"You plan to simulate the aura of this Man-Faced Demon Spider to attract the attention of opposite-sex demon spiders?"
Hearing Huo Yuhao's unprecedented idea, even Xiong Jun was stunned speechless.
"It's just a pity that this guy is male." Bibi Dong glanced at the Man-Faced Demon Spider lying on the ground, not knowing if it was dead or alive, and said with regret.
"This is indeed troublesome..." Huo Yuhao stroked his chin and turned his gaze to Xiong Jun: "Old Bear, do you know the difference between male and female Man-Faced Demon Spiders? I'll see if I can simulate a female ninety-thousand-year Man-Faced Demon Spider."
Xiong Jun finally knew what this kid planned to do, and just chuckled: "Maybe you don't know, if there is a King of Man-Faced Demon Spiders, it must be a female spider."
"Oh?" Huo Yuhao really hadn't understood the characteristics of this species, and currently no one on the continent had the guts to study the reproduction of Man-Faced Demon Spiders, "Where does this come from? Could it be that the internal structure of Man-Faced Demon Spiders is a matriarchal society?"
Xiong Jun naturally couldn't understand the "matriarchal" in his mouth, but he still patiently explained: "For the species of Man-Faced Demon Spiders, their brutal nature is actually destined from birth..."
Bibi Dong also couldn't help pricking up her ears curiously, listening carefully.
"The reproduction of Man-Faced Demon Spiders is actually that the male demon spider releases its own aura to attract a female demon spider with stronger strength and higher age than itself, and then the two begin to reproduce offspring. And during the process of the female demon spider giving birth, because she cannot move, she usually devours the male demon spider after mating to supplement her own vitality."
Huo Yuhao's mouth twitched. This process sounded quite cruel. No wonder this kind of soul beast was so rare.
Seeing the faces of the two, Xiong Jun continued to narrate: "You think this is the end? More explosive is yet to come. After the little spiders are born, because this species is rejected by major soul beast groups, before growing to a hundred years old, they have to attach to their mother's body and constantly gnaw on the flesh and blood of the female demon spider to grow quickly."
"If the female demon spider is lucky, she can supplement her deficit by hunting other soul beasts, and can also let her children absorb nutrients directly from the prey. This is why most Man-Faced Demon Spiders are females and are more brutal. If they don't do this, they themselves will be devoured by their children first."
"More often, most surviving little demon spiders will choose the time when their mother is weakest to kill her cruelly and quickly complete the last step of transformation."
Huo Yuhao shuddered listening, then thought of something and immediately asked: "Then in this way, wouldn't high-age demon spiders all die because of reproducing offspring?"
Bibi Dong also thought of this layer, and her mood became somewhat lost.
"Hehe, if they were just like this, Old Bear I might not be unable to tolerate these guys surviving. After all, it's for reproducing offspring. It's excusable for them to do so..." Xiong Jun sneered and said.
"Could it be..." Bibi Dong seemed to guess a certain possibility, and her face changed drastically.
"Correct. If young demon spiders improve themselves by gnawing on the mother's flesh and blood, then female demon spiders may fulfill themselves by devouring the transformed children." Thinking of the behavior of this species, Xiong Jun's big face turned completely cold, "Compared to devouring soul beasts of other groups, it's easier to improve by directly devouring clansmen of the same origin."
Huo Yuhao fell silent. In the world of soul beasts, natural selection and survival of the fittest. This law was true even in many areas where human nature was cold. But the species of Man-Faced Demon Spiders was much worse than this survival law.
As the saying goes, even a vicious tiger does not eat its cubs. This sentence is useless in the Man-Faced Demon Spider group.
The higher the cultivation of a Man-Faced Demon Spider, the more brutal and vicious its character naturally becomes. No wonder when Sea God Tang San conquered the continent, the human faces on the abdomen of the Man-Faced Demon Spiders he encountered were all ferocious women.
"So, you want me to simulate directly according to this guy's aura to attract a female demon spider with higher cultivation." Huo Yuhao finally understood Xiong Jun's meaning. In this way, they were lucky to encounter this ordinary ten-thousand-year Man-Faced Demon Spider.
Speaking of which, how did this guy endure not looking for a female demon spider to mate? Huo Yuhao immediately silently gave a thumbs up to this male spider in his heart.
Without delay, after sensing the aura of the Man-Faced Demon Spider, Huo Yuhao immediately started simulating. However, this time he planned to simulate a ninety-thousand-year male Man-Faced Demon Spider.
"You kid plan to attract a hundred-thousand-year Man-Faced Demon Spider King, right?" Xiong Jun guessed Huo Yuhao's little thought, but even he had never seen a hundred-thousand-year Man-Faced Demon Spider.
