Grand Prince Xue Qinghe

Jiang Ci'an's idea was simple.

He would use the natural process by which Soul Bones formed when Soul Beasts died as a reference, study the laws and principles behind it, then apply them to his own bones, guiding them through a qualitative transformation until they became Soul Bones.

At the same time, during this transformation, he would intervene in their structure and build Spirit Aperture Slots into them.

In other words, he didn't need to obtain Soul Bones from outside.

His goal was to turn his own bones into Soul Bones.

And because they were his own bones transforming, they would most likely have the natural capacity for growth seen in External Soul Bones, strengthening gradually as the Soul Master grew!

Perhaps at first they would only be equivalent to ten-year Soul Bones throughout his body, but as the Soul Master's cultivation advanced, they would gradually become hundred-year, thousand-year, ten-thousand-year, or even hundred-thousand-year Soul Bones!

Although, according to his theory, Self-Condensing Soul Bones probably wouldn't come with Soul Skills like normal Soul Bones did.

But their advantage was that once successfully condensed, they would improve his physique to an astonishing degree, much like Battle Armor in the future, directly enhancing his combat strength.

Moreover, if he could condense Spirit Apertures within these Self-Condensing Soul Bones, the various boosts provided by the Spirit Apertures themselves—such as faster Soul Power recovery, enhanced spiritual power, more efficient energy absorption, and comprehensive improvements to physical fitness—would be anything but weak.

And most important of all was their capacity for growth, an advantage no external Soul Bone could match.

Put more vividly, he would be giving up a few skill modules in exchange for pure, future increases in stats!

Without a doubt, this was a promising path.

But for now, it had plenty of obstacles, and he would need time to overcome them one by one.

Jiang Ci'an studied the Soul Bone before him, slowly taking shape at an exceedingly sluggish pace, his eyes deep in thought.

In theory, constructing a Spirit Aperture within a single Soul Bone wouldn't be difficult.

He had the successful experience of the Eye of Life, and Elder Yi was there to guide him. Simply transforming the bone in a particular location into a Soul Bone and building a Spirit Aperture into it was certainly difficult, but not insurmountable.

The problem was, he didn't want just a single Soul Bone or Spirit Aperture.

He wanted a complete set.

Six parts of the body, a complete set.

If he condensed a Spirit Aperture into just one Soul Bone, its effect would ultimately be limited.

In the Knight System, spiritual energy, Spirit Apertures, and Spirit Stoves worked together as a whole, supporting and enhancing one another. Taking just one of them would greatly diminish the effect.

But if several Spirit Apertures existed at once, new problems might arise.

It was like the conflict among multiple Spirit Apertures that knights above the eighth rank often faced in the world of Throne of Seal. Different Spirit Apertures could repel one another for various reasons. So he couldn't consider condensing a single Soul Bone in isolation; he had to develop a system, account for the coordination and cooperation between Spirit Apertures, and design a complete distribution plan that would allow them to coexist—or even strengthen one another.

Jiang Ci'an fell silent for a moment. With a lift of his hand, Xiao Wu's Soul Bone condensed and fell into his palm.

The domain of Time Control spread over his entire body, and in the next instant, he vanished.

To build a complete set of Self-Condensing Soul Bones, he still needed a reference...

Heaven Dou City.

The Grand Prince's Mansion.

Today was the birthday of Xue Qinghe, the Grand Prince of the Heaven Dou Empire.

The entire Prince's Mansion was festooned with lanterns and decorations. Carriages streamed past the gates, guests arriving one after another. From powerful ministers at court to local officials, from imperial relatives to scions of noble families, nearly every prominent figure in the Heaven Dou Empire had come.

Inside the great hall, the guests raised their cups and exchanged lively conversation.

Among them, Grand Prince Xue Qinghe wore a moon-white robe and courteously made the rounds among the guests.

He was handsome, his features carrying just the right amount of warmth and approachability. A faint smile played on his lips, leaving no room for fault and bearing all the grace of a prince.

After chatting briefly with another powerful minister, Xue Qinghe smiled apologetically, excused himself, and left the hall.

He passed through the corridor and returned to his study.

He closed the door.

In an instant, the prince's warm smile vanished, replaced by an inexplicable coldness.

His—no, her—mood was terrible.

The minister she'd just spoken with was fickle indeed.

Not long ago, she had bribed him with a hefty sum of Gold Soul Coins to win his support in the matter of choosing the heir.

Yet barely two months had passed, and he had already gone back on his promise. He'd come crying about a shortfall in military funds and insufficient allocations, saying his soldiers had gone unpaid for years and that he needed more support.

She'd given him so many Gold Soul Coins, and he'd spent them all in just two months?

Xue Qinghe sneered inwardly.

For someone so greedy to sit in such an important position was a waste.

Her gaze turned cold, as though she had already made a decision. She was about to speak, but paused slightly.

She frowned and called tentatively:

"She Long? Ci Xue?"

There was no response.

The study and its surroundings were unnaturally quiet.

Xue Qinghe's expression shifted. An instinctive warning stirred by her Martial Soul put her on guard, but in the next moment...

Her body froze.

An invisible domain had silently spread over the area at some point.

Her Soul Power stopped circulating, her heart stopped beating, and her body was locked rigid, unable to move.

Everything had come to a standstill, as if time itself had stopped. Only her consciousness could still barely function.

What was going on?!

Her remaining consciousness struggled to form the thought, barely clinging to awareness. The next moment, she instinctively tried to draw on her Soul Power and break through the restraint.

But—

She couldn't do anything.

She couldn't even blink.

Like a doll trapped inside a glass case, she could only stare at the empty study before her, powerless.

But then—

A figure appeared out of nowhere.

It was a boy.

She couldn't tell how he had appeared.

It was as if he had stepped out of thin air and crossed through space. Or perhaps he had been there all along, and she simply hadn't noticed him until that moment.

The boy looked quite a bit younger than she was. His figure was slender and straight, though he was just a little shorter than her.

And those golden eyes, faintly shimmering with light, paired with a face so handsome it was almost unfair, made him impossible to ignore.

She was certain she had never seen this boy before.

But she had no time to dwell on it.

There was only one thought in her mind:

Enemy!

Almost instinctively, she strained with all the strength her remaining consciousness could muster to draw on the Soul Power within her and break through the invisible seal.

But it was useless all the same.

She watched helplessly as the boy approached.

She watched his gaze settle on her face.

Those golden eyes, faintly shimmering with light, held a trace of indifference that was impossible to overlook, as though he were merely examining an interesting object.

Then, while she watched, the boy raised his hand and slowly reached toward her body.