After school, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong returned directly to their dorm to rest. After all, over the past three months, the physical and mental torment they endured under Zhou Yi's training was not small,they needed a break.
Unlike the past three months, when they would always head to the outer courtyard's library after class and return late at night, this time Huo Yuhao went to bed early and quickly fell asleep.
Wang Dong looked at the peacefully sleeping Huo Yuhao and couldn't tell whether he was truly unconcerned or simply confident. Normally, even if someone knew last-minute studying wouldn't help, wouldn't they at least make an effort?
But this guy Huo Yuhao had a big heart,he could actually fall asleep so early. Seeing this, Wang Dong, who had been planning to train hard for a while, lost the mood to do so.
After a quick wash and a short round of soul power circulation, Wang Dong also went to sleep early.
What Wang Dong didn't know was that, while appearing to be asleep, Huo Yuhao was secretly training harder than anyone else,in his dreams.
After three months of continuous experimentation and gathering information, Huo Yuhao had more or less mastered how to use his body as a vessel.
By using spiritual power to control his soul power, he could construct an additional set of circuits outside of his meridians. These new "soul power circuits" could simulate the release of certain soul skills or even imitate the effects of simple soul tool core formations.
Although the soul skills and formations he could currently simulate weren't very advanced,about the level of a second-grade soul tool,this was already the limit of what his current strength allowed.
He could already dismantle and even reconstruct fourth- or fifth-grade soul tool core formations, but his physical strength could only handle about a second-grade level.
If he tried to forcefully integrate a third-grade core formation or an equally strong soul skill, his body would be overwhelmed and injured,a result he definitely wanted to avoid.
For a Soul Master to perform a technique belonging to the Great Soul Master level was already impressive enough.
Besides internal soul circuits, Huo Yuhao could also, through a combination of spiritual and soul power, release some soul skills or core formation effects externally during battle.
However, since he hadn't pre-built circuits for those, using them was at least three or four times slower than ordinary soul skills,and with his current abilities, he had no good way to fix that.
After all, both his spiritual power and soul power were still too weak. Another issue was that these external soul techniques were too conspicuous.
Although Huo Yuhao could now mimic many offensive skills,such as Wang Dong's Wing Guillotine and Goddess Butterfly Light, or Beibei's Thunder Dragon Claw, Mighty Thunder, and Thunder Fury,their appearances were too distinctive.
Anyone could tell at a glance that these "self-created soul skills" were completely different from Huo Yuhao's own spiritual attribute.
Thus, he couldn't reveal these abilities publicly yet,they were his hidden trump cards.
At the moment, the soul power circuits Huo Yuhao was practicing to construct within his body were mostly auxiliary types, such as those mimicking food-type or support-type soul skills, or soul tool core formations that enhanced performance.
Since he only used their structural framework, he didn't need to manifest them externally,he could naturally activate them within himself to enhance his abilities.
With his current physical limits, he could only maintain up to four first-grade soul tool–level circuits or two at the second-grade level.
These circuits could be activated instantly during battle, just like soul skills attached to soul rings or soul tools, and they were nearly undetectable.
Only those highly sensitive to soul power fluctuations might sense some change in his aura, but with the Ice Empress Scorpion's spiritual concealment, it was nearly impossible to detect the truth.
Normally, Huo Yuhao used circuits that stabilized and continuously enhanced his cultivation. However, since the combat assessment was coming, he needed to modify those formations for combat readiness.
In his spiritual sea, points of spiritual power began to connect into lines, lines into surfaces, and surfaces into shapes. Based on the structure of the human body, he gradually adjusted and modified them.
"Let's see… In battle, I'll need an auxiliary-type soul skill. A speed-boosting effect will do, since hidden weapons are allowed in Shrek's internal competitions."
"As a self-defined agility-type Soul Master, being faster and more flexible won't hurt."
"Alright, reconstruction complete. This circuit will boost my attack speed, reaction speed, and movement speed. It'll also enhance my body's flexibility, preventing injury from rapid movement."
"Still, since it's equivalent to a second-grade soul tool circuit, my current body won't be able to sustain it for long,about three minutes at most."
"It should increase my overall speed by around 40 percent and last about two minutes in battle."
"Hmm, maybe I can combine this circuit with a soul tool formation. Let's try that."
"With the second-grade Speed Boost skill as the base, and grafting on a second-grade Soul Power Compression formation taken from the White Tiger Dagger, I should be able to enhance it."
"With this addition, the Speed Boost's effect can be amplified by 50 percent, though it'll also consume twice as much soul power."
"The final result shouldn't be inferior to the enhancement a typical thousand-year soul ring grants, though my body's too weak to fully utilize it."
After repeated attempts, Huo Yuhao finally succeeded in assembling the second-grade Speed Boost soul circuit and merging it with the Compression Formation inside his spiritual sea.
Over and over, he dissected soul skill routes and core formation methods, broke them apart, and reassembled them into new circuits. This was what he had been doing tirelessly for the past three months.
