Douluo Continent: We agreed on a simulation, but they've come to life?

"The seabed is rich in minerals, but you have only mined less than one percent of them. Humanity's current technology must also have what the merfolk need: ocean-linked defensive soul tools, or various soul tools that make your lives more convenient."

Lu Cheng smiled and began the demonstration.

He handed some wristbands to the young and strong members of the merfolk, signaling them to spread out.

"Use the soul power within you to awaken them."

"Om..."

Amidst the bewildered gazes of the merfolk, a series of light screens, seemingly tangible, were formed between these young merfolk.

“Liya, please attack this light barrier.” Lu Cheng smiled. “Don’t use your mental power, just use pure physical attacks.”

Although the merfolk rely purely on mental control to deal combo damage, Liya is still a 100,000-year-old soul beast, and her physical body has become incredibly powerful.

"Alright." Without hesitation, Liya charged straight toward the light barrier, wielding her halberd.

But the scene that everyone had imagined—the light barrier shattering directly—did not happen. Instead, a milky white light shot out from the light barrier, violently pushing Liya back.

"Is this the soul tool you mentioned?" The mermaid princess's pupils suddenly contracted, and she instantly moved to the row of light screens, gently stroking them with her hand, her eyes filled with increasing joy.

The biggest weakness of the mermaid race is their fragility.

It's a typical high-attack, low-defense weapon, and it only has mental attacks. If it encounters someone who can withstand its mental pressure and still attack, it's going to be in trouble and just wait to die.

However, these ocean defense soul tools effectively compensate for these shortcomings.

Even something as powerful as them is not without enemies.

There are too many powerful soul beasts in the deep sea. They live near the shore, so they are actually quite far from the true deep sea.

"Just those scraps of metal?" The mermaid princess's clansman frowned slightly, somewhat suspicious.

They were afraid this was another scam.

“Hehe, clan leader, don’t underestimate those metals. These soul tools in my hand are made from them.” Lu Cheng smiled.

“I see…” A hint of amazement flashed in the mermaid princess’s eyes. “No wonder humans are the most intelligent, and also the most cunning… hehe.”

To utilize everything in the world to this extent, one truly deserves to be called nature's darling.

"In short, this is just the beginning..." Lu Cheng smiled.

"In the future, I can also create soul tools for you according to the needs of the mermaid race, and you don't necessarily have to go ashore to trade. We can send people to the ocean to complete the trade with you."

"Is that so?" The mermaid chieftain was intrigued.

He swallowed hard and nodded.

“You are a kind person. That child, Liya, can distinguish between good and evil better than I can. When those evil spirit masters came, she tried to dissuade me, but for the future of the clan and those guys’ so-called tempting conditions, I still couldn’t resist… Now, I am willing to believe you.”

Moreover, Lu Cheng's sincerity was truly evident, and there was no way we could be deceived.

It's just scrap metal from the bottom of the water. They don't need it anyway, so turning waste into treasure for humans is a good thing.

"Do you need to stay underwater for a while longer? I think Liya really likes you."

The mermaid chieftain glanced at Liya with her beautiful eyes and spoke with a smile.

"No need. I came here only to negotiate the deal. Once the deal is completed, I should return home."

……

As the sea receded further and further away from him, and Liya, whose gaze remained fixed on him among the merfolk, Lu Cheng smiled and waved.

The next transaction will not take place here.

Instead, it was the western coast of the Heavenly Soul Empire. The Sea Princess clan's sphere of influence was quite large, bordering the Mingdou Mountains, the Heavenly Soul Empire, and the Sun and Moon Empire. He also provided some rare metal patterns and atlases for the Mermaid Princess clan chief to send people to search for.

"Then, it's time to return to the Body Sect."

Lu Cheng twisted his neck, his eyes looking content.

According to the information he received, Xuanzi and many other powerful figures from Shrek Academy, although they did not catch up with him, finally broke through after paying a heavy price (the deaths of two Title Douluo).

He then entered the Valley of Love and Destiny, and as for what happened afterward, he didn't know, but he vaguely heard that the strong people who returned from Shrek Academy were all somewhat eccentric.

It seems that he suffered some kind of shock in Qiankun Wenqing Valley.

Lu Cheng's eyes were strange. Could it be that Tang San knew what happened in the lower realm, and since there was no chosen one to take the fall, he took his anger out on Xuanzi and the others?

but……

Lu Cheng smiled.

This is nothing.

If he wasn't mistaken, Tang San was currently unable to interfere in matters of the lower realms. Furthermore, with Ye Guyi's ascension to the God Realm not long ago, and the Destruction Sect keeping a close watch on him, it was even less likely that Tang San could do anything.

As for Qiankun Asking Love Valley, it is the last chance.

Once you miss the opportunity, it's your turn to counterattack!

Lu Cheng's smile was dangerous. He would make Tang San watch helplessly as his plans on the original continent were completely destroyed. The so-called Shrek Academy was nothing but a joke.

Oh, and Tang Wutong too.

If a forbidden spell were also placed in her spiritual sea, how would Tang San react?

Hehehe.

A cold smile appeared on Lu Cheng's lips.

I really need to control you better.

As for now... let's return to the Body Sect and prepare for the third simulation.

After such a long delay, until the Mingdu Tournament ended, is it finally about to begin? Who will be the third simulated female lead?

