Crafting Soul Tools

"If you're willing to follow me, I'll treat you as my best friend."

"Uh... Mo Jiao is my best friend too."

The Ice Fire Flood Dragon froze.

Best friend.

It had lived for a thousand years, always alone.

Even when it occasionally encountered others of its kind, they were rivals competing for territory.

No one had ever said the word "friend" to it.

It looked at Gu Ci, then at Dugu Yan, and finally at the Titled Douluo in the distance.

After a long while, it finally lowered its proud head.

"Alright."

Gu Ci smiled and began setting up the formation.

The contract process went far more smoothly than expected.

The Ice Fire Flood Dragon seemed truly moved by Dugu Yan's sincerity and showed not the slightest resistance throughout the process.

When the formation's light faded, two soul rings rose beneath Dugu Yan's feet.

One was the two-thousand-year ring brought by Mo Jiao, while the other was the seven-thousand-year ring brought by the Ice Fire Flood Dragon.

The two soul rings, one dark and one light, complemented each other brilliantly.

As the light dissipated, a black-and-white phantom appeared beside Dugu Yan.

The Ice Fire Flood Dragon—no, it should now be called Ice Fire.

It coiled around Dugu Yan, its demeanor much gentler than before.

There was now a trace of closeness in the way it looked at Dugu Yan.

Excitedly, Dugu Yan hugged Ice Fire around the neck. Though it was only a phantom, she could clearly feel the warmth of their bloodline connection.

"Thank you for being willing to follow me," she said softly.

Ice Fire gave a low rumble and rubbed its head against her.

Just then, Dugu Yan suddenly felt a surge of heat rise within her body.

Looking down, she saw scale-like patterns emerge simultaneously on the backs of both hands.

The one on her left hand was ice-blue, while the one on her right was fiery red.

The patterns seemed alive as they spread up her wrists, eventually forming bracelet-like marks around them.

"This is..."

Dugu Bo's pupils contracted.

Another External Soul Bone?

No, there were two of them!

Gu Ci opened his Heavenly Eye and immediately understood.

These were the External Soul Bones formed from the Ice Fire Flood Dragon's eyes, one of ice and one of fire, appearing as a pair.

"Yanyan, congratulations." He smiled. "Two External Soul Bones. There are only a few people like that on the entire continent."

Dugu Yan looked at the marks on her hands and jumped excitedly in place. "I have two External Soul Bones! Brother Gu Ci, look! I got two more!"

Ice Fire watched its excited young master from the side, a humanlike fondness flashing through its eyes.

Mo Jiao also came over and rubbed against Dugu Yan's other hand, as if saying, "Don't forget about me."

Gu Ci smiled and shook his head, then looked into the distance.

Deep within the Star Dou Great Forest, several powerful auras flickered in and out of perception.

That was the domain of Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts. Even Dugu Bo was unwilling to set foot there lightly.

"Let's go. It's time to head back," he said.

A few days later, the three of them returned safely to Thunder Tiger Marquis Manor.

Gu Ci also began crafting Soul Tools. After all, the Heavenly Eye Martial Soul was simply far too overpowered for such things.

In Gu Ci's courtyard, sunlight filtered through the leaves, scattering mottled shadows across the ground.

Zi Dian lay in the courtyard with its eyes closed, while Night Shadow lazily curled up in the shadows by the wall. If not for the occasional flicker of silver Thunder Patterns, it would have nearly blended into the darkness.

The two Soul Spirits, one bright and one dark, complemented each other well.

Inside the room, Gu Ci sat cross-legged before a table piled high with all kinds of metal materials.

After returning from the Star Dou Great Forest, he had spent three days recovering.

Dugu Yan was busy bonding with Ice Fire and Mo Jiao, running all over the manor every day. From time to time, her delighted shouts could be heard.

"Ice Fire, can you breathe fire?"

"Mo Jiao, how big can you become?"

