were activation-type tools that released their power when triggered.
'What if I combine them?' he thought excitedly. 'A tool that can store Aunt Bi Ji's unique healing energy, and then release it on command. A single-use emergency item for other Soul Beasts.'
He began to sketch on the leaf, his small hand moving with a newfound confidence. "Look. We'll make a pendant, in a teardrop shape, like a drop of emerald water. The main body will be Blue Cloud Steel, to hold the energy without it dissipating. And inside, we'll place a tiny, hollow core of Crystal Copper. The copper will act as an amplifier and a capacitor, allowing Aunt Bi Ji to charge it quickly and making the released healing pulse more potent."
The Auspicious Beast looked at his drawing, her golden eyes wide with fascination. "You are not just copying from your knowledge. you are creating something new."
"I'm just combining ideas," Huo Yuhao said modestly, though a thrill of creative pride ran through him. "The activation array will be on the surface. When a beast is injured, he can press it, and it will release the stored healing energy."
He called it the "Emerald Droplet Pendant." It was an ambitious first project, a custom design that pushed the boundaries of what a Class 1 Soul Tool could be.
The crafting process was an act of supreme focus. He began with the Blue Cloud Steel. Under the golden flames of the Auspicious Beast, the metal softened, and he hammered it with a rhythmic clang, his Spirit Eyes finding and eliminating every microscopic flaw.
He carefully shaped it into the elegant, smooth teardrop form he had designed, leaving a hollow space within. He then took the tiny piece of Crystal Copper and painstakingly forged it into a small, hollow sphere that would fit perfectly inside.
Assembly was the most delicate part. With the precision of a surgeon, he placed the copper core within the steel teardrop and then carefully hammered the opening shut, sealing it seamlessly. The pendant was now a single, beautiful piece of metalwork.
Finally, the engraving. This was the soul of the tool.
Huo Yuhao held the pendant steady and took a deep, calming breath. He called upon the full power of his Spiritual Detection. He could see the molecular structure of the steel and copper, the latent energy pathways within. With the Life Guardian Blade in hand, he began to carve.
The custom array was more complex than the simple thruster he had practiced on. It was a fusion of two different circuits—one for absorbing and storing soul energy, and another for releasing it on a triggered command.
The lines were incredibly fine, weaving across the surface of the pendant in a pattern that was both geometrically precise and artistically beautiful. His hand never wavered. The blade moved with an intelligence of its own, guided by his powerful spirit and the blade's own life essence.
The Auspicious Beast watched, holding her breath. She could feel the ambient soul power in the air being drawn towards the pendant as the array neared completion.
With a final, delicate flourish, the last line was carved.
Huo Yuhao sat back, beads of sweat on his forehead. The pendant lay on the anvil, inert but perfect. He reached out and channeled a small amount of his own Soul Power into it.
The array flashed to life. The intricate lines glowed with a soft, ethereal blue light, confirming the circuits were complete and functional. It was ready.
He picked it up and walked over to where Bi Ji was watching, a proud, maternal smile on her face.
"Aunt Bi Ji," he said, his voice filled with emotion as he held out his creation. "This is for you. For everything you've done for me."
Bi Ji's eyes misted over as she took the small, cool pendant. She listened as Huo Yuhao shyly explained its function. Touched beyond words, she simply held the pendant in her palm and channeled a stream of her gentle, vibrant healing power into it.
The effect was instantaneous. The Crystal Copper core lit up from within, and the entire pendant began to glow with a brilliant, emerald green light, pulsing like a tiny, living heart. The drop of healing energy was stored, potent and ready.
Just as they were marveling at the creation, a frantic chittering sound came from the edge of the forest.
One of Di Tian's subordinates appeared, its form flickering with anxiety. It reported that a hunting party of human Soul Masters had strayed too close to the Mixed Region's border and had gravely injured a Thousand-Year Horned Rhino before being driven off. The rhino was bleeding out, its life fading fast.
Di Tian's eyes narrowed. "A perfect opportunity to test your creation, boy."
They moved as one, arriving at the scene in moments. The sight was grim. A massive rhino lay on its side, its thick hide pierced by several deep wounds, likely from armor-piercing soul arrows. A dark pool of blood was spreading on the forest floor, and its breathing was shallow and ragged. It wouldn't last much longer.
Bi Ji could have healed it herself, but she understood the importance of this moment. She looked at the most skeptical member of their group.
"Xiong Jun," she said, handing him the glowing pendant. "You do it."
The hulking Bear Lord looked at the tiny pendant in his massive hand, then at the dying rhino. He still seemed doubtful, but he lumbered over to the beast. He located the most grievous wound, a deep puncture near the rhino's heart. Following Huo Yuhao's instructions, he pressed the smooth surface of the pendant against the wound.
For a second, nothing happened. Then, the activation trigger was met.
The Emerald Droplet Pendant erupted in a blinding flash of pure, emerald light. The stored healing energy, amplified by the Crystal Copper core, surged out in a concentrated wave. It enveloped the wound, and the effect was immediate and miraculous.
The torrential bleeding stopped instantly. The torn flesh and muscle began to visibly knit themselves back together. The ragged edges of the wound pulled closed, sealing with astonishing speed. While the rhino was not completely healed, the fatal wound was stabilized. Its breathing evened out, and the light of life returned to its dulling eyes. The pendant's glow faded, its task complete.
The clearing fell into a stunned silence, broken only by the rhino's now-steady breathing.
Xiong Jun stared, his jaw agape. He looked from the pendant, now just a simple piece of metal again, to his own hand, then to the small boy standing beside Bi Ji. All his skepticism, all his disdain, was vaporized in that single, brilliant flash of green light.
Chi Yan's fiery eyes were wide with disbelief. Zi Ji's mask of cold indifference was completely shattered, replaced by an expression of pure, unadulterated amazement.
And Di Tian, the mighty ruler of the Star Dou Great Forest, allowed a slow, genuine smile to spread across his face. It was a smile of profound satisfaction.
Huo Yuhao had not just built a trinket. He had forged a miracle. He had proven, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that his knowledge was not just a promise of future power, but a tangible, life-saving reality in the here and now.