"If a Man-Faced Demon Spider at the hundred-thousand-year level really exists in the Star Dou Great Forest, its strength must be in a completely different dimension from ordinary ten-thousand-year demon spiders. You have to be careful." Bibi Dong instructed.
"Mmhmm." Huo Yuhao nodded. The strength of a hundred-thousand-year Man-Faced Demon Spider King must be comparable to fierce beasts ranked lower like the Demon Empress and the Crimson King. Ordinary human Titled Douluos or even Super Douluos wouldn't be its opponents at all.
"I'm starting."
Huo Yuhao's second soul ring lit up. An aura unique to the Man-Faced Demon Spider suddenly spread in all directions.
Spiritual Simulation! In this life, the reason why Huo Yuhao chose the four divine skills and the Simulation soul skill of the Skydream Ice Silkworm no matter what was because these abilities were too heaven-defying. Even in the Ultimate Douluo period, the rotten salted fish achieved many achievements unimaginable to the world by relying on the simulation and transformation ability of the Treasure Hunting Beast.
The snobbish Treasure Hunting Beast would only follow the Dragon God or the Gold and Silver Dragon Kings. Huo Yuhao naturally gave up the thought of finding that little unique thing to replace the second soul skill at the start.
As soon as the aura of the ninety-thousand-year Man-Faced Demon Spider appeared, the surrounding low-level soul beasts were scared into fleeing in all directions. That was the nightmare of small soul beasts, an existence devouring life, the object hated by all soul beasts, known as the terrifying evil killer.
Huo Yuhao actually didn't have much confidence in his heart, just hoping that a ten-thousand-year Man-Faced Demon Spider really survived...
—
On the other side, the underground competition.
Watching Gao Dalou making the soul tool in his hand with the best materials, Xiao Hongchen couldn't help nodding secretly.
Gao Dalou's production method was indeed different from orthodox soul engineers, especially in the details of some techniques, obviously having his own unique way. If he could study soul tool production to this extent just by groping, this guy definitely deserved the word genius!
After making a shell, Gao Dalou suddenly looked up at the thoughtful Xiao Hongchen opposite and smiled: "Brother, stop looking at me. You absolutely can't see what I'm doing. My unorthodox way, even the way of making core arrays is different from ordinary soul engineers."
Xiao Hongchen was stunned for a moment, but quickly realized that his continuous gaze made this Soul Engineer Gao Dalou think he was observing his production to target him. Then he smiled slightly, didn't explain, stopped looking at the opponent, and started his own soul tool production.
He still chose the standard carving knife on the soul tool production table and started carving the core array. Compared to Gao Dalou's heaviness and simplicity, as the grandson of Jing Hongchen, his carving could definitely be described as precise and high-speed.
The carving knife in Xiao Hongchen's hand seemed to come alive, jumping constantly at his fingertips. Every cut was extremely precise. If some teachers from soul engineer academies saw it, they would definitely think this was textbook-level production. Metal chips flew. A complex core array gradually took shape under his carving.
Xiao Hongchen's carving didn't have too long movements. One cut usually only carved a short line, unlike Gao Dalou's one cut three changes. Only his movements were too fast. Often in the blink of an eye, several cuts were completed, and the connection between each cut was simply no different from being cut out by one knife.
You know, the current Xiao Hongchen was a Level 7 Soul Engineer personally certified by Kong Deming!
When Gao Dalou finally completed the shell production in his hand and looked up at Xiao Hongchen again, his whole person instantly fell into a sluggish state.
What did he see? He saw afterimages dancing at Xiao Hongchen's fingertips. He couldn't see clearly what he was doing at all. Only fine metal chips were constantly sprinkled out, then spread evenly aside.
Making core arrays so fast, isn't he afraid of making mistakes? This was the first thought in Gao Dalou's mind.
He subconsciously looked at Xiao Hongchen's eyes. Precisely because he was from an unorthodox background, his perception of many places in soul tool production was more sensitive than soul engineers from formal academies.
And for a soul engineer, the look in the eyes was extremely important. Often many things could be seen from the opponent's eyes.
Gao Dalou's face was instantly full of bitterness. Which round is this? Encountering such a strong opponent. It seems not easy to win against him!
At this time, although there was a soundproof shield and sounds from outside couldn't reach the competition stage, the high-level gamblers who came to watch the battle tacitly kept quiet, casting their eyes on the object they bet on.
Gambling is also a science. Pre-match research is particularly important. Which soul engineers have characteristics, which soul engineers might have higher levels, they all knew in their hearts.
