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The lineup of the Sun Moon Royal Battle Team this time is incredibly luxurious.
Su Yu alone could completely dominate.
Even if it's just to give other teammates a chance to show their faces, the addition of Xiao Hongchen, Meng Hongchen, and Huo Yuhao, combined with any random team composition, ensures they wouldn't lose.
And this is all without even using battle armor.
In the history of the Soul Master Tournament, the appearance of a Soul Emperor is already considered quite rare.
Most academies are capable of training contestants up to the Soul Ancestor level, while the seeded teams—those with hopes of entering the top eight—often have at least one Soul King in their ranks.
Some academies, such as Star Luo Royal Academy or the Heavenly Spirit Battle Team, which are directly affiliated with empires, might even field teams entirely composed of Soul Kings.
Under such circumstances, the occasional appearance of one or two Soul Emperors is already considered exceptional.
However, this time, the Sun Moon Royal Battle Team has fielded three Soul Saint.
This is nothing short of an overwhelming show of dominance.
Oh, and by the way, Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen successfully absorbed two immortal herbs, allowing them to advance to the Soul Saint level.
Soul Saint with 100,000-year soul rings!
"The purpose of this group training, as some of you may have guessed, is to learn and craft battle armor."
The main team members will be learning how to craft battle armor and are expected to complete their full sets before the real tournament begins.
This year, since the Sun Moon Empire announced early on that sects are also allowed to participate, the number of competing teams will reach an all-time high.
As a result, the total number of matches for the Sun Moon Royal Battle Team will also be unprecedentedly high.
The goal set by Jing Hongchen for this training is for each team member to achieve a one-versus-seven victory at least once.
With the assistance of battle armor, this is certainly within reach.
Therefore, mastering battle armor has become the top priority of this training.
As for team battle coordination, Jing Hongchen has completely dismissed it.
For this year's Soul Master Tournament, aside from the various other strategic factors involved in the empire's wars, the most important purpose for the Sun-Moon Hall is to promote battle armor.
The greatest feature of battle armor is its ability to significantly enhance the personal strength of a Soul Master.
Thus, this year's Soul Master Tournament will have Sun-Moon Hall focusing more on individual strength than ever before.
"Battle armor is the latest research achievement of Sun-Moon Hall. It was proposed by Su Yu and jointly developed with Xuan Ziwen. It is a perfect creation and the most outstanding innovation combining soul tools and soul masters."
Jing Hongchen showered Su Yu with praise, causing Su Yu's face to flush slightly. Among the other thirteen, Huo Yuhao and Xiao Hongchen, along with Meng Hongchen, had peculiar expressions, while the remaining ten looked at Su Yu with admiration.
Say what you will, but for the Hall Master of Sun-Moon Hall to praise him so highly, it was clear how extraordinary Su Yu was.
Especially for those who understood the significance of battle armor, they wholeheartedly agreed and looked at Su Yu with reverence for proposing the idea.
"Of course, crafting battle armor consumes significant resources. Even under ideal circumstances, without any errors, at least fourteen soul tools of the corresponding level need to be crafted. A primary-level battle armor requires fourteen Level 5 soul tools, while an intermediate-level battle armor might require fourteen Level 7 soul tools."
"The creation of fourteen soul tools also demands seamless coordination, with core formation inscriptions pushed to their utmost precision. It requires extensive crafting and experimentation, leading to substantial consumption throughout the process."
"As participants in this year's Soul Master Tournament, you are entitled to one special privilege during this training. You can reasonably request rare metals for crafting your battle armor. Sun-Moon Hall will provide the necessary rare metals, as long as they are used for this purpose."
At this point, Jing Hongchen glanced at Su Yu with a faint smile, and Su Yu suddenly realized something.
All his earlier concerns were thrown out the window.
What? Who dares say this training is useless!
Moments ago, he was worrying about depleting his reserves of rare metals and thinking about seeking help from Jing Hongchen or Kong Deming later. But now, Jing Hongchen had handed him a gift on a silver platter.
