In the following days, Xia Yi returned to the same routine he had during the previous holiday—constantly forging.
After a period of not using the Hammer of Creation and the Fox Thought Technique for forging, his understanding of the craft deepened significantly.
Now, using the Hammer of Creation and the Fox Thought Technique to assist his forging once again, the fusion rate of his alloys consistently reached over 97%.
There was even a 30% chance that he could produce divine alloys with a 99% fusion rate.
For Gu Yue's chest armor, all the pieces of metal used had a 99% fusion rate.
Any pieces that didn't reach this threshold were set aside for mecha production.
Bi Ji's case was the same.
Under Zhen Hua's guidance, Xia Yi's forging skills improved rapidly.
His standards for metals became increasingly meticulous, especially when crafting battle armor for his allies.
Seeing that her battle armor was entirely composed of divine alloys with a 99% fusion rate, Bi Ji was overjoyed.
Previously, she had some resentment about letting Zi Ji have the first set of forged battle armor.
But after seeing Xia Yi's work, all her complaints vanished instantly.
Zi Ji's battle armor, though also made entirely of divine alloys, mostly had a fusion rate of 96% to 97%, with very few reaching 98%.
Such fusion rates were already one in a million, even if top-tier forgers like Feng Wuyu or Mu Chen were involved. It was nearly impossible for them to produce all-alloy battle armor entirely from divine metals.
However, compared to Bi Ji's battle armor—where every single alloy piece had a 99% fusion rate—Zi Ji's seemed rather inferior.
Originally, Xia Yi wanted to reforge Zi Ji's armor, but she refused.
She had already grown fond of her current battle armor and didn't want to change it.
She decided to wait until upgrading to a three-word battle armor before reforging.
"Such extravagance..." Seeing the pieces of divine alloy with fusion rates below 99% discarded to the side, even Gu Yue felt that Xia Yi was being excessive.
After all, these were divine alloys!
For an ordinary battle armor master, obtaining just one piece would be enough to celebrate for days.
Yet Xia Yi simply discarded them, planning to use them for mecha production.
Xia Yi's mecha was being built to red-class mecha standards.
Not only was its entire structure made of divine alloys, but its core components were also crafted from heavenly-forged metal.
Specifically, he used the piece of heavenly-forged metal given to him by Ya Li.
Though extremely valuable, its attributes didn't suit him, so he decided to use it for the mecha's core components.
With this heavenly-forged metal, his mecha had the potential to evolve into a red-class mecha.
By the time Xia Yi finished forging Bi Ji's two-word battle armor, ten days had already passed.
Since he discarded any metals below 99% fusion rate, the process took longer than expected.
Just as he completed Bi Ji's armor, Di Tian returned from investigating the Tang Sect's plane crash.
Hearing Di Tian's report, Xia Yi's expression became increasingly strange.
"You're saying the Tang Sect's plane crash was orchestrated by the Star Luo Empire?" Xia Yi asked.
"Yes, it was most likely them. Even the Empire's Grandmaster personally intervened." Di Tian said solemnly.
The Star Luo Empire had acted extremely covertly. Initially, even Di Tian assumed it was the Holy Spirit Cult's doing.
He even confronted the Demon Emperor about it.
But the Demon Emperor explicitly stated that the Holy Spirit Cult had nothing to do with it and had no knowledge of the Tang Sect's aircraft being in the North Sea.
However, after hearing about the crash, even the Demon Emperor grew curious and launched an investigation.
It was through the testimonies of passing sea soul beasts that Di Tian and the Demon Emperor learned that before the crash, strong individuals from the Star Luo Continent had secretly entered the area.
Following this lead, they traced the events back and discovered that two different groups from the Star Luo Empire had entered the region.
Based on descriptions provided by the sea soul beasts, they deduced that the second group likely belonged to the Green Skeleton Rebellion.
"We suspect that this incident stemmed from an arms deal between the Tang Sect and the Green Skeleton Rebellion, which was discovered by the Star Luo Empire. Their Grandmaster personally led a team to eliminate both parties." Di Tian explained.
Di Tian wasn't very familiar with affairs on the Star Luo Continent.
But the Demon Emperor was.
The Holy Spirit Cult and the Green Skeleton Rebellion had long been collaborators.
According to the Holy Spirit Cult's records, the Tang Sect and the Star Luo Empire had always maintained a close relationship.
The Tang Sect often helped the Empire fight against the Green Skeleton Rebellion.
This revelation shocked even the Demon Emperor—
The Tang Sect was actually selling weapons to the Green Skeleton Rebellion?
