thefictionvixens There is only one answer to Chapter 246, and that is...
There is only one answer to Chapter 246, and that is...
Chapter 246 There is only one answer, and that is...
only……
Huo Yuhao sighed softly to himself.
In this day and age, the conflict between humans and spirit beasts has escalated to the point of no return.
Furthermore, once the Silver Dragon King fully descends into the world, humanity may not be far from extinction.
Huo Yuhao was lost in thought, but before he could reach out and remove the Demon Eye from between his eyebrows, a scream filled with panic and disbelief suddenly came from the side.
"Huh? What happened?!"
Looking in the direction of the sound, one could see that the faint golden light on Tianmeng's body, which had originally been stunningly curvaceous and exceptionally voluptuous, was rapidly dissipating like smoke.
As the light faded, her body deflated rapidly, like a punctured balloon.
In just a few breaths, it transformed back into that flat-chested, slightly thin bean sprout.
Seeing Tianmeng's current blank and miserable appearance, a burst of suppressed, clear laughter came from Liya's mouth, and even her words had a cheerful melody like a chant.
"Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm! Why did I say you looked like that before? There's only one answer—"
"Lia, shut up!"
Tianmeng let out a desperate wail, covered her head with her hands, and squatted down, adopting a standard head-covering squatting defensive posture, as if trying to resist the cruel blows of reality.
Lia, however, cheerfully circled around her, delivering the final blow in a chanting tone:
"—So, that's just how you've always looked, like a bean sprout, hahaha!"
Looking at the two people in front of him who were like living treasures, Huo Yuhao's lips twitched slightly involuntarily.
He shook his head and began to calm himself down to deal with the problem of his overflowing emotional energy.
After emerging from the undead demiplane and returning to the quiet room, Huo Yuhao looked at Tianmeng, who was still listless beside him, and gently comforted her:
"Sister Tianmeng, don't be sad. Your essence is severely depleted. It's already quite good that you were able to restore your original form and maintain it for ten minutes with just that little bit of icy rain."
These words, when they reached Tianmeng's ears, felt no less sweet than if her beloved had whispered gently in her ear:
"You're cute even though you're small, but is that all you can do for such a short time?"
Tianmeng's body stiffened, and she silently turned around, found a corner, and began to draw circles on the ground with her finger.
Especially when she looked at her chest, which had returned to its flat state, she could no longer suppress the bitterness in her heart, and bright little pearls began to swirl in her eyes.
Sensing the increasingly intense resentful atmosphere emanating from Sister Tianmeng, Huo Yuhao earnestly promised:
"If there's a chance later, I'll keep an eye out for some high-grade ice-attribute rare and precious materials at auctions for you. Or, after we return to Douluo Continent, we can go to the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well again."
Because it can only stay in the undead demiplane, the Eight-Cornered Ice Grass is naturally not as effective as directly absorbing the energy of the Extreme Cold Ice Spring when it is in the Yin-Yang Well of Ice and Fire.
Therefore, the icy rain she condenses is much less effective.
Furthermore, the life energy of Douluo Star is constantly declining, making it extremely difficult to find another blessed land with ice attributes, such as the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well or the Ten Thousand Year Ice Cave.
However, a large amount of ice-attribute elemental energy is an essential condition for awakening the essence of the Snow Empress or the Ice Empress.
Therefore, no matter what, Huo Yuhao is determined to go to the Yin-Yang Well of Ice and Fire again.
Hearing Huo Yuhao consider her situation in such detail, Tianmeng's gloomy mood finally cheered up again.
She stood up from the corner, straightened her back, and patted her flat chest hard. After a long while, she finally managed to squeeze out a sentence to comfort herself.
"It's okay. I've seen all kinds of storms. So what if I turned back to normal? How could such a small setback scare me away?"
"Hmph, ten thousand years have passed, and the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well must have grown a lot of good stuff again. It's time to go back and make a good profit."
