After breakfast, Gu Yuena took the map and departed immediately.
Huo Yuhao, in turn, pulled out the trident and used the Sea God Divine Position within it to remotely monitor Tang San, who was far away in Star Lou City.
Simultaneously, Huo Yuhao pondered how to arrange the divine trials for Tang San to logically turn him into a little white mouse—an experimental subject for the unstable products resulting from his research.
"Hmm? Star Lou City?"
Huo Yuhao's eyes lit up as an interesting idea suddenly took root.
...
Star Lou City.
Inside a sweltering blacksmith shop, four or five blacksmiths were swinging their arms, working overtime to rush the production of special metals.
For unknown reasons, every blacksmith shop in Star Lou City had been requisitioned by the officials half a month ago. Since then, they had been churning out various special alloys according to specific blueprints.
Normally, the blacksmiths would at most work regular shifts, ensuring they delivered the goods before the deadline.
However, this time the Star Lou officials seemed to take the matter very seriously, giving the higher-ups no chance to skim off the profits. Consequently, the price offered to the blacksmith shops was excellent, and with a unified "pay-per-piece" system, everyone was highly motivated.
Yet, among them, one small figure seemed strangely out of place.
—Tang San.
Just yesterday, he had brought Xiao Wu to this shop to ask for a job. Initially, some people mocked him, but Tang San disdained explanation. He directly performed the Disorderly Splitting Wind Hammer Method, proving his strength!
The fourth maxim of the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record: Never try to "play the pig to eat the tiger," or you might actually turn into a pig!
To earn money as quickly as possible for his soul power awakening, Tang San had to appropriately demonstrate his ability. However, even though he displayed forging skills no weaker than those of the adults, the shop owner used his age as an excuse to pay him only half the wages of the others!
Truly, he has a way to seek his own death!
As the forging hammer danced in his hands, a flicker of dissatisfaction flashed in Tang San's dark eyes.
Though the Disorderly Splitting Wind Hammer Method was etched into his soul, his body was still far too weak, reaching its limit at only the ninth strike.
Clang!
The final strike landed, and the alloy was successfully forged. Tang San let out a sharp sigh of relief, quickly set down the hammer, leaned back, and began to rest.
Xiao Wu hurried over, first handing him water and then carefully wiping the sweat from Tang San's forehead with a towel.
Tang San looked at Xiao Wu warmly, then slowly closed his eyes to circulate the Mysterious Heaven Skill to regulate his breathing and rapidly recover his physical strength. Afterward, Tang San sank his consciousness into his Sea of Consciousness.
He saw that behind the first trial of the Sea God Nine Trials, the fragmented and blurry text seemed to have become a bit clearer!
This discovery made Tang San exceptionally excited.
Although the location of the Sea God Trident was unknown, it seemed that because he bore the divine trials, the Divine Position within the trident—just as it did ten thousand years ago on Sea God Island—had begun to automatically assign him divine trial missions!
Currently, it seemed that because he was too weak, the trial contents could not fully manifest...
Tang San looked at the slightly cleared trial content and calculated that once he awakened his martial soul, the content of the first trial would likely be fully revealed!
Tang San opened his eyes, glanced at the alloy ingot he had just finished forging, and then at the others still working. A plan gradually formed in his mind.
If I want to start the trials early, I must awaken my martial soul early. If I want to awaken early, I must earn enough money for the awakening even faster...
With a "clatter," a middle-aged man in his thirties or forties nearby set aside a freshly forged alloy ingot. He let out a deep sigh of relief and stood to the side to rest briefly.
Tang San's eyes flickered; the plan was set.
...
At the Sun Moon Royal Soul Tool Engineer Academy, Huo Yuhao withdrew his gaze from Tang San.
To be honest, Huo Yuhao hadn't expected that a simple glance at Tang San would yield such a harvest.
—The Mysterious Heaven Skill. The full, complete version.
The Mysterious Heaven Skill that Huo Yuhao cultivated in his previous life was obtained from Tang Ya, and later he obtained a more refined version within the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.
He thought that was already the limit. Who knew there was an even higher level?!
The Mysterious Heaven Skill he got from the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well was actually a redacted version?!
Huo Yuhao was speechless, momentarily unsure how to even complain.
Through the link between the Divine Position and the trials, it was easy for Huo Yuhao to see the flow of energy through the meridians when Tang San circulated the Mysterious Heaven Skill just now.
He only needed to observe Tang San's circulation a few more times to get his hands on the complete version.
Of course, the reason Huo Yuhao valued this version so much was that it seemed that practicing the complete Mysterious Heaven Skill before the martial soul awakening could actually increase one's innate soul power.
Huo Yuhao had seen it with his own eyes: as Tang San circulated the skill, the soul power in his body actually showed a slight increase...
Though it was miniscule—roughly equivalent to innate soul power growing from 0.001 to 0.002—it was still soul power!
With soul power, one could cultivate. With cultivation, one had the chance to become a Soul Master.
This was a path even more enticing than using a soul power storage core to become a soul tool engineer.
After all, on the Douluo Continent, no one could resist the temptation of becoming a Soul Master.
"Mmh, a new research project..."
Since the complete Mysterious Heaven Skill could grant innate soul power to ordinary people who were born without it, giving them the possibility of becoming Soul Masters, then spreading the Mysterious Heaven Skill was a necessity.
Huo Yuhao had no intention of hoarding the technique. It held little personal significance to him, but it was of monumental importance to the entire Douluo World.
He was just one person, yet what he intended to do was far more complex than simply killing Tang San or freeing the world from his control.
Since the World Will was willing to use ten thousand years of accumulated destiny to build a barrier and deliver the Sea God Trident to him through Gu Yuena...
Then he couldn't treat this world poorly. In this new life, Huo Yuhao practiced the philosophy of "returning a drop of water with a bursting spring." What he owed from before, he would surely find a way to repay in this lifetime.
The Mysterious Heaven Skill must be spread, but similarly, how to spread it, what would happen after, how to control the situation, and what consequences might be triggered—all these things needed consideration.
Huo Yuhao thought for a moment but ultimately chose to postpone this project for now.
He couldn't help it; the "artificial soul ring" project wasn't yet fully mature. Under the conditions of being "stable" and "mass-producible," he still had to ensure the skills carried by the soul rings had "differentiation."
The first two were manageable: he could create an energy-focusing device to produce "blank" energy soul rings. A Soul Master would only need to absorb them to stabilize the soul ring state and break through their limits.
However, "differentiation"... Huo Yuhao truly hadn't found a lead.
Was he supposed to make them like god-bestowed soul rings, where skills condensed naturally based on the Soul Master's martial soul characteristics? If so, Huo Yuhao's workload would grow exponentially.
Wait...
Huo Yuhao froze, glancing at the Sea God Trident in his hand.
Injected with soul power, the surface of the Sea God Trident emitted a faint azure light, revealing an aura as vast as the ocean. It was incredibly divine.
But Huo Yuhao's focus wasn't there. His gaze pierced through the trident to the complete Sea God Divine Position inside, and the idea in his mind instantly became whole.
Hiss—it seems... I have a Divine Position in my hands.