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Chapter 46: Bai Chen vs Huo Yuhao (Part 2)
Outside the Hall of Heroes, when Zang Xin saw Bai Chen shatter the Ice Empress' Pincers with a single hammer strike, he couldn't help twitching at the corner of his mouth as he looked at Zhen Hua.
"Brother Zhen Hua… that's your handiwork, isn't it?"
Zhen Hua shrugged.
"The hammers were indeed made by me, but the materials were forged by him. You could say that's part of his own ability as well."
Zang Xin gave him a look that clearly said "You've got to be kidding me."
"You're serious? Don't think that just because I'm not a blacksmith I can't tell. The materials of those two forging hammers are at least at the Thousand Refinements level."
Zhen Hua chuckled.
"Of course they are. I'm a Divine Craftsman, after all. Why do you think I would accept a six-year-old child as my disciple?"
"Hiss—"
Realizing the implication behind Zhen Hua's words, Zang Xin stared at the screen in shock.
A six-year-old Level 3 blacksmith?
That had to be a joke!
His breathing involuntarily quickened.
While the two spoke, the battle inside the Hall of Heroes continued.
After pulling out the forging hammers, Bai Chen finally escaped from the completely disadvantaged situation. At the very least, he now had the ability to fight back.
But…
Crack!
The sound of ice shattering rang out as Bai Chen stepped back two paces, barely avoiding Huo Yuhao's outstretched right hand.
Huo Yuhao's body was now covered in a layer of diamond-like ice crystals. This layer served as excellent protection, and despite Bai Chen's repeated fierce attacks, he had been unable to break through it.
Ice Emperor's Protection—another soul skill granted by the Ice Empress spirit ring.
Unlike Ice Empress' Pincers, which leaned toward offense, this soul skill focused primarily on defense.
Compared to the pincers, the defensive capability of Ice Emperor's Protection had increased dramatically. At the very least, Bai Chen was having a hard time breaking through it.
"Sure is troublesome…"
Bai Chen shook his head helplessly.
It seemed he would have to use a few more tricks, otherwise there would be no way for him to defeat his opponent within the one-minute limit.
Fortunately, this simulated Huo Yuhao didn't appear to have copied Ice Emperor's Wrath or Eternal Frozen Domain. Otherwise, even if they only had the power of a single strike, Bai Chen in his current state wouldn't be able to resist them.
After all, Ice Emperor's Wrath was an explosive soul skill granted by a 400,000-year torso bone, and its power was terrifying. In the original story, the two-ring Huo Yuhao had even used it to instantly kill a ten-thousand-year soul beast.
But even for the real Huo Yuhao, those two abilities were considered trump cards. Bai Chen didn't believe the Hall of Heroes could perfectly replicate the abilities of a 400,000-year torso bone.
Bai Chen raised his right hand and changed tactics. The golden forging hammer smashed directly toward Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao neither dodged nor retreated. Instead, he raised both hands and struck toward Bai Chen.
He had already blocked similar attacks several times just now—there was no need to dodge.
What he didn't expect was that this attack was different from the previous ones.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Four explosive sounds rang out in succession.
The defensive barrier created by Ice Emperor's Protection was forcefully shattered.
Seizing the opportunity, Bai Chen swung the other forging hammer—already prepared in advance—at the exact moment the defense collapsed, smashing it heavily into Huo Yuhao's chest.
Caught completely off guard by the sudden change, Huo Yuhao was sent flying instantly, crashing to the ground and losing his ability to fight.
Watching him lie there motionless, Bai Chen slowly exhaled.
The earlier exchanges hadn't just been probing Huo Yuhao's defenses—they had been preparation for this strike.
Using the Echo property, he had stored the force of the previous three hammer strikes and released them together with the latest blow.
All four strikes landed simultaneously on the already weakened Ice Emperor's Protection, finally shattering the defense.
The flaw of Echo was that it required advance preparation, but once fully prepared, the destructive power it unleashed was greater than a single hammer strike alone.
At this point, the outcome of the battle was decided.
The mechanical voice sounded once more.
"Opponent defeated. Advanced assessment complete. Initiating ultimate assessment."
As the voice faded, the Huo Yuhao from the advanced test disappeared, and a new version of him appeared in front of Bai Chen.
"Ultimate assessment, first stage: survive for thirty seconds. Begin."
So this was finally the last opponent.
Bai Chen took a deep breath. Instead of charging forward, he adopted a defensive stance.
He was worried that this ultimate version of Huo Yuhao might possess the Darkgold Terrorclaw. If he rushed in recklessly, he might be instantly killed.
Because the Bai Chen of Douluo II also possessed the Darkgold Terrorclaw right palm bone, he understood better than anyone just how terrifying that soul skill's power was.
If it were the Bai Chen of that era, his monstrous physical strength would allow him to withstand it.
But the Bai Chen of this era couldn't. His body was far weaker than his future self.
The simulated Huo Yuhao didn't know what Bai Chen was thinking.
A layer of diamond ice crystals rose over his body again, covering both his torso and hands, before he charged straight toward Bai Chen.
"Still not using Spiritual Shock…"
Bai Chen smiled.
During the previous advanced assessment, Huo Yuhao had never used Spiritual Shock. Bai Chen had guessed that the AI was capable of learning from previous battles and adapting its tactics.
Now that hypothesis was half confirmed.
If that were true, then Bai Chen's earlier caution had been justified.
In the advanced assessment earlier, Bai Chen actually possessed a method to instantly defeat his opponent, but he deliberately chose not to use it.
The reason was simple—he didn't want the system to record and analyze that tactic, making the later assessments more difficult.
But now that he had reached the final stage, those hidden methods could finally be used.
At the same time, he let out a small sigh of relief.
The Huo Yuhao simulated for the ultimate assessment was already in the late stage of the two-ring level. At that point, his spiritual power was more than ten times that of an ordinary Soul Grandmaster, and a single Spiritual Shock could even kill a thousand-year soul beast.
Bai Chen had no idea how strong his evil attribute was at protecting his spiritual sea. If possible, it was better not to test it.
While he was thinking, Huo Yuhao had already rushed toward him using Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track.
Facing the aggressive approach, Bai Chen didn't confront him head-on like before. Instead, he retreated backward.
At the same time, the Evil God Hook behind him began swaying restlessly.
As the saying goes, a longer weapon holds the advantage. Since the Evil God Hook had a clear range advantage, Bai Chen naturally intended to maximize its usefulness.
Huo Yuhao narrowed his eyes.
Then, his entire figure slowly began to fade away.
"—"
Bai Chen's eyelid twitched.
Simulation.
In the end, Huo Yuhao had still used this soul skill.
Although this ability was only a thousand-year skill, its usefulness ranked among the very best of all Huo Yuhao's abilities.
The principle behind Simulation was fundamentally different from Spiritual Interference.
Spiritual Interference essentially creates illusions, influencing a target's mind and producing false images within their consciousness.
Simulation, however, works by using spiritual power to manipulate real-world light, thereby creating false images in reality itself.