Decompose, Reconstruct

The Evil Spirit Orca pod retreated rapidly; the seawater they relied on for survival had become a forbidden zone around the young man.

Xiao Mu's entire body radiated a pale golden light as he lowered his head to look at his hands. His left palm glowed with dark gold, while his right palm shimmered with black-purple light.

One represented reconstruction, the other represented decomposition.

"I really like this ability," he said, his tone filled with irrepressible excitement. He raised his right hand and made a grasping motion toward the orca pod.

Decomposition began. Elements rearranged within his palm, attempting to condense into new matter.

But they all failed.

"The mental power required for this move is truly immense!" He realized he couldn't synthesize anything yet, so he had to resort to the most rudimentary application of his power.

He shifted the focus of his reconstruction. The pressure on Xiao Mu's mental power plummeted; this time, instead of changing chemical properties, he altered the physical state of the water.

The temperature plummeted.

It took only a single breath to transition from liquid to solid.

A white layer of ice spread out from beneath his palms, fanning out toward the orca pod. The ice grew thicker and wider, freezing so rapidly it looked as though someone were unrolling an infinitely extending white carpet across the sea surface.

The Evil Spirit Orca pod grew restless. The lead orca whipped its tail violently, attempting to retreat, but the ice moved faster than they could.

The Evil Spirit Orcas struggled, trying to break free from the ice, but under the influence of the decomposition power, the ice was harder than steel. Their struggles only caused the ice to emit dull, cracking sounds.

The ten-thousand-year Evil Spirit Orca leading the pod felt a jolt of alarm in its heart. "How did this human's ability change? And this Soul Power—it's frozen a fifty-meter radius instantly."

Gradually, the temperature dropped further, and the ice began to expand, crushing the bodies of the Evil Spirit Orcas.

Under Xiao Mu's control, icicles grew increasingly sharp and powerful, eventually piercing the skin of the Evil Spirit Orcas. Drops of blood began to stain the ice red.

On the sea surface, giant waves were frozen in place, the spray congealing into a wall of ice. The wall stood dozens of meters high, maintaining the posture of the surging waves.

The arched crests of the waves were held high, and the white foam at the tips turned into ice crystals, refracting iridescent light under the sun.

The entire world seemed to have been pressed with a pause button at this moment, the angry sea frozen in a single instant.

Xiao Mu stepped out from the ice layer and onto the frozen crest of a wave.

"Couldn't even withstand a nine-percent expansion?"

His tone was flat. There was no mockery, no pity; it sounded more like a detached description recorded after completing an experiment.

Mu Ye descended from mid-air, landing on the frozen wave crest, his boots clicking sharply against the ice.

He glanced at the remains of the Evil Spirit Orcas sealed within the ice, then looked at Xiao Mu.

"It seems your martial soul secondary awakening was a success. Was it a golden awakening? Any new abilities?"

"I can decompose matter." Xiao Mu raised his right hand, palm facing down toward the ice beneath his feet. A flash of black light flickered at his fingertips, and a palm-sized chunk of ice vanished without a sound, replaced by a puff of white vapor that was quickly scattered by the sea breeze. "For instance, turning ice into gas."

"The transformation between solid, liquid, and gaseous states of matter?" Mu Ye remarked, using his shallow knowledge of physics.

But he still underestimated Xiao Mu's ability. It had indeed vaporized, but it wasn't water vapor—it was oxygen and hydrogen.

"Something like that. The versatility of this ability is very practical; at the very least, I can ignore most defenses now." Xiao Mu's left hand glowed as he attempted to re-synthesize the vapor he had just decomposed back into ice.

A translucent crystal condensed in his palm, its edges jagged and its color yellowish—it wasn't ice, but some kind of sulfur-containing compound.

He frowned and tossed the failed product into the sea.

"Judging by your physical state, it's at least a golden awakening. Remember to use it sparingly." He patted Xiao Mu on the shoulder. "This thing consumes life force."