During the training period—which conveniently lasts until the Soul Master Tournament—requesting rare metals for crafting battle armor?
If I say I need to craft a super battle armor, requiring early preparation for Level 9 soul tools, and therefore need a large amount of rare metals, including some of the rarest ones, wouldn't that make perfect sense?
Su Yu glanced at Huo Yuhao and Xiao Hongchen, as well as Meng Hongchen.
This privilege was truly monumental.
Of course, even for Xiao Ping, Shi Xing, and Zhou Xinghao, this benefit was equally enormous.
Although the technology behind battle armor is already quite advanced, aside from Su Yu and his peers, who are true geniuses, successful examples of crafting battle armor are still rare, and the success rate remains very low.
In other words, most newly recruited soul engineers fail shortly after starting, consuming their share of rare metals in the process.
The construction of the core formation isn't just about meeting the standards of a single soul tool; it also requires accounting for the interconnections among fourteen formations, which adds considerable difficulty.
If it's standardized battle armor, the process is naturally much simpler. There's no need to design anything from scratch, as ready-made formations are available, reducing the challenge to mere production.
That part, at least, isn't particularly difficult.
The real challenge lies in constructing the overall integrity of the core formation.
"Su Yu, Huo Yuhao, Xiao Hongchen, and Meng Hongchen—you four have already mastered the techniques for crafting battle armor. You can submit requests for rare metals, but there is only one requirement: you must complete battle armor suited to your level before the Soul Master Tournament."
"Shi Xing, Zhou Xinghao, and Xiao Ping—I gave you the necessary techniques two months ago. You've already made some progress, and for the next five months, Researcher Xuan Ziwen will provide you with full guidance as you work on crafting your battle armor."
"As for you seven reserve members, including Xiao Fan, since all of you are at least Level 3 soul engineers and have already studied Level 4 soul tool theories in advance, you will also join the battle armor theory training during this time."
Su Yu submitted an application for the distribution of rare metals needed to craft a super battle armor, which was quickly approved by Jing Hongchen.
After extracting a portion of commonly used rare metals from Sun-Moon Hall, he returned to the research lab.
"Before advancing to Level 9 soul engineer, let's first modify this Sacred Soul Grass."
Su Yu took out a nearly lifeless seed.
The Sacred Soul Grass, which should have been brimming with vitality, had its spirit shattered and its life force slowly dissipating after being struck by the Evil Emperor's mental attack.
Its biological core—its very essence—had been obliterated. Even with Su Yu's ultimate life force infusion, he could only barely sustain its remaining vitality but couldn't fully restore it.
"So be it. Fate works in mysterious ways—it's perfect for transforming into an undead form."
Su Yu recalled the undead transformation ability he had learned from Electrolux. He released his spiritual power and began modifying the Sacred Soul Grass.
The energies of various elements in the world were drawn to his command.
His spiritual power sketched illusory patterns in the void, guiding elemental energy to reshape the Sacred Soul Grass.
The body of the Sacred Soul Grass began to undergo a transformation.
The last traces of life force were converted into death energy. A thick aura of necromancy emanated from the seed.
Su Yu infused his soul power, imbued with the ultimate life attribute, into the process, converting it into a potent death aura.
The undead seed began to tremble, gradually fracturing. A small grayish-white grass sprouted, slowly taking form.
Su Yu used his soul power to nurture the tiny grass.
In the void, one intricate pattern after another was outlined, and a summoning formation gradually took shape.
Within the undead Sacred Soul Grass, a faint glimmer of spiritual vitality flickered to life.
However, this spark of vitality was soon devoured by the death aura.
Su Yu didn't stop nurturing the emerging spirit. He engraved formations onto rare metals and crafted a soul tool in the form of a potted container, planting the tiny grass inside.
"It doesn't matter if the spirit produced by its body is consumed by the death aura. Once enough vitality has been devoured, even the death aura itself will develop its own spirit."
Su Yu patiently awaited the moment when the death aura would give birth to its own spiritual essence.
(End of Chapter)