It was a gemlike object.
It was icy blue all over, shaped like a teardrop and covered in countless tiny facets.
When the green flames shone upon it, it immediately reflected a myriad of dazzling colors.
The green light turned icy blue as well.
That brilliant icy-blue radiance transformed into countless rays in the air, crisscrossing the entire Sea of Consciousness.
The light's refraction alone made the Sea of Consciousness, which had seemed like a sea of flames, feel as though it might freeze over.
The temperature around the Heart of the Ice God stayed close to absolute zero all year round.
The energy it contained was incredibly pure—the purest form of ice energy.
Its energy intensity fell somewhere between the explosive cores of a Level 9 Fixed Soul Guidance Shell and a Level 10 Fixed Soul Guidance Shell.
To this day, no one knew how to use it or harness its energy.
That was because it was not only ultralow in temperature; it also isolated itself from contact with any other energy.
The energy inside could not be accessed through any Soul Tool or Soul Guidance Array.
Otherwise, even with support from the military's top brass, this thing would never have ended up in Mu Han's hands.
After all, in theory, it could be used to create a fourth God-Slaying weapon!
But whether or not it could be used, one thing was beyond doubt:
It was unquestionably a divine artifact of the ice attribute.
For it, Mu Han had even been forced to promise that he would craft one set of over-spec Three-Word Battle Armor for each of the Federation's eight military regions.
The materials would be Spirit Alloy made from six rare metals, with a fusion rate of one hundred percent.
The power of over-spec Three-Word Battle Armor was enough to stand against inferior Four-Word Battle Armor.
Mu Han had to turn over eight full sets.
However, when he had haggled with the military, they had not offered just a Heart of the Ice God.
They had also granted Mu Han certain privileges and a wealth of resources.
After all, the Fatui needed vast resources to grow.
The same was true of the Spirit Pagoda.
To get Xia Zhengleng to help Mu Han cultivate his spiritual power, he had offered more than one set of over-spec Three-Word Battle Armor.
He had offered three.
In return, besides having Xia Zhengleng seal the Heart of the Ice God inside his Sea of Consciousness,
the Spirit Pagoda also had to build him a Spirit Ascension Platform.
Mu Han promised not to open the Spirit Ascension Platform to the public, and to let only the Fatui use it.
He would also have to cover all the energy costs of the Spirit Ascension Platform himself.
But it would become a cultivation sanctuary where the Fatui could produce Seven-Ring Soul Sages in quantity.
The Tang Sect had agreed to let Mu Han Imprint Zang Xin's Soul Skill onto his Battle Armor as a Solidified Soul Skill when he advanced his armor.
They had also promised to let him choose two hundred-thousand-year natural treasures from the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.
In exchange, Mu Han had to craft five sets of over-spec Three-Word Battle Armor for the Tang Sect.
Including the set for Zhuo Shi, he would have to craft seventeen sets in all.
But it was no great difficulty for him, especially since the recipients had not even been decided yet.
The number of slots might look generous, but these factions were all powerful and well-established. Those few slots were a drop in the bucket.
Aside from Zhuo Shi's set, whose recipient had already been decided,
even the slots for the eight military regions were still up for discussion.
The Northern Legion was easy enough. They could give one to the legion commander.
But the Central Legion's commander already had Four-Word Battle Armor. So who should get the set?
So Mu Han was not all that busy. At most, he was just finding ways to pass the time.
With his help, Gu Yue, Xu Xiaoyan, Zheng Yiran, and Wu Siduo had each completed their One-Word Battle Armor.
After becoming One-Word Battle Armor Masters, they were all eligible to graduate.
Wu Siduo and the others could continue their development in the inner court, but Gu Yue chose to leave.
After all, the Spirit Pagoda and Shrek Academy did not get along.
"Aren't you going to take Na'er with you?" Mu Han asked suddenly as he saw Gu Yue off.
"You've met her?" Gu Yue looked at Mu Han, shock and conflicting emotions in her eyes. "You're not going to stop me?"
"My little sister has never been Na'er or Gu Yue. She's the complete Gu Yuena!" Mu Han shook his head.
The "Na'er" he had met as a child had actually been Gu Yuena.
But after her memories returned, the memories of those few years had become a heart demon.
That was why she had forcibly split into Gu Yue and Na'er, and even made some kind of bet.
"Your bet was a joke from the start. You treated Na'er as a heart demon from the very beginning."
"Even if you win, the heart demon will still be there."
"Even if you lose, you'll forcibly devour the heart demon."
"What's the point of a bet like that?" Mu Han scoffed.
"Then what do you think we should do?" Gu Yue asked irritably.
"Have a Hehuan Sect-style duel. Whoever wins gets to be the real one."
"Fight it out on the Male-Female Duel Platform. Whoever loses becomes the other's cultivation cauldron."
"Gu Yue can lose, and Na'er can lose, but Gu Yuena cannot."
"Whoever wins becomes Gu Yuena. Only then can the heart demon be completely eliminated."
"Because the one who loses doesn't disappear—the one who disappears is the heart demon."
Gu Yue's eye twitched, and she turned to leave. She thought Mu Han was right.
This method really could resolve the heart demon.
But if things went wrong, she would be the one to disappear—and as the heart demon, no less.
It wasn't that Gu Yue was afraid to die.
But the Soul Beast lineage could no longer withstand any more turmoil.
Na'er and she had completely different ideals.
Na'er even considered herself entirely human.
Under the circumstances, how could she dare to have an even match with Na'er?
If she lost, would the Soul Beasts be wiped from the Douluo Plane?
At the thought, Gu Yue felt a little envious.
She envied Na'er, who had lived as a human from the very beginning.
But what she envied even more was Mu Han.
He clearly knew everything, yet had never wanted to change anything.
At least, in Gu Yue's eyes, Mu Han carried so many burdens, yet somehow had none he needed to shoulder.
Mu Han claimed to be "a creation born of the Golden Dragon King and the previous Plane Master."
But the Golden Dragon King was dead now.
And if Mu Han did nothing, the previous Plane Master would not return.
Wouldn't that let Mu Han live as an ordinary person?
But Gu Yue could not do the same.
She carried not only the identity of the Silver Dragon King, but also the blood feud of the Soul Beast lineage.
The other girl carrying a responsibility was Zheng Yiran.
Her responsibility was tied to the Soul Beasts, too.
In fact, Zheng Yiran had approached Mu Han at her family's behest.
She was the Zheng Family's eldest daughter, born into wealth and privilege.
But many things were beyond her control.
For instance, she was now a gift from her family to Mu Han.
Two thousand years ago, Poison Douluo Dugu Bo had been devoured by the poison of his Jade Phosphor Snake Martial Soul.
Two thousand years later, the Zheng Family faced the same problem.
There was a solution: just like two thousand years ago, they could force the poison into Soul Bones.
But how precious were Soul Bones? And Soul Beasts were now on the verge of extinction.
As a result, quite a few members of the Zheng Family had still died after being consumed by the poison.
But joining Mu Han's Beast Soul Weaponization Project would change that.
If their Jade Phosphor Snake Martial Souls became Tool Martial Souls, the poison would no longer turn on them.
Zheng Yiran had originally wanted to see if she could become his girlfriend.
But Wu Siduo had beaten her to it!
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