The scene on the Sky Screen did not stop, but continued to move forward slowly.
Inside the Creation Institute, the scholars upon whom the entire Soul Master world had pinned such high hopes looked as if all life had been drained from them.
At first, everyone had fought to speak. One said, "Soul Rings are condensed energy." Another said, "Without Soul Beasts, Soul Tools can be used as substitutes." Some even slammed the table and declared that if they could find the reason Soul Beasts had gone extinct, they could bring them back.
The table was piled with draft papers, the walls covered in deduction charts, and even the floor was strewn with incomplete experimental records.
But as the days passed, the arguments grew quieter and quieter.
A year had gone by, and they had achieved nothing.
On the Sky Screen, a white-haired old man rose shakily to his feet and placed a thick stack of failure reports before Bibi Dong.
The Sky Screen gave no sound, but everyone understood from his expression. They had tried every possible direction, yet not a single path led anywhere.
Bibi Dong turned the pages one by one, her face growing colder. Finally, she shot to her feet and hurled the entire stack onto the floor.
"Go to Nuoding City and invite Yu Xiaogang." She said only that.
The scene shifted to Nuoding Academy.
It was an utterly ordinary afternoon. A Spirit Hall carriage stopped outside the academy gates, drawing the distant stares of many students.
Several people dressed in Platinum Deacon robes entered the academy.
Before long, Yu Xiaogang emerged. He asked no questions and showed no surprise. He merely glanced back at the academy, then called Tang San over.
Master and disciple packed their things simply and boarded the carriage. The scene