As she spoke, she became more and more excited, and the light in Tianmeng's beautiful eyes returned, as if she could already see countless rare and precious treasures beckoning to her.
But then, she seemed to suddenly realize an extremely important real problem.
"But Yuhao, how are we going to get back to Douluo Continent now?"
Now, there's no longer Gu Yuena to lead them directly through space and quickly traverse between continents.
Even though Huo Yuhao now has a good affinity for spatial elements, it is only limited to short-distance teleportation within a hundred feet, and each use consumes a lot of soul power, which is not enough to support a long journey across the ocean.
"I investigated this matter beforehand."
Huo Yuhao calmly replied in a soft voice:
"On the Star Luo Continent today, only three forces truly control the technology for perfecting long-distance ocean navigation: the Star Luo Royal Family, the Tang Sect, and the Spirit Pagoda."
Their ocean-going vessels have strict restrictions on passengers and are generally not open to outsiders.
"Huh? Then aren't there any smuggling boats?"
Upon hearing this answer, Tianmeng's beautiful eyebrows almost furrowed together. "After all, I've noticed that quite a few people from the Star Luo Continent seem to yearn to live on the Douluo Continent. Surely they have some connections, right?"
"Even the most advanced ocean liners would need nearly two and a half months to reach Douluo Continent at full speed."
It's easy to imagine just how high the dangers faced by smuggling ships organized by other small groups on the vast ocean must have been.
Huo Yuhao shook his head and explained in a serious tone.
"As you know, the soul beasts in the sea are not as nearly extinct as those on land; there are still many ferocious beasts in the deep sea. Under these circumstances, smuggling is no different from gambling with your life."
As he spoke, he turned and walked towards the door of the quiet room.
"Therefore, there is no rush to return to Douluo Continent. I believe we can find a sound solution in the future."
Our most pressing task right now is to deepen our understanding of this era and resolve the issue of our identity when registering for the Soul Master Competition.
This is the biggest challenge we are currently facing.
In this era, Huo Yuhao is completely an unregistered person who cannot withstand any investigation.
Within the Star Luo Empire, almost every child who reaches the age of six will be officially arranged to undergo Martial Soul Awakening at a primary academy, and then registered, with their information entered into the empire's management database.
It can be said that the identity information, martial soul characteristics, soul power level, and even academy experience of every regular soul master are traceable and can be accessed through the empire's internal system.
As for Huo Yuhao, who came from across time, his personal record is completely blank.
Since the final ranking rewards of the individual competition of the Soul Master Tournament were linked to the qualification for the Divine Exam, the qualification review of the contestants has become unprecedentedly strict, in order to prevent hostile organizations like the Green Skull from planting undercover agents.
Previously, Huo Yuhao had obtained a forged personal information through a black market transaction.
That level of forgery can only pass ordinary identity verification at best, and it cannot withstand the in-depth review conducted by the official Soul Master Competition, which directly connects to the central database and conducts multiple information comparisons.
In order to successfully participate in the competition and explore the so-called Divine Trial Land, Huo Yuhao naturally had to find a way to solve this thorny identity problem.
Seeing Huo Yuhao stride out, Tianmeng quickly followed with her short legs, jogging along while looking up and asking:
"Then let's go directly to that princess to resolve this issue, shall we? After all, you are her nominal ancestor, and you saved her life not long ago."
Besides, isn't this Soul Master Competition hosted by their royal family? Helping you solve your identity problem is a piece of cake, isn't it?
Dealing with the royal family is too mentally taxing. As for the so-called blood ties, they have been separated by ten thousand years and have long since become so weak that they can be ignored.
"Even if I randomly grabbed a passerby from the streets of Xingluo City, their bloodline concentration would probably be about the same as mine."
Huo Yuhao chuckled and shook his head, then spoke in a gentle voice.
"Furthermore, we're not going to that so-called divine examination site to participate in the divine examination in the first place. Under these circumstances, it's best to avoid getting involved with the royal family to prevent any unforeseen complications."
