Wang Dong was shocked as he listened to Huo Yuhao’s explanations. “Are you saying that your second martial soul isn’t innate? It only became your second martial soul after you fused with the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion? And two of the Three Heavenly Kings are in your body? Heavens! So it’s like that! You’ve been keeping it a secret for a long time!”
Huo Yuhao laughed bitterly. “Wang Dong, don’t be angry. Think about it. If you were me, could you tell this secret to anyone? I’m scared of being dissected. Everything else aside, just the soul bones I possess are already very valuable.”
Wang Dong calmed down. “I’m not angry!” he refuted immediately.
“Uh… you’re just like the weather in April – changing all the time! Were you fooling me just now?”
“What can you do if I’m fooling around with you?” Wang Dong answered righteously.
“You win!” Huo Yuhao was suddenly reminded of the helplessness Tai Tan felt when he faced the Snow Lady.
“Spirit, interesting. I didn’t know that soul masters could possess such a Spirit apart from soul rings and soul bones. Yuhao, are you confident in your ability to create another one?” Wang Dong asked.
Huo Yuhao said, “Theoretically speaking, it’s possible, and it won’t be as dangerous as the Snow Lady. After all, the strength of the Snow Empress was too great. In addition, it happened because of some misfortune. Even so, one will have to pay a huge price in terms of his spiritual power if he wants to fuse with a Spirit. From my calculations, it will be more difficult to fuse and contract a Spirit the stronger it is. Do you want to try?”
Wang Dong was eager as he replied, “Of course! Don’t forget that I have twin martial souls too! If you can fuse with a seven hundred thousand year Snow Empress, why can’t I fuse with a Spirit that’s of lower cultivation and suits me?”
Huo Yuhao asked, “When do you plan on doing so?”
Wang Dong asked, “When will you be absolutely confident?”
Huo Yuhao said, “I’m not sure about absolute confidence, because I’ve never tried controlling the fusion of a Spirit. It’s a pity that teacher…” His words trailed off, and he looked a little down.
Wang Dong patted his shoulder. “Yuhao, don’t be sad. Didn’t my eldest and second uncle mention that your teacher went off peacefully? Furthermore, he has already left an indelible mark on the continent by creating a Spirit. What you should be doing is carrying on his legacy. I don’t mind being your test subject. I don’t think you can create a Spirit as strong as the Snow Empress. While it was dangerous then, it created you and the Snow Lady. Perhaps the Spirit that you create for me will only take up one soul ring? After the next Elite Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament, come to the Clear Sky Sect again! We have many disciples that can help you with the experiment and complete it.”
Huo Yuhao nodded agreementand said, “We need to try first.”
Wang Dong replied, “I’ll tell eldest and second uncle when I return. I’ll ask them not to add soul rings for the disciples who are at their bottlenecks. We’ll find some soul beasts who are dying. Many of them die because they can’t break through their bottlenecks. I’m sure it won’t be that difficult to find some.”
Soul beasts’ bottlenecks didn’t just occur when they were at the hundred thousand year level. For lower-level soul beasts, every hundred years represented a barrier they had to cross. This barrier would then continue to every thousand years, and slowly advance to ten thousand years before reaching a hundred thousand years. For every hundred thousand years, the difficulty of improving would escalate. Otherwise, those soul beasts who had existed for a long time would all be at the hundred thousand year level.
Huo Yuhao was comforted. “If we can use such a method to resolve the dilemma between soul masters and soul beasts, it’ll be very good. Even if this can’t resolve the dilemma completely, I’m sure it’ll alleviate the situation.”
Wang Dong had returned after successfully obtaining his sixth soul ring. This also meant that they were going to leave Clear Sky Castle. After bidding farewell to Niu Tian and Tai Tan, the two of them descended from Clear Sky Peak. They proceeded south, and finally bade goodbye to each other at the center between the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy and Shrek Academy.
They weren’t so reluctant to separate this time compared to the previous time. After all, Huo Yuhao only had a few months left in the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy. After those few months, he would return to Shrek.
For some reason, Huo Yuhao felt that Wang Dong was acting very mysteriously when they separated. He was even a little coy, and watched him with a weird expression.
However, he didn’t think about it too much, and told most of his secrets to Wang Dong. To him, it was a form of release. Just like the two sect masters had said, he was able to survive on his own with the Snow Empress’ Spirit. As long as he continued to work hard, his abilities would increase faster and faster.
