Yuhao's Current Situation

After dealing with Wu Feng's matter, Huo Chen rested at Homecoming Cottage for half a day before heading to the outer academy's teaching district early the next morning.

He did not go straight to Class One's classroom. Instead, he detoured to a secluded courtyard in the academy's northwest corner, where Electrolux's laboratory was located.

Before he even reached the entrance, he heard a low rumbling from inside the courtyard, as though something were operating at high speed.

This was followed by a crisp metallic clang, then a young man's slightly frustrated mutter. "Missed again."

Huo Chen pushed open the courtyard gate and saw Huo Yuhao crouched before a metal workbench, holding an exquisite carving knife. A pile of tiny soul tool components lay scattered before him.

His hair was somewhat messy, a small patch of metal filings clung to his cuff, and faint scorch marks from welding still lingered on his fingertips.

Several failed products were piled in the corner of the workbench. Some had cracked casings, while others had burned circuits, recording his countless attempts and mistakes.

Electrolux sat in a wicker chair on the other side of the courtyard, holding a cup of hot tea. His leisurely gaze rested on Huo Yuhao, like that of a kind grandfather watching his grandchild at play.

"Uncle?" Huo Yuhao looked up. The moment he saw Huo Chen enter, his eyes lit up. He set down his carving knife and rose to his feet. "You're back?"

"Mm, I've been back for two days." Huo Chen walked over to the workbench and looked down at the components spread across it. Most were core components of low-tier soul tools. The craftsmanship was rough, but their arrangement already had a basic logical framework. "Making a soul tool?"

"Mm, a simple soul ray emitter."

Huo Yuhao scratched his head a little sheepishly. "I've failed more than a dozen times. This one should be about right."

Huo Chen picked up a half-finished product and examined it in his hand.

The structural design was sound, and the soul power circuits were mostly correct. However, several key junctions had not been handled precisely enough, causing losses and deviations during soul power transmission.

He tapped several problematic spots with his fingertip. "Here, here, and here. The circuit connections are too flat. Change them to curved transitions, and the soul power loss will drop by thirty percent."

Huo Yuhao leaned in for a closer look, then suddenly understood. "So that was it! No wonder it always got stuck halfway through activation."

He immediately picked up his carving knife and began altering those connection points. His movements were focused and practiced, the blade in his fingers gliding across the metal surface and leaving behind smooth arcs.

Huo Chen stood nearby and watched without disturbing him. He could sense that Huo Yuhao's soul power had become more solid than it had been a month ago. That calm, weighty aura had undergone a qualitative improvement.

He glanced at Electrolux, who held his teacup and gave a faint nod.

Only after Huo Yuhao finished modifying the component and looked up did Huo Chen ask, "What level are you now?"

"Level thirty-eight," Huo Yuhao answered, unable to hide the hint of accomplishment in his voice. "I broke through the day before yesterday."

"What about your third soul ring? Heavenly Dream helped you handle it?"

Huo Yuhao nodded and released his Spiritual Eyes martial soul.

Three soul rings rose from beneath his feet. Two were pure gold, gleaming brilliantly in the sunlight—million-year soul rings granted to him by the Heavenly Dream Iceworm.

The third was a deep black, a ten-thousand-year soul ring condensed for him by the Heavenly Dream Iceworm using its origin power.

The three soul rings revolved slowly around him, emitting an ancient, weighty aura.

"Brother Heavenly Dream said my spiritual foundation was strong enough, so I could directly use its origin power to condense my third soul ring."

Huo Yuhao said, "That saved me the trouble of hunting a soul beast."

Huo Chen nodded. As a million-year soul beast, the Heavenly Dream Iceworm was itself an enormous reservoir of soul power. Condensing a ten-thousand-year soul ring for Huo Yuhao was indeed more than easy enough.

The two pure golden soul rings sparkled beneath the sunlight, forming a sharp contrast with the third black ring and displaying the extraordinary foundation of this young man.

"And your second martial soul?" Huo Chen asked again, his tone carrying the relaxed air of someone asking a question whose answer he already knew.

Huo Yuhao smiled and extended his right hand, palm up.

A phantom of an ice-blue scorpion emerged from his palm. It was the Myriad Calamity Cold Prison-Tailed Ice Nether Scorpion.

As the phantom appeared, an ice-blue soul ring rose from beneath his feet. Its color was clear and profound, as though condensed from ten thousand years of ice, radiating piercing cold.

It was an adaptive god-bestowed soul ring, condensed by the martial soul itself. There was no need to hunt a soul beast, nor did he need anyone else's help.

"It formed by itself on the night I reached level thirty," Huo Yuhao said, a trace of pride in his voice.

"I had just broken through to level thirty and hadn't even had the chance to think about a soul ring when it suddenly appeared on its own. Brother Heavenly Dream said it was because Uncle used the Reincarnation Cold Core when he forged my martial soul. That core was a god-tier material itself, so it allowed the martial soul to generate soul rings on its own."

Huo Chen reached out and inspected the ice-blue soul ring. Sensing the pure ice attribute within it, along with a faint aura of the laws of reincarnation, he nodded in satisfaction. This martial soul had even greater potential than he had expected.

"How is your undead magic coming along?" He withdrew his hand and changed the subject.

"He has already mastered the basics." This time, Electrolux answered. He rose from his wicker chair and walked over to Huo Yuhao with his teacup in hand.

"Soul perception, spiritual power meditation, and basic undead summoning—he has already entered the door in all three areas. For someone his age, his progress is quite good."

Electrolux rarely gave such high praise, and Huo Chen raised an eyebrow in surprise.

After all, this undead demigod had been a powerhouse who stood at the pinnacle of the world in life. His standards were exceptionally high. For him to say "quite good" meant that Huo Yuhao had truly put in considerable effort.

"The teacher teaches well." Huo Yuhao smiled a little awkwardly.

"Besides, many of the things Teacher explains overlap with knowledge I taught myself before, so it hasn't been too difficult to learn."

"And what about soul tools?" Huo Chen asked. "What rank soul engineer are you now?"

"Rank three," Huo Yuhao replied, with a trace of pride in his tone.

"I passed the Soul Tool Department's assessment last week. Teacher Fan Yu said that if I can keep up this pace, reaching rank four before the end of the year isn't impossible."

A rank-three soul engineer. For a new student who had enrolled less than half a year ago, such speed was already astonishing.

Huo Chen looked at his slightly reddened eyes, reddened from late nights and intense focus, and felt both gratified and a little heartache.

This child was pushing himself too hard. He attended the core disciples' classes during the day, studied necromancy with Electrolux at night, and spent his spare time researching soul tools, filling nearly every moment of his day to the brim.

"Don't push yourself so hard," Huo Chen said. "Cultivation isn't something accomplished overnight. Only by balancing work and rest can you go farther."

"I know, Uncle." Huo Yuhao nodded. "I've been resting properly."

Electrolux gave a soft snort from the side, but did not expose the fact that Huo Yuhao had stayed up until dawn last night.

Huo Yuhao pretended not to hear that snort and lowered his head to continue fiddling with the soul tool components in his hands.

Seeing his deliberately composed appearance, Huo Chen shook his head helplessly and did not press the matter further.

He reached out and patted Huo Yuhao on the shoulder. "Come to Homecoming Cottage for dinner tonight. The Ice Empress said she's making soup today."

Huo Yuhao looked up, his eyes lighting up. "All right. I'll come over once I finish this."

Huo Chen nodded, then turned and walked out of the courtyard.