Shangguan Wei'er, Gold of Life

"I'd like to hear the details."

Shangguan Wei'er sat up straight and asked,

"This transaction ends here. If the right opportunity arises next time, I'll consider working with Alliance Leader Shangguan again."

Zi Yao did not continue.

After all... the time for him to establish his own force was not yet ripe, and both the Ice Empress and Snow Empress were still in seclusion.

But a force had to be established sooner or later.

And the sooner, the better.

The continent was currently in a turbulent state. Evil Soul Masters, Shrek, the Four Great Empires, and countless other factions were intertwined. In the original story, war would break out within a few years.

Perhaps it would even come sooner because of his butterfly effect.

Shangguan Wei'er sighed regretfully. "All right, then. I won't see you out, lest your little girlfriend misunderstand."

"She's my roommate."

Zi Yao gave a brief explanation and turned to leave.

"Mhm, roommates. Roommates."

Shangguan Wei'er nodded, thinking how wonderful it was to be young. They were living together at such a young age. Unfortunately, she had never had the chance to enjoy her youth.

As he opened the door,

With an "Ouch," Wang Dong, who had been at the door, fell flat on her butt. She glared at him and said, "Watch it when you open a door, brat!"

"A normal person probably wouldn't press against a door to eavesdrop on other people's conversation either, right?"

Zi Yao was speechless. "What did you hear?"

"What could I have heard? This Redwood Door has ridiculously good soundproofing. Who knows what you two were doing in there for so long?"

Wang Dong rubbed her perky backside as she spoke with a teasing expression.

"You're not that old, yet your mind is filled with nothing but romance," Zi Yao mocked.

Wang Dong retorted indignantly, "What do you mean, I'm not that old? I'm several months older than you! By age, you should be calling me Sister Dong!"

"Heh. Talk after you can beat me."

"Seriously, if I defeat you someday, will you really call me sister?" Wang Dong tilted her head, suddenly interested.

"Sure."

Zi Yao nodded.

Just as a certain great figure had once said,

Those defeated by my hand have never been worthy of being considered my opponents.

As the two bickered along the way,

A green-eyed girl with White Gold Long Hair passed by. She wore orange-gold square-framed glasses on the bridge of her nose and kept her head lowered, making her features impossible to see clearly, though her figure seemed quite good.

Ye Guyi...

Zi Yao deliberately gave her a second look.

There were few Descendants of an Angel left on the continent. The only one who could possibly carry the banner of the Angel lineage was likely Ye Guyi.

Unfortunately, she had nearly thrown her life away before she had fully matured.

In the original story, Shangguan Wei'er had not known of the Holy Spirit Cult. She had merely believed that the Evening Water Alliance had recruited a few Evil Soul Masters as subordinates, which was why she had dared to send Ye Guyi into the Underground Soul Master Tournament.

Now that she knew of the colossal force behind the Evening Water Alliance, she presumably would not act so rashly.

After leaving the Ordinary Alliance,

The sky outside had already begun to brighten. Zi Yao and Wang Dong swiped their cards and entered the campus with practiced ease.

There was still one month until the end of the first semester.

With Zi Yao's help,

Wang Dong had finally mastered the various arrays and structural principles of first-level Soul Tools. She had chosen the control-type Soul Engineer path, so this was enough for her to pass.

With Elder Yi's assistance,

Zi Yao had also fused with that piece of Golden of Life.

He had not opened an Eye of Life on his forehead as Huo Yuhao had. After all, his Martial Soul was not the Spirit Eyes.

The Gold of Life had completely fused with his Spiritual Sea.

The fused Gold of Life brought many benefits.

First, Electrolux's divine consciousness had finally recovered somewhat. It could now be regarded as a third Martial Soul, though this Martial Soul could not gain additional Soul Rings.

Second was the leap in Spiritual Power.

The Spiritual Sea expanded by the Gold of Life increased dramatically in size, directly breaking through the third seal left by the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm. His Spiritual Power also underwent a tremendous leap.