Clearly, the Tang Sect did not want the Star Luo Empire to unify the continent.
This made sense.
The Green Skull Organization was merely a native faction of the Star Luo Continent. They lacked technology and resources—without a powerful supplier, they wouldn't have been able to resist the Star Luo Empire for so long.
"Sea soul beasts have frequently seen humans entering and exiting Devil's Island. That place must contain some rare resource. The Tang Sect's deal with the Green Skeleton Rebellion was likely related to it, which is why they chose the North Sea as the transaction site." Di Tian reasoned.
If not for Xia Yi and Gu Yue telling him to stay hidden, he would have already gone to Devil's Island to investigate.
"This situation is more complicated than we thought." Gu Yue furrowed her brows. She hadn't expected the Star Luo Empire to be involved in the Tang Sect's plane crash.
"Heh, just remember one thing—there are no eternal friends, only eternal interests—and everything will make sense." Xia Yi chuckled.
Gu Yue's eyes instantly brightened. That simple phrase made her feel as if her mind had suddenly become much clearer.
"The Star Luo Empire likely had spies inside the Green Skeleton Rebellion who uncovered the arms deal." Xia Yi glanced at Gu Yue and continued, "But what puzzles me is—wasn't Tang Sect's Zhao Xiongyi a Rank 98 Super Douluo? And a four-word battle armor master at that. How could he be eliminated so quietly?"
As the head of the Tang Sect's Battle Soul Hall in Tiandou City, Zhao Xiongyi frequently interacted with Zhen Hua and had obtained his own four-word battle armor.
A Rank 98 Super Douluo equipped with four-word battle armor had power on par with an Ultimate Douluo.
Even an Ultimate Douluo wouldn't have been able to take him out silently.
"We considered this as well. The Demon Emperor suspects that the Star Luo Empire used their national treasure against him." Di Tian said gravely.
"A national treasure? What is it?" Xia Yi asked.
"The Vajra Bracelet." Di Tian answered.
This artifact originally belonged to a major tribe on the Star Luo Continent but was seized by the Star Luo Empire and designated as their national treasure.
The Vajra Bracelet had an extremely powerful devouring ability against all weapons.
Even Martial Soul weapons could be devoured.
Since Zhao Xiongyi's Martial Soul was the Ame-no-Murakumo Sword, it was susceptible to the artifact's power.
Without his Martial Soul, even an Ultimate Douluo could have been taken down quietly.
"The Star Luo Empire hasn't publicly announced this incident. That means they don't want to completely fall out with the Tang Sect yet." Xia Yi remarked.
"Exactly. They erased all traces of their involvement. Neither the Federation nor the Tang Sect has noticed anything unusual. Even the aircraft wreckage they 'left behind' was intentional." Di Tian added.
Had it not been for the Demon Emperor's ability to communicate with sea soul beasts, this truth would have remained hidden.
"By leaving the wreckage behind, the Star Luo Empire is trying to stir distrust between the Federation and the Tang Sect. That actually works in our favor." Xia Yi nodded.
A tangled relationship between the Tang Sect, Shrek Academy, the Spirit Pagoda, and the Federation would be to their advantage.
"So, what should we do?" Di Tian asked.
"Nothing." Xia Yi shook his head.
"Forget it." Gu Yue was stunned and said, "Such a good opportunity, shouldn't we fuel the fire for them?"
"There's no need!" Xia Yi shook his head and said seriously, "The Tangsect fighter jet infiltrating the Northern Army's defense sea area is already a violation for any government. Yet the Federation government is only criticizing Tang Sect online, demanding an explanation from them, but hasn't actually taken action. This is clearly unreasonable."
Previously, Xia Yi had believed that the Federation government was behind the crash of the Tangmen fighter jet, which is why they hadn't acted against Tang Sect. But after confirming that the Federation was not responsible, Xia Yi became more certain of his earlier guess.
Those in the Federation government who oppose Tang Sect must be secretly preparing something big. They are just afraid of alarming the enemy, which is why they haven't moved yet.
Tang Sect, just like Shrek Academy, are a bunch of self-righteous fools. They haven't even realized the danger they're in.
They still think the Federation government is afraid of them and doesn't dare take action.
Even though they are clearly in the wrong, they are still demanding that the Federation hand over Zhao Xiong Yi and others.
Little do they know, the louder they shout, the more ruthless the Federation will be when they finally act.
Xia Yi could indeed add fuel to the fire for Tang Sect right now.
But doing so could mess up the Federation's plan.
It might cause the Federation to abandon their plans to deal with Tang Sect.
If that happens, it would be a huge loss.
(End of this chapter)