Xuan Ziwen could tell that Huo Yuhao’s eyes had changed a little after their three high-fives. Huo Yuhao was no longer a child in his eyes, as he could clearly feel that Huo Yuhao wasn’t just saying all this for the fun of it. The determination and self-confidence in his eyes was truly stunning and remarkable.

“Alright, then we shall start today’s lesson. Hopefully, I can give you even more pleasant surprises today. However, I have to say that you can’t take too long to devise ten different research breakthroughs, or I may no longer have that hysterical passion to achieve my dreams when I’m too old.”

Xuan Ziwen was stubborn and passionate about soul tools, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t rational and intelligent about other things. Huo Yuhao’s research was enough to move him, but it wasn’t enough to pull him over without conditions and prerequisites.

Huo Yuhao nodded and smiled. “Let’s begin our lesson, teacher Xuan. I have already passed your assessment, and I am your student now.”

Xuan Ziwen nodded and said, “Alright then, let’s start. I can tell that your foundations are solid and reliable, and you are a unique spirit-type soul master. I want to discuss some principles and concepts before I elaborate more about techniques in forging soul tools. Once your principles and concepts are right, you won’t digress from the right path so easily when you’re doing deeper research.

“Tell me... what is a soul tool?” Xuan Ziwen’s face was serious and solemn.

Huo Yuhao replied, “They are tools activated and directed by a soul master’s soul power. They can be used as weapons, or tools to support people's’ daily lives or their work.” This should be the model answer, and he had known that ever since he started learning how to forge soul tools.

However, Xuan Ziwen shook his head disappointedly when he heard these words.

“I have to say that Shrek’s views and perception of soul tools is simply too backward. I will give you a new definition – you must memorize it. What are soul tools? Soul tools have nothing to do with soul masters. The meaning of the existence and advancement of soul tools lies in catalyzing human society’s evolution.

“That means research and development in soul tools is intended to advance and further societal development, so that humans can enjoy a stronger and more fulfilling existence. I have always believed that, one day in the near future, humankind will be able to use soul tools to dominate and subdue all other species, perhaps even other worlds that are not our own. Our vision may be too insignificant and trivial for now, but humans are also constantly growing and evolving in tandem with our advancements in soul tools. Do you believe that one day, humans without even a thread of soul power can use soul tools to hunt and kill ten thousand year soul beasts?”

Huo Yuhao paid attention and remembered everything that Xuan Ziwen said to him. His current impression of Xuan Ziwen was similar to the same awe and amazement that Xuan Ziwen had felt when Huo Yuhao had forged the Zhuge Divine Crossbow.

Xuan Ziwen had flipped his knowledge and understanding of soul tools with just a few simple words, and this was entirely because of the gap in their standards.

“Human evolution and development has been extremely slow over the past few thousand years. I believe that the Douluo Continent’s sluggish development would have continued if it hadn’t collided with the Sun Moon Continent. Even now, the three empires native to the Douluo Continent haven’t entirely taken soul tools seriously. Without considering top-tier soul masters, I dare say that the Sun Moon Empire is entirely capable of using soul tools to dominate and unify the entire continent. There is already a rift in the levels of civilization.” Xuan Ziwen’s speech gave the impression that he couldn’t stand not saying staggering and startling things.

“However, our research and development in soul tools has reached a bottleneck. The reason is simple: soul masters are the bottleneck.

“That is because research in soul tools began with the notion and purpose of soul masters using them, so soul power was required to activate them. Over the past few thousand years, every single piece of research has been channeled and focused on this aspect. This has created a worldwide malady, in that soul tools cannot be used on a large scale. Soul masters are ultimately the elites among humans, but they are still the minority, and normal citizens are still the majority. If soul tools cannot enter normal citizens’ lives, then we will never truly realize the dream of advancing humankind and transcending generational boundaries. Mightier soul tools required stronger soul masters to use them, and this moronic logic has led to the stagnation of soul tool research. Our current research direction is ‘how do we enable normal citizens to use soul tools?’ This is the reason why I was so amazed and bewildered when I saw the soul tool that you just created!

