After class, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong went straight back to their dorm to rest. After three months of Zhou Yi's relentless physical and mental training, they both needed a break.
Unlike before—when Huo Yuhao would head to the Outer Court library and study late into the night—this time, he lay down early and quickly fell asleep.
Wang Dong glanced at the sleeping Huo Yuhao, unsure whether he was truly unconcerned or simply that confident. Normal people would at least pretend to prepare before an exam, she thought. But this guy… he just goes to bed like nothing's happening.
Her initial drive to train vanished. She washed up briefly, circulated her soul power a bit, and soon drifted off to sleep too.
What she didn't know was that while his body rested, Huo Yuhao was secretly "working overtime" inside his mind.
After months of experimentation and observation, he had learned how to use his body as a medium—constructing new soul power circuits outside the traditional meridian system. Through his spiritual power, he could shape these circuits to simulate soul skills or replicate basic soul tool core arrays.
The ones he could currently construct weren't very advanced—roughly equivalent to level-two soul tools at best. Though he could theoretically reverse-engineer level-four or level-five arrays, his body couldn't handle the strain.
If he tried to embed a level-three circuit, it would overload and injure him—something he had no interest in testing.
Even so, building level-two circuits already let him punch far above his rank, equivalent to unleashing abilities of a Soul Grandmaster while still only a Soul Master.
Besides the circuits integrated into his body, Huo Yuhao could also project them outward, manifesting temporary formations mid-battle by combining his spiritual and soul power.
However, these took much longer to activate—three to four times slower than a normal soul skill—and were far too flashy. He could mimic powerful techniques like Wang Dong's Wing Guillotine and Butterfly Goddess Light, or Beibei's Thunder Dragon Claw, Thousandfold Lightning, and Thunder Wrath, but their visual effects were too distinctive. Anyone could tell they weren't "his."
For now, those remained hidden trump cards.
The internal circuits he focused on were all supportive: mimicking auxiliary soul skills or amplification-type core arrays. Since they were internal, he didn't need to externalize them—just activating the circuit infused him with the intended boost.
Given his current physique, he could safely maintain either four level-one circuits or two level-two circuits at once.
He could trigger them instantly in combat, just like activating a soul skill or soul tool—but the fluctuations were subtle. Only someone with extremely high spiritual perception might notice—and even then, Skydream Iceworm's mental shielding would obscure the details.
For the upcoming assessment, he needed to modify his usual cultivation-support circuits into combat-oriented ones.
In his Sea of Spirit, lines of spiritual light connected into shapes—points into lines, lines into planes, planes into forms, forms into a humanoid silhouette. Gradually, he began reshaping the layout.
Let's see… for battle, I'll need an agility boost. Since hidden weapons are allowed in internal tournaments, speed is everything.
If I'm presenting as an agility-type Spirit Master, I might as well look the part.
He reconstructed the network carefully. This circuit, once complete, would boost his reaction time, strike speed, and movement agility—while reducing muscular strain from sudden bursts of force.
At my level, sustaining it long-term isn't realistic. Three minutes at most, maybe two in real combat. But that's enough.
Now, let's merge it with a compression array.
Take the Level-2 Acceleration circuit as the core, graft it to a segment of the Level-2 Soul Power Compression Array from the White Tiger Dagger core.
With this hybrid structure, I can boost speed by an additional 50%, though it'll double soul power consumption.
In terms of effect, it's comparable to a thousand-year soul ring's amplification—but my body can't yet bring out its full potential.
After dozens of failed trials, Huo Yuhao finally succeeded. In his Sea of Spirit, the newly formed Level-2 Acceleration Circuit gleamed faintly, stabilized by the Compression Array overlay.
Over these months, this was his nightly ritual—disassembling soul skills and core arrays, analyzing their pathways, and reconstructing them into new internal circuits.
Even without physical experimentation, the simulations in his Sea of Spirit let him observe the results through his Eye of Truth and precise mental projections.
Finally done. Failed more than fifty times—but at least in here, failure only costs spiritual energy, not my body. If I tried this externally, I'd be bedridden for days each time.
Now came the final step—integrating the structure into his body.
He glanced at Skydream Iceworm, who was snoring in the spiritual sea. With a small kick, he woke him up.
"Little Yuhao, what now?" Skydream muttered, yawning.
"Brother Tianmeng, help me replace my old circuits. Integrate this new one along the existing pathways—keep it parallel to the meridians, don't interfere with natural flow."
"Got it, got it…" Skydream mumbled. After linking through shared vision, he followed Huo Yuhao's directions precisely, embedding the new structure.
Within moments, it was done.
"Alright, I'm going back to sleep," Skydream said, curling up again.
Though he made it look easy, creating an internal circuit was nearly as difficult as condensing a soul ring. The only reason Huo Yuhao could do it was his immense mental power and analytical ability.
A single misstep could cause the entire system to explode internally, damaging meridians beyond repair. But success meant a massive leap in power.
Good. This circuit should enhance my overall speed by roughly 60% for thirty seconds. Combined with the Eye of Truth's predictive analysis, I can keep up with—maybe even pressure—a three-ring opponent.
In the upcoming assessment, that's more than enough.
Once activated, though, I'll only last half a minute before the backlash hits. Gotta use it sparingly.
He spent the remaining night hours reviewing his data and alternate circuit blueprints.
When morning came, the first day of the Freshman Assessment had arrived.
Unlike his usual habit of sleeping till the last moment, Huo Yuhao was already awake. Wang Dong, up early as always, was used to his calm demeanor.
"Come on, let's grab breakfast, then meet Xiao Xiao to coordinate tactics!" she said eagerly.
Huo Yuhao yawned. "What tactics? Just follow my lead. You two charge straight ahead, I'll handle the rest. Simple."
"Didn't you always tell me to use my brain? Now you're the one saying we shouldn't think?" she retorted.
"Depends on the opponent," he said casually. "This batch? Trash. Just hide your second soul skill and combine your first two. No one here can block you."
"I'll cover you and create openings. Planning too much only slows us down."
"You're impossible…" Wang Dong sighed.
After breakfast, they found Xiao Xiao, and once Zhou Yi briefed them on the schedule, the trio gathered in a quiet courtyard.
"Let's go over our abilities," Huo Yuhao said. "You both know mine, but this is for coordination."
"My martial soul is Spirit Eyes. First soul skill: Eye of Insight—lets me track enemies' movements and expose openings. My main attacks are hidden weapons—around Soul Grandmaster level."
Wang Dong went next. "Martial soul: Light Goddess Butterfly. First skill, Wing Guillotine. Second skill, Butterfly Goddess Light—both Power Attack types. Fused together, they can injure any Spirit Ancestor below four rings, even those with strong defenses."
Xiao Xiao followed confidently. "My first martial soul: Three Lives Town-Sealing Cauldron. First skill, Cauldron Shock. Second skill, Cauldron Resonance. Combined, they can immobilize even a three-ring opponent."
"My second martial soul is the Nine Phoenix Harmony Flute, focused on support and control. No rings yet, but it still has utility."
"Alright, stop comparing," Huo Yuhao said, smirking. "You both don't want Zhou Yi's 'special training,' right?"
"I know your strengths. So here's the deal—everyone follows my command. If you've got a problem, say it now. We'll settle it with a fight."
Wang Dong sighed in defeat, but Xiao Xiao's pride flared. As a twin martial soul genius, she wasn't about to back down—especially not in front of Wang Dong.
(End of Chapter)