Yu Xiaogang: I Can!

Yu Xiaogang entered Spirit City by carriage at dusk on the tenth day.

The setting sun was like blood, staining the towering city walls a dark gold.

Yu Xiaogang lifted the carriage curtain, his gaze passing over those familiar streets and buildings. His Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily.

He had thought he would never set foot in this city again for the rest of his life.

Tang San sat beside him and keenly noticed that the hand his teacher had clenched around the curtain was gripping it rather tightly.

He could understand. After all, his teacher was about to see his old lover.

"Grandmaster, His Holiness the Pope instructed that you proceed directly to the Creation Institute upon arrival," Elder Yun Shuo explained as they walked. "She will come later to hear your report."

Yu Xiaogang nodded without speaking.

The Creation Institute had been established in an independent courtyard in the western wing of Spirit Hall. It had originally been a cluster of side halls, hastily converted into a research institution.

The moment they stepped through the courtyard gates, a stifling, oppressive atmosphere washed over them.

The main hall at the center of the courtyard had been arranged as a centralized research area.

Dozens of long tables had been joined into a massive workbench, piled with unfurled scrolls, papers covered in derivation formulas, and sketches depicting Soul Ring structures.

Several dozen scholars sat scattered around the workbench.

Some bent over their desks, writing furiously. Some argued in hushed voices. Some stared motionlessly at the papers before them with bloodshot eyes. Others had fallen asleep on the tables, their snores faint.

Even more simply sat there blankly, staring ahead with hollow eyes, their faces marked by the numbness that followed utter exhaustion.

The sound of Elder Yun Shuo pushing open the door startled everyone.

Several scholars who were still awake raised their heads, their gazes landing on the thin middle-aged man behind Yun Shuo, dressed in a faded white robe. They were first stunned, then showed complicated expressions.

"Yu Xiaogang?"

"That Grandmaster..."

"Elder Yun Shuo really brought him here..."

"Who knows whether he actually has any ability? His Holiness the Pope insisted on bringing him back..."

Low murmurs spread through the hall. Some looked curious, some frowned in silence, while others openly scrutinized him.

Yu Xiaogang ignored those gazes.

He walked to the workbench, casually picked up several scattered sheets, and flipped through them. They were densely covered in derivation formulas and hypotheses. Certain sections had been crossed out and rewritten repeatedly, layers of ink nearly obscuring the original writing.

His brow gradually furrowed.

Yu Xiaogang set down the papers and stood there silently. No one knew what he was thinking.

Elder Yun Shuo walked to his side and lowered his voice. "Grandmaster, these are all the fruits of the Creation Institute's efforts since its establishment. We tried every direction we could think of—Artificial Soul Rings, Split Soul Rings, energy substitution, formation simulations... but none produced any real progress."

His aged finger tapped a section of the papers that had been circled over and over. "No matter which direction we take, once we delve into the underlying structure of a Soul Ring, we are completely at a loss. How does a Soul Ring stabilize Soul Power into a fixed form? How are Soul Skills embedded within a Soul Ring? The answers to these questions are blanks that the entire Soul Master world has never touched since the beginning of history."

Yu Xiaogang still said nothing.

He knew perfectly well that he was stuck too.

Back in Nuoding City, he had already determined the direction of Self-Condensed Soul Rings. But between having a direction and putting it into practice lay a chasm he had yet to cross.

That chasm was the underlying structure of a Soul Ring.

He did not know what a Soul Ring's energy circuits looked like, how Soul Skill rules were embedded into a Soul Ring, or how to recreate such things from scratch.

No matter how full his derivation papers were, they were only a framework.

But Yu Xiaogang did not say any of this aloud.

As long as he had sufficient resources to support him, he believed he would certainly be able to research it successfully.

Just then, the hall doors were pushed open from outside.

Two guards dressed in Platinum Deacon robes entered first and took positions on either side. Immediately afterward, a tall, slender figure stepped into the main hall of the Creation Institute.

"His Holiness the Pope has arrived!"

Everyone in the hall rose in unison and bowed.

"Greetings, Your Holiness the Pope!"

Bibi Dong raised her hand slightly, signaling that they could dispense with the formalities.

Her gaze swept across the hall before settling on Yu Xiaogang.

He had grown old!

Bibi Dong thought to herself. Her feelings were incomparably complicated and mixed with joy, but she could not show it.

She could not let anyone know that she still had feelings for Yu Xiaogang.

Especially not the Great Worship.

Otherwise, she would have brought Yu Xiaogang back the moment she became Pope.

Even now, she only dared to invite Yu Xiaogang back under the pretext of research.

"Grandmaster!"

Thus, she offered no pleasantries. "You already know why Spirit Hall invited you here. The Creation Institute's research has reached a deadlock. Every avenue is stalled at the underlying structure of Soul Rings. Do you have a solution?"

Everyone's eyes converged on Yu Xiaogang.

Yu Xiaogang looked at Bibi Dong and fell silent for a moment.

She was still so young and beautiful, while he had already grown old.

Seeing Bibi Dong in her current boundless glory, Yu Xiaogang could not help but feel inferior deep down.

For the moment, he had no answer to Bibi Dong's question either.

But he did not want to appear as useless as the others in the Creation Institute before Bibi Dong.

"Yes."

Yu Xiaogang answered cleanly and decisively.

A subdued commotion rose in the hall. The researchers were all stunned. They had not expected this legendary Grandmaster to truly have a solution.

Bibi Dong's eyes instantly brightened. "What solution?"

"Your Holiness the Pope," Yu Xiaogang met her gaze, his voice steady. "When everyone thinks about constructing a Soul Ring now, they are trying to imitate existing Soul Rings. They must use Soul Power to create a stable Soul Ring form while also adding Soul Skills to it. Naturally, that consumes a great deal of time."

"But what if we only need to construct a stable Soul Ring? A Soul Ring that does not require Soul Skills!"

"That would make it countless times simpler!"

Yu Xiaogang had only come up with this method by forcing himself to think of one.

Fundamentally, this still did not solve the problem of how to condense a Soul Ring. But what he said was certainly correct: without considering Soul Skills, condensing a Soul Ring would definitely be countless times easier.

"Remove Soul Skills?"

"That's right..."

"Why didn't I think of that..."

"What matters most now is researching Soul Rings so everyone can advance their cultivation. Soul Skills aren't essential..."

"Rather than stuffing Soul Skills into Soul Rings, it would be better to directly research Self-Created Soul Skills. Soul Masters could use those just the same..."

"That's right..."

"This would reduce the time needed by more than half..."

"As expected of the Grandmaster. He proposed such an important suggestion the moment he arrived!"

"..."

After hearing Yu Xiaogang's words, the other researchers in the Creation Institute all lit up, crying out in delight one after another.