As soon as the Shrek Academy team arrived, there was a knock on the door of Xia Yi and Gu Yue's room.
The one knocking was Yuanen Yehui.
Behind her were Na'er, Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, Xu Xiaoyan, Le Zhengyu, Ye Xinglan, and Xu Lizhi.
"Hehe, I told you! Xia Yi and Sister Gu Yue are staying together again. You guys didn't believe me, did you? Hand over the contribution points. Five hundred per person," Xu Xiaoyan said excitedly as she bounced around among these outstanding Outer Court students, collecting contribution points.
She completely ignored Tang Wulin's furious glare.
Xia Yi glanced at her and noticed that she was sneaking peeks at Tang Wulin's expression.
This girl was not only meticulous but also highly emotionally intelligent.
Previously, she had tried to matchmake Tang Wulin and Gu Yue.
Now that she knew there was no longer any possibility between them, she decisively gave up.
She also understood that directly advising Tang Wulin would only embarrass him, so she used this method to provoke him, hoping he would let go.
Tang Wulin was furious.
Xia Yi had already publicly announced his relationship with Leng Yaozhu, yet he was still staying with Gu Yue?
Too much!
However, he didn't show it.
He could only bottle everything up inside.
Xia Yi was neither his family nor friend, and Gu Yue wasn't his to begin with.
What right did he have to interfere in their affairs?
Na'er was also furious.
"Damn Gu Yue! Not only is she willing to share a man with another woman, but she even made my brother heartbroken!" Na'er hated Xia Yi and Gu Yue to the core.
If not for them, Tang Wulin wouldn't be like this, holding in all his grievances with nowhere to vent.
"Hmph! So what if he's a little stronger, has higher spiritual power, better talent, superior forging skills, is a bit more handsome, and a little smarter? Other than that, what does he have that surpasses my brother?" Na'er glared at Xia Yi, growing angrier the more she looked at him.
If her strength allowed it, she would have eliminated this threat for Tang Wulin already.
"What do you all want?" Xia Yi leaned against the doorframe, making no move to invite them in.
"I'm here to ask you to forge my battle armor," Yuanen Yehui spoke first.
"Alright. Do you have the design plans? Have you prepared the payment?" Xia Yi nodded and asked.
Gu Yue had already explained the origin of the Fallen Angel Martial Soul to him.
The so-called Fallen Angel Martial Soul was actually a seed projected onto the Douluo Continent from the Abyss Plane.
As long as a soul master with the Fallen Angel Martial Soul reached the Title Douluo level, they would open a spatial passage to the Abyss Plane.
Yuanen Yehui was such a seed.
The Abyss Plane wanted to use her to invade Douluo Continent.
Gu Yue, on the other hand, wanted to use Yuanen Yehui to turn the tables on them.
Gu Yue coveted the Abyss Plane and planned to use Yuanen Yehui, a seed of that world, to compete for control of it.
She wanted to create a God Realm of her own for soul beasts.
Aside from her own understanding of the world's laws, she needed an immense amount of energy to support it.
The Abyss Plane was something Gu Yue would never give up on.
Ever since she learned about Yuanen Yehui's Fallen Angel Martial Soul, she had been keeping an eye on her.
Initially, she thought she would have to wait until Yuanen Yehui became a Title Douluo before making a move.
Unexpectedly, the battle armor forged by Xia Yi couldn't be integrated with others' armor.
And now, Yuanen Yehui had come to him on her own.
This was the perfect opportunity for Gu Yue to slowly gain control over Yuanen Yehui through her battle armor.
However, this process couldn't be rushed.
Yuanen Yehui first had to fall in love with Xia Yi's battle armor, to the point where she couldn't bear to part with it.
"I've prepared everything," Yuanen Yehui said solemnly, a flash of fervor in her eyes.
Among the Shrek Academy team, she was the one with the least battle armor—only a pair of gauntlets.
"And you guys?" Xia Yi looked up at the others.
He wasn't in a good mood towards those who had interrupted his time alone with Gu Yue.
"We're going out for dinner and came to invite you both," Ye Xinglan said, glancing at Xia Yi. "Consider it an apology for the misunderstanding when we first met."
So many years had passed.
Ye Xinglan still remembered the first time she met Xia Yi.
Back then, relying on her status as a Shrek Academy student, she had taken half of Xia Yi's fish.
That led to a chain of events.
Shrek Academy's reputation had begun to decline sharply from that moment.
At first, Ye Xinglan didn't think she had done anything wrong.
Though she regretted it somewhat, she put all the blame on Xia Yi and Tang Wulin.
If they had just given her face as a Shrek Academy student and "paid for her meal," none of what followed would have happened.
It wasn't until today, returning to Tianhai City after so many years, that she finally realized she had indeed been in the wrong.
