Becoming Xuan Ziwen's Disciple

A quarter of an hour later, the soul-powered vehicle stopped smoothly at the entrance of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy.

The Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy was located in the western district of Ming Capital. The academy was a hexagonal building that covered a vast area, comparable to a small to medium-sized city. The overall architectural style was dominated by cold, hard metal, with sharp lines and a strong sense of technology. The main entrance was a massive metal archway, with the nine gilded characters "Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy" hanging above it, exuding an imposing aura.

After entering the academy gate, Meng Hongchen waved goodbye and headed to the regular teaching area, while Xiao Hongchen went to Mingde Hall alone.

Mingde Hall was located in the most hidden core area of the academy. The ground entrance was merely a seemingly ordinary metal building, low-key and unpretentious on the outside, almost inconspicuous. However, only upon entering could one truly feel its magnificent scale.

Xiao Hongchen presented his token and, after passing through three strict checkpoints, arrived at a semicircular metal hall. Twenty spacious elevators were arranged there, each emitting a cold metallic luster.

He stepped into one of the elevators, inserted his token, and injected his soul power. The elevator slowly descended, a process that lasted nearly two minutes, taking him nearly a hundred meters underground.

As the elevator doors opened, a world entirely made of metal greeted his eyes.

A vast hall, so wide that the end was not visible at a glance, with a semicircular dome twenty meters high. Countless experimental tables were neatly arranged, each five meters long and three meters wide.

Most of the experimental tables had soul engineers working intently, the hum of colliding metal and soul power circulating filling the air, which was permeated with a rich metallic scent.

This was the true core of Mingde Hall, the Sun Moon Empire's most advanced soul tool manufacturing base. Its area was more than half that of the academy above ground, gathering the most elite soul engineers in the entire empire.

Xiao Hongchen took a deep breath, suppressing the shock in his heart, and walked straight towards Experimental Zone One, where Xuan Ziwen's laboratory was located.

Xiao Hongchen raised his hand and knocked on the door.

"Come in."

A slightly hoarse young male voice came from inside.

"Apologies for the intrusion." Xiao Hongchen pushed the door open and entered.

The laboratory was bright and tidy, with various semi-finished soul tools and blueprints scattered on the workbench. A tall, thin man was facing away from the door, debugging a soul tool. He was the chief researcher of Mingde Hall—Xuan Ziwen.

Xiao Hongchen bowed slightly and said, neither subservient nor overbearing, "Teacher Xuan, hello. I am Xiao Hongchen. I just joined Mingde Hall today, and I wish to choose you as my mentor."

Xuan Ziwen finally turned around, his sharp gaze sweeping over the badge symbolizing a Level 4 Soul Engineer on Xiao Hongchen's body. He said coldly:

"Xiao Hongchen, is it? I don't care how famous you were outside, nor do I care that you are the Hall Master's grandson. Here, everyone must be retested. Moreover, you are only a Level 4 Soul Engineer now; I don't even know how you got into Mingde Hall. If you fail my test, find another mentor and don't waste my time."

Xiao Hongchen's expression remained unchanged, and a hint of interest flashed in his eyes. He had long known that the chief researcher of Mingde Hall had a peculiar personality and strict requirements, but he hadn't expected their first meeting to be so direct.

Xiao Hongchen smiled slightly, his expression calm and confident, "Teacher Xuan, I am willing to accept your test."

"Good, let's begin then."

He flipped his hand, and a small soul-powered timer appeared in his palm. He set a thirty-minute countdown on it and casually placed it on the workbench.

Xuan Ziwen paused, his gaze sharp as a knife:

"I'll give you half an hour. You can choose any materials here and make me the best Level 4 soul tool core array you can think of."

After speaking, he walked to the side, crossed his arms, and watched coldly.

Xiao Hongchen wasted no words and went directly to the material area, his gaze quickly scanning various rare metals and core components. His Three-Legged Golden Toad martial soul and brain martial soul were released simultaneously, greatly enhancing his metal control ability and mental power.

Fifteen minutes. For him, that was enough.

"Teacher Xuan, please watch."

Xiao Hongchen casually grabbed a large piece of titanium gold with his left hand, and it was drawn to his front.

Beneath his feet, his first and third soul rings lit up simultaneously.

Under the shroud of golden light, the fist-sized piece of titanium gold rapidly separated. Then, like a living thing, it quickly deformed, finally condensing into a flawless metallic sphere.

In his right hand, he held a rank sixty-five ranked carving knife, the Dark Gold Profound Blade.

This was one of the only two ranked carving knives in the Hongchen family; the other, ranked thirteenth, was held by his grandfather, Jing Hongchen.

This Dark Gold Profound Blade had extremely high requirements for its owner. Only soul engineers with extremely keen perception of metal elements could fully unleash its power. Its ability was simple yet incredibly domineering: any soul array carved with it would naturally have a faint golden sheen on its lines, increasing the array's stability and soul power conduction efficiency by more than thirty percent.

