Both Yuanen Yehui and Ye Xinglan's two-word battle armors had already been fully designed; all that remained was for Xia Yi to forge the parts for them. They could then carve the soul circuit arrays onto the parts themselves.
Watching Xia Yi forge piece after piece of battle armor components, the eyes of Yuanen Yehui and Ye Xinglan sparkled with excitement.
Although what they needed now were just two-word battle armors, the metals Xia Yi was using to forge for them were already soul-forged materials suitable for crafting three-word battle armors.
"With this set of two-word battle armors, we'll definitely achieve good results in the Star Battle Network Competition," said Yuanen Yehui and Ye Xinglan, their beautiful eyes shining.
Although they had participated in many competitions before, it was their first time entering a competition of this scale.
It had been a long time since a competition of this magnitude had been held across the entire Douluo Continent.
Any soul master with a bit of strength across the Douluo Plane wouldn't want to miss such a grand event.
No one knew when the next one might happen. Missing it would be a lifelong regret.
Only Xia Yi had no real interest in this competition.
He had agreed to participate purely to accompany Muxi.
At Xia Yi's current level, facing a crowd of two-word battle armor soul masters below the Title Douluo level just didn't excite him anymore.
It was different for Yuanen Yehui and Ye Xinglan. Both of them were only Soul Emperors now. With powerful two-word battle armors, participating in the Star Battle Network Competition would be the best opportunity to temper themselves.
If the competition were held a few years later, they might even dare to aim for the championship.
For now, they would be satisfied just reaching the finals.
The full name of the Star Battle Network Competition was the Star Battle Network Federation Challenge. It included both mecha battles and soul master battles.
Both types of competition would start with regional qualifiers — five divisions: East, South, West, North, and Central. The top 32 from each region would move on to the finals.
That meant that even in the finals, there would still be 320 soul masters competing for the championship.
Of course, that was only theoretical — many competitors would likely participate in both the mecha and soul master battles.
Among these 320 soul masters, there would be those without three-word battle armor, giving Yuanen Yehui and Ye Xinglan hope.
As for those powerful Soul Sages and Soul Douluos, most of them would have three-word battle armor, but once inside the competition, they would not be allowed to use their armor.
With Xia Yi's forged two-word battle armor, Yuanen Yehui and Ye Xinglan were confident they could hold their ground.
Even when facing Soul Sages with two-word battle armor, who had three-word battle armor forged by Xia Yi, they wouldn't be overly intimidated.
What worried Ye Xinglan and Yuanen Yehui were the Soul Douluos who only had two-word battle armor.
Against a two-word battle armor Soul Douluo, even with their talents, defeating them would be unrealistic.
Watching the battle armor parts being forged by Xia Yi, Yuanen Yehui and Ye Xinglan couldn't wait any longer — they began carving soul circuit arrays right there in the forging room.
While everyone was busy with their own tasks, Yali and Leng Yaozhu pushed the door open and walked in.
"Your Eminences Holy Spirit and Heavenly Phoenix, why are you here?" Yuanen Yehui and Ye Xinglan paused from carving the core arrays into their battle armor parts and looked up curiously at Leng Yaozhu and Yali.
Xia Yi merely glanced at Yali, then continued forging.
Carving soul arrays could be paused and resumed later without much issue.
But forging was different — if the metal cooled, it would need to be reheated and reforged.
"What's going on here?" Yali ground her teeth slightly.
Though she was grinding her teeth, seeing Xia Yi fully activate his martial soul with eight fluffy white fox tails waving behind him, his second soul ring shining constantly, and wielding his Creation Hammer, Yali nodded inwardly in satisfaction.
She understood Xia Yi very well — his Creation Hammer and Fox Meditation Art were his most renowned techniques in the forging world.
Now that he was using both, it showed that Xia Yi was forging battle armor for Yuanen Yehui and Ye Xinglan with full seriousness.
He wasn't slacking off or trying to fool them with inferior products.
From beginning to end, Xia Yi was giving it his all.
This made Yali nod approvingly — Xia Yi was still the Xia Yi she respected.
"Your Eminence, we ran into Xia Yi at the Spirit Pagoda earlier. She already agreed to forge for us," Yuanen Yehui explained.
Yali ground her teeth again and shot a cold glance at Leng Yaozhu.
In her mind, this was all part of Leng Yaozhu's plan — deliberately setting her up to make a fool of herself.
Toying with her.
Leng Yaozhu suppressed her laughter, shrugged innocently, and said, "See? I didn't even have to say anything — Xia Yi agreed on her own."
Although she had guessed that Xia Yi would agree to Yuanen Yehui and Ye Xinglan's request, it truly hadn't been prearranged between her and Xia Yi.
"Hmph!" Yali snorted coldly and grumbled internally, You two just enjoy making a clown out of me.
Yali stopped talking and silently watched Xia Yi forge, feeling the steady flow of life energy infusing the metals he was working on. She couldn't help but muse to herself:
The life force is already so rich now. If she becomes a Divine Blacksmith, it'll be incredible. Leng Yulai, that sly fox, has been refusing four-word battle armor, even auctioning off a slot she could have claimed — clearly waiting for Xia Yi to become a Divine Blacksmith. If Xia Yi reforges my four-word battle armor when the time comes, the power of my armor would at least double.
Battle armor was fundamentally a fusion with the soul master's abilities. Yali, as a healing-type soul master, had achieved the highest understanding of life energy in the history of the Douluo Continent.
If the life attributes of her four-word battle armor could be further enhanced, it would mean a tremendous leap forward for her.
However, the moment this thought arose, Yali forcefully suppressed it.
Yali, what are you thinking? You should minimize contact with her. You can't become a god anyway — what's the point of seeking greater power? This time is fine because it's for Yuanen Yehui and Ye Xinglan. But if you go to her for your own sake, who knows what tricks she'll play on you? If something happens again, you won't even be able to deceive yourself anymore.
Through this incident, Yali realized — as long as she asked, Xia Yi would probably never refuse her.
But some playful teasing would be inevitable.
She was genuinely afraid that if she interacted with Xia Yi too much, something would happen again between them.
Back on Devil's Island, she could still deceive herself.
But if it happened again, she wouldn't be able to lie to herself anymore.
"By the way, Sister Yaozhu, do you know why Xia Yi's forging used to trigger heavenly tribulation? Why isn't it happening now?" Yali suddenly remembered the incident back in Star Luo City — Xia Yi's forging had triggered a heavenly tribulation, causing chaos among the hidden powers in the city.
It was only thanks to Leng Yaozhu's sudden appearance that the situation was defused.
Now Xia Yi seemed to be forging seriously again — but there was no heavenly tribulation this time.
"Don't overthink it. Metals with 100% fusion are not suitable for making battle armor yet — their bodies can't handle it. Let them wait until they reach the Super Douluo level," Leng Yaozhu replied lightly.
Achieving 100% fusion during forging wasn't easy. Pure forging alone wasn't enough.
The first time Xia Yi succeeded was because Gu Yue assisted him with the "Rotation of Creation" technique.
At Blood God Legion, it was thanks to her assistance using the "Huangdi Neijing" (Yellow Emperor's Internal Canon).
The other times were similar — including the time forging the God Realm Core, where Leng Yulai, Gu Yue, and Muxi all helped together.