Watching Leng Yaozhu walk away, Shen Ming gasped for breath.
He was utterly terrified of his immediate superior.
He plopped down on the ground and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Only then could he barely manage to stand. He glanced at the two open boxes, each of which held a ten-thousand-year-old spirit herb.
The box on the left contained a Dragon Blood Fruit. This fruit was specifically for those with dragon-type Martial Souls—or, more precisely, anyone with dragon blood in their Martial Soul. It would work very well for them.
Shen Ming glanced at the ten-thousand-year-old Dragon Blood Fruit and knew it wasn't meant for Li Ang. Calmly, he pushed the box over to Na'er, then opened the second one.
The second box held a spirit fruit the color of earth.
Shen Ming recognized this one too. It was called an Earth Spirit Fruit, an elemental-type spirit fruit.
It could benefit Soul Masters who controlled the earth element, and, of course, the most important thing was that this ten-thousand-year-old spirit herb would greatly increase cultivation speed.
"Not bad—we really lucked out this time! I was still wondering how to find you some powerful spirit herbs and fruits. We can get thousand-year-old spirit herbs around here, but ten-thousand-year-old ones are impossible to come by."
"Now that we have this ten-thousand-year-old Earth Spirit Fruit, it'll help your cultivation speed a lot."
As Shen Ming spoke, he gave a dry cough, stood up, and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Then he tossed the box containing the Earth Spirit Fruit straight to Li Ang.
Li Ang caught it and looked at the fruit inside, its entire surface a dark yellow. A hint of delight showed in his eyes.
He'd really lucked out this time. This ten-thousand-year-old spirit fruit would last him at least half a year.
What's more, he could use this ten-thousand-year-old spirit fruit as a foundation, then pour into it the essence he drew from Douluo Planet, letting it be reused over and over.
That way, he could use the fruit for a long time. It could also serve as a vessel for storing Douluo Planet's essence energy.
For Li Ang, this meant one more problem had been solved.
Seeing how excited Li Ang was, Shen Ming handed the other box to Na'er, who accepted it calmly.
Curiosity glimmered in the girl's eyes. She glanced first at Shen Ming, then turned her gaze to Li Ang.
There was something peculiar in her eyes, but more than that, there was a feeling she couldn't put into words.
Na'er furrowed her brows slightly, unable to understand why she felt something toward the boy in front of her.
It wasn't affection, nor was it a sense of loss. It was a strange urge to investigate him.
But since she had no memories at all, Na'er simply lowered her head and put the spirit fruit away.
"All right, you're Na'er, right? I'll take you to your room now. Then the two of you can go to school together. I'll arrange your transfer application."
Shen Ming spoke casually. Arranging for her to transfer to East Sea Elementary Academy was no trouble for him.
It was a good thing for him that the two children were staying. He quickly asked Ming Yue to arrange a room for Na'er, right across from his own.
After that, Shen Ming went back to his room.
As for getting along with Na'er, Li Ang currently had no interest whatsoever.
After all, his body might explode, and dead Tang Hao was still looming over him.
Those were his two biggest problems right now, and he had to solve them first.
As for romance, although he was a bit of a face-lover, he didn't take it all that seriously.
Of course, the main issue was that his soul belonged to an adult. He simply couldn't feel any interest in six-year-old Na'er—or, for that matter, Gu Yuena.
The night passed slowly.
Early the next morning, the two of them started going to school together.
The days that followed were much more uneventful: just the usual routine of going to school and coming home.
Xie Xie returned five days later. His expression was grim, but he still forced himself to sit quietly off to the side without saying a word.
Xie Xie had suddenly grown distant, and Li Ang didn't try to speak to him either.
He'd already guessed what was wrong. Most likely, Xie Xie's mother had died sometime in those few days.
But Li Ang couldn't do anything about it. He had no healing abilities, and there was no way he could save someone bedridden with a serious illness.
As the days passed, Li Ang's life gradually settled into a steady routine.
In the mornings, he studied in class. In the afternoons, he went to the Spirit Ascension Platform to improve himself or followed Mu Chen at the Blacksmith Association to learn forging.
In the evenings, he studied the "Concealment" technique with his teacher. The technique was much like further tempering his muscles and bones.
According to Uncle Li, it would take at least three or four years to master.
By then, his muscle quality would improve dramatically, yet from the outside, his muscles wouldn't appear particularly well-defined.
The improvement was tremendous. It increased the density and quality of the muscles themselves without significantly changing their appearance.
That was why so many people looked average, or even a little scrawny, yet possessed nearly terrifying, explosive strength.
And as these days repeated, one after another, three years slipped by in the blink of an eye.
Three years later, on the twelfth floor of the Spirit Pagoda.
This was where Soul Spirits were kept.
Li Ang stood there, quietly choosing a Soul Spirit.
He hadn't raised his Little Black Dog to ten thousand years during this time, but its Soul Spirit age had reached between seven and eight thousand years.
After three years of cultivation, he had barely reached the three-ring level. His main reason for coming this time was to choose his second Soul Spirit.
After three years of research, selection, and even personally breeding and nurturing one, Shen Ming had finally settled on a Soul Spirit called the Crystal Butterfly.
It wasn't an ordinary Soul Spirit. It was a new type, created through hybridization and genetic bloodline modification.
Li Ang had spent nearly a year cultivating this one Soul Spirit alone, finally managing to fully fuse its two bloodlines.
The Crystal Butterfly had a trait that was both powerful and limited.
Li Ang named this trait Metal Fusion. It could fuse directly with metal and begin consuming it to grow.
This was another Soul Spirit with the ability to grow, and one Li Ang had specially designed. After all, he himself could purify metal.
He could give the Crystal Butterfly some pure metal materials and help it grow quickly, skipping its most basic growth stage and advancing to a new one.
For now, the trait Li Ang had chosen for this hundred-year-old Crystal Butterfly was simple.
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