First Generation Tower Master's Admonitions

"As members of the Spirit Pagoda, you must remember one thing: never, ever become lovestruck fools. We must keep in mind the reason Spirit Hall was destroyed. Spirit Hall was wiped out not because of its strength, but because it produced far too many bizarre lovestruck fools."

"If any younger disciple becomes a lovestruck fool, loving someone from another faction so desperately that they lose all reason, and their elders are incapable of curing them, it is recommended that they be handed over to the Soul Beast side for physical treatment! At the same time, such people are forbidden from becoming high-ranking members of the Spirit Pagoda!"

Hua Yichen stood on the platform and read the contents of the book word for word. After finishing, he set down the copy of First Generation Tower Master's Admonitions in his hand and looked at Huo Yuhao, who was seated below.

"Yuhao, did you understand? In a few days, you'll be entering the academy. If there's a girl you like, you still have to keep your head. You can't bare your heart and soul without reservation. Or you can simply pull her into the Spirit Pagoda. Otherwise, no matter how talented you are, you won't have any chance of rising straight to the top."

"You may not understand, but when it comes to the Spirit Pagoda, the Soul Beast side values it more than many humans do. They're terrified we'll follow in Spirit Hall's footsteps. They really will rely on physical treatment to keep the younger generations of the Spirit Pagoda clearheaded and rational. Perhaps some people will resent them for it, but as long as it doesn't damage the foundation, most still support it."

At this point, Hua Yichen switched to speaking through sound transmission.

"One of the current Deputy Pagoda Masters, Heavenly Phoenix Douluo, and her younger sister both liked Heaven Supporting Douluo when they were young. Her younger sister almost fell and became an Evil Spirit Master because of it."

"Fortunately, because of the First Generation Tower Master's Admonitions, the Spirit Pagoda has always paid great attention to this area. The Cold Family Head noticed something was wrong in time, directly detained Heavenly Phoenix Douluo's younger sister, and in a rage, handed her over to the Snow Empress, making her stay in the Extreme North for ten years. No one knows what happened during that time."

"After she came out, she and Heavenly Phoenix Douluo hugged each other and cried bitterly. She seemed to have become normal, and never said she liked Heaven Supporting Douluo again. However, even so, she was no longer qualified to become part of the Spirit Pagoda's upper ranks. Heavenly Phoenix Douluo wasn't quite that outrageous, so she became a Deputy Pagoda Master."

Huo Yuhao: "..."

If it had still followed the original plot, they probably only cried because the misunderstanding had been resolved.

And are you sure Heavenly Phoenix Douluo was really normal? That was a lovestruck fool who once said she wanted to be Heaven Supporting Douluo's lover in the shadows. Maybe she had only restrained herself because of the high-pressure policy...

Huo Yuhao's thoughts wandered for a moment before shifting to the most important point.

Putting that aside, he understood all those principles, but could someone tell him what was going on with the name of that book? These were his admonitions?

He had never left behind a book like that, and he had never said to hand people over to Soul Beasts for punishment...

"Tian Meng, Ice Empress, I shouldn't have made any kind of admonitions, right?"

Ice Empress: "Yuhao, have you forgotten? This is an improved version of those things you taught Su Tong. Or rather, an upgraded version. The section about Spirit Hall's destruction was your exact wording."

Huo Yuhao: "..."

Sorry, he remembered now.

Because he had been worried the Spirit Pagoda would collapse in its second generation, he had been rather strict with Su Tong, educating her properly and correcting some of her ideas. After all, looking across the great powers in the original Douluo work, how many of their higher-ups weren't lovestruck fools? This was Love Continent...

He just hadn't expected Su Tong to turn the things he had said into admonitions, pass them down, and turn them into something he now had to study.

Was this... karma really sparing no one?

This was truly absurd.

Tian Meng said somewhat uncertainly, "As for handing them over to Soul Beasts... that was probably something the later elders of the Spirit Pagoda came up with to scare people, right? How would the Snow Empress or Di Tian have the time to manage a bunch of juniors? It's just that Heavenly Phoenix Douluo's younger sister was too heaven-defying and happened to run right into the muzzle?"

With ancestral teachings already in place, she had actually loved someone so much she nearly became an Evil Spirit Master. If it were him, he would have tossed her to the Soul Beasts too and trained her properly!

Huo Yuhao felt strange inside, but none of it showed on his face. He simply looked at Hua Yichen. "Teacher Hua, can I take a look at that book?"

"I was planning to give it to you. This is something only Spirit Pagoda Core Disciples can read. After all, some of the ideas in it seem rather unorthodox to ordinary people."

Hua Yichen handed it to Huo Yuhao. Huo Yuhao opened it and flipped through it, discovering that it really was all adapted from things he had once said. Amid his speechlessness, he felt a little nostalgic.

That girl Su Tong... If there was ever a chance, he would have to have a proper talk with her again.

After instilling in Huo Yuhao a deep understanding of the horrors of becoming a lovestruck fool, Hua Yichen planned to bring him to the training field and teach him actual combat.

Over the past three years, he had also discovered that when it came to cultivation and absorbing knowledge and experience, Huo Yuhao needed no supervision from him at all. The boy learned very quickly.

Strictly speaking, actual combat was not necessary either. It was just that if he did not show something, Hua Yichen felt that, as a teacher, he would lose too much face.

Watching Huo Yuhao calmly shift and dodge under attacks from his suppressed strength, Hua Yichen sighed inwardly.

