"Master Xuan, Elder Lu."
Chen Junting approached the trio, greeting the two Level 9 Soul Guidance Engineers—Xuan Ziwen and Lu Lao—then gave a friendly nod to the Level 7 engineer. He stopped before the main control console.
Ignoring other matters, he addressed them directly:
"Thank you all for your hard work. Please pause your research for a few days and rest properly."
"No need! Absolutely no need!"
His well-meaning suggestion was instantly rejected.
Xuan Ziwen waved a hand excitedly—every inch the obsessed researcher. "Aside from Ziyan, our three cultivations are high enough that sleep deprivation won't hinder us. What matters now is the research itself."
To him, this lab was heaven.
First, in the Sun Moon Empire, he'd never gained true access to humanoid soul guidance research—the pinnacle of the field.
Second—and far more critical—was funding.
In the Sun Moon Empire, every research grant underwent layers of bureaucratic review. Proposals deemed insufficiently valuable or unfeasible were flatly rejected. With fixed budgets stretched across countless projects at the Imperial Soul Engineering Academy and Mingde Hall, resources were painfully scarce.
But here at Nine Treasure Glazed Sect?
While the number of approved soul guidance projects was dismally low—a fraction of Mingde Hall's—research funding now amounted to one-third of the sect's annual income (up from one-fourth, thanks to Mingde Hall's high-precision tech acquisition).
Fewer projects, unlimited funds.
In short: research whatever you want, whenever you want. (Though Xuan Ziwen's focus remained squarely on the humanoid unit.)
Chen Junting watched Xuan Ziwen's fervor with a blank face—but inwardly, he was speechless.
Voluntarily skipping rest to do overtime? In both my past and present lives, I've never seen such a thing.
Truly a sight to behold!
Huff—
Xuan Ziwen sipped steaming coffee, instantly revitalized. Then he turned to Chen Junting:
"You're here to check the humanoid soul guidance unit's progress, right?"
He pointed to a nearby screen displaying curved schematics of both the humanoid frame and the armor.
At first, Chen Junting assumed it showed core array or formation layouts—the critical elements for both devices.
But a closer look revealed it was performance data—not diagrams.
"Master Xuan…" Chen Junting frowned, baffled. "What specific data is this? It looks like gibberish to me." (Better to ask than pretend to understand.)
Xuan Ziwen's eyes lit up. "All measurable data is here. After analyzing strengths and weaknesses, we've formulated two new sub-projects by combining the best of both."
Chen Junting leaned in, listening intently.
Xuan Ziwen didn't hold back:
"The humanoid unit's size and weight—caused by overloaded core arrays—make it clumsy. But we don't need to discard it or force its tech onto armor. Instead, we can leverage its bulk as a mobile artillery platform. On a battlefield, it'd be a game-changing weapon—especially for low-rank soul masters, support-types, or soul guidance engineers themselves."
Exactly, Chen Junting thought.
The word "mecha" flashed in his mind.
He'd initially fixated on Battle Armor, overlooking mecha entirely. Xuan Ziwen's insight had just jogged his memory.
"So the second project is what's called Battle Armor, then?"
Xuan Ziwen tapped the screen, zooming in on the armor's schematics and data.
"This 'Battle Armor'," he adjusted his glasses, "is tailored for high-tier soul masters. I consulted pure martial-soul practitioners (those who don't use soul engineering devices) in the sect and confirmed: the higher one's cultivation, the more they value their martial soul's purity."
Chen Junting nodded in agreement.
The former three Douluo nations differed fundamentally from the Sun Moon Empire.
Sun Moon relied so heavily on soul guidance devices that their soul masters below Level 95 achieved breakthroughs through sheer soul power stacking—not refinement.
But in the former nations, even with soul cores enabling more Title Douluos, the traditional path of soul cultivation remained deeply ingrained.
Xuan Ziwen continued:
"So I proposed customizing Battle Armor to specific martial soul traits. Unlike the humanoid's 'stacked tech' approach, this optimizes synergy. Our theoretical models confirm it's feasible."
Brilliant! Truly brilliant!
No wonder Xuan Ziwen was Sun Moon Empire's top genius.
While the humanoid-to-mecha evolution mirrored Mingde Hall's existing trajectory (making his awareness unsurprising), his systematic refinement of Battle Armor's concept was the mark of true genius.
"But Master Xuan… there must still be obstacles, right?"
Chen Junting recalled the extreme metal requirements—not just for internal integration, but sheer material quality.
Indeed, Xuan Ziwen sighed: "In practice, only rare metals can withstand the stress without injuring the user."
Chen Junting offered no solutions—only advice: "Consult Elder Tai Yu."
While Tai Yu was clueless about soul guidance, as a scion of a 10,000-year blacksmithing lineage, his metal-forging expertise was unmatched.
Xuan Ziwen's eyes lit up like supernovas.
Chen Junting could almost see the thought bubble: "If this guy weren't here, I'd sprint to Elder Tai right now!"
Yet even with materials solved, Battle Armor would remain incomplete—unable to fuse with the soul master's body.
But fusion…
Chen Junting suddenly realized: this overlapped with artificial soul bones.
If natural soul bones could combine into soul bone armor (like Tang San's Eight Spider Lances), then custom-designed artificial soul bones might fuse even more seamlessly—effectively becoming Battle Armor.
Worth exploring.
As for integrating armor into the body?
Methods like Spirit Refinement, Soul Refinement, or Heaven Refinement?
Hopeless with the current tech!
Shaking off distractions, Chen Junting refocused on Xuan Ziwen's explanations.
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