More importantly, it had a strong suppressive effect on all metals of lower quality than itself, allowing the user to easily carve hard metal materials without needing to inject a large amount of soul power.

Xiao Hongchen took a deep breath, his mind instantly focused. The blade instantly lit up with a brilliant golden light. He moved his right hand like flowing clouds and water, while his left hand controlled the titanium gold sphere, making it rotate continuously.

Instead of directly carving a traditional core array on the sphere's surface, he first used the Dark Gold Profound Blade to outline three spiral golden grooves on the sphere. Then, using the Three-Legged Golden Toad martial soul as a guide and his third soul skill, Gold Solidification, he transformed his soul power into fine golden powder and evenly filled the grooves.

Without pause, Xiao Hongchen began the most crucial array inscription.

First was the core energy storage array for the "milk bottle." He rapidly carved nine miniature energy convergence nodes at the intersection of the three spiral grooves. Each node was in the shape of a perfect hexagon, connected by golden thin lines, forming a complete and complex energy circulation loop.

Even more astonishingly, instead of sealing the energy storage array in the conventional way, he boldly integrated a metal self-rotation structure into it and carved a miniature Three-Legged Golden Toad phantom array pattern at the core.

This array pattern not only greatly improved the soul power storage efficiency but, more ingeniously, if the soul power was insufficient, the Golden Toad phantom could actively absorb surrounding free metal elements for a small amount of replenishment. As long as there was enough time, it could achieve true self-sufficiency.

When the fifteen-minute countdown ended, a perfect core array, covered in exquisite golden spiral patterns with a faint Golden Toad phantom at its center, floated quietly in Xiao Hongchen's palm, emitting soft and stable soul power fluctuations.

The laboratory fell silent.

Xuan Ziwen, who had been standing with his arms crossed, had a look of undisguised shock on his face. He strode forward, took the titanium core, and examined it carefully for a full half-minute, his gaze repeatedly lingering on the Golden Toad phantom array pattern.

"Good... very good!"

Xuan Ziwen's voice was no longer cold, but carried a rare trace of excitement:

"Integrating the energy storage array with the metal self-rotation structure, and using the Three-Legged Golden Toad martial soul as the array core to create a self-replenishing mechanism... This kind of creativity, I haven't seen in a soul engineer for many years."

"It's a pity that this 'milk bottle' that can replenish its own soul power can only be made by you and cannot be mass-produced. Otherwise, it would be enough to completely change the structure of the Sun Moon Empire's soul engineer system. On the battlefield, there would be no need to worry about soul power depletion, and the logistical pressure would be greatly reduced..."

"Teacher Xuan, this milk bottle doesn't completely recover on its own. After about half a year, the core Golden Toad array eye will gradually dissipate. To continue having self-recovery capabilities, I would need to repair it again," Xiao Hongchen added.

Xuan Ziwen was slightly taken aback by these words, then nodded gently, his eyes revealing an even greater sense of satisfaction.

"Very good. You haven't let my praise go to your head. Being able to clearly recognize its limitations makes you far superior to many self-important geniuses."

"Although a maintenance cycle of once every six months isn't perfect, it already far exceeds any energy-storage soul device currently on the market. The key lies in the fact that this Golden Toad Self-Replenishment System is your unique approach. As long as you continue your research, it is entirely possible to extend the maintenance cycle to three years, five years, or even solve the dissipation issue entirely."

Xuan Ziwen turned around, looking straight into Xiao Hongchen's heterochromatic eyes, his tone becoming uncharacteristically solemn.

"Xiao Hongchen, are you willing to become my personal disciple? I have only one requirement for you: continue to perfect this Golden Toad Self-Replenishment System. Do not be satisfied with a once-a-year repair; I want to see you create a soul device that truly approaches permanent self-replenishment."

Joy surged in Xiao Hongchen's heart, yet he maintained a calm expression on his face as he bowed respectfully. "This disciple understands and will certainly not fail Teacher's expectations."

Xuan Ziwen grunted in satisfaction, a rare smile touching the corners of his mouth.

"You are the first personal disciple I have taken. Those other students were all assigned from the Sun Moon Academy. Although they have decent talent and passed my tests, they haven't been able to enter Mingde Hall yet, and their level of soul device craftsmanship is far inferior to yours."

He paused for a moment before continuing.

"I am usually either here or in the laboratory at the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy. You can come to me directly if you have questions, but don't expect me to be free at all times."

"Go on. Familiarize yourself with the environment of Mingde Hall today. Starting tomorrow, I will arrange specific research topics for you. Remember, here, strength does the talking."

Xiao Hongchen bowed once more and turned to walk out of the laboratory. With Xuan Ziwen's guidance, he felt that many of his ideas regarding soul devices would likely be much smoother to implement.