The match against Crossing Sea Academy was even easier than expected.
The two power-type soul masters both had bear martial souls. They were tough-skinned, thick-fleshed, and immensely strong, but their speed and agility were glaring weaknesses.
Ye Xinglan drew their fire at the front while Yun Jingheng placed marks from behind. The match was over in less than three minutes.
When the referee blew the whistle, the two hulking opponents were still bewildered, having no idea how they had lost.
The applause from the stands was sparse—there really had been nothing worth watching.
Yun Jingheng sheathed his sword and walked back to the rest area.
Ye Xinglan followed behind him, somewhat dissatisfied. "You said you'd take the front, but I still ended up charging ahead."
Yun Jingheng considered it. "Next time, definitely."
Ye Xinglan glared at him, but the corners of her lips curled upward.
There were no matches that afternoon.
After informing Ya Li, Yun Jingheng stayed alone in the hotel room.
He took the Blue Pregnancy Copper from his Storage Soul Tool. The palm-sized metal ingot gave off a blue sheen beneath the light.
He pulled out the half-finished drafts, spread them across the table, and began revising them.
He drew very slowly.
The path of every circuit, the parameters of every node, the curvature and loss of Soul Power flow—all of it had to be calculated over and over again.
It was a habit he had developed in the laboratory in his previous life—speed was not skill; steadiness was.
After finishing the first version, he looked it over and was dissatisfied.
The circuit curvature was too sharp, resulting in excessive Soul Power loss. It would overheat after only a few uses.
He crumpled it up and started again.
In the second version, the circuits were smoother and the loss had decreased, but the core's response speed was too slow.
After thinking for a moment, he added several miniature amplifiers at the key nodes. The response speed improved, but the materials required were no longer enough.
He crumpled that one up too.
Halfway through the third version, he stopped and stared at the draft for a long time.
He was considering a problem—how could he make this thing change the direction of gravity without consuming too much Soul Power?
This was not simple attraction or repulsion. It was altering the force itself.
It was what he had studied for an entire lifetime in his previous world: gravity.
But no one in this world had researched it.
There were no formulas, no parameters, no reference materials whatsoever.
He could only start from scratch.
He picked up his pen and wrote a string of formulas on a blank sheet beside him.
This was knowledge from his previous life, translated anew through this world's Soul Tool theory.
After writing them down, he reviewed them, adjusted several parameters, then reviewed them again.
Then he began drawing the third version.
This version came even more slowly. Every circuit had to be repeatedly verified.
His fingers moved across the draft, light and steady. Even his breathing was soft, as though something had fixed his entire body in place.
When Ye Xinglan arrived, he was drawing the final section of the circuit.
She stood at the door without entering, leaning against the frame as she watched.
The table was covered in drafts. The Blue Pregnancy Copper sat at the very edge, still untouched.
Yun Jingheng had his head lowered, the tip of his pen making a soft scratching sound on the paper.
She could not understand what he was drawing. It was not any of the circuits she had learned; it was something else entirely.
The lines were finer and the structure denser, like an intricate web.
As she watched his profile, she suddenly felt that he looked different when he was serious.
Normally, he was always indifferent, as though nothing really mattered to him.
But now, something seemed to be burning in his eyes.
She watched for a while without disturbing him, then turned and left.
After taking a few steps, she looked back once more.
The door remained open, light spilling out and casting his shadow across the floor, long and quiet.
Yun Jingheng finished the final section of the circuit, set down his pen, and let out a long breath.
He picked up the draft and examined it from beginning to end.
The third version was much better than the first two.
The circuit curvature was just right, the Soul Power loss was within an acceptable range, and the response speed was fast enough.
But one problem remained unsolved—the materials he had could not make this thing.
The several key nodes he needed required other metals to achieve.
He stared at the draft in silence for a while.
Then he picked up his pen and wrote a line along the edge of the page—"Other compatible metals required."
Afterward, he folded the draft and put it away with the Blue Pregnancy Copper in his Storage Soul Tool.
He could not make the device yet, but the design was complete.
He would think of a solution after returning.
He stood and stretched his neck.
Ya Li was sitting in a chair reading. When she saw him stand, she raised her head. "Finished drawing?"
Yun Jingheng nodded. "I can't make it, but the draft is finished."
Ya Li smiled. "Then there's no rush."
Yun Jingheng sat beside her and leaned back against the sofa.
Outside the window, night had fallen.
The sea breeze drifted in, carrying a salty scent.
He closed his eyes, but his mind was still turning over those circuits and parameters.
Ya Li glanced at him, reached out to ruffle his hair, and asked, "Hungry?"
Yun Jingheng opened his eyes. "A little."
Ya Li stood, took his hand, and led him toward the dining room.
Ye Xinglan was already in the dining room. A bowl of noodles sat before her, untouched.
When she saw Yun Jingheng enter, she looked up. "Finished drawing?"
Yun Jingheng nodded. "I can't make it, but the draft is finished."
Ye Xinglan frowned. "Why can't you make it?"
