Development Always Encounters Difficulties

After bidding farewell to Chen Fu, Ma Xiaotao hurried toward the inner courtyard, already eager to share this joyous news with Old Xuan and the others.

Since people on the continent habitually flaunt their soul rings whenever they fight, Ma Xiaotao's changes to her soul rings were impossible to hide. Thus, Chen Fu's advice to her was to let the old fellows at the academy know, but keep it from everyone else as much as possible.

The gap in technology also requires a certain accumulation of time.

Chen Fu didn't want to directly hand over his core [Ark] technology to Shrek Academy, and a bit of selfishness was mixed into that decision.

Sea God Lake, Sea God Pavilion.

"Old Xuan, I'm back!"

As soon as Ma Xiaotao set foot on the island, she saw the old man who had sensed her arrival early and was waiting in advance.

"Mm, what have you two been up to these past few days?"

The old man resumed his usual dignified demeanor, his voice calm and magnanimous.

"First, ask where Old Mu is, so I can tell you both together; otherwise, you'll get angry on your own."

"What?!" The old man had already started jumping to conclusions and was getting angry.

"No need to look, I'm here."

Silently and soundlessly, the old man in the wheelchair appeared beside the two of them.

He was also curious about this and had cast his gaze over as soon as Ma Xiaotao stepped into the inner courtyard.

"Look."

Five soul rings—white, yellow, purple, purple, black—appeared quietly behind Ma Xiaotao.

"That bastard! I'm going to go chop him up right now!" Seeing the white soul ring, Old Xuan was stunned at first, then felt a sharp pain in his chest.

No wonder he had felt uneasy these past few days—that bastard had dared to do bad things without a word!

"Calm down, Xuan Zi."

The old man in the wheelchair raised a hand to suppress the pressure caused by Old Xuan's emotional fluctuations. Though startled himself, he still wanted to hear what Ma Xiaotao had to say next.

A downgraded soul ring—he searched through all the secret records of Shrek Academy in his mind and had never heard of such a thing.

Even the Explode Ring Melt Ring technique used by the Great Sumeru Hammer, which dominated an era ten thousand years ago, only temporarily damaged the soul ring; the soul ring's grade never changed.

"See? I told you you'd get angry for no reason." Ma Xiaotao smiled and rolled her eyes at Old Xuan. Although his concern made him act rashly, his constant fussing was still a hassle.

"First, take a look at this white ring. Is there anything different about it?"

The white soul ring appeared in Ma Xiaotao's hand in various ray-like forms.

Staring at the clearly unusual white soul ring, the two fell into deep thought. As Old Xuan looked toward Old Mu, the latter nodded.

The fact that there were remnant souls of soul beasts within soul rings was something the two of them knew. Among the secret records of the Sea God Pavilion was a hidden truth: the ancestor Tang San's wife had once sacrificed herself, but in the end, she came back to life.

Silently sensing his own soul rings, Old Mu knew full well that there were "foreign souls" inside them, yet even he, who had cultivated to the pinnacle of soul power, could detect not the slightest anomaly.

That kid—how long had it been? He had come up with something that left even them, these old fossils, baffled.

The air seemed to freeze as an invisible giant hand silently gripped Ma Xiaotao's heart. The fear of death suddenly surged into her mind, and she instinctively wanted to resist, but then realized that two super-strong experts were right beside her.

Old Xuan watched quietly as Old Mu assumed an attacking posture; he, too, was anticipating.

Boom!

A towering blaze erupted fiercely in both their eyes.

Old Mu ceased his threat; his test had yielded results.

The two clearly saw that Ma Xiaotao had recognized the danger and then reacted without resisting, but at the moment she became aware of the crisis, that white soul ring had already responded.

"The soul ring protects its master..."

At that moment, Ma Xiaotao also came to her senses and calmed the agitated soul ring, her heart full of astonishment.

The phenomenon of protecting its master, which only appeared during a sacrifice, had now manifested.

"Can you disclose the experiments you've been conducting?"

"I came back to explain exactly that."

Thereupon, Ma Xiaotao explained Chen Fu's recent conclusions on the "Three Uses and Two Additions" of soul rings to the two of them in full detail.

"A madman."

After a long silence, Old Mu gave his verdict.

"Give him a batch of resources. I hope to see his results within half a year."

