Huo Yuhao looked at the small metal figure resembling Gu Yuena and was somewhat speechless.
There was a similar scene in the original story.
When Tang Wulin performed Heaven Forging on a seven-metal alloy, he entered a peculiar state, and the divine-level metal he forged was full of spirituality, possessing intelligence comparable to a human's. It could not only fight but also used Tang Wulin's various combat abilities—even his self-created Dragon Emperor forbidden techniques.
Of course, just like this small metal figure, these sentient metals weren't born knowing all their creator's abilities. Rather, they established a special connection with their creator, allowing them to use the creator's power.
This connection even allowed the metal and creator to share damage.
One could say that this type of high-intelligence metal was fundamentally different from ordinary divine-level metals.
Even without engraving soul tool formations, they could directly transform into Four-Word Battle Armor, with power even surpassing ordinary Four-Word Battle Armor—they could already be called divine artifacts!
Or rather, the moment this type of metal was successfully forged, it was a natural-born divine artifact.
In the original story, Tang Wulin had also only first forged this level of metal under special conditions.
But Gu Yuena held the authority of Creation, giving her an advantage in stimulating metal spirituality and creating life. So seeing this, Huo Yuhao wasn't overly surprised.
What made him frown was that these metals—which could be described as divine artifacts—were different from ordinary Heaven-Forged metals.
They possessed intelligence, would recognize a master, and their attributes closely resembled their creator's. In a sense, they could even be considered the creator's alter ego, with a deep connection to them.
One could say that besides the creator, others were basically unable to use these divine artifacts or bring out their true power.
In the original story, after forging this type of metal, Tang Wulin had also abandoned the idea of giving it to others, viewing it as a natural limitation imposed by heaven and earth on divine artifacts.
Thus, it was indeed difficult for others to use them.
Under Huo Yuhao's watch, the small metal figure gradually weathered the tribulation. Gu Yuena continued to mobilize the Dragon God's Heart, constantly infusing the metal with various world powers—besides the seven elements, also Destruction and Creation energy.
Under these nine energies, the metal began to emit nine-colored radiance.
When the final thunderbolt fell, the seven-colored tribulation clouds finally dissipated. In the sky, only a piece of metal remained—no, it was no longer an ordinary metal block, but a Battle Armor forearm guard.
It hovered quietly in midair, nine-colored radiance slowly flowing within it, as if breathing with life.
Seeing this, Gu Yuena withdrew her power, exhaled gently, and raised her hand. The metal drifted before her, landing on her arm and becoming part of her Four-Word Battle Armor.
Huo Yuhao came to her side as things ended, looking at the Battle Armor component. "It seems there are several issues."
Gu Yuena nodded. "Yes, three problems: spiritual recognition, attributes, and its connection to me. These issues make it difficult for others to use this type of metal for Battle Armor."
Spiritual recognition needed no elaboration—besides her, the creator, others would struggle to gain the metal's acknowledgment.
Like the Golden Dragon Spear, which chose its master—without Golden Dragon bloodline, using it was nearly impossible. This type of divine-artifact metal had even more recognition extreme conditions.
And even if one barely gained spiritual recognition, mismatched attributes would prevent unleashing its true power.
As for the third point, her connection to the metal was too deep—so deep that the metal was practically another aspect of her, no weaker than her connection to the Silver Dragon Spear. Without the ability to sever that connection and establish a new one, ownership ultimately remained hers.
Like the Dragon God's Heart—Gu Yuena could currently use it, but if the Dragon God revived, a single thought would return this super-divine artifact to its original owner.
That connection remained. If she couldn't completely erase the Dragon God's Heart's bond to the Dragon God, it couldn't truly be said to belong to her.
This metal had similar characteristics.
And if that connection couldn't be severed, this metal clearly couldn't truly become another's power—nor could it evolve with its new master like other Battle Armor.
Beyond these three points, there was one more thing Gu Yuena hadn't said aloud, but both understood: this metal was essentially another aspect of Gu Yuena. Aside from Huo Yuhao, she would never give it to a third person.
"Still, these three issues aren't problems for you, Yuhao."
Gu Yuena shifted the topic, smiling. "You can use this metal too. For one thing, recognition is no concern."
As she spoke, she raised her hand, and the Battle Armor component just born from the tribulation detached from her arm, hovering between them.
Its nine-colored light flickered as it transformed into a small metal figure resembling Gu Yuena. It tilted its head, looked at Gu Yuena, then turned to Huo Yuhao, as if recognizing something.
