Douluo Continent: Ink Bamboo as a Cauldron to Break Through Ten Thousand Heavens

The two looked in the direction of the sound and saw Chen Cheng struggling to adjust to his stiff and numb body, his movements slow and unnatural. However, the clear and bright look in his eyes contrasted sharply with his physical discomfort, and coupled with his restrained soul power, Bei Bei couldn't immediately tell how much progress Chen Cheng had made in this deep meditation.

"I'm starving! I feel like I could eat a whole cow!" Chen Cheng groaned, collapsing onto the bed. "Isn't deep meditation supposed to be so relaxing? Why do I feel so weak?!"

Beibei frowned and said irritably, "Look outside, it's pitch black, where am I supposed to get you food? Besides, this deep meditation of yours should be something you entered to digest after gaining some insight, not just a simple deep meditation to increase your soul power. So your body isn't receiving a large amount of extra soul power to nourish it, it can only consume its original energy, so a deficit is inevitable..."

Chen Cheng wasn't listening at all, busy stuffing bamboo shoots into his mouth. His casual remark earlier was just a sarcastic comment; he knew what Bei Bei was talking about, after all, he'd already devoured the entire outer academy library before even reaching third grade. Even if you combined all the Tang Sect members, their knowledge wouldn't be as vast as his. Of course, this was all on the premise that Huo Yuhao's "cheat codes" didn't kick in.

"Hey Chen Cheng, you've been meditating deeply for over a week, how much has your soul power increased?" Xu Sanshi leaned closer and asked curiously. "We can't possibly work so hard to catch up with you, and then you just leave us far behind again after some deep meditation, can we?"

Chen Cheng rolled his eyes at him, annoyed: "Can't you spend some time brushing up on your theoretical knowledge and brain? Bei Bei already said that what I'm doing is digesting and understanding, not increasing my soul power. But my soul power has increased, it's gone up one level, now it's 43."

"Phew, thank goodness, not too bad!" Xu Sanshi breathed a sigh of relief, patting Chen Cheng on the shoulder. "With Bei Bei and my talent, we'll surpass you sooner or later!"

"What's the point of surpassing me? The real game-breaking characters are probably still working hard right now!" Chen Cheng scoffed, then said goodbye to the two and prepared to go to the Soul Guidance System experimental area.

He greeted Moon at the door, who stared at him for a moment, then raised his hand in response. Then, Chen Cheng surprisingly felt the emptiness in his body disappear, and his overall condition returned to its peak.

He bowed deeply to Mu En and left amidst Mu En's smile.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

A rhythmic hammering sound came from the experimental area.

"I'm not afraid of others having cheat codes, I'm afraid of others having cheat codes and still working hard!" Chen Cheng sighed, quietly entered the room, and stood aside watching Huo Yuhao, who was sweating profusely.

After more than a week of rigorous training, coupled with the complete absorption of various medications, Huo Yuhao looked vastly different from when they first met. While his body still lacked prominent muscles, he was no longer the malnourished, thin figure he once was; he now appeared much more well-proportioned. His eyes were also brighter, likely because, with his improved physical condition, Tianmeng was able to release a small amount of his spiritual essence to nourish his spiritual sea. What surprised Chen Cheng even more was his comprehension. From the moment Chen Cheng heard the sound, Huo Yuhao's hammering hadn't stopped, while Chen Cheng himself had taken a full month to continuously practice the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique to this level. For this, Chen Cheng couldn't help but marvel once again at the extraordinary talent of Huo Yuhao!

"Bang!" Huo Yuhao was unable to strike again, and the hammer almost slipped from his hand. Fortunately, a hand grabbed his from the side, and then a cool breeze blew by, and his fatigue began to dissipate.

"Brother Chen Cheng! You're finally awake!" Huo Yuhao exclaimed in surprise.

Chen Cheng took the hammer and placed it aside, smiling as he said, "Hmm, you're awake. How have you been lately?"

He didn't ask Huo Yuhao if he had slacked off. He remembered that in the original story, Huo Yuhao only rested the night before he went to be an exchange student in the past three years. Besides, even though he had only given Huo Yuhao guidance once, Huo Yuhao still came here to train every day. What he wanted to ask was about Huo Yuhao's experiences during this period.

Then, the two pulled up chairs and sat down. Chen Cheng listened quietly as Huo Yuhao vividly recounted his experiences over the past week.

When Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong woke up that day, they found Chen Cheng meditating nearby, with two inner court teachers around. The old man told them that Chen Cheng had followed them out of fear for their safety, but thankfully all three were unharmed. Chen Cheng had even gained a significant opportunity, entering a state of deep meditation. Then, just like in the original story, the old man gave them Soul-Elevating Pills and warned them that only a few of them should know about what had happened that day. He added that this inner court senior was also a pitiful person, constantly plagued by evil fire; even as a genius of the inner court, she couldn't escape the curse of fate…

"It's a bit different from the original story, maybe it's the butterfly effect caused by my involvement? But it's not a big deal. Anyway, normally, these two will still cross paths later because of their martial souls. If we reason with them, it will reduce the gap between them. In the original story, Ma Xiaotao was only okay to her own people, but her character was even more extreme than Xu Sanshi during the 'Super Hero' era. Sigh, let's take it one step at a time. It's too early to say anything now." Chen Cheng nodded, signaling Huo Yuhao to continue.