Old Mu set the tone. Right now, he felt that their own Soul Tool Academy wasn't enough for that little guy to take on alone.

He could now deeply understand the meaning of the phrase "soul tools are not swords, spears, or clubs."

Just that first-generation [Divine Ring] Essence Soul Counteractor—the principle sounded simple, but they simply couldn't achieve miniaturization and precision. And that proportion adjustment program that maintained high-speed changes at all times left them completely bewildered.

Moreover, the Great Sumeru Hammer had been given a crude evaluation by that kid!

But the theoretical upper limit of the Energy Storage Ring technology was indeed very high.

As for the final Melting Ring, it was practically another extreme altogether!

Soul Ring Attachment theory—why had no one brought this up before? Such a massive soul beast, only to end up with a tiny ring—what a waste! It should have been enshrined as a family heirloom!

While the Shrek High-level were muttering away, Chen Fu found himself facing a problem.

"How do you split a soul?"

In Chen Fu's original plan, after the Energy Storage Ring cleared the residual soul, a small portion of the soul would be split off and integrated into the soul ring, thereby skipping the initial "adaptation" phase entirely.

But in the end, Chen Fu had to compromise. Cutting off a part of his Spiritual Power meant at most a few days of sleep, but the soul represented consciousness to a certain degree—that was not something to be trifled with.

So the special materials Chen Fu had collected, which could exert a faint influence on the soul, ended up unused.

Since he couldn't touch the soul, only two paths remained for Soul Ring Attachment, with no other branches.

"How do you guide the soul into the soul ring?"

If he couldn't split the soul, then he would continue refining the Soul Ring Engraving technique.

Chen Fu had no ability to interfere with souls, but as he had said before, "You don't need fire-attribute Soul Power to start a fire"—using tools to control tools, using the small to govern the large—that was the charm of technology.

Another month passed in a daze. Chen Fu had some ideas about soul materials and was about to start designing blueprints.

"Young Master."

Uncle Fu, who had come to submit orders, called out softly.

"Hm, anything else?"

Chen Fu nodded, skimmed through the order contents, and seeing that a few more fools had sent him materials, the impatience in his heart immediately dissipated.

"That Sect Master from Nine Treasures City says he's here to visit, waiting outside."

Chen Fu straightened his clothes, calculating the time in his mind—so four months had passed without him noticing.

"Sect Master Ning, long time no see. Is there something?"

Unless necessary, Chen Fu always spoke directly.

"I do have a request this time, and I hope Brother Chen will consider it."

Ning Yi had already inquired about Chen Fu's situation and had exchanged information with the Shrek Academy High-level over this period, learning some details about Chen Fu. So today, he deliberately came to find him during Chen Fu's order update time.

"Mm, Sect Master Ning, please speak. I'll try to agree."

Nine Treasures City was Chen Fu's main source of research materials—though it had now become one of many—but if Ning Yi made a request, Chen Fu would agree if he could.

"I heard Brother Chen is a teacher at Shrek's Soul Tool Academy?"

"Mm, that's right."

"I wonder if Brother Chen would take my daughter as a disciple?"

Ning Yi had already heard that Chen Fu was listed as a teacher but didn't teach classes—no classes, but that didn't mean he couldn't take disciples.

Ning Yi had originally planned to ask Fan Yu whether his daughter had talent as a Soul Engineer. But he learned from a friend that the Dean of the Soul Tool Academy was leading a large group in a Fight to the Death with a certain soul tool—one that was Chen Fu's trial piece from three years ago.

Later, he pulled strings to find Old Xuan and asked about the specifics, including the gleaming soul tool [Nirvana] that Ma Xiaotao always wore around her neck—all of it was Chen Fu's work.

So, with the information gathered, Ning Yi had to admit that aside from Soul Power cultivation and destructive power, Chen Fu alone could crush the Soul Tool Academy with just his technique.

With a clearly superior Soul Engineer right in front of him, Ning Yi naturally wanted to find a formidable teacher for his child.

"Has Ning Tian been exposed to Soul Tool knowledge before?"

"She's currently learning the basics."

The Nine Treasures Glazed Sect had always placed importance on soul tools.

"Once she finishes learning the basics, have her come over. I'll find time to compile a set of teaching materials."