I am the son of the Dragon God in Douluo Continent.

A huge, vermilion bird appeared before everyone, shining like the sun upon all things in the world.

This is Ma Xiaotao's true martial spirit form, the Vermilion Bird True Form.

However, unlike a normal Martial Soul True Body, this Vermilion Bird True Body was actually wearing armor!

It should be understood that the true form of a beast spirit is actually a person who transforms into a spirit body made of energy, which is a phenomenon of fully releasing the spirit.

If it is a weapon spirit, then it summons an enlarged version of the weapon spirit and uses its own soul energy as a catalyst to make itself the weapon spirit, thereby unleashing the full power of the weapon spirit.

Of course, some weapon spirits are special. In addition to the traditional weapon spirit true form, they can also release a special beast spirit true form by utilizing the special beast bloodline power contained in the weapon spirit.

However, Ma Xiaotao's phenomenon is clearly different; it is more like a product of the combination of beast spirit and weapon spirit.

The only one present who wasn't surprised was Xu Xingyu, because he knew very well that the scene before him was actually the product of the fusion of Ma Xiaotao's martial soul true form and his own battle armor.

In this state, Ma Xiaotao can exert 200% of her power, and considering that this is a million-year soul ring obtained with the power of the Vermilion Bird, the amplification will only be greater.

Even so, Xu Xingyu did not show any panic. Under the astonished gazes of everyone, he transformed into a nine-colored divine dragon clad in armor.

He actually released his own Martial Soul True Body just like Ma Xiaotao! You have to know that when Xu Xingyu ascended to the throne, he was close to the Soul Saint level, and he didn't have his seventh soul ring yet. Theoretically, he couldn't use the Martial Soul True Body, a soul skill exclusive to the seventh ring!

However, in reality, the so-called Martial Soul True Body can be released theoretically without the need for a seventh soul ring. As long as one provides soul power that surpasses that of a Fantasy Soul Saint, that person can release the Martial Soul True Body.

One example is the Seven-in-One Fusion Technique that Tang San used with the Shrek Seven Devils in the Soul Master Competition ten thousand years ago. Back then, Tang San released the true form of the Clear Sky Hammer's weapon spirit with the soul power given to him by the Seven Devils.

Therefore, Xu Xingyu's current act of releasing her Martial Soul True Form is merely an imitation of what Tang San did back then, relying on the enhancement of his Battle Armor.

If there's anything different about the Martial Soul True Body used in this method, it's that it consumes more Soul Power and is less stable. Therefore, the Martial Soul True Body released by this method can also be considered a pseudo-Martial Soul True Body.

However, whether it's a real or fake Martial Soul True Body, the one she has now is enough for Xu Xingyu.

Xu Xingyu, who had transformed into a nine-colored divine dragon, instantly drained all the fire elements around Ma Xiaotao. Before Ma Xiaotao could react, countless chains made of extreme ice bound her under Xu Xingyu's control.

Seeing this, Ma Xiaotiao tried to break free from the ice chains by consuming a large amount of soul power. However, with all the fire elements around him drained, Ma Xiaotao, without any replenishment, quickly lost her ability to maintain her Martial Soul True Body.

Therefore, after a period of time, the true form of the Vermilion Bird's martial soul dissipated due to the exhaustion of its soul power.

Thus, the great battle between the Dragon God and the Vermilion Bird came to an end, with the ultimate victor being Xu Xingyu, the holder of the Dragon God Martial Soul.

Although Ma Xiaotao lost this battle somewhat frustratingly, she was extremely satisfied with the enhancement her battle armor provided. Originally, her strengths were not in close combat but in ranged attacks that relied on the unique energy supply and explosive nature of the fire element.

However, after putting on the battle armor, Ma Xiaotao's close combat ability also improved significantly. Originally, she learned more advanced techniques to prevent being broken through by her opponents and having to fight them in close combat.

Therefore, she tends to focus more on emergency measures, but after putting on the battle armor, she doesn't find close combat as difficult as before, and even begins to feel a sense of exhilaration in close combat.

Xu Xingyu was somewhat dissatisfied with his battle armor during this battle, because he found that his battle armor provided limited boosts to his attributes other than soul power when fighting Ma Xiaotao.

Xu Xingyu had actually anticipated this, since her spiritual power and physical body had already reached the god-level, even if it was only the lowest level of priest. Therefore, she wasn't too surprised that the battle armor didn't provide much of an boost to anything other than soul power.

To Xu Xingyu's dismay, cracks began to appear on the battle armor as the fight progressed. Of course, these cracks were not caused by Ma Xiaotao. After all, although both of their battle armors were of the second rank, Xu Xingyu's Longyue Battle Armor was superior to Ma Xiaotao's Huangque Battle Armor in terms of quality and hardness.

Therefore, this phenomenon can only be caused by Xu Xingyu himself. It is because Xu Xingyu's physical body is too strong that his battle armor itself cannot withstand the backlash brought about by Xu Xingyu's power.

And this is with Xu Xingyu staying behind. If Xu Xingyu uses her full strength, his battle armor will probably be shattered into pieces the moment she throws a punch.

Of course, this was within Xu Xingyu's expectations. In his estimation, unless his battle armor had at least the strength of a four-word battle armor, it would be impossible for it to withstand his current strength.

Can I just say that I, Xu Xingyu, am really too strong? Why does my character setting feel like something out of a fanfiction written by a completely incompetent novelist?

So why was Xu Xingyu so anxious to complete her project? This is mainly because Xu Xingyu is currently facing a bottleneck in her forging skills.

Unlike Tang Wulin, who had experienced mentors to guide him, he could only rely on his past memories of the Douluo Continent to find his way to Soul Forging, Heaven Forging, and God Forging, which are above Spirit Forging.

This led Xu Xingyu to be completely lost in the essence of Soul Forging. Fortunately, Xu Xingyu remembered that many people in the original work also obtained Four-Word Battle Armor without the help of the Divine Craftsman.

Their approach was to use their own soul power to nurture their father's battle armor for a long time, allowing the metal on their bodies to undergo a qualitative change from soul forging to heaven forging.

While this method is certainly not as good as directly forging Heavenly Forged Metal, it is still a way to strengthen battle armor.

Since soul power can be used to nurture the battle armor, allowing it to evolve from soul forging to heaven forging, then it is only natural that soul power can also be used to nurture it to evolve it from spirit forging to soul forging.

Xu Xingyu wanted to observe the process of transforming from spirit forging to soul forging so that he could master the techniques of soul forging and successfully produce soul-forged metal in the future.

As for Tianduan Metal, he might also adopt this method to learn, since he doesn't have any mentors and can only rely on his own understanding to learn.

However, the Divine Forging is different. Xu Xingyu will likely have to rely on his own comprehension to succeed, since it is related to Xu Xingyu's own understanding of the laws.