Douluo: Brains Over Bloodline

"Don't worry, Teacher. My dream realm is very secure," Xu Yuan said with a smile.

Within his dream realm, there were nine Dragon Kings present.

Even if something went wrong, the nine Dragon Kings would be more than capable of suppressing it.

Moreover, the dream realm was completely under Xu Yuan's control. The idea of an accident was simply impossible.

The dream realm had been created by Xu Yuan using illusions and further refined through his mastery of the Seven Forbidden Techniques. Step by step, he had perfected it. When it came to control over this space, Xu Yuan undoubtedly held absolute authority.

In the dream realm, he was the absolute ruler.

"That's good."

Mu Ye sighed in relief and then changed the subject.

"I was actually planning to visit you, but after receiving your communication, we ended up with this mission instead."

Upon hearing this, Xu Yuan immediately looked at Mu Ye with curiosity.

"Do you remember your grand-uncle?"

Xu Yuan's expression turned surprised.

Had his grand-uncle broken through?

Seeing Xu Yuan's reaction, Mu Ye knew what he was thinking and couldn't help but chuckle, shaking his head.

"Breaking through the Limit isn't that easy." He explained, "Your grand-uncle is short on materials."

Xu Yuan: ???

What did he mean?

"The literal meaning—he wants to try the method I suggested, but he needs a top-tier mech."

Mu Ye glanced at Xu Yuan.

Xu Yuan's lips twitched slightly.

He was well aware of Xiao Hong's configuration.

It was crafted from an amount of heaven-forged metal sufficient to make a full set of four-character battle armor, along with the remaining high-quality soul-forged materials!

Mu Ye's strength wasn't without reason.

His battle armor and mech setup were designed to grow alongside him for a lifetime—capable of keeping up with his progress as he broke through the Limit and even advanced to quasi-god level.

In fact, if fortune favored him and he eventually broke through to god-level, his four-character battle armor and mech could very likely become the first true god-level battle armor and mech in the history of the Douluo Continent.

After all, most four-character battle armor masters only obtained their armor after breaking through the Limit, whereas Mu Ye had acquired his at Level 94. After years of stagnation, a sudden stroke of fortune allowed him to break through. Both his mech and battle armor evolved alongside him.

Breaking through the Super Douluo threshold, step by step.

Then the Limit threshold.

And if fortune favored him, perhaps even the god-level breakthrough.

If the Douluo Continent were to allow such a breakthrough, and Mu Ye reached Level 100 to ascend to godhood, his four-character battle armor and mech might very well synchronize with his breakthrough.

"After discussing with him recently, I believe the process of integrating the mech with the soul spirit can be further refined."

After Mu Ye's explanation, Xu Yuan also relaxed.

Initially, Mu Ye had integrated the soul spirit into his mech after it had already reached the red-grade level, which meant the fusion between the soul spirit and the mech wasn't very high at first.

Over decades, however, the reverse integration of the mech into a soul spirit gradually occurred, allowing them to re-contract.

In reality, if the soul spirit were integrated as the source of consciousness before the mech gained full sentience, and the materials were upgraded step by step, the process might have been much easier.

After listening to Mu Ye's explanation, Xu Yuan's expression grew intrigued.

This process sounded familiar.

Isn't this how battle armor was crafted? From one-character battle armor, progressing step by step to four-character battle armor?

There could be faster or slower steps, but none could be skipped, as each stage represented the spiritual growth of the armor—just like how soul masters couldn't skip the Soul King stage during cultivation.

Throughout the repeated upgrades of a set of battle armor, its physical components might be replaced multiple times, but its spiritual essence was carried forward from beginning to end.

The shortcut Mu Ye and Hu Jie had developed for mech-soul spirit integration seemed to borrow this same method.

The difference was that, in their proposed shortcut, the source of consciousness from the very beginning was the soul spirit, serving as the initial spiritual foundation for the mech.

Could this be done?

Yes.

In fact, from this perspective, couldn't battle armor be made this way too?

Xu Yuan looked at Mu Ye.

Mu Ye was also staring at Xu Yuan, watching his eyes flicker, and couldn't help but smile.

Clearly, he knew his disciple must have realized the same thing.

"That's right. I feel that battle armor can also be attempted this way. Perhaps this could expand the path to achieving four-character battle armor."

Xu Yuan's eyes gleamed.

The transformation from soul forging to heaven forging represented the complete creation of life.

And integrating a soul spirit into the process was akin to giving the soul spirit a new body, granting it an alternative form of rebirth.

This was a new path.

One could even say it was poaching on the territory of blacksmiths.

But there was no doubt that, if successful, the demand for heaven-forged metal in crafting four-character battle armor would drop significantly.

To be precise, it wasn't the demand for heaven-forged metal that would decrease, but rather the reliance on master blacksmiths.

For blacksmiths, this would be nothing short of a thunderclap in a clear sky.

"I know what you're thinking, but such concerns are entirely unnecessary. Think about what level heaven forging corresponds to, what kind of soul spirit level is required, and what kind of opportunity would allow the metal of the battle armor, carrying the soul spirit, to directly transform into heaven-forged quality?"

Mu Ye smiled and explained, easing Xu Yuan's worries.

Indeed.

Even if the conditions for the transformation from soul forging to heaven forging were met, the time required for nurturing and the rarity of the opportunity made the process extremely difficult to foresee.

Although heaven forging represented the birth of life, its essence was fundamentally superior. To put it more intuitively, it was about the "foundation."

It wasn't enough to merely align with the concept of becoming a true life form to achieve heaven forging.

"Moreover, once the soul spirit and battle armor fuse, they become inseparably linked. The battle armor benefits from the existence of the soul spirit, and similarly, the soul spirit's advancement depends on the battle armor."

If the soul spirit was strong, it might provide an opportunity for the battle armor to advance.

Conversely, if the battle armor was stronger, the soul spirit would also grow stronger.

Thus, external forging by blacksmiths didn't just enhance the battle armor—it also strengthened the soul spirit.

Mu Ye believed that if such a path truly existed, soul masters who walked it wouldn't focus on relying on the soul spirit to elevate the battle armor to four-character level. Instead, they would use the advancement of the battle armor to push the soul spirit to at least the ten-thousand-year level.

This would, in another way, elevate the status of master blacksmiths.

"In fact, I've already discussed this with Zhen Hua. He also believes that such a system would be beneficial to blacksmiths. The difficulty of heaven forging for soul-forged metals infused with soul spirits might be significantly reduced," Mu Ye said.

While upgrading from three-character to four-character battle armor didn't require forging the original materials, but rather adding heaven-forged metal according to the configuration, integrating it into the armor, and upgrading the internal core formation arrays, it wasn't the only way. If one was confident enough, they could attempt to forge the existing three-character battle armor materials again, upgrading from soul forging to heaven forging.

It was just that the failure rate was too high.

Without any bonuses, the high failure rate deterred soul masters from attempting this method.

But with this new system of fusing battle armor with soul spirits?

Although the failure rate would still be high, it would provide a bonus for heaven forging!

For battle armor masters, if they could afford a master blacksmith, the risk might not be worth taking.

However, how many people in this world could afford a master blacksmith's assistance?

On the other hand, finding an Eighth-rank Saint Craftsmen was much easier.

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