"Kid." Fan Yu looked at Huo Yuhao and pointed to the scattered parts on the workbench. "Use Spiritual Detection to scan this thing and tell me the position, shape, and material density of every part."
Huo Yuhao didn't answer right away. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his pupils had turned pale gold.
Spiritual Detection spread silently, enveloping the entire workbench.
"There are forty-seven separate parts on the table." He spoke at an unhurried pace, each word utterly certain. Huo Yuhao described every detail of every part on the workbench with absolute precision.
The room fell silent for three seconds. Then Fan Yu smiled.
It was the smile of a true expert who had just discovered an uncut gem, full of undisguised surprise and admiration.
He stood up and walked over to Huo Yuhao, looking him up and down.
"Level fourteen?" Fan Yu asked.
"Yes."
"Spirit Eye Martial Soul?"
"Yes."
"With a skill like that, how did those old fossils in the Martial Soul Department not recruit you?"
Huo Yuhao fell silent for a moment. "Dean Yan said my Martial Soul had a low ceiling."
Fan Yu scoffed, disdain filling his eyes.
He clapped Huo Yuhao on the shoulder. "Those people in the Martial Soul Department don't know a damn thing about detection. Kid, if you use that Spiritual Detection to support Soul Tool operation, you're a natural-born Soul Engineer. Come to the Soul Guidance Department. I'll take you on."
It was that simple.
No examination, no trial period, no pile of complicated procedures and approvals.
Fan Yu had seen Huo Yuhao use Spiritual Detection just once and made his decision.
In the Soul Guidance Department, strength spoke for itself, talent spoke for itself. There weren't so many twists and turns.
Huo Yuhao turned to look at Mu Chen. His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but it felt as though something was stuck in his throat. Not a word came out.
From the day they met outside the Star Dou Great Forest, Mu Chen had been helping him.
He had helped him hunt Soul Rings, run two hundred laps, sell grilled fish, absorb the Mysterious Water Pill, stand up for him in the arena, and now, find a path into the Soul Guidance Department.
Huo Yuhao wasn't ungrateful; he simply didn't know how to express it. Gratitude piled up in his heart, caught in his throat, and in the end, all he could do was give a solemn nod.
Mu Chen patted him on the shoulder, a trace of warmth in his blue eyes. "Study hard. The Tang Sect needs Soul Tools."
He said it softly, but Huo Yuhao heard the weight behind his words. Mu Chen hadn't said, "Study hard, and you'll make something of yourself one day." He had said, "The Tang Sect needs you." The first was encouragement from an elder to a younger person; the second was a trust placed in one companion by another.
"I will." Huo Yuhao's two words carried more weight than any grand declaration.
Fan Yu watched the scene, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
His gaze lingered on Mu Chen for a moment before he said, "Kid, if you're interested in Soul Tools too, come find me anytime. You're a Level 45 Soul Ancestor with decent Spiritual Power. If you studied Soul Tools, you wouldn't be any worse than this kid."
Mu Chen shook his head. "My path lies elsewhere. Thank you, Teacher Fan Yu."
Fan Yu didn't press him. He waved a hand to show he understood. Talented people all had their own paths. You couldn't force a melon to ripen, and he knew that.
By the time they left the Soul Guidance Experimental Building, dusk had fallen.
Wang Dong and Mu Chen walked side by side through Maple Forest, neither saying a word.
Just as they were about to leave the forest, Wang Dong suddenly stopped.
"Big brother."
Mu Chen turned around.
"What you did today... moved me."
"What did I do?"
"Helped Yuhao." Wang Dong lowered her head and nudged the fallen leaves with the toe of her boot. "You could've left him to fend for himself. Old Man Yan had already spoken. Nobody cared whether a One-Ring Soul Master could become a core disciple. But you cared. You spoke up for him in front of everyone, then personally took him to find Teacher Fan Yu. You always seem like you don't care much about anything, but when it comes to the people around you, you quietly lay the road out for them."
Her voice grew softer with every word, until the last few nearly disappeared into the evening breeze.
Mu Chen stood there looking at her. Wang Dong's pink-and-blue hair stirred gently in the wind, and a few strands brushed her cheek. Her ears had started turning red again.
"Yuhao's our teammate," Mu Chen said. "That's what teammates do."
"Then what am I to you?"
The question burst out before Wang Dong could stop herself. As soon as she realized what she'd said, she sprang backward like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, waving her hands frantically. "No, no, no! That's not what I meant! I mean, I mean, you..."
She stumbled over her words, her face growing redder and redder. At last, she turned her back to Mu Chen, buried her face in her hands, and let out a muffled groan.
Mu Chen looked at her back, the corners of his mouth lifting a little more than usual. He didn't tease her about her embarrassment. He simply walked over and patted her trembling shoulder.
"You're Wang Dong," he said. "Come on, let's go back to the dorm and cultivate."
Wang Dong didn't turn around, but she quickly followed him.
Back in the dorm, they sat cross-legged facing each other as usual, palms pressed together, and their Soul Power began to circulate between them.
After three months of synchronized cultivation, the routine had become so familiar they no longer needed to think about it.
Wang Dong's Soul Power entered Mu Chen's meridians through her left palm, while Mu Chen's flowed back into Wang Dong through his right. The two currents formed a closed loop between them.
The warmth of the Light Goddess Butterfly and the crisp coolness of the ocean intertwined in the cycle, like a spring stream flowing into an autumn sea.
But tonight was different.
It had been different from the very beginning.
Before the Soul Power cycle had made even three revolutions, Mu Chen sensed something was wrong.
The fused Soul Power was no longer a stream flowing gently. It had become a surging tide, rushing faster and faster through his meridians.
Wang Dong had clearly felt it too. Her breathing quickened, and the temperature of her palm rose sharply.
"Big brother..." Her voice trembled. "That door!"
Mu Chen felt it too.
The door that had existed for three months at the point where their Soul Power met was now shaking violently.
The light seeping through the crack was no longer a thin line. It became a beam, then a flood of golden, warm light, like the instant the morning sun leaped above the sea.
The door opened.
It wasn't broken down or pushed open. It opened naturally, when their accumulated Soul Power reached its critical point.
Three months of synchronized cultivation, day after day of circulating their power together, and the understanding they had developed fighting side by side in the arena that afternoon—all the conditions aligned at this very moment.
The instant the door opened, the two utterly different currents of Soul Power completed their final fusion.
In Mu Chen's dantian, the azure pool of Soul Power representing his Ocean Martial Soul rose into towering waves.
At the same time, a warm, radiant force poured into the pool: the Light Goddess Butterfly's Soul Power, carrying the warmth of sunlight and the lightness of beating wings.