After he gathered all five soul rings for his second martial soul, Huo Yuhao’s soul power had also managed to increase. His cultivation speed was also increasing during this period of time. Although he couldn’t compare to Wang Dong yet, the influence his Ultimate martial soul had on his cultivation had dropped after he had obtained the Snow Lady.
After turning back to look at Wang Dong as he left, Huo Yuhao activated his flying-type soul tool and flew back to the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy. Before leaving, he had one more important thing to do. The last few months would be very important.
Wang Dong looked back just as Huo Yuhao did. He turned back to look into the distance, and a red glow appeared on his face. “He really is a fool!”
As he spoke, he retrieved a pouch and recalled what Niu Tian had said to him before he left the Clear Sky Sect.
“Wang Dong, both of us think that Huo Yuhao is a decent young man. He’s much more mature than most others of the same age, and his feelings for you are true. However, whether both of you can reach that stage will depend on your affinities. If both of you reach that stage one day, give him this pouch. I didn’t make it. It was personally made by your biological father. Your father said that someone is only fit to be with you if they can complete what’s stated in the pouch.”
“When will my father return? Why can’t I remember his appearance?”
“I’m not sure, either. However, I’m certain that your parents will come back when you set up a family.”
“Then I shall do it earlier…”
“You can’t. You can’t play with your lifelong happiness. Keep the pouch. Remember not to peek at it. Your father sealed it with his spiritual power. You won’t be able to see the contents.”
As he shook the blue pouch, Wang Dong was curious. What’s inside this pouch? Why must Yuhao see it? What does my father want?
As he thought to that point, he was evidently unhappy. My parents have never returned to see me, but they’re still meddling in my affairs. Hmph!
Although he thought this way, he still put the pouch away carefully.
I wonder whether I can give this pouch to him when he returns from the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy? As he thought up to that point, his ears started to turn red.
------
When Huo Yuhao returned to the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, Lin Jiayi heaved a sigh of relief. He was initially anxious because Huo Yuhao had been gone for a long time without returning. After Huo Yuhao returned, he reported it to Jing Hongchen.
Jing Hongchen hadn’t had the mood to deal with matters in the academy recently. The competition for the throne had reached a critical moment. Although the Crown Prince held a big advantage, his disadvantage was also very obvious. As a cripple, he would damage the reputation of the empire! His competitors attacked this point, and all the while, the Emperor’s physical condition was getting worse and worse.
That was why Jing Hongchen’s only wish at this point was for the student exchange to be completed smoothly and safely. He didn’t want to pull any tricks at this moment, as he needed to wait until matters regarding the Crown Prince were settled. He didn’t make his choices easily, but he had to obtain final victory once he made his decision.
After returning to the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, Huo Yuhao started living a peaceful life. However, the pace of his life was evidently faster. Xuan Ziwen noticed this, since he was Huo Yuhao’s teacher.
Huo Yuhao usually used ordinary metals when he researched and created soul tools. He couldn’t really bear to use the rare metals he had obtained from the Illustrious Virtue Hall. However, Xuan Ziwen now saw that Huo Yuhao was starting to use all types of rare metals when creating soul tools. He even requested his teacher’s help to create some alloys.
He busied himself with creating soul tools, and even did some simple experiments. Even with Xuan Ziwen’s understanding of soul tools, he didn’t understand what Huo Yuhao was doing all this for. He could subtly sense that Huo Yuhao was creating something similar to the Zhuge Divine Crossbow, which had shocked him previously. However, this soul tool was much more complex.
Xuan Ziwen did ask him once, but Huo Yuhao’s only reply was always a smile. He didn’t evade him, but he always completed the most critical components in his room. Xuan Ziwen could only see the accessory components of the soul tool he was creating. Although he did develop some formation arrays, they weren’t much to look at, since Xuan Ziwen was the one who had taught them to Huo Yuhao.
Just like that, time passed day by day.
For an entire four months, Huo Yuhao seemed to be completely immersed in his work, and didn’t interact with others at all. He was busy creating and researching soul tools every day. Besides that, he would meditate. He hopped between the laboratory and his dorm room every day, going nowhere else. He spoke very little, and even Fan Yu reckoned he was going to do something big. However, Fan Yu didn’t probe. This was the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy. It wasn’t too late to wait until they returned to Shrek. He had absolute confidence in this student of his.