"Of course I did."
Ye Luochen smiled.
As Xuan Ziwen's disciple, and someone highly valued by Jing Hongchen, he naturally had a flying Soul Tool equipped.
Not only that, his flying Soul Tool was also Mingde Hall's latest-generation product.
It was compact, lightweight, and consumed very little energy, yet its speed was not lacking in the slightest.
But no matter how low its energy consumption was, a journey of ten thousand miles was far beyond what he could endure.
After all, Ye Luochen was only a Soul Ancestor at present, while everyone else—whether team members or teachers—was at least a Soul King.
If they traveled solely by physical means, Ye Luochen was confident that he would not fall behind the others or be left behind.
But if they used flying Soul Tools, things would be different.
Because those things did not care about one's physical fitness. They only looked at one thing: Soul Power. The greater one's Soul Power, the longer one could fly.
Compared to everyone else, Ye Luochen's total Soul Power was undoubtedly much lower. It would be easy for a situation to arise where the others could continue flying while he no longer had enough Soul Power to support himself.
After hearing Ye Luochen's concern, Meng Hongchen smiled and waved her hand, indicating that he need not worry.
Then, with a flip of her palm, two bottle-shaped objects appeared in her hand, which she held out to Ye Luochen.
"Here. With these, what are you worrying about?"
Ye Luochen picked one up, examined it for a moment, and asked, "What is this?"
"Hm? You don't recognize it?"
Meng Hongchen was slightly taken aback.
"I'm really starting to wonder how you learned Soul Tool technology."
"As for me, my method of learning and what I learned were somewhat different from the normal approach," Ye Luochen explained.
Ever since enrolling, most of Ye Luochen's Soul Tool knowledge had come from explanations given by Mingde Hall instructors, and those explanations had mostly been crash courses.
As a result, although Ye Luochen learned quickly and had mastered things in an extremely short time that others might need years to learn, the lack of systematic instruction inevitably left gaps in his knowledge.
Originally, after joining Xuan Ziwen's laboratory and gaining a true mentor, this situation should have improved.
But because he had proposed the concepts of modularization and assembly lines, Xuan Ziwen had immediately buried himself in them, and the systematic teaching Ye Luochen should have received became indefinitely delayed.
This left Ye Luochen's Soul Tool expertise in a very peculiar state.
He was extremely familiar with most commonly used Soul Tools, far beyond what should be expected of a third-rank Soul Engineer.
But when it came to the subjects that had been overlooked, he was utterly clueless.
For example, this thing before him.
"This is called a Milk Bottle. It can compress and store Soul Power. When your Soul Power is insufficient, you can absorb it from the Milk Bottle to replenish yourself. The recovery speed is countless times faster than normal cultivation."
Meng Hongchen explained helplessly.
"You can keep these two for now. If they aren't enough, just ask me for more."
Ye Luochen nodded and did not stand on ceremony, accepting both Milk Bottles.
He finally understood why, when facing the Evil Eye Tyrant, the Hongchen siblings had been able to operate a ninth-rank Soul Tool across ranks while still launching other attacks, as though their Soul Power were inexhaustible.
So they had such useful things.
After the two chatted for a while longer, the other members had basically all arrived. After checking the roster and organizing their equipment, the group wasted no further time and headed out of the academy.
Flying was forbidden within Ming Capital, so the group had to leave its controlled area before they could use their flying Soul Tools.
After leaving Ming Capital's jurisdiction, pairs of metallic wings unfolded behind the group. Streams of energy erupted from the wings, and in the next moment, they all soared into the sky, creating a spectacular sight.
"This is the charm of Soul Tool technology."
Hovering in the air and watching the ground gradually recede, Ye Luochen could not help but sigh.
"For ordinary Soul Masters to gain the ability to fly, either their martial souls must have wings, or their cultivation must reach the level of a Titled Douluo.
"But flying Soul Tools directly broke through that limitation, allowing me to rise into the air even with the cultivation of a Soul Ancestor."
Although he had flown many times before, most of those experiences had involved being carried by his instructors. He had not personally activated a Soul Tool and taken to the sky many times.
"This is nothing. You should have seen quite a few things in Mingde Hall that are not allowed to leave the premises. Those are the things with truly era-defining significance."
Meng Hongchen floated over and smiled.
In principle, she should not have said that to outsiders. Even leaking the slightest bit was not permitted by the rules.
But after their heart-to-heart conversation earlier, coupled with the fact that Ye Luochen had already stayed in Mingde Hall for nearly a month, Meng Hongchen did not pay much attention to those restrictions.
"Hurry and catch up. In the time you spent spacing out, the main group has already flown far ahead."
After nodding, Ye Luochen activated his Soul Power. The thrust from his wings suddenly erupted, and he shot forward in pursuit of the people ahead.
It had to be said that the flying Soul Tool Ye Luochen wore truly deserved to be called the crystallization of Mingde Hall's latest-generation technology.
It was only third-rank, yet when activated at full power, its speed was not much inferior to the fifth- and sixth-rank flying Soul Tools ahead of him.
Although operating it at full power consumed a great deal of Soul Power, with the high-quality Milk Bottles Meng Hongchen had given him—also crystallizations of Mingde Hall's latest-generation technology—Ye Luochen did not feel weak or exhausted. His condition remained above the acceptable line at all times.
Earlier, I was worried that the journey was too long and that something unexpected might happen along the way, but now it seems I was worrying for nothing.
Ye Luochen thought to himself.
Their group was speeding through the sky. Even if there were trouble on the road, it would be difficult for it to affect them.
However, the more one feared something, the more likely it was to happen.
Not long after Ye Luochen relaxed, a loud shout suddenly came from the front of the group:
"Watch out!"
"Spirit beast attack!"
The shout instantly spread through the group, and Ye Luochen immediately became alert again.
But before he could make another move, Meng Hongchen's voice came from beside him:
"It's fine, don't worry. This team's lineup isn't like the previous Soul Hunting Operation. Although we don't have a ninth-rank Soul Engineer overseeing us, with dozens of high-rank Soul Engineers working together, our combat strength is definitely far beyond that old man who kept shrinking back and never dared to act."
Although she understood that he had been worried about alerting an even more terrifying existence at the time, they had still been trapped in a dangerous situation. If not for the ninth-rank Soul Tool protecting them, they might have died on the spot long ago. Thus, Meng Hongchen did not hold back at all, her words full of dissatisfaction toward the teacher who had led the group back then.
Just as her words fell, dozens of lights suddenly lit up at the front of the group. Then they transformed into thick beams of light and blasted fiercely toward the front!
Before you continue