It wasn't that Su Ming doubted Zhu Jiuyang's strength.
Zhu Jiuyang, as a Spirit Sage, could fight a Spirit Douluo above his level; his strength within the same level was quite good. But—
Tang Hao was also no ordinary Titled Douluo.
Especially since Su Ming truly couldn't gauge what level Tang Hao actually was.
This guy's physical condition was like Schrödinger's Cat; who the hell knew how much strength he could currently use.
Wasn't the reason Su Ming tried to keep Chen Xin here precisely because Chen Xin had scared away Tang Hao that day?
He didn't trust anyone else.
The Star Luo Empire has three Titled Douluos?
Then let me ask you, which one among them could scare away Tang Hao?
"Curses... Ahem, for a low-spec Two-Word Battle Armor to elevate Teacher from Spirit Douluo to Titled Douluo level, the most direct way is to improve the quality of Spirit Power."
"Simplify the effect, focus only on enhancing Spirit Power quality."
Su Ming's idea was simple: make all the Core Formations focus on compressing Spirit Power.
This was the Soul Land I era; there was no concept of a Spirit Core yet. Spirit Masters broke through from Spirit Douluo to Titled Douluo purely relying on Martial Spirit talent. But Su Ming possessed the Spirit Core method from Soul Land II and III.
"Need external circulation meridians at all major body locations to compress Spirit Power, and it needs to flow back."
"A headband to amplify mental power, helping Teacher better control the Spirit Power."
"The design is quite good... I won't design like this next time."
Su Ming looked at the preliminary design draft for his Two-Word Battle Armor and felt a bit embarrassed.
"This kind of design is too brainless. If it gets out, wouldn't I, a genius designer, lose face?"
Calling this a Two-Word Battle Armor design was an overstatement; it wasn't even as good as a One-Word Battle Armor design. There was no clever ingenuity inside, no maximized utilization of spirituality, no leveraging and combining the properties of different Spirit Metals, nor any other advanced knowledge.
It relied solely on brute force!
There were only three types of Core Formations — Compression, Containment, and Reflux.
The material for the full-body Two-Word Battle Armor would be Jade Silver refined to the Spirit Refinement level.
Jade Silver, a Spirit Alloy formed from the Fusion Forging of Heavy Silver and Magic Silver, possesses the characteristics of both, offering good Spirit Power conductivity and also amplifying elemental power.
"With these Core Formations, even if used to make a One-Word Battle Armor, it would only reach Yellow Rank, barely passing."
In the Soul Land III era, the Spirit Transmission Pagoda had a grading system for Battle Armor. Different quality Battle Armors naturally provided different levels of amplification to the wearer. To distinguish quality, they were graded using spirit ring colors in ascending order: White, Yellow, Purple, Black, Red.
The Core Formations Su Ming was designing now for this low-spec Two-Word Battle Armor were just brainlessly repeating these three structures. Even in a One-Word Battle Armor, they could only produce Yellow Rank armor.
And that was the premise on having a highly skilled Mecha Manufacturing Technician who could engrave all these repeatedly patterned three structures onto the materials for a One-Word Battle Armor (Basically impossible).
As for the materials he was using, Spirit Alloy at the Spirit Refinement level...
Well, in the Soul Land III era, using a set of materials like this for Two-Word Battle Armor production, even without exceptionally outstanding Core Formations, just a normal level design and normal level craftsmanship could produce Purple Rank, nearly Black Rank quality Battle Armor.
When these two were combined, the first Battle Armor of the Soul Land I era was born.
"The amplification should be at the level of a normal Two-Word Battle Armor, capable of boosting a Spirit Emperor to barely fight a Spirit Douluo. A Spirit Sage wearing it definitely couldn't match a Titled Douluo, but a Spirit Douluo could barely meet the standard."
Su Ming did some rough calculations, confirmed the design was feasible, and began further detailed design.
That's right, even designing a set of low-spec Battle Armor blueprints required time; he had only done a macro-level concept.
After all, he was only a Level Four Mecha Designer, not yet officially broken through to Level Five, and hadn't even designed a complete One-Word Battle Armor blueprint before. Jumping directly to designing a Two-Word Battle Armor now puts immense pressure on him.
