Ma Rulong's expression instantly darkened.
Moments ago, he had been so captivated by Huo Yuer's beauty that he momentarily forgot the professional discipline of a soul engineer. But now, having snapped out of his trance, he realized that Huo Yuer, clad in her soul-guided armor, was no longer the same opponent she had been before. Not only had her physical presence grown, but her cultivation level had become completely inscrutable to him.
The only possible explanation was that her power far surpassed his own.
The word "Soul Sage" flashed through Ma Rulong's mind, but he quickly dismissed it—it was beyond his comprehension.
However, Huo Yuer had no intention of giving him time to think. Her earlier warning and restraint—announcing her intent to fight instead of attacking outright—was already the greatest concession she could offer.
Huo Yuer stepped forward and swung her sword with a simple motion.
Though the movement was straightforward, backed by Soul Sage-level cultivation, its power was astonishing.
By the time Ma Rulong realized the sword qi was approaching, it was too late.
Wherever the sword qi passed, deep frost spread, and ice shards began to form.
As for Ma Rulong, who was directly struck by the sword qi, his condition was dire. From his right shoulder to his left abdomen, his thick armor had been cleanly cleaved open.
Yet, instead of blood splattering, the wound froze instantly, forming crimson-tinted ice shards.
Ma Rulong's face was filled with disbelief, but at this point, even moving was a luxury he could no longer afford.
If these ice shards were ordinary ice, moving might cause his wound to worsen or reopen, leading to severe injuries. But these were shards of extreme cold ice.
With his expertise as a soul engineer, Ma Rulong was deeply shaken. He felt no coldness, which meant Huo Yuer had contained the extreme cold within the ice shards. If the balance between his body and the ice shards were disrupted, he would instantly freeze into an ice sculpture—a fate from which not even divine intervention could save him.
Moreover, Ma Rulong knew that even if these were just ordinary ice shards, their presence alone spelled his defeat.
After all, yesterday's news about Tianxing Academy purchasing an Extreme Ice soul bone with an Ice Explosion soul skill had caused quite a stir.
Already weak in defense and now gravely wounded, Ma Rulong would be utterly doomed if Huo Yuer activated that soul bone skill.
In truth, Huo Yuer had shown remarkable restraint.
After all, this was a battlefield where killing was allowed.
With her strength, no one in this era would have questioned such an outcome.
Overwhelmed by frustration and despair, Ma Rulong nonetheless shouted loudly:
"I yield!"
Seeing Ma Rulong concede so wisely, Huo Yuer had no intention of tormenting him further. She immediately dispelled the extreme cold ice on his body, allowing him to retreat while severely injured.
Though Huo Yuer's beauty had left the audience drooling and mesmerized, Ma Rulong's sudden surrender after being struck just once left many spectators baffled.
But as the saying goes, experts see the essence while amateurs see the spectacle.
The high-level soul masters of the old Douluo Continent recognized that Huo Yuer now possessed soul power equivalent to a Soul Sage—this was the reason she could so thoroughly dominate Ma Rulong.
Meanwhile, the advanced soul engineers of the Sun Moon Empire were captivated by the soul-guided armor adorning Huo Yuer's body.
To them, the elegant curves and the soul tool fluctuations emanating from it were far more fascinating than her breathtaking beauty.
Jing Hongchen, the strongest soul engineer present, immediately noticed the extraordinary nature of Huo Yuer's armor.
"What a magnificent soul tool! If our Sun Moon Empire possessed this technology, why bother researching humanoid soul tools to enhance combat power? Just outfit low-level soul masters with this armor, and everyone could become a Soul Sage! And who knows—if this girl can manifest her True Body martial soul, it would be even more terrifying!"
At this moment, Jing Hongchen had completely abandoned any thoughts of arranging the next challenger. A humiliating loss was still a loss, but in front of a true technician, honor was nothing but a fleeting illusion.
Now, Jing Hongchen's sole focus was studying the soul-guided armor worn by Huo Yuer.
But without the ability to examine it firsthand, even a Level 9 soul engineer like Jing Hongchen couldn't discern the essence of Huo Yuer's armor.
This realization led him to notice another anomaly.
"Hmm!? What kind of metal is this soul-guided armor made of? Even with my vast knowledge of metals across the continent, I can't identify this material. This… this shouldn't be possible!"
Doubt, disbelief, reexamination, confirmation—!!!?
Though modern soul engineers often added colors to their soul tools for aesthetic purposes, true high-grade soul tools generally retained their natural metallic luster, which soul engineers considered the most beautiful.
After ruling out the possibility that Huo Yuer's armor was simply colored metal, Jing Hongchen finally confirmed that the armor was crafted from a type of metal completely unknown to him. This revelation shocked him profoundly, even leaving him slightly panicked.
After all, Jing Hongchen had already resolved in his heart to acquire the technology behind Huo Yuer's soul-guided armor. Without it, the Sun Moon Empire's future invasion of the Douluo Continent would face immense difficulties.
Imagine this: even if the Sun Moon Empire possessed billions of soul-guided projectiles, if the opposing side consisted entirely of Soul Sage-level experts, how could they possibly win?
Initially, Jing Hongchen wasn't worried. After all, Huo Yuer was right there in front of him. With enough effort and the backing of dozens of Level 9 soul engineers, they would surely crack the secrets of this armor one day.
But if this technology required a specific type of soul-guided metal, then things became far more complicated.
It would mean that even if the Sun Moon Empire managed to replicate the technology, without access to the corresponding rare metals, it would remain nothing more than an unattainable dream.
One could only say that Douluo Star's metallurgy technology had been held back by its own environment. Due to the exceptionally high purity of naturally occurring metal ores, they could be used directly with minimal processing.
As a result, over ten thousand years had passed with little progress in metallurgy—no alloys had even been developed yet. It would take another ten thousand years before alloying techniques emerged.
And one of the alloying techniques used to craft Huo Yuer's soul-guided armor had been introduced by Ye Wen.
The more he thought about it, the more Jing Hongchen began to recall the process by which Huo Yuer demonstrated the power of her armor. Suddenly, he realized something even more chilling.
"This… this can't be possible."
Jing Hongchen muttered shakily to himself, but the increasingly vivid memories sent chills down his spine.
Instinctively, his gaze shifted to Ye Wen, who sat elegantly in the competitor's lounge, regarding him like a god.
If his memory served him correctly, the soul-guided technology embedded in Huo Yuer's armor surpassed this era by at least an entire generation.
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