“Even though you haven’t completely solved the problem, you have allowed soul masters to act as a vector for charging the soul tool. Once it’s charged, the soul tool that you have forged can be used by normal citizens. This is what I’m most concerned about, and not your soul tool’s force. In other words, this soul tool’s most important technology is about using gears and buttons so that the Charge array can be used as a primer, instead of soul power. Therefore, you should do everything you can to explore and research soul tools for civilian use if you wish to move me. The relatively more successful examples are currently limited to stationary soul tools. The only problem is that stationary soul tools are simply too expensive, and even the Illustrious Virtue Hall rarely forges high-level stationary soul tools. To this day, the Sun Moon Empire has only equipped a single stationary soul tool regiment.”

Xuan Ziwen suddenly seemed to realize that he had misspoke, and he forced a laugh in exasperation. “Pretend you didn’t hear that last sentence.”

Huo Yuhao smiled in understanding but said nothing, and only listened intently to Xuan Ziwen’s explanation.

Xuan Ziwen’s mood and interest had been completely triggered by now, and he went on and on about his knowledge and understanding of soul tools, as well as some principles and concepts. Huo Yuhao was like a dried-up sponge, and constantly absorbed all this information. He could imprint everything into his mind with impeccable accuracy due to his supernatural memory.

Xuan Ziwen’s research in regards to soul tools truly flabbergasted Huo Yuhao. He was a Class 8 soul engineer, but the feeling he gave Huo Yuhao was different from what he felt with Fan Yu. Fan Yu’s style was stability, and Huo Yuhao’s foundations had become extremely sturdy under his guidance.

Xuan Ziwen was the complete opposite. His mind was like a heavenly steed soaring through the skies, bold and imaginative; he was a soul engineer filled with creativity and vigor. His research was mostly unrelated to war, and certain principles and concepts gave Huo Yuhao a sudden flash of insight. Some things that he didn’t understand about soul tools, or some things that he just couldn’t wrap his head around, were smoothed out and resolved by Xuan Ziwen’s guidance in principles and concepts. Even though it couldn’t be considered a complete resolution, he could at least see a clear path before him.

This was also a soul engineer curriculum, but the gap had become increasingly conspicuous. Huo Yuhao’s learning in Shrek Academy was more about memorizing blueprints of soul tool formation arrays, yet Xuan Ziwen didn’t produce a single blueprint for him! He was merely explaining explaining the innovative principles of soul tools. In Xuan Ziwen’s words, a soul engineer teacher should never give his or her students rules and boxes to follow. Soul engineer teachers should be giving their students principles and concepts, and once their students obtained a sufficient foundation, they would use their understanding in principles and concepts along with their personal creativity to create soul tools that belonged to themselves.

This was the main reason why Huo Yuhao amazed Xuan Ziwen when he made something of his own during the assessment.

Huo Yuhao felt as if he was re-learning everything he knew about soul tools under Xuan Ziwen’s guidance. His brain had been completely rewired at this point, and he would ask some questions from time to time, which Xuan Ziwen answered immediately without exception. Time seemed to flash by as an hour passed just like that. Xuan Ziwen spoke until even he was a little exhausted, but Huo Yuhao was still as excited and lively as ever – one of the major advantages of being a spirit-type soul master.

Creeeeak... The lab door suddenly opened with a jarring creak and shook Huo Yuhao out of his immersion in the ocean of knowledge as he subconsciously glanced towards the door.

It was just a glance, but his eyes suddenly seemed to freeze, and he could no longer withdraw his gaze.

There was a young woman standing by the door. She seemed a little drowsy-eyed, but her beauty made Huo Yuhao lose his focus even though he had seen many pretty girls before.

This young lady had long,flowing black hair. She looked to be between seventeen and eighteen years of age, her large and nimble eyes appearing a little nebulous. Her complexion was just too impressive, as not a single pore could be seen on her soft and tender skin, as if he could squeeze water out of her with just a single pinch. She wore a school uniform like everyone else, which brought out her relatively attractive figure. Perhaps she wasn’t as pretty as Jiang Nannans, but her lazy and naturally cute demeanor was riveting.

“You’re early, teacher! What a rare sight!” The young girl acted like she didn’t see Huo Yuhao at all, addressing Xuan Ziwen lazily. She walked over and sat down on the lab desk before she laid down on top of it, as if she wanted to take yet another nap.

