Chapter 45 Zhenhua: I heard I'm done for?

A moment later.

When Xu Zhao arrived at the mountain where his grandfather was secluded, his father and mother were already standing at the entrance of the secret chamber.

After awakening his spiritual martial soul, Xu Zhao had helped his grandfather and others like Xu Yucheng. Naturally, his parents were not left out.

His father, Xu Chengyang, had significantly accelerated his understanding of his Solar Martial Soul with the aid of the spiritual martial soul. He had already broken through to level ninety-six a month ago.

His mother, Ye Qinghe, had not yet reached level ninety-five, so the effects of the assistance were not as apparent. However, her Martial Soul, the Star Saint Sword, was gradually awakening the primordial power of the Star God Sword with the help of the spiritual martial soul.

In terms of Martial Soul awakening progress, it was comparable to the Snowstream Frost Spectrum Sword. It was estimated that within a year or two, the Star Saint Sword would ascend to the Star God Sword.

...

“Zhao’er, you’ve broken through.”

At the entrance of the chamber, his mother, Ye Qinghe, was the first to shift her gaze from the door to Xu Zhao.

Sensing the still-unstable soul energy from his recent breakthrough, her face was full of joy and pride.

“A great soul master under seven years old—my son truly has the potential to become a god!”

“Thank you, mother, for your praise,” Xu Zhao said with a broad smile, though inside he twitched painfully.

It was an ordinary compliment, yet in a past life, a famous novel had a similar phrase, and the protagonist lacked the corresponding talent and strength. This led to the phrase being twisted into a curse by many netizens.

So, even though his mother’s words were sincere praise, to him they sounded like a poisoned compliment and an overbearing flattery.

Seeing this, his father Xu Chengyang was about to say something.

However, at that moment, the chamber’s heavy door suddenly swung open. A rosy-cheeked old man with white hair stepped out—Xu Minghuang, freshly emerged from seclusion.

Because of his recent breakthrough, the soul power and spiritual force of the ultimate Douluo realm radiated around him. When this energy brushed past Xu Chengyang and Ye Qinghe, their faces paled slightly, and they took a few steps back.

But just as it was about to affect Xu Zhao, Xu Minghuang reined it in.

He bypassed his son and daughter-in-law, walked straight to his grandson, lifted him up, then tossed him high into the air before catching him steadily. Laughing, he said:

“After a few months, my Zhao’er has grown both taller and fatter!”

“Grandpa, you can say I’ve grown taller, but if you say I’ve gotten fat, I’ll get mad,” Xu Zhao replied, pretending to be angry, successfully making his grandfather put him down.

...

“Wrong, wrong, Grandpa was mistaken,” Xu Minghuang knew his grandson’s anger was just for show and responded cheerfully.

Then he turned to his overlooked son and daughter-in-law and said:

“I know you have many questions, but this isn’t the place for talk.”

“Come, let’s move somewhere else.”

A few minutes later.

At the courtyard hall at the foot of the mountain.

Xu Minghuang sat in the seat of honor. After finishing a cup of tea, he spoke slowly:

“As you guessed, the reason I secluded myself for so long was to gather the accumulated foundation over the years and finally crystallize my second soul core.”

“Having crystallized the second soul core, I have surpassed the quasi-demigod realm and directly become a demigod.”

His tone was unusually spirited for such an aged voice, as if the old man was recalling youthful vigor.

Listening to this, Xu Zhao immediately guessed the method his grandfather used to crystallize the second soul core:

“Grandpa, seeing you like this, I know for sure that your second soul core was crystallized through the complementary yin-yang method.”

“Yin-yang complementarity holds the promise of reaching the quasi-god realm. So, Grandpa, you must push harder to reach that realm soon, and then with fists that strike Yunming and feet that kick Chen Xinjie, you’ll make the Xu family’s name revered once more throughout the Douluo Federation.”

Fists striking Yunming? Feet kicking Chen Xinjie?

Xu Minghuang accidentally pulled out a few whiskers and smiled awkwardly:

“Zhao’er, your grandpa still wants to live a few more years. Such feats, wait until you grow up to achieve them yourself!”

Yunming, the Sky-Piercing Douluo, and Chen Xinjie of the Vast Sea Douluo.

Both wielded three-soul-core quasi-god-level souls combined with god-elemental-level spiritual force.

Although Xu Minghuang had confidence in his Martial Soul, the Purple Radiant Heaven-Extinguishing Dragon, their Martial Souls were no ordinary powers.

One wielded the Sky-Piercing Spear, the other the Vast Sea; both were top-tier, first-class Martial Souls, comparable to the Purple Radiant Heaven-Extinguishing Dragon.

With such minor differences in Martial Souls, it all came down to personal skill.

Yunming and Chen Xinjie had immersed themselves in the quasi-god realm for years, supported by god-elemental level spiritual force. Even if Xu Minghuang eventually reached the quasi-god realm, their foundations were vastly superior.

Therefore, in terms of combat power, he would need decades of foundation to compare.

“Enough about that, Zhao’er,” Xu Minghuang changed the subject, his eyes full of expectation as he looked at his grandson.

“Grandpa has broken through, so shouldn’t you hurry your teacher to have Lord Zhen Huamian quickly forge the celestial-forged metal needed to upgrade Grandpa’s battle armor?”

He urged this because—

In recent years, the annual output of celestial-forged metal by the divine craftsman Zhen Hua had been declining, with delivery times getting later.

As a result, leaders across the Federation speculated: was Lord Zhen Huamian no longer capable?

If they didn’t hurry the soon-to-fail divine craftsman to forge the needed celestial-forged metal, what if Grandpa had to wait until his grandson became a divine craftsman to gather enough metal for upgrading the Four-Character Battle Armor?

“Grandpa, rest assured,” Xu Zhao understood his grandfather’s concerns and knew they were genuine.

In no more than a decade or so, his divine craftsman teacher’s body wouldn’t be able to endure the elemental thunder tribulations brought by celestial forging.

Ultimately, he would become a pseudo-divine craftsman who possessed the realm but could no longer perform celestial forging.

“The very day you secluded yourself, I went to see my teacher and asked him to make time to forge the celestial-forged metal you need.”

“Look, he just finished forging it a few days ago and stored it in this soul-guided storage artifact.”

Xu Zhao said as he took a small metal sphere from his pocket and tossed it to his grandfather.

Xu Minghuang caught it steadily. Probing inside with his spiritual force, he meticulously counted the types and quantities of celestial-forged metals. A broad smile spread across his aged face.

With the celestial-forged metals needed for upgrading the battle armor in hand, the design blueprint for the Four-Character Battle Armor had long ago been entrusted to someone for creation.

And Xu Minghuang himself was a level-nine mecha craftsman needed for the upgrade, so there was no need to delegate others.

Thinking of his long-cherished wish about to be fulfilled, Xu Minghuang grew restless and hurriedly rose from his chair. Leaving behind a single sentence, he disappeared from the hall.

“Zhao’er, Grandpa is off to upgrade the battle armor. After finishing these matters, I’ll come to keep you company.”