Yun Jingheng sat across from her.
"Not enough materials. Several key nodes need other metals."
Ye Xinglan thought for a moment. "Find them after we go back?"
Yun Jingheng shook his head. "I do have an idea..."
Ye Xinglan did not ask further and lowered her head to eat her noodles.
After taking a bite, she looked up again. "What exactly is that thing you drew?"
Yun Jingheng thought for a moment. "A small device. It can alter gravity within a certain range."
Ye Xinglan's chopsticks froze. "What is gravity?"
Yun Jingheng fell silent for a moment.
That was not an easy question to explain.
He picked up a cup from the table and placed it on the tabletop.
"Do you know why a cup falls downward instead of floating upward?"
Ye Xinglan looked at him. "Because it's heavy."
"Right. Weight is one manifestation of gravity."
Yun Jingheng said, "Gravity is the force through which objects attract one another. The earth attracts the cup, and the cup also attracts the earth. It's just that the earth is so large that the cup's attraction can't be noticed."
Ye Xinglan was stunned. "The cup attracts the earth too?"
"In theory, yes."
Yun Jingheng said, "But that force is too small to measure."
Ye Xinglan stared at him for several seconds. "How do you know all this?"
Yun Jingheng had been prepared. "I read it in books."
Ye Xinglan did not ask again. She lowered her head and continued eating, but the thought kept spinning in her mind—the cup also attracted the earth.
She looked up at Yun Jingheng.
The books this person read seemed nothing like the ones she read.
Ya Li sat beside them, listening to the two children talk with a faint smile on her lips.
She said nothing, merely picked up a serving of food and placed it in Yun Jingheng's bowl.
The next day.
Shrek's exhibition match teams no longer continued competing. The semifinals were approaching, so there was no need to participate any further.
Yun Jingheng lay on the bed with the draft spread beside his pillow.
Sunlight shone through a gap in the curtains and fell across the densely packed circuits. He had looked at them countless times; every circuit and every node was etched into his mind. Yet there was one problem he could never get around—he lacked materials.
Some of the things he had moved back from the Soul Guidance Teaching Building had been used to make the telescope, while the rest remained in a box.
The core, conductive wires, and metal framework were all good things, but none matched this design.
He needed a high-purity Soul Tool core as a base. The existing ones contained too many impurities and would cause heavy Soul Power loss.
He needed at least three ultra-fine conductive wires. The ones he had were too thick to fit into the circuits carved into the Blue Pregnancy Copper.
He needed a stable Soul Power output terminal. The existing ones fluctuated too much, causing the gravity regulator to alternate unpredictably between strong and weak.
He flipped the draft over and began listing the required items on the back.
Base core, conductive wires, output terminal, and several smaller components.
He marked the requirements after every item—purity, diameter, fluctuation range—everything written clearly.
Once he had finished, he stared at the list in silence for a while.
He could not obtain these things himself.
Shrek's storeroom had them, but Aunt Cai had said the Soul Guidance Department's funds were not that abundant. He was too embarrassed to take more.
He could also ask his mother to find a Divine Craftsman to forge them, but that felt like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
For a palm-sized device, there was no need to disturb someone of that caliber.
After thinking for a moment, he suddenly remembered someone—Tang Wulin.
That Blue Pregnancy Copper had been forged by him, and its quality was excellent.
Besides, he was a blacksmith. He should know plenty of material dealers, or at least know where to obtain these things.
He picked up his communicator and found Tang Wulin's number.
They had added each other when he bought the Blue Pregnancy Copper, but they had never spoken since.
He hesitated for a moment before sending a message.
"Tang Wulin, where are you?"
Tang Wulin was sitting at a table, lost in thought.
He had won second place in today's forging competition and was quite happy, but after returning to his room, he began pondering that piece of metal he had failed to forge properly.
He always felt he could have done better.
His communicator lit up. He picked it up, glanced at it, and froze.
Yun Jingheng?
That Yun Jingheng from Shrek?
Why had he suddenly sent a message?
Tang Wulin stared at the line of text for several seconds, somewhat bewildered.
Instinctively, he wanted to reply, "Do you need something?" But after typing a few words, he deleted them.
In the end, he only replied, "I'm at Sky Sea Hotel, Room 301."
After sending it, he froze again.
Why had he told him the room number?
They were not even familiar with each other.
But the message had already been sent and could not be taken back. He stared at the communicator for a long while, but the other side did not reply.
He assumed Yun Jingheng would not come, breathed a sigh of relief, set the communicator on the table, and continued spacing out.
Some time later, someone knocked on the door. He assumed it was Xie Xie or Teacher Wu.
Tang Wulin stood and walked to the door, opening it.
Yun Jingheng stood outside, wearing that silver-white coat, his hair draped over his shoulders.
He looked at Tang Wulin, and Tang Wulin looked at him.
"Y-You... why are you here?" Tang Wulin asked.
"...Didn't you send me the address?"
Tang Wulin: "..."
I didn't think you'd actually come...
Before you continue