"Mm, mm, delicious," Ma Hongjun said, stuffing snacks into his mouth as he walked. Beside him on his left, Xiang Yang's expression remained unchanged. He had long since grown used to it over the past few days, especially Xiao Wu's reaction: she was like a mouse that had fallen into a rice jar.
Two years had passed, and the flower shop was no longer what it had been. They had taken over several neighboring shops and, using the various dishes, lunch boxes, and other "creations" he had left behind, opened a large restaurant. It served everything from breakfast and pastries to meat and vegetable dishes, far beyond what the people of Douluo had originally known. It would not have been an exaggeration to call it the best restaurant in Nuoding City. Its dozen or so employees were all villagers, too. If this world did not have Soul Masters and Soul Beasts and the like, it could certainly have been called an honor to their ancestors.
They stayed there for a week and took their companions back to see Holy Soul Village, where Tang San had lived, and Xiangjia Village, where Xiang Yang had lived. Both were just as they had been, with nothing much changed, and that was for the best.
Seeing him like that, Xiao Wu raised her head and said proudly, "Hehe, well? I was right, wasn't I?" Ever since she had learned that Xiang Yang had decided to go home for a visit, she had been going on and on about it in everyone's ears.
Ning Rongrong replied with a smile, "Xiao Wu was right. I never imagined there would be so many delicious things here. I've never seen any of them before." As she finished, she looked thoughtfully at Xiang Yang's back.
Oscar chimed in, "That's true. I feel like my Soul Power circulated much faster in the restaurant. If I stayed there all the time, I might even be able to cultivate faster."
"Oh, then it sounds like a pretty good Mimicry Cultivation Environment for you." Ning Rongrong suddenly remembered something she had once heard someone say.
"Mimicry Cultivation Environment? What's that?" Ma Hongjun asked after swallowing his food, having heard an unfamiliar term.
"Simply put, it's a cultivation environment that can boost the cultivation speed of a Soul Master with the corresponding attribute. For example, you have the fire attribute, so a place like a volcano would definitely be much better for you than your usual cultivation environment."
Dai Mubai had been leaning close to Zhu Zhuqing, saying something to her. Hearing Ma Hongjun's question, he answered casually.
"Ah, seriously?" Ma Hongjun had also spent more than two years at Shrek, and he was quick to catch on. "Only people with powerful backing could enjoy an environment like that, right? No wonder so many people hope to join a major sect." With that, he glanced at Ning Rongrong, Dai Mubai, and the others.
"Ah, if only our Shrek had one too." Oscar sighed. As a support-type Soul Master, he already cultivated more slowly than others at the same level, and on top of that, he was a food-type. That made him slow on top of slow. Hearing this, he could not help saying, "I almost want to stay here."
"There's no need for that. A Mimicry Cultivation Environment doesn't have much effect before the Soul Elder level." Seeing how tempted Oscar was, Xiang Yang found it a little funny.
"Huh? Why?" Oscar was somewhat baffled. By normal logic, shouldn't the benefits be greater at a lower level?
"My teacher told me about that." Tang San had been looking at the iron ball in his hand, but hearing this, he remembered asking the same question before and picked up the explanation. "It's because Soul Masters below the Soul Elder level have too little perception of and affinity for external energy. The environment is only an amplifier. It lets you absorb more energy in the same amount of time, but if the base is too low, or even zero, the amplification naturally won't do much."
"Also, cultivation environments are graded much like Martial Souls, and they have talent requirements too. For example, you need at least an advanced Martial Soul to cultivate in a top-tier Mimicry Cultivation Environment. If your talent isn't sufficient, you'll be 'poisoned' by the excess of energy and unable to digest it in time." Zhu Zhuqing continued, "In serious cases, it can even be life-threatening."
She had actually left out one point. As long as someone had a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring, they could cultivate there even if their Martial Soul was not advanced. Being able to absorb a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring meant they were at least a Soul King, after all, and their physical condition was sufficient. Even so, the improvement would not be as great as it would be for someone whose Martial Soul talent met the requirement.
At that point, Xiang Yang remembered his own situation. For him, the daytime was a Mimicry Cultivation Environment, especially during the hottest part of summer. Normally, it took an hour to fill naturally, but at those times, it took less than half an hour.
And that was without summoning his Martial Soul. Otherwise, at its fastest, it took less than a minute or two.
From this, one could see how great the difference was between the natural energy of heaven and earth and the Soul Power within a Soul Master. Even a level ninety-nine Soul Master's Soul Power was probably no more than the tip of a single hair on nine oxen compared to it.