Since his transmigration, as he encountered more and more martial souls and deepened his understanding of soul power flow, even without testing them physically, he could deduce their true effects through simulation in his spiritual sea.
"Alright, after dozens of failures, it's finally done. Luckily, failures here only cause spiritual energy loss, not physical harm. If I were experimenting on my real body, I'd be bedridden for days."
"Now, time to integrate this new circuit into my body."
Looking at the dozing Ice Empress Scorpion, who had long since stopped pretending to be asleep due to Huo Yuhao's frequent spiritual training, Huo Yuhao kicked him awake again.
"Xiaoyuhao, what now…" The Ice Empress yawned. He was already used to being woken up for work.
"Brother Tianmeng, help me retrieve the old circuits and merge this new one into my body in order. Don't disrupt the soul power in my meridians,just layer it over them."
Huo Yuhao shared his True Eye's vision through spiritual link, guiding Tianmeng step by step in constructing the new circuit.
Having done this many times before under Huo Yuhao's supervision, Tianmeng completed the task smoothly.
"Alright, I'm going back to sleep. Call me if you need anything else," he muttered and drifted off again.
Though it sounded simple, constructing a soul circuit within one's body was actually as difficult as condensing a soul ring.
While the circuits didn't last long, their creation was still much harder than developing self-created soul skills.
After all, a self-created soul skill simply adjusted the way soul power flowed through meridians before being released, but a soul circuit required carving entirely new pathways,far more dangerous.
Without Tianmeng's massive spiritual power and the True Eye's aid, Huo Yuhao wouldn't dare attempt such a thing at the mere Soul Master level.
One mistake could cause an internal explosion and destroy his meridians or even his core. But if successful, it would greatly strengthen him.
"Alright, the preparations are nearly done. Based on my simulations, this speed boost should raise my movement speed by around 60 percent. Combined with the True Eye's deep perception, I should be able to hold my own briefly against three- or even four-ring Soul Masters. That's enough for the freshman assessment."
"Still, it'll only last thirty seconds before my body gives out, so I'll have to use it carefully."
"There's still some time before dawn. Let's review some more soul tool formation structures."
When Huo Yuhao woke up, the sun was already shining. Today was the first day of the freshman assessment.
Unlike his usual habit of sleeping until the last minute, Wang Dong woke up early since he had gone to bed early. He wasn't even surprised by Huo Yuhao's ability to sleep so soundly.
"Come on, let's get breakfast and then meet up with Xiao Xiao to discuss strategy!" Wang Dong said eagerly.
Huo Yuhao yawned. "What's there to discuss? Just follow my lead,charge in, do this, then that, and knock them all out. Simple."
"You always tell me to think things through. Now it's your turn, and you don't want to use your brain?" Wang Dong rolled his eyes.
"Thinking depends on who you're up against," Huo Yuhao replied lazily. "From what I see, our opponents this year are weak. Just keep your second soul skill hidden and use it in combination with your first. Who among them could take that combo?"
"Xiao Xiao and I just need to cover you and create openings. Planning ahead doesn't mean much."
"Tch, I can't win an argument with you," Wang Dong grumbled.
After breakfast, they went to meet Xiao Xiao.
After Zhou Yi informed them of the assessment time and location, the three found a quiet spot.
"Alright," Huo Yuhao said, "let's go over our soul skills and martial souls so everyone's familiar with each other's abilities."
"I'll start. My martial soul is the Spirit Eyes. My first soul skill, Insightful Eye, lets me see through enemy movements and find weaknesses. My attacks rely on hidden weapons, about the level of a Great Soul Master."
Then Wang Dong spoke. "My martial soul is the Radiant Goddess Butterfly. My first skill is Wing Guillotine, my second is Goddess Butterfly Light,both offensive soul skills."
He added proudly, "If I fuse my first and second rings, I can seriously injure any Soul Master below four rings,even defensive ones."
Hearing this, Xiao Xiao introduced herself. "My first martial soul is the Three Lives Town Soul Cauldron. My first skill is Cauldron Tremor, my second is Cauldron Ripple.
"These two can also fuse, and even a three-ring Soul Elder can't escape my control."
"My second martial soul is the Nine Phoenix Lute. It focuses on support and control, but since I don't have any soul rings attached yet, it's not very useful in battle."
"Alright, enough boasting," Huo Yuhao said with a smile. "We all want to avoid punishment from that crazy old hag Zhou Yi, right?"
"I already know your abilities well enough. Now, during the fight, everyone listens to my command. If anyone disagrees, we can settle it with a match,winner calls the shots."
Wang Dong shook his head, but Xiao Xiao didn't back down. As a dual martial soul genius, she was confident and wanted to prove herself,especially in front of Wang Dong, whom she admired.
If you want to read 30 advanced chapters and 3 new chapters daily, please subscribe to my : patreon.com/Moorowkeel