"Although this Battle Armor only brings Teacher up to par in terms of Spirit Power foundation, that's precisely what's lacking between Spirit Douluos and Titled Douluos in this era. As for Tang Hao's Ring Explosion..."
"Hmm, if Tang Hao resorts to Ring Explosion, then we definitely can't rely on Teacher alone."
"So, after finishing this Two-Word Battle Armor, I still need to make a set of escape equipment. Titled Douluos in this era don't seem to know how to fly... need to get some Spirit Flying Devices."
"Eh? Wait!"
"Flight! For Teacher... I can 'inadvertently' help the Teacher develop the ability to fly. With flight capability plus meeting the Spirit Power foundation standard, even if Tang Hao uses Ring Explosion, as long as the Teacher anticipates it, he can create distance beforehand and compete with Tang Hao in a battle of attrition!"
"Xiao Ming!"
While Su Ming was busy, the door to the forging room was knocked.
"Teacher?"
He put away the things he was just designing and opened the door.
Su Ming's gaze fell on Ning Tianya, who was standing beside Zhu Jiuyang.
"Teacher, he—"
Su Ming looked at Zhu Jiuyang with a questioning expression.
Why did you bring him?
Zhu Jiuyang looked pleased, pointing at Ning Tianya and saying, "Tianya has excellent forging talent. I plan to take him as my disciple."
"Huh?"
Excellent forging talent?
How good?
"He already knows how to perform Spirit Infusion."
"What?"
Su Ming was dumbfounded.
He thought he misheard.
Spirit Infusion technique was pioneered by Su Ming; he knew best how difficult it was to master this technique.
Ning Tianya had gone to Duan Jin to learn Spirit Infusion on the day they finalized cooperation with Spirit Hall. Until now, it had only been... five days.
So, Ning Tianya had fully mastered the Spirit Infusion technique in just five days?
Su Ming almost suspected he had become so weak from researching designs for two days that he was hallucinating.
Ning Tianya wasn't Zhu Jiuyang. Each failed Spirit Infusion attempt meant damage to his Spirit Soul, requiring rest. In five days, he could have attempted at most five times, right?
And it was Duan Jin teaching him, who might have omissions or explain things inadequately.
And Ning Tianya still succeeded?
Although Su Ming had succeeded on his first try back then, that was a special circumstance.
"That's the fact. Tianya has extremely high talent in Spirit Infusion. His Explosive Gold Bear Martial Spirit has an affinity with metal, and his Spirit Soul, the Explosive Gold Bear, shares the same origin as his Martial Spirit, giving him extraordinary intuition during the process of bestowing spirituality upon metal."
Zhu Jiuyang currently had the demeanor of someone who had found a treasure.
As for a certain second disciple, Duan Jin, who was currently questioning his life in his own forging room, he had been temporarily forgotten by Zhu Jiuyang.
"The reason I came to find you this time is because Tianya is somewhat stubborn. He thinks he's older than you and should be the senior brother."
Zhu Jiuyang spoke in a helpless tone, his gaze towards Su Ming carrying a hint of hidden meaning.
Su Ming caught his teacher's look, thoughts racing, and then understood the other's intention.
He looked at Ning Tianya.
Being stared at by Su Ming, Ning Tianya also puffed out his chest and met Su Ming's gaze directly.
Having mastered Spirit Infusion in five days, he felt exceptionally outstanding and extremely inflated with pride.
"You don't even understand 'first come, first served'?"
"I'm older than you," Ning Tianya said.
Zhu Jiuyang smiled and reminded Su Ming: "Tianya also said you could use strength to decide who is senior and who is junior."
Ning Tianya raised his head arrogantly.
"Junior Brother, I am a Spirit Elder after all. You're only eleven this year. Surrendering directly isn't shameful."
Su Ming rolled his eyes.
He glanced sneakily at Zhu Jiuyang.
Teacher, if you want me to fight him, aren't you afraid I might accidentally kill him?
"Teacher, I'm very busy right now. Let Little Gold play with him."
"Little Gold? That works too."
Ning Tianya's face changed slightly.
"I won't compete with Second Senior Brother."
Duan Jin was older than him; he had no grounds to compete. Besides, Duan Jin's Spirit Power cultivation was higher than his; he couldn't win anyway.
(End of Chapter)