“Ahem, ahem!” Xuan Ziwen coughed dryly and said, “Stop sleeping, Ju Zi. Can’t you see there’s someone new here?”

The young girl referred to as “Ju Zi” was still lying down. She waved her right hand lazily, as if she were swatting flies and said, “Stop talking and let me sleep for a little while. You know what I was doing last night when I burned the midnight oil.” Her soft and silky voice gave people a strange and tickly sensation in their hearts.

Xuan Ziwen was a little exasperated and said, “Forget it. Don’t mind her, she’s just like that. Her name is Ju Zi, and she’s also one of my students. You can call her senior sister from now on, or you can just address her by her name. She was researching soul tools last night, and she kept at a single experiment until midnight. That is the reason why she’s only up at this hour. I only have four students. The other three are out to gain experience, and will probably only be back after a few days.”

“Experience? Soul engineers also have to venture outside for experience? What kind of experience is that?” Huo Yuhao asked curiously.

Xuan Ziwen replied, “Of course they need to have experience! Simply doing experiments inside a lab is not enough, and some research has to be tested in real life so that it can be improved, and better results obtained. I guided them through forging some soul tools before this, and they brought their soul tools out for experiments. You will have similar experiences in the days to come.”

“Since you already have Rank 40 soul power, you should go out and get your fourth soul ring as soon as possible. Even though I’m unwilling to admit it, soul engineers will dread the stagnation of their soul power the most, as powerful soul tools require a powerful soul master to wield them right now.”

Huo Yuhao forced a laugh and said, “It’s not like I’m delaying in getting another soul ring. Suitable spirit-type soul beasts are just too rare, if that wasn’t the case, I wouldn’t have dragged it out this long.”

Xuan Ziwen contemplated momentarily, then said, “Rare doesn’t mean nonexistent. Even though the Sun Moon Empire’s overall soul beast quality may be inferior to that of the Great Star Dou Forest near Shrek Academy, it holds true that different regions will have different types of soul beasts. I can accompany you to find a suitable soul ring, you can get one as long as you find an appropriate soul beast.”

“Thank you, teacher Xuan.” Huo Yuhao thanked him sincerely. While he wasn’t wholly convinced that Xuan Ziwen could take him to find a suitable soul beast, he could still appreciate his teacher’s good intentions.

Xuan Ziwen glanced at the time and said, “Alright, it’s getting late. We will stop here for today, in the meantime you can think things over on your own. I can only teach you the principles, after that your subsequent inventions and innovations are yours alone.”

“Yes.” Huo Yuhao nodded.

Xuan Ziwen sauntered beside Ju Zi and suddenly shouted, “It’s time to eat!”

“Ah! Let’s go! The shrimp crackers will be gone!” This beautiful girl, who still had sleepy and dazed eyes just a moment ago, suddenly leapt to her feet. She raced out of the lab with a spring in her step while Huo Yuhao watched her, slack-jawed.

Xuan Ziwen laughed uncontrollably as he watched her mannerisms.

It didn’t take long before Ju Zi stomped furiously back into the lab. She raised her arm and hurled a sphere of yellow light towards Xuan Ziwen exclaiming, “You lied to me! You lied to me again. I’m going to kill you.” She tossed sphere after sphere of yellow light as she spoke.

Xuan Ziwen could catch a few at the start, but was quickly overwhelmed and guffawed, “Help me, Yuhao.”

Huo Yuhao could see everything from the moment Ju Zi raised her hands into the air. She was actually throwing out oranges, every single one was ripe and supple. It was apparent that she was a food-type soul master with an Orange martial soul.

Huo Yuhao’s movements were quite unlike Xuan Ziwen, while neither released their martial soul, Huo Yuhao seemed to grow innumerable hands, catching every single orange barreling through the air. Not a single orange could get by him, he simply dropped them on the ground beside him.

“Eh?” Ju Zi finally realized there was someone else in the lab. She stopped what she was doing and asked, “Who are you?”

Xuan Ziwen walked towards Huo Yuhao and explained, “He is your new junior brother, and I will be mentoring him from today onwards.”

Huo Yuhao was relatively tall and lanky compared to others of the same age. He had a cool and composed demeanor, so he seemed more like a teenager closer to seventeen or eighteen years old.