Back at Shrek, the eight of them were all somewhat tired after several days of traveling by day and lying low by night, so they hurried back to their rooms to rest.
Early the next morning, Xiang Yang had just opened his window when he saw that Tang San had already been sitting cross-legged on his roof for some time. The two exchanged smiles, and Xiang Yang flipped up onto the roof as well.
"Well?" He first brushed away the dust and sat down, stretching his legs out in front of him and resting his hands on the tiles behind him as he asked casually.
Tang San said nothing. He simply took a box out of his Storage Soul Tool and opened it, revealing two spherical objects inside. "Not bad. The principles are the same, after all."
He picked one up and held it in front of him, sighing in admiration. "Ah, it really..." He paused for a moment. "Let me see the beauty of art."
"Hahaha!" Tang San's sudden antics made Xiang Yang laugh. Ah, he had been the one to pass that on; he could not blame anyone else.
After laughing for a while, he stopped, coughed, and said, "Can you improve them? I made them when I was little and bored. They can make a bang, but they're hardly powerful."
Back when Xiang Yang had still been unable to move around on his own, he had been deeply bored. So later, he had made not only toys, dishes, and cooking utensils, but also quite a few "dangerous items," using the scraps of mathematics, physics, and chemistry he still remembered.
One of his reasons for going home this time had been to have Tang San take a look at these things. Never mind improving them; it would be enough if Tang San could reproduce them.
In this world, conflicts between people and between nations all came down to Soul Masters. But what would it mean if an object that ordinary people could easily operate could kill or injure Soul Masters?
The world has changed, Lord Soul Master!
"Of course I can," Tang San replied without hesitation. As soon as he had gotten his hands on the thing, he had taken it apart and analyzed it. He had found its design very simple compared with his Tang Sect Hidden Weapons, especially the way it was used. It required neither internal force nor Soul Power, nor any complicated techniques. In Xiang Yang's words, it was foolproof.
Most importantly, it required no rare metals or complicated forging methods. Once again, Tang San was glad of his decision. Bringing Xiang Yang into the Tang Sect had indeed been the right move.
"And that 'gun' you mentioned—I can make one in the next couple of days, though it might not work."
Tang San was very confident in his area of expertise. He really was not very good at researching Martial Soul Theory, but when it came to mechanical devices, he had everything firmly in hand.
Especially now that he had obtained a better gunpowder formula, he was confident that if he had a Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus in his hands, he could increase its power by at least two or three times. That was only because the Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus was too complicated to make, and the amount of gunpowder could not be increased by much.
If he made those grenades, shells, rocket launchers, and the like that Xiang Yang had mentioned on a larger scale, he could easily increase their power more than tenfold. But then they would be big, crude, and clumsy, which did not quite fit his Tang Sect aesthetics.
Xiang Yang turned to look at him. "But how much can you make on your own?"
That was true... Tang San recalled the idea Xiang Yang had mentioned before. If he did it all by himself, even several lifetimes would not be enough. He could only ask, "Then what do you want to do? Hand it over to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect?"
Xiang Yang first shook his head, then nodded. "Of course not. How could we hand something like this over to outsiders? Maybe later, but for now... at most, we can give them some of the blueprints and let them help. We definitely can't give them the most crucial part, the gunpowder."
"But making weapons requires a huge amount of materials. We need a steady and substantial source of money."
Tang San understood what he meant. "I see. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda is a purely supportive Martial Soul with no offensive ability, so they can only recruit and support other types of Soul Masters. And because of the nature of their Martial Soul, they're rich enough to rival a nation. Gunpowder weapons would be a perfect match for them."
"More than that, we can't rely entirely on others. Sooner or later, we'll need to establish our own organization. And you want to pass the Tang Sect on, don't you?"
"That reminds me. Unfortunately, our strength won't allow it right now. Otherwise, it would be too conspicuous and definitely draw attention."
Exactly. "Stockpile grain and wait before claiming the throne. What we need most right now is to grow stronger. Only then will we have a voice. That's true wherever you go."
"And..."
"What?"
"Nothing. It's still uncertain. If there's a chance when the time comes, we can talk about it then."
Because of his influence, Shrek at least had already changed a great deal, to say nothing of anything else. Yu Xiaogang in particular might not even let them take part in the tournament anymore. Xiang Yang had originally thought he could try recruiting those Soul Master geniuses who had names in the original story.
It would have been a matter of offering more advanced Martial Soul Theory or cultivation methods and the like. But after thinking it over, he realized that he did not seem to be short of those few people or that much time, so it was better to prioritize stability.
"Mm, it's almost time."
"Okay." Hearing the reminder, Xiang Yang hurriedly joined him in gazing at the horizon.