Soul tools were one of the key factors that overturned the gap between soul masters and soul beasts.
In the era of Douluo I, the soul tools used by soul masters were merely relics passed down from ancient times. But beginning in the Douluo II era, soul masters gained the ability to manufacture soul tools themselves.
In Bai Chen's view, the soul tool technology of Douluo II was extremely important.
This wasn't an exaggeration. Overall, the soul tool technology of Douluo III was indeed more advanced than that of Douluo II. However, Douluo II still possessed some outrageously powerful black technologies.
The most typical examples were two.
The first was the linked soul tool system.
This device could gather the soul power of a large number of soul masters and combine it, allowing quantitative accumulation to produce qualitative change. In other words, it enabled low-level soul masters to resist high-level ones.
Simply put, in the Douluo II era, the defensive shield formed by a typical soul engineer corps using linked soul tools could even block the bombardment of a Level 9 fixed-installed soul cannon shell.
And the power of a Level 9 fixed-installed soul cannon shell in Douluo II should not be underestimated.
In Douluo III, it was clearly stated that although soul tool technology had improved compared to the previous era, the destructive power of top-tier weapons like Level 9 fixed-installed soul cannon shells had not significantly increased.
In other words, the Level 9 fixed-installed soul cannon shells of Douluo II and Douluo III were roughly equal in power.
So how powerful were they in Douluo III?
There was a very clear reference point.
When Yuanen Zhentian had just broken through to the quasi-god realm, the power of his full-strength eighth soul skill was described as being comparable to a Level 9 fixed-installed soul cannon shell.
At that time, Yuanen Zhentian had only recently reached the quasi-god level, making him a good benchmark for someone newly entering that realm.
From this alone, one could see just how terrifying the linked soul tool technology was.
The second outrageous technology was the humanoid soul tool.
Most people believed that battle armor was simply a more advanced version of humanoid soul tools.
That view was correct—but not entirely accurate.
For example, there was Juzi's humanoid soul tool, the Phoenix Guardian.
That thing allowed an extremely mediocre food-type soul master to withstand three attacks from an Ultimate Douluo without suffering any damage.
And this evaluation was given by Kong Deming himself.
Which meant the reference point he used was very likely Long Xiaoyao or Ye Xishui.
If their combat power were placed in the Douluo III era, both of them would rank at the quasi-god level.
Because both Douluo II and Douluo III used the term "demigod," many people mistakenly believed the two referred to the same realm.
But in reality, they were not the same.
In Douluo II, only two people truly reached the demigod level:
Electrolux, who had the rank of divine officer
Huo Yuhao, after defeating Di Tian but before inheriting his god position
Clearly, these two were not comparable to the "demigods" of Douluo III.
Aside from them, whether it was Di Tian or Huo Yuhao at the Ultimate Douluo stage, they only possessed demigod-level methods, not the actual realm.
In Douluo III, Di Tian personally admitted that his strength had not changed over the past ten thousand years.
And his realm was peak quasi-god.
If the demigod realm in Douluo II and Douluo III were truly the same, then Di Tian should have been only a quasi-demigod.
But if his strength hadn't improved at all over those ten thousand years, how could he still stand as a peak quasi-god powerhouse comparable to figures like Yun Ming and Chen Xinjie?
Because the cultivation methods and conditions of soul masters had changed drastically over the past ten thousand years—gaining battle armor but losing natural soul rings and soul bones—it was difficult to directly compare the two eras.
To estimate the strength of Douluo II soul masters in the Douluo III era, one had to compare things that had not changed over ten thousand years.
Those things were:
Level 9 fixed-installed soul cannon shells
Soul beasts
In terms of the cannon shells, Yuanen Zhentian's quasi-god-level eighth soul skill had power comparable to one.
Meanwhile, Ye Xishui once unleashed the Death God Tower, which nearly destroyed the linked defensive shield formed by ten soul engineer corps working together.
Even if Douluo III's Level 9 soul cannon shells were three times stronger than those of Douluo II—which they likely weren't—the power of Ye Xishui's attack would still be roughly three times stronger than Yuanen Zhentian's quasi-god-level eighth soul skill.
As for soul beasts, both Ye Xishui and Long Xiaoyao in Douluo II were portrayed as consistently suppressing Xiong Jun, who possessed the strength of a demigod peak.
Even the 600,000-year Sea Princess did not display greater combat performance than them.
From this, one could see just how absurd the Phoenix Guardian truly was.
It allowed a mediocre food-type Soul Emperor to withstand three full-power attacks from quasi-god-level experts without breaking defense.
Even if it sacrificed everything except defensive capability, the result was still incredibly terrifying.
At least in Bai Chen's understanding, even four-word battle armor could not achieve such a feat.
For a simple reason:
A Soul Emperor couldn't even wear four-word battle armor in the first place.
Unfortunately, both linked soul tool technology and the crafting techniques behind Phoenix Guardian mysteriously disappeared by the time of Douluo III.
There could be many reasons.
Bai Chen personally believed the most likely explanation was that when the Sun Moon Empire became the Sun Moon Federation, some core technologies were lost.
Later, the massive resource consumption during the Godslayer incident further prevented those technologies from ever reappearing.
But none of that mattered to Bai Chen.
Because he existed simultaneously in both the Douluo II and Douluo III eras.
He could absorb the strengths of both periods and use them to complement each other.
The Bai Chen of Douluo III would study forging and advanced technology, while the Bai Chen of Douluo II would master soul tool engineering.
Both developments would proceed simultaneously.
If Douluo II, with its inferior materials compared to Douluo III, could still produce something as outrageous as the Phoenix Guardian, Bai Chen could only imagine what would happen if forging technology were combined with humanoid soul tool engineering.
The result could be something truly unbelievable.
"Hmm…"
However, after hearing Bai Chen's request, Ning Jingchen showed a troubled expression.
"Are you sure about this?" he asked.
"Our Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect belongs to the Heavenly Soul Empire. You should know the relationship between our nation and the Sun Moon Empire, right?"
"I know."
Bai Chen replied firmly.
"But Sect Master, isn't the biggest weakness of our Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect the lack of combat ability without relying on martial souls? If we develop soul tool technology, then even without protectors, Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda soul masters could possess considerable combat power."
"And besides, we're only going there to learn technology. Just because we study their techniques doesn't mean we become a sect subordinate to the Sun Moon Empire."
"Hmm…"
Ning Jingchen fell into deep thought.
Of course he understood Bai Chen's reasoning.
In fact, he had already been thinking about this problem for a long time.
But until today, those thoughts had remained his own.
Now Bai Chen had spoken them aloud.
After a long sigh, he asked:
"Then how can you guarantee that you'll actually learn their technology after going there? If we don't join them, what we can learn will be limited. I don't believe they would sincerely teach us."
"As for that…"
Bai Chen smiled confidently.
"Don't worry, Sect Master. I have some talent in the field of soul tools."
"I can already create Level 1 soul tools."