Ju Zi waved at him indifferently before she rushed in front of Xuan Ziwen angrily and said, “You lied to me again, teacher Xuan. If you do that again, I’m going to request a change of teachers.”

Xuan Ziwen chuckled and replied, “Is it my fault that you were born a glutton? Everything would be okay if you didn’t react so dramatically. I leave you in charge of answering your junior brother’s questions when I’m not around. His name is Huo Yuhao.”

Huo Yuhao stepped forward a bit rushed and said respectfully, “Nice to meet you, senior sister Ju Zi.”

Ju Zi looked him up and down more carefully than before, then muttered, “I don’t have time for that, I still have to continue researching and studying my own things. Anyways, I’m leaving to find something to eat—I’m famished! I haven’t had anything to eat yet.” She waved her hands as she spoke and departed the laboratory once more.

Xuan Ziwen explained sheepishly, “Our learning atmosphere is a little more relaxed. Ju Zi might seem reserved and isolated from her surroundings, but she has extraordinary talents with soul tools—she’s already a Class 5 soul engineer. The only thing she’s lacking is cultivation level.”

Huo Yuhao suddenly thought of something and asked, “I’ve seen many students from the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy before, and I noticed that they typically possess a very formidable soul power from a young age—reaching Rank 60 before twenty years of age isn’t rare, is it? Have they achieved it by eating exotic foods or whatnot? That might be a little excessive.”

Xuan Ziwen sighed and answered, “They’re spoiling them with undue haste. The academy has employed some special and unnatural methods to aid students with a talent for forging soul tools, and the academy spends a myriad amount of exotic foods and precious resources to boost their cultivations. This method has side effects, which will affect their future development. I can’t tell you about that though—it’s classified.”

Xuan Ziwen quickly left, and Huo Yuhao was the only person left inside the lab. Huo Yuhao sat down on the ground crossed-legged, and started meditating.

He wasn’t just trying to understand and consolidate the things he learned from Xuan Ziwen—he was also trying to memorize the structure and formation arrays of the soul tools within the laboratory. But he didn’t dare to draw them onto paper right now, as he wasn’t quite sure if there wasn’t a soul tool spying on him or monitoring his actions.

He was about to head down to the canteen to eat after finishing up when the lab door opened again—Ju Zi was back.

“Senior sister Ju Zi.” Huo Yuhao was a little fatigued when he greeted Ju Zi.

Ju Zi raised one hand and tossed a card that looked like it was made of crystal to Huo Yuhao. Huo Yuhao caught it.

Ju Zi said, “How troublesome. Teacher Xuan wanted me to give you this access card. You’ll be able to go in and out of the laboratory when you like with it. We don’t really have any rules here, so you can carry on with your own research if you have any, and find teacher Xuan if you have something you don’t understand. Alright, I’m going to take a nap and continue my research in the afternoon.” She yawned as she spoke. She turned and began walking towards the exit.

She suddenly stopped after taking only a step or two and snapped her head around. “Huo Yuhao, right? How did you catch so many of my oranges awhile ago?”

Huo Yuhao answered, “It’s a technique from my sect.”

“What sect are you from?” Ju Zi asked curiously.

“The Tang Sect.” Huo Yuhao replied.

Ju Zi was a little confused, and asked, “I’ve never heard of it before. Is it fun?”

Huo Yuhao felt a little speechless, but he still replied. “A sect shouldn’t be described as ‘fun’, senior sister.”

Ju Zi grunted and said, “Forget it, if it’s not fun, I’m out.” She pranced away just like that.

Huo Yuhao ate a simple lunch and returned to the lab in the early afternoon. Neither Xuan Ziwen nor Ju Zi were around.

He recalled Xuan Ziwen’s advice from the morning, and began to experiment with soul tools. He was trying to forge a commonplace, but extremely valuable, soul tool—a Class 4 Milk Bottle.

The Milk Bottle, and soul tools like it, were always in high demand. Only problem is that forging one is a troublesome process, with its formation arrays being especially sophisticated. Huo Yuhao was experimenting in simplifying these complex formation arrays.

