The air of Shrek City was a heady brew of street-vendor spices, the metallic tang of the Soul Tool District, and the omnipresent, ancient pulse of the Sea God Lake. After the desolate, howling white of the Extreme North, the sensory overload felt like a physical weight.
Lin Feng walked half a pace behind Huo Yuhao as they passed through the academy gates. Yuhao was different now; the "Ultimate Ice" had left a crystalline chill in his presence, a silent sharpness that made common students instinctively give him space. But Lin Feng... Lin Feng was an enigma. He had suppressed his two black rings beneath a veil of purple, yet his very footsteps seemed to vibrate with a density that the academy's paving stones could barely endure.
[System Interface: Sovereign's Treasury]
Current Points: 53,185.
Available Crafting: Golden Dragon Scale Under-Armor (40,000 Points).
Passive Bonus: Density Anchor – Increases internal physical stability by 400%.
I need that armor, Lin Feng thought, his eyes tracking the ripples on the Sea God Lake. If I keep using the Hammer's weight without a vessel to contain the recoil, my own Golden Body will eventually collapse from the inside.
The Crimson Interruption
The trio—Lin Feng, Yuhao, and the recently reunited Wang Dong—were heading toward the Sea God Pavilion for their official debriefing when the lake suddenly exploded.
A pillar of incandescent, crimson flame erupted fifty meters into the air. The temperature in the clearing surged from a pleasant spring morning to a blistering desert noon in heartbeats.
"Get back!" Lin Feng roared, his arm shooting out to bar Yuhao's chest.
From the heart of the fire, a figure blurred toward them. It was a woman, her long hair a flowing river of molten lava, her eyes glowing with a manic, uncontrollable heat. Ma Xiaotao. The descendant of Ma Hongjun and the possessor of the Evil Fire Phoenix.
She was in the throes of a soul power outbreak. At Rank 60+, her pressure was like a falling star.
"Hot... so hot..." she hissed, her crimson wings unfurling and scorching the grass to ash. She lunged, her target instinctively being the strongest presence in the clearing: Lin Feng.
"Wang Dong, take Yuhao back! Now!"
Lin Feng didn't retreat. He couldn't. If he moved, the blast wave of her impact would vaporize his friends. He planted his feet, and for the first time since the Extreme North, he let the Divine Vajra Domain of his first black ring leak through the system's cloak.
BOOM!
Ma Xiaotao's flaming palm struck Lin Feng's crossed forearms. The ground beneath Lin Feng's boots turned to glass instantly from the heat.
[System: Critical Heat Detected!]
Absorbing Thermal Energy...
Converting to Kinetic Pressure...
Lin Feng's skin turned a blinding, burnished gold. He wasn't just holding her back; he was acting as a heat sink. "Yuhao! Use the Ice Empress! Now! Chill her blood or we all burn!"
Huo Yuhao didn't hesitate. His Spirit Eyes turned a terrifying emerald. The air turned brittle. "Ultimate Ice... Frozen Heart!"
A beam of absolute zero struck Ma Xiaotao's back. The collision of the 400,000-year Ice and the Evil Fire created a steam explosion that leveled the nearby trees. Lin Feng felt the recoil smash into his chest like a battering ram, but he stood his ground, his Golden Body absorbing the shock.
The Sea God Pavilion: The Elders' Gaze
Moments later, the chaos was quelled by the arrival of Elder Xuan and Teacher Zhou Yi. Ma Xiaotao lay unconscious, her fever broken by Yuhao's ice.
The trio was led into the heart of the Sea God Pavilion—a hall carved from the living wood of the Gold of Life tree. The atmosphere here was thick with the history of ten thousand years.
Elder Xuan sat at the head of a long table, his expression uncharacteristically grave. Beside him sat the Dean of the Martial Soul Department, Yan Shaozhe.
"You three," Yan Shaozhe began, his eyes lingering on Lin Feng's scorched sleeves. "You survived a direct strike from Xiaotao. Lin Feng, your physical defense is... unprecedented. Even for a Body Soul."
"I am a shield, Dean," Lin Feng replied, his voice calm despite the fact that his internal organs were still vibrating from the impact. "A shield does not break."
"The Academy has decided," Elder Xuan interrupted, gnawing on a drumstick but watching Lin Feng's eyes. "The tournament for the official 'Shrek Seven Monsters' is approaching. But you three are special. We are granting you access to the Inner Court Library and the Secret Forging Hall. Lin Feng, you asked for rare ores. They are waiting for you."
[Quest Complete: The Crimson Encounter.]
Reward: 10,000 Points.
Current Balance: 63,185.
The Golden Forge: The Birth of the Sovereign's Guard
That night, Lin Feng didn't sleep. He locked himself in the Secret Forging Hall, a cavernous room lit by the blue flames of spiritual coal.
"System," Lin Feng whispered. "Begin the 'Sovereign's Guard' Crafting Sequence. Use the 50,000 gold coins' worth of Star-Iron and the 40,000 System Points."
[Crafting Commencing...]
Step 1: Liquefying Star-Iron.
Step 2: Infusing 'Golden Dragon Scale' essence.
Step 3: Binding to User's DNA.
The room filled with a golden radiance that rivaled the sun. Lin Feng stood at the center of the forge, his shirt discarded, his muscular frame glowing as the molten metal began to float in the air, guided by his Absolute Gravity.
He wasn't just making armor; he was making a second skin.
He hammered the glowing liquid with the phantom of the Clear Sky Hammer, each strike echoing like thunder through the academy's foundations. Clang! Clang! Clang! In the silence of the night, Elder Xuan, standing on a nearby roof, frowned. "That rhythm... it sounds like the Disorder Splitting Hammer technique. But the Clear Sky School has been gone for ages. Who is this boy?"
Inside the forge, the armor was finished. It was a suit of under-armor, thin as silk but hard as a dragon's tooth, glowing with a soft, internal gold light.
[Item Created: The Golden Dragon's Anchor (Rank 5 Soul Tool equivalent).]
Passive: Reduces all incoming physical damage by 50%.
Active: Gravitational Surge – Briefly increases the user's weight by 10x without affecting their speed.
Lin Feng donned the armor. The moment it touched his skin, it vanished, merging with his Golden Body. He felt a surge of stability. The "recoil" that had been haunting him since the tournament was gone. He was now a perfectly stabilized vessel for the Hammer.
He looked at his hands, then out the window toward the Inner Court.
"The Seven Monsters Tournament," Lin Feng whispered. "I'm not just going to be a candidate. I'm going to be the standard by which all future monsters are measured."
[Status Update:]
Lin Feng: Rank 25 (Accelerated by Forge Tempering).
Huo Yuhao: Rank 22.
Wang Dong: Rank 28.
Remaining Points: 23,185.
[End of Chapter 13]