Heading to Tianlin City

"I already have a lead. I heard that among the new students in East Sea City, there is a boy with a Blue Silver Grass martial soul."

"To be able to keep up with the pace of the general public and enter an intermediate soul master academy without being held back or enrolling early—the temperament and hard work of this child go without saying."

Zhuo Shi nodded upon hearing this, while Yun Ze, standing behind the door, listened quietly and gained some understanding.

So, Tang Wulin's name had already appeared in Wu Zhangkong's field of vision at this time. If that was what Wu Zhangkong was thinking, then his inexplicable care for Tang Wulin and his tendency to stand up for him in the original story made perfect sense.

From this perspective, Wu Zhangkong's analysis was quite reasonable.

Yun Ze walked into Yun Ming's room at this moment and knocked on the door.

Ya Li opened the door, and the moment she saw Yun Ze, a flash of pleasant surprise appeared in her eyes.

"Ze'er, you're back?!"

There was a hint of delight in Ya Li's tone; she was clearly very happy about Yun Ze's return.

At this moment, Ya Li's aura was also much higher than when Yun Ze had last seen her, clearly indicating that she had made a breakthrough during this period of seclusion.

Come to think of it, ever since Yun Ze was born, the number of times Ya Li had entered seclusion and made progress had increased, as if the heavens were responding to her growth.

It also seemed as if Yun Ze had some extraordinary influence on Ya Li in the mysterious depths of fate.

"Mom, where's Dad?"

Yun Ze first leaned into Ya Li's embrace, acting spoiled for a moment, rubbed against her, and then looked up to ask.

Ya Li glanced at Yun Ze, pinched his cheek with some dissatisfaction, and said, "You little ingrate, looking for your father the moment you get back."

"He's helping Na'er practice her spear work. Go on over."

Yun Ze smiled at Ya Li, gently shook her hand to soothe her, and then ran toward the backyard.

In the courtyard, Yun Ming was strictly correcting Na'er's spear-holding posture and teaching her techniques for fighting with spear-type martial souls.

Yun Ze did not go up to interrupt them; he simply leaned against a tree on the side and watched.

Na'er was practicing very seriously, her eyes constantly observing Yun Ming's movements.

Yun Ze watched quietly from the side until Yun Ming took the initiative to turn his head and look in his direction.

A look of gratification appeared in Yun Ming's eyes as he walked up and said to Yun Ze, "Back so soon? Did something happen?"

Yun Ze shook his head, then proceeded to tell Yun Ming about the Dark Spirit Ascension Platform.

Yun Ming frowned, then slapped a tree in the courtyard, causing its branches and leaves to shake.

"Too arrogant! These Evil Soul Masters have become this rampant!"

Yun Ze was quite calm about this; he caught a leaf about to fall on his head and said to Yun Ming, "This matter cannot be stopped. Some people just want to be villains; no matter how much logic you preach to them, it's useless."

"And some people are forced to be villains because of their martial souls. For people like that, even if you talk to them about truth, goodness, and beauty, they won't listen."

"What I'm more concerned about is, can the Dark Spirit Ascension Platform be used for my own purposes?"

Yun Ming pondered for a moment, then looked at Yun Ze and said, "In theory, it's possible. After all, it is still an Ascension Platform; it's just that dark-attribute energy was deliberately injected into it, and a portion of the Ascension Platform was separated out."

"But your martial soul is far too different from that of an Evil Soul Master, and these two spears are far too famous. If you go to the Dark Spirit Ascension Platform, I fear you will be exposed immediately."

Yun Ze thought for a moment and then said, "If I don't use my martial soul, would the chance of exposure be reduced significantly?"

Yun Ming narrowed his eyes and said to Yun Ze, "If you don't use your martial soul and use some methods to cover yourself in the death energy and demonic energy belonging to an Evil Soul Master, it might not be impossible to fool them temporarily."

"It's just that within the entire Ascension Platform, not using the power of your martial soul at all is too difficult for you. If you had already advanced to the five-ring level and possessed a Battle Armor, there might be a sliver of a chance."

"As it stands now, even if you aren't discovered, I'm afraid you'd be out in the first round."

Yun Ze looked at Yun Ming and said, "I'll study it further. Actually, I think as long as I'm not discovered, everything else is manageable. Even if it's just one round, I can at least kill some soul spirits and improve the age of my own soul spirit."

"At the very least, it would count as scouting information on this Holy Spirit Cult stronghold for the academy."

Yun Ming nodded and said, "Since you want to go, then try your best. I will arrange for people from the academy to provide backup nearby. When the time comes, you only need to release your soul power, and someone will rush in immediately."

Yun Ze's mouth twitched. With his cultivation level, if he released his soul power and someone saw it and rushed in, that "rushing in" would likely be from no more than a thousand steps away.

It might not even be outside the range of naked-eye observation; Yun Ming's protection of him was still quite thorough.

Of course, by the time he was halfway there, Yun Ze didn't think so anymore.

On the outskirts of Shrek City, Yun Ze deployed his Soul Guidance Mecha.

As the mecha flew out, Yun Ze suddenly felt that the tactile feedback from controlling the mecha had changed slightly.

This mecha had an extremely keen sense for weight distribution; a similar shift in handling had occurred previously when it was carrying Wu Zhangkong.

At that moment, Yun Ze whipped his head around and saw a petite, silver-haired figure already sitting in the back seat of the mecha, though he had no idea when she had arrived.

A pair of large eyes were blinking as they stared at Yun Ze, seemingly observing how he operated the mecha.

After a brief moment of shock, Yun Ze reached out to activate the mecha's autopilot function, set it to cruise mode, and turned back to look at the silver-haired figure.

"Na'er? Why are you here?"

Na'er blinked her eyes, then offered a smile and said, "Senior Brother Yun Ze, aren't you trying to disguise yourself with the dark aura of an Evil Soul Master? Take me with you, I can help."

Immediately after, Na'er took out a silver-white mask and handed it to Yun Ze, saying, "As long as you wear this mask, your soul power will be imbued with a trace of evil attributes. To outsiders, you will look like a soul master wielding a spear with dark properties."

"As long as you control yourself and don't actively reveal the appearance of your soul spirit, no one will notice anything wrong."

Yun Ze raised an eyebrow, then reached out to pinch the mask, looking at Na'er as he said, "You followed me just to deliver this?"

Na'er shook her head, then said to Yun Ze, "I want to go see it too. I have a feeling that going there will be beneficial for me."

Yun Ze narrowed his eyes, skeptical of Na'er's claim, but he still silently turned his back...