Zhou Yi's Plans

Xuanyuan Sheng gazed at the starry sky. Feeling the Soul Power inside him grow, he smiled with satisfaction.

Sure enough, Sister Lexuan's protection and the automatic growth of his Soul Power made him feel completely safe.

He was now close to becoming a Soul Emperor, and it was time to think about how to obtain the Humanity's Luck he would need for his next step.

This was basically like opening up a whole new path in a world.

The difficulty was no less than matching wits with the Great Luck Heavenly Emperor.

The entire world had been born under the Heavenly Dao. Could he really expect someone to bear the Humanity's Luck, erase their own Heavenly Dao Luck, and then become the greatest expert in the world?

The Plane Spirit was still too stupid. If only everyone who possessed Heavenly Dao Luck could grow stronger, and their own luck could then nourish them in return, just like it did for Xuanyuan Sheng now.

Then it wouldn't be like a cake being divided up among others.

Whenever someone grew stronger, their Humanity's Luck would increase along with them. Xuanyuan Sheng could then use that Humanity's Luck to cultivate and strengthen humanity.

Who knew how long it would take before humanity could truly change things and let people triumph over heaven?

In this world, the Heavenly Dao only managed order and rules.

Everyone was required to awaken a Martial Soul. That was one such rule.

They hadn't even developed a cycle of life and death. The world looked impressive overall, but in truth, it was pretty pathetic.

He stretched toward the sky, then lay down on a fallen tree behind him, still gazing up at the stars.

He was supposed to be keeping watch, but it seemed there wasn't much to keep an eye on.

He glanced over at Zhang Lexuan, who was meditating. Sister Lexuan could sense what was happening around her.

He vaguely remembered that Sister Lexuan was also cultivating her spiritual power, hoping to form a special Spiritual Soul Core when she condensed her first Soul Core.

Putting aside why Sister Lexuan had such a bold idea, could someone without a talent for cultivating spiritual power even manage to form one?

Of course, he meant forming a Soul Core. Spiritual power could be cultivated, but it was ultimately much easier for those naturally suited to it.

Still, with so much Humanity's Luck protecting her, Sister Lexuan could try this method of condensing a Soul Core, which she'd learned from who knew where.

After all, Spiritual Soul Cores didn't exist yet.

Suddenly, a small, warm hand slipped into Xuanyuan Sheng's.

He turned around and saw Xiao Xiao crouching beside him, smiling sweetly. He had no idea when she'd gotten there.

[Come on, do what I taught you. Don't add your own ideas. Just do exactly what I said. Got it?]

The Love System's anxious voice blasted Xiao Xiao's mind. It was genuinely afraid of her.

This little girl could sit right alongside any genius capable of making dark cuisine. She could make perfectly normal food as long as she didn't add her own little touches.

But she just had to put fruit in fried rice. If that could taste good, then she'd be a true genius.

Xiao Xiao was still a little unconvinced.

She'd done a great job already, you stupid system.

Still, she followed the system's instructions.

She raised their joined hands so they could both see the brilliant river of stars through the gaps between their fingers.

The two of them gazed at the stars like that for a long time.

The campfire beside them kept them warm, while a few stray breezes occasionally brushed their cheeks.

Aching weariness washed over Xiao Xiao again.

Gradually, her eyes closed.

Xuanyuan Sheng's other hand hung half-raised, and she leaned against it.

Just like that, Xiao Xiao fell asleep, resting on one of his hands.

Xuanyuan Sheng looked at her with amusement. He'd thought the little thing was going to say some cheesy line, but it turned out she was just sleepy and looking for a pillow.

That made sense. They were on the second half of the night watch.

They'd been out here for quite some time. Without meditating, anyone would eventually succumb to sleepiness.

Meanwhile, Zhang Lexuan was off to the side.

[Spiritual Power +1]

[...]

[Spiritual Power +1]

Her steadily accumulating cultivation progress had become intermittent.

That was because her mind wasn't calm enough at the moment.

Her spiritual power clearly sensed that the little girl, Xiao Xiao, had fallen asleep with her head on the arm beside Xiao Sheng's chest.

Zhang Lexuan slowly opened her eyes.

The two people beside the campfire made for a warm and cozy scene.

She gazed at them, her eyes distant, her thoughts unreadable.

Not far away.

Inside a tent without a fire.

"Yi, is it really so much trouble to take on a student? Why does it feel even more exhausting than doing Soul Tool research?" Fan Yu called to Zhou Yi, who was pacing back and forth outside the tent.

Even though Zhou Yi was frantic with worry, she still answered Fan Yu.

"No, it's not as simple as you think, Fan Yu."

What did she want? She wanted to get her hands on both the system rewards and Xuanyuan Sheng, this promising young talent.

She could choose not to complete the system missions, or even ignore them entirely.

But Zhou Yi wanted many things.

She couldn't bear the thought of not getting what she wanted, so she'd deliberately forgotten she could still refuse.

Her looks were only temporarily important to her. Fan Yu didn't care whether she was beautiful, so she'd let that go herself.

But she had to make sure she got her hands on strength.

Her desire to teach a true Little Monster reflected the longing for power deep inside her.

Who was she? She was a teacher who had truly taught many students in the Inner Courtyard.

So what if her students gave her poor reviews or disliked her? No one could erase her accomplishments in supplying Shrek Inner Court with its students.

"His place in the Spirit Master Department is practically guaranteed. If we want to get a spiritual genius like him into the Soul Tool Department, we'll have to take extreme measures."

A genius with a talent for spiritual power could make Fan Yu's Soul Tool Department flourish.

Fan Yu agreed. After all, his Ultimate Soldier Plan needed test subjects.

He Caitou didn't have enough talent. Fan Yu's own spiritual power was decent, but using himself would still be too risky.

If a real monster could help make his dream come true, that would be ideal.

Fan Yu still had some doubts. "But there are major problems with the Ultimate Soldier Plan. Pushing someone's potential to the limit can cause serious problems for a genius."

"If something really does go wrong, then he simply wasn't enough of a genius. He wasn't someone we should entrust all our hopes to. Spending time on him would just be a waste." Zhou Yi frowned.

"That's true." Fan Yu partly agreed with Zhou Yi. Could someone who wasn't willing to work hard really be considered a genius?

"Then how do you plan to build a connection with him? Zhang Lexuan, the Inner Courtyard Senior Sister, should be about as strong as I am. We can't control how dangerous this gets."

Fan Yu carefully considered the matter. For the future of the Soul Tool Department, he had no choice but to resort to this.

Zhou Yi shot him a look. "Have you forgotten how strong you really are? Once you bring out a Soul Tool, that little girl won't stand a chance against you."

The Inner Courtyard Senior Sister had earned her position through force, but no one could say for sure how powerful a Soul Tool might be.

He'd heard that Zhang Lexuan had bought materials for making Soul Tools, but how could a layperson compare with them?