Faced with Elder Yi's confusion, Su Hui explained everything he could—the Martial Soul system, Spirit Ring age limits, and so on.
When he talked about traveling through time, he deliberately blurred the details of his experiences in "another world," glossing over them vaguely.
"So you know me because of what you experienced in your original world?"
Electrolux's voice was old and hoarse, yet as steady as frozen earth in the depths of winter.
"You could put it that way."
He didn't say he'd read about those things in a novel.
"..."
Electrolux fell silent.
The gray, misty figure swayed slightly, as if digesting this information.
After a long while, he spoke again, his tone edged with a hint of self-mocking laughter.
"I am but a remnant soul. I won't ask how you learned my name. Everyone has things they cannot speak of."
The stone in Su Hui's heart finally dropped.
Elder Yi's attitude mattered more than anything. It was best that he wasn't pressing for answers.
After all, anything involving the various issues in the novels about Douluo Continent would be a real pain to explain.
The gray mist grew denser. Electrolux's hollow eye sockets fixed on Su Hui, his tone calm but incisive.
"You were excited to see me awaken. I assume it has something to do with the trouble you're facing."
"What problem do you think a remnant soul like me could help you solve?"
Right on target!
Su Hui straightened his back, clutching the fabric over his knees with both hands. He spoke slowly and emphatically. "I might be dragged back to my original era at any moment."
"The last time I crossed over, I only stayed for thirty days."
He used the term "crossed over." Electrolux didn't ask for details, only listened quietly.
Su Hui continued, speaking faster and faster, as if racing against something.
Su Hui quickly laid out his concerns.
He might not have much time left in this era.
He had crossed over once before, but after spending just one month in that era, he'd been forced to return.
He wanted to gain as much as possible from this era.
He had been feeling rather lost, but Electrolux's awakening had given him a new direction to consider.
He had the Silkworm Slough of the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.
And in ten days, the one-year cooldown on his Space Anywhere Door would be over.
He could imitate the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm: capture the Ice Empress and persuade her to sacrifice herself to him, replacing his Second Soul Ring.
It was the greatest gain he could think of in this era.
But this depended on finding a way for the Ice Empress to preserve her soul and consciousness and become a Wisdom Spirit Ring.
In the original Peerless Tang Sect, only the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, a million-year Wisdom Spirit Ring, knew how to do that.
He didn't have the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, but he did have Electrolux!
Elder Yi was the Holy Necromancer. Who could surpass him in the study of souls and mental power?
Even the Soul Spirit Method of the future had been created by Elder Yi.
The sea of consciousness fell silent for more than ten breaths.
Electrolux's gray, misty figure wavered like a candle flame blown by the wind. Then he let out a low, hoarse laugh.
"Heh..."
The laugh wasn't loud, but it carried the vicissitudes and defiance of ten thousand years.
"Interesting."
Electrolux floated before Su Hui and pointed a finger toward his brow.
"I've seen countless cases of people growing stronger through another's sacrifice."
"But what you want is for the one who sacrifices to retain her consciousness and memories, and remain forever in the form of a soul."
"You don't want to devour her. You want to coexist."
Su Hui nodded solemnly. "That's right. With my current strength, I can't withstand the Ice Empress's three hundred and ninety thousand years of cultivation. I can only gain her Spirit Ring if she willingly sacrifices herself while conscious and seals away her own source power, layer by layer."
"Let me think."
The gray mist churned, as if thoughts were condensing within it.
"The contract between a Martial Soul and a Spirit Ring is, in essence, the hunter's mental power anchoring the remnant life imprint of the Soul Beast."
"After a Soul Beast dies, its life imprint is absorbed along with the Spirit Ring. But its independent consciousness usually shatters the moment the contract is completed."
"What you need to do is wrap that wisp of consciousness in a more powerful mental field before it shatters, isolate it, stabilize it—and then embed it back into the Spirit Ring's internal structure."
Electrolux spoke faster and faster. Flecks of silver light glimmered in the gray mist, as if some kind of deduction were taking place.
"An interesting proposition."
He turned to Su Hui. "I'll need time."
"The underlying rules of the Martial Soul system and necromancy are not the same. I'll have to first take apart the internal structure of your Spirit Ring, then redesign a method for sealing the soul."
Su Hui clenched his fist.
"That's all I needed to hear, Elder Yi!"
He didn't doubt for a second that Electrolux could do it.
In the original story, this was the man who had forcibly combined necromancy with the Soul Master system and created the Soul Spirit Contract.
Now all he had to do was preserve the soul of a sacrificial Soul Beast and make it into a Wisdom Spirit Ring—a breakthrough in one specialized area.
For Electrolux, it was probably like asking a master swordsmith to forge a uniquely shaped kitchen knife.
"Ten days."
Su Hui held up a finger.
"My Space Anywhere Door's cooldown will be over in ten days. What materials will you need before then? Mental power? Soul Power? Or... a soul?"
He sounded a little hesitant on the last word.
After all, he wasn't some ruthless killer.
Electrolux merely waved his half-transparent hand.
"I only need to observe the circulation of your Spirit Ring."
Su Hui let out a long breath, then clasped his hands together and bowed to Electrolux in the most proper manner.
"Thank you, Elder Yi."
Electrolux accepted the salute without a change in expression.
The gray mist slowly contracted into a sphere, leaving behind one weightless remark.
"My consciousness was muddled for who knows how long. To awaken and find someone presenting me with such an interesting problem is a stroke of good fortune."
Things with Elder Yi were settled.
That left only the Ice Empress.
Would the Ice Empress—the Ultimate Ice Soul Beast with her emerald Scorpion Tail and the face of a young woman—be willing to trade three hundred and ninety thousand years of freedom for a chance to live on?
Su Hui couldn't suppress the curve of his lips.
"With Elder Yi personally handling it, there shouldn't be a problem."
He believed that Elder Yi, who had nearly become a god, would be far more persuasive than that fat bug, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.
"Tian Meng, Tian Meng... while you're sleeping away in the Star Dou Great Forest, I've already started digging into your idea."
"When you and Huo Yuhao find out the Ice Empress is gone, don't be too shocked."
He closed his eyes and began making calculations.
In ten days, he would head to the Far North. All he had to do was use the Anywhere Door to reach the Ice Empress's lair.
But the risks were considerable.
No one knew whether the Ice Empress would be in her lair, or whether she would be asleep.
If he went all that way only to find she wasn't home, the trip would be for nothing.
Then he might also have to face the danger of alerting the Ice Empress and Snow Empress, the two kings of the Far North.
"Forget it. Just thinking about it gives me a headache."
Su Hui gave up on thinking.
It was more practical to figure out how not to get frozen into an ice sculpture the moment they met.
Before you continue