Gu Yuena didn't reach for it—she simply said softly, "Go."
The small metal figure hesitated for a moment, then slowly drifted toward Huo Yuhao, landing on his outstretched palm. A youthful thought-impression transmitted into his Sea of Spirit, its voice somewhat similar to Gu Yuena's: "You carry her aura on you... and your power feels so comfortable..."
Huo Yuhao understood upon hearing this.
He and Gu Yuena had a contract connection, each carrying the other's aura. The divine artifact could clearly sense this, and combined with the Chaos Dharma Body's natural affinity for all things, it didn't reject him.
"As for attributes," Gu Yuena continued, "I was forging toward the Dragon God's direction. The nine metals chosen for the Divine Alloy basically correspond to the Dragon God's attributes. Even the Creation and Destruction attributes—which aren't included—I used the Dragon God's Heart to channel the corresponding powers and added them in. There will be no attribute rejection between you and it."
"And its connection to me isn't a problem for you either." She paused, her tone lightening. "After nurturing it with your Chaos Dharma Body for a while, combined with designing and engraving soul tool formations, it will be enough to sever its connection to me and establish a link with you. After all, it's not a super-divine artifact."
An ordinary divine artifact, not something on the level of the Dragon God's Heart—it would be simple for Huo Yuhao to establish a connection.
But the small metal figure sent a puzzled thought: "I am a divine artifact, you know! Those mortal amplification methods mean nothing to me. Engraving soul tool formations has no value for me."
It wasn't boasting. Just as Invincible Body was only effective below the divine level, for something already at the divine artifact level, ordinary soul tool formations indeed had no amplification effect.
In the original story, one key reason this level of metal was difficult for others to turn into Four-Word Battle Armor was precisely this—ordinary soul tool formations had lost their meaning for them.
Thus, during the Battle Armor forging process, mecha designers and manufacturers who should have been involved were almost entirely sidelined. As a Divine Craftsman, once Tang Wulin forged the metal into a divine artifact, he had essentially done all the work alone.
Others naturally had little chance to establish a deep connection with the metal.
However...
"Yuhao's soul tool formations aren't ordinary."
So hearing the small metal figure's confusion, Gu Yuena and Huo Yuhao exchanged a smile.
Then, with a thought, Huo Yuhao demonstrated on the spot. His divine consciousness, like an intangible engraving tool, precisely traced patterns on the small metal figure. Wherever it passed, fine lines appeared on the metal's surface, forming a simple soul tool formation.
The small metal figure trembled slightly, instinctively wanting to resist, but soon found that the formation did indeed enhance it, so it stopped resisting.
"It does work. I was overthinking." With those words, the small metal figure fell silent, transforming into a Battle Armor component that attached to Huo Yuhao, eventually merging into his body.
Its creator had made it Huo Yuhao's power, and it didn't resist. Now that his abilities were verified, and attributes and connection weren't issues, there was nothing more to say.
Its nature wasn't talkative.
From this moment on, it was Huo Yuhao's power.
Seeing this, Gu Yuena finally relaxed. Then, thinking of something, she reminded him, "Each Heaven-Forged metal is highly spiritual. To avoid conflicts between different Battle Armor components' spiritualities, I'll temporarily suppress their spirituality as I forge them. Once they become a complete set of Four-Word Battle Armor, I'll let the spirituality of the component on you take the lead, unifying the divine artifact's spirituality into a single artifact spirit."
Huo Yuhao thought about how the artifact spirit's voice and appearance would resemble Gu Yuena's, and felt it was a bit strange. But he didn't dwell on it, his gaze turning to Gu Yuena.
"If you didn't use your own power, reduced your own influence, or even forged entirely with world power without letting it align with you—in theory, could you forge Heaven-Forged Divine Alloy usable by others?"
Whether it was spiritual recognition, attributes, or the metal's connection to Gu Yuena, the essence was that her power had too great an influence on the metal during forging.
If she could reduce that influence—or even forge entirely with world power—the resulting metal naturally wouldn't align with her.
"In theory, yes."
Gu Yuena nodded slightly. "But for now, it's only theoretical. I can't yet achieve that. And even if I could, given the Divine Alloy's quality, after Heaven Forging it would inevitably become a natural-born divine artifact."
"Fully spiritual and entirely unrelated to oneself—for others to gain its recognition and unleash its full power would still be very difficult."
