Setting Out

Time slipped quietly by, and a month passed in the blink of an eye.

Inside the Undead Demiplane's Laboratory, Snow Empress was following Kong Ming'an's instructions, using a special method to condense the many Soul Skills she had mastered into Soul Skill Modules within Soul Rings.

With practiced ease, she grabbed a Soft Bone Rabbit that had been fed God Blood and rapidly grown to a hundred years of cultivation, then twisted its neck to the right.

A gleaming yellow Soul Ring emerged from the Soft Bone Rabbit's body. Holding it aloft, Snow Empress placed it into a nearby ring-shaped Soul Tool and pressed a button. Moments later, a freshly cleansed Blank Soul Ring was produced.

Extreme Ice Snow-attributed Soul Power emerged at her fingertips as Snow Empress began condensing the Soul Skill Module for "Emperor Sword: Ice Extreme Unparalleled" within the Soul Ring.

She did not resist the process. After all, whenever she condensed a module, the contract connecting her to Kong Ming'an would automatically record it and assign it a value.

Honestly, the feeling of being rewarded as long as she put in the effort was truly addictive.

Watching the value she had accumulated steadily increase and draw ever closer to the goal she desired, Snow Empress felt an inexplicable sense of accomplishment rise within her.

As she carefully constructed the Soul Skill Module bit by bit, Snow Empress's gaze remained calm, yet her attention was unconsciously drawn to the figure working at a desk not far away.

Over the past month, as the Youth's personal guard who never left his side, she had been the most aware of the changes in him.

In particular, the inexplicable attraction emanating from him at the level of energy had grown increasingly rich and distinct as time passed.

This feeling was not emotional dependence. It was more like the natural resonance and closeness between two high-purity energies on the same frequency, making her increasingly convinced that Kong Ming'an was her kind.

Kong Ming'an simply refused to admit it, and she no longer pressed him on the matter, assuming that he was merely concealing it.

She continued condensing Soul Skill Modules while resting her hand on the armrest, supporting her chin in her palm as she watched quietly.

A faint gentleness appeared in her Ice Blue eyes, reflecting Kong Ming'an as he immersed himself in his research, lending her an inexplicable sense of tranquility.

If he truly was human... then he was likely the most extraordinary one.

On the other side, Kong Ming'an's "Elementalization" experiment was also nearing its end.

At a thought, a layer of Silver White radiance faintly flowed beneath the skin of his raised arm. The arm's texture seemed to become somewhat illusory, while the surrounding space naturally rippled in concentric waves.

At that moment, Kong Ming'an seemed to become a spatial elemental lifeform, naturally merging with the surrounding space as his figure turned hazy.

Sensing his own condition, Kong Ming'an frowned slightly, dissatisfied.

There was a fundamental difference between his Elementalization and Snow Empress's innate fusion with ice elements, which allowed her to nearly instinctively become immune to most physical and energy attacks as long as the environment was suitable.

His Elementalization was more like forcibly transforming his bodily structure into elements through absolute control, and it had many flaws.

For example, he could not completely negate damage. He could only greatly weaken attacks of the same or weaker attributes, and he had to actively maintain it.

The consumption was considerable, nowhere near Snow Empress's level, where it was essentially a fully passive ability.

In short, it held tremendous potential, but it was only in its infancy and required major improvement.

"Flesh is ultimately flesh. Transforming it into elements is somewhat troublesome. I need to start from another angle first... for example, Vitality? Transforming the body's Vitality into blood essence?"

Kong Ming'an pondered for a moment, then withdrew his incomplete Elementalization once more and recorded and archived the experimental data related to it.

Dissatisfied as he was, he was not overly disappointed with his experiment. Many things had to be taken one step at a time; forcing success overnight was not advisable.

He stood up and took out another document.

It contained the many insights Kong Deming had gained regarding the Body Cultivator system after that battle, along with conceptual models inspired by his various theories.

This knowledge was exceptionally valuable, but Kong Deming's insights were too numerous and scattered, requiring organization.

Recently, Kong Deming had made great progress in researching Lifebound Soul Tools and was working toward becoming a Rank 10 Soul Engineer. Thus, Kong Ming'an had taken over this portion of the research.

As the saying went, the establishment of a complete system could never be accomplished by one person alone. Gathering collective wisdom and combining everyone's strength to forge ahead was the proper path.

Kong Ming'an placed all these materials into his Storage Ring, intending to organize them during fragmented bits of time over the coming days for future use.

After confirming that everything had been packed, Kong Ming'an looked toward Snow Empress.

Snow Empress understood and rose to naturally follow behind Kong Ming'an.

She was his guard. Never leaving his side was basic professional conduct.

After leaving the Laboratory, they were greeted by Meng Hongchen and Xu Tianzhen, who had come to see them off.

Glancing at the aloof, otherworldly Snow Empress behind Kong Ming'an, Miss Meng's eyes involuntarily filled with a trace of helplessness.

It was not jealousy. When she had come to see Kong Ming'an a few days ago, he had already told her Snow Empress's identity and about the contract under which Snow Empress served as his guard.

But she still could not hold it together.

He had gone out for only a few days and brought back a Soul Beast... what was that supposed to mean? Not only did she have to watch out for people now, she also had to watch out for Soul Beasts?

Miss Meng began to question her life.

Still, Miss Meng raised her eyes to Kong Ming'an, sighed, and said seriously, "Remember to stay safe."

"I thought you would want to come with me."

"Forget it. I'm not even a Soul Ancestor yet, so going would be useless. Next time. You can be my support Soul Master, and the two of us can slaughter everyone."

Miss Meng did not sound particularly disappointed.

Kong Ming'an said nothing. After thinking for a moment, he stepped closer again. Meng Hongchen froze, only to feel her hand gently taken in his.

Looking down, she saw Kong Ming'an place a small silver Metal Shard engraved with complex spatial runes into her palm.

"This is a Directional Spatial Beacon," he explained quietly. "If you encounter an emergency, or if you want to find me, activate it within the Demiplane and it will teleport you directly to my side."

Meng Hongchen blinked, then narrowed her eyes teasingly.

"Can't bear to part with me?"

"Not particularly."

"Tsk, stubborn as ever."

Meng Hongchen clicked her tongue, though the corners of her lips curled slightly upward.

After putting away the Metal Shard Kong Ming'an had given her, the emotions in her Ice Blue eyes settled into a single brief sentence.

"Wait for your return."

"Mm."

Xu Tianzhen watched quietly from the side, her gaze moving between Kong Ming'an, Meng Hongchen, and Snow Empress as she inexplicably sighed inwardly.

Miss Meng's first-mover advantage seemed even greater than she had imagined. If this continued, she would have to become the lesser one in the future... Maybe when they ran out of strength, she would even have to help push from behind?

No... absolutely not! This future must absolutely not happen!

No... even if only to avoid that future, I have to find a way to overtake her despite coming later!

Xu Tianzhen was instantly filled with fighting spirit.

Snow Empress silently observed the subtle shifts in emotion between them, a trace of confusion flashing through her pure Ice Blue eyes.

For the moment, she could not understand the relationship between them. She truly could not comprehend the strange atmosphere woven invisibly by such interpersonal bonds...

Human emotions... really were impossible to understand.

Snow Empress shook her head slightly. Kong Ming'an had already finished giving his instructions, and without further delay, the two of them stepped together through the quietly opened Gray Gate and vanished amid Spatial Fluctuations.