Jing Hongchen's Return

How could there be such logic in this world?!

Could the consciousness in his mind be connected to Tang San? But according to the records, Tang San had become a god ten thousand years ago. He himself was only in his teens this year—how could he possibly be connected to that ancestor?!

"Once the academy goes on break, I'll go back and ask Big Daddy and Second Daddy. I have to find out why! But for some reason, whenever I look at the other empty bed in the dorm, the consciousness in my mind seems to give off an urgent feeling that it wants to find something. Strange... what exactly is it looking for?"

Thoughts churned through Wang Dong's mind.

To be honest, Wang Dong's aversion toward certain Soul Tools was definitely God King Tang San's fault. After all, God King Tang San had left a strand of divine consciousness within Wang Dong. It made protecting Wang Dong easier, but naturally, it could also influence Wang Dong.

As for Xiao Qi being repulsed by them, that was even more absurd. Xiao Qi was just a child. Children were naturally curious about novel things, not repulsed by them.

All the blame lay with God King Tang San! After all, he was the man who could mash Qiu'er and Dong'er together into Tang Wutong. If he could pull off something that awful, other matters were hardly worth mentioning.

Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy.

Jing Hongchen, who had just returned from the imperial palace, hovered in the air as thoughts churned through his mind. "His Majesty's health is getting worse and worse. He can't even get out of bed now and can only cling to life with some Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.

"The Rank 9 Soul Engineers within the empire have also begun choosing sides. At present, the Crown Prince has the best odds.

"However, the other princes also have a chance to ascend the throne. One of them even wants to meet me in private. Clearly, they're trying to force me to choose a side.

"But choosing sides is far too troublesome. I can only politely decline such invitations. I'd better honestly remain the Hall Master of Mingde Hall and do my utmost to raise Xiao Xiao and Meng into the pillars of the Hongchen Family."

With that thought, Jing Hongchen flew toward his residence. The moment he entered the room, he saw Xuan Ziwen and the others. "Hm? Teacher Xuan, why did you bring Yuhao here?"

"Hall Master, Yuhao's martial soul may have mutated, so I brought him here for you to take a look," Xuan Ziwen immediately explained his purpose.

"A martial soul mutation?" Jing Hongchen froze for a moment before looking at Huo Yuhao. "Yuhao, show me."

"Alright, Dean." Huo Yuhao nodded, then directly activated his martial soul and used his soul skill.

Jing Hongchen's expression remained unchanged, and he did not resist. He knew Huo Yuhao's Mental Detection Sharing was quite interesting, but a range of only thirty-odd meters was simply too small.

Suddenly, he sensed Huo Yuhao's surging Spiritual Power and was instantly shocked. "No, how can a one-ring Soul Master possess such powerful Spiritual Power?! Even those spiritual-attribute Soul Masters from the Body Sect couldn't possibly possess such exaggerated Spiritual Power at the one-ring level! Huo Yuhao, how far can you currently detect?"

"Twelve hundred meters in a single direction," Huo Yuhao said.

"Twelve hundred meters in a single direction?" Jing Hongchen was stunned by that number.

The reason was simple. To prepare for the coming Holy War, the Sun Moon Empire had recently been developing Soul Tool detectors. Although Huo Yuhao's detection range still could not compare to those top-tier Soul Tool detectors, some more ordinary ones could no longer match Huo Yuhao's soul skill in terms of detection range.

Moreover, he knew that Huo Yuhao's soul skill, Mental Detection Sharing, would grow stronger alongside his cultivation. Thus, the future Huo Yuhao would undoubtedly become one of the most terrifying Soul Engineers on the battlefield!

"Yuhao, what did you do to make your martial soul mutate?"

"I don't know. I bought some Whale Rubber and consumed it two days ago. When I woke up after a night's sleep, my soul skill had become like this." Huo Yuhao used the same explanation again, leaving the rest for Jing Hongchen to imagine.

After all, martial soul mutations had always been a mysterious subject on Douluo Continent. Even Dai Hao, the esteemed White Tiger Duke, had been unable to see through or resolve the fact that Huo Yuhao's younger brother, Dai Luoli, had undergone an incomplete martial soul mutation.

Jing Hongchen fell into thought. "Perhaps you have some similarities with that famous Grandmaster, Yu Xiaogang."

"Grandpa, why are you insulting him?! Comparing that fraud Yu Xiaogang to Huo Yuhao—you're bullying Huo Yuhao far too much!" Meng Hongchen indignantly spoke up for Huo Yuhao.

A bitter smile appeared on Jing Hongchen's face. "Xiao Meng, Grandpa meant in terms of martial soul mutations, not character.

"Of course I know that Tang San's teacher, Yu Xiaogang, was of poor character. According to our research, Yu Xiaogang's theories had incorporated a great deal of content from Spirit Hall's internal collection of books. In other words, he had claimed other people's research as his own.

"Moreover, he developed quite a few erroneous theories that had an extremely negative impact on the Soul Masters of Douluo Continent."

"However, Huo Yuhao's martial soul mutation really does remind me of Yu Xiaogang. After all, the famous Dragon God Douluo Mu En was a descendant of Yu Xiaogang's lineage. Although Yu Xiaogang's martial soul, Luo Sanpao, was a malignant mutation, it still possessed a latent sacred dragon bloodline. Mu En completely awakened and stabilized that bloodline, and his martial soul became the Light Sacred Dragon!"

"Based on my thoughts, Yuhao's ancestors must have been extraordinary. This martial soul mutation may have been caused by some latent inherited bloodline in his body suddenly awakening!"

Wisdom glinted in Jing Hongchen's eyes. He did not consider the possibility of a Body Martial Soul's Second Awakening. After all, he had dealt with some people from the Body Sect and knew that a Body Martial Soul's Second Awakening would display some very obvious characteristics. Yet he had found none of them in Huo Yuhao.

He made it sound so real that I almost believed him. Huo Yuhao wore a shocked expression. "Dean, so that's how it is! No wonder my soul skill's range increased so much!"

Jing Hongchen said cheerfully, "Yuhao, your soul skill has developed to such a degree that its usefulness can be said to be enormous. In the future, you will definitely become a pillar of the empire. At the next Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Duel Tournament, you will participate as a reserve member."

Meng Hongchen, standing nearby, revealed a delighted expression. Before Jing Hongchen's return, she had also experienced Huo Yuhao's soul skill for herself. She naturally knew how much Huo Yuhao's participation would improve the entire team, so having Huo Yuhao compete was undoubtedly a good thing.

"Furthermore, as the Dean, I have an obligation to reward outstanding students like you. How about this: every month, you can receive rare metals worth one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins. Every year, you can receive one Artificial Soul Bone and four hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins, and your daily meal allowance will also improve!"

Jing Hongchen did not feel any heartache over these rewards. In any case, it was the royal family's money. As long as he had a suitable reason, he could simply seek reimbursement from the Sun Moon Royal Family afterward.

The greatest characteristic of the Sun Moon Royal Family was that they had plenty of money. In a sense, as Dean, he was merely managing the academy on behalf of the royal family.

Artificial Soul Bone!

Huo Yuhao's eyes immediately lit up. Artificial Soul Bones did indeed exist in Peerless Tang Sect, though the methods used to create them were somewhat too cruel.

"I'll give you part of the rewards now." Jing Hongchen rubbed his Storage Ring a few times.