……

Chapter 248 The Prototype of Battle Armor

"You're back? You actually decided to come back..."

Ontology.

Inside the hall, Zhang Lexuan crossed her long legs. On the table was a thick stack of documents and letters. She pushed up her glasses and looked at Lu Cheng with a somewhat dangerous gaze. Ever since this guy went to the Sun Moon Empire to participate in the competition, everyone else had returned, but he alone had inexplicably returned to the Demon Forest.

This caused her particular worry.

His tone was full of resentment.

"Ahem, there are some things I need to take care of..." Lu Cheng smiled awkwardly.

No one knew about Ye Guyi's matter yet, so no one said anything, and Zhang Lexuan also gave her face and didn't ask any more questions.

"So how long will our hands-off manager stay this time? A day, or half a month?" Zhang Lexuan snorted and flipped through the letters without much hope. With the re-emergence of the Body Sect, many things within the sect were no longer as closed off as they used to be, but were extremely trivial and complicated. With Lu Cheng not around, she took over the responsibility and was in charge of all matters.

Especially now, with the ongoing conflict on the mainland, he is even busier than before.

"I'll probably be staying here for a long time..." Lu Cheng pondered.

When he comes back this time, he will at least use up his third chance to simulate before going out and having fun again.

"By the way, regarding the sea creature soul beasts, we'll send disciples from the Body Sect to trade there..." Lu Cheng explained, as if remembering something.

"Sea creatures? Mermaids?" A look of surprise flashed in Zhang Lexuan's eyes. "You even went to the depths of the ocean on this trip?"

“Not bad, we also slaughtered another branch of the Holy Spirit Cult, and two Title Douluo evil soul masters.” Lu Cheng nodded slightly, aligning his “granularity” with Zhang Lexuan. They knew the Holy Spirit Cult’s information like the back of their hand. Although the other party had not participated in the battle, they were still supporting them from the sidelines, so it was also important to grasp their current information.

This is crucial to the outcome of the current battle.

"We obtained some rare metals and abundant resources from the seabed. Oh, right... I remember those things are useful for people's mental strength," Lu Cheng mused.

"Now that you're back, go see Researcher Xuan. He repeatedly told me to make sure you go see him." Although somewhat reluctant, Zhang Lexuan waved her hand defiantly, signaling Lu Cheng to get lost.

"..." Lu Cheng smiled and gently kissed the beauty's fair forehead.

"What are you doing!" Zhang Lexuan said one thing but meant another, glaring at Lu Cheng with her beautiful eyes, but her pretty face showed a hint of enjoyment.

"Alright, I won't bother you anymore." Lu Cheng waved his hand and disappeared from the room in a flash.

……

the other side.

Soul Guidance Laboratory.

Compared to when Lu Cheng left, it has undergone tremendous changes. It is still an underground laboratory, but it is as solid as an underground castle.

Although the Mingde Hall laboratory in Mingdu was completely ransacked by members of the Body Sect using a burrowing soul tool, this doesn't mean the underground laboratory wasn't safe; it was purely due to a leaked map...

Otherwise, it would probably take Lu Cheng quite some time to break into Mingde Hall.

After facial recognition authentication, we passed through several metal corridors and several security authentications before finally arriving at one of the innermost laboratories.

The laboratory is managed by Xuan Ziwen, who is currently only in charge of one project: the mental control system for battle armor. Under his command, there are also many newly promoted spirit-type soul masters from the Body Sect, but obviously, most of them are just assistants. It is impossible to expect them, who have only recently come into contact with soul tools, to conduct any breakthrough experiments.

The main burden still falls on Xuan Ziwen.

"Xiao Cheng, you're finally back!" Xuan Ziwen took a deep breath, his face was haggard, and his dark circles looked like a panda's, but there was an undisguised joy in his eyes.

"I did it! I finally did it!"

"A mind control system?" A look of surprise flashed in Lu Cheng's eyes. If he remembered correctly, the time when Teacher Xuan designed the mind control system in the original work should have been delayed by one or two years.

"With your strong support, the unlimited supply of rare metals, and part of the research you conducted at Mingde Hall back then... in short, it was indeed a success." Xuan Ziwen revealed a bright smile and pointed inside.

Lu Cheng looked in the direction he was pointing. In the huge glass display case, an ice crystal armor stood out. It did not look bulky at all, but rather quite light and easy to use, protecting the lower abdomen, chest, waist, ribs, and thighs.

"After wearing it, it will automatically connect to your martial soul, inject a certain amount of soul power, and then unleash even more terrifying power. This is my understanding of battle armor," Xuan Ziwen said with a smile.

“Not bad…” Lu Cheng gently stroked the nascent battle armor, a burning desire flashing in his eyes.

Battle armor is worn by martial spirits.

For him, the Ice Extreme War God Armor was enough to allow him to unleash four or five times the power of his usual strength. With just the Snow Emperor Martial Soul, plus the ultimate skill Emperor Sword, and with the help of the power of this battle armor, he was confident that with his current level 89 Soul Douluo combat power, he could go head-to-head with the level 98 Xuanzi.

Using only one martial soul!!!

What about the others?

Other powerful members of the Body Sect, coupled with the Body Sect's unique second martial soul awakening, would probably be able to fight across two major realms!

Even an ordinary Soul Saint, once equipped with battle armor, would be confident that he could contend with a Title Douluo powerhouse.