"I know." Xiao Mu hadn't used it much either; three minutes of use cost one hundred and eighty seconds of his lifespan. It was a slightly losing trade.

This ability was somewhat similar to healing and annihilation, like a variant of his parents' powers.

The burden this ability placed on his mental power was even greater, and it seemed his mental power was still limiting his control over microscopic properties. Once his mental power reached a certain level, he might be able to control decomposition and reconstruction at the quantum level.

When that time came, he would take control of the order of this world. He would be a god!

Xiao Mu was almost certain that his martial soul could undergo a legendary third awakening.

This was something only a very small number of Body Sect disciples could achieve.

In his memory, only Mu Ye's eldest disciple, A Ruheng, had ever reached that stage.

Xiao Mu retracted his right hand, the black light in his palm slowly extinguishing. "Sect Master Mu Ye, it's time for us to head back. If we don't return soon, Na'er will get worried."

"That's true. There's no rush with these Evil Spirit Orcas. We can come back later. Once we're back, I'll boil some whale oil for you all, and there's Whale Rubber to eat as well. Taking it at your age won't have any side effects."

Mu Ye nodded, his Soul Power expanding beneath his feet to envelop them both as they streaked toward the island.

Listening to Mu Ye, Xiao Mu recalled the side effects of Whale Rubber. It was roughly the same as Viagra; the substance was originally intended to treat heart disease, but the side effect was... that.

On the island, Na'er stood atop a reef, her silver eyes fixed unblinkingly on the horizon.

She saw two black dots flying toward her, climbed down the reef, and ran to the water's edge.

Mu Ye landed, and Xiao Mu stepped onto the sand behind him. He glanced at Na'er; her chin was slightly raised and her lips were pressed tight, but her eyes were a little red. Clearly, the sight of those sea waves had made her incredibly anxious.

She threw herself directly into Xiao Mu's arms. "Brother, are you okay! Are you hurt!"

"Relax, your brother just drank too much dihydrogen monoxide, ate a bit of sodium chloride, and got some hydrogen oxide on his skin. I think I'm addicted; I can't live without them," Xiao Mu said, stroking Na'er's little head.

"Huh? Brother, can you quit that stuff?" Na'er looked worried. "You won't die, will you?"

Xiao Mu tapped Na'er's little head. "Aren't these things listed in my laboratory records? I just drank some water and ate some salt; how could anything happen?"

Na'er clutched her little head, listening to Xiao Mu's explanation with a look of grievance on her small face. What kind of terminology was this? Wasn't he just trying to swindle a commoner like her?

However, the term sounded so familiar; she seemed to have used it to trick Gu Yue before.

Gu Yue is just as silly as I am, so that's fine then.

"You lot will have to make do on this island for the night. I'll take you back to Heaven Dou City tomorrow; you aren't in any rush to get back to school anyway."

Mu Ye explained, "I'll prepare some whale meat for you tonight and scrounge up some other ingredients. I'll arrange a grand feast for you once we're in Heaven Dou City."

Meanwhile, in Heaven Dou City.

Gu Yue was still here. She was in no hurry to return, standing instead in a laboratory at the Heaven Dou Spirit Pagoda, watching the manufacturing process of Artificial Soul Spirits through the glass.

The liquid in the cultivation tank glowed with a faint blue light, and the unformed Soul Spirits rotated slowly within it.

Leng Yaozhu stood behind her, her red pupils reflecting the eerie blue glow.

"No rush to head back?" Leng Yaozhu asked. "Your classes have already started."

"It doesn't matter. As long as I return before the Sky Sea Alliance Grand Competition, which concerns the academy's honor, there won't be any issues." Gu Yue's voice was calm; she was well aware of the primary purpose behind the establishment of Zero Class.

She wanted to understand the manufacturing of Artificial Soul Spirits first, from the principles to the craftsmanship, and get a clear grasp of every single link in the chain. Only by understanding these could she truly help the soul beast clan.

She was completely unaware that someone was coming to the Spirit Pagoda to freeload a Soul Spirit, intending to take it back and reverse-engineer it.