Moreover, his Spiritual Power recovery speed increased severalfold, while his regenerative ability improved even further. So long as his brain remained intact, the Gold of Life stored within his Sea of Consciousness would automatically heal his injuries.

Third was the Gold of Life itself.

If Zi Yao wished, he could temporarily remove the Gold of Life from his Sea of Consciousness and use it as an engraving knife. A piece of Gold of Life the size of an engraving knife required two hundred thousand years of nurturing in the Star Dou Great Forest. Its quality would likely rank among the very best even among the Ranked Engraving Knives.

With Elder Yi's divine consciousness stabilized,

Zi Yao also brought up his next idea for Soul Tools.

That was to add a Soul Power Energy Cannon to the palm based on the existing Thrust Amplification.

High-powered Soul Power Cannons required exceptionally heavy cannon bodies to unleash their full might. That was also why Xiao Hongchen was known as a born Soul Engineer genius.

Zi Yao's Soul Tool Glove was a close-combat Soul Tool. Its strength lay in its exquisite, lightweight design, so it naturally could not accommodate an overly heavy barrel and cannon body.

After discussing it with Elder Yi,

They ultimately decided to shorten the Palm Cannon's range to increase its power. This resulted in the Palm Cannon having an attack range of only five meters.

But Zi Yao had never intended to rely on it to make up for his lack of long-range attacks. The Palm Cannon was merely added to give him more combat options.

When opponents believed the Soul Tool Glove was only a close-combat Soul Tool, or when his palm was already pressed against them, he could unexpectedly fire a shot and inflict additional damage.

However, this Soul Tool cannon was extremely complicated, requiring many Energy Gathering Arrays and Acceleration Arrays.

No one seemed to have added a Soul Power Cannon to a close-combat Soul Tool before, so he could not find any relevant examples.

Still, he was no longer a complete novice in Soul Tools.

He proposed making the thrust and Soul Power Cannon into two entirely separate systems within the Soul Tool Glove, while allowing some arrays and structures to be shared. This greatly reduced the space originally required.

Electrolux truly was a technological talent. After receiving Zi Yao's concept, he quickly produced a rough draft. By adding some Energy Gathering Array and Acceleration Array structures to the original thrust array configuration, he gave the Soul Tool an additional ability without increasing its size.

When this Soul Tool was submitted to the academy's evaluation department, it caused another sensation.

Never before had anyone conceived of adding a Soul Power Cannon to a close-combat Soul Tool, while the concept of having two abilities share part of their array structures was an application found in High-level Soul Tools.

As a result, Zi Yao was hailed as a Peerless Genius rarely seen in Soul Tool crafting.

Early in the morning,

Zi Yao awoke from meditation. With every breath, dense Soul Power seeped into his meridians and acupoints.

Suddenly,

The shackles on his Soul Power broke, and his meridians trembled with a hum.

"I broke through. Level thirty-four."

He had not wasted these past four or five months.

After taking a Soul Ascension Pill, he had advanced three levels, reaching level thirty-four in Soul Power.

The side effects of cultivating an Extreme Attribute had not been particularly apparent. After all, those side effects merely required greater physical strength.

With his physique, he was absolutely capable of bearing an Extreme Attribute at his current stage.

It was clear that tempering one's body in advance before cultivating was definitely worthwhile.

As he opened the door,

Wang Dong, restored to her female form, was lying on the living room sofa.

Having just passed the academy's assessment, she was completely at ease. A face mask meant to reduce puffiness and dark circles covered her face, while her long legs rested naturally on a cushion.

"Zi Yao, where are you going during the break? Going home?"

"Home? Probably not. I'll be staying at the academy during this time."

Zi Yao considered it.

He definitely could not return to his home in the God Realm. As for the Earth Dragon Gate, the Snow Empress and Ice Empress had yet to awaken. He might as well remain at the academy and continue cultivating.

In any case, the cultivation conditions at Sun Moon Royal Soul Tool Master Academy were unquestionably among the best on the continent.