Nine years old. After taking the Soul Ascension Pill, his Soul Power had already reached the peak of rank thirty-two, and his Spiritual Power had even reached the Spirit Sea Realm. This made Hua Yichen unsure how he was supposed to report it.

There was also what had been mentioned in the past about the Young Genius List. What rank should he put Huo Yuhao at?

The boy was still young, and there had been some Soul Masters who advanced by leaps and bounds in the early stages, only to find it nearly impossible to progress later. Although Hua Yichen was confident Huo Yuhao would not encounter a similar situation, he still could not directly place him too far up the rankings.

He would choose a spot in the top ten.

"Pagoda Master, President Li has come to visit!"

Just then, a staff member's knock and report rang out in succession.

"What is he here for?" Hua Yichen was first stunned, then reacted and looked at Huo Yuhao.

That made sense. With two Side Professions at level three, it was not strange that Li Yucheng could no longer sit still.

The reception room on the top floor of the Spirit Pagoda was simple and comfortable. A dark-brown wooden conference table stood in the center, with beige two-person sofas placed on either side. Li Yucheng was seated on one of the sofas.

"Pagoda Master Hua, where is Huo Yuhao's Side Profession teacher?"

Seeing Hua Yichen walk into the reception room, Li Yucheng stood up and said somewhat anxiously, "I want to meet him. How exactly did he teach Huo Yuhao? How could he..."

Huo Yuhao walked out from behind Hua Yichen, causing Li Yucheng's words to stop. His expression turned a little awkward, and his gaze began to wander.

Speaking ill of someone's teacher in front of the person himself had probably left a bad first impression.

Hua Yichen smiled, dispelling the awkward atmosphere, and sat opposite Li Yucheng with Huo Yuhao.

"Yuhao is self-taught. He doesn't have a teacher for his Side Professions... If you really want to say he does, then every Mecha Manufacturer and Mecha Designer in this Spirit Pagoda is his teacher."

Li Yucheng raised an eyebrow, feeling as if things were just as he had expected.

He knew it. Who wouldn't cherish a heaven-sent genius and hold him in the palm of their hand? Who would let him waste his talent?

But put that way, this had been Huo Yuhao's own decision...

Li Yucheng looked at Huo Yuhao with a somewhat complicated gaze, then said solemnly, "I am the president of the Eastsea City Mecha Master Association—Li Yucheng, an Eighth-Level Mecha Manufacturer. Huo Yuhao, I've seen your work many times. I have to remind you of one thing: too much is as bad as too little. Only by focusing on one point can you reach the pinnacle!"

"Thank you for your concern, but I'm only digging deeper into the field I'm good at. I'm not wasting my talent," Huo Yuhao said, shaking his head.

He had always known very clearly what he was good at.

"You want to walk the path of the Soul Engineers from ten thousand years ago, don't you? But you have to understand that things are different now."

Hearing this, Li Yucheng sighed. "In the past, Soul Engineers could still handle forging, design, manufacturing, maintenance, and even combat. But now, the knowledge in every system is far too vast. If you want to take this path... it's too difficult."

To people nowadays, the Soul Engineers from ten thousand years ago had all been absolute beasts—terrifying existences whose insane competitiveness was almost outrageous.

Didn't they get tired doing so many things alone?

A bunch of grind kings. No wonder they had been able to suppress the Douluo Three Kingdoms and Shrek...

"I just want to complete a Soul Tool that belongs to me."

Huo Yuhao spoke a name that surprised both Hua Yichen and the other man.

"Silver Moon Douluo. President, have you heard of him?"

"I never expected that, in the end, it would actually be Spirit Ice Crown who came to see me. As the Tower Master of the Spirit Pagoda, even if you're not buried in endless affairs every day, you shouldn't have that much free time, should you? Why come to witness one man's final road?"

The aged voice carried a trace of self-mockery as it came from the wide sickbed. The once high-spirited Silver Moon Douluo had now reached his twilight years.

Standing in the shadowed corner, Huo Yuhao's eyes were somewhat complicated.

"Old Man Kong, will the Natal Soul Tool not be passed down?"

"My descendants don't have Spirit Ice Crown's talent. They can't do it."

Kong Deming shook his head, his eyes already somewhat clouded as he looked at Huo Yuhao.

If the other man had put the time he spent cultivating his Martial Soul into Soul Tools instead, perhaps he could have gone even further than him.

But even though he had wasted his energy on other areas, after the accumulation of time, he was still the only Soul Engineer in this world who could discuss the Dao with him. If the other man had joined the Sun Moon Empire back then... truly, what a pity.

Kong Deming sighed. "Besides, the war is over, and the empire has won. The Soul Engineers who come after will have no enemies. They'll only delve into the fields they like and lose themselves in research."

"In the end, I'm afraid the profession of Soul Engineer will completely become synonymous with researcher. Everyone will have their own field of expertise, but they won't be as comprehensive as we are now."

"And if a Natal Soul Tool is to suit oneself, it cannot be made by another's hand. At the very least, its design and manufacture must be done personally. I've already foreseen the day this kind of Soul Tool declines. On the contrary, the prototype of Battle Armor you developed is far more likely to flourish."

Huo Yuhao looked at Kong Deming and said in a low voice, "Then, how about I inherit it?"

Kong Deming froze.

Huo Yuhao then smiled and said, "In the name of... the Spirit Pagoda!"

Kong Deming was silent for a long while, then burst into loud laughter. "Good. I'll leave it to you!"