After about thirty minutes of deep concentration, Ju Zi walked in. She wasn’t too concerned to see Huo Yuhao making a soul tool off to the side, she walked over to the other side of the lab desk and got down to work. She was also creating formation arrays.

Huo Yuhao’s senses were incredibly perceptive, he was aware of her presence the moment she entered. He discreetly activated Spiritual Detection and monitored his senior sister’s movements.

Even with his good impression of Xuan Ziwen, he still knew it would be difficult to pick up any core knowledge or bits and pieces of information, because he was from Shrek Academy. He had to learn whatever he could, however he could do it.

Huo Yuhao’s first impression of Ju Zi was that she seemed cute, she was pretty too, but also ignorant and obnoxious. He quickly realized that Ju Zi was almost like a completely different person when she walked in. She was extraordinarily focused, as if without a care in the world for anything else besides the formation array she was forging at the moment. It was far more complicated than Huo Yuhao’s Class 4 Milk Bottle’s formation array. Huo Yuhao couldn’t even tell what the formation array was for, despite his vast memory banks of formation arrays—of course, this was also because Ju Zi had just started carving.

Ju Zi appeared to enter a state of absolute concentration, as if she didn’t realize that Huo Yuhao was now right behind her. She grabbed a silver-white piece of metal with her left hand while she held a carving knife with unique colors in her right. This knife looked like it was made of clear and transparent crystal, and its handle was an orangish-red. The blade’s hues gradually became lighter and more plain from the handle all the way up to the tip, which was so clear and transparent that it was almost invisible.

The carving knife spun between her fingers, and waltzed like a sphere of flame.

Fan Yu had once remarked that different soul engineers had different preferences and varying carving knifes when creating formation arrays. Those who would eventually become top-ranked soul engineers all had their own unique techniques and style.

Huo Yuhao was still discovering his own style and preferences. However, he could see fragments of a style from Ju Zi.

Ju Zi gave onlookers a light and agile feeling when she handled her carving knife. The knife looked like a ball of flame, only briefly touching the metal piece before it was withdrawn, and didn’t stop moving for even a single moment. This natural movement made it seem like she was caressing the metal piece with her carving knife. Metal scraps continuously drifted to the floor, but none of them scattered outwards; the intricate textures made her work seem like that of uncanny and superlative craftsmanship.

One was sitting down while the other was standing up. One was carving in silence while the other observed quietly from the side. Like this, time unwittingly flew by.

Dusk was gradually approaching, warm lights automatically lit up inside the lab to maintain the brightness. However, neither Huo Yuhao nor Ju Zi noticed these changes.

One was focused on working, another was watching on, enchanted.

Today’s takeaways were almost overwhelming for Huo Yuhao. He had received Xuan Ziwen’s guidance in soul engineering principles this morning, but these several hours of standing during the afternoon were actually even more important.

This was the optimal combination of theory and hands-on practice. Ju Zi was effectively giving him an exciting and magnificent practical lesson, it was especially effective because she was a form of confirmation for what Xuan Ziwen had talked about in the morning. A new door to becoming a proper soul engineer was slowly opening before Huo Yuhao.

Ju Zi heaved a long breath after a long time. “Oh, it’s finally done.” The silver-white metal piece became a square formation array. The horizontal and vertical lines on the formation array were precise and orderly, and Huo Yuhao wouldn’t have believed it if you told him they were carved manually, without the help of any other tools, had he not just seen it happen in person.

“Why didn’t you use any other tools?” Huo Yuhao spoke for the first time after she finished her work.

“Ah!” Ju Zi was clearly startled. Her body instantly erupted with orangish-red radiance, and uncountable oranges were immediately flung towards Huo Yuhao. The oranges whooshed through the air like they were shot out by a tornado.

Huo Yuhao didn’t expect she would have such a violent reaction, but his battle instincts caused him to respond subconsciously.

Diamond-like crystals covered his entire body, and the flurry of oranges crashed against him, but didn’t even force him to take a single step back. The oranges ricocheted against the Ice Empress’ Armor and scattered in different directions.

Huo Yuhao’s pupils suddenly dilated as he felt more than ten oranges soundlessly stick to his body, and he was assaulted with an unprecedented sense of danger.