"Then we went back to class. This time, thanks to Xiao Xiao's reminder, I noticed that it seemed to be Teacher Zhou Yi's class. The training load was so heavy! Students who didn't finish would be expelled! I later heard from my senior brother that if you hadn't arranged for us to be in another class, I might have already been expelled. Brother Chen Cheng, I..."

Chen Cheng waved his hand. In the original story, Huo Yuhao truly became Zhou Yi's darling through his own efforts. However, Chen Cheng still believed that although Zhou Yi was protective of her own, her "bullying the weak and fearing the strong" and her tendency to "provoke trouble" and her "I'm doing this for your own good" attitude could easily lead Huo Yuhao astray, which was why he made the arrangement.

"Our class has been having regular physical training sessions lately. Xiao Xiao said that Brother Chen Cheng warned us to take it seriously, so I've been taking it very seriously. I go to the library in my spare time, and then come here in the evening to practice the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique and study soul tools. Oh, by the way, Brother Chen Cheng, there are some things I don't understand about soul tool research..."

"What a money-grubber! When I first enrolled, I spent most of my time figuring out how to make money! But I guess I deserve some credit for this, otherwise Huo Yuhao would probably be selling grilled fish every day, right?"

Chen Cheng answered Huo Yuhao's questions about soul tools in simple and easy-to-understand language, and then offered many ingenious ideas based on his own way of thinking.

"Actually, when teaching a Soul Master, you shouldn't bring extra inspiration-based knowledge. After all, if you start by learning from someone else's inspiration, you might become stuck on your own path or even become someone else's shadow. But I still believe you are a genius, one in a million. I trust my judgment, so I will incorporate a lot of my understanding into my teaching to help you digest it. How about that?" After once again spouting off about the theory that "bigger is better, faster is stronger," Chen Cheng looked at the somewhat shocked Huo Yuhao and said with a smile.

Huo Yuhao quickly shook his head, indicating that he was fine with anything. He was completely convinced by Chen Cheng's description of a world where ordinary people could live happy lives thanks to technology, and Soul Masters wouldn't have to risk their lives hunting Soul Beasts, but instead would find Soul Beasts in designated locations and raise them using Soul Tools. He even wanted to believe that the starry sky he looked up at would one day become more accessible thanks to the power of Soul Tools!

In fact, many of Chen Cheng's ideas and innovations were ahead of their time. For example, most current soul-guided cannons directly condense soul power through a core array, then compress it through multiple layers, and finally stabilize it with a specific device or even multiple core arrays before firing. A lot of soul power is consumed in this process. Chen Cheng's idea, however, is simple. Although the world of Douluo Continent has not developed energy sources like gunpowder and oil, soul power is a readily available, clean, pollution-free, and sustainable renewable energy source! In this way, by simply changing the idea, it's not necessary to use a soul-guided device to fire beams or anything like that. Instead, one could go through the trouble of creating bullets and then use soul power to replace the original function of gunpowder to propel the bullets. During this process, only the soul power needed for the soul master to "fire the bullets" is consumed, without needing to go through the process of "using soul power to create bullets."

  

However, Chen Cheng later realized why the entire world in the original work, including the Sun Moon Empire which had developed soul guidance technology for thousands of years, was shocked by the ingenious mechanical devices that Huo Yuhao brought over—because they were unnecessary.

Yes, in the Douluo Continent, a Soul Master with only one Soul Ring, even a support-type Soul Master, is naturally stronger than an ordinary person. Their body, enhanced by Soul Power, can easily take on three to five ordinary people. Furthermore, a Soul Master's strength increases with their cultivation level! By the time they become a Title Douluo, the threat posed by ordinary armies is negligible. Therefore, the major empires' enthusiasm for cultivating Soul Masters far outweighs their exploration of weapons. The Tang Sect's hidden weapons briefly changed people's perceptions, but as mentioned before, cultivating Soul Masters is considered more cost-effective by the top rulers. The Nine Treasure Glazed Tile School ten thousand years ago is a prime example. Despite collaborating with the Tang Sect and investing heavily in hidden weapons, their weapons were rendered useless by the overwhelming power of the Spirit Hall's Soul Masters, and they were nearly wiped out!

Furthermore, the Tang Sect has an absurdly high level of copyright awareness regarding hidden weapons; almost every mechanical hidden weapon is designed with a self-destruct mechanism. This technology only came into existence because of Tang San, a transmigrator, thus preventing its widespread adoption.

Then, soul tools appeared out of nowhere, completely outclassing hidden weapons in terms of range, power, and price. The Tang Clan's status plummeted, and no one paid any attention to this "outdated little ingenuity."

Soul tools are often only usable by two-ring Soul Masters, and that's why. However, by combining the Tang Sect's mechanical technology with soul tools, and adding some clever ideas, Chen Cheng was able to create a teaching-type soul tool that even a one-ring freshman like Huo Yuhao could use.

However, not all soul tools lack this concept. For example, fixed-mount soul tools are primarily used to launch projectiles. But without a mechanism, they rely solely on stacking soul power to propel the projectiles forward. Naturally, they cannot fire continuously like the "Zhuge Divine Crossbow" created by Huo Yuhao in the original work, which consumes less energy.

Looking at Huo Yuhao, who was completely absorbed in the world of soul tools, Chen Cheng began to wonder how amazed they would be when he dragged him to take the soul tool system test.

Like a vampire on the verge of starvation finding a steamed bun, swallowing it whole only to discover it's filled with garlic? Then he'd definitely be eager to treat Huo Yuhao like a precious treasure. But when the Martial Soul system discovers his talent, will the two sides immediately start fighting?

Chen Cheng grinned mischievously again...