Meanwhile, Gu Ci had begun the next stage of his plan.

Soul Tools.

He had read through the Complete Guide to Soul Tools left behind by Huo Yuhao countless times.

From First-Grade to the highest Third-Grade Soul Tools he could currently view, from offensive types to support types, the principles and crafting methods of every Soul Tool were recorded in extreme detail.

But Gu Ci did not want any of those conventional Soul Tools.

He picked up a fist-sized piece of silver ore and examined it carefully under the sunlight.

A faint silver glow shimmered over the ore's surface. When light fell upon it, it created a peculiar sense of distortion.

Void Stone.

He had found it among the batch of metals his father had purchased. There was only a fist-sized piece, yet it was the most valuable item in the entire lot.

That was because this ore contained a trace of spatial power and was the primary material used to make Storage Soul Tools.

What Gu Ci intended to make was precisely a Storage Soul Tool.

But not an ordinary Storage Soul Tool.

He opened the Complete Guide to Soul Tools and found a particular page.

It recorded a special First-Grade Soul Tool: the Concealment Pendant.

The principle behind this Soul Tool was to use spatial power to form a tiny distortion field around the body, sealing the wearer's aura within it.

After a Soul Elder or anyone below wore it, as long as they did not actively make a move, others would be unable to sense the wearer's true cultivation.

It could even alter the color of soul rings.

"This is it." Gu Ci's eyes lit up.

He needed this badly.

Twin Martial Souls, a Super Martial Soul, soul rings exceeding ten thousand years and seven thousand years...

Any one of those things would be enough to shake the entire continent.

He was still too weak and did not yet possess enough strength to protect himself.

If someone with ill intent set their sights on him, the consequences would be unimaginable. Even with Dugu Bo around, it would be difficult to protect them.

But with the Concealment Pendant, he could disguise the colors of his soul rings as ordinary hundred-year rings and suppress his cultivation to barely over ten levels.

As long as he did not make a move, no one would discover his true background.

Gu Ci picked up the Void Stone, and the Heavenly Eye between his brows quietly opened.

Golden light pierced through the ore's surface and penetrated deep inside.

From his perspective, the ore's internal structure was clearly visible.

It consisted of layer upon layer of fine silver patterns. A peculiar power flowed between those patterns—that was spatial power.

"The first step is extracting the spatial power," Gu Ci murmured.

He picked up a specially made Engraving Knife and began carving a formation onto the surface of the Void Stone according to the method in the book.

The formation's purpose was to guide and extract the spatial power within the ore, gathering it at a single point.

The Engraving Knife fell, and stone chips flew.

Gu Ci's hand was steady. Under the Heavenly Eye, the depth and angle of every cut were accurate to the slightest fraction.

Even so, this was no easy task.

Void Stone was extremely hard. One wrong move, and all his previous effort would be wasted.

An hour later, he set down the Engraving Knife and let out a long breath.

A circle of complex patterns had appeared on the surface of the Void Stone. The patterns glowed faintly, a sign that the formation had been activated.

"Next, fuse the materials."

He took out a piece of Mithril, a piece of Red Gold, and a small pinch of Star Sand.

These were all common materials for crafting Soul Tools. Mithril had excellent Soul Power conductivity, Red Gold was sturdy and durable, and Star Sand could improve the efficiency of Soul Power transmission.

Following the formula in the book, he placed the materials into a specially made Smelting Furnace in the proper proportions and heated them with Soul Power Flame.

The flames danced as the metals gradually melted.

Gu Ci carefully controlled the heat while placing the Void Stone into the Smelting Furnace.

The instant the Void Stone entered, it reacted with the molten metals, and a strange spatial fluctuation spread outward.

"Now!"

Both his hands moved at once, Soul Power pouring into the Smelting Furnace as he guided the molten metals along a specific path.

With the Heavenly Eye's assistance, he could clearly see every subtle change within the metals and adjust his Soul Power output in time.