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The first match ended with Huo Yuhao's creation of "six hundred-thousand-year soul rings," completely igniting the atmosphere of the arena.
Although many knowledgeable soul masters understood that it was likely some sort of illusion or special soul skill, under the realistic pressure and overwhelming excitement, even reason struggled to stay afloat.
Gu La paid no heed to the surrounding commotion. As soon as the match ended, he simply told Wang Yan, "I have something to do," and left the arena without delay.
"He... he just left like that?"
Huo Yuhao watched Gu La's swiftly disappearing figure, his brows furrowed, a hint of dissatisfaction flashing in his eyes.
In his view, this was the moment to uphold Shrek's honor and share the joy of victory with his teammates. Gu La's behavior seemed too cold and irresponsible.
Wang Dong also sneered, "Hmph, acting mysterious." Xu Sanshi stroked his chin, "This guy is always so secretive."
Gu La had no interest in these companions who were brainwashed by "Shrek's glory". With a clear goal in mind, he headed straight for the Star Luo Royal Auction House.
After waiting in the VIP room for about an hour, Princess Xu Jiujiu of the Star Luo Empire finally arrived fashionably late. She wore a perfectly measured smile, her eyes filled with curiosity and inquiry.
"Gu La, congratulations. Shrek has certainly made a big splash today. Six 'hundred-thousand-year soul rings'—the entire Star Luo City is abuzz, and other participating teams must be terrified."
Xu Jiujiu smiled cunningly, trying to glean some information from Gu La's face.
Gu La evaded her probing questions, his tone flat: "What about my stuff?"
Xu Jiujiu's smile didn't falter, but she inwardly resented Gu La's unyielding attitude.
She elegantly retrieved a delicate jade box from her storage-type soul-guided device, inside which lay a fist-sized metal piece radiating soft moonlight, its interior resembling a flowing galaxy—it was Lunar Gold.
"Here, your Lunar Gold. Top quality, sufficient quantity."
Xu Jiujiu pushed the jade box over, her beautiful eyes twinkling with a teasing glint, "It seems this thing is really important to you, rushing here right after the match."
Gu La took the jade box, scanned it with his spiritual power to confirm its authenticity. He placed a card loaded with enough gold coins on the table, his tone still unruffled:
"Payment and goods exchanged. None of your concern." With that, he pocketed the jade box and left without hesitation.
Xu Jiujiu's smile froze instantly. Watching Gu La's unrestrained departure, she clearly felt for the first time that her prideful charm was utterly worthless in front of this young man—perhaps even less attractive than that piece of metal.
"Hmph!" Xu Jiujiu gritted her teeth, her beautiful eyes flashing with both anger and determination.
"Gu La, is it? Very well, this princess will remember you. I'll see what kind of performance you can deliver in the quarterfinals—I'm waiting for you!"
Upon returning to the hotel, Gu La found the non-soundproof environment unsuitable for precise soul-guided device crafting. Without hesitation, he left the city and found a secluded valley at the edge of Star Luo City.
He took out the forty-thousand-year Holy Unicorn soul bone radiating pure light, top-grade Sun Stone essence, Lunar Gold, and other rare auxiliary metals. Gu La's gaze became intensely focused.
Summoning the Sun Angel spirit soul to assist, he took out his forging hammer. The forging technique reached its peak; golden-red ultimate fire enveloped the Lunar Gold and other metals.
Through countless hammer strikes, impurities were removed, structures optimized, and different metals perfectly fused under high temperatures and guided by soul power. Ultimately, they formed a unique "dial" approximately the size of a pocket watch, presenting a warm silvery-yellow hue with intricate, arcane patterns engraved on its surface.
Next came the most crucial step.
Gu La carefully guided the pure light attribute energy extracted from the Holy Unicorn soul bone, mixed it with the Sun Stone's yang-force essence, and infused it with the "Mega Evolution Factor" he refined from Mega Stones. Like drawing the most precise circuit diagram, he inscribed them into the core formation within the dial.
Engraving the soul-guided array was another test.
Thanks to the nearly inexhaustible pure soul power provided by the soul core, Gu La used his spiritual power as a chisel and soul power as ink. In the tiny space inside the dial, he carved layer upon layer of dazzlingly complex soul-guided circuits.
These circuits not only handled energy transmission, stabilization, and amplification but also resonated with the spirit soul, guiding the partial eruption of the spirit soul's bloodline potential.
When the final stroke of the soul-guided circuit was completed, the silver-yellow dial suddenly lit up. A gentle yet sacred golden-white light shone through, creating a strong resonance with the Sun Angel spirit soul behind Gu La. A pure and vast aura of light and life spread throughout the hillside.
Gu La let out a long breath; beads of sweat formed on his forehead.
This night's forging, in terms of complexity and the consumption of soul power and spiritual force, far exceeded his previous attempts at soul-forging.
The "Evolution Watch" in his hand, considering solely the complexity of the soul-guided array and the level of the energy core, had at least reached the threshold of an eighth-level soul-guided device in this era.
As for its unique function—activating part of the True Body's power to achieve controllable "super evolution" amplification—its strategic value was no less than that of most ninth-level soul-guided devices.
The sky began to brighten in the east. Gu La looked satisfactorily at the jade-like, lustrous Evolution Watch in his hand.
He did not immediately attempt to activate its power. Through his future-peeking perspective, he clearly "saw" that his creation would succeed flawlessly, every step executed precisely.
Now, all that remained was to wait for the right moment to reveal it to the world under everyone's watchful eyes.
When Gu La returned to the hotel, daylight had fully broken. After a brief meditation to restore his spiritual power, he went with the reserve team members to the arena.
As soon as he sat down in the rest area, the sharp-eyed Wang Dong noticed the peculiar-shaped, neither gold nor jade "watch" emitting a faint, warm glow on Gu La's left wrist.
"Hey? Gu La, are you into soul-guided devices now?" Wang Dong's tone carried a hint of surprise and an unconscious aversion. Influenced by Tang San's divine thoughts, she naturally resisted soul-guided devices.
Huo Yuhao's gaze was also drawn over.
With his current expertise in soul-guided devices, although he couldn't comprehend the complexity of the formations inside the dial, he could sense that the energy fluctuations emanating from that "watch" were exceptionally stable and restrained, far beyond ordinary soul-guided devices.
"This soul-guided device... quite high-level. Where did Gu La get it from? Was it a gift or did he buy it?"
Gu La raised his wrist, gently rubbing the smooth surface of the Evolution Watch, a mysterious smile curving his lips: "This is my trump card prepared for the upcoming matches. With it, even an average Soul Emperor, I can handle."
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