From the Soul Motion Machine onwards, the Mechanized Douluo

Chapter 18 Soul Power Scalpel? Soul Guidance Carving Knife! [Please read on! Please invest!]

Have you ever seen the sun at five o'clock in the morning in Soto?

No, Chen Hong didn't either, because the sun hadn't risen yet at five o'clock.

On the dimly lit, deserted street, Chen Hong stood outside Chen's Iron Shop. He was about to raise his hand to knock on the door and call for Old Deng to open it, but he stopped when he placed his hand on the door.

It's still too early. What if a group of burly blacksmiths jump out and drag him in to sell his genitals if he knocks on the door so rashly?

"My dad is Chen Lin! Who dares to mess with me?" Unexpectedly, Chen Hong answered his own chaotic thoughts.

However, Chen Hong then gave himself a light slap on the face, saying, "Look at you, what are you saying all day long? Really."

Chen Hong, clutching his cloth bag, squatted at the entrance of the blacksmith's shop. In the dimly lit street, he looked like a child who had gone to an internet cafe all night and was too afraid to knock on the door when he got home in the early hours of the morning.

"I have to say, I've actually learned a thing or two about comprehending soul rings." Chen Hong sat on the threshold, staring at the empty street outside, and began to reflect on his own actions.

Chen Hong knew that his mental state seemed a bit too beautiful, especially when he was in contact with people for too long, which caused a lot of distracting thoughts to arise in his mind.

But Chen Hong is someone who is extremely good at making peace with himself. As long as he doesn't think he has a problem, then he won't have a problem. From a psychological point of view, this is Chen Hong's last psychological defense line. He cannot think he has a problem, because once he thinks he has a problem, then he really does have a problem.

Unless Chen Hong can figure out the reason for his "mad rationality" state, he will really have to rely on his "wise maniac" time to prolong his life at critical moments.

"The nodes where the soul power flows in the soul rings are almost imperceptible. Even if I concentrate my energy and use the frame-by-frame overlay method, I can only leave a few spatial points in my mind in the end."

"Perhaps as my comprehension deepens, the number of spatial nodes in the flow of soul power will increase, thus forming a complete flowchart from countless points."

Chen Hong used his mental power to examine the few black dots he had deliberately marked in his mind, and he felt from the bottom of his heart that he had found the right path, like a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse.

He possesses a spirit-type martial soul, and after advancing to the first-ring soul master, he gained a certain ability to see inside his mind.

"I remember in some novels, mages could communicate with heaven and earth, directly constructing spells within them using their spiritual power and then unleashing them. If I were to comprehend the talisman—I mean, the spirit ring—would I be able to skip the spirit ring altogether and cast spirit skills directly?"

Suddenly, Chen Hong's eyes lit up as he thought of this problem. He felt as if he had grasped something very important, but the inspiration was fleeting, and in the end, he didn't grasp anything.

"Damn it, I need to figure out the [Sage Time] rune first, and see how its results reflect the underlying logic of this world."

Unable to figure out the problem, Chen Hong decisively chose to put it aside for the time being and focused his attention on another matter.

With a thought, Chen Hong felt a thread slowly emerge from his empty mind, weaving through three-dimensional space until it finally left behind a three-dimensional image.

"This is just a guess. The soul power flow pattern of the soul power scalpel, also known as the soul-guided engraving knife, after being materialized, is this cylindrical three-dimensional shape. I used the same energy compression logic from my previous life, but the logic is not significantly different, and experiments have proven that it still works. So, can I understand this three-dimensional shape as a kind of inscription engraved on an object?"

Pound! Pound! Pound!

"Dad, open the door!"

Thinking it through and acting on it, Chen Hong immediately got up and pounded on the door with his fists. In order to get Chen Lin to come out and protect his son's safety, Chen Hong did not call him "Old Deng" directly, but instead called him "Dad" instead.

"Ugh! What an annoying brat!"

"Damn it! Doesn't that kid ever sleep?"

"Master Chen! Hurry up and get your little tyrant away!"

Amidst sighs and groans, Chen Lin, with disheveled hair and wearing a coarse cloth coat, opened the door for Chen Hong.

"What are you doing here so early, kid?" Chen Lin asked Chen Hong, rubbing his sleepy eyes, with a helpless expression as Chen Hong slipped past him.

"Don't worry! I won't forge anything! You guys keep sleeping!" Chen Hong assured Chen Lin before heading towards the small courtyard his father had specially built for him.

Upon entering, Chen Hong took out a simple soul-guided engraving knife from his backpack, retrieved a relatively soft copper sheet from the warehouse, and used the sharp soul-guided engraving knife to carve out a sealed cylinder about the size of a thumb. Finally, he used his mental power to check for any leaks. After repairing the leaks, Chen Hong used the remaining soul-guided silver wires to create three-dimensional rivets according to the energy compression inscription pattern. However, at the high-pressure soul power outlet, Chen Hong added a ball of mithril and used a wire to create a movable valve at the energy inlet.

Once Chen Hong injects his soul power into this sealed jar, the soul power will be continuously compressed in the compression rune circuit, eventually becoming high-pressure soul power and being sent into a large mithril soul power node. Below this node that temporarily stores high-pressure soul power is a very long wire that can form an energy loop between the end and the entrance. As soon as Chen Hong closes the interface, the high-pressure soul power inside will instantly form a loop and be forcibly trapped.

At this point, two scenarios will occur: either it becomes a portable grenade, detonating at any moment, or the soul power wires forming the loop will continuously emit high temperatures, eroding the soul power within.

To prevent the explosion from being too powerful, Chen Hong specifically chose copper, which is relatively soft, so that even if it exploded, it would not cause too much damage.

Even so, Chen Hong himself dared not attempt it. Such a sacred and solemn task naturally needed to be entrusted to his most beloved father, Chen Lin.

If we consider soul power as a kind of "qi", then Chen Hong is now testing whether the soul guide mithril has the effect of storing "qi".

Why are Soul Masters able to store "Qi"? Chen Hong speculates that there are two possibilities: one is the internal and external pressure, and the other is that they have Qi storage organs.

If it's the former, then Chen Hong believes that Soul Guiding Mithril should also be able to 'absorb Qi' under suitable conditions. If it's the latter, then Chen Hong can only hope that Chen Lin won't be hurt too much by the explosion.

If it's a combination of the two, then Chen Hong will have far too many options to choose from!

To allow his father to rest and recuperate before his departure, Chen Hong prepared everything but did not disturb his father's sleep, waiting until he was soundly asleep and woke up naturally.

"Dad, come help me out."

For some reason, Chen Lin, who had just woken up, felt a sudden tightness in his chest when he heard the word "Dad".

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(End of this chapter)