Tianmeng nodded as if she understood, though she was still a little confused. She quickly gave up on thinking about it further.
Immediately afterwards, Tianmeng found an excuse to return to Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea.
She suddenly realized that walking with her short legs was quite tiring.
……
Fortunately, although Huo Yuhao lived in a remote location, it was not too far from his destination.
After hailing a Soul Guidance Taxi on the street, the vehicle smoothly stopped at the destination in less than fifteen minutes.
After getting out of the car, Huo Yuhao looked up at the magnificent gray-white building in front of him, which was about ten stories high.
At the top of the building hangs a giant forging hammer decorative pattern made of pure gold, with a strange halo flowing on the metal surface, giving it a heavy and unique texture.
I entered the lobby on the first floor through a large, automatic glass door.
The extremely spacious hall is filled with glass display cases, showcasing metals of various grades.
Metals that have reached the level of spirit forging or even soul forging radiate a light that seems to pulsate with life, just like the beating of a human heart.
Upon seeing a uniquely elegant white-haired young man walk in, two girls, both nearing twenty, who were chatting idly at the front desk, were immediately drawn to him.
One of them even stood up and greeted them with a warm smile.
"Young man, what brings you to our Blacksmiths' Guild? Is there anything we can help you with?"
Feeling the almost tangible warmth of the two receptionists' gazes, Huo Yuhao's body instinctively stiffened slightly.
Although he had tried his best to control the overflowing power of his emotions, the power originating from his divine status still made him feel as if he were shrouded in a special halo.
In addition, his outstanding appearance greatly increases the initial attention and goodwill of strangers, especially among the opposite sex.
Of course, this halo doesn't only have a positive effect.
For those who are already hostile towards him, or simply dislike him, this emotional force can also stir up their hatred and jealousy, causing them to fall into uncontrollable rage more quickly.
Huo Yuhao had no doubt that if he activated it at full power, the effect of this thing would be no different from the brain-degrading aura that was often ridiculed in those stories.
Without intending to chat much, Huo Yuhao spoke directly and stated his purpose:
"I'm here for a blacksmith level assessment. What are the procedures?"
Seeing that the young man in front of her indeed had important business to attend to, the receptionist girl suppressed her initial intention to flirt and explained with a light laugh:
"Little brother, if you want to take the blacksmith level assessment, you'll need to fill out this form first. Then wait a moment, and a staff member will take you upstairs to the blacksmith room for the assessment."
As she spoke, she pulled a form from the front desk drawer, handed it to Huo Yuhao, and added:
"If you pass the level assessment conducted by our association, the assessment fee will be waived."
But little brother, remember this: only those who reach the level of a Level 2 Blacksmith can begin accepting tasks issued by the Association.
Huo Yuhao nodded, indicating that he understood.
After receiving the form and quickly filling in her personal information, the receptionist immediately made internal contact via her soul communication device.
In the rest area, after finishing a cup of hot tea that the receptionist had specially brought him.
In less than fifteen minutes, a middle-aged man in a work uniform came out through the soul-guided elevator and led Huo Yuhao to the third floor.
Compared to the relatively quiet and spacious first-floor lobby, the atmosphere on the third floor was much noisier.
The crisp, rhythmic sound of hammers striking metal could be heard continuously through the heavy door.
The staff member holding Huo Yuhao's registration form stopped in front of a door marked with the word "Evaluation".
He pushed open the heavy metal door and went in first, then turned to Huo Yuhao, who had followed him, and introduced him:
"The evaluation process is very simple. There are ten common rare metals displayed on the shelves here, and you can choose one of them to forge."
Anyone who can reach the level of a hundred forgings within half an hour can be rated as a first-class blacksmith.
After that, using the metal you've refined through hundreds of forgings, successfully craft any standard small part, and you'll be certified as a Level 2 Blacksmith. Do you understand the whole process?
(End of this chapter)