The Divine Alloy's foundation was too deep—nine mutually complementary metal origins fused, then reaching Heaven Forging level, would inevitably reach divine artifact level.
And once it truly reached that level, even Emperor Tian would find it hard to force the divine artifact into submission—attacks wouldn't even scratch it.
The Divine Alloy Gu Yuena had just forged, in its later stages, hadn't used her power at all—it had directly withstood divine-level thunder tribulations.
Without true divine-level strength above, brute force wouldn't work.
But this wasn't a major issue—after all, this level of metal was meant for future divine-level experts. They could simply wait until they became deities. And if that failed, they could try softer methods, especially with Gu Yuena as the creator.
The key problem was whether, after gaining recognition, the new owner could truly unleash its power.
After all, not everyone was like Huo Yuhao, who could continue engraving soul tool formations on an already divine artifact to establish connections, and had a highly compatible Chaos Dharma Body to nurture it.
A divine artifact completely unrelated to oneself—even if Gu Yuena specially aligned its attributes with the new owner during forging—the new owner might not be able to use its full power, let alone nurture it like Battle Armor.
After all, in this world, there were too many cases of inheriting another's forged divine artifact but being unable to use its power.
Don't you agree, new Asura God?
Tang San: Insulting me again?
"So the best approach is to let others actively participate in the divine artifact's forging process—that way they gain its recognition and can fully use its power." Gu Yuena summarized.
"I have a shortcut idea for that."
After a moment's thought, Huo Yuhao said, "You mentioned you could suppress the divine artifact's spirituality. So during forging, keep its spirituality at a critical point where it can't awaken. Then let the new owner infuse it with power, nurture it, and help it awaken its intelligence."
Gu Yuena blinked. "You mean to only half-complete the Heaven Forging?"
"Exactly."
Gu Yuena thought about it carefully, the more she considered, the more feasible it seemed.
Heaven Forging awakened the metal's spirituality—it was an essential process for transforming metal from mortal to divine, making it a living being.
But if the spirituality's birth was blocked, the process wouldn't be perfect. And with that imperfection, others would have the chance to participate in the divine artifact's completion.
This was technically exploiting a loophole, but it was indeed feasible.
However, there was a drawback: if this step wasn't completed at the Heaven Forging level, the difficulty would increase. Truly awakening the divine artifact's spirituality would then require energy comparable to the divine level.
But this level of Battle Armor was meant for future divine-level experts anyway. If they couldn't achieve that, they wouldn't need this level of Battle Armor.
"I'll research that direction next."
Gu Yuena nodded, then smiled. "But for now, our own affairs are more important. Yuhao, I'm counting on you for my Four-Word Battle Armor too."
"Alright. I'll handle the design and forging."
Huo Yuhao smiled and was about to leave with her.
But Gu Yuena tugged his sleeve, her purple eyes sparkling as if with laughter.
"Yuhao, I've decided my title will be 'Haoyue.' What do you think?"
"Haoyue?" Huo Yuhao was taken aback, his expression somewhat odd.
This name combination reminded him of the "Hao Dong Three Absolutes," and also of another "Haoyue."
Not only him—the Eternal Lord also thought of that other Haoyue and fell into contemplation.
The previous God-Imprint Throne master, Long Haochen, was connected to Electrolux.
The current God-Imprint Throne master, Huo Yuhao, was also connected to Electrolux.
Long Haochen had signed an equal contract with a being stronger than a God King reincarnated, whom he named Haoyue.
Huo Yuhao had also signed an equal contract with a being stronger than a God King's other half, whose title was about to become Haoyue.
Was this fate?
But it didn't have to be this similar.
"If you like it, that's what matters." Looking into Gu Yuena's eyes, Huo Yuhao didn't say much.
To be fair, on the Douluo Continent, titles and Battle Armor names often expressed feelings quite directly.
For example, in the original, Saint Spirit Douluo's Battle Armor was called "Shengsi Yunming"—very direct.
But that directness also conveyed the other's feelings.
Upon hearing this, Gu Yuena's eyes shimmered as she drew closer to him. "Yuhao, what are you going to name your Four-Word Battle Armor?"
First you suggested a title incorporating my name, now you're asking me this. You want me to choose a name that fits local customs, something in the Douluo style?
Huo Yuhao furrowed his brow in thought, sensing that even the beings in his Sea of Spirit were turning their attention to him. He felt a bit overwhelmed.
This wasn't easy to name.
***
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