The Xia Yi of today had already grown to a level she could only look up to.
She could no longer act superior as a Shrek Academy student before him.
Only when she placed them on equal footing and reflected on the past did she realize how wrong she had been.
"A misunderstanding is just a misunderstanding. There's no need to apologize. Besides, I didn't lose anything back then—I even saved money on a meal." Xia Yi shook his head.
The hotel had meals delivered daily. Why would he need to go out to eat?
Besides, if he were to go out, wouldn't it be much better to just enjoy a meal alone with Gu Yue?
Why would he bring along a group of third wheels?
"Alright then," Ye Xinglan nodded.
Once Tang Wulin and the others left, leaving only Yuanen Yehui behind, Xia Yi finally stepped aside to let her in.
As soon as she entered, Yuanen Yehui laid out a stack of design plans before him.
She also placed a thick stack of Federation credits on the table.
She knew that Xia Yi likely had no intention of returning to Shrek Academy.
In that case, Shrek's contribution points were useless to him.
So she had exchanged all her contribution points for Federation credits.
Biting her lip, Yuanen Yehui suddenly said, "Can I ask you for a favor?"
"What is it?" Xia Yi asked.
"I don't want divine metal," Yuanen Yehui shook her head. "As long as the fusion rate reaches ninety percent, that's enough for me."
She glanced at the Federation credits on the table and continued, "Based on the price of regular spirit-forged alloys, this amount should be enough for six pieces of metal. But if it's divine metal, I might not even be able to afford one."
"Do you know how many people dream of having even a single piece of divine metal for their battle armor?" Gu Yue asked from the side.
"I know, but I can't afford it," Yuanen Yehui gritted her teeth.
Divine metal was too expensive.
Relying solely on the contribution points she earned from missions, she had no idea how long it would take to afford a full set.
"I have a proposal: let Xia Yi forge at full capacity, and whatever he produces is what you get. As for the forging cost, you can pay in installments. How about that?" Gu Yue suggested.
"Installments?" Yuanen Yehui frowned.
"In other words, Xia Yi will forge for you now, and you can gradually repay the cost each month—with interest, of course, at the same rate as the Federal Bank's loan interest. What do you think?" Gu Yue smiled.
She couldn't just help Yuanen Yehui for free—being too generous would only raise suspicion.
"Is that really possible?" Yuanen Yehui asked uncertainly.
"What, you don't want to?" Gu Yue asked indifferently.
"No, I do!" Yuanen Yehui said hastily.
"Alright, then let's sign a contract," Gu Yue nodded.
"Alright, let's sign the contract." Gu Yue nodded.
She then began discussing the contract details with Yuanen Yehui.
The contract stipulated that Yuanen Yehui must repay 1% of the forging cost each month, along with any interest accrued that month.
At first glance, it didn't seem like much.
But once Xia Yi finished forging the first piece, she regretted it.
99% fusion rate.
Even though there was no forging platform here, Xia Yi no longer needed one—he was fully capable of forging without it.
Gu Yue used fire elements to assist in refining, while Xia Yi handled the forging with Fox Mind Technique.
From morning until midnight.
By the time they finished, Yuanen Yehui's entire set of one-word battle armor had been completed.
Even her pair of gauntlets had been reforged.
The entire one-word battle armor was made of 99% fusion spirit alloys.
Yuanen Yehui was stunned.
Xia Yi could guarantee a 99% fusion rate every single time.
After calculating, she realized she would need to repay over 200,000 Federation Coins per month.
Fortunately, the gauntlets were a bonus from Xia Yi.
Otherwise, the cost would have been even higher.
Yuanen Yehui was completely dumbfounded.
How was she supposed to repay this?
What she didn't know was that Xia Yi had already reached the level of a sixth-rank forger.
The reason he continued studying two-metal fusion forging was that he wanted to truly forge a 100% fusion spirit alloy.
By integrating his understanding of the River Diagram and Luo Book into forging, Xia Yi had already achieved a consistent 99% fusion rate.
In fact, it could even be said to be 99.9%.
The alloys Xia Yi forged were now infinitely close to 100% fusion.
Only one final step remained.
Yet, every time he attempted to break through this final step, he failed.
Xia Yi had heard that an alloy with 100% fusion was known as "Divine Metal."
In all of Douluo Continent's history, it had never appeared.
There were two types of Divine Metal:
An alloy with a 100% fusion rate. A Heavenly-Refined metal fused from nine different metals.
Neither had ever been successfully created.
They existed only in theory.
The Forging Association once speculated that Divine Metal was the key to five-word battle armor.
However, because its level was too high, the laws of the Douluo Continent actively prevented such metal from coming into existence.
That was why Xia Yi kept failing.
But Xia Yi refused to give up.
If he didn't give it his all and at least try, he would never be satisfied.