He made a split-second judgment due to his perceptive senses. Emerald light flickered as a shadow flashed behind his body. An emerald-green layer of light blew outwards with his body at the center before being immediately withdrawn.

Everything froze within an area of about ten meters in diameter. Ju Zi had already turned around, and was a looking at Huo Yuhao with an astonished look on her face, the whirling oranges in the sky—just stopped and remained in a strange state of silence.

The oranges rained down from above, to the ground. They crackled like fireworks as they hit the floor, like they were rocks slamming into the ground.

Huo Yuhao first scanned his body. There were more than ten oranges stuck to his Ice Empress’ Armor, but they had all become small ice blocks, and their original effects were dispelled by his Ultimate Ice.

He pinched one of them, and realized that the orange’s surface was soft and tender like an actual orange. He used his Spiritual Detection and discovered, to his intense fright and bewilderment, that this orange contained a complicated formation array that was no weaker than that of a Class 4 soul tool, as well as a small energy-gathering array. The soul power contained within it had been frozen luckily—if not, he couldn’t even begin to imagine what would have happened.

Without a doubt, her food-type martial spirit was just like her name, Orange. Her food-type martial soul didn’t contain much offensive power, but was incredibly misleading. He would have suffered unimaginably had his senses not been adequately keen and perceptive. Ten Class 4 soul tools detonating on his body at the same time—not even his Ice Empress’ Armor could’ve taken that! Of course, it was likely that Ju Zi would stop what she was doing when she realized it was him. However, Huo Yuhao wouldn’t gamble with his life over this.

He shook his body, and the ten “oranges” fell off. Huo Yuhao used the Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon technique to grab them carefully before putting them on the lab desk some distance away.

Huo Yuhao placed his right hand on Ju Zi’s shoulder, and the Ultimate Ice energy released by the Domain of Perpetual Ice was slowly withdrawn.

Ju Zi was a five-ringed Soul King, but it would have probably still taken her around fifteen minutes to remove the effects on her own, and this was only when Huo Yuhao used the Domain of Perpetual Ice without much force in consideration of her safety.

“It’s so cold.” Ju Zi shivered, and her charming figure quivered slightly before she sat back down. Her red and supple lips were turning blue, and the infuriated expression in her eyes held a tinge of fright.

“What were you thinking?!” Ju Zi exclaimed angrily.

Huo Yuhao forced a laugh and said, “I would not have acted like that if you didn’t react so violently.”

Ju Zi grunted angrily and pointed a finger at Huo Yuhao’s nose. “Just you wait!” She took the newly finished formation array as she spoke and stormed out.

Huo Yuhao stroked his nose. He felt as exasperated—he had never intended to offend this senior sister, but he couldn’t possibly be expected not to retaliate in that kind of situation.

He didn’t think too much about it. The sky was getting darker by the minute, after eating something light at the canteen, he returned to the dormitory and immediately started meditating.

Huo Yuhao’s meditation process was different from that of normal soul masters. After obtaining his second spiritual sea, Huo Yuhao realized that he could separate a strand of consciousness to think about things while he cultivated. This was undoubtedly a great increase for his intellect and ability to grasp concepts.

This was how things were: He had absorbed voluminous amounts of knowledge, even though it was only the first day, and he needed time to fuse what he’d learned today with the things he already knew. All so he could better understand the most advanced soul tool engineering principles.

......

Three days passed in the blink of an eye. Over these few days Huo Yuhao received Xuan Ziwen’s meticulous guidance on principles and concepts. Even though he hadn’t attempted to forge another soul tool yet, he obtained a fresh mind, full of knowledge about soul tools. However, he didn’t see Ju Zi again after the first day, as if she’d just vanished into thin air.

On the morning of the fourth day, Huo Yuhao arrived early and started cleaning up the lab once he arrived. He’d been doing this since the second day; he cleaned every the lab until it was spotless and then awaited Xuan Ziwen’s arrival.

He was halfway through cleaning when the lab door suddenly shot open. Huo Yuhao was wondering why teacher Xuan was coming so early in the morning when four people stepped in from outside—one of them being Ju Zi.

A tall and burly youth stood in front of the group. He was at least two meters tall, and his muscular body rivaled that of He Caitou. Even his skin was dark and tanned—darker skin was an aristocratic -->>

next page