Return to Radiant City, Jing Hongchen's Excitement

The remaining value of the two snow marten soul beast corpses ultimately disappointed Xia Yu.

Perhaps too much time had passed, or perhaps they had sustained the Hundred-Thousand-Year Snow Lotus, but the energy remaining within the two corpses was pitifully scarce.

Even though Xia Yu had extracted two right-arm Soul Bones from the corpses, he could not sense much energy from them.

These two right-arm bones practically reshaped Xia Yu's understanding of Soul Bones. He had never seen Soul Bones in such poor condition.

The only reason they had held together was that both right-arm bones were over a hundred thousand years old and relatively sturdy in texture.

Otherwise, if ordinary Soul Bones had been drained of energy to this extent, they would have long since shattered beyond saving.

"Damn. I got two right-arm bones over a hundred thousand years old, but I'll most likely have to use up another Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow to nourish them. Is this a profit or a loss?"

In the end, to save the two right-arm bones that were on the verge of collapse, Xia Yu had no choice but to unseal a piece of Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow and use it for emergency nourishment.

At first, Xia Yu had intended to use the Extreme Cold Springwater produced by the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Cavern to nourish them.

Unfortunately, its effects were too weak to restore the Soul Bones quickly.

Of course, using Extreme Cold Springwater was not impossible.

But it would take time—a very long time. Without several years, there was no way to restore the Soul Bones to proper condition.

And unless he restored their condition, Xia Yu definitely would not dare absorb them.

If he carelessly allowed a Soul Bone to shatter inside his body, the damage would be no trivial matter.

Whether he could even keep his right arm afterward would be uncertain.

So, although sacrificing a piece of Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow pained him, Xia Yu could bear that loss.

It had to be said, it truly deserved to be the finest ice-attributed heavenly treasure. The Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow worked remarkably quickly.

It did not take long to pull the condition of the two right-arm bones back above the passing line.

As for the rest of their recovery, that would not happen so quickly.

Fortunately, the essence of the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow had been compressed into the Soul Bones, so he would not need to tend to them constantly afterward.

After waiting ten days to half a month, the Soul Bones would more or less recover on their own.

By then, whether Xia Yu absorbed them or used them for something else, neither of them would pose any further hidden dangers.

They might even undergo some sort of mutation because of the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow.

"Brother Yu, are you done yet? I've already harvested the Hundred-Thousand-Year Snow Lotus. It's time to go."

At that moment, Meng Hongchen had fully harvested the Hundred-Thousand-Year Snow Lotus and began urging Xia Yu to leave.

As it happened, Xia Yu had finished everything he needed to do.

After discussing it briefly, the two immediately left Ice Rift Valley and set off once more for Radiant City in the Sun Moon Empire.

This time, pressed for time, Xia Yu had no intention of stopping to rest at night. He headed straight toward Radiant City.

The journey there had taken more than half a month, but the return trip took only a little over two days.

Radiant City.

With the once-every-five-years Mainland Soul Master Tournament about to begin, the capital of the Sun Moon Empire had become even livelier.

A glance in any direction revealed streams of people and vast crowds. The atmosphere was incredibly bustling.

Whoosh!

Two figures descended directly from the sky above one of Radiant City's main entrances. They were Xia Yu and Meng Hongchen.

"Wow, we're finally back in Radiant City!"

Seeing the familiar city, Meng Hongchen's face immediately broke into a radiant smile.

"Radiant City? I've long since gotten tired of looking at it. What's there to feel sentimental about? Come on. If we stay any longer, people will start gathering around us."

Since they were at a major entrance, and since Xia Yu and Meng Hongchen had descended from the sky without the slightest attempt at concealment, they had already drawn the attention of many people.

If not for their extraordinary status and their strength as soul engineers, the patrolling guards would have questioned them long ago.

Still, even if no one questioned them, it was not a good idea to linger at an entrance like this.

They could easily end up surrounded by onlookers, causing traffic congestion, so it was best to leave quickly.

In truth, Xia Yu and Meng Hongchen could have flown directly into Radiant City.

Given their status, no one would have stopped them.

But after Xia Yu had carried her at breakneck speed all the way from the Extreme North to Radiant City over the past two days, Meng Hongchen had grown sick of flying.

No, calling it sick of flying was not quite right. She simply could not take it anymore.

As soon as they neared Radiant City, Meng Hongchen stubbornly insisted that Xia Yu land and refused to continue flying.

That was how the two of them ended up landing at the entrance.

Afterward, Xia Yu and Meng Hongchen did not immediately return to their residence. Instead, they chose to head for the nearby Sun Moon Imperial Academy.

Before they even reached the gates of the Imperial Academy, they saw Jing Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen coming to welcome them.

However, perhaps because Jing Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen held special positions, what should have been a simple welcome unexpectedly drew more and more students.

Before long, the entrance of the Imperial Academy was packed with students.

From a distance, it looked as though Jing Hongchen, the dean, had led all the students out to welcome some great figure.

And to be fair, Xia Yu truly did count as a major figure in the Sun Moon Empire.

The scene was certainly fitting.

Still, fitting or not, Jing Hongchen was Xia Yu's elder. How could Xia Yu let the old man come out to receive him?

So Xia Yu immediately pulled Meng Hongchen forward to greet them.

"Old Master!"

"Grandpa!"

"Mm. It's good that you're back. Good that you're back."

After exchanging greetings, Jing Hongchen led Xia Yu, Meng Hongchen, and Xiao Hongchen onto a Soul Tool carriage that had been prepared in advance.

The Sun Moon Imperial Academy occupied a vast area, so taking a Soul Tool carriage was perfectly reasonable.

"By the way, why did you take so long to return? Did you encounter... Huh? Meng, your aura... You... you... you..."

Inside the carriage, Jing Hongchen had originally wanted to ask whether Xia Yu and the others had run into some trouble that had delayed them for so many days.

But when he sensed the aura emanating from Meng Hongchen—completely different from before—the words he meant to say caught in his throat.

Jing Hongchen stared at Meng Hongchen excitedly, his lips pressed together and his eyes filled with anticipation.

"Grandpa, you guessed right. The flaw in my martial soul has been resolved, and it even evolved into the Ultimate Ice attribute. I also used the opportunity to break through to Soul Sage in one go—and I'm already High-Rank..."

Meng Hongchen clearly knew what her grandfather wanted to hear. She immediately took over, speaking with barely concealed excitement.

As Meng Hongchen spoke each shocking revelation in turn, Jing Hongchen's heart jolted again and again until he was nearly stunned senseless.

What did she mean, not only had the flaw in her martial soul disappeared, but it had evolved into the Ultimate Ice attribute, and she had even raised her soul power all the way to a High-Rank Soul Sage in one go...

Wait, had the two of them not merely gone to the Extreme North to hunt for a soul ring?

What exactly had happened out there?

Could such achievements really be accomplished in just one month?

If it had only been one of those accomplishments, Jing Hongchen would have been shocked, but he could still have accepted it.

But with several of them piled together, no normal soul master would believe it.

It was simply too unbelievable.