For an unremarkable soul engineer like Gao Dalou, observant people had long focused their attention on him. More conspicuous than Xiao Hongchen was not because of how strong Gao Dalou's ability was, but because of the carving knife in his hand.
This carving knife in Gao Dalou's hand was indeed a family heirloom, but it had a name on the Carving Knife Ranking List. A true Ranked Carving Knife.
Although the family declined, Gao Dalou was secretly protected by some high-level soul engineers related to the family, so he could keep this carving knife from being coveted. But those who helped him secretly didn't want him to become a powerful soul engineer too, so the help stopped there.
Precisely because of the existence of that carving knife, in this battle between Gao Dalou and Xiao Hongchen today, the odds were one to two point three for Gao Dalou, and one to one point two for Xiao Hongchen. Just from the odds, one could see the gap in strength comparison set by the gamblers in their hearts.
Of course, even with these odds, it was influenced by someone placing heavy bets on Xiao Hongchen before the competition started, otherwise his odds would be even lower. Only no one knew that the one placing heavy bets was himself.
Faint light flickered. A trace of solemnity appeared on Xiao Hongchen's face. The carving knife in his hand finally stopped. A spherical core array the size of a fist had taken shape in front of him.
He could actually use his martial soul to control metal to complete this step directly, but that would undoubtedly expose his identity at the first moment. After all, Xiao Hongchen's Three-Legged Golden Toad was known as one of the martial souls most suitable for soul engineers.
The entire core array in his hand was hollowed out, simply an exquisite artwork. As if endowed with life, it emitted faint light. A very dangerous aura was constantly released from it. This was still under the condition of not injecting soul power yet.
Unlike the soul tool made by Gao Dalou which had as many as three core arrays, this one made by Xiao Hongchen had only this one core array.
Immediately after, Xiao Hongchen started making other accessories. The production speed was still very fast.
Similarly, Gao Dalou was also busy over there, doing some final assembly and debugging work. In fact, even if he wanted to watch Xiao Hongchen's production, he couldn't see clearly at all.
Perhaps because Xiao Hongchen wasted a lot of time earlier, now he couldn't stop when making it. The movements were really too fast, fast to the extent of being overwhelming.
How to watch this? watching more would make his eyes dazzled.
Time passed minute by minute. The first one to complete his soul tool production was surprisingly Soul Engineer Number 96. Taking exactly one hour. Glancing lightly at other busy soul engineers, he handed in his work.
The second one to complete was Number 96's opponent. When Number 96 indicated he completed the production, this opponent looked at the soul tool he completed, then gave up his own production with a face like dead ashes.
The gap was too obvious. There was no need to continue. After all, what Number 96 completed was actually a Level 5 soul tool!
Most soul engineers began to complete successively after one and a half hours. This was a competition, not letting every soul engineer make their strongest soul tool. Time was limited. The best production method was to make the strongest soul tool one could complete within the limited time.
Gao Dalou completed a quarter of an hour earlier than Xiao Hongchen. Only he didn't rush to hand in the work, but stood opposite, quietly watching Xiao Hongchen whose hands were flying up and down making the soul tool.
What was terrifying was that the more he watched, the more frightened he became. Although he couldn't see how Xiao Hongchen made it, he still noticed some details.
Although he, a person from an unorthodox background, was different from orthodox soul engineers when making soul tools, this difference was mainly in production techniques.
But the soul tool made by Xiao Hongchen was something he hadn't even heard of. What were those circles of metal coils used for? What were those cannon barrels of the same length used for? Why did that small metal ball have more than ten holes, and the positions formed a circle evenly arranged?
What were these for? This thing didn't seem to be a core array...
—
At this time, a strange sound attracted Huo Yuhao's attention.
That rustling sound was like someone changing clothes, or like the friction of leaves. As vigilance rose suddenly in his heart, Huo Yuhao slowly gathered his spiritual power and looked carefully towards the direction where the sound came from—
That seemed to be... a woman?
She possessed a head of white hair like frost and snow, like the pure white snow at dawn in winter, pure and mysterious. Silver threads refracted faint brilliance in the sun, like wrinkles carved by years on her face, revealing a vicissitudinous beauty.
A pair of willow eyebrows, slightly raised, could attract the eyes of living beings, making people obsessed.
However, her lower body was different from ordinary people. It was a huge pitch-black spider. Eight long legs walked on the earth with a non-human elegant posture. Every step was light and swift, unpredictable. The junction of her body and the spider was covered with a layer of seemingly thin black carapace, both hard and revealing a strange flexibility.